14 50 763 https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/c9c4f53ce6ca0f91a18ae7fb4222122b.pdf b31ab05607e2292f82d2a8b842ee53a3 PDF Text Text SLOVA!{.IA Published by th• Slovak League of America VOL. XII MARiCH-JilJNE, 1962 NO. 1 (35) THE ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE SLOVAK LANGUAGE Dr. Jolin Rekem Slovakia, the eastern part of Czecho-Slovakia, is today only a small territory, measuring 18,859 square miles. It is inha1bited prevailingly by the Slovak nation, a compact, independent national g11oup which belongs to the Indo-European race and to the large Slovanic family of people-s. The Slovak nation at this writing numbers a littlle over four million people within the confines of Slovakia. There are over two million in the United States, about a million in Hungary, some 400,000 in the Czech lands of Czecho.:Slovakia, and numerous minorities in other countries (France, Belgium, Brazil, Argentina, Germany, Canada, England, Yugoslavia, Sweden, and Australia). Because one of the most diacritical marks of an "independent nation" is its language, separating or distinguishing one nation from the rest of the sociall groups forming nations, it may be edifying to review briefly the historical development of the Slovak language as a manifestation of the ethnic individuality of the Slovak nation. THE ORIGIN OF SLOVAK CHRISTIAN CULWRE The ancient Slovaks - penetrating into the territory of the Danubian Basin sporadically from the second century to the fifth, and thereafter in greater numlbers were exposed to various cultural influences. In the first place it was the influence of the Christian religion, Christian culture. Christianity came to Slovakia not only from Germany (the archbishoprics of Regensburg, Passau and Sa1lzburg) but also from northern Italy (1). It came to them �2 SLOVAKIA from the people who could not speak the language of the Slovaks. The great impetus to Christianity in Slovakia came from Byzantium with the advent of the apostles SS. Cyril and Methodius in 863. The advent of these two saintly brothers meant a fundamental break-through in the history of Slovak culture and the history of the Slovak nation in general. They brought the foundation of Slovak ecclesiastical literature to the territory of the Danubian "Slovieni" - the forefathers of present-day Slovaks - to whom the Bulgaro-Macedonian dialect was more intelligible than Ger man. 1. The origin of Slovak ecclesiastical literature is dir ectly connected with the Slovak state of Great Moravia inasmuch St. Cyril (Constantine) tackled the problem of ,c omposing the Slovak alphabet .when he was given the task of going to Rastislav's principality among the Danubian "Slovieni" with ~the expressed purpose of preaching the Gospel in their language. Therefore, the impulse to write the first Slovak books and to compose the Glagolithic alphabet was given by a Slovak ruler. 2. SS. Cyril and Methodius continued in their creative work of the Slovak ecclesiastical language after their advent in Slovakia {2). 3. In the work of translating and writing, SS. Cyril and Methodius were aided by their Slovak pupils, especially by the group under Bishop Gorazd ,(3) . 4. The Slovak people accepted the Slovak ecclesiastical tongue as its own, inasmuch this literary language differed only dialectically from the related language which they spoke at that time. The gigantic strides made by Christianity in Slovakia after the advent of S,S. Cyril and Methodius is proof of this, as are also the numerous monasteries which sprang up in Slovakia from the 9th to the 13th centuries. 5. The Slovak ecclesiastical language was recognized as the language of the Danubian Slovaks by foreign countries (4). 6. When Popes Adrian II and John VII deigned to a:pprove the Slovak language as the language of sacred �SLOVAKIA 3 liturgy in the land of the Slovaks ,(5), they placed it on the same level with the other liturgical languages of that time (Hebrew, Greek, Latin). In effect, they made them cultural'ly independent and secured for them spiritual freedom and thereby equating the eastern elements with the western, Byzantium with Rome, organically assimilating them. Indeed, they roused and strengthened the feeling of nationa'l individuality and awakened appropriate awareness which is necessary for cultural aggression (6). This then was supplemented also with the independent Slovak ecclesiastical organization which included the entire ethnic territory of the Slovaks in Pannonia, Slovakia, and Moravia. With the influence of this independent organization, the Slovaks also had political independence. For these six reasons the Slovak nation and its historians regard the language of the liturgy of SS. Cyril and Methodius as a part of history of Slovak literature and an organic part of the general history of the Slovak nation. The correctness of the evaluation of this historical fact is further confirmed by these reasons: 1. In the Cyrilo-Methodian memoirs connected with Great Moravia there are found, even if isolatedly, distinct and lexical Slovakisms (7). 2. The Cyrillic literary and ecclesiastical tradition remained alive in Slovakia even after Latinization took over, when the Latin culture and alphabet came to prevail in Slovak literary history (8). LATIN OVER SLOVAK With the introduction of the Latin liturgy, which took place in the 13th century, a cultural switch resulted. The Slovak cultural basis yielded to the Latin. Latin became the language not only of the liturgy and science, but also became the medium of communication of all public life in Hungary. The higher and lesser nobility used it in political and social life. Slovakia had a large number of the lesser nobility, the "zemani." They, too, adopted Latin as the means of communication. The languages of the individual nationalities were pushed to the background, even �4 SLOVAKIA though we cannot say that they were completely ousted from public life. Slovak, Iike Magyar and the rest of the languages of the peoples of Hungary, continued to be the means of communications of the masses, and the people continued to use it to create their popular compositions. In 1460, for example, we find songs composed in the Slovak vernacular afbout "Michael Szilagyi and Vaclav Had'mazi" {9) •.A1so various songs and many legends a'bout good King Mathias who was a special friend of the living language of the people, because he was brought up in their environment. When the Polish clan of the Jagellos came to the Hungarian and Bohemian thrones, we again see that the Slovak language came to use in the court. Literary memoria:ls of King Vladislav II show linguistic traces of all the Slavonic nations over which he ruled. The letter he wrote to the people of Bratislava in 1492 contains traces of the Slovak, Polish and Czech languages {10). When it came to the spoken word in the Hungarian Assembly, the King was careful to adapt himself linguistically to the Slovaks who at that time, culturally and politically, still formed the nucleus of the Hungarian State. On February 9, 1492, Vladislav opened the Hungarian Assembly in Budin using the Slovak language. His speech was then translated into Magyar by Bishop Valentine of Varadin (11'). The years of the 11th to the 15th century were very trying years for the land of the Slovaks. Just when the Slovak element had ~most completely assimilated the wild Magyar hordes, the Cumans, relatives of the Magyars, tore into Slovakia in the 12th century and devastated the central Danube territory. Also in the 12th century, Slovakia was invaded and pillaged by the Tatars. And during the reign of Andrew II (1205-1235), the crusading armies, marching through Slovakia, did not spare S'lovakia and its inhabitants either. The struggle of various dynasties and noblemen fur the throne of Hungary in those years (Matthew Cak on the side of Vaclav against Charles Robert of the House of Anjou), and then the wild Czech Hussite invasions, were not favor- �SLOVAKIA 5 able for cultural development. Nevertheless, Gothic culture, which bloomed in the 14th and 15th centuries in Slovakia, let its rich memorials not only in buildings and other creations, but also in the verba•l art. It is unfortunate that domestic struggles for the throne, the Turkish wars, and the stormy re'belllions of the malcontents in the 17th century destroyed most of these precious architectural and literary acquisitions ('12). From the literary creation of the stirring 13th-16th centuries we nevertheless have the remnants of three kinds of literary memorials: 1. The compositions or letters written by the Slovaks in various Slovak dialects. 2. The literary items of Czech immigrants who settled in Slovakia and wrote in Czech which includes Slovakisms. 3. The correspondence of Czechs to Czechs in Slovakia, or to Slovaks in the Czech language {13) Historians of Czech literature, failing to make a distinction between these letters and documents, include them in the category of Slovak literature, and inasmuch as some of them were written in Czech, they attempted to prove that Slovak literature is really only a branch of Czech literature, because, they said, the Slovaks at first wrote in Czech and only later "separatists" - such as Bernolak and Stur - caused a rupture from Czech literature. Qui bene distinguit, bene docet - et, vice versa, qui male distinguit, male docet. And this saying applies even in the question of the literary language in Slovakia before the time of Bernolak. Therefore, we must clearly distinguish between the three types of literary exipression above. The first group rightfully belongs in Slovak literature and Slovak history. Even though linguistically, especially considering the etymological side, many of these written memorials are written in the Slovak western dialect which resembles the Czech in many respects, they are nevertheless Slovak literary memorials (remembrances) because the western dialect forms a part of the Slovak language as much as do the dialects of central and eastern �6 SLOVAKIA Slovakia. They differ from the Czech in the omission of the soft "R" which is characteristic of the Czech language. The second and third groups of written letters belong to Slovak literature only if we consider them in the wider meaning of the word, that is, as a collection of literary memorials that were written in Slovakia regardless of the language medium used. If, however, we consider it in the narrower sense, then these two groups, since they were not written in Slovak, rather belong to the literature of Czech emigrants. Never, however, can they be considered as proof against the existence of an independent Slovak language, because along with them and independent of them are proofs of independent Slovak creations. This is true not only in regard to the dialect of western Slovakia, which the Czechs like to confuse with the Czech tongue (14), but also in regard to the dialects of central Slovakia, Zvolen, Hont, etc. (15) . Officially, liturgical books of the Roman Catholic Church, inasmuch as they used the national language, already then were oriented directly toward the central dialect e16). Contemporary writers and those who used the western dialect regarded it as the Slovak language. Thus, for example, the productive Protestant preacher Daniel Sinapius Horcicka called his Latin-Slovak dictionary "Neoforum latino-slovenicum"; in 1678, Peter Hrabovsky published his "Manuale Latino-hungarico-slavonicum" in Bardejov; in 162, Peter Benicky wrote his "Verse slovenske P etra Benickeho" (The Slovak verses of Peter Benicky); Daniel Krman (1663-1740), the Lutheran superintendent, used the Czech ot the Kralice Bible for liturgical functions , but outside of that cultivated Slovak as is attested to by his work "Rudimenta grammaticae Slavonicae in gratiam Slovaciorum concinnara." While these grammarians used the western dialect of the Slovak language, the eminent Slovak scholar Mathias Belius (Funtik was his family name) at that time indicated that the central dialect was the genuine tongue of the Slovaks, praising it highly {17 It is necessary, too, to mention something about the 1 ) . �SLOVAKIA 7 record books of the various guilds which f1lourished in every Slovak town. The activities of these guilds (minutes of meetings, activities and regulations, etc.), where they are not written in Latin, are recorded in Slovak in the dialect of the respective guilds. Thus, for example, the guild records of Varin, which I made a personal study of, nowhere contain the typical letter of the Czech language, the soft "f," but phonetically mark the spoken Slovak words of that time (18). The same may be said of the guild records of Prievidza (19), and of Trencin ( 20) with their ancient complex orthography. However, the record books of Skalica - inasmuch as Skalica is located on the border of Slovakia and Moravia and was inhaibited by Czech guildmasters - Czech influences are in evidence: where the Master of the guild was a Czech, the Skalica books are written in Czech; where the Master was a Slovak, the entries were in the western Slovak dialect without the typical Czech letter "f" (21). THE SLOVAK OF THE JESUITS The thing that moved the soul of the Slovak people the effort to participate in the cultural life of the world in its own spirit, in its own tongue, and on its own stand - found expression particularly in the efforts of the graduates of the Catholic University of Trnava. This university, founded in 1635 by Archbishop Peter Pazmany in Trnava, the cultural center of western Slovakia, was directed by the Jesuit Fathers. The University of Trnava soon became the cultural center for all of Hungary, but its influence was felt particularly in the Slovak-inhabited parts of the country. The university print shop, in the residence of Canon M. Telegdy, developed into what at that time was considered a gigantic enterprise and it meant the enrichment of the spirituality of all Hungary and of an its nations. Here also Slovak literature was multiplied. It was here that the Slovak lesson books, later dictionaries and religious Slovak writings began to be published. The language of these literary works was the western Slovak dialect �8 SLOVAKIA which was not lexicographically uniform, with shades of the individual western dialects, but it differed from the Czech most typical expressions which are peculiar only to the Czechs and which no Slovak dialect possesses; and the absence of the Cz,ech "r" is plainly evident. Into this western Slovak dialect, which we call "Jesuit Slovak" to differentiate it from the western Slovak dialect which was grammatically codified by Bernolak, more and more forms of the central Slovak dialect gradually penetrated. Thus, for example, in the book of the Senator from Zilina, convert Nicholas Tamasi which was published in 1691 and titled "Prava katolicka rucni knizka" (A True Catholic Manual), we find the words "stiastny, krestjansky," etc., which expressly are central Slovakian forms of present-day literary Slovak, differing from the Czech corresponding forms "kfesfansky, stestny." Besides this, the book "Rituale Strigoniense," published by the Trnava Jesuits in 1715, is written in such beautiful form of the central Slovak dialect that it differs orthographically only to a very little extent from the Slovak which we find in the "Rituale Slovacchiae" which was published in the last decade. The Slovak of the Jesuits - as written and then spoken in plays presented by th~ Jesuits - even though from the beginning not uniform and regulated by rigid orthographical rules, nevertheless is the Slovak language, because the lexicon and the etymology of this language place it in the category of the Slovak language. What is more, the authors of it regard themselves as Slovaks and claim Slovak as their language, expressly distinguishing themselves from other Slovanic nations, even from the Czechs (22). The attempt of Jesuit S'lovak to grammatically unify the language of the Slovaks was made before Bernolak's time, as will be demonstrated shortly, but it was not perfected until Bernolak, the Catholic priest, with his "Dissertatio philologico-critica de literis Slavorum" (published in Bratislava in 1787), united the Slovak linguistic and national effort on the basis of his orthography. �SLOVAKIA 9 THE SALUTAR Y INFLUEN CE OF JESUIT CULTURE The Catholic University of Trnava, directed by the Jesuits, left indelible traces in the artistic life of Slovakia. We must credit the Jesuits for the fact that dramatic plays were staged not only in Latin, but also in the Slovak language. The students of the Jesuit colleges presented plays for the people, with a religious or secular theme, in Slovak. They presented a Slovak play in Bratislava already in 1628, and in the Spisske Podhradie in 1648. The actors of Trnava presented Slovak plays in many towns (Skalica, Levoca, Trencin, etc.). They dis-played their talents in Bratislava in the presence of the emperor himself, who expressed himself very favorably about their performanc e (23). The epochal significanc e of the Jesuit lovers of Slovak linguistic art rests in their collection of religious hymns, which they published. In Slovakia, church singing in the language of the people flourished from the oldest times, when ancient Slovak was recognized as one of the few languages of liturgy. The hymn "Hospodine pomiluj ny" comes to us from the tenth century (24). It was followed by many others. Evidence of this is found in the introductio n to the ''Cantus Catholici" ( written in the Spisska Kapitu1a on July 22, 1655, and published by the: University of Trnava), where it is noted that, besides the custom in some churches of rendering the Canon of the Holy Mass in the language of the people, the custom of the choir singing the Kyrie, Gloria, and Credo in the language of the people still obtains in all the Slovak churches of Pannonia (25). So that irrelevant hymns in the vernacular might not find their way into the sa,c red liturgy, ecclesiastic al synods from the earliest times issued rules and regulations pertaining to appropriate church hymns. Thus, in 1114, the Synod of Ostrihom (Estergom) ordered that only the hymns approved by the Synod should be sung in the churches. Similarly the Synod of Nitra, in 1494, ordered the daily reading of the Holy Mass with the singing of hymns in all churches under its jurisdiction in order to bind the people more intimately with the divine service. �10 SLOVAKIA Furthermore, in 1560, the Synod very emphatically commands the people to sing only those hymns in their churches for which there is proof that they had been used a hundred years before in the Catholic churches, or which were approved by the ecclesiastical authority. In 1629, the Trnava Synod directed all priests to see to it that the cantors, who teach singing of church hymns in the schoo[s, use only the hymns which are approved by the General Vicar. The Sy-.iod, convened in Trnava, in 1638, sent out experts of church hymns to collect all hymns which the people sing and present them to the church authority for approval and publication (27:). The professors of the University of Trnava devoted themselves to this task. They made a collection of old Slovak church hymns, supplemented them with new ones, and, finally, B. Szolosi, in 1655, published the collection under the title : "Canthus Catholici. Piesne katolicke a latinske i slovenske: nove i starodavne." This publication had an enormous significance, because it was the first published codification of Slovak church songs. It has enjoyed many editions. The Slovak Jesuits continued to collect and to compose church hymns in the language . of the people. Later they pu'blished a collection titled "Cantiones Catholicae." Many collections in manuscript of this era (17th-18th century) are preserved in Slovak monasteries and museums, foremost among them is the extensive work (1783) of composer Pavlin Bajan, a Slovak Franciscan. In the 19th century more and more church hymnals were published (28). Worthy of mention, too, is the fact that secular Slovak songs, popular ballads, were also collected during the 16th and 17th centuries. The original manuscripts of many of these were pla·ced in the building of the Slovak Museum Association of the Slovak Institute (Matica Slovenska) in Turciansky Svaty Martin. When the Magyars outlawed the association, the material which they did not destroy was transferred to the Magyar National Museum. Very many of the "Canthus Catholici" hymns were �11 SLOVAKIA placed in the latest "Jednotny katolicky spevnik (Unified Catholic Hymnal), published in 1937, on account of their poeticaJ and musical beauty and expression. Thus, the Jesuit cultural and artistic tradition of the 16th century even today is performing its mission and making its influence felt in Catholic Slovakia (29). IN CONCLUSION In its literary creations, the Slovak nation, both spiritually and linguistically, formed an independent linguistic group since the time of church-Slovak literature (the Great Moravian Empire). The existence of Czech literature of Protestant emigrants in Slovakia is not proof that the Slovaks did not have their own literature. When the Slovaks opened their homes hospita bly to the literature of Czech exiles, this does not mean that they closed their homes to their own language, to Slovak literary creations. Unnatural are the literary-historical constructions of some Czech literary historians who, motivated more by imperialistic desires and political efforts than scientific objectivity, use all means to deny the independence of Slovak literary creations, denying even the existence of an independent Slovak language before the time of Bernolak (Prazak, Flajshans, Travnicek). 1 In this treatise we have demonstrated that the Slovak people were conscious of their individuality long before Bernolak's time. What is more, there existed also an independent Slovak literary language as an expression of this independence. At first this language medium was not uniform: literary creations were written in the dialects of the various provinces. Later (16th-17th centuries) came the codification of western Slovak as the language of literature in the works of the S'lovak Jesuits, referred to as the Slovak of the Jesuits. A. Bernolak did not cause a breach or split between the Slovak and Czech languages. There was nothing to split. Slovak and Czech, as mediums of expression of two nations, the Slovak nation and the Czech nation, existed independently from Cyrilo-Methodian times. This is a historic fact. Before Bernolak's time there �12 SLOVAKIA were independent efforts to codify the language of Slovak literature. Whether the language of Slovak literature was the dialect of Trnava ("Jesuit Slovak"), or that of upper ' Nitra (Cama1 dulian translation of the Bible), it was always the language of the Slovaks, as is evidenced by the titles of dictionaries and grammars of that time (1S lavonicum, Slavonicae, Slovacciorum, Slovenske, Slovak, Slovensko, Slavus, Pannonus, etc.). The existence of a uniform "Czechoslovak" language is sheer fiction. It has no historical foundation and is simply the product of Czech imperialism. This was proved long ago, before the advent of modern Czech literary historians, by J. Kohut, an adherent of Osvald's literary group who made an extensive study of thE:' question. Kohut wrote: "From all of this it follows that Catholic Slovaks (and they always were the vast majority of the Slovak nation) never wrote in pure Czech ... Slovak Catholics always used Slovak as their literary medium, being influenced more or less by books which were published in Czech and which they needed because of a lack of their own. From the pre ..Bernolakian, that is the Jesuit, period, our Slovak language appears in books and in writing, which is more similar to the present manner of writing the older are the sources concerned" (30). With its discoveries, the new Slovak literary historical school but confirms the truthfulness of Kohut's claim and finds newer and newer evidences of independent national and linguistic feeling and creativity among the Slovaks. · The objectiveless claim of the adversaries of the independent Slovak language, nay, even their claim that their was no independent Slovak national consciousness before Bernolak's time, is clearly refuted by the fact that quite some time before Bernolak's time (1762-1813 ), in 1728, John Baltazar Magin's (1682-1735) "l\'Iurices ... Sive Apologia . .. " was publish~d in defense of the political rights of the Slovak nation which formed a component part of Hungary. This apology, prepared by Magin at the request of the nobility estates of Trencin, is the highest expression of Slovak national and political self-consciousness and �SLOVAKIA 13 a defense of the Slovak language which is a symbol or the characteristic of the Slovak nation. If there were no other documentation to prove the existence of an independent Slovak language and Slovak nationalism before the time of Bernolak, then Magin's "Apologia" would alone be sufficient or adequate. However, the Lord be praised, there are also other evidences, like the translation of the Holy Writ into Slovak (1756) before Bernolak's time, as well as dictionaries, grammars, popular poetic creations, public and private correspondence, etc. From this it follows that the Slovak nation did use its own Slovak language as a manifestation of its own individuality and medium of expression and understanding from the time of the church-Slovak literary memorials (the Great Moravian Empire). From the most ancient times, the Slovak language symbolized the Slovak nation and in the history of the Slovaks these two notions were correlative. REFERENCES 1. The "Cividalsky evangeliar" contains evidence that the Sfo• vaks had direct contact with centers of Christian oivilizati-on in Ital'Y. Con1.pare Jan Sitanislav: "Zo itudia slovanskych osobn,y ch mien v Evanjeliu cividalskom," Slavia X¥1!1[, 194'7, pp. 871-1!()0, and his "Slovenski putnici do Talianska koncom VIII. a v IX. storoci," Nas Narod, m, 1944', w. 89--96. 2. 'Dhe comipletion of the translation of the Hol'Y Writ on October 26, on the territory of Great Moraivia 3. Jan Stanislav: "Slovanski apoitolovia Cyril a Me,tod a ich cinnost' vo Vel'komorav·s kej .risi," Sl<Nenska akademia vded a umeni (SIAV'lJ), Bratislava, 1945; A. A. Banik: "Apostol Gorazd, prvy raz v dejinach spominany slovensky knaz, spisovatel' a svatec," Kultura, IX, 1937. 4. 'Pope Hadrian II's letter to the Slovak princes RJa,s tislav, SviitQ1Pluk and Kocel' . . . "in your language ... " .Afso Pope John \l'III's Bull (880) in which he "legaUy approves and orderu;" the Slovak scru'pture for the Danwbian Slovieni. 5. Pope John VIEI's Bull "lndustriae tuae" to Sviitopluk. 6. Jofo K. Smalov: "Zastoj kato:lkkej hi,e rarchie v slovensk,o m narod,nom a kulturnom zivote, v M/ONS SAINCT!I MAIRIDIINlI, Rufomlberok, 1947, p. 60. 7. Smal'ov, op. cit. 8. Evidence of this are the Cyrillian :firagments found in the old codex of the li!brary of the Spisska Kapitula. See also: Alojz �14 SLOVAKIA Mi§kovic's "Spisske Cyrilske ulomky X ~l.•XilU. storocia (I), lch Nale:r: 1929, pp. 80-,81, and Valer pogorielov's "Spisske Cyrilske ulomky :X:lil.-XIIIII. storocia; ich pOlpis, ro:zJbor a otisk" OJI). pp. 81"87. 9. Jan Kollar: "Narodne Zpievanky," VoI. 1, pp. 31-32, 45, a,nd Vol. lil, pp. 7• and following. 10. CzeC'h and '"Czechoslov;ak" hi'Storians violate history when, without regard to Vladislav Jagiello's origLn, and without re~•ard for lc-ertaiin common orthographical similarities between Czech and Polish, they claim these common Polish4Czech forms as Czechism. The use of "rz" in some documents tn Slovakia in the forim not ,of "R" but "RZ" is not proof di a Czec'hi-sm, but rather is evidence O'f Polish, especially w hen the persons using them are of Polish o·r igin. 111. Jan Por,u/bsky: "K stemu Vyrociu t.iterarnej Slovenciny," 1J945, Obr,ana Press, Scranton, Pa., p. 73. 12. Gillbert L. Oddo: "Slovakia and Its People," Robert Speller and Sons, Ntew Y-0r,k, 1960, p:p. 27-70. 113. The Hrussite Czechs invaded Sloviakia in the 15th century for plunder and to fight against the Slovak nolbility, who preferred a Polish J,a,geiUonian to a Czech on the Hu,n,garian throne. 14. 'llhe ill-<l'aimed Albert Prazak, Flajshans, and others. 1•5. Arn ana'1ysis of these songs from the year 11576 on is in Jan Porulbsky\s work; op. oit., p. 76. 16. 'Dhe 1560 edition of the Ostrihom (lEstergom) Ritual contains centraVSloviak expressions, which sound very much like the Slovak ,of today (krst, sob.a§, etc.). 17. Mathias Funtik, (1687Lli7'49), in his work "lnstitutiones Lin• guae Germanicae et Slavicae in Hunga,ria" (L,evoca, 17,18); "In noth,i,ng is it ,b ehind either the seriousness a,nd ~ra,n deur o'f Spanish, or the charm and smoothness Olf Fr-ench, or the sulbliimity and force of English, or the wealth of meaning and emphasis of German, or the softness and ewphony, of Italy, or, finaHy, the imperious rigor of Magyar." 18. The guild books uf Varin come from the years 1,668-1714; some were ,placed in my l~brary, othens i,n the homes O'f individual guildmasters. 19. Mii!lmlas Misik: "Prievidzke cechy," also his "Mesto Prievidza;" and Jan Poru'bsky, o,p. cit., p. 90. 20. Jlozef Branecky: Zo stareho Trencina," 1928, 1-J!Il[. 21. Jlozef Satek: "Naboienske pomery v Skalici od Reformacie do Jozefinizmu,'' S:polok sv. Vojtecha (SSV), Tr,n,ava, 1J946 (the Czech text of the guild book is quoted on p. 188, the Slovak on p. 200). 'Frantisek V. Sasinek: "Cechovne artikule ievcov v Skalici r. 1615", Sloverusky Letopis m. pp. 31,0.3>14'. livan Houdek: "Cechovnictvo na Slovensku," Turciansky Svaty Martin, 1943. 22. Ev>en J~ros1av Vlcek, lik,e other Czech literary historians, incorreic.tly claims that Stefan D:uibnljlcay wrote in Czech and places his work,s in the Czech ca<tegory. But Dulbnicay, writing in the western .dialect df Slovaki-a, did not use the typi-cal Czech "R" or {[I[)", BratislalV'a, �SLOVAKIA 15 "RZ" i.n bis works. In the Latin foreword Olf bi·s "Eductus coluber tortuosus" (l 723~, in the letter Off the Bishop af Vrati.slava (Breslau; W;r6claw in Polish), he di:fiferentiates ·b etween the Slovaks and <nechs (''IBohemi et Slavi"). See Jan Rekem's "Stefan Dubnicay a jeho doba" (in the chapter titled "Slovanske narodne povedomie v d1ele St. Dubnicaya"), Trencin, 19412. 23. St. JuroV1Sky: "Jezuitske divadlo na Slovensku." 24. Accord~ng to Skultety, it is necessary to seek the origin, of this song in Slovakia. 25. Benedikt Szolosi, S.J. (1609-1656), in the introduction to Cantus Catholici, Trnava, 1655. 26. C. Peterfy: "Sacra Concilia Eccl. R. Cath. in Regno Hungariae celebrata, I, 1,74!1·, p. 60 (ca,p. XIIJW). "Nihil legatur vel cantetur in Ecclesia, nisi q:uod fuer'it in Synodo collaudatum." '217. Jan Postenyi: "Privet, Jednotny Katolicky Spevnik," Trnava, SSV, 193'7 . .28. The "large edition" of the ".Tednotny Kratolicley S'pevnik" (1937) mentions eight various hymnals which were published, some Olf which went into several editions. 29. F'or t.he history o.f Slovak spiritual songs of this era, see Dr. Jan Rlikem's "Teplanske duchovne piesne. Zo star!ej eschatologickej poezie trencianskeho Povaiia," Celko, Tr-enci,n,, 1~. 30. Literarne Listy, 1891:, pp. 64-66. LITERATURE Banik A. A.: "Slovenska rec a jej ... vyvoj", in the Pamatnica (Album) of the Tatran, Brno, 1923; "Jan Baltazar Magin a jeho politicka narodna i kulturna obrana Slovakov," in the Sbornik ~Magazine) LV-0, SSV, Vol. Jilil, No. 1•2, Tr.navia, 1936. •B obek W.: "Prehl'adne dejiny slov. literatury," Bratislaiva, 1'939. Botto Jul.: "Slovaci. Vyvin ich narodneho Povedomia," Tore. Sv. Miar,tin, 11923. ·B ujnak P.: "Hlavne prudy a snahy v literature Slovenskej do L:. Stura," slovemiska citanka, Praha, 1925. IBranecky J. : "Zo stareho Trencina," Trencin, 1928. Bucko V. : "Reformne hnutie v arcibiskupstve ostrihomskom do r. 1564," Bratislava, 1939; "Mikulas Olah a jeho doba," B;r,atislrav-a, 194!0. Corpusiuris Hungarici, Budae, 1.717·9. Fejer G.: "Codex diplomaticus Hungariae ecclesiasticus et civilis," Budae, 1829-1844. Faith St.: "Slovenski katolicki kazatelia X~lll. storoc:M," Teologica Catholica Slovaca, Br,a tislava, I, 1941. IFlajshans V.: "Pisemnictvi ceske," Praha, 1901. [)iels P.: "Altkirchenslavische Grammatik," Heidellbe:iig, 1, 193~; ][, 1934. Dorosenko D.: "Slavianskij Svit," Berlin, 19.22. Dubn-iczaj St.: "Eductus coluber tortuosus," Tyrnaviae, 1.7•23. �16 SLOVAKIA Hodza M.: "Ceskoslovensky rozkol," Turc. Sv. Martin, 1920. iHoudek I.: "Cechovnictvo na Slovensku," Turc. ,Sv. Martin, 1943. Hrusovsky F.: "Slovenske Dejiny," Turc. Sv. Martin, 1939. tHuri>an J. M.: "Slovensko a jeho iivot literarny," Siovenske pohl'ady, 11847. Chaloupecky V.: "Stare Slovensko," Bratislarva, 1!}23,; "Kniha Zilinska,'' Bratislava, 1934'; "Stredoveke listy ze• Slovenska,'' Bratislava--Praha, 1937. C'hrobak D.: "Rukovat' dejin slov. litera,tury," Prnha-IBratislava, 1932. !Kacka-J. !Kramoris: "A Short Histo.ry of Slovak Literature," The National News, Pittsburgh, Pa., 1944. Kirschbaum J.: "Slovak Nation At the Crossroads of Central Eu.rope," New York, 1·960. Kollar J.: "Narodne Zpievanky," I, LI, Budin, 1835. !Krcmery St.: "Prehl'ad dejin slovenskej literatury a vzdelanosti," '1:urc. Sv. Martin, 1921. I.tepacek C.: "Frantiskani v slovenskej literature pred Bernolakom," Kultura, Trna,va, 193'7. Lesldev A.: "Grammatik der Altbulgarischen Sprache," Heide]berg, 1919. Jialkulbec J.: "Dej iny lit. c:eske," fil, Praha, 1,93'2. Jirecek J.: "Rukovet' k dejinam Lit. c:eske," Praha, 1•875. Jlungman J.: "Histo.rie literatury c:eske," Praha, 18419. Misik, M.: ''Husiti na Slovenslkiu," Banska Bystriica, 1'9 28; "Prievidza," Trnava, 1'944. Miskovic A.: "Spisske Cyril,ke ulomky x ,11.-XIII. storocia. I. lch NalH," m, Bratislava, 1929. M.islm\'ic A.-Pisut M.: "Dejiny slovenskej literatury,'' Bratislaiva, 1,941. Miiklosich F.: "Vergleichende Gramma•t ik der Slavischen Sprache, I-IV," Heidelberg, 1926. Oddo Gilbert: "Slovakia and Its People," New York, 1960. -Osva1d R.: "Literarne Listy," 1891~11894. P,e trik G.: "Magyar bibliographiaja,'' Buda,pest, 1'888. P-o gorielov V.: "Spisske cyrilske ulomky, II. lch popis, rozbor a otisk," Bratislava, m, 1929. Porulbslky J.: "K stemu vyrociu literarnej slovenciny," Scranton, Pa., 19415. Prazak A.: "Dej iny spisovnej slovenc:iny po dobu Sturovu," Praha, 1922; "Rukovet' dej iny c:eske literatury," Tu\aha, 19211; "Sbornik I. sjezdu slovanskych filologu v Praze 1929," Pr-a ha, 1932; "Slovenska svojskost','' Bratislava, 1,92'6. iRekem Jan: "Stefan Dubnicaj a jeho doba," Trencin, 1943; "Z kultur• nych dejin Trencianskeho Povaiia," Trencin, 1943; "Teplanske duchovne piesne. Zo s,tarsej eschatologickej poezie," Trencin, 1943; "Bibliografia trencianskych tlac:i a vydani," Trencin, 1194!4. Rizner U.: "Bibliografi.a pisomnictva slovenskeho," Turc. Sv. Mar~n, 1933'. Rarpant D.: "K poc:iatkom mad'arizacie," Bratislaiva, 1931; "Mad'ar6nstvo Bernolakovo," Bratislava, 1930. �17 SLOVAKIA Sasinek V.: "Slovensky Letopis," I-ll!l!I. Stanislav J .: "Zo studia slovanskych osobnych mien v Evanjeliu c1v1d,a lskom," Slavia, XVl]l, 1947';"Slovenski put111ici do Talianska koncom VIII . a v IX. storocia," Nas narod, lil, 1'944;"Slovanski apostol'ovia Cyril a Metod a ich cinnost' vo Vel'komoravskej risi," SAVIU, Bratislava, 1945. Sa!fari1k P. J .: "Geschichte der slaw. Sprache und Literature," Prag, 1869. Sabek J.: " Naboienske pomery V Skal ici od .reformacie do jozef inizmu," SSV, 'Jlrnaiva, 1946. Smalov.JKutniik J.: "Zastoj katolickej hierarchie v slove-nskom na rodnom a kulturnom iivote," Mons Seti Martini, Rufomberok, 1947. Spirko J .: "Cirkevne dejiny," 'l'urc. Sv. Martin, 1943. Varsik B.: "Husiti a reformacia na Slovensku do iilinskej synody," Brati:slava, 119312; "Nar'o dnostny problem t.rnavskej univerzity," Bratislava, 1:9318. Vlcek J .: "Dejiny literatury slovenskej," Turc. Sv. MiartJin, 192 3; "De jiny litel'atury ceske," Pr,a ha, 1'93 1! Weiss-Nage'1 Sit.: "Jezuitske divadlo na Slovensku v XVII. a XVIIII. storoci," in the Album of th,e Trnavia University 163&-177f71, 'l'r,nava, 1'935. ZeUiger A.: "Egyhazi ir6k csarnoka," Nagysz,ombat, 1893; "Pantheon 1 1 Ty.rnav iense bibliographicam continens recens ionem operum typis Tyrnaviensibus aa1578-1930 editorum iconibus nonnullis i llustratum," Tyrnaviae, 1'931. RED C~ECH eX:perts, including experts on police and espionage ma't'ters, arie in Oulba to heip Fidel Oastro in his fight ag-aii,nst Amer.i.can imperialism, a·ccording to reports. The head of a Cuban delegation, which arrived in Prague in July of this year, was headed by A. N. Jliiminez, who wa·s promptly awa,rded 'I1he Order of the Wlhite Lion, t he highest Czech decoraltion. Raul Castro, attending the Spartacus Games in J uly, was also given the award. 'l'he Czech Reds haive granted Cuba vredits of $20,000,000 and have undertaken to build eight factories worth $3'2,000,000. A<nd to think of it, the United States was respons1ble for t he esta'blishmenlt of CzechoSlov-a kia back in 191,8! 1 plied. La&t year 20 were aUowed to take lllP studies for the priesth ood. The NITRA diocese. in 1960, lost 15 priests by death, re'tlirement, and "other reasons"; O!llil.y one priest was ordained in that year. The 'I1R!NAVtA diocese is short 240 pniests. In 1961 only eleven priests were ordained for the whdle of Slovak'ia. The Czech Reds of Prague corut'inue their systematic persecution of the Catholic Ohurich in Slovakia. )Jg )Jg )Jg THE "PRAVDA" of Bratislava (Sept. 26, 1'9611) tr•a1msl-ated a column by Drew Pearson and pulblis'hed it in Sloviak. It had appeared in the NIEW YORIK MiIRlRO!R and d'e alt wit·h the "Berliin issue." )Jg )Jg )Jg The Pravda article was tiitled "Cas THE BRATISLAVA SEMINARY a uda,l osti su proti USA." (Time was allowed to accept 15 applicants and Events Are Against 11he USA). even though 80 young men had ap- Obviously it suited the Reds. � SLOVA!{.IA Published by th• Slovak League of America VOL. XII MARiCH-JilJNE, 1962 NO. 1 (35) THE ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE SLOVAK LANGUAGE Dr. Jolin Rekem Slovakia, the eastern part of Czecho-Slovakia, is today only a small territory, measuring 18,859 square miles. It is inha1bited prevailingly by the Slovak nation, a compact, independent national g11oup which belongs to the Indo-European race and to the large Slovanic family of people-s. The Slovak nation at this writing numbers a littlle over four million people within the confines of Slovakia. There are over two million in the United States, about a million in Hungary, some 400,000 in the Czech lands of Czecho.:Slovakia, and numerous minorities in other countries (France, Belgium, Brazil, Argentina, Germany, Canada, England, Yugoslavia, Sweden, and Australia). Because one of the most diacritical marks of an "independent nation" is its language, separating or distinguishing one nation from the rest of the sociall groups forming nations, it may be edifying to review briefly the historical development of the Slovak language as a manifestation of the ethnic individuality of the Slovak nation. THE ORIGIN OF SLOVAK CHRISTIAN CULWRE The ancient Slovaks - penetrating into the territory of the Danubian Basin sporadically from the second century to the fifth, and thereafter in greater numlbers were exposed to various cultural influences. In the first place it was the influence of the Christian religion, Christian culture. Christianity came to Slovakia not only from Germany (the archbishoprics of Regensburg, Passau and Sa1lzburg) but also from northern Italy (1). It came to them �2 SLOVAKIA from the people who could not speak the language of the Slovaks. The great impetus to Christianity in Slovakia came from Byzantium with the advent of the apostles SS. Cyril and Methodius in 863. The advent of these two saintly brothers meant a fundamental break-through in the history of Slovak culture and the history of the Slovak nation in general. They brought the foundation of Slovak ecclesiastical literature to the territory of the Danubian "Slovieni" - the forefathers of present-day Slovaks - to whom the Bulgaro-Macedonian dialect was more intelligible than Ger man. 1. The origin of Slovak ecclesiastical literature is dir ectly connected with the Slovak state of Great Moravia inasmuch St. Cyril (Constantine) tackled the problem of ,c omposing the Slovak alphabet .when he was given the task of going to Rastislav's principality among the Danubian "Slovieni" with ~the expressed purpose of preaching the Gospel in their language. Therefore, the impulse to write the first Slovak books and to compose the Glagolithic alphabet was given by a Slovak ruler. 2. SS. Cyril and Methodius continued in their creative work of the Slovak ecclesiastical language after their advent in Slovakia {2). 3. In the work of translating and writing, SS. Cyril and Methodius were aided by their Slovak pupils, especially by the group under Bishop Gorazd ,(3) . 4. The Slovak people accepted the Slovak ecclesiastical tongue as its own, inasmuch this literary language differed only dialectically from the related language which they spoke at that time. The gigantic strides made by Christianity in Slovakia after the advent of S,S. Cyril and Methodius is proof of this, as are also the numerous monasteries which sprang up in Slovakia from the 9th to the 13th centuries. 5. The Slovak ecclesiastical language was recognized as the language of the Danubian Slovaks by foreign countries (4). 6. When Popes Adrian II and John VII deigned to a:pprove the Slovak language as the language of sacred �SLOVAKIA 3 liturgy in the land of the Slovaks ,(5), they placed it on the same level with the other liturgical languages of that time (Hebrew, Greek, Latin). In effect, they made them cultural'ly independent and secured for them spiritual freedom and thereby equating the eastern elements with the western, Byzantium with Rome, organically assimilating them. Indeed, they roused and strengthened the feeling of nationa'l individuality and awakened appropriate awareness which is necessary for cultural aggression (6). This then was supplemented also with the independent Slovak ecclesiastical organization which included the entire ethnic territory of the Slovaks in Pannonia, Slovakia, and Moravia. With the influence of this independent organization, the Slovaks also had political independence. For these six reasons the Slovak nation and its historians regard the language of the liturgy of SS. Cyril and Methodius as a part of history of Slovak literature and an organic part of the general history of the Slovak nation. The correctness of the evaluation of this historical fact is further confirmed by these reasons: 1. In the Cyrilo-Methodian memoirs connected with Great Moravia there are found, even if isolatedly, distinct and lexical Slovakisms (7). 2. The Cyrillic literary and ecclesiastical tradition remained alive in Slovakia even after Latinization took over, when the Latin culture and alphabet came to prevail in Slovak literary history (8). LATIN OVER SLOVAK With the introduction of the Latin liturgy, which took place in the 13th century, a cultural switch resulted. The Slovak cultural basis yielded to the Latin. Latin became the language not only of the liturgy and science, but also became the medium of communication of all public life in Hungary. The higher and lesser nobility used it in political and social life. Slovakia had a large number of the lesser nobility, the "zemani." They, too, adopted Latin as the means of communication. The languages of the individual nationalities were pushed to the background, even �4 SLOVAKIA though we cannot say that they were completely ousted from public life. Slovak, Iike Magyar and the rest of the languages of the peoples of Hungary, continued to be the means of communications of the masses, and the people continued to use it to create their popular compositions. In 1460, for example, we find songs composed in the Slovak vernacular afbout "Michael Szilagyi and Vaclav Had'mazi" {9) •.A1so various songs and many legends a'bout good King Mathias who was a special friend of the living language of the people, because he was brought up in their environment. When the Polish clan of the Jagellos came to the Hungarian and Bohemian thrones, we again see that the Slovak language came to use in the court. Literary memoria:ls of King Vladislav II show linguistic traces of all the Slavonic nations over which he ruled. The letter he wrote to the people of Bratislava in 1492 contains traces of the Slovak, Polish and Czech languages {10). When it came to the spoken word in the Hungarian Assembly, the King was careful to adapt himself linguistically to the Slovaks who at that time, culturally and politically, still formed the nucleus of the Hungarian State. On February 9, 1492, Vladislav opened the Hungarian Assembly in Budin using the Slovak language. His speech was then translated into Magyar by Bishop Valentine of Varadin (11'). The years of the 11th to the 15th century were very trying years for the land of the Slovaks. Just when the Slovak element had ~most completely assimilated the wild Magyar hordes, the Cumans, relatives of the Magyars, tore into Slovakia in the 12th century and devastated the central Danube territory. Also in the 12th century, Slovakia was invaded and pillaged by the Tatars. And during the reign of Andrew II (1205-1235), the crusading armies, marching through Slovakia, did not spare S'lovakia and its inhabitants either. The struggle of various dynasties and noblemen fur the throne of Hungary in those years (Matthew Cak on the side of Vaclav against Charles Robert of the House of Anjou), and then the wild Czech Hussite invasions, were not favor- �SLOVAKIA 5 able for cultural development. Nevertheless, Gothic culture, which bloomed in the 14th and 15th centuries in Slovakia, let its rich memorials not only in buildings and other creations, but also in the verba•l art. It is unfortunate that domestic struggles for the throne, the Turkish wars, and the stormy re'belllions of the malcontents in the 17th century destroyed most of these precious architectural and literary acquisitions ('12). From the literary creation of the stirring 13th-16th centuries we nevertheless have the remnants of three kinds of literary memorials: 1. The compositions or letters written by the Slovaks in various Slovak dialects. 2. The literary items of Czech immigrants who settled in Slovakia and wrote in Czech which includes Slovakisms. 3. The correspondence of Czechs to Czechs in Slovakia, or to Slovaks in the Czech language {13) Historians of Czech literature, failing to make a distinction between these letters and documents, include them in the category of Slovak literature, and inasmuch as some of them were written in Czech, they attempted to prove that Slovak literature is really only a branch of Czech literature, because, they said, the Slovaks at first wrote in Czech and only later "separatists" - such as Bernolak and Stur - caused a rupture from Czech literature. Qui bene distinguit, bene docet - et, vice versa, qui male distinguit, male docet. And this saying applies even in the question of the literary language in Slovakia before the time of Bernolak. Therefore, we must clearly distinguish between the three types of literary exipression above. The first group rightfully belongs in Slovak literature and Slovak history. Even though linguistically, especially considering the etymological side, many of these written memorials are written in the Slovak western dialect which resembles the Czech in many respects, they are nevertheless Slovak literary memorials (remembrances) because the western dialect forms a part of the Slovak language as much as do the dialects of central and eastern �6 SLOVAKIA Slovakia. They differ from the Czech in the omission of the soft "R" which is characteristic of the Czech language. The second and third groups of written letters belong to Slovak literature only if we consider them in the wider meaning of the word, that is, as a collection of literary memorials that were written in Slovakia regardless of the language medium used. If, however, we consider it in the narrower sense, then these two groups, since they were not written in Slovak, rather belong to the literature of Czech emigrants. Never, however, can they be considered as proof against the existence of an independent Slovak language, because along with them and independent of them are proofs of independent Slovak creations. This is true not only in regard to the dialect of western Slovakia, which the Czechs like to confuse with the Czech tongue (14), but also in regard to the dialects of central Slovakia, Zvolen, Hont, etc. (15) . Officially, liturgical books of the Roman Catholic Church, inasmuch as they used the national language, already then were oriented directly toward the central dialect e16). Contemporary writers and those who used the western dialect regarded it as the Slovak language. Thus, for example, the productive Protestant preacher Daniel Sinapius Horcicka called his Latin-Slovak dictionary "Neoforum latino-slovenicum"; in 1678, Peter Hrabovsky published his "Manuale Latino-hungarico-slavonicum" in Bardejov; in 162, Peter Benicky wrote his "Verse slovenske P etra Benickeho" (The Slovak verses of Peter Benicky); Daniel Krman (1663-1740), the Lutheran superintendent, used the Czech ot the Kralice Bible for liturgical functions , but outside of that cultivated Slovak as is attested to by his work "Rudimenta grammaticae Slavonicae in gratiam Slovaciorum concinnara." While these grammarians used the western dialect of the Slovak language, the eminent Slovak scholar Mathias Belius (Funtik was his family name) at that time indicated that the central dialect was the genuine tongue of the Slovaks, praising it highly {17 It is necessary, too, to mention something about the 1 ) . �SLOVAKIA 7 record books of the various guilds which f1lourished in every Slovak town. The activities of these guilds (minutes of meetings, activities and regulations, etc.), where they are not written in Latin, are recorded in Slovak in the dialect of the respective guilds. Thus, for example, the guild records of Varin, which I made a personal study of, nowhere contain the typical letter of the Czech language, the soft "f," but phonetically mark the spoken Slovak words of that time (18). The same may be said of the guild records of Prievidza (19), and of Trencin ( 20) with their ancient complex orthography. However, the record books of Skalica - inasmuch as Skalica is located on the border of Slovakia and Moravia and was inhaibited by Czech guildmasters - Czech influences are in evidence: where the Master of the guild was a Czech, the Skalica books are written in Czech; where the Master was a Slovak, the entries were in the western Slovak dialect without the typical Czech letter "f" (21). THE SLOVAK OF THE JESUITS The thing that moved the soul of the Slovak people the effort to participate in the cultural life of the world in its own spirit, in its own tongue, and on its own stand - found expression particularly in the efforts of the graduates of the Catholic University of Trnava. This university, founded in 1635 by Archbishop Peter Pazmany in Trnava, the cultural center of western Slovakia, was directed by the Jesuit Fathers. The University of Trnava soon became the cultural center for all of Hungary, but its influence was felt particularly in the Slovak-inhabited parts of the country. The university print shop, in the residence of Canon M. Telegdy, developed into what at that time was considered a gigantic enterprise and it meant the enrichment of the spirituality of all Hungary and of an its nations. Here also Slovak literature was multiplied. It was here that the Slovak lesson books, later dictionaries and religious Slovak writings began to be published. The language of these literary works was the western Slovak dialect �8 SLOVAKIA which was not lexicographically uniform, with shades of the individual western dialects, but it differed from the Czech most typical expressions which are peculiar only to the Czechs and which no Slovak dialect possesses; and the absence of the Cz,ech "r" is plainly evident. Into this western Slovak dialect, which we call "Jesuit Slovak" to differentiate it from the western Slovak dialect which was grammatically codified by Bernolak, more and more forms of the central Slovak dialect gradually penetrated. Thus, for example, in the book of the Senator from Zilina, convert Nicholas Tamasi which was published in 1691 and titled "Prava katolicka rucni knizka" (A True Catholic Manual), we find the words "stiastny, krestjansky," etc., which expressly are central Slovakian forms of present-day literary Slovak, differing from the Czech corresponding forms "kfesfansky, stestny." Besides this, the book "Rituale Strigoniense," published by the Trnava Jesuits in 1715, is written in such beautiful form of the central Slovak dialect that it differs orthographically only to a very little extent from the Slovak which we find in the "Rituale Slovacchiae" which was published in the last decade. The Slovak of the Jesuits - as written and then spoken in plays presented by th~ Jesuits - even though from the beginning not uniform and regulated by rigid orthographical rules, nevertheless is the Slovak language, because the lexicon and the etymology of this language place it in the category of the Slovak language. What is more, the authors of it regard themselves as Slovaks and claim Slovak as their language, expressly distinguishing themselves from other Slovanic nations, even from the Czechs (22). The attempt of Jesuit S'lovak to grammatically unify the language of the Slovaks was made before Bernolak's time, as will be demonstrated shortly, but it was not perfected until Bernolak, the Catholic priest, with his "Dissertatio philologico-critica de literis Slavorum" (published in Bratislava in 1787), united the Slovak linguistic and national effort on the basis of his orthography. �SLOVAKIA 9 THE SALUTAR Y INFLUEN CE OF JESUIT CULTURE The Catholic University of Trnava, directed by the Jesuits, left indelible traces in the artistic life of Slovakia. We must credit the Jesuits for the fact that dramatic plays were staged not only in Latin, but also in the Slovak language. The students of the Jesuit colleges presented plays for the people, with a religious or secular theme, in Slovak. They presented a Slovak play in Bratislava already in 1628, and in the Spisske Podhradie in 1648. The actors of Trnava presented Slovak plays in many towns (Skalica, Levoca, Trencin, etc.). They dis-played their talents in Bratislava in the presence of the emperor himself, who expressed himself very favorably about their performanc e (23). The epochal significanc e of the Jesuit lovers of Slovak linguistic art rests in their collection of religious hymns, which they published. In Slovakia, church singing in the language of the people flourished from the oldest times, when ancient Slovak was recognized as one of the few languages of liturgy. The hymn "Hospodine pomiluj ny" comes to us from the tenth century (24). It was followed by many others. Evidence of this is found in the introductio n to the ''Cantus Catholici" ( written in the Spisska Kapitu1a on July 22, 1655, and published by the: University of Trnava), where it is noted that, besides the custom in some churches of rendering the Canon of the Holy Mass in the language of the people, the custom of the choir singing the Kyrie, Gloria, and Credo in the language of the people still obtains in all the Slovak churches of Pannonia (25). So that irrelevant hymns in the vernacular might not find their way into the sa,c red liturgy, ecclesiastic al synods from the earliest times issued rules and regulations pertaining to appropriate church hymns. Thus, in 1114, the Synod of Ostrihom (Estergom) ordered that only the hymns approved by the Synod should be sung in the churches. Similarly the Synod of Nitra, in 1494, ordered the daily reading of the Holy Mass with the singing of hymns in all churches under its jurisdiction in order to bind the people more intimately with the divine service. �10 SLOVAKIA Furthermore, in 1560, the Synod very emphatically commands the people to sing only those hymns in their churches for which there is proof that they had been used a hundred years before in the Catholic churches, or which were approved by the ecclesiastical authority. In 1629, the Trnava Synod directed all priests to see to it that the cantors, who teach singing of church hymns in the schoo[s, use only the hymns which are approved by the General Vicar. The Sy-.iod, convened in Trnava, in 1638, sent out experts of church hymns to collect all hymns which the people sing and present them to the church authority for approval and publication (27:). The professors of the University of Trnava devoted themselves to this task. They made a collection of old Slovak church hymns, supplemented them with new ones, and, finally, B. Szolosi, in 1655, published the collection under the title : "Canthus Catholici. Piesne katolicke a latinske i slovenske: nove i starodavne." This publication had an enormous significance, because it was the first published codification of Slovak church songs. It has enjoyed many editions. The Slovak Jesuits continued to collect and to compose church hymns in the language . of the people. Later they pu'blished a collection titled "Cantiones Catholicae." Many collections in manuscript of this era (17th-18th century) are preserved in Slovak monasteries and museums, foremost among them is the extensive work (1783) of composer Pavlin Bajan, a Slovak Franciscan. In the 19th century more and more church hymnals were published (28). Worthy of mention, too, is the fact that secular Slovak songs, popular ballads, were also collected during the 16th and 17th centuries. The original manuscripts of many of these were pla·ced in the building of the Slovak Museum Association of the Slovak Institute (Matica Slovenska) in Turciansky Svaty Martin. When the Magyars outlawed the association, the material which they did not destroy was transferred to the Magyar National Museum. Very many of the "Canthus Catholici" hymns were �11 SLOVAKIA placed in the latest "Jednotny katolicky spevnik (Unified Catholic Hymnal), published in 1937, on account of their poeticaJ and musical beauty and expression. Thus, the Jesuit cultural and artistic tradition of the 16th century even today is performing its mission and making its influence felt in Catholic Slovakia (29). IN CONCLUSION In its literary creations, the Slovak nation, both spiritually and linguistically, formed an independent linguistic group since the time of church-Slovak literature (the Great Moravian Empire). The existence of Czech literature of Protestant emigrants in Slovakia is not proof that the Slovaks did not have their own literature. When the Slovaks opened their homes hospita bly to the literature of Czech exiles, this does not mean that they closed their homes to their own language, to Slovak literary creations. Unnatural are the literary-historical constructions of some Czech literary historians who, motivated more by imperialistic desires and political efforts than scientific objectivity, use all means to deny the independence of Slovak literary creations, denying even the existence of an independent Slovak language before the time of Bernolak (Prazak, Flajshans, Travnicek). 1 In this treatise we have demonstrated that the Slovak people were conscious of their individuality long before Bernolak's time. What is more, there existed also an independent Slovak literary language as an expression of this independence. At first this language medium was not uniform: literary creations were written in the dialects of the various provinces. Later (16th-17th centuries) came the codification of western Slovak as the language of literature in the works of the S'lovak Jesuits, referred to as the Slovak of the Jesuits. A. Bernolak did not cause a breach or split between the Slovak and Czech languages. There was nothing to split. Slovak and Czech, as mediums of expression of two nations, the Slovak nation and the Czech nation, existed independently from Cyrilo-Methodian times. This is a historic fact. Before Bernolak's time there �12 SLOVAKIA were independent efforts to codify the language of Slovak literature. Whether the language of Slovak literature was the dialect of Trnava ("Jesuit Slovak"), or that of upper ' Nitra (Cama1 dulian translation of the Bible), it was always the language of the Slovaks, as is evidenced by the titles of dictionaries and grammars of that time (1S lavonicum, Slavonicae, Slovacciorum, Slovenske, Slovak, Slovensko, Slavus, Pannonus, etc.). The existence of a uniform "Czechoslovak" language is sheer fiction. It has no historical foundation and is simply the product of Czech imperialism. This was proved long ago, before the advent of modern Czech literary historians, by J. Kohut, an adherent of Osvald's literary group who made an extensive study of thE:' question. Kohut wrote: "From all of this it follows that Catholic Slovaks (and they always were the vast majority of the Slovak nation) never wrote in pure Czech ... Slovak Catholics always used Slovak as their literary medium, being influenced more or less by books which were published in Czech and which they needed because of a lack of their own. From the pre ..Bernolakian, that is the Jesuit, period, our Slovak language appears in books and in writing, which is more similar to the present manner of writing the older are the sources concerned" (30). With its discoveries, the new Slovak literary historical school but confirms the truthfulness of Kohut's claim and finds newer and newer evidences of independent national and linguistic feeling and creativity among the Slovaks. · The objectiveless claim of the adversaries of the independent Slovak language, nay, even their claim that their was no independent Slovak national consciousness before Bernolak's time, is clearly refuted by the fact that quite some time before Bernolak's time (1762-1813 ), in 1728, John Baltazar Magin's (1682-1735) "l\'Iurices ... Sive Apologia . .. " was publish~d in defense of the political rights of the Slovak nation which formed a component part of Hungary. This apology, prepared by Magin at the request of the nobility estates of Trencin, is the highest expression of Slovak national and political self-consciousness and �SLOVAKIA 13 a defense of the Slovak language which is a symbol or the characteristic of the Slovak nation. If there were no other documentation to prove the existence of an independent Slovak language and Slovak nationalism before the time of Bernolak, then Magin's "Apologia" would alone be sufficient or adequate. However, the Lord be praised, there are also other evidences, like the translation of the Holy Writ into Slovak (1756) before Bernolak's time, as well as dictionaries, grammars, popular poetic creations, public and private correspondence, etc. From this it follows that the Slovak nation did use its own Slovak language as a manifestation of its own individuality and medium of expression and understanding from the time of the church-Slovak literary memorials (the Great Moravian Empire). From the most ancient times, the Slovak language symbolized the Slovak nation and in the history of the Slovaks these two notions were correlative. REFERENCES 1. The "Cividalsky evangeliar" contains evidence that the Sfo• vaks had direct contact with centers of Christian oivilizati-on in Ital'Y. Con1.pare Jan Sitanislav: "Zo itudia slovanskych osobn,y ch mien v Evanjeliu cividalskom," Slavia X¥1!1[, 194'7, pp. 871-1!()0, and his "Slovenski putnici do Talianska koncom VIII. a v IX. storoci," Nas Narod, m, 1944', w. 89--96. 2. 'Dhe comipletion of the translation of the Hol'Y Writ on October 26, on the territory of Great Moraivia 3. Jan Stanislav: "Slovanski apoitolovia Cyril a Me,tod a ich cinnost' vo Vel'komorav·s kej .risi," Sl<Nenska akademia vded a umeni (SIAV'lJ), Bratislava, 1945; A. A. Banik: "Apostol Gorazd, prvy raz v dejinach spominany slovensky knaz, spisovatel' a svatec," Kultura, IX, 1937. 4. 'Pope Hadrian II's letter to the Slovak princes RJa,s tislav, SviitQ1Pluk and Kocel' . . . "in your language ... " .Afso Pope John \l'III's Bull (880) in which he "legaUy approves and orderu;" the Slovak scru'pture for the Danwbian Slovieni. 5. Pope John VIEI's Bull "lndustriae tuae" to Sviitopluk. 6. Jofo K. Smalov: "Zastoj kato:lkkej hi,e rarchie v slovensk,o m narod,nom a kulturnom zivote, v M/ONS SAINCT!I MAIRIDIINlI, Rufomlberok, 1947, p. 60. 7. Smal'ov, op. cit. 8. Evidence of this are the Cyrillian :firagments found in the old codex of the li!brary of the Spisska Kapitula. See also: Alojz �14 SLOVAKIA Mi§kovic's "Spisske Cyrilske ulomky X ~l.•XilU. storocia (I), lch Nale:r: 1929, pp. 80-,81, and Valer pogorielov's "Spisske Cyrilske ulomky :X:lil.-XIIIII. storocia; ich pOlpis, ro:zJbor a otisk" OJI). pp. 81"87. 9. Jan Kollar: "Narodne Zpievanky," VoI. 1, pp. 31-32, 45, a,nd Vol. lil, pp. 7• and following. 10. CzeC'h and '"Czechoslov;ak" hi'Storians violate history when, without regard to Vladislav Jagiello's origLn, and without re~•ard for lc-ertaiin common orthographical similarities between Czech and Polish, they claim these common Polish4Czech forms as Czechism. The use of "rz" in some documents tn Slovakia in the forim not ,of "R" but "RZ" is not proof di a Czec'hi-sm, but rather is evidence O'f Polish, especially w hen the persons using them are of Polish o·r igin. 111. Jan Por,u/bsky: "K stemu Vyrociu t.iterarnej Slovenciny," 1J945, Obr,ana Press, Scranton, Pa., p. 73. 12. Gillbert L. Oddo: "Slovakia and Its People," Robert Speller and Sons, Ntew Y-0r,k, 1960, p:p. 27-70. 113. The Hrussite Czechs invaded Sloviakia in the 15th century for plunder and to fight against the Slovak nolbility, who preferred a Polish J,a,geiUonian to a Czech on the Hu,n,garian throne. 14. 'llhe ill-<l'aimed Albert Prazak, Flajshans, and others. 1•5. Arn ana'1ysis of these songs from the year 11576 on is in Jan Porulbsky\s work; op. oit., p. 76. 16. 'Dhe 1560 edition of the Ostrihom (lEstergom) Ritual contains centraVSloviak expressions, which sound very much like the Slovak ,of today (krst, sob.a§, etc.). 17. Mathias Funtik, (1687Lli7'49), in his work "lnstitutiones Lin• guae Germanicae et Slavicae in Hunga,ria" (L,evoca, 17,18); "In noth,i,ng is it ,b ehind either the seriousness a,nd ~ra,n deur o'f Spanish, or the charm and smoothness Olf Fr-ench, or the sulbliimity and force of English, or the wealth of meaning and emphasis of German, or the softness and ewphony, of Italy, or, finaHy, the imperious rigor of Magyar." 18. The guild books uf Varin come from the years 1,668-1714; some were ,placed in my l~brary, othens i,n the homes O'f individual guildmasters. 19. Mii!lmlas Misik: "Prievidzke cechy," also his "Mesto Prievidza;" and Jan Poru'bsky, o,p. cit., p. 90. 20. Jlozef Branecky: Zo stareho Trencina," 1928, 1-J!Il[. 21. Jlozef Satek: "Naboienske pomery v Skalici od Reformacie do Jozefinizmu,'' S:polok sv. Vojtecha (SSV), Tr,n,ava, 1J946 (the Czech text of the guild book is quoted on p. 188, the Slovak on p. 200). 'Frantisek V. Sasinek: "Cechovne artikule ievcov v Skalici r. 1615", Sloverusky Letopis m. pp. 31,0.3>14'. livan Houdek: "Cechovnictvo na Slovensku," Turciansky Svaty Martin, 1943. 22. Ev>en J~ros1av Vlcek, lik,e other Czech literary historians, incorreic.tly claims that Stefan D:uibnljlcay wrote in Czech and places his work,s in the Czech ca<tegory. But Dulbnicay, writing in the western .dialect df Slovaki-a, did not use the typi-cal Czech "R" or {[I[)", BratislalV'a, �SLOVAKIA 15 "RZ" i.n bis works. In the Latin foreword Olf bi·s "Eductus coluber tortuosus" (l 723~, in the letter Off the Bishop af Vrati.slava (Breslau; W;r6claw in Polish), he di:fiferentiates ·b etween the Slovaks and <nechs (''IBohemi et Slavi"). See Jan Rekem's "Stefan Dubnicay a jeho doba" (in the chapter titled "Slovanske narodne povedomie v d1ele St. Dubnicaya"), Trencin, 19412. 23. St. JuroV1Sky: "Jezuitske divadlo na Slovensku." 24. Accord~ng to Skultety, it is necessary to seek the origin, of this song in Slovakia. 25. Benedikt Szolosi, S.J. (1609-1656), in the introduction to Cantus Catholici, Trnava, 1655. 26. C. Peterfy: "Sacra Concilia Eccl. R. Cath. in Regno Hungariae celebrata, I, 1,74!1·, p. 60 (ca,p. XIIJW). "Nihil legatur vel cantetur in Ecclesia, nisi q:uod fuer'it in Synodo collaudatum." '217. Jan Postenyi: "Privet, Jednotny Katolicky Spevnik," Trnava, SSV, 193'7 . .28. The "large edition" of the ".Tednotny Kratolicley S'pevnik" (1937) mentions eight various hymnals which were published, some Olf which went into several editions. 29. F'or t.he history o.f Slovak spiritual songs of this era, see Dr. Jan Rlikem's "Teplanske duchovne piesne. Zo star!ej eschatologickej poezie trencianskeho Povaiia," Celko, Tr-enci,n,, 1~. 30. Literarne Listy, 1891:, pp. 64-66. LITERATURE Banik A. A.: "Slovenska rec a jej ... vyvoj", in the Pamatnica (Album) of the Tatran, Brno, 1923; "Jan Baltazar Magin a jeho politicka narodna i kulturna obrana Slovakov," in the Sbornik ~Magazine) LV-0, SSV, Vol. Jilil, No. 1•2, Tr.navia, 1936. •B obek W.: "Prehl'adne dejiny slov. literatury," Bratislaiva, 1'939. Botto Jul.: "Slovaci. Vyvin ich narodneho Povedomia," Tore. Sv. Miar,tin, 11923. ·B ujnak P.: "Hlavne prudy a snahy v literature Slovenskej do L:. Stura," slovemiska citanka, Praha, 1925. IBranecky J. : "Zo stareho Trencina," Trencin, 1928. Bucko V. : "Reformne hnutie v arcibiskupstve ostrihomskom do r. 1564," Bratislava, 1939; "Mikulas Olah a jeho doba," B;r,atislrav-a, 194!0. Corpusiuris Hungarici, Budae, 1.717·9. Fejer G.: "Codex diplomaticus Hungariae ecclesiasticus et civilis," Budae, 1829-1844. Faith St.: "Slovenski katolicki kazatelia X~lll. storoc:M," Teologica Catholica Slovaca, Br,a tislava, I, 1941. IFlajshans V.: "Pisemnictvi ceske," Praha, 1901. [)iels P.: "Altkirchenslavische Grammatik," Heidellbe:iig, 1, 193~; ][, 1934. Dorosenko D.: "Slavianskij Svit," Berlin, 19.22. Dubn-iczaj St.: "Eductus coluber tortuosus," Tyrnaviae, 1.7•23. �16 SLOVAKIA Hodza M.: "Ceskoslovensky rozkol," Turc. Sv. Martin, 1920. iHoudek I.: "Cechovnictvo na Slovensku," Turc. ,Sv. Martin, 1943. Hrusovsky F.: "Slovenske Dejiny," Turc. Sv. Martin, 1939. tHuri>an J. M.: "Slovensko a jeho iivot literarny," Siovenske pohl'ady, 11847. Chaloupecky V.: "Stare Slovensko," Bratislarva, 1!}23,; "Kniha Zilinska,'' Bratislava, 1934'; "Stredoveke listy ze• Slovenska,'' Bratislava--Praha, 1937. C'hrobak D.: "Rukovat' dejin slov. litera,tury," Prnha-IBratislava, 1932. !Kacka-J. !Kramoris: "A Short Histo.ry of Slovak Literature," The National News, Pittsburgh, Pa., 1944. Kirschbaum J.: "Slovak Nation At the Crossroads of Central Eu.rope," New York, 1·960. Kollar J.: "Narodne Zpievanky," I, LI, Budin, 1835. !Krcmery St.: "Prehl'ad dejin slovenskej literatury a vzdelanosti," '1:urc. Sv. Martin, 1921. I.tepacek C.: "Frantiskani v slovenskej literature pred Bernolakom," Kultura, Trna,va, 193'7. Lesldev A.: "Grammatik der Altbulgarischen Sprache," Heide]berg, 1919. Jialkulbec J.: "Dej iny lit. c:eske," fil, Praha, 1,93'2. Jirecek J.: "Rukovet' k dejinam Lit. c:eske," Praha, 1•875. Jlungman J.: "Histo.rie literatury c:eske," Praha, 18419. Misik, M.: ''Husiti na Slovenslkiu," Banska Bystriica, 1'9 28; "Prievidza," Trnava, 1'944. Miskovic A.: "Spisske Cyril,ke ulomky x ,11.-XIII. storocia. I. lch NalH," m, Bratislava, 1929. M.islm\'ic A.-Pisut M.: "Dejiny slovenskej literatury,'' Bratislaiva, 1,941. Miiklosich F.: "Vergleichende Gramma•t ik der Slavischen Sprache, I-IV," Heidelberg, 1926. Oddo Gilbert: "Slovakia and Its People," New York, 1960. -Osva1d R.: "Literarne Listy," 1891~11894. P,e trik G.: "Magyar bibliographiaja,'' Buda,pest, 1'888. P-o gorielov V.: "Spisske cyrilske ulomky, II. lch popis, rozbor a otisk," Bratislava, m, 1929. Porulbslky J.: "K stemu vyrociu literarnej slovenciny," Scranton, Pa., 19415. Prazak A.: "Dej iny spisovnej slovenc:iny po dobu Sturovu," Praha, 1922; "Rukovet' dej iny c:eske literatury," Tu\aha, 19211; "Sbornik I. sjezdu slovanskych filologu v Praze 1929," Pr-a ha, 1932; "Slovenska svojskost','' Bratislava, 1,92'6. iRekem Jan: "Stefan Dubnicaj a jeho doba," Trencin, 1943; "Z kultur• nych dejin Trencianskeho Povaiia," Trencin, 1943; "Teplanske duchovne piesne. Zo s,tarsej eschatologickej poezie," Trencin, 1943; "Bibliografia trencianskych tlac:i a vydani," Trencin, 1194!4. Rizner U.: "Bibliografi.a pisomnictva slovenskeho," Turc. Sv. Mar~n, 1933'. Rarpant D.: "K poc:iatkom mad'arizacie," Bratislaiva, 1931; "Mad'ar6nstvo Bernolakovo," Bratislava, 1930. �17 SLOVAKIA Sasinek V.: "Slovensky Letopis," I-ll!l!I. Stanislav J .: "Zo studia slovanskych osobnych mien v Evanjeliu c1v1d,a lskom," Slavia, XVl]l, 1947';"Slovenski put111ici do Talianska koncom VIII . a v IX. storocia," Nas narod, lil, 1'944;"Slovanski apostol'ovia Cyril a Metod a ich cinnost' vo Vel'komoravskej risi," SAVIU, Bratislava, 1945. Sa!fari1k P. J .: "Geschichte der slaw. Sprache und Literature," Prag, 1869. Sabek J.: " Naboienske pomery V Skal ici od .reformacie do jozef inizmu," SSV, 'Jlrnaiva, 1946. Smalov.JKutniik J.: "Zastoj katolickej hierarchie v slove-nskom na rodnom a kulturnom iivote," Mons Seti Martini, Rufomberok, 1947. Spirko J .: "Cirkevne dejiny," 'l'urc. Sv. Martin, 1943. Varsik B.: "Husiti a reformacia na Slovensku do iilinskej synody," Brati:slava, 119312; "Nar'o dnostny problem t.rnavskej univerzity," Bratislava, 1:9318. Vlcek J .: "Dejiny literatury slovenskej," Turc. Sv. MiartJin, 192 3; "De jiny litel'atury ceske," Pr,a ha, 1'93 1! Weiss-Nage'1 Sit.: "Jezuitske divadlo na Slovensku v XVII. a XVIIII. storoci," in the Album of th,e Trnavia University 163&-177f71, 'l'r,nava, 1'935. ZeUiger A.: "Egyhazi ir6k csarnoka," Nagysz,ombat, 1893; "Pantheon 1 1 Ty.rnav iense bibliographicam continens recens ionem operum typis Tyrnaviensibus aa1578-1930 editorum iconibus nonnullis i llustratum," Tyrnaviae, 1'931. RED C~ECH eX:perts, including experts on police and espionage ma't'ters, arie in Oulba to heip Fidel Oastro in his fight ag-aii,nst Amer.i.can imperialism, a·ccording to reports. The head of a Cuban delegation, which arrived in Prague in July of this year, was headed by A. N. Jliiminez, who wa·s promptly awa,rded 'I1he Order of the Wlhite Lion, t he highest Czech decoraltion. Raul Castro, attending the Spartacus Games in J uly, was also given the award. 'l'he Czech Reds haive granted Cuba vredits of $20,000,000 and have undertaken to build eight factories worth $3'2,000,000. A<nd to think of it, the United States was respons1ble for t he esta'blishmenlt of CzechoSlov-a kia back in 191,8! 1 plied. La&t year 20 were aUowed to take lllP studies for the priesth ood. The NITRA diocese. in 1960, lost 15 priests by death, re'tlirement, and "other reasons"; O!llil.y one priest was ordained in that year. The 'I1R!NAVtA diocese is short 240 pniests. In 1961 only eleven priests were ordained for the whdle of Slovak'ia. The Czech Reds of Prague corut'inue their systematic persecution of the Catholic Ohurich in Slovakia. )Jg )Jg )Jg THE "PRAVDA" of Bratislava (Sept. 26, 1'9611) tr•a1msl-ated a column by Drew Pearson and pulblis'hed it in Sloviak. It had appeared in the NIEW YORIK MiIRlRO!R and d'e alt wit·h the "Berliin issue." )Jg )Jg )Jg The Pravda article was tiitled "Cas THE BRATISLAVA SEMINARY a uda,l osti su proti USA." (Time was allowed to accept 15 applicants and Events Are Against 11he USA). even though 80 young men had ap- Obviously it suited the Reds. � 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 1962, Vol. 12 Description An account of the resource Issue 1 (No. 35), March-June 1962. 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 1962 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 SLOVA!{.IA Published by th• Slovak League of America VOL. XII MARiCH-JilJNE, 1962 NO. 1 (35) THE ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE SLOVAK LANGUAGE Dr. Jolin Rekem Slovakia, the eastern part of Czecho-Slovakia, is today only a small territory, measuring 18,859 square miles. It is inha1bited prevailingly by the Slovak nation, a compact, independent national g11oup which belongs to the Indo-European race and to the large Slovanic family of people-s. The Slovak nation at this writing numbers a littlle over four million people within the confines of Slovakia. There are over two million in the United States, about a million in Hungary, some 400,000 in the Czech lands of Czecho.:Slovakia, and numerous minorities in other countries (France, Belgium, Brazil, Argentina, Germany, Canada, England, Yugoslavia, Sweden, and Australia). Because one of the most diacritical marks of an "independent nation" is its language, separating or distinguishing one nation from the rest of the sociall groups forming nations, it may be edifying to review briefly the historical development of the Slovak language as a manifestation of the ethnic individuality of the Slovak nation. THE ORIGIN OF SLOVAK CHRISTIAN CULWRE The ancient Slovaks - penetrating into the territory of the Danubian Basin sporadically from the second century to the fifth, and thereafter in greater numlbers were exposed to various cultural influences. In the first place it was the influence of the Christian religion, Christian culture. Christianity came to Slovakia not only from Germany (the archbishoprics of Regensburg, Passau and Sa1lzburg) but also from northern Italy (1). It came to them 2 SLOVAKIA from the people who could not speak the language of the Slovaks. The great impetus to Christianity in Slovakia came from Byzantium with the advent of the apostles SS. Cyril and Methodius in 863. The advent of these two saintly brothers meant a fundamental break-through in the history of Slovak culture and the history of the Slovak nation in general. They brought the foundation of Slovak ecclesiastical literature to the territory of the Danubian "Slovieni" - the forefathers of present-day Slovaks - to whom the Bulgaro-Macedonian dialect was more intelligible than Ger man. 1. The origin of Slovak ecclesiastical literature is dir ectly connected with the Slovak state of Great Moravia inasmuch St. Cyril (Constantine) tackled the problem of ,c omposing the Slovak alphabet .when he was given the task of going to Rastislav's principality among the Danubian "Slovieni" with ~the expressed purpose of preaching the Gospel in their language. Therefore, the impulse to write the first Slovak books and to compose the Glagolithic alphabet was given by a Slovak ruler. 2. SS. Cyril and Methodius continued in their creative work of the Slovak ecclesiastical language after their advent in Slovakia {2). 3. In the work of translating and writing, SS. Cyril and Methodius were aided by their Slovak pupils, especially by the group under Bishop Gorazd ,(3) . 4. The Slovak people accepted the Slovak ecclesiastical tongue as its own, inasmuch this literary language differed only dialectically from the related language which they spoke at that time. The gigantic strides made by Christianity in Slovakia after the advent of S,S. Cyril and Methodius is proof of this, as are also the numerous monasteries which sprang up in Slovakia from the 9th to the 13th centuries. 5. The Slovak ecclesiastical language was recognized as the language of the Danubian Slovaks by foreign countries (4). 6. When Popes Adrian II and John VII deigned to a:pprove the Slovak language as the language of sacred SLOVAKIA 3 liturgy in the land of the Slovaks ,(5), they placed it on the same level with the other liturgical languages of that time (Hebrew, Greek, Latin). In effect, they made them cultural'ly independent and secured for them spiritual freedom and thereby equating the eastern elements with the western, Byzantium with Rome, organically assimilating them. Indeed, they roused and strengthened the feeling of nationa'l individuality and awakened appropriate awareness which is necessary for cultural aggression (6). This then was supplemented also with the independent Slovak ecclesiastical organization which included the entire ethnic territory of the Slovaks in Pannonia, Slovakia, and Moravia. With the influence of this independent organization, the Slovaks also had political independence. For these six reasons the Slovak nation and its historians regard the language of the liturgy of SS. Cyril and Methodius as a part of history of Slovak literature and an organic part of the general history of the Slovak nation. The correctness of the evaluation of this historical fact is further confirmed by these reasons: 1. In the Cyrilo-Methodian memoirs connected with Great Moravia there are found, even if isolatedly, distinct and lexical Slovakisms (7). 2. The Cyrillic literary and ecclesiastical tradition remained alive in Slovakia even after Latinization took over, when the Latin culture and alphabet came to prevail in Slovak literary history (8). LATIN OVER SLOVAK With the introduction of the Latin liturgy, which took place in the 13th century, a cultural switch resulted. The Slovak cultural basis yielded to the Latin. Latin became the language not only of the liturgy and science, but also became the medium of communication of all public life in Hungary. The higher and lesser nobility used it in political and social life. Slovakia had a large number of the lesser nobility, the "zemani." They, too, adopted Latin as the means of communication. The languages of the individual nationalities were pushed to the background, even 4 SLOVAKIA though we cannot say that they were completely ousted from public life. Slovak, Iike Magyar and the rest of the languages of the peoples of Hungary, continued to be the means of communications of the masses, and the people continued to use it to create their popular compositions. In 1460, for example, we find songs composed in the Slovak vernacular afbout "Michael Szilagyi and Vaclav Had'mazi" {9) •.A1so various songs and many legends a'bout good King Mathias who was a special friend of the living language of the people, because he was brought up in their environment. When the Polish clan of the Jagellos came to the Hungarian and Bohemian thrones, we again see that the Slovak language came to use in the court. Literary memoria:ls of King Vladislav II show linguistic traces of all the Slavonic nations over which he ruled. The letter he wrote to the people of Bratislava in 1492 contains traces of the Slovak, Polish and Czech languages {10). When it came to the spoken word in the Hungarian Assembly, the King was careful to adapt himself linguistically to the Slovaks who at that time, culturally and politically, still formed the nucleus of the Hungarian State. On February 9, 1492, Vladislav opened the Hungarian Assembly in Budin using the Slovak language. His speech was then translated into Magyar by Bishop Valentine of Varadin (11'). The years of the 11th to the 15th century were very trying years for the land of the Slovaks. Just when the Slovak element had ~most completely assimilated the wild Magyar hordes, the Cumans, relatives of the Magyars, tore into Slovakia in the 12th century and devastated the central Danube territory. Also in the 12th century, Slovakia was invaded and pillaged by the Tatars. And during the reign of Andrew II (1205-1235), the crusading armies, marching through Slovakia, did not spare S'lovakia and its inhabitants either. The struggle of various dynasties and noblemen fur the throne of Hungary in those years (Matthew Cak on the side of Vaclav against Charles Robert of the House of Anjou), and then the wild Czech Hussite invasions, were not favor- SLOVAKIA 5 able for cultural development. Nevertheless, Gothic culture, which bloomed in the 14th and 15th centuries in Slovakia, let its rich memorials not only in buildings and other creations, but also in the verba•l art. It is unfortunate that domestic struggles for the throne, the Turkish wars, and the stormy re'belllions of the malcontents in the 17th century destroyed most of these precious architectural and literary acquisitions ('12). From the literary creation of the stirring 13th-16th centuries we nevertheless have the remnants of three kinds of literary memorials: 1. The compositions or letters written by the Slovaks in various Slovak dialects. 2. The literary items of Czech immigrants who settled in Slovakia and wrote in Czech which includes Slovakisms. 3. The correspondence of Czechs to Czechs in Slovakia, or to Slovaks in the Czech language {13) Historians of Czech literature, failing to make a distinction between these letters and documents, include them in the category of Slovak literature, and inasmuch as some of them were written in Czech, they attempted to prove that Slovak literature is really only a branch of Czech literature, because, they said, the Slovaks at first wrote in Czech and only later "separatists" - such as Bernolak and Stur - caused a rupture from Czech literature. Qui bene distinguit, bene docet - et, vice versa, qui male distinguit, male docet. And this saying applies even in the question of the literary language in Slovakia before the time of Bernolak. Therefore, we must clearly distinguish between the three types of literary exipression above. The first group rightfully belongs in Slovak literature and Slovak history. Even though linguistically, especially considering the etymological side, many of these written memorials are written in the Slovak western dialect which resembles the Czech in many respects, they are nevertheless Slovak literary memorials (remembrances) because the western dialect forms a part of the Slovak language as much as do the dialects of central and eastern 6 SLOVAKIA Slovakia. They differ from the Czech in the omission of the soft "R" which is characteristic of the Czech language. The second and third groups of written letters belong to Slovak literature only if we consider them in the wider meaning of the word, that is, as a collection of literary memorials that were written in Slovakia regardless of the language medium used. If, however, we consider it in the narrower sense, then these two groups, since they were not written in Slovak, rather belong to the literature of Czech emigrants. Never, however, can they be considered as proof against the existence of an independent Slovak language, because along with them and independent of them are proofs of independent Slovak creations. This is true not only in regard to the dialect of western Slovakia, which the Czechs like to confuse with the Czech tongue (14), but also in regard to the dialects of central Slovakia, Zvolen, Hont, etc. (15) . Officially, liturgical books of the Roman Catholic Church, inasmuch as they used the national language, already then were oriented directly toward the central dialect e16). Contemporary writers and those who used the western dialect regarded it as the Slovak language. Thus, for example, the productive Protestant preacher Daniel Sinapius Horcicka called his Latin-Slovak dictionary "Neoforum latino-slovenicum"; in 1678, Peter Hrabovsky published his "Manuale Latino-hungarico-slavonicum" in Bardejov; in 162, Peter Benicky wrote his "Verse slovenske P etra Benickeho" (The Slovak verses of Peter Benicky); Daniel Krman (1663-1740), the Lutheran superintendent, used the Czech ot the Kralice Bible for liturgical functions , but outside of that cultivated Slovak as is attested to by his work "Rudimenta grammaticae Slavonicae in gratiam Slovaciorum concinnara." While these grammarians used the western dialect of the Slovak language, the eminent Slovak scholar Mathias Belius (Funtik was his family name) at that time indicated that the central dialect was the genuine tongue of the Slovaks, praising it highly {17 It is necessary, too, to mention something about the 1 ) . SLOVAKIA 7 record books of the various guilds which f1lourished in every Slovak town. The activities of these guilds (minutes of meetings, activities and regulations, etc.), where they are not written in Latin, are recorded in Slovak in the dialect of the respective guilds. Thus, for example, the guild records of Varin, which I made a personal study of, nowhere contain the typical letter of the Czech language, the soft "f," but phonetically mark the spoken Slovak words of that time (18). The same may be said of the guild records of Prievidza (19), and of Trencin ( 20) with their ancient complex orthography. However, the record books of Skalica - inasmuch as Skalica is located on the border of Slovakia and Moravia and was inhaibited by Czech guildmasters - Czech influences are in evidence: where the Master of the guild was a Czech, the Skalica books are written in Czech; where the Master was a Slovak, the entries were in the western Slovak dialect without the typical Czech letter "f" (21). THE SLOVAK OF THE JESUITS The thing that moved the soul of the Slovak people the effort to participate in the cultural life of the world in its own spirit, in its own tongue, and on its own stand - found expression particularly in the efforts of the graduates of the Catholic University of Trnava. This university, founded in 1635 by Archbishop Peter Pazmany in Trnava, the cultural center of western Slovakia, was directed by the Jesuit Fathers. The University of Trnava soon became the cultural center for all of Hungary, but its influence was felt particularly in the Slovak-inhabited parts of the country. The university print shop, in the residence of Canon M. Telegdy, developed into what at that time was considered a gigantic enterprise and it meant the enrichment of the spirituality of all Hungary and of an its nations. Here also Slovak literature was multiplied. It was here that the Slovak lesson books, later dictionaries and religious Slovak writings began to be published. The language of these literary works was the western Slovak dialect 8 SLOVAKIA which was not lexicographically uniform, with shades of the individual western dialects, but it differed from the Czech most typical expressions which are peculiar only to the Czechs and which no Slovak dialect possesses; and the absence of the Cz,ech "r" is plainly evident. Into this western Slovak dialect, which we call "Jesuit Slovak" to differentiate it from the western Slovak dialect which was grammatically codified by Bernolak, more and more forms of the central Slovak dialect gradually penetrated. Thus, for example, in the book of the Senator from Zilina, convert Nicholas Tamasi which was published in 1691 and titled "Prava katolicka rucni knizka" (A True Catholic Manual), we find the words "stiastny, krestjansky," etc., which expressly are central Slovakian forms of present-day literary Slovak, differing from the Czech corresponding forms "kfesfansky, stestny." Besides this, the book "Rituale Strigoniense," published by the Trnava Jesuits in 1715, is written in such beautiful form of the central Slovak dialect that it differs orthographically only to a very little extent from the Slovak which we find in the "Rituale Slovacchiae" which was published in the last decade. The Slovak of the Jesuits - as written and then spoken in plays presented by th~ Jesuits - even though from the beginning not uniform and regulated by rigid orthographical rules, nevertheless is the Slovak language, because the lexicon and the etymology of this language place it in the category of the Slovak language. What is more, the authors of it regard themselves as Slovaks and claim Slovak as their language, expressly distinguishing themselves from other Slovanic nations, even from the Czechs (22). The attempt of Jesuit S'lovak to grammatically unify the language of the Slovaks was made before Bernolak's time, as will be demonstrated shortly, but it was not perfected until Bernolak, the Catholic priest, with his "Dissertatio philologico-critica de literis Slavorum" (published in Bratislava in 1787), united the Slovak linguistic and national effort on the basis of his orthography. SLOVAKIA 9 THE SALUTAR Y INFLUEN CE OF JESUIT CULTURE The Catholic University of Trnava, directed by the Jesuits, left indelible traces in the artistic life of Slovakia. We must credit the Jesuits for the fact that dramatic plays were staged not only in Latin, but also in the Slovak language. The students of the Jesuit colleges presented plays for the people, with a religious or secular theme, in Slovak. They presented a Slovak play in Bratislava already in 1628, and in the Spisske Podhradie in 1648. The actors of Trnava presented Slovak plays in many towns (Skalica, Levoca, Trencin, etc.). They dis-played their talents in Bratislava in the presence of the emperor himself, who expressed himself very favorably about their performanc e (23). The epochal significanc e of the Jesuit lovers of Slovak linguistic art rests in their collection of religious hymns, which they published. In Slovakia, church singing in the language of the people flourished from the oldest times, when ancient Slovak was recognized as one of the few languages of liturgy. The hymn "Hospodine pomiluj ny" comes to us from the tenth century (24). It was followed by many others. Evidence of this is found in the introductio n to the ''Cantus Catholici" ( written in the Spisska Kapitu1a on July 22, 1655, and published by the: University of Trnava), where it is noted that, besides the custom in some churches of rendering the Canon of the Holy Mass in the language of the people, the custom of the choir singing the Kyrie, Gloria, and Credo in the language of the people still obtains in all the Slovak churches of Pannonia (25). So that irrelevant hymns in the vernacular might not find their way into the sa,c red liturgy, ecclesiastic al synods from the earliest times issued rules and regulations pertaining to appropriate church hymns. Thus, in 1114, the Synod of Ostrihom (Estergom) ordered that only the hymns approved by the Synod should be sung in the churches. Similarly the Synod of Nitra, in 1494, ordered the daily reading of the Holy Mass with the singing of hymns in all churches under its jurisdiction in order to bind the people more intimately with the divine service. 10 SLOVAKIA Furthermore, in 1560, the Synod very emphatically commands the people to sing only those hymns in their churches for which there is proof that they had been used a hundred years before in the Catholic churches, or which were approved by the ecclesiastical authority. In 1629, the Trnava Synod directed all priests to see to it that the cantors, who teach singing of church hymns in the schoo[s, use only the hymns which are approved by the General Vicar. The Sy-.iod, convened in Trnava, in 1638, sent out experts of church hymns to collect all hymns which the people sing and present them to the church authority for approval and publication (27:). The professors of the University of Trnava devoted themselves to this task. They made a collection of old Slovak church hymns, supplemented them with new ones, and, finally, B. Szolosi, in 1655, published the collection under the title : "Canthus Catholici. Piesne katolicke a latinske i slovenske: nove i starodavne." This publication had an enormous significance, because it was the first published codification of Slovak church songs. It has enjoyed many editions. The Slovak Jesuits continued to collect and to compose church hymns in the language . of the people. Later they pu'blished a collection titled "Cantiones Catholicae." Many collections in manuscript of this era (17th-18th century) are preserved in Slovak monasteries and museums, foremost among them is the extensive work (1783) of composer Pavlin Bajan, a Slovak Franciscan. In the 19th century more and more church hymnals were published (28). Worthy of mention, too, is the fact that secular Slovak songs, popular ballads, were also collected during the 16th and 17th centuries. The original manuscripts of many of these were pla·ced in the building of the Slovak Museum Association of the Slovak Institute (Matica Slovenska) in Turciansky Svaty Martin. When the Magyars outlawed the association, the material which they did not destroy was transferred to the Magyar National Museum. Very many of the "Canthus Catholici" hymns were 11 SLOVAKIA placed in the latest "Jednotny katolicky spevnik (Unified Catholic Hymnal), published in 1937, on account of their poeticaJ and musical beauty and expression. Thus, the Jesuit cultural and artistic tradition of the 16th century even today is performing its mission and making its influence felt in Catholic Slovakia (29). IN CONCLUSION In its literary creations, the Slovak nation, both spiritually and linguistically, formed an independent linguistic group since the time of church-Slovak literature (the Great Moravian Empire). The existence of Czech literature of Protestant emigrants in Slovakia is not proof that the Slovaks did not have their own literature. When the Slovaks opened their homes hospita bly to the literature of Czech exiles, this does not mean that they closed their homes to their own language, to Slovak literary creations. Unnatural are the literary-historical constructions of some Czech literary historians who, motivated more by imperialistic desires and political efforts than scientific objectivity, use all means to deny the independence of Slovak literary creations, denying even the existence of an independent Slovak language before the time of Bernolak (Prazak, Flajshans, Travnicek). 1 In this treatise we have demonstrated that the Slovak people were conscious of their individuality long before Bernolak's time. What is more, there existed also an independent Slovak literary language as an expression of this independence. At first this language medium was not uniform: literary creations were written in the dialects of the various provinces. Later (16th-17th centuries) came the codification of western Slovak as the language of literature in the works of the S'lovak Jesuits, referred to as the Slovak of the Jesuits. A. Bernolak did not cause a breach or split between the Slovak and Czech languages. There was nothing to split. Slovak and Czech, as mediums of expression of two nations, the Slovak nation and the Czech nation, existed independently from Cyrilo-Methodian times. This is a historic fact. Before Bernolak's time there 12 SLOVAKIA were independent efforts to codify the language of Slovak literature. Whether the language of Slovak literature was the dialect of Trnava ("Jesuit Slovak"), or that of upper ' Nitra (Cama1 dulian translation of the Bible), it was always the language of the Slovaks, as is evidenced by the titles of dictionaries and grammars of that time (1S lavonicum, Slavonicae, Slovacciorum, Slovenske, Slovak, Slovensko, Slavus, Pannonus, etc.). The existence of a uniform "Czechoslovak" language is sheer fiction. It has no historical foundation and is simply the product of Czech imperialism. This was proved long ago, before the advent of modern Czech literary historians, by J. Kohut, an adherent of Osvald's literary group who made an extensive study of thE:' question. Kohut wrote: "From all of this it follows that Catholic Slovaks (and they always were the vast majority of the Slovak nation) never wrote in pure Czech ... Slovak Catholics always used Slovak as their literary medium, being influenced more or less by books which were published in Czech and which they needed because of a lack of their own. From the pre ..Bernolakian, that is the Jesuit, period, our Slovak language appears in books and in writing, which is more similar to the present manner of writing the older are the sources concerned" (30). With its discoveries, the new Slovak literary historical school but confirms the truthfulness of Kohut's claim and finds newer and newer evidences of independent national and linguistic feeling and creativity among the Slovaks. · The objectiveless claim of the adversaries of the independent Slovak language, nay, even their claim that their was no independent Slovak national consciousness before Bernolak's time, is clearly refuted by the fact that quite some time before Bernolak's time (1762-1813 ), in 1728, John Baltazar Magin's (1682-1735) "l\'Iurices ... Sive Apologia . .. " was publish~d in defense of the political rights of the Slovak nation which formed a component part of Hungary. This apology, prepared by Magin at the request of the nobility estates of Trencin, is the highest expression of Slovak national and political self-consciousness and SLOVAKIA 13 a defense of the Slovak language which is a symbol or the characteristic of the Slovak nation. If there were no other documentation to prove the existence of an independent Slovak language and Slovak nationalism before the time of Bernolak, then Magin's "Apologia" would alone be sufficient or adequate. However, the Lord be praised, there are also other evidences, like the translation of the Holy Writ into Slovak (1756) before Bernolak's time, as well as dictionaries, grammars, popular poetic creations, public and private correspondence, etc. From this it follows that the Slovak nation did use its own Slovak language as a manifestation of its own individuality and medium of expression and understanding from the time of the church-Slovak literary memorials (the Great Moravian Empire). From the most ancient times, the Slovak language symbolized the Slovak nation and in the history of the Slovaks these two notions were correlative. REFERENCES 1. The "Cividalsky evangeliar" contains evidence that the Sfo• vaks had direct contact with centers of Christian oivilizati-on in Ital'Y. Con1.pare Jan Sitanislav: "Zo itudia slovanskych osobn,y ch mien v Evanjeliu cividalskom," Slavia X¥1!1[, 194'7, pp. 871-1!()0, and his "Slovenski putnici do Talianska koncom VIII. a v IX. storoci," Nas Narod, m, 1944', w. 89--96. 2. 'Dhe comipletion of the translation of the Hol'Y Writ on October 26, on the territory of Great Moraivia 3. Jan Stanislav: "Slovanski apoitolovia Cyril a Me,tod a ich cinnost' vo Vel'komorav·s kej .risi," Sl<Nenska akademia vded a umeni (SIAV'lJ), Bratislava, 1945; A. A. Banik: "Apostol Gorazd, prvy raz v dejinach spominany slovensky knaz, spisovatel' a svatec," Kultura, IX, 1937. 4. 'Pope Hadrian II's letter to the Slovak princes RJa,s tislav, SviitQ1Pluk and Kocel' . . . "in your language ... " .Afso Pope John \l'III's Bull (880) in which he "legaUy approves and orderu;" the Slovak scru'pture for the Danwbian Slovieni. 5. Pope John VIEI's Bull "lndustriae tuae" to Sviitopluk. 6. Jofo K. Smalov: "Zastoj kato:lkkej hi,e rarchie v slovensk,o m narod,nom a kulturnom zivote, v M/ONS SAINCT!I MAIRIDIINlI, Rufomlberok, 1947, p. 60. 7. Smal'ov, op. cit. 8. Evidence of this are the Cyrillian :firagments found in the old codex of the li!brary of the Spisska Kapitula. See also: Alojz 14 SLOVAKIA Mi§kovic's "Spisske Cyrilske ulomky X ~l.•XilU. storocia (I), lch Nale:r: 1929, pp. 80-,81, and Valer pogorielov's "Spisske Cyrilske ulomky :X:lil.-XIIIII. storocia; ich pOlpis, ro:zJbor a otisk" OJI). pp. 81"87. 9. Jan Kollar: "Narodne Zpievanky," VoI. 1, pp. 31-32, 45, a,nd Vol. lil, pp. 7• and following. 10. CzeC'h and '"Czechoslov;ak" hi'Storians violate history when, without regard to Vladislav Jagiello's origLn, and without re~•ard for lc-ertaiin common orthographical similarities between Czech and Polish, they claim these common Polish4Czech forms as Czechism. The use of "rz" in some documents tn Slovakia in the forim not ,of "R" but "RZ" is not proof di a Czec'hi-sm, but rather is evidence O'f Polish, especially w hen the persons using them are of Polish o·r igin. 111. Jan Por,u/bsky: "K stemu Vyrociu t.iterarnej Slovenciny," 1J945, Obr,ana Press, Scranton, Pa., p. 73. 12. Gillbert L. Oddo: "Slovakia and Its People," Robert Speller and Sons, Ntew Y-0r,k, 1960, p:p. 27-70. 113. The Hrussite Czechs invaded Sloviakia in the 15th century for plunder and to fight against the Slovak nolbility, who preferred a Polish J,a,geiUonian to a Czech on the Hu,n,garian throne. 14. 'llhe ill-<l'aimed Albert Prazak, Flajshans, and others. 1•5. Arn ana'1ysis of these songs from the year 11576 on is in Jan Porulbsky\s work; op. oit., p. 76. 16. 'Dhe 1560 edition of the Ostrihom (lEstergom) Ritual contains centraVSloviak expressions, which sound very much like the Slovak ,of today (krst, sob.a§, etc.). 17. Mathias Funtik, (1687Lli7'49), in his work "lnstitutiones Lin• guae Germanicae et Slavicae in Hunga,ria" (L,evoca, 17,18); "In noth,i,ng is it ,b ehind either the seriousness a,nd ~ra,n deur o'f Spanish, or the charm and smoothness Olf Fr-ench, or the sulbliimity and force of English, or the wealth of meaning and emphasis of German, or the softness and ewphony, of Italy, or, finaHy, the imperious rigor of Magyar." 18. The guild books uf Varin come from the years 1,668-1714; some were ,placed in my l~brary, othens i,n the homes O'f individual guildmasters. 19. Mii!lmlas Misik: "Prievidzke cechy," also his "Mesto Prievidza;" and Jan Poru'bsky, o,p. cit., p. 90. 20. Jlozef Branecky: Zo stareho Trencina," 1928, 1-J!Il[. 21. Jlozef Satek: "Naboienske pomery v Skalici od Reformacie do Jozefinizmu,'' S:polok sv. Vojtecha (SSV), Tr,n,ava, 1J946 (the Czech text of the guild book is quoted on p. 188, the Slovak on p. 200). 'Frantisek V. Sasinek: "Cechovne artikule ievcov v Skalici r. 1615", Sloverusky Letopis m. pp. 31,0.3>14'. livan Houdek: "Cechovnictvo na Slovensku," Turciansky Svaty Martin, 1943. 22. Ev>en J~ros1av Vlcek, lik,e other Czech literary historians, incorreic.tly claims that Stefan D:uibnljlcay wrote in Czech and places his work,s in the Czech ca<tegory. But Dulbnicay, writing in the western .dialect df Slovaki-a, did not use the typi-cal Czech "R" or {[I[)", BratislalV'a, SLOVAKIA 15 "RZ" i.n bis works. In the Latin foreword Olf bi·s "Eductus coluber tortuosus" (l 723~, in the letter Off the Bishop af Vrati.slava (Breslau; W;r6claw in Polish), he di:fiferentiates ·b etween the Slovaks and <nechs (''IBohemi et Slavi"). See Jan Rekem's "Stefan Dubnicay a jeho doba" (in the chapter titled "Slovanske narodne povedomie v d1ele St. Dubnicaya"), Trencin, 19412. 23. St. JuroV1Sky: "Jezuitske divadlo na Slovensku." 24. Accord~ng to Skultety, it is necessary to seek the origin, of this song in Slovakia. 25. Benedikt Szolosi, S.J. (1609-1656), in the introduction to Cantus Catholici, Trnava, 1655. 26. C. Peterfy: "Sacra Concilia Eccl. R. Cath. in Regno Hungariae celebrata, I, 1,74!1·, p. 60 (ca,p. XIIJW). "Nihil legatur vel cantetur in Ecclesia, nisi q:uod fuer'it in Synodo collaudatum." '217. Jan Postenyi: "Privet, Jednotny Katolicky Spevnik," Trnava, SSV, 193'7 . .28. The "large edition" of the ".Tednotny Kratolicley S'pevnik" (1937) mentions eight various hymnals which were published, some Olf which went into several editions. 29. F'or t.he history o.f Slovak spiritual songs of this era, see Dr. Jan Rlikem's "Teplanske duchovne piesne. Zo star!ej eschatologickej poezie trencianskeho Povaiia," Celko, Tr-enci,n,, 1~. 30. Literarne Listy, 1891:, pp. 64-66. LITERATURE Banik A. A.: "Slovenska rec a jej ... vyvoj", in the Pamatnica (Album) of the Tatran, Brno, 1923; "Jan Baltazar Magin a jeho politicka narodna i kulturna obrana Slovakov," in the Sbornik ~Magazine) LV-0, SSV, Vol. Jilil, No. 1•2, Tr.navia, 1936. •B obek W.: "Prehl'adne dejiny slov. literatury," Bratislaiva, 1'939. Botto Jul.: "Slovaci. Vyvin ich narodneho Povedomia," Tore. Sv. Miar,tin, 11923. ·B ujnak P.: "Hlavne prudy a snahy v literature Slovenskej do L:. Stura," slovemiska citanka, Praha, 1925. IBranecky J. : "Zo stareho Trencina," Trencin, 1928. Bucko V. : "Reformne hnutie v arcibiskupstve ostrihomskom do r. 1564," Bratislava, 1939; "Mikulas Olah a jeho doba," B;r,atislrav-a, 194!0. Corpusiuris Hungarici, Budae, 1.717·9. Fejer G.: "Codex diplomaticus Hungariae ecclesiasticus et civilis," Budae, 1829-1844. Faith St.: "Slovenski katolicki kazatelia X~lll. storoc:M," Teologica Catholica Slovaca, Br,a tislava, I, 1941. IFlajshans V.: "Pisemnictvi ceske," Praha, 1901. [)iels P.: "Altkirchenslavische Grammatik," Heidellbe:iig, 1, 193~; ][, 1934. Dorosenko D.: "Slavianskij Svit," Berlin, 19.22. Dubn-iczaj St.: "Eductus coluber tortuosus," Tyrnaviae, 1.7•23. 16 SLOVAKIA Hodza M.: "Ceskoslovensky rozkol," Turc. Sv. Martin, 1920. iHoudek I.: "Cechovnictvo na Slovensku," Turc. ,Sv. Martin, 1943. Hrusovsky F.: "Slovenske Dejiny," Turc. Sv. Martin, 1939. tHuri>an J. M.: "Slovensko a jeho iivot literarny," Siovenske pohl'ady, 11847. Chaloupecky V.: "Stare Slovensko," Bratislarva, 1!}23,; "Kniha Zilinska,'' Bratislava, 1934'; "Stredoveke listy ze• Slovenska,'' Bratislava--Praha, 1937. C'hrobak D.: "Rukovat' dejin slov. litera,tury," Prnha-IBratislava, 1932. !Kacka-J. !Kramoris: "A Short Histo.ry of Slovak Literature," The National News, Pittsburgh, Pa., 1944. Kirschbaum J.: "Slovak Nation At the Crossroads of Central Eu.rope," New York, 1·960. Kollar J.: "Narodne Zpievanky," I, LI, Budin, 1835. !Krcmery St.: "Prehl'ad dejin slovenskej literatury a vzdelanosti," '1:urc. Sv. Martin, 1921. I.tepacek C.: "Frantiskani v slovenskej literature pred Bernolakom," Kultura, Trna,va, 193'7. Lesldev A.: "Grammatik der Altbulgarischen Sprache," Heide]berg, 1919. Jialkulbec J.: "Dej iny lit. c:eske," fil, Praha, 1,93'2. Jirecek J.: "Rukovet' k dejinam Lit. c:eske," Praha, 1•875. Jlungman J.: "Histo.rie literatury c:eske," Praha, 18419. Misik, M.: ''Husiti na Slovenslkiu," Banska Bystriica, 1'9 28; "Prievidza," Trnava, 1'944. Miskovic A.: "Spisske Cyril,ke ulomky x ,11.-XIII. storocia. I. lch NalH," m, Bratislava, 1929. M.islm\'ic A.-Pisut M.: "Dejiny slovenskej literatury,'' Bratislaiva, 1,941. Miiklosich F.: "Vergleichende Gramma•t ik der Slavischen Sprache, I-IV," Heidelberg, 1926. Oddo Gilbert: "Slovakia and Its People," New York, 1960. -Osva1d R.: "Literarne Listy," 1891~11894. P,e trik G.: "Magyar bibliographiaja,'' Buda,pest, 1'888. P-o gorielov V.: "Spisske cyrilske ulomky, II. lch popis, rozbor a otisk," Bratislava, m, 1929. Porulbslky J.: "K stemu vyrociu literarnej slovenciny," Scranton, Pa., 19415. Prazak A.: "Dej iny spisovnej slovenc:iny po dobu Sturovu," Praha, 1922; "Rukovet' dej iny c:eske literatury," Tu\aha, 19211; "Sbornik I. sjezdu slovanskych filologu v Praze 1929," Pr-a ha, 1932; "Slovenska svojskost','' Bratislava, 1,92'6. iRekem Jan: "Stefan Dubnicaj a jeho doba," Trencin, 1943; "Z kultur• nych dejin Trencianskeho Povaiia," Trencin, 1943; "Teplanske duchovne piesne. Zo s,tarsej eschatologickej poezie," Trencin, 1943; "Bibliografia trencianskych tlac:i a vydani," Trencin, 1194!4. Rizner U.: "Bibliografi.a pisomnictva slovenskeho," Turc. Sv. Mar~n, 1933'. Rarpant D.: "K poc:iatkom mad'arizacie," Bratislaiva, 1931; "Mad'ar6nstvo Bernolakovo," Bratislava, 1930. 17 SLOVAKIA Sasinek V.: "Slovensky Letopis," I-ll!l!I. Stanislav J .: "Zo studia slovanskych osobnych mien v Evanjeliu c1v1d,a lskom," Slavia, XVl]l, 1947';"Slovenski put111ici do Talianska koncom VIII . a v IX. storocia," Nas narod, lil, 1'944;"Slovanski apostol'ovia Cyril a Metod a ich cinnost' vo Vel'komoravskej risi," SAVIU, Bratislava, 1945. Sa!fari1k P. J .: "Geschichte der slaw. Sprache und Literature," Prag, 1869. Sabek J.: " Naboienske pomery V Skal ici od .reformacie do jozef inizmu," SSV, 'Jlrnaiva, 1946. Smalov.JKutniik J.: "Zastoj katolickej hierarchie v slove-nskom na rodnom a kulturnom iivote," Mons Seti Martini, Rufomberok, 1947. Spirko J .: "Cirkevne dejiny," 'l'urc. Sv. Martin, 1943. Varsik B.: "Husiti a reformacia na Slovensku do iilinskej synody," Brati:slava, 119312; "Nar'o dnostny problem t.rnavskej univerzity," Bratislava, 1:9318. Vlcek J .: "Dejiny literatury slovenskej," Turc. Sv. MiartJin, 192 3; "De jiny litel'atury ceske," Pr,a ha, 1'93 1! Weiss-Nage'1 Sit.: "Jezuitske divadlo na Slovensku v XVII. a XVIIII. storoci," in the Album of th,e Trnavia University 163&-177f71, 'l'r,nava, 1'935. ZeUiger A.: "Egyhazi ir6k csarnoka," Nagysz,ombat, 1893; "Pantheon 1 1 Ty.rnav iense bibliographicam continens recens ionem operum typis Tyrnaviensibus aa1578-1930 editorum iconibus nonnullis i llustratum," Tyrnaviae, 1'931. RED C~ECH eX:perts, including experts on police and espionage ma't'ters, arie in Oulba to heip Fidel Oastro in his fight ag-aii,nst Amer.i.can imperialism, a·ccording to reports. The head of a Cuban delegation, which arrived in Prague in July of this year, was headed by A. N. Jliiminez, who wa·s promptly awa,rded 'I1he Order of the Wlhite Lion, t he highest Czech decoraltion. Raul Castro, attending the Spartacus Games in J uly, was also given the award. 'l'he Czech Reds haive granted Cuba vredits of $20,000,000 and have undertaken to build eight factories worth $3'2,000,000. A<nd to think of it, the United States was respons1ble for t he esta'blishmenlt of CzechoSlov-a kia back in 191,8! 1 plied. La&t year 20 were aUowed to take lllP studies for the priesth ood. The NITRA diocese. in 1960, lost 15 priests by death, re'tlirement, and "other reasons"; O!llil.y one priest was ordained in that year. The 'I1R!NAVtA diocese is short 240 pniests. In 1961 only eleven priests were ordained for the whdle of Slovak'ia. The Czech Reds of Prague corut'inue their systematic persecution of the Catholic Ohurich in Slovakia. )Jg )Jg )Jg THE "PRAVDA" of Bratislava (Sept. 26, 1'9611) tr•a1msl-ated a column by Drew Pearson and pulblis'hed it in Sloviak. It had appeared in the NIEW YORIK MiIRlRO!R and d'e alt wit·h the "Berliin issue." )Jg )Jg )Jg The Pravda article was tiitled "Cas THE BRATISLAVA SEMINARY a uda,l osti su proti USA." (Time was allowed to accept 15 applicants and Events Are Against 11he USA). even though 80 young men had ap- Obviously it suited the Reds.  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Origin and Development of the Slovak Language Description An account of the resource Dr. John Rekem Slovakia, Vol. 12, No. 1 (35), March-June 1962 pp. 1-17 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rekem, Ján, 1917-1989 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource March-June 1962 LCNAF https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/225c67a1f19614b755cfcea0f49a34ca.pdf 4d472700766a1ce54206fca5d53c2688 PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA 7 The Origin and Development of the Slovak Literary Language 1 Konstantin V. Lifanov The history of the Slavic literary languages has developed rapidly over the last few decades as an independent linguistic discipline. Scholars have reviewed the objects of their study and defined them more precisely , and even attempted to develop optimal methods of research, all of which has made it possible for them to make adequate assessments of actual linguistic data, and to avoid imposing their contemporary perceptions on the past. For example, the use of socio1inguistic concepts has been very fruitful in the study of certain Sla- vic literary languages. However, many problems have so far remained uninvestigated. Thus Kretschmer, surveying the overall level of research into Slavic literary languages, declares that in spite of the amount of material that has already appeared, the processes whereby the Slavic literary languages emerged still remain to be worked out, as well as their regularities and specific features. 2 This conclusion also applies to the history of the Slovak literary language. Many texts written in Slovakia before the language was codified remain uninvestigated from the lingui stic point of view. There are hardly any comparative studies of texts of different ge nres or from different eras. Nevertheless , comparative study is the only 1 I deeply thank Professor Robert Orr and Professor M. Mark Stolarik for English corrections of this paper. 2 Anna Krechmer (Anna Kretschmer), " Sravnitel'naja istorija slavjanskich literatur- nych jazykov: Yoprosy metodologiji " , Vjestnik Moskovskogo uni vers iteta. Seria 9. Filologia. 3, I 998, p 48. �8 SLOVAKIA method that makes it poss ible to define the real status of co nc rete for ms a nd to determine, e.g., whether a give n for m is mere ly the result of a language error, because, e.g., a give n wri te r did not know the coeva l language norm , or of sty li stic variat ion arisin g from a g ive n genre of wri tin g, or a typical lin gui st ic feat ure characteristic of the Slovak written tradition as a whole. But if we cannot determine the status of concrete forms , we ca nnot qualify the essence of differe nt lang uage for mati o ns in the hi story of Slovak , a nd therefore we cannot compre he nd the process of the emergence and subseque nt deve lopme nt of the Slovak literary language eithe r. In its turn, this situation in the hi story of the Slovak literary language ope ns up the poss ibility of arbitrary interpretations, ofte n aris ing from extra lin gui st ic factors. Thus it is wide ly believed, mainly outside Slovakia, that the Slovak literary language emerged in the late 18 th century by differe ntiating itse lf from Czech , and that previous ly Slovaks had used Czech as their literary language. We may trace the sources of thi s beli ef to the concepts of some Czech lingui sts3, who did not recognize the di stinctiveness of Slovak and considered it merely a variant of a unitary Czechoslovak language. According to a seco nd view of thi s problem, which has been "official" in Slovak lingui stics since the mid- I 950 's, distinct languages - cultural West Slovak, Central Slovak, and perhaps East Slovak had emerged in Slovakia before the codificatio n of the Slovak literary language. Subsequently Bernolak 's 1787 codification was based o n c ultu ra l W est Slovak a nd Stur's ( I 840 's) on cultural Central Slovak. There is also a third view, accord in g to which the Slovak literary lang uage arose as a res ult of interact ion between the Czech literary language and Slovak (mainl y West Slovak) dialects. It was shared by ' See Albert Prazak , Dejiny spisovne slovenstiny po dobu Sturovu (Brati slava, 1922), A lbert Prazak , Cesi a Slovaci (Praha 1929) and Vaclav Yazny "Spisovny jazyk slove nsky", Ceskos lovenska vlasti veda , Rada 11, Sp isovny jazyk Cesky a s/ovensky (Praha 1936) pp. 145-2 15. �SLOVAKIA 9 many Slovak linguists from I 900-1950.4 We embarked upon the study of thi s problem without preconceptions, and intended to base all conc lusions so lely on the analysis of concrete lin gui stic material and modern literary language theory. We cannot outline our theoretical fram ework in thi s paper, and therefore we can only refer to the first chapter of our book.5 Research into the problem of the Slovak literary language should take as its starting point the 14 th century, when Old Czech began to develop into an interethnic literary lan guage in Central Europe. At the same time it also penetrated into Slovakia. Stani slav, Kiraly , & Pauliny 6 show that in Slovakia copiers of Czec h texts tried to adhere to Czech norms. Infrin gements of these norm s tended to be iso lated and accidental , and may be described as simple errors. But as early as CC 14 - 15 fo ur changes - three phonolog ical and one morpholog ical - are attested in texts quite regul arly: the loss of the phoneme Iii, the loss of jotation in labials before lel < *e, *r, the affrication oft; d ' > c, dz, and the repl ace ment of vocati ves by nominatives. These processes constitute the initial stage of development of Old Czec h in Slovaki a, and its iso lation from the language functionin g in the Czech heartland. In the first place, we studied the further deve lopme nts of th ese phenom e na in th e spiritu a l literature of Slovak Catholics. • See , for exa mple, J. Y lkolinsky (Czambel 's pseudon ym) "O '·prvej " knihe slovenskej ", Z i ve na, 2, 1885, pp 230-240 . Henri ch Bartek, "S pi sov ny j azyk slovensky", Slovenska rec. 6, 1937- 1938, pp 50-57 and l.'.udovft Novak. "Cestina na Slove nsk u a vzn ik spisovnej slovenciny ", Slovenske pohl'ady . 54, 1938, pp 105-111. 159- 173, 2 17-222, 28 1-287. 5 Konstantin V. Lifanov, Genezis slovackogo literaturnogo jazyka . LINCOM Stu - dies in Slavic Linguistics, 21 (Munich 200 I ), pp. 18-4 1. 6 Jan Stani slav . " Zur Frage der Slowazismen in den alttschechi schen Denkmalern ", Zeitschrift fiir Slawistik. Bd. I, Heft 4. 1956. pp. 58-70, Bd. II . Heft I , 1957, pp. 3751 , Peter Kiraly. Zur Frage der altesten slowak ischen Sprachdenkmdlern" , Studia Slavica Academiae Scientiaru m Hungaricae. 4, 1958, pp. I 13- 158 , Eugen Pauliny, "Zac iatky kulturneho jazyka slovenskej narod nos ti ", Jazykovedne stridie. 6, 196 1. pp. 28-39. �SLOVAKIA The re pl ace me nt of /f/ by Ir/ spread ra pidl y, alm ost over a ll S lovak wri tings , inc ludin g sp iritua l literature . By the time " Ol a.h 's Ritu a l" was tra ns lated (ca. I 550 - 1600) Iii was an obvio us, very irreg ul ar arc ha ism (proti nassy m mrskym hfJc hum ). In the re li gious treati ses of B. Smrtnik and A. Macsay , publi shed in 1697 and 171 8 res pecti ve ly, it is attes ted ma inl y in fo rm s of the ve rb ffc i , mos t probabl y as a pure ly orthographi ca l conve nti o n (Prosil ne kdy gedon Prite le sweho rikuce), but it is co mpletely absent in the manuscripts in vesti gated (the Ca ma ldul Bible ( 1756- 1759), and th e se rm ons of Mokos ( 1752- 1774), Vrabel ( I 766), and Bajan ( 1760- 177 1)). The deve lopme nt of /JI after labi a l co nso nants and before l e/ < *e, *~ was sli ghtl y di ffe re nt. The primary stages of thi s process were ide nti ca l to those in vo lved in the repl aceme nt of If/. Thus, according to Paulin /, exa mpl es of th at deve lopme nt still c lea rl y predominated in the I 5th century " Muni ch Confess ion al Formula" ( 16 fo rms with /j/ and three without), but they were refl ected incons iste ntl y as earl y as " Ol a.h 's Ritu al," as a rul e in the idi omati c fo rmul as at the end of verses (s stebau Bohe m Otcem y Duc he m Swatym bud ' cest y c hwa la na wieky wiekow. Amen). The di ffere nti ati o n betwee n genres based on the presence or absence of fo rms w ith or w itho ut /jl is characte ri sti c of later texts. Onl y fo rm s without /JI occ urred in the language of sermons, inc luding Baj an 's (tuto bude lakomec w Negwecsy potrebe), in spite of the situ ati on in hi s nati ve di a lect (Zahorsky), whe re fo rm s w ith /JI are still c urrent. However, fo rms w ith /JI re mained in the " hi ghe r" genres (in the " Bible" a nd re lig io us treati ses) and in Macsay 's la nguage they are used quite freque ntl y (T yto Pobudky ma clowek ws rdcy swem pilne vwafowati ; kri wdy net1pet1). Spec ial vocati ve for ms, and nom inati ves used as vocati ves, were lost in the maj ority of Sl ovak di alects. They were restri cted to animates in spiritual Catho li c literature (radu g se tec hd y Narod Uhersky 7 Eugen Paul iny, ·'Mnfchovska spovedna formu la" , Jazykovedny casopis. 10. no. I , 1959, p. 30. �SLOVAKIA 11 /Vrabel/ - A braham e, A braham e ne wsta hug ruky tweg na djte /Macsay/). In contrast to Literary Old Czech, anim ate noun s w ith palatal ste ms had the same endin gs as nouns with no n-palatal ste ms (chce m rect du sso kresta nska bludica /M okos/ ; Czec h du se!. It is inte resting that these were the very forms that Berno lak codi fied. The hi story of the affricates c and dz(< t'and d ') shows that new fo rm s did not always oust co mpe tin g o lde r fo rms as a res ult of the loss of the oppos ition " literary - non-literary." In thi s case the te ndency was c hanged and the literary language lost the affri cates. They were w ides pread in I 4'h - I S'h century writin gs, but o nl y iso lated examples appeared in I 8'h century Catho li c literature (strhel se weter, zrucil dom /Vrabel/) . Th ese fo ur phe no me na are c uri o us ly s imil ar: they occ urred in literary Old Czech, but onl y sporadi ca ll y, occ urring in tex ts as errors by Czec h copy ists. These fo rm s deve loped into competin g doubl ets in the Slovak writte n language. However, the affri cati on of t'and d' differed from the other phenome na, in th at it made the phonol og ica l syste m more compl ex (the phone mes ga ined an additi onal artic ul atory feature) , while the othe r phe nome na, on the contrary , s implified the system , because they in vol ved the loss of a ph one me, or a pos iti onal vari ant of a phoneme, or a gra mm ati ca l fo rm . He nce we mi ght sugges t th at ph e nome na simpli fy in g a syste m preva il in co mpetiti o n in th e earl y stage of deve lopme nt of a literary la nguage outs ide its core ethni c te rritory, but phe no me na complicatin g it do not. Thi s is also suggested by the fact that it was not until the mid- I 8'h century th at the ph one me dz < *dj pe netrated the la nguage of spiritua l li teratu re; prev io us ly it had been co nsiste ntl y repl aced by /z/, or rare ly by Id '/ (zretedlne p ot wrz uje [pa n- S lovak po twrdzuj e] to wssec ko Job; skrze pokanj z te ho sna se probud'uje [pan-Sl ovak prebudz uje] /Macsay/) . The re was an esse ntial di ffe re nce between sporadi c pheno me na and doubl ets in wri tten Old Czec h. T he latte r survived as vari ants fo r almost the who le hi story of the language of Slovak Cath o li c literature, e .g., the refl exes of so-ca ll ed regress ive uml aut, i.e., the deve- �SLOVAKIA 12 lopment of tautosyllabic -aj- to -ej- in Old Czec h, and the emerge nce of the co nso nant clu ster sr:. c haracterist ic of Old Czech and Central Slovak, from sc- (< *stj-, *skj- , a nd *sk- before fro nt vowe ls). The first phenomenon was subject to a degree of gra mmaticali zation , as may be deduced from the fac t that no n-uml au ted seq ue nces obviously predomin ated in imperati ve fo rm s (ne mess kag obratjtj se ku Pa.nu Bohu /Macsay/) , but variation in the superlati ve forms of adjectives and adverbs was maintain ed as late as the mid- 18 th century, and usage mai nl y depended on the indi vidu al taste of the respecti ve author (pod'te a pod mym stjnem odpocjwagte - eopustili nalezk i swe a cestu nagtwrdssu /the " Bible"/; krize a proti wenstwy trpezliwe znassagme - sa m Tyran ze swym negmlacssym sine m /Vrabel/). Forms w ith sc- a nd st: were used in re li g ious texts throu ghout the pe ri od covered by the research , regardl ess of the orig ins of their authors (gegjho pak narozenj cas gesste oppodal byl - Pridrzme se th gessce S. Paw la /Macsay/). It was onl y in mid- I 8 century sermon s that th e tendency towards regional differentiation of th ese forms e merged: Makos used on ly fo rms with st:, following hi s nati ve Cen- tral Slovak dial ect (kazani takow i mestiane bi zas lu zili ), while Bajan, from Western Slovakia, mostly used forms w ith sc- (kde tenkrat bude Utociisscie hri ssniku). The process of for mati on of lin gui stic norms, which mu st have ex isted , may be observed from the lin gui st ic mate ri al th at ca n be g leaned from the written records. The occ urre nce of nati ve Czech and nati ve Slovak for ms in texts was not random, but governed by certain rules: firstl y the primary literary and non-literary fo rms arose, the n the primary non-literary form usuall y ousted the primary literary one. These processes, however, were subject to the princ ipl e of flexibl e stability8, whereby they were impl e me nted sy nchroni ca ll y, and thu s co ntinuity was ma intain ed be tween th e written languages of diffe re nt epoc hs. Thus, the fo ll ow in g new phe nomena, untypi ca l of " Yi lem Matezius ( Yi lem Matesius), ·'O neobchodimosti stab il'nost i litera turnogo jazyka" . Praiskij lingvisticeskij krniok (Moskva. 1967). p. 38 1 �13 SLOVAKIA earlie r writings, are attested in the tran slation of the "Ol ah Ritual ": □ unco ntracted forms of the gen., dat. and loc. sg. of femi nine adjecti ves e ndin g in fun ctional non -pa lata l conso na nts o usted the corresponding co ntracted forms (podl e tagneg radd y otcowskeg a dobrotiweg wu le twey); □ there was vari ation betwee n the nati ve Czech in str. forms of the pronouns ty and seba with the root vowe l o, a nd the nat ive Slovak ones with the root vowe l e, but the native Slovak forms prevailed (s steba u Bohe m otcem y s Duchem Swatym - s tobou bohem Ot- cem s Duchem Swatym); □ both the short and lon g forms of participl es were used as predi cati ves (za hrj c hy nasse vcinen gest - kterjmz to byl zapaleny proti nassy m mrskym hrjchum), etc. Some phe nome na are first attested in the lang uage of Smrtnik's re li gious treati se: □ the an im ate ge n.-acc. plural (Wide l pyssycych se A nge luw; cf. "Olah Ritua l": ze sy pro nas lidj hrjssne vkri fo wany) ; □ a n epenthetic vowel in masc uline forms of the /-participl e of consonant ste ms (polozil ho na Oltari na hranjcy drew a wstahe / ru ku ; cf. a n examp le fro m " Olah 's Ritu a l": z nes / zuriwy hnew otce tweho wecneho) ; □ the gramm ati ca li zation of piehlask a9 , prese rved in so me form s and lost in others, e.g., it is preserved in participial and verba l adverbia l endings, but beginning to be lost in present verb forms (gako Rewy we wykwjtagicy Winnicy; smegjce se pobij za k bytwe; pred Ssediwinamj wassymj Ml ads sy hore powstawagj - Dijtky zros- 9 Pieh/iska denotes the series of comprehensive progressi ve vowe l changes, unique to earl y Czech within Slavic. which was ori ginall y manifested co nsisten tl y in the morphology. but later reduced due to analogical pre ssures. Basically, it involved the frontin g and raising of vowels after origin ally soft consona nts. e. g .. u/ice < * ulica. biicho < * br ·ucho. see. e. g .. Miroslav Komarek. Historicka mluvnica ceski. 1: Hlis k os l ovf (Praha. 1962). pp. 62-66, I 15-118 , 153; 1964: 17, 18. 54; Charl es Townsend & Laura Janda. Common and Comparati ve Slavic (Indi ana 1996), pp. 9 192. I 6 I. I 63 , 272. �SLOVAKIA 14 tie wchazagu do sklepu); □ the spread of the genitive of the pronoun onilony to the acc., with both forms used as variants (pi su ge y pro tebe - prikazal aby se zem otewrela a za ziwa gych pozrela), etc. The majority of the features peculiar to the language of spiritual literature spread in the first half of the 18 th century. These trends are shown in the lan guage of Macs ay's religious treatises, which a lso contains the following further innovation s: □ masculine loc. pl. forms in -och (zalezelo to znamenj na skut- koch geho zazracnych; cf. nenj wskutcych miloserdenstwj (Smrtnik)); □ the dat. , loc. and instr. pl. of noun s such as kost' fo ll ow the pattern of ulice/iena (pri ledagakyc h wecech se zabaw ugu - a w smetach hrjchuw lezite); □ the spread of the loss of sy llabic sonants in abso lute word- final position , apart from /-participles, where this process took place earlier (Ale o Swaty Otce wyswet li vmysl twug - gakz ty s wilozjl smyse/ geho), etc. However, some Czech elements were very stable and were used almost universally: □ the sequence ji- in word-initial position , in contrast to Slovak i- (gako by mluwil a prisahal gim ("The Bible"); □ velar/alternations in the dat/loc. sg. of feminine nouns (Zadag- jcymu wodi mleka dala a na ssalce knj zatskeg podala ("The Bible") and in the nom pl. of adjectives agreeing with animates (A le zase pocali synowe Yzrahelsty ciniti zle weci ("The Bible"), etc. These processes obviously demon strate the modification of Old Czech as it was transformed into a standardised written language. Its structure consisted of native Czech and native S lovak elements used according to fairly strict rules. Such phenomena, maintained in Slovak, but lost in contemporary Literary Czech, are direct evidence of its clear connection to Old Czech. Apart from analogical doublets in literary Old Czech and in the language of Slovak Catholics, these are as follows: �SLOVAKIA □ 15 the preservati o n of the auxili ary in 3rd person verb fo rm s of the /- parti c ipl e un til the mi d- I 8 th century (a kralostwy sweho nekoncene ho pocatek gest ucinil (Mokos); ze ges t guz pri dwerac h wibehei protj ne mu / Baja n/); suc h fo rm s were co mpl ete ly lost in S lovak di alec ts by abo ut the I 5th ce ntury1°, and they were very ra re in Czec h writings by the 16 th century; 11 □ the e ndin g -u/-ti in the inst. sg. of fe minine noun s and adjec- ti ves, and also so me personal pronouns, in all works of Catho lic literature, inc ludin g authors of Central Sl ovak o ri g in , altho ugh they do not ac tu all y occ ur in Central Slovak (S krotite le Sweta A lexand ra M ladeho kw itnu cj ho strilku swu ra nil a; Pod se mnu odegdi (S mrtni k)); □ no d iphthongs apart from uo in the "Ol ah Ritu al", partic ul arly in Smrtni k 's re li g io us treati se, whi c h co ntinu es th e s itu ati o n in Literary Old Czec h (Oleg obmekssuge kuoie (S mrtni k)); □ gemin ates in the same words as in Literary O ld Czech (podle tagneg raddy Otcows keg /Olah/), etc. The language of S lovak Catho li c literature, howeve r, was indepe nde nt. It deve loped accordin g to its ow n rul es, in co ntrast to those of Old Czec h and Slova k di alec ts. Spec ific processes e merged rapidly, e.g., th e above- me nti o ned grammati ca li zati on of piehlask a, plus the follow ing: □ most masc uline no un s have gen. pl. fo rm s in -u w, whi ch is absent fro m Slova k di alects, and was lost in literary Czech (odwede l od rodiczuw, od prateluw /Vrabel/); □ an oppos iti o n between fe minin e adj ectives with ste m-fin al no n-palata l a nd ste m-fi na l palatal co nso na nts, beca use th e latte r fo rm s also had contracted gen. , dat. a nd loc. fo rm s (V < *Vj V; Mlc zim , abi ch w dnessny (< *-j-) Reczy meg d luhy ne bil /Bajan/), whil e the fo rmer had uncontracted fo rms; □ Ill 11 the de limi tati on of gen. and acc. pl. fo rms of animate nouns as Rudolf K rajcov ic, Nacrt dejfn slovenskeho jazyka (Bratislava, 197 1) p. 143 A rn ost L amprec ht, Dusan Slosar & Jaros lav Bauer, Historicka mlu vnice cestiny (Praha, 1986), p. 244 �SLOVAKIA 16 observed in Macsay ' s lan guage, and in the language of the " Bible" (ge n.: okolo deset ti syc uw wseckych sy lnych a udatnych Muiuw; acc.: kdiz zachwatili dwoch mu iti s knjzat Madyanskych /th e " Bible"/); □ the appearance of spec ial gen. sg. forms of the pronouns ty and seba, with -o- in the root (a le podobne wecy pro sobe od druheho slissetj pohrdagj (S mrtnik)), etc. Many native Slovak elements in the language of Slovak Catholic literature were pan-Slovak, but some of them directly indicate the region of Slovakia which played the main role in the formation of the Slovak written tradition : West Slovak. This is espec iall y true of features that do not occur in other Slovak dialects, primarily Central Slovak, such as , e.g.: □ diphthongs tended to be lost; □ -e in the endings of adjectives with a ste m-fi nal pal atal (ni c nad neho neni twrdsseho /Mokos/; Czech t vrdsfho; North Central Slovak tvrdsieho, South tvrdsiho/tvrdsiho) ; □ non-contracted gen. , dat. , and acc . forms (in the latter case if agreeing with animate noun s) of masc uline and neuter possessive adjectives (abich guss kpredsewzeti mogemu mluwil /Mokos/; Czech memu; Central Slovak m 6jmu); □ epenthetic -e- in masculine /-part iciples (Ce ntral Slovak -o-; a do stawu sweg Boskeg milosti pren esel /Mokos/; Czech pienes /; Central Slovak preniesol) , etc. D moreover, many native Czech e lements remained unchan ged, because they also occur in West Slovak as a whole, or in its SouthWestern subdial ects, e.g.: D the sequence rot- as a reflex of Common Slavic c ircumflex *6rt- (aby rostlo nany Hlozj a Trnj (S mrtnik ); Czech and Wes t Slovak rostlo; Central Slovak nistlo); □ the vowel e as a refl ex of Common Slavic strong *b (a gedna zadruhu wen zkostola wichazali /Mo kos/ ; Czech and West Slovak ven; Central Slovak von ); D the ending -em in the loc. sg. of masc uline and neuter adjec- �17 SLOVAKIA ti ves (aby na hrobowem kamenj tyto slowa wy kresatj dali /M acsay/ ; Czech and West Slovak hrobovem ; Centra l S lovak hrobovom ); □ the endin gs -e and -owe in the no m. pl. of anim ate no un s (nadto y pry tele daleko od stupili od ne ho /the " Bible"/ ; mn ozy p atriarcho we, mnozy kni zata a w udcowe /V rabel/; Czech p hite le , patriarchove, vudcove; West S lovak prate/e, patriarchove, vodcove; Central Slovak priatelia, patriarchovia, vodcovia) , etc. The typical West Slovak elements occ urring in Catho li c literary texts were as fo ll ows: □ the lack o f sy ll abic sonants from ori gin al sequences of conso- nants plus b i b + I (iluc Draku w gest wino geg ich (Smrtnik); Czech i luc; Central Sl ovak i lc; the isogloss was located on the territory o f South-Western (Trnava) di alects); □ the instr. sg. e ndin g -e m in masc uline and ne uter no un s (A sed'e la pod strom em palmowym, ktery m enem gey m sa menowal /the " Bible"/ ; Czec h, Zahorak, and some adj acent Trn ava di alec ts stromem, jmeneml m enem ; Central Slova k and other Wes t S lovak di alects have -om : stromom , menom), etc. Althou gh thi s lin g ui stic form ati on does di splay territori a ll ybased di alect di vergences, mai nl y in sermons, di alectal fea tures have not totall y submerged its characteri sti c pan-di alectal elements. If we compare the lin gui stic structures of Slovak Catholic literature and Berno lak 's codifi cation, we may conc lude that the codi ficati on was not somethin g new in princ iple. Nati ve Czec h fea tures occurring in , e.g., both the language of Slovak Catho li c literature and Berno lak's codifi cati on, clearl y de mo nstrate the c lose co nnec ti on between the two. These features are as fo llows: □ contracted fo rm s of possess ive adjecti ves (m eho, etc.) ; □ dat. sg. fo rms of ori g in all y soft-stem neuter noun s, whi ch d is- pl ay the refl exes of the ceska p fehlask a, i.e., u>i (srdci); □ □ neuter noun s endin g in -nf (stawaiif); parti c ipl es and verba l ad verb s w ith pieh/aska in suffixes ( wolag icf, wolagic); □ the I" person subjuncti ve of by t' in -ch, incl ud in g co mpoun d �SLOVAKIA 18 conjunctions (e.g., abich); □ the sequence ji- in word-initial position (gim), etc. The material being analyzed shows that the language of Catholic literature had many features characteristic of a literary language. It was cultivated, selective, functionally homoge neous, and essentially supra-dialectal. For its definitive identification as such , it needs to be ascertained whether it was only a religious style or multifunctional , and whether it was widespread over the whole of Slovakia. In order to answer the first question we compared the language of Catholic literature to the language of secular baroque poetry , based on the following texts: P. Benickfs [original] "Slovak Verses" ( 1652), S.F. Selecky ' s " Pen Portrait of a Beautiful Lady" ( 170 I), and H. Gavlovic's "The Pastoral School " ( 1775). The language of secular baroque poetry generally coincides with the lan guage of Catholic literature. The linguistic differences in each genre are mainly based on the respective periods of composition ; and not the origins of the authors . In other words, secular baroque poetry may be grouped along with Catholic literature in accordance with its period of composition. The vowel system s of both genres may be characterised by their clear tendency to use long monophthongs instead of native Czech and Central Slovak diphthongs. The native Czech diphthong ou (orthographic au) , also attested in earlier spiritual literature, occurs only in Benicky (Spravedlivim gsaudem I Osemetnim !idem / Pracuje gich chitrost (Benicky); moudrost y cest geho /Olah/ ; Strach Saudu a Ostrost Sudce (Smrtnik)). It is absent from 18 th century works , however, regardless of genre. In contrast to Catholic literature, other diphthongs occur sporadically in the language of Benicky and Gavlovic : the former has two examples of -ia- , and the latter nearly ten of -ie-, and perhaps one example of -iu- (Neb size Rodiczke / Kliatby Materynske / Prinasegj pokuty (Benicky) ; Spiwala sy gedna baba : mam penazy dgessku, I su do zeme zakopane, / newim w kterem br- geiku /Gavlovic/; A gak pangu penezitu, / musiss geg sluziti , / Gak chudobnu budess w dome / dwe chudoby miti (Gavlovic). These phe- �SLOVAKIA 19 nomena may be described as deliberate violations of norm. 12 The wholesale remodelling of the front/back contrast in the vowel system due to the gradual reduction of pieh/aska provides another substantial feature common to secular baroque poetry and Catholic literature. The grammaticalization of piehJaska may also be observed in the language of secular baroque poetry, generally identical to similar processes in the language of Catholic literature. This convergence is manifest in the stability of some grammatical forms , variation in others, and even in the total loss of some forms with piehlaska Thus, participial and verbal adverb endings are the most stable (Had kuzy svu zvleka, / Orlyce z daleka / Letagicz pera pusty (Benicky); czistotu woniczy proto smim potwrdit (Selecky); Ktery mlcy , ku mluweni , / pricynu magice, I Wiceg cyni, nezli zwitas / zamky walagice (Gavlovic). In contrast, at an early stage 3 rd person forms without piehlas- ka began to be replaced by forms with piehlaska and a stage where forms both with and without coexist occurs in the language of Ben icky, which chronologically corresponds to the language of Smrtnik (Nebo u susedu / Pekagj chleb z medu, / Take pryslovy byva - Saty ozdobene, I Czinicz telo pisne / Molove prei iraju (Benicky)). As in the language of Catholic literature, forms with pieh/aska are absent from the language of F. Selecky and H. Gavlovic (Mnozy tez zadagu wzacznost smichu widjet (Selecky); Ne ze zeme, ale z Judi / wiros- tagu zlosti , / Puwod magu w marnych Srdcach I z nedobreg wlchkosti (Gavlovic). The convergence of the main linguistic features of Catholic literature and sec ular baroque poetry also affected the morphological system. The features which have changed are as follows: □ In the language of Benicky the development of animate gen.lace. forms in the plural of nouns is fixed at a stage where both nom./acc. and gen.lace. forms occur. The translation of "Olah ' s Ritual," in which the original nom ./acc. forms are still consistent, repre- 12 See Ian Muk arfovsk ii (Jan Mukai'ovsky), ·"Literaturn yj jazyk i poeticeskij jazy k", Praiskij lingvisticeskij kruiok (Moskva, 1967), pp. 407-408. �SLOVAKIA 20 sents an intermediate stage and the treati se of B. Smrtnik refl ects the e ndpoint of thi s process: the re are no nom ./acc. forms in Selecky and Gavlovic at all (Mas lj se so uditj , / Mu sis svedky mitj , / Tak bude vec vihrana - Yzlast gestlis na vogne / Drz vogak u v s ilne / Czastim napominanim (Benicky); Ked bi g ih ranjenych ona htje la hog it (Se lecky) ; A Kato mu odpowedel : / Nemluw mi nic wice, / bil by zazrak, kdyby zhryzly / Sswabuw nohaw ice (Gavlovi c); □ the loss of the spec ial acc. forms of the pe rso nal pronoun oni/ony (here both Benicky and Smrtnik have doubl ets, and they may be contrasted on the one ha nd with "Ola.h 's Ritual ," the point of departure, and on the other hand , to a ll other writin gs attesting to the e nd of the process (Magj peczet daty , / 0 to se staraty , / Aby ge ginsy stihat - Darmo konom hv yzdat / Kdyz g ich mas napagat / gestlj ze sam nepi ge (Benicky); Prirownam g ich k oczam soko la draheho (Selec ky); Proto wzacny karbunkulu s / y drahe kameni , / ze g ich zridka uhlidame, / w hognosti g ich ne ni (Gav lovic); □ the replace ment of primary forms of /-participles with ste m- fin a l sy ll a bic sonants by forms with epenthetic -e- (Benicky and " Ol a.h 's Ritual " have only forms with sy llabic sonants, they still predomin ate in Smrtnik , whi le 18 th century writings, including the works of Selec ky and Gavlovi c (Zes ze statku panskeho / Zbohatl, v kratky cas / vezme ti to Pan zas (Be nicky); jakbi u kralowneg lasku bil dosahel (Se lec ky ); A Pan os la se u/eke/, / osla dal zabiti, / Tak osel, chtic las ku ziskat, / strati I ziwobiti (Gav lovi c)) have only innovatio ns, etc . The following phenome na may be termed stabl e : □ The consiste nt preservation of alternations in nom . pl. adj ec- tives agree in g with animate noun s (Tak pansty dvorane I Yak nahl e pan vstane / Nec h zanim postupu g u (Benicky); ked by ta czi czerti pgek ni bil y w pe kl e (Se lecky); Nazy na Swet prich adzame / ze ziwota Matk i, / Neprinassame ze sebu / penize a statki (Gavlovic); □ masc uline a nd ne ute r in str. sg. forms in -em (Ne b czasta pri saha / Ciasem dopomaha / ze zustava lhar vetsy (Be ni c ky); nebo s ak samitem okrasle na bi wa (Se lec ky) ; Zena mu fov i ukl ady / z placem spu sob uge, / Geho mi se l vsse li ga kim / s pu s obe m probu ge �SLOVAKIA 21 (Gavl ov ic); bych (Chtje l bih mnihe m zostat, rad bih giste wgedj e l (Selecky); Y kosselu bych predala, / vssak se mu za bo□ th e subjun cti ve in gim, I Kdyz se trochu podnapi gem, / ce la neobstog im (Gav lov ic), etc. Sporadic phe nome na simil ar to those in the language of Catho li c literature may also be fo und in the language of sec ul ar baroque poetry: ge min ate consona nts (Trucow ity y neg le pss u / c udzu Raddu ha ni , I A teprw a gu c hce plnit, / kdyz se guss porani (Gav lov ic); 3d pe rson /-parti cipl es w ith overt a uxili aries (Z iwot ta k cz istotneg c hwa li ges t zas lu zil (Se lecky)), co ntrac ted fe minine loc. sg. Adj ecti ves w ith stem-fi nal palatals (Napomaha k pravde, / V negchitregsi zrade / Sv u ukazuge moc nost (Benicky)), etc. T he lingui sti c di ffe rences arising fro m c hrono log ica l d ive rgences betwee n sec ul ar baroque poetry and Catho li c li teratu re onl y in vo lve detail s, mainl y in stances whe re poets use such language e le me nt s as had already bee n lost or had not yet e merged in Catho li c literature. Thus, fo r instance, H. Gav lov ic used both -om and -um as masc uline nomin al dat. pl. endings, although the latte r fo rm s had already been lost in Cath olic literature by around the l 750's (De n Sed/akom a Noc ia kom I negw ic pos luhu ge, / to Sowa w cy me ry zac ke m / slu ssne oznamuge - Prez ce ly de n Walac h chodi , / a malo spi w nocy, / By mohe l bit proti wlkum I owcam na pomocy) . The masc uline loc. pl. ending -och had already appea red by Beni cky's tim e, sli ghtl y ea rli er than in Catho li c literatu re (Kupcove, fl agnarkj , I V hostincoch krczmarky / Nemagf dluho spavat). Sometimes fo rm s were se lected based on the need fo r a rhy me. Thu s, in G av lov ic we do find 3rd person present forms with piehlaska, but onl y in cases where they are part of a rhyming sche me (Wssec ke wecy cas sw ug magu, / cas gest k fartovani , / Kdyz se zme ni ss c hwa litebne, / zaden te nezhani - Coko li w ge kre m potre by, / to guss stog i w zbytku , / Z bytek w sto loc h we Ike statki / vihana z pribitku). A lingui sti c analys is of sec ul ar baroque poetry and Catho li c literature shows th at th e la nguage fo rmati on in these genres was ide nti ca l. In othe r words, the language of Catho lic lite rature was not onl y �22 SLOVAKIA religiou s. It has already been shown that the language of sec ular baroque poetry, specifically Gavlovic ' s " Pastoral School ", mostly coincides with the language of administrative-legal texts of South-Western origin. Hence it follows that comparing them with administrative- lega l texts from other regions involves in principle the comparison of different genres. And thi s in its turn makes it possible to determine whether thi s language formation was widespread in all region s of Slovakia, which is very important for its definitive identification. We studied thi s problem by comparing the concrete lin guistic features occurring in administrative- lega l texts. Then we also compared different sy nchronic stages of the "Jel sava Town Chronicle" of 15661710 (South Central Slovakia) and the 16 th - 19 th century "Levoca Formu las of Oaths" (East Slovakia) , in order to determine trends in the ir lingui stic development. A comparison of spec ific lin gui stic features from diverse admini strative-legal texts reveals interestin g features in the manifestation of linguistic processes and the di stribution of phenomena in texts of different origins. Thus, all phenomena involving the modification of the Old Czech base are manifested in different texts in the same positions, and therefore many of them were not due to the lingui stic factors contrasting all Slovak dialects with Czech. An examp le of loss is furnished by the history of the phoneme Ii i, which was re placed in all positions by the phoneme Ir/ in regional variants of admini strative-legal writings. An example of maintenance is furni shed by the old instr. sg. feminine ending -11 (- u), which began to be used in Slovak written texts as a component of Old Czech morphological structure , not only in West and East Slovak admin istrative-lega l documents, where it is supported by local dialect usage, but also in Central Slovak. This shows that processes manifested in the written language spread into other reg ions from an epicentre. This examp le is especially interesting, as the Central Slovak ending -ou is formally identical to the new Czech ending -ou from the diphthong ization of - 11 (mezi Mikulasem Kowacze[m] a druhu osobu Matronu Elzbetu �SLOVAKIA 23 Haylowich /1658, Dojc, W es t Slo vakia/; Roli czku ... zo psseniczu posal ( 1728, Spi s, East Slovaki a); vsak z mu matku na vinicu ko mne chodivala zvadzat ( 1728, Krupina, Central Slovakia) 13. Some instances of doublets occur in South-West Slovak admini strati ve -lega l tex ts. As a rule , one member of such pair occurs more frequently , and may be considered the unmarked form. All the invariant feature s of these texts occur in non-South-Western administrative-legal documents Features with doubl et forms show both variants in non-SouthWestern texts, or, less frequ e ntly , only the unmarked variant. " Reg ional variants" had the function of doublets, which differentiated indivisible lan guage formations , but did not separate them into inde pe ndent lingui stic units. Thus, for example, the masc uline and ne ute r oblique adjective case form s with -e- in the endings, the only poss ible variant in South-West Slovak administrative-legal texts (ze Sa czcinskeho trhu spolem issly ( 1725 , Skalica)), also occurred in NorthWest Slovak (ta cesta od kamenneho Snehu na Polianku ( 1633, Pruske)) , North Central Slovak (za Radu Slowutneho a Oppatrneho muze Pana Tomassa Sk/adaneho 11649, Rufomberok/) , South-Central Slovak (pana knam milostiweho a /askaweho ( 1570, Banska Stiavnica)) and East Slovak (stegto strany Yarku mlinskeho /1658 , Sari s - Zemplfn/) texts. Side by side with these form s, their regional variants are also used in non-South-Western texts, e.g., the diphthongs -ie- (pre sirotky zu stale nebohyeho Samuela /166 I , Rufomberok/), -f- (-i-; (Pozdraweni y g iniho mnoho dobriho /1622 , Ban ska Stiavnica/), -o(Agnieha Istvana Radomskoho sestra /1608, Sari s - Zemplfn/). These features, mainl y typical of South-Weste rn written texts, may be seen as invariants, based on their genera l di stribution . Invariants on the level of concrete linguistic elements are always attested in South-Western texts, and therefore the lan guage of South-West administrative- '-' A lthough the M odern Czech and Slovak - ou endings are forma ll y identica l , they constitute the endpoints of two different hi storica l processes : Czech -ou is the reflex of th e diphthongisation of *- u resulting from th e denazali za ti on. fo ll owed by contraction. of * -ojQ ( * -11 < * -oju < * -ojQ). whereas Slovak -ou is simply the refl ex of contracti on. wi th subsequent denazali zati on. of * -ojQ (-ou < * -OQ < * -ojQ). �SLOVAKIA 24 lega l tex ts is genera ll y in varia nt by com pari so n to texts from other reg ion s of Slovakia. The o bvious fact th at Catholic literature and sec ul ar baroque poetry were based o n South-West Slovak dialects shows th at the sa me lin g ui st ic fo rmat io n functioned in a ll kinds of writte n texts, and was widespread in a ll region s of Slovakia. Thu s, the so-ca ll ed c ultural la ng uages were not indepe nde nt lingui stic formations. Firstly , no compl ete li st of distinct features can be revealed for any of the m, because every indi vidu a l isog loss used to c lass ify tex ts of different ori g in s yie ld s different res ults, even of " regiona ll y- based variants" recorded in written tex ts. In other word s, the lang uage of ad mini strative-lega l texts amounts to th e sum of minor loca l var ia nts united into a who le, w itho ut any tran s iti o na l fo rm ation s (so-ca ll ed c ultu ra l lang uages). 14 An ana lys is of the deve lopment of the lang uage of the " Je lsava Town Chronicle" revea ls a number of facts, whi c h are extre me ly important fo r the e luc idati o n of the dynamics of the developme nt of thi s ling ui stic fo rmati o n. There were man y phe nomena in the ear li e r records, as earl y as the I 560's and I 570's , deviating from Czech norms. Firstly, we found pan-Sl ova k features , w hi c h mi g ht have penetra ted writte n tex ts in different reg ions of Slovak ia independently of o ne anothe r (the absence of the phone me Iii and the nati ve Czech diphthong ou, the jotation of lab ia l consona nts before e < *e, *~, etc.). Phe nome na on the th whole untypica l of writte n 16 century texts a lso occ urred (the consiste nt occ urre nce of th e phoneme dz < *dj, for ms bo th with and without j before i in word-initial position, etc .). A few features, howeve r, we re o bviously Centra l Slovak (the diphtho ngs -uo- and -ie-, o < stron g * b , masculine and neuter nomina l in str. sg . forms in -om, masc uline and ne uter possess ive adjecti ve gen. sg. fo rms in -ho, etc .). Adj ecti ves w ith -ie- in the ir endin gs are th e most important, because they simulta neo us ly de mo nstrate th e break w ith the Old Czech writ14 K.McCone and D. Mathews describe similar se ts of probl ems in defining Middle Iri sh and Middle Engli sh respec tively. See Kim McCone. The Early Irish Verb (M aynooth , 1987) , pp. 18 1- 183 and Dav id M atth ews , (U ni versity Park , PA , 2000), pp. 1- 14. �SLOVAKIA 25 ten tradition and show th at some standardi sation processes were carried through in the la nguage of written Central Slovak texts, because these forms have the monophthong iii in South Centra l Slovak dia lects, including Je lsava. At the same time, whi le generall y ac knowl edg ing the impl e mentation of standardi sation processes in the Central Slovak dialects, it should be stated that they were rather weak, due to the occ urre nce of a numbe r of loca l features in the written tex ts. These inc luded, e.g., the almost total loss of the sy llabi c so nant r, the c han ge of ou into 6, primarily attested in the instr. sg . forms of feminine noun s and adjectives, the c hange of c into s, and the appearance of a afte r ve lars, etc. Some features may be found in late 16 th a nd early I 7'h ce ntury texts, which may be described as the rea li sation of two contradictory te ndencies: the wea kness of the loca l c harac te r of record s, because dialectal ele me nt s were lost in the respec tive la nguages (the restoration of sy llabic r, the loss of Gerner features ia < ie and s < c, etc.), and the increas ing occurre nce of features from the Trnava written tradition (the losses of the phoneme /dz/, masc uline and neuter adjectival form s with e in the e ndin gs, a nd di alecta l forms of I-participle bel/biel, etc.). In the I 630 's - I 650's the popul ation of Je lsava accepted th e Counter-Refo rmation , whic h was reflected in the language of the town chronicle. The first te nde ncy we named was modified , because the occ urrence of most of the already exist in g Ce ntral Slovak features in creased , but no new feat ures of Central Slovak orig in appeared in the texts. The second te ndency - followin g the Trnava written tradition - was maintained. The second tendency predominated until the earl y I 8 th ce ntury. W e may therefore conclude that over the whole hi story of th e "Je lsava Town Chronicle", its lang uage gradually adapted to Be rnol ak 's codification of Slovak literary la nguage, and not to Stur' s, as we mi ght ex pect based on the Central Slovak origin �26 SLOVAKIA of th ese texts. 15 The development of the language of the " Levoca Formulas of Oaths" was essentiall y similar: there is an early stratum of Polish di alectal feature s in the texts (e.g., plosive g and the Poli sh reflexes of the *tort formula) , with a layer of East Slovak ones (e.g., the vowe l e < * and reflexes of assibilated t' and d) superimposed. Over time, however, they were lost, because they could not res ist competition from pan-Slovak and West Slovak feature s, which beca me obvious in the early 18 th century, not long after the Counter-Reformation . 16 It is very important to note th at the lan guage of administrativelega l texts was common for both Catholics and Lutherans, in contrast to Catholic literature and secular baroque poetry. The language of popular poetry was also common to both Catholics and Lutherans, and it was on the whole also based on the SouthWestern written tradition. Specifically, however, it was characterised by a very fluid structure, because thi s lin guistic formation in such writings was contrasted to Literary Czech or some Slovak dialect, depending on the genre or contents of the respective verses. Consequently , Czech feature s, atypica l of the Slovak written tradition , penetrated the language of hi storical verse (for instance , the " Book of Verses" (East Slovaki a, 1751 ), or J . Bruk ' s manuscript co ll ectio n (Orava, North Central Slovaki a, 1794) or occasional poetry (for in stance , congratulation from the J. Lany manu script co ll ec tion , late 18th century). And conversely, a number of dialectal features are found in styli sed folksongs (e.g., the D. Kubik collection (Priev idza, Central Slovakia, 1791 )). From the early l 800's a number of Central Slovak feat ures occur in a variety of verses (for examp le, in J. Koll ar 's " Folksongs", the M. M. Krizan collection (Trencfn County, North-West Slovakia, 1839, etc.), which we consider a s ign of the 15 See in detail K[ o nstantin] V. Li fa nov, "Evoljucia j azyka " Je lsavskoj gorodskoj kni g i" 1566- 17 10 gg. i t. naz. Kul\urnyj sred nes lov ac kij j azyk", Zeitschrift filr Sla- wische Philologie. Bd. 58 , Heft I, 1999, pp. 151 - 170. See Ko nsta ntin V Lifanov , Genezis slovatskogo literaturnogo iazyka. LIN CO M 16 St udi es in Slavic Lingui sti cs, 2 1 (Muenchen , 200 I). pp. 163- 170. �SLOVAKIA 27 emergence of a spec ific language , the Centra l Slovak folklore koine, based on North Centra l Slovak di alects. Another sign of thi s phenomenon is the nature of the lingui sti c changes whi ch we find in manuscript copies of the folk songs (for instance, in J. Boczko 's collections fro m Banska Sti av ni ca ( 1830-1 83 1) and J. Jamri ch Junior 's from Gerner ( 1832-1 833)). These copyists were South Central Slovaks by birth , but when they copied songs from the second part of Koll ar 's "Slovak Secul ar Fo lksongs fro m Hun gary" , they gave preference to North Central Sl ovak features. 17 The purest vari ety of the Central Slovak fo lkl ore koine fun ctioned in North Central Slovaki a, and a written form is fi xed in the S.B. Hrobo n manu sc ript collecti on (S ielni ca, Liptov County, No rth Central Slovaki a, 1841 ). Its penetrati on into South Central and West Slovaki a (it did not influence the language of East Slovak folk songs, or minimall y so) took the form of infiltration of some its features. Later the Central Slovak folklore koine turned into a poetic koine, when it began to used in popular poetry as we ll , over the who le territory of Slovaki a (e.g., the verses of J. Szent-Kereszty ( I 822, of So uth Central Slovak ori gin ), the "Samlungen" manu script collection (Trnava, West Slovaki a, 18 17), the Eastern Slovak lawye r F. Balogh's translation of Hungari an poet Y.M. Csokonai' s verse (earl y 1800 's), and not just in the styli zations of folksongs. The Central Slovak fo lkl ore ko ine also penetrated the " hi gh" poetry of Luthera n poets, who had prev iously written in Czec h. The fi rst such works - three verses by S. Chalupka - were published in G . Fejerpataky' s Alm anac in 1834. At first thi s process was also mani fested in the sty li zati ons of folk songs, but in contrast to the popular poetry, it totall y o usted the prev io us lin gui stic system (the Czec h language). Later on it spread into other genres of hi gh poetry (the hymnal song "Nitra, Dear Nitra" was publi shed in the first volume of 17 Konstantin Lifa nov . " Stredos love nske basni cke ko ine pred l.'.. Stu rom", Slovenska rec. 60. 11 0. 5-6. 1995. pp. 264-28 1. �28 SLOVAKIA " Nitra" Almanacs in 1842). 18 Some previously known facts, also ascertained in the process of our study and analyzed by using sociolingui stic concepts, have made it poss ible to offer a ne w view of the origin and the sub seq uent development of the Slovak literary language. Thus, the lingui stic formation functionin g in Catholic literature, sec ul ar baroque poetry, admini strati ve-l ega l tex ts, popular poetry , etc. had all the propert ies of a literary lang uage, and may be called the "Old Slovak Literary language." As the lin gui stic material shows, it had started to take shape from the 1630 's on as a result of its developing di vergence from Literary Old Czech. Its epicentre was West Slovaki a. After the Battl e of Mohacs ( 1526), the capital of Hun gary and the archbishop's res idence were tran sferred to West Slovaki a, to Brati slava and Trnava respectively. Later on, South-West Slovakia 's role in cultural life became even more important, because a university with its ow n printing- house was opened there. At first, lingui stic development among Catholics and Luthera ns was identical. Texts were created by adherents of both confessions according to the " review mechani sm." 19 The common deve lopment of the Old Slovak literary language, however, was ruptured in the early l 600's, when ling ui stic diverge nces among Catholics and Lutheran s arose as a result of an aggressive Counter-Reformation. 18 K[onstantin] V. Li fanov, "Formy proniknovenija sredneslovackogo folk lornogo ko ine v ste ru avtorskoj poezii (konec XVIII v. - pervaja polovi na XIX v.)" , Wiener Slawistiches Jahrbuch, Bd. 44, 1998, pp. 99- 113. 19 It is a free tran slation of the Russ ian term " mechanizm peresceta" used by V. M. Zivov. Its essence concludes in the fact th at rather strong associated bonds between elements gi ven (l iterary) bookish character to a text and corres ponding elementts of people (d ialec tal ) speec h ex isted in th e minds of creators of tex ts. In th e case of adopti on of •'foreign " literary language, its elements contrasted to elemen ts of people speech and were initiall y bookish. Thu s, the opposition between adopted literary language and nati ve dialects was only in the fu nctional sphere. See, for examp le, V . M. Zivov, " Roi] russkogo ce rkov noslavianskogo v istoriji slavjanski ch literaturn yc h jazykov" , Aktual'nyje problemy sla vjansk ogo jazykoznanija (Moskva, 1988), pp. 4998. �SLOVAKIA 29 The Old Slovak literary language continued to develop in a Catho lic environment. It went throu gh all the important stages, including a translation of the whole of the " Bible" ( 1750), th e first Slovak novel : the "Adventures and the Experiences of Young Rene" (1783) , by J.L. Bajza, and its codification by A. Bernolak. The Old Slovak literary language was studied at elementary and secondary school s in different parts of S lovakia, and even at two universities - in Trnava and Kosice.20 Slovak Catholics numbered 75 % of population when emperor Joseph II iss ued the Patent of Toleration ( 1781 ), and perceived Czech as a heretical language. In thi s connection there is no reason to assert that the literary language of S lovaks was Czech prior to Bernol ak 's codification. Slovak Lutherans yielded their positions and had to seek external support , and they found it in Czech reli gious books. As a result, they reverted to the norms of Literary Czech (more exactly, to norms of the " Kralice Bible"), but not in all genres, and di gloss ia 2 1 arose in their environment. In thi s situation Czech was perceived as the high , cultivated form of the native language , whereas Old Slovak literary lan g uage was perceived as " ordinary," and to be used only in administrative-legal texts and popular poetry . Literary Czech and Old Slovak functioned in parallel in the Lutheran and Catholic environments respectively , and Catholi cs contrasted both literary languages, and gradually perceived that some features belonged not just to different functional spheres, but to different languages. As a result a new mechanism - conversion - arose in their environment. In practice it resembled the " review mechani sm", but differed substantially, because so me features were contrasted on the nati ve rather than on the functional level. Thus, Slovak Catholics began to perce ive spec ific features of their language on the leve l of 20 See Izidor Kotulic. " Bernolakovcina a predbernolakovska kulturna slovenc in a··, Pamatnica A ntona Berno/aka (Martin 1992), pp. 81, 88. 21 See Charles A. Ferguson, "Diglossia", Word, 15, 1959, no. 2, pp. 325-340 and Boris A. Uspenskij , Jazykovaia situacija Kijevskoj Rusi I jejo znacenije d!Ja istoriji russkogo literaturnogo jazyka (Moscow , 1983) , pp. 4-5. �SLOVAKIA 30 concrete phoneti c and morphological units, and so me fea tures as belonging to diffe rent periods. Th e situati on amon g Cath o li cs and Lutherans re ma in ed stable until the l 830 's, when the Centra l Slovak folkl ore ko ine penetrated into the sphere of hi gh poetry of Lutheran authors, and made it possible to codify a new literary language. r.. Stur made a major specific contribution by essenti all y changing the phoneti c and morpho logical syste ms of the literary language , but the lex icon fro m th e period of the Old Slovak literary language was maintained. Some features had reached the stage of con versati on (Catho lics perceived them as S lovak as opposed to Czech), and some were at the stage of rev iew (they were regarded as "booki sh/literary" (nati ve Czec h) or as ordin ary (native Slovak). The "ordinary" features codified by Stur were not accepted by Catholi cs, and they de manded that they be replaced by "booki sh" features, as was implemented in the codification of Hattala and Hodza ( 1852). SOURCES Catholic Literature P. Bajan, Sermones, 1760- 1771 (manuscript). Kamaldulska biblia, 1756-1759 (manu script). A. Macsay, Panes primatiarum aneb Chleby prwotjn (Trn ava , 171 8). D . Ma kos, Sermones, 1752- 1774 (manuscript). N. Ol ah, Ordo et ritus sanctae metropolitane ecc/esic Strigonien- sis, quibus parochi et a/ii animarum pastores in ecc/esiis suis uti debent. Viennae Austriae in aedibus Collegii caesarei, Societatis Jezu. Anno M.D.L.X. (manuscript). B. Smrtnik, Kunsst dobre umriti (Trnava, 1697). G. Vrabel, Sermones, 1766 (manuscript). �SLOVAKIA 31 Secular Baroque Poetry " Basne Petra Benickeho", Archiv starych cesko-s/oven skych /istfn , pfsomnostf a dejepisnych povodfn pre dejepis a literattiru Slovakov, Diel II. - Svazok I. (Tun::. sv . Martin, 1873), pp. 5-47. H. Gavlo vic, Wala sk a sskola mrawuw stodola (manuscript); Gerald J. Sabo, ed., Hugo/in 's Gavlo vic's Valaska skola (Co lumbus, Ohio, 1988). Stefan F Selecky, Obraz panye krasneg perem malowany, ktera maw Trnawe swoge prebiwany (manu script); Stefan F Selecky, "Obraz pani krasnej , perem malovany, ktera ma v Trnave svoje prebyvanf", Anto/6gia starsej slovenskej literattiry (Brati slava, 1981 ), pp. 522-530. Administrative-Legal Texts Inquisitiones, Skalica, 1616-1730 (manuscript). Darina Lehotska & Jozef Orlovsky , Najstarsia jelsavska mestska kniha 1566- 1710 (Martin , 1976). Listy Sta/ice IO kopijnfkov, Spis, XVII-XVIII storocie (manu- script). Mar ia Majtanova & Mil an Majtan, Krupin ski prfsne pravc (Bratislava, 1979). Missiles, Banska Stiavnica, XYI.-XYII. storocie (manu script). Obecna kniha obce Dojc, 1622-1836 (manu script). Panstvo Pruske, XVII.-XYIII. storocie (manuscript). Pfsomnosti Sarisskej a Zemplfnskej iupy, XYII.-XYIII. storocie (manuscript). Protocol/um mais mesta Ruiomberka, XYI.-XYII. storoc ie (ma- nuscript). Jozef Stoic, "Jazyk levocskych slovenskyc h prfsah zo XYI.-XIX. storocia", Jazyko vedny sbornfk, 5, l 951, pp. 197-247. Popular Poetry and Folksongs J. Csaplovics, Slowenske Wersse, (Pest, l 822). J. Jamrich ml. , Wselygake Rozlycne Rozprawky k zabawenf �32 SLOVAKIA zepsane, 1832- 1833 (manu script) Jan Koll ar, Narodnie spievanky, zvazok I, (Bratislava, 1953). Jan Misianik , Knii ka ry tmovni (Bratislava, 1952) . Samlungen, 18 17 (manu script). Spevnfk D. Boczka, 1830-183 1 (manu script). Lasz lo Sziklay, " Poznamky k Csokonaiho popularite v slove nskej literature," Sbornfk Filozofickej fak ulty Uni verzity Komen skeho. Philologica, 16, 1964, pp. 12 1-1 3 1. Pave l Josef Safarfk, Jan Kollar, Pjsne swetske lidu slawenskeho w Uhrach, swazek 2 (Pest, 1827). Jozef Skultety, " Literarno-hi storicke drobnost i", Slovenske pohl'ady, 17, 1897, pp. 125- 128. Zbornfk J. Bruka, 1794 (manuscript). Z bornfk M. M. Kriia na, 1839 (manuscript). Zbornfk D . Kubfka, 179 1 (manu sc ript). Zbornfk J. L any, koni ec XVIII . storocia (manu script). � SLOVAKIA 7 The Origin and Development of the Slovak Literary Language 1 Konstantin V. Lifanov The history of the Slavic literary languages has developed rapidly over the last few decades as an independent linguistic discipline. Scholars have reviewed the objects of their study and defined them more precisely , and even attempted to develop optimal methods of research, all of which has made it possible for them to make adequate assessments of actual linguistic data, and to avoid imposing their contemporary perceptions on the past. For example, the use of socio1inguistic concepts has been very fruitful in the study of certain Sla- vic literary languages. However, many problems have so far remained uninvestigated. Thus Kretschmer, surveying the overall level of research into Slavic literary languages, declares that in spite of the amount of material that has already appeared, the processes whereby the Slavic literary languages emerged still remain to be worked out, as well as their regularities and specific features. 2 This conclusion also applies to the history of the Slovak literary language. Many texts written in Slovakia before the language was codified remain uninvestigated from the lingui stic point of view. There are hardly any comparative studies of texts of different ge nres or from different eras. Nevertheless , comparative study is the only 1 I deeply thank Professor Robert Orr and Professor M. Mark Stolarik for English corrections of this paper. 2 Anna Krechmer (Anna Kretschmer), " Sravnitel'naja istorija slavjanskich literatur- nych jazykov: Yoprosy metodologiji " , Vjestnik Moskovskogo uni vers iteta. Seria 9. Filologia. 3, I 998, p 48. �8 SLOVAKIA method that makes it poss ible to define the real status of co nc rete for ms a nd to determine, e.g., whether a give n for m is mere ly the result of a language error, because, e.g., a give n wri te r did not know the coeva l language norm , or of sty li stic variat ion arisin g from a g ive n genre of wri tin g, or a typical lin gui st ic feat ure characteristic of the Slovak written tradition as a whole. But if we cannot determine the status of concrete forms , we ca nnot qualify the essence of differe nt lang uage for mati o ns in the hi story of Slovak , a nd therefore we cannot compre he nd the process of the emergence and subseque nt deve lopme nt of the Slovak literary language eithe r. In its turn, this situation in the hi story of the Slovak literary language ope ns up the poss ibility of arbitrary interpretations, ofte n aris ing from extra lin gui st ic factors. Thus it is wide ly believed, mainly outside Slovakia, that the Slovak literary language emerged in the late 18 th century by differe ntiating itse lf from Czech , and that previous ly Slovaks had used Czech as their literary language. We may trace the sources of thi s beli ef to the concepts of some Czech lingui sts3, who did not recognize the di stinctiveness of Slovak and considered it merely a variant of a unitary Czechoslovak language. According to a seco nd view of thi s problem, which has been "official" in Slovak lingui stics since the mid- I 950 's, distinct languages - cultural West Slovak, Central Slovak, and perhaps East Slovak had emerged in Slovakia before the codificatio n of the Slovak literary language. Subsequently Bernolak 's 1787 codification was based o n c ultu ra l W est Slovak a nd Stur's ( I 840 's) on cultural Central Slovak. There is also a third view, accord in g to which the Slovak literary lang uage arose as a res ult of interact ion between the Czech literary language and Slovak (mainl y West Slovak) dialects. It was shared by ' See Albert Prazak , Dejiny spisovne slovenstiny po dobu Sturovu (Brati slava, 1922), A lbert Prazak , Cesi a Slovaci (Praha 1929) and Vaclav Yazny "Spisovny jazyk slove nsky", Ceskos lovenska vlasti veda , Rada 11, Sp isovny jazyk Cesky a s/ovensky (Praha 1936) pp. 145-2 15. �SLOVAKIA 9 many Slovak linguists from I 900-1950.4 We embarked upon the study of thi s problem without preconceptions, and intended to base all conc lusions so lely on the analysis of concrete lin gui stic material and modern literary language theory. We cannot outline our theoretical fram ework in thi s paper, and therefore we can only refer to the first chapter of our book.5 Research into the problem of the Slovak literary language should take as its starting point the 14 th century, when Old Czech began to develop into an interethnic literary lan guage in Central Europe. At the same time it also penetrated into Slovakia. Stani slav, Kiraly , & Pauliny 6 show that in Slovakia copiers of Czec h texts tried to adhere to Czech norms. Infrin gements of these norm s tended to be iso lated and accidental , and may be described as simple errors. But as early as CC 14 - 15 fo ur changes - three phonolog ical and one morpholog ical - are attested in texts quite regul arly: the loss of the phoneme Iii, the loss of jotation in labials before lel < *e, *r, the affrication oft; d ' > c, dz, and the repl ace ment of vocati ves by nominatives. These processes constitute the initial stage of development of Old Czec h in Slovaki a, and its iso lation from the language functionin g in the Czech heartland. In the first place, we studied the further deve lopme nts of th ese phenom e na in th e spiritu a l literature of Slovak Catholics. • See , for exa mple, J. Y lkolinsky (Czambel 's pseudon ym) "O '·prvej " knihe slovenskej ", Z i ve na, 2, 1885, pp 230-240 . Henri ch Bartek, "S pi sov ny j azyk slovensky", Slovenska rec. 6, 1937- 1938, pp 50-57 and l.'.udovft Novak. "Cestina na Slove nsk u a vzn ik spisovnej slovenciny ", Slovenske pohl'ady . 54, 1938, pp 105-111. 159- 173, 2 17-222, 28 1-287. 5 Konstantin V. Lifanov, Genezis slovackogo literaturnogo jazyka . LINCOM Stu - dies in Slavic Linguistics, 21 (Munich 200 I ), pp. 18-4 1. 6 Jan Stani slav . " Zur Frage der Slowazismen in den alttschechi schen Denkmalern ", Zeitschrift fiir Slawistik. Bd. I, Heft 4. 1956. pp. 58-70, Bd. II . Heft I , 1957, pp. 3751 , Peter Kiraly. Zur Frage der altesten slowak ischen Sprachdenkmdlern" , Studia Slavica Academiae Scientiaru m Hungaricae. 4, 1958, pp. I 13- 158 , Eugen Pauliny, "Zac iatky kulturneho jazyka slovenskej narod nos ti ", Jazykovedne stridie. 6, 196 1. pp. 28-39. �SLOVAKIA The re pl ace me nt of /f/ by Ir/ spread ra pidl y, alm ost over a ll S lovak wri tings , inc ludin g sp iritua l literature . By the time " Ol a.h 's Ritu a l" was tra ns lated (ca. I 550 - 1600) Iii was an obvio us, very irreg ul ar arc ha ism (proti nassy m mrskym hfJc hum ). In the re li gious treati ses of B. Smrtnik and A. Macsay , publi shed in 1697 and 171 8 res pecti ve ly, it is attes ted ma inl y in fo rm s of the ve rb ffc i , mos t probabl y as a pure ly orthographi ca l conve nti o n (Prosil ne kdy gedon Prite le sweho rikuce), but it is co mpletely absent in the manuscripts in vesti gated (the Ca ma ldul Bible ( 1756- 1759), and th e se rm ons of Mokos ( 1752- 1774), Vrabel ( I 766), and Bajan ( 1760- 177 1)). The deve lopme nt of /JI after labi a l co nso nants and before l e/ < *e, *~ was sli ghtl y di ffe re nt. The primary stages of thi s process were ide nti ca l to those in vo lved in the repl aceme nt of If/. Thus, according to Paulin /, exa mpl es of th at deve lopme nt still c lea rl y predominated in the I 5th century " Muni ch Confess ion al Formula" ( 16 fo rms with /j/ and three without), but they were refl ected incons iste ntl y as earl y as " Ol a.h 's Ritu al," as a rul e in the idi omati c fo rmul as at the end of verses (s stebau Bohe m Otcem y Duc he m Swatym bud ' cest y c hwa la na wieky wiekow. Amen). The di ffere nti ati o n betwee n genres based on the presence or absence of fo rms w ith or w itho ut /jl is characte ri sti c of later texts. Onl y fo rm s without /JI occ urred in the language of sermons, inc luding Baj an 's (tuto bude lakomec w Negwecsy potrebe), in spite of the situ ati on in hi s nati ve di a lect (Zahorsky), whe re fo rm s w ith /JI are still c urrent. However, fo rms w ith /JI re mained in the " hi ghe r" genres (in the " Bible" a nd re lig io us treati ses) and in Macsay 's la nguage they are used quite freque ntl y (T yto Pobudky ma clowek ws rdcy swem pilne vwafowati ; kri wdy net1pet1). Spec ial vocati ve for ms, and nom inati ves used as vocati ves, were lost in the maj ority of Sl ovak di alects. They were restri cted to animates in spiritual Catho li c literature (radu g se tec hd y Narod Uhersky 7 Eugen Paul iny, ·'Mnfchovska spovedna formu la" , Jazykovedny casopis. 10. no. I , 1959, p. 30. �SLOVAKIA 11 /Vrabel/ - A braham e, A braham e ne wsta hug ruky tweg na djte /Macsay/). In contrast to Literary Old Czech, anim ate noun s w ith palatal ste ms had the same endin gs as nouns with no n-palatal ste ms (chce m rect du sso kresta nska bludica /M okos/ ; Czec h du se!. It is inte resting that these were the very forms that Berno lak codi fied. The hi story of the affricates c and dz(< t'and d ') shows that new fo rm s did not always oust co mpe tin g o lde r fo rms as a res ult of the loss of the oppos ition " literary - non-literary." In thi s case the te ndency was c hanged and the literary language lost the affri cates. They were w ides pread in I 4'h - I S'h century writin gs, but o nl y iso lated examples appeared in I 8'h century Catho li c literature (strhel se weter, zrucil dom /Vrabel/) . Th ese fo ur phe no me na are c uri o us ly s imil ar: they occ urred in literary Old Czech, but onl y sporadi ca ll y, occ urring in tex ts as errors by Czec h copy ists. These fo rm s deve loped into competin g doubl ets in the Slovak writte n language. However, the affri cati on of t'and d' differed from the other phenome na, in th at it made the phonol og ica l syste m more compl ex (the phone mes ga ined an additi onal artic ul atory feature) , while the othe r phe nome na, on the contrary , s implified the system , because they in vol ved the loss of a ph one me, or a pos iti onal vari ant of a phoneme, or a gra mm ati ca l fo rm . He nce we mi ght sugges t th at ph e nome na simpli fy in g a syste m preva il in co mpetiti o n in th e earl y stage of deve lopme nt of a literary la nguage outs ide its core ethni c te rritory, but phe no me na complicatin g it do not. Thi s is also suggested by the fact that it was not until the mid- I 8'h century th at the ph one me dz < *dj pe netrated the la nguage of spiritua l li teratu re; prev io us ly it had been co nsiste ntl y repl aced by /z/, or rare ly by Id '/ (zretedlne p ot wrz uje [pa n- S lovak po twrdzuj e] to wssec ko Job; skrze pokanj z te ho sna se probud'uje [pan-Sl ovak prebudz uje] /Macsay/) . The re was an esse ntial di ffe re nce between sporadi c pheno me na and doubl ets in wri tten Old Czec h. T he latte r survived as vari ants fo r almost the who le hi story of the language of Slovak Cath o li c literature, e .g., the refl exes of so-ca ll ed regress ive uml aut, i.e., the deve- �SLOVAKIA 12 lopment of tautosyllabic -aj- to -ej- in Old Czec h, and the emerge nce of the co nso nant clu ster sr:. c haracterist ic of Old Czech and Central Slovak, from sc- (< *stj-, *skj- , a nd *sk- before fro nt vowe ls). The first phenomenon was subject to a degree of gra mmaticali zation , as may be deduced from the fac t that no n-uml au ted seq ue nces obviously predomin ated in imperati ve fo rm s (ne mess kag obratjtj se ku Pa.nu Bohu /Macsay/) , but variation in the superlati ve forms of adjectives and adverbs was maintain ed as late as the mid- 18 th century, and usage mai nl y depended on the indi vidu al taste of the respecti ve author (pod'te a pod mym stjnem odpocjwagte - eopustili nalezk i swe a cestu nagtwrdssu /the " Bible"/; krize a proti wenstwy trpezliwe znassagme - sa m Tyran ze swym negmlacssym sine m /Vrabel/). Forms w ith sc- a nd st: were used in re li g ious texts throu ghout the pe ri od covered by the research , regardl ess of the orig ins of their authors (gegjho pak narozenj cas gesste oppodal byl - Pridrzme se th gessce S. Paw la /Macsay/). It was onl y in mid- I 8 century sermon s that th e tendency towards regional differentiation of th ese forms e merged: Makos used on ly fo rms with st:, following hi s nati ve Cen- tral Slovak dial ect (kazani takow i mestiane bi zas lu zili ), while Bajan, from Western Slovakia, mostly used forms w ith sc- (kde tenkrat bude Utociisscie hri ssniku). The process of for mati on of lin gui stic norms, which mu st have ex isted , may be observed from the lin gui st ic mate ri al th at ca n be g leaned from the written records. The occ urre nce of nati ve Czech and nati ve Slovak for ms in texts was not random, but governed by certain rules: firstl y the primary literary and non-literary fo rms arose, the n the primary non-literary form usuall y ousted the primary literary one. These processes, however, were subject to the princ ipl e of flexibl e stability8, whereby they were impl e me nted sy nchroni ca ll y, and thu s co ntinuity was ma intain ed be tween th e written languages of diffe re nt epoc hs. Thus, the fo ll ow in g new phe nomena, untypi ca l of " Yi lem Matezius ( Yi lem Matesius), ·'O neobchodimosti stab il'nost i litera turnogo jazyka" . Praiskij lingvisticeskij krniok (Moskva. 1967). p. 38 1 �13 SLOVAKIA earlie r writings, are attested in the tran slation of the "Ol ah Ritual ": □ unco ntracted forms of the gen., dat. and loc. sg. of femi nine adjecti ves e ndin g in fun ctional non -pa lata l conso na nts o usted the corresponding co ntracted forms (podl e tagneg radd y otcowskeg a dobrotiweg wu le twey); □ there was vari ation betwee n the nati ve Czech in str. forms of the pronouns ty and seba with the root vowe l o, a nd the nat ive Slovak ones with the root vowe l e, but the native Slovak forms prevailed (s steba u Bohe m otcem y s Duchem Swatym - s tobou bohem Ot- cem s Duchem Swatym); □ both the short and lon g forms of participl es were used as predi cati ves (za hrj c hy nasse vcinen gest - kterjmz to byl zapaleny proti nassy m mrskym hrjchum), etc. Some phe nome na are first attested in the lang uage of Smrtnik's re li gious treati se: □ the an im ate ge n.-acc. plural (Wide l pyssycych se A nge luw; cf. "Olah Ritua l": ze sy pro nas lidj hrjssne vkri fo wany) ; □ a n epenthetic vowel in masc uline forms of the /-participl e of consonant ste ms (polozil ho na Oltari na hranjcy drew a wstahe / ru ku ; cf. a n examp le fro m " Olah 's Ritu a l": z nes / zuriwy hnew otce tweho wecneho) ; □ the gramm ati ca li zation of piehlask a9 , prese rved in so me form s and lost in others, e.g., it is preserved in participial and verba l adverbia l endings, but beginning to be lost in present verb forms (gako Rewy we wykwjtagicy Winnicy; smegjce se pobij za k bytwe; pred Ssediwinamj wassymj Ml ads sy hore powstawagj - Dijtky zros- 9 Pieh/iska denotes the series of comprehensive progressi ve vowe l changes, unique to earl y Czech within Slavic. which was ori ginall y manifested co nsisten tl y in the morphology. but later reduced due to analogical pre ssures. Basically, it involved the frontin g and raising of vowels after origin ally soft consona nts. e. g .. u/ice < * ulica. biicho < * br ·ucho. see. e. g .. Miroslav Komarek. Historicka mluvnica ceski. 1: Hlis k os l ovf (Praha. 1962). pp. 62-66, I 15-118 , 153; 1964: 17, 18. 54; Charl es Townsend & Laura Janda. Common and Comparati ve Slavic (Indi ana 1996), pp. 9 192. I 6 I. I 63 , 272. �SLOVAKIA 14 tie wchazagu do sklepu); □ the spread of the genitive of the pronoun onilony to the acc., with both forms used as variants (pi su ge y pro tebe - prikazal aby se zem otewrela a za ziwa gych pozrela), etc. The majority of the features peculiar to the language of spiritual literature spread in the first half of the 18 th century. These trends are shown in the lan guage of Macs ay's religious treatises, which a lso contains the following further innovation s: □ masculine loc. pl. forms in -och (zalezelo to znamenj na skut- koch geho zazracnych; cf. nenj wskutcych miloserdenstwj (Smrtnik)); □ the dat. , loc. and instr. pl. of noun s such as kost' fo ll ow the pattern of ulice/iena (pri ledagakyc h wecech se zabaw ugu - a w smetach hrjchuw lezite); □ the spread of the loss of sy llabic sonants in abso lute word- final position , apart from /-participles, where this process took place earlier (Ale o Swaty Otce wyswet li vmysl twug - gakz ty s wilozjl smyse/ geho), etc. However, some Czech elements were very stable and were used almost universally: □ the sequence ji- in word-initial position , in contrast to Slovak i- (gako by mluwil a prisahal gim ("The Bible"); □ velar/alternations in the dat/loc. sg. of feminine nouns (Zadag- jcymu wodi mleka dala a na ssalce knj zatskeg podala ("The Bible") and in the nom pl. of adjectives agreeing with animates (A le zase pocali synowe Yzrahelsty ciniti zle weci ("The Bible"), etc. These processes obviously demon strate the modification of Old Czech as it was transformed into a standardised written language. Its structure consisted of native Czech and native S lovak elements used according to fairly strict rules. Such phenomena, maintained in Slovak, but lost in contemporary Literary Czech, are direct evidence of its clear connection to Old Czech. Apart from analogical doublets in literary Old Czech and in the language of Slovak Catholics, these are as follows: �SLOVAKIA □ 15 the preservati o n of the auxili ary in 3rd person verb fo rm s of the /- parti c ipl e un til the mi d- I 8 th century (a kralostwy sweho nekoncene ho pocatek gest ucinil (Mokos); ze ges t guz pri dwerac h wibehei protj ne mu / Baja n/); suc h fo rm s were co mpl ete ly lost in S lovak di alec ts by abo ut the I 5th ce ntury1°, and they were very ra re in Czec h writings by the 16 th century; 11 □ the e ndin g -u/-ti in the inst. sg. of fe minine noun s and adjec- ti ves, and also so me personal pronouns, in all works of Catho lic literature, inc ludin g authors of Central Sl ovak o ri g in , altho ugh they do not ac tu all y occ ur in Central Slovak (S krotite le Sweta A lexand ra M ladeho kw itnu cj ho strilku swu ra nil a; Pod se mnu odegdi (S mrtni k)); □ no d iphthongs apart from uo in the "Ol ah Ritu al", partic ul arly in Smrtni k 's re li g io us treati se, whi c h co ntinu es th e s itu ati o n in Literary Old Czec h (Oleg obmekssuge kuoie (S mrtni k)); □ gemin ates in the same words as in Literary O ld Czech (podle tagneg raddy Otcows keg /Olah/), etc. The language of S lovak Catho li c literature, howeve r, was indepe nde nt. It deve loped accordin g to its ow n rul es, in co ntrast to those of Old Czec h and Slova k di alec ts. Spec ific processes e merged rapidly, e.g., th e above- me nti o ned grammati ca li zati on of piehlask a, plus the follow ing: □ most masc uline no un s have gen. pl. fo rm s in -u w, whi ch is absent fro m Slova k di alects, and was lost in literary Czech (odwede l od rodiczuw, od prateluw /Vrabel/); □ an oppos iti o n between fe minin e adj ectives with ste m-fin al no n-palata l a nd ste m-fi na l palatal co nso na nts, beca use th e latte r fo rm s also had contracted gen. , dat. a nd loc. fo rm s (V < *Vj V; Mlc zim , abi ch w dnessny (< *-j-) Reczy meg d luhy ne bil /Bajan/), whil e the fo rmer had uncontracted fo rms; □ Ill 11 the de limi tati on of gen. and acc. pl. fo rms of animate nouns as Rudolf K rajcov ic, Nacrt dejfn slovenskeho jazyka (Bratislava, 197 1) p. 143 A rn ost L amprec ht, Dusan Slosar & Jaros lav Bauer, Historicka mlu vnice cestiny (Praha, 1986), p. 244 �SLOVAKIA 16 observed in Macsay ' s lan guage, and in the language of the " Bible" (ge n.: okolo deset ti syc uw wseckych sy lnych a udatnych Muiuw; acc.: kdiz zachwatili dwoch mu iti s knjzat Madyanskych /th e " Bible"/); □ the appearance of spec ial gen. sg. forms of the pronouns ty and seba, with -o- in the root (a le podobne wecy pro sobe od druheho slissetj pohrdagj (S mrtnik)), etc. Many native Slovak elements in the language of Slovak Catholic literature were pan-Slovak, but some of them directly indicate the region of Slovakia which played the main role in the formation of the Slovak written tradition : West Slovak. This is espec iall y true of features that do not occur in other Slovak dialects, primarily Central Slovak, such as , e.g.: □ diphthongs tended to be lost; □ -e in the endings of adjectives with a ste m-fi nal pal atal (ni c nad neho neni twrdsseho /Mokos/; Czech t vrdsfho; North Central Slovak tvrdsieho, South tvrdsiho/tvrdsiho) ; □ non-contracted gen. , dat. , and acc . forms (in the latter case if agreeing with animate noun s) of masc uline and neuter possessive adjectives (abich guss kpredsewzeti mogemu mluwil /Mokos/; Czech memu; Central Slovak m 6jmu); □ epenthetic -e- in masculine /-part iciples (Ce ntral Slovak -o-; a do stawu sweg Boskeg milosti pren esel /Mokos/; Czech pienes /; Central Slovak preniesol) , etc. D moreover, many native Czech e lements remained unchan ged, because they also occur in West Slovak as a whole, or in its SouthWestern subdial ects, e.g.: D the sequence rot- as a reflex of Common Slavic c ircumflex *6rt- (aby rostlo nany Hlozj a Trnj (S mrtnik ); Czech and Wes t Slovak rostlo; Central Slovak nistlo); □ the vowel e as a refl ex of Common Slavic strong *b (a gedna zadruhu wen zkostola wichazali /Mo kos/ ; Czech and West Slovak ven; Central Slovak von ); D the ending -em in the loc. sg. of masc uline and neuter adjec- �17 SLOVAKIA ti ves (aby na hrobowem kamenj tyto slowa wy kresatj dali /M acsay/ ; Czech and West Slovak hrobovem ; Centra l S lovak hrobovom ); □ the endin gs -e and -owe in the no m. pl. of anim ate no un s (nadto y pry tele daleko od stupili od ne ho /the " Bible"/ ; mn ozy p atriarcho we, mnozy kni zata a w udcowe /V rabel/; Czech p hite le , patriarchove, vudcove; West S lovak prate/e, patriarchove, vodcove; Central Slovak priatelia, patriarchovia, vodcovia) , etc. The typical West Slovak elements occ urring in Catho li c literary texts were as fo ll ows: □ the lack o f sy ll abic sonants from ori gin al sequences of conso- nants plus b i b + I (iluc Draku w gest wino geg ich (Smrtnik); Czech i luc; Central Sl ovak i lc; the isogloss was located on the territory o f South-Western (Trnava) di alects); □ the instr. sg. e ndin g -e m in masc uline and ne uter no un s (A sed'e la pod strom em palmowym, ktery m enem gey m sa menowal /the " Bible"/ ; Czec h, Zahorak, and some adj acent Trn ava di alec ts stromem, jmeneml m enem ; Central Slova k and other Wes t S lovak di alects have -om : stromom , menom), etc. Althou gh thi s lin g ui stic form ati on does di splay territori a ll ybased di alect di vergences, mai nl y in sermons, di alectal fea tures have not totall y submerged its characteri sti c pan-di alectal elements. If we compare the lin gui stic structures of Slovak Catholic literature and Berno lak 's codifi cation, we may conc lude that the codi ficati on was not somethin g new in princ iple. Nati ve Czec h fea tures occurring in , e.g., both the language of Slovak Catho li c literature and Berno lak's codifi cati on, clearl y de mo nstrate the c lose co nnec ti on between the two. These features are as fo llows: □ contracted fo rm s of possess ive adjecti ves (m eho, etc.) ; □ dat. sg. fo rms of ori g in all y soft-stem neuter noun s, whi ch d is- pl ay the refl exes of the ceska p fehlask a, i.e., u>i (srdci); □ □ neuter noun s endin g in -nf (stawaiif); parti c ipl es and verba l ad verb s w ith pieh/aska in suffixes ( wolag icf, wolagic); □ the I" person subjuncti ve of by t' in -ch, incl ud in g co mpoun d �SLOVAKIA 18 conjunctions (e.g., abich); □ the sequence ji- in word-initial position (gim), etc. The material being analyzed shows that the language of Catholic literature had many features characteristic of a literary language. It was cultivated, selective, functionally homoge neous, and essentially supra-dialectal. For its definitive identification as such , it needs to be ascertained whether it was only a religious style or multifunctional , and whether it was widespread over the whole of Slovakia. In order to answer the first question we compared the language of Catholic literature to the language of secular baroque poetry , based on the following texts: P. Benickfs [original] "Slovak Verses" ( 1652), S.F. Selecky ' s " Pen Portrait of a Beautiful Lady" ( 170 I), and H. Gavlovic's "The Pastoral School " ( 1775). The language of secular baroque poetry generally coincides with the lan guage of Catholic literature. The linguistic differences in each genre are mainly based on the respective periods of composition ; and not the origins of the authors . In other words, secular baroque poetry may be grouped along with Catholic literature in accordance with its period of composition. The vowel system s of both genres may be characterised by their clear tendency to use long monophthongs instead of native Czech and Central Slovak diphthongs. The native Czech diphthong ou (orthographic au) , also attested in earlier spiritual literature, occurs only in Benicky (Spravedlivim gsaudem I Osemetnim !idem / Pracuje gich chitrost (Benicky); moudrost y cest geho /Olah/ ; Strach Saudu a Ostrost Sudce (Smrtnik)). It is absent from 18 th century works , however, regardless of genre. In contrast to Catholic literature, other diphthongs occur sporadically in the language of Benicky and Gavlovic : the former has two examples of -ia- , and the latter nearly ten of -ie-, and perhaps one example of -iu- (Neb size Rodiczke / Kliatby Materynske / Prinasegj pokuty (Benicky) ; Spiwala sy gedna baba : mam penazy dgessku, I su do zeme zakopane, / newim w kterem br- geiku /Gavlovic/; A gak pangu penezitu, / musiss geg sluziti , / Gak chudobnu budess w dome / dwe chudoby miti (Gavlovic). These phe- �SLOVAKIA 19 nomena may be described as deliberate violations of norm. 12 The wholesale remodelling of the front/back contrast in the vowel system due to the gradual reduction of pieh/aska provides another substantial feature common to secular baroque poetry and Catholic literature. The grammaticalization of piehJaska may also be observed in the language of secular baroque poetry, generally identical to similar processes in the language of Catholic literature. This convergence is manifest in the stability of some grammatical forms , variation in others, and even in the total loss of some forms with piehlaska Thus, participial and verbal adverb endings are the most stable (Had kuzy svu zvleka, / Orlyce z daleka / Letagicz pera pusty (Benicky); czistotu woniczy proto smim potwrdit (Selecky); Ktery mlcy , ku mluweni , / pricynu magice, I Wiceg cyni, nezli zwitas / zamky walagice (Gavlovic). In contrast, at an early stage 3 rd person forms without piehlas- ka began to be replaced by forms with piehlaska and a stage where forms both with and without coexist occurs in the language of Ben icky, which chronologically corresponds to the language of Smrtnik (Nebo u susedu / Pekagj chleb z medu, / Take pryslovy byva - Saty ozdobene, I Czinicz telo pisne / Molove prei iraju (Benicky)). As in the language of Catholic literature, forms with pieh/aska are absent from the language of F. Selecky and H. Gavlovic (Mnozy tez zadagu wzacznost smichu widjet (Selecky); Ne ze zeme, ale z Judi / wiros- tagu zlosti , / Puwod magu w marnych Srdcach I z nedobreg wlchkosti (Gavlovic). The convergence of the main linguistic features of Catholic literature and sec ular baroque poetry also affected the morphological system. The features which have changed are as follows: □ In the language of Benicky the development of animate gen.lace. forms in the plural of nouns is fixed at a stage where both nom./acc. and gen.lace. forms occur. The translation of "Olah ' s Ritual," in which the original nom ./acc. forms are still consistent, repre- 12 See Ian Muk arfovsk ii (Jan Mukai'ovsky), ·"Literaturn yj jazyk i poeticeskij jazy k", Praiskij lingvisticeskij kruiok (Moskva, 1967), pp. 407-408. �SLOVAKIA 20 sents an intermediate stage and the treati se of B. Smrtnik refl ects the e ndpoint of thi s process: the re are no nom ./acc. forms in Selecky and Gavlovic at all (Mas lj se so uditj , / Mu sis svedky mitj , / Tak bude vec vihrana - Yzlast gestlis na vogne / Drz vogak u v s ilne / Czastim napominanim (Benicky); Ked bi g ih ranjenych ona htje la hog it (Se lecky) ; A Kato mu odpowedel : / Nemluw mi nic wice, / bil by zazrak, kdyby zhryzly / Sswabuw nohaw ice (Gavlovi c); □ the loss of the spec ial acc. forms of the pe rso nal pronoun oni/ony (here both Benicky and Smrtnik have doubl ets, and they may be contrasted on the one ha nd with "Ola.h 's Ritual ," the point of departure, and on the other hand , to a ll other writin gs attesting to the e nd of the process (Magj peczet daty , / 0 to se staraty , / Aby ge ginsy stihat - Darmo konom hv yzdat / Kdyz g ich mas napagat / gestlj ze sam nepi ge (Benicky); Prirownam g ich k oczam soko la draheho (Selec ky); Proto wzacny karbunkulu s / y drahe kameni , / ze g ich zridka uhlidame, / w hognosti g ich ne ni (Gav lovic); □ the replace ment of primary forms of /-participles with ste m- fin a l sy ll a bic sonants by forms with epenthetic -e- (Benicky and " Ol a.h 's Ritual " have only forms with sy llabic sonants, they still predomin ate in Smrtnik , whi le 18 th century writings, including the works of Selec ky and Gavlovi c (Zes ze statku panskeho / Zbohatl, v kratky cas / vezme ti to Pan zas (Be nicky); jakbi u kralowneg lasku bil dosahel (Se lec ky ); A Pan os la se u/eke/, / osla dal zabiti, / Tak osel, chtic las ku ziskat, / strati I ziwobiti (Gav lovi c)) have only innovatio ns, etc . The following phenome na may be termed stabl e : □ The consiste nt preservation of alternations in nom . pl. adj ec- tives agree in g with animate noun s (Tak pansty dvorane I Yak nahl e pan vstane / Nec h zanim postupu g u (Benicky); ked by ta czi czerti pgek ni bil y w pe kl e (Se lecky); Nazy na Swet prich adzame / ze ziwota Matk i, / Neprinassame ze sebu / penize a statki (Gavlovic); □ masc uline a nd ne ute r in str. sg. forms in -em (Ne b czasta pri saha / Ciasem dopomaha / ze zustava lhar vetsy (Be ni c ky); nebo s ak samitem okrasle na bi wa (Se lec ky) ; Zena mu fov i ukl ady / z placem spu sob uge, / Geho mi se l vsse li ga kim / s pu s obe m probu ge �SLOVAKIA 21 (Gavl ov ic); bych (Chtje l bih mnihe m zostat, rad bih giste wgedj e l (Selecky); Y kosselu bych predala, / vssak se mu za bo□ th e subjun cti ve in gim, I Kdyz se trochu podnapi gem, / ce la neobstog im (Gav lov ic), etc. Sporadic phe nome na simil ar to those in the language of Catho li c literature may also be fo und in the language of sec ul ar baroque poetry: ge min ate consona nts (Trucow ity y neg le pss u / c udzu Raddu ha ni , I A teprw a gu c hce plnit, / kdyz se guss porani (Gav lov ic); 3d pe rson /-parti cipl es w ith overt a uxili aries (Z iwot ta k cz istotneg c hwa li ges t zas lu zil (Se lecky)), co ntrac ted fe minine loc. sg. Adj ecti ves w ith stem-fi nal palatals (Napomaha k pravde, / V negchitregsi zrade / Sv u ukazuge moc nost (Benicky)), etc. T he lingui sti c di ffe rences arising fro m c hrono log ica l d ive rgences betwee n sec ul ar baroque poetry and Catho li c li teratu re onl y in vo lve detail s, mainl y in stances whe re poets use such language e le me nt s as had already bee n lost or had not yet e merged in Catho li c literature. Thus, fo r instance, H. Gav lov ic used both -om and -um as masc uline nomin al dat. pl. endings, although the latte r fo rm s had already been lost in Cath olic literature by around the l 750's (De n Sed/akom a Noc ia kom I negw ic pos luhu ge, / to Sowa w cy me ry zac ke m / slu ssne oznamuge - Prez ce ly de n Walac h chodi , / a malo spi w nocy, / By mohe l bit proti wlkum I owcam na pomocy) . The masc uline loc. pl. ending -och had already appea red by Beni cky's tim e, sli ghtl y ea rli er than in Catho li c literatu re (Kupcove, fl agnarkj , I V hostincoch krczmarky / Nemagf dluho spavat). Sometimes fo rm s were se lected based on the need fo r a rhy me. Thu s, in G av lov ic we do find 3rd person present forms with piehlaska, but onl y in cases where they are part of a rhyming sche me (Wssec ke wecy cas sw ug magu, / cas gest k fartovani , / Kdyz se zme ni ss c hwa litebne, / zaden te nezhani - Coko li w ge kre m potre by, / to guss stog i w zbytku , / Z bytek w sto loc h we Ike statki / vihana z pribitku). A lingui sti c analys is of sec ul ar baroque poetry and Catho li c literature shows th at th e la nguage fo rmati on in these genres was ide nti ca l. In othe r words, the language of Catho lic lite rature was not onl y �22 SLOVAKIA religiou s. It has already been shown that the language of sec ular baroque poetry, specifically Gavlovic ' s " Pastoral School ", mostly coincides with the language of administrative-legal texts of South-Western origin. Hence it follows that comparing them with administrative- lega l texts from other regions involves in principle the comparison of different genres. And thi s in its turn makes it possible to determine whether thi s language formation was widespread in all region s of Slovakia, which is very important for its definitive identification. We studied thi s problem by comparing the concrete lin guistic features occurring in administrative- lega l texts. Then we also compared different sy nchronic stages of the "Jel sava Town Chronicle" of 15661710 (South Central Slovakia) and the 16 th - 19 th century "Levoca Formu las of Oaths" (East Slovakia) , in order to determine trends in the ir lingui stic development. A comparison of spec ific lin gui stic features from diverse admini strative-legal texts reveals interestin g features in the manifestation of linguistic processes and the di stribution of phenomena in texts of different origins. Thus, all phenomena involving the modification of the Old Czech base are manifested in different texts in the same positions, and therefore many of them were not due to the lingui stic factors contrasting all Slovak dialects with Czech. An examp le of loss is furnished by the history of the phoneme Ii i, which was re placed in all positions by the phoneme Ir/ in regional variants of admini strative-legal writings. An example of maintenance is furni shed by the old instr. sg. feminine ending -11 (- u), which began to be used in Slovak written texts as a component of Old Czech morphological structure , not only in West and East Slovak admin istrative-lega l documents, where it is supported by local dialect usage, but also in Central Slovak. This shows that processes manifested in the written language spread into other reg ions from an epicentre. This examp le is especially interesting, as the Central Slovak ending -ou is formally identical to the new Czech ending -ou from the diphthong ization of - 11 (mezi Mikulasem Kowacze[m] a druhu osobu Matronu Elzbetu �SLOVAKIA 23 Haylowich /1658, Dojc, W es t Slo vakia/; Roli czku ... zo psseniczu posal ( 1728, Spi s, East Slovaki a); vsak z mu matku na vinicu ko mne chodivala zvadzat ( 1728, Krupina, Central Slovakia) 13. Some instances of doublets occur in South-West Slovak admini strati ve -lega l tex ts. As a rule , one member of such pair occurs more frequently , and may be considered the unmarked form. All the invariant feature s of these texts occur in non-South-Western administrative-legal documents Features with doubl et forms show both variants in non-SouthWestern texts, or, less frequ e ntly , only the unmarked variant. " Reg ional variants" had the function of doublets, which differentiated indivisible lan guage formations , but did not separate them into inde pe ndent lingui stic units. Thus, for example, the masc uline and ne ute r oblique adjective case form s with -e- in the endings, the only poss ible variant in South-West Slovak administrative-legal texts (ze Sa czcinskeho trhu spolem issly ( 1725 , Skalica)), also occurred in NorthWest Slovak (ta cesta od kamenneho Snehu na Polianku ( 1633, Pruske)) , North Central Slovak (za Radu Slowutneho a Oppatrneho muze Pana Tomassa Sk/adaneho 11649, Rufomberok/) , South-Central Slovak (pana knam milostiweho a /askaweho ( 1570, Banska Stiavnica)) and East Slovak (stegto strany Yarku mlinskeho /1658 , Sari s - Zemplfn/) texts. Side by side with these form s, their regional variants are also used in non-South-Western texts, e.g., the diphthongs -ie- (pre sirotky zu stale nebohyeho Samuela /166 I , Rufomberok/), -f- (-i-; (Pozdraweni y g iniho mnoho dobriho /1622 , Ban ska Stiavnica/), -o(Agnieha Istvana Radomskoho sestra /1608, Sari s - Zemplfn/). These features, mainl y typical of South-Weste rn written texts, may be seen as invariants, based on their genera l di stribution . Invariants on the level of concrete linguistic elements are always attested in South-Western texts, and therefore the lan guage of South-West administrative- '-' A lthough the M odern Czech and Slovak - ou endings are forma ll y identica l , they constitute the endpoints of two different hi storica l processes : Czech -ou is the reflex of th e diphthongisation of *- u resulting from th e denazali za ti on. fo ll owed by contraction. of * -ojQ ( * -11 < * -oju < * -ojQ). whereas Slovak -ou is simply the refl ex of contracti on. wi th subsequent denazali zati on. of * -ojQ (-ou < * -OQ < * -ojQ). �SLOVAKIA 24 lega l tex ts is genera ll y in varia nt by com pari so n to texts from other reg ion s of Slovakia. The o bvious fact th at Catholic literature and sec ul ar baroque poetry were based o n South-West Slovak dialects shows th at the sa me lin g ui st ic fo rmat io n functioned in a ll kinds of writte n texts, and was widespread in a ll region s of Slovakia. Thu s, the so-ca ll ed c ultural la ng uages were not indepe nde nt lingui stic formations. Firstly , no compl ete li st of distinct features can be revealed for any of the m, because every indi vidu a l isog loss used to c lass ify tex ts of different ori g in s yie ld s different res ults, even of " regiona ll y- based variants" recorded in written tex ts. In other word s, the lang uage of ad mini strative-lega l texts amounts to th e sum of minor loca l var ia nts united into a who le, w itho ut any tran s iti o na l fo rm ation s (so-ca ll ed c ultu ra l lang uages). 14 An ana lys is of the deve lopment of the lang uage of the " Je lsava Town Chronicle" revea ls a number of facts, whi c h are extre me ly important fo r the e luc idati o n of the dynamics of the developme nt of thi s ling ui stic fo rmati o n. There were man y phe nomena in the ear li e r records, as earl y as the I 560's and I 570's , deviating from Czech norms. Firstly, we found pan-Sl ova k features , w hi c h mi g ht have penetra ted writte n tex ts in different reg ions of Slovak ia independently of o ne anothe r (the absence of the phone me Iii and the nati ve Czech diphthong ou, the jotation of lab ia l consona nts before e < *e, *~, etc.). Phe nome na on the th whole untypica l of writte n 16 century texts a lso occ urred (the consiste nt occ urre nce of th e phoneme dz < *dj, for ms bo th with and without j before i in word-initial position, etc .). A few features, howeve r, we re o bviously Centra l Slovak (the diphtho ngs -uo- and -ie-, o < stron g * b , masculine and neuter nomina l in str. sg . forms in -om, masc uline and ne uter possess ive adjecti ve gen. sg. fo rms in -ho, etc .). Adj ecti ves w ith -ie- in the ir endin gs are th e most important, because they simulta neo us ly de mo nstrate th e break w ith the Old Czech writ14 K.McCone and D. Mathews describe similar se ts of probl ems in defining Middle Iri sh and Middle Engli sh respec tively. See Kim McCone. The Early Irish Verb (M aynooth , 1987) , pp. 18 1- 183 and Dav id M atth ews , (U ni versity Park , PA , 2000), pp. 1- 14. �SLOVAKIA 25 ten tradition and show th at some standardi sation processes were carried through in the la nguage of written Central Slovak texts, because these forms have the monophthong iii in South Centra l Slovak dia lects, including Je lsava. At the same time, whi le generall y ac knowl edg ing the impl e mentation of standardi sation processes in the Central Slovak dialects, it should be stated that they were rather weak, due to the occ urre nce of a numbe r of loca l features in the written tex ts. These inc luded, e.g., the almost total loss of the sy llabi c so nant r, the c han ge of ou into 6, primarily attested in the instr. sg . forms of feminine noun s and adjectives, the c hange of c into s, and the appearance of a afte r ve lars, etc. Some features may be found in late 16 th a nd early I 7'h ce ntury texts, which may be described as the rea li sation of two contradictory te ndencies: the wea kness of the loca l c harac te r of record s, because dialectal ele me nt s were lost in the respec tive la nguages (the restoration of sy llabic r, the loss of Gerner features ia < ie and s < c, etc.), and the increas ing occurre nce of features from the Trnava written tradition (the losses of the phoneme /dz/, masc uline and neuter adjectival form s with e in the e ndin gs, a nd di alecta l forms of I-participle bel/biel, etc.). In the I 630 's - I 650's the popul ation of Je lsava accepted th e Counter-Refo rmation , whic h was reflected in the language of the town chronicle. The first te nde ncy we named was modified , because the occ urrence of most of the already exist in g Ce ntral Slovak features in creased , but no new feat ures of Central Slovak orig in appeared in the texts. The second te ndency - followin g the Trnava written tradition - was maintained. The second tendency predominated until the earl y I 8 th ce ntury. W e may therefore conclude that over the whole hi story of th e "Je lsava Town Chronicle", its lang uage gradually adapted to Be rnol ak 's codification of Slovak literary la nguage, and not to Stur' s, as we mi ght ex pect based on the Central Slovak origin �26 SLOVAKIA of th ese texts. 15 The development of the language of the " Levoca Formulas of Oaths" was essentiall y similar: there is an early stratum of Polish di alectal feature s in the texts (e.g., plosive g and the Poli sh reflexes of the *tort formula) , with a layer of East Slovak ones (e.g., the vowe l e < * and reflexes of assibilated t' and d) superimposed. Over time, however, they were lost, because they could not res ist competition from pan-Slovak and West Slovak feature s, which beca me obvious in the early 18 th century, not long after the Counter-Reformation . 16 It is very important to note th at the lan guage of administrativelega l texts was common for both Catholics and Lutherans, in contrast to Catholic literature and secular baroque poetry. The language of popular poetry was also common to both Catholics and Lutherans, and it was on the whole also based on the SouthWestern written tradition. Specifically, however, it was characterised by a very fluid structure, because thi s lin guistic formation in such writings was contrasted to Literary Czech or some Slovak dialect, depending on the genre or contents of the respective verses. Consequently , Czech feature s, atypica l of the Slovak written tradition , penetrated the language of hi storical verse (for instance , the " Book of Verses" (East Slovaki a, 1751 ), or J . Bruk ' s manuscript co ll ectio n (Orava, North Central Slovaki a, 1794) or occasional poetry (for in stance , congratulation from the J. Lany manu script co ll ec tion , late 18th century). And conversely, a number of dialectal features are found in styli sed folksongs (e.g., the D. Kubik collection (Priev idza, Central Slovakia, 1791 )). From the early l 800's a number of Central Slovak feat ures occur in a variety of verses (for examp le, in J. Koll ar 's " Folksongs", the M. M. Krizan collection (Trencfn County, North-West Slovakia, 1839, etc.), which we consider a s ign of the 15 See in detail K[ o nstantin] V. Li fa nov, "Evoljucia j azyka " Je lsavskoj gorodskoj kni g i" 1566- 17 10 gg. i t. naz. Kul\urnyj sred nes lov ac kij j azyk", Zeitschrift filr Sla- wische Philologie. Bd. 58 , Heft I, 1999, pp. 151 - 170. See Ko nsta ntin V Lifanov , Genezis slovatskogo literaturnogo iazyka. LIN CO M 16 St udi es in Slavic Lingui sti cs, 2 1 (Muenchen , 200 I). pp. 163- 170. �SLOVAKIA 27 emergence of a spec ific language , the Centra l Slovak folklore koine, based on North Centra l Slovak di alects. Another sign of thi s phenomenon is the nature of the lingui sti c changes whi ch we find in manuscript copies of the folk songs (for instance, in J. Boczko 's collections fro m Banska Sti av ni ca ( 1830-1 83 1) and J. Jamri ch Junior 's from Gerner ( 1832-1 833)). These copyists were South Central Slovaks by birth , but when they copied songs from the second part of Koll ar 's "Slovak Secul ar Fo lksongs fro m Hun gary" , they gave preference to North Central Sl ovak features. 17 The purest vari ety of the Central Slovak fo lkl ore koine fun ctioned in North Central Slovaki a, and a written form is fi xed in the S.B. Hrobo n manu sc ript collecti on (S ielni ca, Liptov County, No rth Central Slovaki a, 1841 ). Its penetrati on into South Central and West Slovaki a (it did not influence the language of East Slovak folk songs, or minimall y so) took the form of infiltration of some its features. Later the Central Slovak folklore koine turned into a poetic koine, when it began to used in popular poetry as we ll , over the who le territory of Slovaki a (e.g., the verses of J. Szent-Kereszty ( I 822, of So uth Central Slovak ori gin ), the "Samlungen" manu script collection (Trnava, West Slovaki a, 18 17), the Eastern Slovak lawye r F. Balogh's translation of Hungari an poet Y.M. Csokonai' s verse (earl y 1800 's), and not just in the styli zations of folksongs. The Central Slovak fo lkl ore ko ine also penetrated the " hi gh" poetry of Luthera n poets, who had prev iously written in Czec h. The fi rst such works - three verses by S. Chalupka - were published in G . Fejerpataky' s Alm anac in 1834. At first thi s process was also mani fested in the sty li zati ons of folk songs, but in contrast to the popular poetry, it totall y o usted the prev io us lin gui stic system (the Czec h language). Later on it spread into other genres of hi gh poetry (the hymnal song "Nitra, Dear Nitra" was publi shed in the first volume of 17 Konstantin Lifa nov . " Stredos love nske basni cke ko ine pred l.'.. Stu rom", Slovenska rec. 60. 11 0. 5-6. 1995. pp. 264-28 1. �28 SLOVAKIA " Nitra" Almanacs in 1842). 18 Some previously known facts, also ascertained in the process of our study and analyzed by using sociolingui stic concepts, have made it poss ible to offer a ne w view of the origin and the sub seq uent development of the Slovak literary language. Thus, the lingui stic formation functionin g in Catholic literature, sec ul ar baroque poetry, admini strati ve-l ega l tex ts, popular poetry , etc. had all the propert ies of a literary lang uage, and may be called the "Old Slovak Literary language." As the lin gui stic material shows, it had started to take shape from the 1630 's on as a result of its developing di vergence from Literary Old Czech. Its epicentre was West Slovaki a. After the Battl e of Mohacs ( 1526), the capital of Hun gary and the archbishop's res idence were tran sferred to West Slovaki a, to Brati slava and Trnava respectively. Later on, South-West Slovakia 's role in cultural life became even more important, because a university with its ow n printing- house was opened there. At first, lingui stic development among Catholics and Luthera ns was identical. Texts were created by adherents of both confessions according to the " review mechani sm." 19 The common deve lopment of the Old Slovak literary language, however, was ruptured in the early l 600's, when ling ui stic diverge nces among Catholics and Lutheran s arose as a result of an aggressive Counter-Reformation. 18 K[onstantin] V. Li fanov, "Formy proniknovenija sredneslovackogo folk lornogo ko ine v ste ru avtorskoj poezii (konec XVIII v. - pervaja polovi na XIX v.)" , Wiener Slawistiches Jahrbuch, Bd. 44, 1998, pp. 99- 113. 19 It is a free tran slation of the Russ ian term " mechanizm peresceta" used by V. M. Zivov. Its essence concludes in the fact th at rather strong associated bonds between elements gi ven (l iterary) bookish character to a text and corres ponding elementts of people (d ialec tal ) speec h ex isted in th e minds of creators of tex ts. In th e case of adopti on of •'foreign " literary language, its elements contrasted to elemen ts of people speech and were initiall y bookish. Thu s, the opposition between adopted literary language and nati ve dialects was only in the fu nctional sphere. See, for examp le, V . M. Zivov, " Roi] russkogo ce rkov noslavianskogo v istoriji slavjanski ch literaturn yc h jazykov" , Aktual'nyje problemy sla vjansk ogo jazykoznanija (Moskva, 1988), pp. 4998. �SLOVAKIA 29 The Old Slovak literary language continued to develop in a Catho lic environment. It went throu gh all the important stages, including a translation of the whole of the " Bible" ( 1750), th e first Slovak novel : the "Adventures and the Experiences of Young Rene" (1783) , by J.L. Bajza, and its codification by A. Bernolak. The Old Slovak literary language was studied at elementary and secondary school s in different parts of S lovakia, and even at two universities - in Trnava and Kosice.20 Slovak Catholics numbered 75 % of population when emperor Joseph II iss ued the Patent of Toleration ( 1781 ), and perceived Czech as a heretical language. In thi s connection there is no reason to assert that the literary language of S lovaks was Czech prior to Bernol ak 's codification. Slovak Lutherans yielded their positions and had to seek external support , and they found it in Czech reli gious books. As a result, they reverted to the norms of Literary Czech (more exactly, to norms of the " Kralice Bible"), but not in all genres, and di gloss ia 2 1 arose in their environment. In thi s situation Czech was perceived as the high , cultivated form of the native language , whereas Old Slovak literary lan g uage was perceived as " ordinary," and to be used only in administrative-legal texts and popular poetry . Literary Czech and Old Slovak functioned in parallel in the Lutheran and Catholic environments respectively , and Catholi cs contrasted both literary languages, and gradually perceived that some features belonged not just to different functional spheres, but to different languages. As a result a new mechanism - conversion - arose in their environment. In practice it resembled the " review mechani sm", but differed substantially, because so me features were contrasted on the nati ve rather than on the functional level. Thus, Slovak Catholics began to perce ive spec ific features of their language on the leve l of 20 See Izidor Kotulic. " Bernolakovcina a predbernolakovska kulturna slovenc in a··, Pamatnica A ntona Berno/aka (Martin 1992), pp. 81, 88. 21 See Charles A. Ferguson, "Diglossia", Word, 15, 1959, no. 2, pp. 325-340 and Boris A. Uspenskij , Jazykovaia situacija Kijevskoj Rusi I jejo znacenije d!Ja istoriji russkogo literaturnogo jazyka (Moscow , 1983) , pp. 4-5. �SLOVAKIA 30 concrete phoneti c and morphological units, and so me fea tures as belonging to diffe rent periods. Th e situati on amon g Cath o li cs and Lutherans re ma in ed stable until the l 830 's, when the Centra l Slovak folkl ore ko ine penetrated into the sphere of hi gh poetry of Lutheran authors, and made it possible to codify a new literary language. r.. Stur made a major specific contribution by essenti all y changing the phoneti c and morpho logical syste ms of the literary language , but the lex icon fro m th e period of the Old Slovak literary language was maintained. Some features had reached the stage of con versati on (Catho lics perceived them as S lovak as opposed to Czech), and some were at the stage of rev iew (they were regarded as "booki sh/literary" (nati ve Czec h) or as ordin ary (native Slovak). The "ordinary" features codified by Stur were not accepted by Catholi cs, and they de manded that they be replaced by "booki sh" features, as was implemented in the codification of Hattala and Hodza ( 1852). SOURCES Catholic Literature P. Bajan, Sermones, 1760- 1771 (manuscript). Kamaldulska biblia, 1756-1759 (manu script). A. Macsay, Panes primatiarum aneb Chleby prwotjn (Trn ava , 171 8). D . Ma kos, Sermones, 1752- 1774 (manuscript). N. Ol ah, Ordo et ritus sanctae metropolitane ecc/esic Strigonien- sis, quibus parochi et a/ii animarum pastores in ecc/esiis suis uti debent. Viennae Austriae in aedibus Collegii caesarei, Societatis Jezu. Anno M.D.L.X. (manuscript). B. Smrtnik, Kunsst dobre umriti (Trnava, 1697). G. Vrabel, Sermones, 1766 (manuscript). �SLOVAKIA 31 Secular Baroque Poetry " Basne Petra Benickeho", Archiv starych cesko-s/oven skych /istfn , pfsomnostf a dejepisnych povodfn pre dejepis a literattiru Slovakov, Diel II. - Svazok I. (Tun::. sv . Martin, 1873), pp. 5-47. H. Gavlo vic, Wala sk a sskola mrawuw stodola (manuscript); Gerald J. Sabo, ed., Hugo/in 's Gavlo vic's Valaska skola (Co lumbus, Ohio, 1988). Stefan F Selecky, Obraz panye krasneg perem malowany, ktera maw Trnawe swoge prebiwany (manu script); Stefan F Selecky, "Obraz pani krasnej , perem malovany, ktera ma v Trnave svoje prebyvanf", Anto/6gia starsej slovenskej literattiry (Brati slava, 1981 ), pp. 522-530. Administrative-Legal Texts Inquisitiones, Skalica, 1616-1730 (manuscript). Darina Lehotska & Jozef Orlovsky , Najstarsia jelsavska mestska kniha 1566- 1710 (Martin , 1976). Listy Sta/ice IO kopijnfkov, Spis, XVII-XVIII storocie (manu- script). Mar ia Majtanova & Mil an Majtan, Krupin ski prfsne pravc (Bratislava, 1979). Missiles, Banska Stiavnica, XYI.-XYII. storocie (manu script). Obecna kniha obce Dojc, 1622-1836 (manu script). Panstvo Pruske, XVII.-XYIII. storocie (manuscript). Pfsomnosti Sarisskej a Zemplfnskej iupy, XYII.-XYIII. storocie (manuscript). Protocol/um mais mesta Ruiomberka, XYI.-XYII. storoc ie (ma- nuscript). Jozef Stoic, "Jazyk levocskych slovenskyc h prfsah zo XYI.-XIX. storocia", Jazyko vedny sbornfk, 5, l 951, pp. 197-247. Popular Poetry and Folksongs J. Csaplovics, Slowenske Wersse, (Pest, l 822). J. Jamrich ml. , Wselygake Rozlycne Rozprawky k zabawenf �32 SLOVAKIA zepsane, 1832- 1833 (manu script) Jan Koll ar, Narodnie spievanky, zvazok I, (Bratislava, 1953). Jan Misianik , Knii ka ry tmovni (Bratislava, 1952) . Samlungen, 18 17 (manu script). Spevnfk D. Boczka, 1830-183 1 (manu script). Lasz lo Sziklay, " Poznamky k Csokonaiho popularite v slove nskej literature," Sbornfk Filozofickej fak ulty Uni verzity Komen skeho. Philologica, 16, 1964, pp. 12 1-1 3 1. Pave l Josef Safarfk, Jan Kollar, Pjsne swetske lidu slawenskeho w Uhrach, swazek 2 (Pest, 1827). Jozef Skultety, " Literarno-hi storicke drobnost i", Slovenske pohl'ady, 17, 1897, pp. 125- 128. Zbornfk J. Bruka, 1794 (manuscript). Z bornfk M. M. Kriia na, 1839 (manuscript). Zbornfk D . Kubfka, 179 1 (manu sc ript). Zbornfk J. L any, koni ec XVIII . storocia (manu script). � 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 2005, Vol. 38 Description An account of the resource Vol. 38 (No. 70-71), 2005. 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 2005 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document SLOVAKIA 7 The Origin and Development of the Slovak Literary Language 1 Konstantin V. Lifanov The history of the Slavic literary languages has developed rapidly over the last few decades as an independent linguistic discipline. Scholars have reviewed the objects of their study and defined them more precisely , and even attempted to develop optimal methods of research, all of which has made it possible for them to make adequate assessments of actual linguistic data, and to avoid imposing their contemporary perceptions on the past. For example, the use of socio1inguistic concepts has been very fruitful in the study of certain Sla- vic literary languages. However, many problems have so far remained uninvestigated. Thus Kretschmer, surveying the overall level of research into Slavic literary languages, declares that in spite of the amount of material that has already appeared, the processes whereby the Slavic literary languages emerged still remain to be worked out, as well as their regularities and specific features. 2 This conclusion also applies to the history of the Slovak literary language. Many texts written in Slovakia before the language was codified remain uninvestigated from the lingui stic point of view. There are hardly any comparative studies of texts of different ge nres or from different eras. Nevertheless , comparative study is the only 1 I deeply thank Professor Robert Orr and Professor M. Mark Stolarik for English corrections of this paper. 2 Anna Krechmer (Anna Kretschmer), " Sravnitel'naja istorija slavjanskich literatur- nych jazykov: Yoprosy metodologiji " , Vjestnik Moskovskogo uni vers iteta. Seria 9. Filologia. 3, I 998, p 48. 8 SLOVAKIA method that makes it poss ible to define the real status of co nc rete for ms a nd to determine, e.g., whether a give n for m is mere ly the result of a language error, because, e.g., a give n wri te r did not know the coeva l language norm , or of sty li stic variat ion arisin g from a g ive n genre of wri tin g, or a typical lin gui st ic feat ure characteristic of the Slovak written tradition as a whole. But if we cannot determine the status of concrete forms , we ca nnot qualify the essence of differe nt lang uage for mati o ns in the hi story of Slovak , a nd therefore we cannot compre he nd the process of the emergence and subseque nt deve lopme nt of the Slovak literary language eithe r. In its turn, this situation in the hi story of the Slovak literary language ope ns up the poss ibility of arbitrary interpretations, ofte n aris ing from extra lin gui st ic factors. Thus it is wide ly believed, mainly outside Slovakia, that the Slovak literary language emerged in the late 18 th century by differe ntiating itse lf from Czech , and that previous ly Slovaks had used Czech as their literary language. We may trace the sources of thi s beli ef to the concepts of some Czech lingui sts3, who did not recognize the di stinctiveness of Slovak and considered it merely a variant of a unitary Czechoslovak language. According to a seco nd view of thi s problem, which has been "official" in Slovak lingui stics since the mid- I 950 's, distinct languages - cultural West Slovak, Central Slovak, and perhaps East Slovak had emerged in Slovakia before the codificatio n of the Slovak literary language. Subsequently Bernolak 's 1787 codification was based o n c ultu ra l W est Slovak a nd Stur's ( I 840 's) on cultural Central Slovak. There is also a third view, accord in g to which the Slovak literary lang uage arose as a res ult of interact ion between the Czech literary language and Slovak (mainl y West Slovak) dialects. It was shared by ' See Albert Prazak , Dejiny spisovne slovenstiny po dobu Sturovu (Brati slava, 1922), A lbert Prazak , Cesi a Slovaci (Praha 1929) and Vaclav Yazny "Spisovny jazyk slove nsky", Ceskos lovenska vlasti veda , Rada 11, Sp isovny jazyk Cesky a s/ovensky (Praha 1936) pp. 145-2 15. SLOVAKIA 9 many Slovak linguists from I 900-1950.4 We embarked upon the study of thi s problem without preconceptions, and intended to base all conc lusions so lely on the analysis of concrete lin gui stic material and modern literary language theory. We cannot outline our theoretical fram ework in thi s paper, and therefore we can only refer to the first chapter of our book.5 Research into the problem of the Slovak literary language should take as its starting point the 14 th century, when Old Czech began to develop into an interethnic literary lan guage in Central Europe. At the same time it also penetrated into Slovakia. Stani slav, Kiraly , & Pauliny 6 show that in Slovakia copiers of Czec h texts tried to adhere to Czech norms. Infrin gements of these norm s tended to be iso lated and accidental , and may be described as simple errors. But as early as CC 14 - 15 fo ur changes - three phonolog ical and one morpholog ical - are attested in texts quite regul arly: the loss of the phoneme Iii, the loss of jotation in labials before lel < *e, *r, the affrication oft; d ' > c, dz, and the repl ace ment of vocati ves by nominatives. These processes constitute the initial stage of development of Old Czec h in Slovaki a, and its iso lation from the language functionin g in the Czech heartland. In the first place, we studied the further deve lopme nts of th ese phenom e na in th e spiritu a l literature of Slovak Catholics. • See , for exa mple, J. Y lkolinsky (Czambel 's pseudon ym) "O '·prvej " knihe slovenskej ", Z i ve na, 2, 1885, pp 230-240 . Henri ch Bartek, "S pi sov ny j azyk slovensky", Slovenska rec. 6, 1937- 1938, pp 50-57 and l.'.udovft Novak. "Cestina na Slove nsk u a vzn ik spisovnej slovenciny ", Slovenske pohl'ady . 54, 1938, pp 105-111. 159- 173, 2 17-222, 28 1-287. 5 Konstantin V. Lifanov, Genezis slovackogo literaturnogo jazyka . LINCOM Stu - dies in Slavic Linguistics, 21 (Munich 200 I ), pp. 18-4 1. 6 Jan Stani slav . " Zur Frage der Slowazismen in den alttschechi schen Denkmalern ", Zeitschrift fiir Slawistik. Bd. I, Heft 4. 1956. pp. 58-70, Bd. II . Heft I , 1957, pp. 3751 , Peter Kiraly. Zur Frage der altesten slowak ischen Sprachdenkmdlern" , Studia Slavica Academiae Scientiaru m Hungaricae. 4, 1958, pp. I 13- 158 , Eugen Pauliny, "Zac iatky kulturneho jazyka slovenskej narod nos ti ", Jazykovedne stridie. 6, 196 1. pp. 28-39. SLOVAKIA The re pl ace me nt of /f/ by Ir/ spread ra pidl y, alm ost over a ll S lovak wri tings , inc ludin g sp iritua l literature . By the time " Ol a.h 's Ritu a l" was tra ns lated (ca. I 550 - 1600) Iii was an obvio us, very irreg ul ar arc ha ism (proti nassy m mrskym hfJc hum ). In the re li gious treati ses of B. Smrtnik and A. Macsay , publi shed in 1697 and 171 8 res pecti ve ly, it is attes ted ma inl y in fo rm s of the ve rb ffc i , mos t probabl y as a pure ly orthographi ca l conve nti o n (Prosil ne kdy gedon Prite le sweho rikuce), but it is co mpletely absent in the manuscripts in vesti gated (the Ca ma ldul Bible ( 1756- 1759), and th e se rm ons of Mokos ( 1752- 1774), Vrabel ( I 766), and Bajan ( 1760- 177 1)). The deve lopme nt of /JI after labi a l co nso nants and before l e/ < *e, *~ was sli ghtl y di ffe re nt. The primary stages of thi s process were ide nti ca l to those in vo lved in the repl aceme nt of If/. Thus, according to Paulin /, exa mpl es of th at deve lopme nt still c lea rl y predominated in the I 5th century " Muni ch Confess ion al Formula" ( 16 fo rms with /j/ and three without), but they were refl ected incons iste ntl y as earl y as " Ol a.h 's Ritu al," as a rul e in the idi omati c fo rmul as at the end of verses (s stebau Bohe m Otcem y Duc he m Swatym bud ' cest y c hwa la na wieky wiekow. Amen). The di ffere nti ati o n betwee n genres based on the presence or absence of fo rms w ith or w itho ut /jl is characte ri sti c of later texts. Onl y fo rm s without /JI occ urred in the language of sermons, inc luding Baj an 's (tuto bude lakomec w Negwecsy potrebe), in spite of the situ ati on in hi s nati ve di a lect (Zahorsky), whe re fo rm s w ith /JI are still c urrent. However, fo rms w ith /JI re mained in the " hi ghe r" genres (in the " Bible" a nd re lig io us treati ses) and in Macsay 's la nguage they are used quite freque ntl y (T yto Pobudky ma clowek ws rdcy swem pilne vwafowati ; kri wdy net1pet1). Spec ial vocati ve for ms, and nom inati ves used as vocati ves, were lost in the maj ority of Sl ovak di alects. They were restri cted to animates in spiritual Catho li c literature (radu g se tec hd y Narod Uhersky 7 Eugen Paul iny, ·'Mnfchovska spovedna formu la" , Jazykovedny casopis. 10. no. I , 1959, p. 30. SLOVAKIA 11 /Vrabel/ - A braham e, A braham e ne wsta hug ruky tweg na djte /Macsay/). In contrast to Literary Old Czech, anim ate noun s w ith palatal ste ms had the same endin gs as nouns with no n-palatal ste ms (chce m rect du sso kresta nska bludica /M okos/ ; Czec h du se!. It is inte resting that these were the very forms that Berno lak codi fied. The hi story of the affricates c and dz(< t'and d ') shows that new fo rm s did not always oust co mpe tin g o lde r fo rms as a res ult of the loss of the oppos ition " literary - non-literary." In thi s case the te ndency was c hanged and the literary language lost the affri cates. They were w ides pread in I 4'h - I S'h century writin gs, but o nl y iso lated examples appeared in I 8'h century Catho li c literature (strhel se weter, zrucil dom /Vrabel/) . Th ese fo ur phe no me na are c uri o us ly s imil ar: they occ urred in literary Old Czech, but onl y sporadi ca ll y, occ urring in tex ts as errors by Czec h copy ists. These fo rm s deve loped into competin g doubl ets in the Slovak writte n language. However, the affri cati on of t'and d' differed from the other phenome na, in th at it made the phonol og ica l syste m more compl ex (the phone mes ga ined an additi onal artic ul atory feature) , while the othe r phe nome na, on the contrary , s implified the system , because they in vol ved the loss of a ph one me, or a pos iti onal vari ant of a phoneme, or a gra mm ati ca l fo rm . He nce we mi ght sugges t th at ph e nome na simpli fy in g a syste m preva il in co mpetiti o n in th e earl y stage of deve lopme nt of a literary la nguage outs ide its core ethni c te rritory, but phe no me na complicatin g it do not. Thi s is also suggested by the fact that it was not until the mid- I 8'h century th at the ph one me dz < *dj pe netrated the la nguage of spiritua l li teratu re; prev io us ly it had been co nsiste ntl y repl aced by /z/, or rare ly by Id '/ (zretedlne p ot wrz uje [pa n- S lovak po twrdzuj e] to wssec ko Job; skrze pokanj z te ho sna se probud'uje [pan-Sl ovak prebudz uje] /Macsay/) . The re was an esse ntial di ffe re nce between sporadi c pheno me na and doubl ets in wri tten Old Czec h. T he latte r survived as vari ants fo r almost the who le hi story of the language of Slovak Cath o li c literature, e .g., the refl exes of so-ca ll ed regress ive uml aut, i.e., the deve- SLOVAKIA 12 lopment of tautosyllabic -aj- to -ej- in Old Czec h, and the emerge nce of the co nso nant clu ster sr:. c haracterist ic of Old Czech and Central Slovak, from sc- (< *stj-, *skj- , a nd *sk- before fro nt vowe ls). The first phenomenon was subject to a degree of gra mmaticali zation , as may be deduced from the fac t that no n-uml au ted seq ue nces obviously predomin ated in imperati ve fo rm s (ne mess kag obratjtj se ku Pa.nu Bohu /Macsay/) , but variation in the superlati ve forms of adjectives and adverbs was maintain ed as late as the mid- 18 th century, and usage mai nl y depended on the indi vidu al taste of the respecti ve author (pod'te a pod mym stjnem odpocjwagte - eopustili nalezk i swe a cestu nagtwrdssu /the " Bible"/; krize a proti wenstwy trpezliwe znassagme - sa m Tyran ze swym negmlacssym sine m /Vrabel/). Forms w ith sc- a nd st: were used in re li g ious texts throu ghout the pe ri od covered by the research , regardl ess of the orig ins of their authors (gegjho pak narozenj cas gesste oppodal byl - Pridrzme se th gessce S. Paw la /Macsay/). It was onl y in mid- I 8 century sermon s that th e tendency towards regional differentiation of th ese forms e merged: Makos used on ly fo rms with st:, following hi s nati ve Cen- tral Slovak dial ect (kazani takow i mestiane bi zas lu zili ), while Bajan, from Western Slovakia, mostly used forms w ith sc- (kde tenkrat bude Utociisscie hri ssniku). The process of for mati on of lin gui stic norms, which mu st have ex isted , may be observed from the lin gui st ic mate ri al th at ca n be g leaned from the written records. The occ urre nce of nati ve Czech and nati ve Slovak for ms in texts was not random, but governed by certain rules: firstl y the primary literary and non-literary fo rms arose, the n the primary non-literary form usuall y ousted the primary literary one. These processes, however, were subject to the princ ipl e of flexibl e stability8, whereby they were impl e me nted sy nchroni ca ll y, and thu s co ntinuity was ma intain ed be tween th e written languages of diffe re nt epoc hs. Thus, the fo ll ow in g new phe nomena, untypi ca l of " Yi lem Matezius ( Yi lem Matesius), ·'O neobchodimosti stab il'nost i litera turnogo jazyka" . Praiskij lingvisticeskij krniok (Moskva. 1967). p. 38 1 13 SLOVAKIA earlie r writings, are attested in the tran slation of the "Ol ah Ritual ": □ unco ntracted forms of the gen., dat. and loc. sg. of femi nine adjecti ves e ndin g in fun ctional non -pa lata l conso na nts o usted the corresponding co ntracted forms (podl e tagneg radd y otcowskeg a dobrotiweg wu le twey); □ there was vari ation betwee n the nati ve Czech in str. forms of the pronouns ty and seba with the root vowe l o, a nd the nat ive Slovak ones with the root vowe l e, but the native Slovak forms prevailed (s steba u Bohe m otcem y s Duchem Swatym - s tobou bohem Ot- cem s Duchem Swatym); □ both the short and lon g forms of participl es were used as predi cati ves (za hrj c hy nasse vcinen gest - kterjmz to byl zapaleny proti nassy m mrskym hrjchum), etc. Some phe nome na are first attested in the lang uage of Smrtnik's re li gious treati se: □ the an im ate ge n.-acc. plural (Wide l pyssycych se A nge luw; cf. "Olah Ritua l": ze sy pro nas lidj hrjssne vkri fo wany) ; □ a n epenthetic vowel in masc uline forms of the /-participl e of consonant ste ms (polozil ho na Oltari na hranjcy drew a wstahe / ru ku ; cf. a n examp le fro m " Olah 's Ritu a l": z nes / zuriwy hnew otce tweho wecneho) ; □ the gramm ati ca li zation of piehlask a9 , prese rved in so me form s and lost in others, e.g., it is preserved in participial and verba l adverbia l endings, but beginning to be lost in present verb forms (gako Rewy we wykwjtagicy Winnicy; smegjce se pobij za k bytwe; pred Ssediwinamj wassymj Ml ads sy hore powstawagj - Dijtky zros- 9 Pieh/iska denotes the series of comprehensive progressi ve vowe l changes, unique to earl y Czech within Slavic. which was ori ginall y manifested co nsisten tl y in the morphology. but later reduced due to analogical pre ssures. Basically, it involved the frontin g and raising of vowels after origin ally soft consona nts. e. g .. u/ice < * ulica. biicho < * br ·ucho. see. e. g .. Miroslav Komarek. Historicka mluvnica ceski. 1: Hlis k os l ovf (Praha. 1962). pp. 62-66, I 15-118 , 153; 1964: 17, 18. 54; Charl es Townsend & Laura Janda. Common and Comparati ve Slavic (Indi ana 1996), pp. 9 192. I 6 I. I 63 , 272. SLOVAKIA 14 tie wchazagu do sklepu); □ the spread of the genitive of the pronoun onilony to the acc., with both forms used as variants (pi su ge y pro tebe - prikazal aby se zem otewrela a za ziwa gych pozrela), etc. The majority of the features peculiar to the language of spiritual literature spread in the first half of the 18 th century. These trends are shown in the lan guage of Macs ay's religious treatises, which a lso contains the following further innovation s: □ masculine loc. pl. forms in -och (zalezelo to znamenj na skut- koch geho zazracnych; cf. nenj wskutcych miloserdenstwj (Smrtnik)); □ the dat. , loc. and instr. pl. of noun s such as kost' fo ll ow the pattern of ulice/iena (pri ledagakyc h wecech se zabaw ugu - a w smetach hrjchuw lezite); □ the spread of the loss of sy llabic sonants in abso lute word- final position , apart from /-participles, where this process took place earlier (Ale o Swaty Otce wyswet li vmysl twug - gakz ty s wilozjl smyse/ geho), etc. However, some Czech elements were very stable and were used almost universally: □ the sequence ji- in word-initial position , in contrast to Slovak i- (gako by mluwil a prisahal gim ("The Bible"); □ velar/alternations in the dat/loc. sg. of feminine nouns (Zadag- jcymu wodi mleka dala a na ssalce knj zatskeg podala ("The Bible") and in the nom pl. of adjectives agreeing with animates (A le zase pocali synowe Yzrahelsty ciniti zle weci ("The Bible"), etc. These processes obviously demon strate the modification of Old Czech as it was transformed into a standardised written language. Its structure consisted of native Czech and native S lovak elements used according to fairly strict rules. Such phenomena, maintained in Slovak, but lost in contemporary Literary Czech, are direct evidence of its clear connection to Old Czech. Apart from analogical doublets in literary Old Czech and in the language of Slovak Catholics, these are as follows: SLOVAKIA □ 15 the preservati o n of the auxili ary in 3rd person verb fo rm s of the /- parti c ipl e un til the mi d- I 8 th century (a kralostwy sweho nekoncene ho pocatek gest ucinil (Mokos); ze ges t guz pri dwerac h wibehei protj ne mu / Baja n/); suc h fo rm s were co mpl ete ly lost in S lovak di alec ts by abo ut the I 5th ce ntury1°, and they were very ra re in Czec h writings by the 16 th century; 11 □ the e ndin g -u/-ti in the inst. sg. of fe minine noun s and adjec- ti ves, and also so me personal pronouns, in all works of Catho lic literature, inc ludin g authors of Central Sl ovak o ri g in , altho ugh they do not ac tu all y occ ur in Central Slovak (S krotite le Sweta A lexand ra M ladeho kw itnu cj ho strilku swu ra nil a; Pod se mnu odegdi (S mrtni k)); □ no d iphthongs apart from uo in the "Ol ah Ritu al", partic ul arly in Smrtni k 's re li g io us treati se, whi c h co ntinu es th e s itu ati o n in Literary Old Czec h (Oleg obmekssuge kuoie (S mrtni k)); □ gemin ates in the same words as in Literary O ld Czech (podle tagneg raddy Otcows keg /Olah/), etc. The language of S lovak Catho li c literature, howeve r, was indepe nde nt. It deve loped accordin g to its ow n rul es, in co ntrast to those of Old Czec h and Slova k di alec ts. Spec ific processes e merged rapidly, e.g., th e above- me nti o ned grammati ca li zati on of piehlask a, plus the follow ing: □ most masc uline no un s have gen. pl. fo rm s in -u w, whi ch is absent fro m Slova k di alects, and was lost in literary Czech (odwede l od rodiczuw, od prateluw /Vrabel/); □ an oppos iti o n between fe minin e adj ectives with ste m-fin al no n-palata l a nd ste m-fi na l palatal co nso na nts, beca use th e latte r fo rm s also had contracted gen. , dat. a nd loc. fo rm s (V < *Vj V; Mlc zim , abi ch w dnessny (< *-j-) Reczy meg d luhy ne bil /Bajan/), whil e the fo rmer had uncontracted fo rms; □ Ill 11 the de limi tati on of gen. and acc. pl. fo rms of animate nouns as Rudolf K rajcov ic, Nacrt dejfn slovenskeho jazyka (Bratislava, 197 1) p. 143 A rn ost L amprec ht, Dusan Slosar & Jaros lav Bauer, Historicka mlu vnice cestiny (Praha, 1986), p. 244 SLOVAKIA 16 observed in Macsay ' s lan guage, and in the language of the " Bible" (ge n.: okolo deset ti syc uw wseckych sy lnych a udatnych Muiuw; acc.: kdiz zachwatili dwoch mu iti s knjzat Madyanskych /th e " Bible"/); □ the appearance of spec ial gen. sg. forms of the pronouns ty and seba, with -o- in the root (a le podobne wecy pro sobe od druheho slissetj pohrdagj (S mrtnik)), etc. Many native Slovak elements in the language of Slovak Catholic literature were pan-Slovak, but some of them directly indicate the region of Slovakia which played the main role in the formation of the Slovak written tradition : West Slovak. This is espec iall y true of features that do not occur in other Slovak dialects, primarily Central Slovak, such as , e.g.: □ diphthongs tended to be lost; □ -e in the endings of adjectives with a ste m-fi nal pal atal (ni c nad neho neni twrdsseho /Mokos/; Czech t vrdsfho; North Central Slovak tvrdsieho, South tvrdsiho/tvrdsiho) ; □ non-contracted gen. , dat. , and acc . forms (in the latter case if agreeing with animate noun s) of masc uline and neuter possessive adjectives (abich guss kpredsewzeti mogemu mluwil /Mokos/; Czech memu; Central Slovak m 6jmu); □ epenthetic -e- in masculine /-part iciples (Ce ntral Slovak -o-; a do stawu sweg Boskeg milosti pren esel /Mokos/; Czech pienes /; Central Slovak preniesol) , etc. D moreover, many native Czech e lements remained unchan ged, because they also occur in West Slovak as a whole, or in its SouthWestern subdial ects, e.g.: D the sequence rot- as a reflex of Common Slavic c ircumflex *6rt- (aby rostlo nany Hlozj a Trnj (S mrtnik ); Czech and Wes t Slovak rostlo; Central Slovak nistlo); □ the vowel e as a refl ex of Common Slavic strong *b (a gedna zadruhu wen zkostola wichazali /Mo kos/ ; Czech and West Slovak ven; Central Slovak von ); D the ending -em in the loc. sg. of masc uline and neuter adjec- 17 SLOVAKIA ti ves (aby na hrobowem kamenj tyto slowa wy kresatj dali /M acsay/ ; Czech and West Slovak hrobovem ; Centra l S lovak hrobovom ); □ the endin gs -e and -owe in the no m. pl. of anim ate no un s (nadto y pry tele daleko od stupili od ne ho /the " Bible"/ ; mn ozy p atriarcho we, mnozy kni zata a w udcowe /V rabel/; Czech p hite le , patriarchove, vudcove; West S lovak prate/e, patriarchove, vodcove; Central Slovak priatelia, patriarchovia, vodcovia) , etc. The typical West Slovak elements occ urring in Catho li c literary texts were as fo ll ows: □ the lack o f sy ll abic sonants from ori gin al sequences of conso- nants plus b i b + I (iluc Draku w gest wino geg ich (Smrtnik); Czech i luc; Central Sl ovak i lc; the isogloss was located on the territory o f South-Western (Trnava) di alects); □ the instr. sg. e ndin g -e m in masc uline and ne uter no un s (A sed'e la pod strom em palmowym, ktery m enem gey m sa menowal /the " Bible"/ ; Czec h, Zahorak, and some adj acent Trn ava di alec ts stromem, jmeneml m enem ; Central Slova k and other Wes t S lovak di alects have -om : stromom , menom), etc. Althou gh thi s lin g ui stic form ati on does di splay territori a ll ybased di alect di vergences, mai nl y in sermons, di alectal fea tures have not totall y submerged its characteri sti c pan-di alectal elements. If we compare the lin gui stic structures of Slovak Catholic literature and Berno lak 's codifi cation, we may conc lude that the codi ficati on was not somethin g new in princ iple. Nati ve Czec h fea tures occurring in , e.g., both the language of Slovak Catho li c literature and Berno lak's codifi cati on, clearl y de mo nstrate the c lose co nnec ti on between the two. These features are as fo llows: □ contracted fo rm s of possess ive adjecti ves (m eho, etc.) ; □ dat. sg. fo rms of ori g in all y soft-stem neuter noun s, whi ch d is- pl ay the refl exes of the ceska p fehlask a, i.e., u>i (srdci); □ □ neuter noun s endin g in -nf (stawaiif); parti c ipl es and verba l ad verb s w ith pieh/aska in suffixes ( wolag icf, wolagic); □ the I" person subjuncti ve of by t' in -ch, incl ud in g co mpoun d SLOVAKIA 18 conjunctions (e.g., abich); □ the sequence ji- in word-initial position (gim), etc. The material being analyzed shows that the language of Catholic literature had many features characteristic of a literary language. It was cultivated, selective, functionally homoge neous, and essentially supra-dialectal. For its definitive identification as such , it needs to be ascertained whether it was only a religious style or multifunctional , and whether it was widespread over the whole of Slovakia. In order to answer the first question we compared the language of Catholic literature to the language of secular baroque poetry , based on the following texts: P. Benickfs [original] "Slovak Verses" ( 1652), S.F. Selecky ' s " Pen Portrait of a Beautiful Lady" ( 170 I), and H. Gavlovic's "The Pastoral School " ( 1775). The language of secular baroque poetry generally coincides with the lan guage of Catholic literature. The linguistic differences in each genre are mainly based on the respective periods of composition ; and not the origins of the authors . In other words, secular baroque poetry may be grouped along with Catholic literature in accordance with its period of composition. The vowel system s of both genres may be characterised by their clear tendency to use long monophthongs instead of native Czech and Central Slovak diphthongs. The native Czech diphthong ou (orthographic au) , also attested in earlier spiritual literature, occurs only in Benicky (Spravedlivim gsaudem I Osemetnim !idem / Pracuje gich chitrost (Benicky); moudrost y cest geho /Olah/ ; Strach Saudu a Ostrost Sudce (Smrtnik)). It is absent from 18 th century works , however, regardless of genre. In contrast to Catholic literature, other diphthongs occur sporadically in the language of Benicky and Gavlovic : the former has two examples of -ia- , and the latter nearly ten of -ie-, and perhaps one example of -iu- (Neb size Rodiczke / Kliatby Materynske / Prinasegj pokuty (Benicky) ; Spiwala sy gedna baba : mam penazy dgessku, I su do zeme zakopane, / newim w kterem br- geiku /Gavlovic/; A gak pangu penezitu, / musiss geg sluziti , / Gak chudobnu budess w dome / dwe chudoby miti (Gavlovic). These phe- SLOVAKIA 19 nomena may be described as deliberate violations of norm. 12 The wholesale remodelling of the front/back contrast in the vowel system due to the gradual reduction of pieh/aska provides another substantial feature common to secular baroque poetry and Catholic literature. The grammaticalization of piehJaska may also be observed in the language of secular baroque poetry, generally identical to similar processes in the language of Catholic literature. This convergence is manifest in the stability of some grammatical forms , variation in others, and even in the total loss of some forms with piehlaska Thus, participial and verbal adverb endings are the most stable (Had kuzy svu zvleka, / Orlyce z daleka / Letagicz pera pusty (Benicky); czistotu woniczy proto smim potwrdit (Selecky); Ktery mlcy , ku mluweni , / pricynu magice, I Wiceg cyni, nezli zwitas / zamky walagice (Gavlovic). In contrast, at an early stage 3 rd person forms without piehlas- ka began to be replaced by forms with piehlaska and a stage where forms both with and without coexist occurs in the language of Ben icky, which chronologically corresponds to the language of Smrtnik (Nebo u susedu / Pekagj chleb z medu, / Take pryslovy byva - Saty ozdobene, I Czinicz telo pisne / Molove prei iraju (Benicky)). As in the language of Catholic literature, forms with pieh/aska are absent from the language of F. Selecky and H. Gavlovic (Mnozy tez zadagu wzacznost smichu widjet (Selecky); Ne ze zeme, ale z Judi / wiros- tagu zlosti , / Puwod magu w marnych Srdcach I z nedobreg wlchkosti (Gavlovic). The convergence of the main linguistic features of Catholic literature and sec ular baroque poetry also affected the morphological system. The features which have changed are as follows: □ In the language of Benicky the development of animate gen.lace. forms in the plural of nouns is fixed at a stage where both nom./acc. and gen.lace. forms occur. The translation of "Olah ' s Ritual," in which the original nom ./acc. forms are still consistent, repre- 12 See Ian Muk arfovsk ii (Jan Mukai'ovsky), ·"Literaturn yj jazyk i poeticeskij jazy k", Praiskij lingvisticeskij kruiok (Moskva, 1967), pp. 407-408. SLOVAKIA 20 sents an intermediate stage and the treati se of B. Smrtnik refl ects the e ndpoint of thi s process: the re are no nom ./acc. forms in Selecky and Gavlovic at all (Mas lj se so uditj , / Mu sis svedky mitj , / Tak bude vec vihrana - Yzlast gestlis na vogne / Drz vogak u v s ilne / Czastim napominanim (Benicky); Ked bi g ih ranjenych ona htje la hog it (Se lecky) ; A Kato mu odpowedel : / Nemluw mi nic wice, / bil by zazrak, kdyby zhryzly / Sswabuw nohaw ice (Gavlovi c); □ the loss of the spec ial acc. forms of the pe rso nal pronoun oni/ony (here both Benicky and Smrtnik have doubl ets, and they may be contrasted on the one ha nd with "Ola.h 's Ritual ," the point of departure, and on the other hand , to a ll other writin gs attesting to the e nd of the process (Magj peczet daty , / 0 to se staraty , / Aby ge ginsy stihat - Darmo konom hv yzdat / Kdyz g ich mas napagat / gestlj ze sam nepi ge (Benicky); Prirownam g ich k oczam soko la draheho (Selec ky); Proto wzacny karbunkulu s / y drahe kameni , / ze g ich zridka uhlidame, / w hognosti g ich ne ni (Gav lovic); □ the replace ment of primary forms of /-participles with ste m- fin a l sy ll a bic sonants by forms with epenthetic -e- (Benicky and " Ol a.h 's Ritual " have only forms with sy llabic sonants, they still predomin ate in Smrtnik , whi le 18 th century writings, including the works of Selec ky and Gavlovi c (Zes ze statku panskeho / Zbohatl, v kratky cas / vezme ti to Pan zas (Be nicky); jakbi u kralowneg lasku bil dosahel (Se lec ky ); A Pan os la se u/eke/, / osla dal zabiti, / Tak osel, chtic las ku ziskat, / strati I ziwobiti (Gav lovi c)) have only innovatio ns, etc . The following phenome na may be termed stabl e : □ The consiste nt preservation of alternations in nom . pl. adj ec- tives agree in g with animate noun s (Tak pansty dvorane I Yak nahl e pan vstane / Nec h zanim postupu g u (Benicky); ked by ta czi czerti pgek ni bil y w pe kl e (Se lecky); Nazy na Swet prich adzame / ze ziwota Matk i, / Neprinassame ze sebu / penize a statki (Gavlovic); □ masc uline a nd ne ute r in str. sg. forms in -em (Ne b czasta pri saha / Ciasem dopomaha / ze zustava lhar vetsy (Be ni c ky); nebo s ak samitem okrasle na bi wa (Se lec ky) ; Zena mu fov i ukl ady / z placem spu sob uge, / Geho mi se l vsse li ga kim / s pu s obe m probu ge SLOVAKIA 21 (Gavl ov ic); bych (Chtje l bih mnihe m zostat, rad bih giste wgedj e l (Selecky); Y kosselu bych predala, / vssak se mu za bo□ th e subjun cti ve in gim, I Kdyz se trochu podnapi gem, / ce la neobstog im (Gav lov ic), etc. Sporadic phe nome na simil ar to those in the language of Catho li c literature may also be fo und in the language of sec ul ar baroque poetry: ge min ate consona nts (Trucow ity y neg le pss u / c udzu Raddu ha ni , I A teprw a gu c hce plnit, / kdyz se guss porani (Gav lov ic); 3d pe rson /-parti cipl es w ith overt a uxili aries (Z iwot ta k cz istotneg c hwa li ges t zas lu zil (Se lecky)), co ntrac ted fe minine loc. sg. Adj ecti ves w ith stem-fi nal palatals (Napomaha k pravde, / V negchitregsi zrade / Sv u ukazuge moc nost (Benicky)), etc. T he lingui sti c di ffe rences arising fro m c hrono log ica l d ive rgences betwee n sec ul ar baroque poetry and Catho li c li teratu re onl y in vo lve detail s, mainl y in stances whe re poets use such language e le me nt s as had already bee n lost or had not yet e merged in Catho li c literature. Thus, fo r instance, H. Gav lov ic used both -om and -um as masc uline nomin al dat. pl. endings, although the latte r fo rm s had already been lost in Cath olic literature by around the l 750's (De n Sed/akom a Noc ia kom I negw ic pos luhu ge, / to Sowa w cy me ry zac ke m / slu ssne oznamuge - Prez ce ly de n Walac h chodi , / a malo spi w nocy, / By mohe l bit proti wlkum I owcam na pomocy) . The masc uline loc. pl. ending -och had already appea red by Beni cky's tim e, sli ghtl y ea rli er than in Catho li c literatu re (Kupcove, fl agnarkj , I V hostincoch krczmarky / Nemagf dluho spavat). Sometimes fo rm s were se lected based on the need fo r a rhy me. Thu s, in G av lov ic we do find 3rd person present forms with piehlaska, but onl y in cases where they are part of a rhyming sche me (Wssec ke wecy cas sw ug magu, / cas gest k fartovani , / Kdyz se zme ni ss c hwa litebne, / zaden te nezhani - Coko li w ge kre m potre by, / to guss stog i w zbytku , / Z bytek w sto loc h we Ike statki / vihana z pribitku). A lingui sti c analys is of sec ul ar baroque poetry and Catho li c literature shows th at th e la nguage fo rmati on in these genres was ide nti ca l. In othe r words, the language of Catho lic lite rature was not onl y 22 SLOVAKIA religiou s. It has already been shown that the language of sec ular baroque poetry, specifically Gavlovic ' s " Pastoral School ", mostly coincides with the language of administrative-legal texts of South-Western origin. Hence it follows that comparing them with administrative- lega l texts from other regions involves in principle the comparison of different genres. And thi s in its turn makes it possible to determine whether thi s language formation was widespread in all region s of Slovakia, which is very important for its definitive identification. We studied thi s problem by comparing the concrete lin guistic features occurring in administrative- lega l texts. Then we also compared different sy nchronic stages of the "Jel sava Town Chronicle" of 15661710 (South Central Slovakia) and the 16 th - 19 th century "Levoca Formu las of Oaths" (East Slovakia) , in order to determine trends in the ir lingui stic development. A comparison of spec ific lin gui stic features from diverse admini strative-legal texts reveals interestin g features in the manifestation of linguistic processes and the di stribution of phenomena in texts of different origins. Thus, all phenomena involving the modification of the Old Czech base are manifested in different texts in the same positions, and therefore many of them were not due to the lingui stic factors contrasting all Slovak dialects with Czech. An examp le of loss is furnished by the history of the phoneme Ii i, which was re placed in all positions by the phoneme Ir/ in regional variants of admini strative-legal writings. An example of maintenance is furni shed by the old instr. sg. feminine ending -11 (- u), which began to be used in Slovak written texts as a component of Old Czech morphological structure , not only in West and East Slovak admin istrative-lega l documents, where it is supported by local dialect usage, but also in Central Slovak. This shows that processes manifested in the written language spread into other reg ions from an epicentre. This examp le is especially interesting, as the Central Slovak ending -ou is formally identical to the new Czech ending -ou from the diphthong ization of - 11 (mezi Mikulasem Kowacze[m] a druhu osobu Matronu Elzbetu SLOVAKIA 23 Haylowich /1658, Dojc, W es t Slo vakia/; Roli czku ... zo psseniczu posal ( 1728, Spi s, East Slovaki a); vsak z mu matku na vinicu ko mne chodivala zvadzat ( 1728, Krupina, Central Slovakia) 13. Some instances of doublets occur in South-West Slovak admini strati ve -lega l tex ts. As a rule , one member of such pair occurs more frequently , and may be considered the unmarked form. All the invariant feature s of these texts occur in non-South-Western administrative-legal documents Features with doubl et forms show both variants in non-SouthWestern texts, or, less frequ e ntly , only the unmarked variant. " Reg ional variants" had the function of doublets, which differentiated indivisible lan guage formations , but did not separate them into inde pe ndent lingui stic units. Thus, for example, the masc uline and ne ute r oblique adjective case form s with -e- in the endings, the only poss ible variant in South-West Slovak administrative-legal texts (ze Sa czcinskeho trhu spolem issly ( 1725 , Skalica)), also occurred in NorthWest Slovak (ta cesta od kamenneho Snehu na Polianku ( 1633, Pruske)) , North Central Slovak (za Radu Slowutneho a Oppatrneho muze Pana Tomassa Sk/adaneho 11649, Rufomberok/) , South-Central Slovak (pana knam milostiweho a /askaweho ( 1570, Banska Stiavnica)) and East Slovak (stegto strany Yarku mlinskeho /1658 , Sari s - Zemplfn/) texts. Side by side with these form s, their regional variants are also used in non-South-Western texts, e.g., the diphthongs -ie- (pre sirotky zu stale nebohyeho Samuela /166 I , Rufomberok/), -f- (-i-; (Pozdraweni y g iniho mnoho dobriho /1622 , Ban ska Stiavnica/), -o(Agnieha Istvana Radomskoho sestra /1608, Sari s - Zemplfn/). These features, mainl y typical of South-Weste rn written texts, may be seen as invariants, based on their genera l di stribution . Invariants on the level of concrete linguistic elements are always attested in South-Western texts, and therefore the lan guage of South-West administrative- '-' A lthough the M odern Czech and Slovak - ou endings are forma ll y identica l , they constitute the endpoints of two different hi storica l processes : Czech -ou is the reflex of th e diphthongisation of *- u resulting from th e denazali za ti on. fo ll owed by contraction. of * -ojQ ( * -11 < * -oju < * -ojQ). whereas Slovak -ou is simply the refl ex of contracti on. wi th subsequent denazali zati on. of * -ojQ (-ou < * -OQ < * -ojQ). SLOVAKIA 24 lega l tex ts is genera ll y in varia nt by com pari so n to texts from other reg ion s of Slovakia. The o bvious fact th at Catholic literature and sec ul ar baroque poetry were based o n South-West Slovak dialects shows th at the sa me lin g ui st ic fo rmat io n functioned in a ll kinds of writte n texts, and was widespread in a ll region s of Slovakia. Thu s, the so-ca ll ed c ultural la ng uages were not indepe nde nt lingui stic formations. Firstly , no compl ete li st of distinct features can be revealed for any of the m, because every indi vidu a l isog loss used to c lass ify tex ts of different ori g in s yie ld s different res ults, even of " regiona ll y- based variants" recorded in written tex ts. In other word s, the lang uage of ad mini strative-lega l texts amounts to th e sum of minor loca l var ia nts united into a who le, w itho ut any tran s iti o na l fo rm ation s (so-ca ll ed c ultu ra l lang uages). 14 An ana lys is of the deve lopment of the lang uage of the " Je lsava Town Chronicle" revea ls a number of facts, whi c h are extre me ly important fo r the e luc idati o n of the dynamics of the developme nt of thi s ling ui stic fo rmati o n. There were man y phe nomena in the ear li e r records, as earl y as the I 560's and I 570's , deviating from Czech norms. Firstly, we found pan-Sl ova k features , w hi c h mi g ht have penetra ted writte n tex ts in different reg ions of Slovak ia independently of o ne anothe r (the absence of the phone me Iii and the nati ve Czech diphthong ou, the jotation of lab ia l consona nts before e < *e, *~, etc.). Phe nome na on the th whole untypica l of writte n 16 century texts a lso occ urred (the consiste nt occ urre nce of th e phoneme dz < *dj, for ms bo th with and without j before i in word-initial position, etc .). A few features, howeve r, we re o bviously Centra l Slovak (the diphtho ngs -uo- and -ie-, o < stron g * b , masculine and neuter nomina l in str. sg . forms in -om, masc uline and ne uter possess ive adjecti ve gen. sg. fo rms in -ho, etc .). Adj ecti ves w ith -ie- in the ir endin gs are th e most important, because they simulta neo us ly de mo nstrate th e break w ith the Old Czech writ14 K.McCone and D. Mathews describe similar se ts of probl ems in defining Middle Iri sh and Middle Engli sh respec tively. See Kim McCone. The Early Irish Verb (M aynooth , 1987) , pp. 18 1- 183 and Dav id M atth ews , (U ni versity Park , PA , 2000), pp. 1- 14. SLOVAKIA 25 ten tradition and show th at some standardi sation processes were carried through in the la nguage of written Central Slovak texts, because these forms have the monophthong iii in South Centra l Slovak dia lects, including Je lsava. At the same time, whi le generall y ac knowl edg ing the impl e mentation of standardi sation processes in the Central Slovak dialects, it should be stated that they were rather weak, due to the occ urre nce of a numbe r of loca l features in the written tex ts. These inc luded, e.g., the almost total loss of the sy llabi c so nant r, the c han ge of ou into 6, primarily attested in the instr. sg . forms of feminine noun s and adjectives, the c hange of c into s, and the appearance of a afte r ve lars, etc. Some features may be found in late 16 th a nd early I 7'h ce ntury texts, which may be described as the rea li sation of two contradictory te ndencies: the wea kness of the loca l c harac te r of record s, because dialectal ele me nt s were lost in the respec tive la nguages (the restoration of sy llabic r, the loss of Gerner features ia < ie and s < c, etc.), and the increas ing occurre nce of features from the Trnava written tradition (the losses of the phoneme /dz/, masc uline and neuter adjectival form s with e in the e ndin gs, a nd di alecta l forms of I-participle bel/biel, etc.). In the I 630 's - I 650's the popul ation of Je lsava accepted th e Counter-Refo rmation , whic h was reflected in the language of the town chronicle. The first te nde ncy we named was modified , because the occ urrence of most of the already exist in g Ce ntral Slovak features in creased , but no new feat ures of Central Slovak orig in appeared in the texts. The second te ndency - followin g the Trnava written tradition - was maintained. The second tendency predominated until the earl y I 8 th ce ntury. W e may therefore conclude that over the whole hi story of th e "Je lsava Town Chronicle", its lang uage gradually adapted to Be rnol ak 's codification of Slovak literary la nguage, and not to Stur' s, as we mi ght ex pect based on the Central Slovak origin 26 SLOVAKIA of th ese texts. 15 The development of the language of the " Levoca Formulas of Oaths" was essentiall y similar: there is an early stratum of Polish di alectal feature s in the texts (e.g., plosive g and the Poli sh reflexes of the *tort formula) , with a layer of East Slovak ones (e.g., the vowe l e < * and reflexes of assibilated t' and d) superimposed. Over time, however, they were lost, because they could not res ist competition from pan-Slovak and West Slovak feature s, which beca me obvious in the early 18 th century, not long after the Counter-Reformation . 16 It is very important to note th at the lan guage of administrativelega l texts was common for both Catholics and Lutherans, in contrast to Catholic literature and secular baroque poetry. The language of popular poetry was also common to both Catholics and Lutherans, and it was on the whole also based on the SouthWestern written tradition. Specifically, however, it was characterised by a very fluid structure, because thi s lin guistic formation in such writings was contrasted to Literary Czech or some Slovak dialect, depending on the genre or contents of the respective verses. Consequently , Czech feature s, atypica l of the Slovak written tradition , penetrated the language of hi storical verse (for instance , the " Book of Verses" (East Slovaki a, 1751 ), or J . Bruk ' s manuscript co ll ectio n (Orava, North Central Slovaki a, 1794) or occasional poetry (for in stance , congratulation from the J. Lany manu script co ll ec tion , late 18th century). And conversely, a number of dialectal features are found in styli sed folksongs (e.g., the D. Kubik collection (Priev idza, Central Slovakia, 1791 )). From the early l 800's a number of Central Slovak feat ures occur in a variety of verses (for examp le, in J. Koll ar 's " Folksongs", the M. M. Krizan collection (Trencfn County, North-West Slovakia, 1839, etc.), which we consider a s ign of the 15 See in detail K[ o nstantin] V. Li fa nov, "Evoljucia j azyka " Je lsavskoj gorodskoj kni g i" 1566- 17 10 gg. i t. naz. Kul\urnyj sred nes lov ac kij j azyk", Zeitschrift filr Sla- wische Philologie. Bd. 58 , Heft I, 1999, pp. 151 - 170. See Ko nsta ntin V Lifanov , Genezis slovatskogo literaturnogo iazyka. LIN CO M 16 St udi es in Slavic Lingui sti cs, 2 1 (Muenchen , 200 I). pp. 163- 170. SLOVAKIA 27 emergence of a spec ific language , the Centra l Slovak folklore koine, based on North Centra l Slovak di alects. Another sign of thi s phenomenon is the nature of the lingui sti c changes whi ch we find in manuscript copies of the folk songs (for instance, in J. Boczko 's collections fro m Banska Sti av ni ca ( 1830-1 83 1) and J. Jamri ch Junior 's from Gerner ( 1832-1 833)). These copyists were South Central Slovaks by birth , but when they copied songs from the second part of Koll ar 's "Slovak Secul ar Fo lksongs fro m Hun gary" , they gave preference to North Central Sl ovak features. 17 The purest vari ety of the Central Slovak fo lkl ore koine fun ctioned in North Central Slovaki a, and a written form is fi xed in the S.B. Hrobo n manu sc ript collecti on (S ielni ca, Liptov County, No rth Central Slovaki a, 1841 ). Its penetrati on into South Central and West Slovaki a (it did not influence the language of East Slovak folk songs, or minimall y so) took the form of infiltration of some its features. Later the Central Slovak folklore koine turned into a poetic koine, when it began to used in popular poetry as we ll , over the who le territory of Slovaki a (e.g., the verses of J. Szent-Kereszty ( I 822, of So uth Central Slovak ori gin ), the "Samlungen" manu script collection (Trnava, West Slovaki a, 18 17), the Eastern Slovak lawye r F. Balogh's translation of Hungari an poet Y.M. Csokonai' s verse (earl y 1800 's), and not just in the styli zations of folksongs. The Central Slovak fo lkl ore ko ine also penetrated the " hi gh" poetry of Luthera n poets, who had prev iously written in Czec h. The fi rst such works - three verses by S. Chalupka - were published in G . Fejerpataky' s Alm anac in 1834. At first thi s process was also mani fested in the sty li zati ons of folk songs, but in contrast to the popular poetry, it totall y o usted the prev io us lin gui stic system (the Czec h language). Later on it spread into other genres of hi gh poetry (the hymnal song "Nitra, Dear Nitra" was publi shed in the first volume of 17 Konstantin Lifa nov . " Stredos love nske basni cke ko ine pred l.'.. Stu rom", Slovenska rec. 60. 11 0. 5-6. 1995. pp. 264-28 1. 28 SLOVAKIA " Nitra" Almanacs in 1842). 18 Some previously known facts, also ascertained in the process of our study and analyzed by using sociolingui stic concepts, have made it poss ible to offer a ne w view of the origin and the sub seq uent development of the Slovak literary language. Thus, the lingui stic formation functionin g in Catholic literature, sec ul ar baroque poetry, admini strati ve-l ega l tex ts, popular poetry , etc. had all the propert ies of a literary lang uage, and may be called the "Old Slovak Literary language." As the lin gui stic material shows, it had started to take shape from the 1630 's on as a result of its developing di vergence from Literary Old Czech. Its epicentre was West Slovaki a. After the Battl e of Mohacs ( 1526), the capital of Hun gary and the archbishop's res idence were tran sferred to West Slovaki a, to Brati slava and Trnava respectively. Later on, South-West Slovakia 's role in cultural life became even more important, because a university with its ow n printing- house was opened there. At first, lingui stic development among Catholics and Luthera ns was identical. Texts were created by adherents of both confessions according to the " review mechani sm." 19 The common deve lopment of the Old Slovak literary language, however, was ruptured in the early l 600's, when ling ui stic diverge nces among Catholics and Lutheran s arose as a result of an aggressive Counter-Reformation. 18 K[onstantin] V. Li fanov, "Formy proniknovenija sredneslovackogo folk lornogo ko ine v ste ru avtorskoj poezii (konec XVIII v. - pervaja polovi na XIX v.)" , Wiener Slawistiches Jahrbuch, Bd. 44, 1998, pp. 99- 113. 19 It is a free tran slation of the Russ ian term " mechanizm peresceta" used by V. M. Zivov. Its essence concludes in the fact th at rather strong associated bonds between elements gi ven (l iterary) bookish character to a text and corres ponding elementts of people (d ialec tal ) speec h ex isted in th e minds of creators of tex ts. In th e case of adopti on of •'foreign " literary language, its elements contrasted to elemen ts of people speech and were initiall y bookish. Thu s, the opposition between adopted literary language and nati ve dialects was only in the fu nctional sphere. See, for examp le, V . M. Zivov, " Roi] russkogo ce rkov noslavianskogo v istoriji slavjanski ch literaturn yc h jazykov" , Aktual'nyje problemy sla vjansk ogo jazykoznanija (Moskva, 1988), pp. 4998. SLOVAKIA 29 The Old Slovak literary language continued to develop in a Catho lic environment. It went throu gh all the important stages, including a translation of the whole of the " Bible" ( 1750), th e first Slovak novel : the "Adventures and the Experiences of Young Rene" (1783) , by J.L. Bajza, and its codification by A. Bernolak. The Old Slovak literary language was studied at elementary and secondary school s in different parts of S lovakia, and even at two universities - in Trnava and Kosice.20 Slovak Catholics numbered 75 % of population when emperor Joseph II iss ued the Patent of Toleration ( 1781 ), and perceived Czech as a heretical language. In thi s connection there is no reason to assert that the literary language of S lovaks was Czech prior to Bernol ak 's codification. Slovak Lutherans yielded their positions and had to seek external support , and they found it in Czech reli gious books. As a result, they reverted to the norms of Literary Czech (more exactly, to norms of the " Kralice Bible"), but not in all genres, and di gloss ia 2 1 arose in their environment. In thi s situation Czech was perceived as the high , cultivated form of the native language , whereas Old Slovak literary lan g uage was perceived as " ordinary," and to be used only in administrative-legal texts and popular poetry . Literary Czech and Old Slovak functioned in parallel in the Lutheran and Catholic environments respectively , and Catholi cs contrasted both literary languages, and gradually perceived that some features belonged not just to different functional spheres, but to different languages. As a result a new mechanism - conversion - arose in their environment. In practice it resembled the " review mechani sm", but differed substantially, because so me features were contrasted on the nati ve rather than on the functional level. Thus, Slovak Catholics began to perce ive spec ific features of their language on the leve l of 20 See Izidor Kotulic. " Bernolakovcina a predbernolakovska kulturna slovenc in a··, Pamatnica A ntona Berno/aka (Martin 1992), pp. 81, 88. 21 See Charles A. Ferguson, "Diglossia", Word, 15, 1959, no. 2, pp. 325-340 and Boris A. Uspenskij , Jazykovaia situacija Kijevskoj Rusi I jejo znacenije d!Ja istoriji russkogo literaturnogo jazyka (Moscow , 1983) , pp. 4-5. SLOVAKIA 30 concrete phoneti c and morphological units, and so me fea tures as belonging to diffe rent periods. Th e situati on amon g Cath o li cs and Lutherans re ma in ed stable until the l 830 's, when the Centra l Slovak folkl ore ko ine penetrated into the sphere of hi gh poetry of Lutheran authors, and made it possible to codify a new literary language. r.. Stur made a major specific contribution by essenti all y changing the phoneti c and morpho logical syste ms of the literary language , but the lex icon fro m th e period of the Old Slovak literary language was maintained. Some features had reached the stage of con versati on (Catho lics perceived them as S lovak as opposed to Czech), and some were at the stage of rev iew (they were regarded as "booki sh/literary" (nati ve Czec h) or as ordin ary (native Slovak). The "ordinary" features codified by Stur were not accepted by Catholi cs, and they de manded that they be replaced by "booki sh" features, as was implemented in the codification of Hattala and Hodza ( 1852). SOURCES Catholic Literature P. Bajan, Sermones, 1760- 1771 (manuscript). Kamaldulska biblia, 1756-1759 (manu script). A. Macsay, Panes primatiarum aneb Chleby prwotjn (Trn ava , 171 8). D . Ma kos, Sermones, 1752- 1774 (manuscript). N. Ol ah, Ordo et ritus sanctae metropolitane ecc/esic Strigonien- sis, quibus parochi et a/ii animarum pastores in ecc/esiis suis uti debent. Viennae Austriae in aedibus Collegii caesarei, Societatis Jezu. Anno M.D.L.X. (manuscript). B. Smrtnik, Kunsst dobre umriti (Trnava, 1697). G. Vrabel, Sermones, 1766 (manuscript). SLOVAKIA 31 Secular Baroque Poetry " Basne Petra Benickeho", Archiv starych cesko-s/oven skych /istfn , pfsomnostf a dejepisnych povodfn pre dejepis a literattiru Slovakov, Diel II. - Svazok I. (Tun::. sv . Martin, 1873), pp. 5-47. H. Gavlo vic, Wala sk a sskola mrawuw stodola (manuscript); Gerald J. Sabo, ed., Hugo/in 's Gavlo vic's Valaska skola (Co lumbus, Ohio, 1988). Stefan F Selecky, Obraz panye krasneg perem malowany, ktera maw Trnawe swoge prebiwany (manu script); Stefan F Selecky, "Obraz pani krasnej , perem malovany, ktera ma v Trnave svoje prebyvanf", Anto/6gia starsej slovenskej literattiry (Brati slava, 1981 ), pp. 522-530. Administrative-Legal Texts Inquisitiones, Skalica, 1616-1730 (manuscript). Darina Lehotska & Jozef Orlovsky , Najstarsia jelsavska mestska kniha 1566- 1710 (Martin , 1976). Listy Sta/ice IO kopijnfkov, Spis, XVII-XVIII storocie (manu- script). Mar ia Majtanova & Mil an Majtan, Krupin ski prfsne pravc (Bratislava, 1979). Missiles, Banska Stiavnica, XYI.-XYII. storocie (manu script). Obecna kniha obce Dojc, 1622-1836 (manu script). Panstvo Pruske, XVII.-XYIII. storocie (manuscript). Pfsomnosti Sarisskej a Zemplfnskej iupy, XYII.-XYIII. storocie (manuscript). Protocol/um mais mesta Ruiomberka, XYI.-XYII. storoc ie (ma- nuscript). Jozef Stoic, "Jazyk levocskych slovenskyc h prfsah zo XYI.-XIX. storocia", Jazyko vedny sbornfk, 5, l 951, pp. 197-247. Popular Poetry and Folksongs J. Csaplovics, Slowenske Wersse, (Pest, l 822). J. Jamrich ml. , Wselygake Rozlycne Rozprawky k zabawenf 32 SLOVAKIA zepsane, 1832- 1833 (manu script) Jan Koll ar, Narodnie spievanky, zvazok I, (Bratislava, 1953). Jan Misianik , Knii ka ry tmovni (Bratislava, 1952) . Samlungen, 18 17 (manu script). Spevnfk D. Boczka, 1830-183 1 (manu script). Lasz lo Sziklay, " Poznamky k Csokonaiho popularite v slove nskej literature," Sbornfk Filozofickej fak ulty Uni verzity Komen skeho. Philologica, 16, 1964, pp. 12 1-1 3 1. Pave l Josef Safarfk, Jan Kollar, Pjsne swetske lidu slawenskeho w Uhrach, swazek 2 (Pest, 1827). Jozef Skultety, " Literarno-hi storicke drobnost i", Slovenske pohl'ady, 17, 1897, pp. 125- 128. Zbornfk J. Bruka, 1794 (manuscript). Z bornfk M. M. Kriia na, 1839 (manuscript). Zbornfk D . Kubfka, 179 1 (manu sc ript). Zbornfk J. L any, koni ec XVIII . storocia (manu script).  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Origin and Development of the Slovak Literary Language Description An account of the resource Konstantin V. Lifanov Slovakia, Vol. 38 (No. 70-71), 2005 pp. 7-32 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Lifanov, Konstantin Vasilʹevich Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2005 LCNAF https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/0268b310794cea2a5333798ce11728df.pdf 410663f290902852eacdfbea2d657236 PDF Text Text 30 SLOVAKIA THE ORIGIN OF "SLOVAN" AND "SLOVAK" Dr. Henrich Bartek The et}'lffiology of the name Slovan has not been thusfar clarified satisfactorily. A more accurate definition of the origin and first homeland of the Slovans (Slavs) would be of extraordinary significance, ,p articularly if it were ipossilble to define more precisely in what area the ancient predecessors of the Slovans acquired their name. Thereiby at lea;st the aJpproximate determination of the time the name Slovan originated could become the b.asis for a more profound knowledge of the ancient history of the Slovanic peoples. The solution of the etymology of the word Slovan is, aibove all else, a linguistic problem and, therefore, we must analyze it first of aH a:ccording to the methods of this discipline, so that the remaining scientific departments, such as archeology, ethnography, and history would only have to support the lingll!istic deductions. Until the present time, in popular scientific, but also in many .scientific treatises, there are circulated many different views aJbout the origin of the name Slovan, some of which have been adhered to for long centuries. Before the thirteenth century, for example, the name Slovan was conected with the word Slava (glory). This etymology found and still finds swpport especially in the Russian form Slavjanin (Slahvyahneen), and its qualifying derivative slavjanskij (s'1a1hvyahnskee), whose root, it is said, confoI'.ms with the root of the word slava (slahvah). In the first half of the nineteenth century, this etymology was poipulari'z ed by the Slovak John Kollar in the poetical composition "Slavy dcera," as well as by his romanticscientific dissertations which he wrote as a professor of Slovanic (,SlaJV) archeology at the University of Vienna. This pqpular etymology was a.nd still is very much favored because it caters to the self-conscio,uisness of the Slovans. Nevertheless, the founder of Slavistics, the Czech scholar Joseph Dobrovsky, and the founder of Slova:nic archeology, the eminent SlaV'hStios savant of Slovwk origin, �SLOVAKIA 31 Paul J. SaJ'ari!k, became aware of the untenability of the current explanation of the term Slovan. a:nd concluded that it wrus derived from slovo (1word). Arccortling to the first etymology, the popolar conc-e pt, Slovan would mean "gloriosus," while acco,r ding to the second, it would mean ''v,~rbosus.'' Dolbrovsky and Safarilk correctly deduced it from the root slov in exiplaining the term Slovan, because they probalbly considered the for,m from the r-o ot slav as secondary. But a,g ain,s t their etymology sipeaJks the fact that in the most ancient grou,p of S101Vanic words with the suffix jan, the names of inhaJbitants were formed from names that indioated concrete oibjects. The word slovo, however is a tyipical aJbstract thing and, therefore, cannot be the basis of the term indicating inhaibitants, which become the common national name of the Slorvanic peoples. Many other etymologies orf the name Slovan are not even considered because -o f their .p ha,n tastic nature. In 1-954, the well-1known Polish scholar of Slavistics, Thaddeus LehrSplruwinski, stated in the book which he wrote with Wl. Kuras zkiewicz and F1r. Slawsky (Przeglad i charakterystyka ja;zykow slowianskich): "Whence originated this term is not as yet sufficiently clrurified; most likely at first it indd!cated the peoiple who d,welled near some water (river or lake) that was named Slowa or Slowo (the Polish for Slova, Slovo). This e:,cpression existed at one time in the looguage of the ancient 'Slovanic peoples and related nations, and the suffix -anie ( -enie), w hkh we find in the term Slovanie (Slovienie), normally indicates the dwellers of territories (comp. Wislanie, Podhalanie, Krako· wianie, etc.) . Lehr-Splawinski evidently inclines here, with a reservation, to the ex,pla:nation offered in 1921 by the remarikalble Polish .p hilologist, Joihn Romvadowski (in the Magazine of Phlfo:logical and Lingustical Studies, dedicated to A. Belie), where he expressed the hypothesis that in the ancient Slovanic language there must have existed a river by the name of Slova or Slava, or a lake called Slovo. Rozwadowslci presupposed he was here concerned with the Indo-European root 'kleu- which meant, he said, "to pour 1 �32 SLOVAKIA over, to clean" ( oblievat:, cistit:). To support his thesis he presented in his dissertation also these Slovanic names for rivers : Slawa, Slawica, Slavuta, Slavec, N eslovka. Rozwadowski's explanation is ,possibly the lbest from the standpoint of linguisti!cs, because he derives the name Slovan from concrete river names. Nevertheless, in our Olpinion, difficulties arise from the significance of the root slov- ("o!blievaf, cistif), as well as from the circumstance that he did not define according to which assumed river, called Slova, the S:lovans got their name. Bes~des that the names he mentions as coming from the roots slov- and slav- indicate streams of every different characteristics, so that one cannot exiplain them from the meaning of the root kleu/,s lov ("oblievaf, ocistif). At times we are concerned with small streams and rivers which pour over and clean nothing; at other times with a great stream (for example, Slavuta is the Slovanic archaic term of the Dnieper), whose character is i:n deep contrast with the small mountain streams that bear the names derived from the root slov- or slav-. If we should compare the terrain in which they flow, as well as the characteristics of a whole series of b,roOO{s and rirvers which the Slovans called by the name Bystrica, or Bystra, Bystrec, and other similar names, we would easily ascertain that their names generally indicate a most ex;pressive characteristic of these streams, that is, thcir raJpid, that is, "bystry" flow. We cannot claim a similar common characteristic, however, for the streams which haive the name Slawa, Slawica, Slavuta, Neslovka, etc., if we follow Rozwadowski's meaning of the root slov-. At least the common, very expressive characteristic of these streams is not evident according to the etymology proposed by Rozwadowski, because the meaning of the root kleu-/slov- assumed by him does not sufficiently warrant this characteristic property, according to which in the distant past these streams of various kinds could be called according to the names formed from the root slov- or slav.Words With the Roots "Slov- and "Slav-" Slovanic (Slavic) languages, we meet with a the In twofold sound of the national name of the Slovans. They 1 �SLOVAKIA 33 are the names formed from the root slov-, as well as those formed from the root slav-, for example: Slowian (Polish), Slovan (Slovak and Czech), and (the Russian) Slavjanin, slavjanskij with the accent on the "-ja-." Slovenec, Slovenka (Slovene); and (in Slovak) Slovak, Slovenka, as well as the name Slovan, the name used up to the present time by the inhabitants near the Irmensky Lake in northern Russia (south of Ladoga Lake, and the name Slovinci, the name used by the adherents of the tribe that lives in the neighborhood of the Polish Kashubi on the coast of the Baltic Sea - all these obviously indicate that they are derived from the root slov-. But even the Russian Slavjanin originated from the older form Slovjanin in which the short -o- was duly changed into an -a- before the accented syllable. This is not uncommon in Russian orthography, where an -a- is used instead of -o- (golova - galava), because in Russian this term from ancient times was connected with the word slava, the root of which is slav-. The very fact that national and tribal names bearing the root slov- have been preserved in the border territories of the present ethnic Slovanic territory should be sufficient reason that it issue out of the root slov-. Names from the root slav- are evidently of a secondary origin. Otherwise, crossing of words from the root slov- and slav- is a current phenomenon in Slovanic languages. This is really due to the influence of! the word slava on words derived from the concept slovo. For example, the word pravoslavie (orthodoxy), as a literal translation of the Greek orthodoxia, should be spelled "pravoslovie" - and instead of pravoslavny we should have the adjective "pravoslovny." Yet, due to the influence of the word slava in all Slovanic tongues, we find words derived only from the stem pravoslav-. So, the Slovak blahoslavif (to bless) - the Polish blagoslawic, and Czech blahoslaviti - has slav- due to this influence, even though correctly it should be "blahoslovif," because even the Russian has blagoslovif from the ecclesiastico-Slovanic blagosloviti, which is a literal translation of the Greek eulogein. All this demonstrates that the root of the word slava has influenced from ancient times the words derived from the root slov- (slovo). The opposite influence, that is, com- �34 SLOVAKIA pensation of the root slav- by means of the root slovcannot be ascertained. Therefore, it is indisputable that the national name of the Slovans (Slavic people) comes from the root slov-; and in those Slovanic languages where we find the root slav- in place of it (for example, the Russian Slavjanin), we can safely say that this is due to phonological development (in Russian and White Russian), or to the influence of the word slava. This conclusion can be complemented with the wealth of material from the Slovanic languages. Here we shall mention only two examples from Slovakia. Topographical names demonstrate that they are derived from the root slov-, for example, Slovany in Turiec County. Here we have the older form of the name Slovak which was replaced by the newer already in the fourteenth century. The name of the community Slovany certainly belongs among the ancient names of Slovak origin and comes from the period when the predecessors of the Slovaks immigrated to Turiec and had to settle among non-Slovaks, probably among the remainder of the Celts. It makes sense then that, in a non-Slovak environment, the ancient Slovaks named their settlement Slovany (phonetically Slovani in the Turiec dialect, because the older "-ja-" after labials was changed here to "-a-'; the genitive is Slovian, appropriately from the older Slovan, where the "-ia-" is used in place of older "-a-" as in ciara from cara, etc.). The adjective of Slovany is also appropriately "sloviansky." Even in Spis County there is a community called Slovinky. So, in topographical names in Slovakia we find only the root slov-, that is, before the advent of the Slovaks to their present territory - before the fifth century - the national name of the Slovans was formed from the root slov-, so that the forms with slav- are obviously altogether newer forms, as we mentioned above. From all this it follows that in solving the etymology of the name Slovan, we must start with the root slov-~, and not with the root slav-. Therefore, the possibility of deriving the national name of the Slovaks from the word slava is completely out of the question. Accepting this view, we then have a realistic basis for the solution of the etymology of the word Slovan. �SLOVAKIA 35 The Suffix "-Jan" In the ancient Slovanic tongue names of settlements were formed with the prefix "-jan," for example, pol'an designated an inhabitant of fields. Topographical names in "-any" nicely preserve the original function of the suffix "-jan," for example Brodzany (in the Nitra Valley) originally designated the inhabitants living near a ford (from the word brod there first originated brod+jan and then Brodzany); the name Lipany (for example, in eastern Slovakia, but also elsewhere in Slovanic countries) comes from lip + jan (really from the accusative Lipjany; even today in the dialect of eastern Slovakia it is Lipjani) and designates the inhabitants of a region in linden (basswood) trees, that is, of an area where there were forests of linden trees. According to this it is evident the suffix "-jan" was used to form the names of settlements from concretes, such as: brod, lipa, hora, luh, etc. The second ancient function of the suffix "-jan" was the formation of names of settlements to designate the inhabitants living in the area of some river, for example, the Polish Wislan from Wisljan still designates an inhabitant of the Wisla river region; similarly, the Slovak name Moravan comes from the name of the river Morava, Kysucan from Kysuce, and so on. This means that in the ancient Slovanic tongue the suffix "-jan" was used to create the names of settlers which were derived from concrete names, that is, appellatives, and from topographical names, particularly from the names of rivers. As far as the stem and the significance of the name Slovan is concerned, from the old form Slov + jan, it belongs among ancient names of settlements which were derived from concrete names. Since in the Slovanic languages there is not a trace after the concrete appellatives "slov, slova, slovo," and since the name Slovan is added in old Greek sources already from the sixth century B.C., it must be derived from some topographical name, because with its entire structure the name Slovan belongs to the same type of appellatives as Wislan, Moravan, and the like, that �36 SLOVAKIA is, to names derived from rivers, the names of which belong to the oldest group of topographical names. The names of Slovanic streams are generally of the feminine gender; very often we meet the adjective forms of the appellatives where the word "rieka" (river) or "voda" (water) has been omitted: Bystra, that is, "bystra voda" and Bystrica (a small rapid stream); Byster (a rapid brook) and Bystrec or Bysterec (a small rapid brook), etc. With the larger streams the word "river" is generally omitted and, therefore, the names of the larger rivers of Slovanic countries, inasmuch as they are of native origin, end in an "-a," that is, they are of the feminine gender. This apparently is refuted by the names Vah, Hron, Ipef, but, in our opinion, these are names of Celtic origin. In eastern Slovakia the river names Poprad and Hornad we regard as Daco-Sarmatian. The name Slovan cannot be the name of a settlement derived from the name of a town, as, for example, Romanus · from the name Roma, because there is no such town or city that could be the foundation of the word Slovan. Therefore, only a river name remains open to us, the name of a larger river, along which for a certain period of time the ancestors of the Slovans could have lived. Of course, the Slovanic name of this great river had to be of the feminine gender and, therefore, issue out of the presuposed river name "Slova," from which, by adding the suffix "-jan," was formed the name Slovan (in Russian: Slavjanin from the older form Slovjanin), which then became a national name in the ancient homeland of the Slovans. The River "Slova" In the national names of the south-Slovanic Slovenes (Slovinci) and the western-Slovanic Slovaks (Slovaci), the little altered ancient name of the Slovans has been preserved to this very day originating long before their departure from the ancient homeland. History tells us that the Slovenes by the end of the sixth century had already penetrated all the way to Pustertal in southern Tyrol and that the Slovaks occupied present-day Moravia and Slovakia before the sixth century. It follows from this that the �SLOVAKIA 37 national name of the Slovans must have originated already long before that time. And since, from the standpoint of linguistics, the name Slovan presupposes a river that was named Slova, we must look for such a river on the territory of the supposed ancient homeland of the Slovans. The region along this river had to be sufficiently large, its climactic conditions advantageous, and it had to spread over a geographical area that would assure sufficient protection against foreign invasions and thereby enable the biological development of the numerically great nation of the ancient Slovans. Comparative philology, Slavistics, as well as archeology and history, have long ago come to the generally accepted conclusion that the ancient homeland of the Slovanic peoples must be sought south of the present settlements of the Lithuanians and to the north of the northern arc of the Carpathians, approximately in the area of the eastern tributaries of the central Wisla and in the western water regions of the river Pripet', a tributary of the central Dnieper. As far as the area of the ancient homeland of the Slovans is concerned, as well as the chronology of the disintegration of the ancient Slovanic national and lingual unity, science has not as yet come to any unified conclusion, because particularly Slovanic scholars are frequently even subconsciously led by the contemporary political aspirations of their nations. Thus, for example, Lehr-Splawinski regards as the land of origin of the Slovans the areas of the Oder and Wisla rivers (vd. "Praslowianie," Biblioteka Studium Slowianskiego, Seria B, Nr. 1, Cracow, 1946), that is, the territory of present-day Poland. Generally the problem of the "land of origin" is very complicated and a more accurate localization of it is practically impossible when chronology is omitted, when the time of the existence of this ancient homeland is not marked out. People regard Denmark with the adjacent regions of northwestern Germany and southern Scandinavia as the ancient homeland of the Germans, but the predecessors of the Germans were not the first inhabitants of this territory and must have had their original homeland somewhere else before their advent into this last German homeland, that is, "last" as far as we know it. And the same holds for the �38 SLOVAKIA Slovans. Even the Trans-Carpathian homeland, whose accurate designation encounters so many difficulties, was not the first homeland of the Slovans. Conversely, however, it is the last homeland known to us and its area was not permanently limited because the Slovans spread and migrated just as the Germans and Celts had done before them. The Wisla and Oder regions are, of course, sufficiently large enough territories on which the nation of the ancient Slovans could have developed, but the non-Slovanic name of the Oder, the Celtic names of some of the tributaries of the Oder and Wisla rivers, and the lack of sufficient proof of the Slovanic origin of the name Wisla, indicate that we cannot here look for the land of origin of the Slovans in which the name Slovan could have originated. Besides this, there is nothing to prove even the possibility of expansion of the eastern Slovans from the Oder-Wisla homeland, which Lehr-Splawinski presupposes. There is no proof that the Oder or the Wisla were ever called Slova or any other name formed from the root "slov-" and, therefore, their water areas do not come into consideration in explaining the name Slovan. But there are also many other reasons why this region canot be considered as the land of origin of the Slovans. On the other hand, in folksongs, which have preserved its ancient name, the Dnieper is also called by the name Slavuta, which evidently comes from the older form Slovuta, because the name of the river could not be derived from the root "slav-" but only from the root "slov-" and Slovuta was changed into Slavuta in the same manner as was Slovjanin into Slavjanin, that is, due to the influence of the word slava. It is generally acknowledged that Dnieper, Dniester, and Don are names of Scythian, that is of Iranian origin. Slavuta as the Slovanic name of the Dnieper is certainly the older appellation, because in ancient times the Slovans they must have given the river a name earlier. Obviously came to the river Dnieper sooner than the Scythians, so they could not accept the Scythian word for a territory which the Scythians had not as yet settled. Under pressure from the Scythians, the Slovans came into the forest terrain along the great river whose Slovanic name is Sia- �SLOVAKIA 39 vuta and of which they Scythian name Dnieper was later circulated generally. Etymology of the Name "Slavuta" The archiac name Slavuta comes from the older form Slovuta which in turn was derived from the ancient Slovanic Slovonta. From the etymological standpoint, we are here concerned with an old adjective form, that is, with an ancient form of participle. From verbs of the type viesf, niesf, etc. (from the old Slovanic vezti, nesti), we have the present-day tongue participles of the feminine gender veduca, nesuca from the older forms vedontja, nesontja. The consonant "-j" in these forms is, of course, of ancient Slovanic origin, but not of the ancient tongue, as is attested to, for example, by the forms mohutny along with mohuci, slovutny, tekuty, etc. From the ancient Slovanic mogti (in Slovak today mocf) came the participle of the masculine gender mogontos, and mogonta in the feminine. Only later, probably when the so-called nominal declension of adjectives originated, when the form dobra became dobraja by the addition of "-ja," did the "-j" get also into the participial forms and the older mogontos became mogontjos, mogonta/mogontja, nesontos/nesontjos, nesonta/nesontja ( and later on, nesontja= nesuca), and so on. With this expansion of participles by a "-j", the form mogontos, mogonta dropped out of the category of participles, that is, it became a straight adjective and was expanded by the adjective suffix "-ny." So came into being the adjective mohutny and then the words mohutnosf, mohutnief. The adjective mohutny was so strongly differentiated with its significance from the appropriate verbal participle that, with the acceptance of Christianity, the Latin omnipotens was translated as vsemohuci and not vsemohutny. The consonant "-t-" in the word mohutny demonstrates the ancient origin of this adjective. The same holds for the adjective slovutny: in old Slovanic we first had slovontos, slovonta and this participle became an adjective with a special significance, that is, it became farther removed from the verb sluti, slovon, sloves (compare the old Czech slouti, slovu, sloves, etc.). The same thing happened here as with the form mogont-: the �40 SLOVAKIA suffix of adjectives was added and we got slovonty (now slovutny). To this day slovutny designates one who has a "sounding" (resounding, booming) name. But even before this meaning developed, the forms slovontos, slovonta had an altogether concrete meaning and meant as much as zvuciaci, zvuciaca (sounding, booming). The ancient Slovanic Slovonta (now Slavuta) meant "zvuciaca" (that is, river or water). The question is: do similar river names really exist? The analogy from German territory is at hand, because there we often come across the name Lauterbach, that is, a sounding or booming brook (Laut = sound, vowel; laut= soundingly, melodiously). From ancient times the Dnieper had the Slovanic appellation Slovonta, that is, a resounding (river), and to this day that part of the Dnieper where there are great rapids (porogi, prahy) is still called Slavuta. In historical times, when a part of the Slovans pushed farther East, from the Slovuta all the way to the river Don, the Scythian name for the river was, of course, accepted by the Slovans, but to this very day its typical epiteton ornans is "tichy" (silent, quiet) ; and they call the Don "tichy" in comparison to the Dnieper (zvuciaci) which is particularly known for its rapids (waterfalls, Zaporozie), which in many spots originally extended several kilometers. Water flowing over rapids made a resounding noise and, so, the river was named a resounding (booming) river (zvuciaca rieka), that is, Slovonta, Slavuta. The river originally could have been named SIova, that is, zvucna (= resounding), and later its name enlarged by the suffix "-uta," which better expressed its original meaning. The little river Neslovka is evidently "nezvucna" (not resounding), that is, quiet, while the Slavecna, a tributary of the Pripef, as well as the names of the type Slawa, Slawica, Slavuc, Slavec, etc., come from the root slov-, from which originally were formed the names of streams whose characteristic property was making a sound. The abstract meaning which we find, for example, in the Slovak word slovutny, is therefore of a secondary origin. The root slov- comes from the ancient kleu-, as Rozwadowski already mentioned, but he incorrectly designated it to mean to pour over, to clean ("oblievaf, cistif"), be- �SLOVAKIA 41 -cause only the meaning "zvucat:" (sound, boom) enables us to explain all the names of streams from the root slov( slav-). The words slava, slovo, slovutny come from a varied degree of the Indo-Euripean root Weu- (comp. the Greek Weos from Wefos, the Slovak slovo; the root Wou-, the "-o-" degree of the root Weu-, is also in the word slava). The predecessors of the Slovans came from the East into the region of the lower flow of the Dnieper before the Scythians and had to name it Slova. This great river in ancient times flowed mostly in a woody terrain and particularly the linden forests stretched to the rapids (prahy= porogi). Kiev itself lies on the territory of the former tribe of Polani, whom Nestor's chronicle already mentions by name. The Polani lived south and south west of Kiev; and the Drevl'ania, that is, inhabitants of forests and woodlands, lived north of them. That is the way it was in the beginning of the historical period of Kievian Russia already in the ninth and tenth centuries A.D. We have already said that the name pofan was the name of a settlement derived from the word pole (field). The words rofa and pole originally designated various kinds of cultivated land: rofa comes from the older form or+lja and is connected with the word or-ati (to plow), that is, orlja (rol'a = orlja) ; it indicates land for plowing so that the word has preserved its original meaning to this very day. On the other hand, pole from the older form pol-jo is connected with the root pol-/pal- (poleti- paliti); originally, therefore, it indicated land that was gained by burning a forest. The Polani near Kiev settled first in the wooded terrain which they cleared for plowland by burning the trees. Similarly even the Polish tribe of Polani in the area of present-day Poznan in Greater Poland acquired its name which later became the national name of the Poles, since the creator of the Polish kingdom was the tribe of Polani. The word Poliak is only a continuation of the name Pofan, just as Slovak is of Slovan. Obviously, the Slovans of the Kiev area did not burn out the woods and forests on the border of the steppe, because they would thereby have come under the subjection of the Scythians. South of Kiev, really south of the Polani, in ancient times there stretched a large forest, which pro- �42 SLOVAKIA tected the Slovans from invasions by the steppe Scythians. This circumstance issues from the analysis of the word Pol'an, but it is also attested to by authors of antiquity who wrote about the enormous linden forests in the region south of Kiev. which we find Topographical names of Pol'ana among the southern Slovans (Croations, Slovenes, Serbs), the western Slovans (Slovaks and Czechs), and in lands where Slovaks originally lived, for example, in Lower Austria - do not give testimony of any Polish colonization, but are only proof of colonization by burning. A thousand years ago, the great tribe of the Lachi lived to the west of Kiev and southeast of the Polani of Poznan. In old Russian their territory is called Ljadskaja zemlja (uncultivated land) . Here we are concerned with the name Lendjan, that is, the inhabitants of land that was uncultivated. At the end of the ninth century, when the Magyars came to Kiev, there they found out about the strong tribe of Lendjani and accepted the word Lend'an, from which the Magyars later developed the form Lengyel to designate the Poles. After the Poles of Greater Poland became stronger, the Lachi first succumbed to the Poles (in the tenth century after the fall of the Great Moravian Empire) and gradually adopted the Polish tongue. The names Pol'ania, Eadzania (abbrev. Lasi) were tribal names used at the end of the ancient Slovanic period. The Desna, Tributary of the Dnieper The Slovans came into the region of the central Dnieper from the south or southeast, as is attested to by a tributary of the Slavuta above Kiev, the Desna. The name of this river could have come only from the predecessors of the present southern Slovans, because only in their language does desna mean "right." According to present geographical customs, we use the expressions "right bank" and "left bank" of a river according to the direction of flow, that is, the direction from the source to the mouth of a stream. In ancient times, however, the custom · was just the opposite of this, because new inhabitants did not come in from the mountains, that is, they did not descend according to the direction of the flow, but just the opposite; in �SLOVAKIA 43 settling a new territory they usually went against the current of great rivers and against the current of their tributaries. So, Desna, even though it means "right," is according to our geographical conceptions "left," that is, the left tributary of the Dnieper-Slavu ta. This means that the predecessors of the Slovans who named the tributary Desna could nohow come into the region of the Desna from the west or the north, but only from the south or southeast. It is only natural that Desna comes from those ancient Slovans who spoke a dialect from which later developed the languages of the southern Slovans (Yugoslavs = Juho , Slaviani), because only they have preserved the adjective desan, desna, desno (in Slovak: pravy, prava, prave). In other words, the predecessors of the present Yugoslavs were settled for a certain time even on the river Desna and only much later, after the Scythians became powerless, did they spread farther to the south all the way to the Black Sea and southwest, and finally occupy t,he Bankans. Therefore, in their ancient homeland the Slovanic tribes were distributed approximately the same as are today the Slovanic nations, of course, on a substantially smaller territory. Another river called Desna is a left tributary of the Bug above Vinica. This is a reliable sign that the pre'.iecessors of the southern Slovans for a certain time did live above the upper Bug. Similarly another Desna is the left tributary of the river Marica in Bulgaria. Apparently, however, this is not a logical appellation; even though in all three cases by the word "right" - that is, Desna - left tributaries are designated, it is self-evident since these river names indicate the direction from which the Slovanic inhabitants that had given them their names had come. And so, the Desnas have an extraordinary meaning in ascertaining the course of Slovanic colonization in ancient times. The name of Desna, the left tributary of the Dnieper above Kiev, demonstrates that the ancient Slovans came to the wooded region of the central Dnieper, against the current, that is, from the south, and already at the time when the Scythians were penetrating from the steppe regions of the southern Don into the steppe regions of the Dnieper. �44 SLOVAKIA According to this, then, we must look for the "real land of origin" of the Slovans along the waste areas of the central Dnieper, which with its enormous area and the ad-vantages of wooded terrain, as well as the climactic conditions of that time afforded especially good conditions so that for long centuries and practically without any warfare the ancient Slovans could develop into a numerically large nation, which later spread to the west, southwest and south, and, finally, to the east and north. The name Dnieper (Dneper) is undoubtedly of Scythian origin. The ancient Slovans, retreating before the pressure of the steppe Scythians, could not have accepted a Scythian name for a river that flowed through a territory which was never inhabited by the Scythians. They must have named this great stream first of all by their own name, that is, with a name of Slovanic origin. The popular and archiac name Slavuta indicates that the name is derived from the lower flow of river and that the predecessors of the Slovans, when they came to the "sounding river with rapids," named it according to this most expressive characteristic with the name Slova, namely, "zvucna" (sounding). This could have happened sometime in the second millenary before Christ, but not later than the beginning of the first millenary before Christ, because, according to most recent excavations near Senec in Slovakia, the Scythians were also in the steppe region of the central Danube already in the fifth and fourth centuries before Christ. From all this it follows that before their arrival into the water region of the Dnieper, the Slovans could not have been called Slovans, since this name is derived from the assumed river name Slova or Slovonta. But the Greeks in the fifth century B.C. did know of a great nation, the Sporoi who lived to the north of the Scythians in forests. Lehr-Splawinski connects the word Sporoi with the Greek "sporaden," according to which it would denote a "sporadically" dispersed nation. Our etymology of the name Sporoi is something else, but we cannot go into a solution of it at this time, because it would lead us too far away from our present subject. The very fact that an ancient Greek source from the �SLOVAKIA 45 fifth century B.C. does not use the name Slovan can indicate that this name was not used much among foreigners at that time, or that the Greeks, for traditional motives, used the older appellation of the Slovans, that is, Sporoi. Finally, it is necessary for us to mention that river names were no longer formed from the root slov- after the name Slovan became the national name of the Slovanic peoples. Of course, the process of forming the ancient Slovanic nation lasted long centuries and during this period some of the tribes emigrated to the west and southwest, and even to the northern arc of the Carpathians. But even these peripherally situated Slovanic tribes had connections with the rest of the ancient Slovans and were really the vanguard of their expansive colonization which could have developed fully only after the departure of the Celts from Central Europe, but particularly after the great German migration from the north to the south when thereby the areas were made free for the penetration of the Slovans to the west, southwest, and south. Conclusions About the Origin of the Name Slovan 1. From the linguistic standpoint, the name Slovan is the name of settlers, formed from a concrete by adding the suffix "-jan." Names from the root slav- are secondary, originating under the influence of the word slava. 2. It is necessary to issue out of the presupposed river name Slova, because in present Slovanic tongues there is no appelative slova, while on the other hand there are many river names derived from the root slov- right on the territory that could have been the "pravlasf" (land of origin) of the Slovans. 3. Of these names, only Slavuta, the original Slovanic name of the Dnieper preserved to this day, enables us to explain the name Slovan, because the form Slavuta from the older form Slovonta ("zvuciaca" - sounding) is only an extended form of the original Slova (zvucna). Only in the water region of the river that bore the name Slova (=Slavuta=Dnieper), could the name Slovan originate, because the predecessors of the Slovans, retreating before the pressure of the Scythians, came into the wooded region of this river. Only in this area were there all the climactic, �46 SLOVAKIA vital, and defensive conditions that enabled the developmen t. of the great nation of the ancient Slovans. 4. According to this, "the first known ancient homeland" (land of origin) of the Slovans in Europe was the area of the central Dnieper ( =Slova), from where the individual Slovanic tribes began to spread to the west, into the water areas of the central Visla which were abandoned by the Celts, and gradually they migrated farther south and southwest. For a certain time their ancient land of origin (pravlasf) extended to the water area of the central Wisla and spread farther. From their "first ancient homeland" to their last ancient homeland, there have passed over a thous-· and years. This calls for many researches before we can write the ancient history of the Slovans by periods. In the water area of the central Dnieper they must have lived not later than the beginning of the first millenary before Christ, where they came there from the southeast, retreating before the pressure of the Iranian Scythians. Before their advent to the area of the river Slova (later, the Dnieper), the predecessors of the Slovans could not have been called Slovans, but had to be called by some other name, as is attested to also by the ancient Greek name Sporoi. We hope that we have succeeded in clarifying the meaning of the presuppose d river name Slova and thereby corrected the hypothesis of Rozwadows ki. Besides that, we have tried to localize the river Slova, regarding this form as Slovanic and the older name of the river Dnieper, whose name is of Iranian, that is, of Scythian origin. The name Dnieper (in Ukrainian Diiipro) was spread only after the fall of the Scythians, when the Slovans of the Kiev area could spread to the south as far as the Black Sea. Only the water area of the Slova (Slavuta, now the Dnieper) could have been the cradle of the name Slovan and of the ancient Slovanic nation which gradually spread from the water area of the Dnieper to the west, southwest, and south, and which, after occupying especially large areas, began gradually to become different nationally and linguistically. The linguistic and national differentati on of the Slovans, however, falls into the historical period and can be traced relatively easily. �SLOVAKIA 47 The Origin of the Name "Slovak" In ancient Slovanic, from the word pole we got the name of Pofanin, who settled it, nom. plural Pofane, just as from the topographical name Praga we got Prazanin, plural Prazane (in old Czech "Prazenin," but plural Praiane). In the fourteenth century began the compensation of the forms in "-an" with forms in "-ak" and this change was completed in the fifteenth century, when Polak replaced Pofan, Prazak-Praz an, etc. At about the same time, the older forms Slovanin, pl. Slovane, were replaced with the forms Slovak, Slovaci. From the viewpoint of internal development of Slovak, it is necessary to recall that the form Slovak is evidently -0f western Slovak origin, which is otherwise understandab le when we consider that the inhabitants of western Slovakia, as well as Moravian Slovakia, that is, the whole of eastern Moravia, were the creators of the Great Moravian Empire in the ninth century. According to the vowel system of words of central Slovakia, today we ought to have Sloviak, Sloviaci, like zemiak-zemi aky against the forms zemak-zemak y of western Slovakia and Moravian Slovakia. In the language of central Slovakia, against the original long "-a" after soft consonants we have "-ia-," for example, the older cara, zar, and others, became ciara, ziar, etc.; but in dialects of western Slovakia we still find cara, zar, etc. And it is a fact that in places of western Slovakia, where the older (long) "a" has been preserved, that is, where people say cara, zar, etc., the forms Slovak, Slovaci have been preserved to this day (for example, in Sebechleby, Hont; in Gombas, Liptov; and places in Orava County). Finally, even Sloviak, Sloviaci of eastern Slovakia point to the fact that these forms originated from the older forms Slovak, Slovaci; this happened sometime in the 14th or 15th century. In the literary language of central Slovakia, which came to be used over 112 years ago instead of Bernolak's Slovak, the forms Slovak-Slova ci are evidently of west Slovakian origin; this is in complete agreement with historical development, because the tribes of western and Moravian Slovakia with the number of their inhabitants, as well �48 SLOVAKIA as historical significance, until the middle of the nineteenth century were the nucleus of the Slovak ethnic. Of all the Slovanic nations, only the Slovaci (Slovaks) and Slovinci (Slovenes) have preserved the name of the ancient Slovanic nation to this day. This very circumstance sufficiently proves that in the period of differentiation of the ancient Slovanic nation into individual Slovanic nations and tongues, the forefathers of the Slovaks and Slovenes preserved their original, that is, ancient Slovanic appellation, while the other Slovans - the Russians, Poles, Serbs, Croatians, Bulgarians, Czechs, etc., gave up their original name of Slovans. That the Slovenes preserved their original name is understandable, because they got to the very edge of the Slovanic world and from the end of the eighth century had foreign rulers. But the Slovaks preserved the original name of the ancient Slovans in their name most probably because they once lived on a territory at least five times as large as present Slovakia and because they were the creators of the first great Slovanic empire on the central Danube (under King Samo, 624-659) and, later, were the creators of the historic Great Moravian Empire that in the ninth century was the mightiest Slovanic state, so that the Slovaks did not have the least motive to abandon the traditional name Slovan from which in the 14th and 15th centuries the present form Slovak developed. Acording to this, the name Slovak contains the original name of all the Slovans and it may be just this clinging of the Slovaks to the original, ancient name that may be the basis of new researches that will clarify the reason why just the Slovaks have so adamantly clung to the ancient name of the Slovans which with its origin extends to their very ancient homeland in the Dnieper area. The findings of historians, archeologists, and ethnographers, and probably the philosophy of the Slovak language, will complement and clarify what cannot be done by pure linguistics which is limited to ascertaining, revealing, and clarifying linguistic facts and linguistic connections. (The Slovak original of this article appeared in "MOST" (The Bridge), a quarterly for Slovak Culture and the organ of the Slovak Writers and Artists Association, Cleveland, Ohio, published by the Rev. John J . Lach, Whiting, Ind.; Vol. ill, No. 1, 1956). � 30 SLOVAKIA THE ORIGIN OF "SLOVAN" AND "SLOVAK" Dr. Henrich Bartek The et}'lffiology of the name Slovan has not been thusfar clarified satisfactorily. A more accurate definition of the origin and first homeland of the Slovans (Slavs) would be of extraordinary significance, ,p articularly if it were ipossilble to define more precisely in what area the ancient predecessors of the Slovans acquired their name. Thereiby at lea;st the aJpproximate determination of the time the name Slovan originated could become the b.asis for a more profound knowledge of the ancient history of the Slovanic peoples. The solution of the etymology of the word Slovan is, aibove all else, a linguistic problem and, therefore, we must analyze it first of aH a:ccording to the methods of this discipline, so that the remaining scientific departments, such as archeology, ethnography, and history would only have to support the lingll!istic deductions. Until the present time, in popular scientific, but also in many .scientific treatises, there are circulated many different views aJbout the origin of the name Slovan, some of which have been adhered to for long centuries. Before the thirteenth century, for example, the name Slovan was conected with the word Slava (glory). This etymology found and still finds swpport especially in the Russian form Slavjanin (Slahvyahneen), and its qualifying derivative slavjanskij (s'1a1hvyahnskee), whose root, it is said, confoI'.ms with the root of the word slava (slahvah). In the first half of the nineteenth century, this etymology was poipulari'z ed by the Slovak John Kollar in the poetical composition "Slavy dcera," as well as by his romanticscientific dissertations which he wrote as a professor of Slovanic (,SlaJV) archeology at the University of Vienna. This pqpular etymology was a.nd still is very much favored because it caters to the self-conscio,uisness of the Slovans. Nevertheless, the founder of Slavistics, the Czech scholar Joseph Dobrovsky, and the founder of Slova:nic archeology, the eminent SlaV'hStios savant of Slovwk origin, �SLOVAKIA 31 Paul J. SaJ'ari!k, became aware of the untenability of the current explanation of the term Slovan. a:nd concluded that it wrus derived from slovo (1word). Arccortling to the first etymology, the popolar conc-e pt, Slovan would mean "gloriosus," while acco,r ding to the second, it would mean ''v,~rbosus.'' Dolbrovsky and Safarilk correctly deduced it from the root slov in exiplaining the term Slovan, because they probalbly considered the for,m from the r-o ot slav as secondary. But a,g ain,s t their etymology sipeaJks the fact that in the most ancient grou,p of S101Vanic words with the suffix jan, the names of inhaJbitants were formed from names that indioated concrete oibjects. The word slovo, however is a tyipical aJbstract thing and, therefore, cannot be the basis of the term indicating inhaibitants, which become the common national name of the Slorvanic peoples. Many other etymologies orf the name Slovan are not even considered because -o f their .p ha,n tastic nature. In 1-954, the well-1known Polish scholar of Slavistics, Thaddeus LehrSplruwinski, stated in the book which he wrote with Wl. Kuras zkiewicz and F1r. Slawsky (Przeglad i charakterystyka ja;zykow slowianskich): "Whence originated this term is not as yet sufficiently clrurified; most likely at first it indd!cated the peoiple who d,welled near some water (river or lake) that was named Slowa or Slowo (the Polish for Slova, Slovo). This e:,cpression existed at one time in the looguage of the ancient 'Slovanic peoples and related nations, and the suffix -anie ( -enie), w hkh we find in the term Slovanie (Slovienie), normally indicates the dwellers of territories (comp. Wislanie, Podhalanie, Krako· wianie, etc.) . Lehr-Splawinski evidently inclines here, with a reservation, to the ex,pla:nation offered in 1921 by the remarikalble Polish .p hilologist, Joihn Romvadowski (in the Magazine of Phlfo:logical and Lingustical Studies, dedicated to A. Belie), where he expressed the hypothesis that in the ancient Slovanic language there must have existed a river by the name of Slova or Slava, or a lake called Slovo. Rozwadowslci presupposed he was here concerned with the Indo-European root 'kleu- which meant, he said, "to pour 1 �32 SLOVAKIA over, to clean" ( oblievat:, cistit:). To support his thesis he presented in his dissertation also these Slovanic names for rivers : Slawa, Slawica, Slavuta, Slavec, N eslovka. Rozwadowski's explanation is ,possibly the lbest from the standpoint of linguisti!cs, because he derives the name Slovan from concrete river names. Nevertheless, in our Olpinion, difficulties arise from the significance of the root slov- ("o!blievaf, cistif), as well as from the circumstance that he did not define according to which assumed river, called Slova, the S:lovans got their name. Bes~des that the names he mentions as coming from the roots slov- and slav- indicate streams of every different characteristics, so that one cannot exiplain them from the meaning of the root kleu/,s lov ("oblievaf, ocistif). At times we are concerned with small streams and rivers which pour over and clean nothing; at other times with a great stream (for example, Slavuta is the Slovanic archaic term of the Dnieper), whose character is i:n deep contrast with the small mountain streams that bear the names derived from the root slov- or slav-. If we should compare the terrain in which they flow, as well as the characteristics of a whole series of b,roOO{s and rirvers which the Slovans called by the name Bystrica, or Bystra, Bystrec, and other similar names, we would easily ascertain that their names generally indicate a most ex;pressive characteristic of these streams, that is, thcir raJpid, that is, "bystry" flow. We cannot claim a similar common characteristic, however, for the streams which haive the name Slawa, Slawica, Slavuta, Neslovka, etc., if we follow Rozwadowski's meaning of the root slov-. At least the common, very expressive characteristic of these streams is not evident according to the etymology proposed by Rozwadowski, because the meaning of the root kleu-/slov- assumed by him does not sufficiently warrant this characteristic property, according to which in the distant past these streams of various kinds could be called according to the names formed from the root slov- or slav.Words With the Roots "Slov- and "Slav-" Slovanic (Slavic) languages, we meet with a the In twofold sound of the national name of the Slovans. They 1 �SLOVAKIA 33 are the names formed from the root slov-, as well as those formed from the root slav-, for example: Slowian (Polish), Slovan (Slovak and Czech), and (the Russian) Slavjanin, slavjanskij with the accent on the "-ja-." Slovenec, Slovenka (Slovene); and (in Slovak) Slovak, Slovenka, as well as the name Slovan, the name used up to the present time by the inhabitants near the Irmensky Lake in northern Russia (south of Ladoga Lake, and the name Slovinci, the name used by the adherents of the tribe that lives in the neighborhood of the Polish Kashubi on the coast of the Baltic Sea - all these obviously indicate that they are derived from the root slov-. But even the Russian Slavjanin originated from the older form Slovjanin in which the short -o- was duly changed into an -a- before the accented syllable. This is not uncommon in Russian orthography, where an -a- is used instead of -o- (golova - galava), because in Russian this term from ancient times was connected with the word slava, the root of which is slav-. The very fact that national and tribal names bearing the root slov- have been preserved in the border territories of the present ethnic Slovanic territory should be sufficient reason that it issue out of the root slov-. Names from the root slav- are evidently of a secondary origin. Otherwise, crossing of words from the root slov- and slav- is a current phenomenon in Slovanic languages. This is really due to the influence of! the word slava on words derived from the concept slovo. For example, the word pravoslavie (orthodoxy), as a literal translation of the Greek orthodoxia, should be spelled "pravoslovie" - and instead of pravoslavny we should have the adjective "pravoslovny." Yet, due to the influence of the word slava in all Slovanic tongues, we find words derived only from the stem pravoslav-. So, the Slovak blahoslavif (to bless) - the Polish blagoslawic, and Czech blahoslaviti - has slav- due to this influence, even though correctly it should be "blahoslovif," because even the Russian has blagoslovif from the ecclesiastico-Slovanic blagosloviti, which is a literal translation of the Greek eulogein. All this demonstrates that the root of the word slava has influenced from ancient times the words derived from the root slov- (slovo). The opposite influence, that is, com- �34 SLOVAKIA pensation of the root slav- by means of the root slovcannot be ascertained. Therefore, it is indisputable that the national name of the Slovans (Slavic people) comes from the root slov-; and in those Slovanic languages where we find the root slav- in place of it (for example, the Russian Slavjanin), we can safely say that this is due to phonological development (in Russian and White Russian), or to the influence of the word slava. This conclusion can be complemented with the wealth of material from the Slovanic languages. Here we shall mention only two examples from Slovakia. Topographical names demonstrate that they are derived from the root slov-, for example, Slovany in Turiec County. Here we have the older form of the name Slovak which was replaced by the newer already in the fourteenth century. The name of the community Slovany certainly belongs among the ancient names of Slovak origin and comes from the period when the predecessors of the Slovaks immigrated to Turiec and had to settle among non-Slovaks, probably among the remainder of the Celts. It makes sense then that, in a non-Slovak environment, the ancient Slovaks named their settlement Slovany (phonetically Slovani in the Turiec dialect, because the older "-ja-" after labials was changed here to "-a-'; the genitive is Slovian, appropriately from the older Slovan, where the "-ia-" is used in place of older "-a-" as in ciara from cara, etc.). The adjective of Slovany is also appropriately "sloviansky." Even in Spis County there is a community called Slovinky. So, in topographical names in Slovakia we find only the root slov-, that is, before the advent of the Slovaks to their present territory - before the fifth century - the national name of the Slovans was formed from the root slov-, so that the forms with slav- are obviously altogether newer forms, as we mentioned above. From all this it follows that in solving the etymology of the name Slovan, we must start with the root slov-~, and not with the root slav-. Therefore, the possibility of deriving the national name of the Slovaks from the word slava is completely out of the question. Accepting this view, we then have a realistic basis for the solution of the etymology of the word Slovan. �SLOVAKIA 35 The Suffix "-Jan" In the ancient Slovanic tongue names of settlements were formed with the prefix "-jan," for example, pol'an designated an inhabitant of fields. Topographical names in "-any" nicely preserve the original function of the suffix "-jan," for example Brodzany (in the Nitra Valley) originally designated the inhabitants living near a ford (from the word brod there first originated brod+jan and then Brodzany); the name Lipany (for example, in eastern Slovakia, but also elsewhere in Slovanic countries) comes from lip + jan (really from the accusative Lipjany; even today in the dialect of eastern Slovakia it is Lipjani) and designates the inhabitants of a region in linden (basswood) trees, that is, of an area where there were forests of linden trees. According to this it is evident the suffix "-jan" was used to form the names of settlements from concretes, such as: brod, lipa, hora, luh, etc. The second ancient function of the suffix "-jan" was the formation of names of settlements to designate the inhabitants living in the area of some river, for example, the Polish Wislan from Wisljan still designates an inhabitant of the Wisla river region; similarly, the Slovak name Moravan comes from the name of the river Morava, Kysucan from Kysuce, and so on. This means that in the ancient Slovanic tongue the suffix "-jan" was used to create the names of settlers which were derived from concrete names, that is, appellatives, and from topographical names, particularly from the names of rivers. As far as the stem and the significance of the name Slovan is concerned, from the old form Slov + jan, it belongs among ancient names of settlements which were derived from concrete names. Since in the Slovanic languages there is not a trace after the concrete appellatives "slov, slova, slovo," and since the name Slovan is added in old Greek sources already from the sixth century B.C., it must be derived from some topographical name, because with its entire structure the name Slovan belongs to the same type of appellatives as Wislan, Moravan, and the like, that �36 SLOVAKIA is, to names derived from rivers, the names of which belong to the oldest group of topographical names. The names of Slovanic streams are generally of the feminine gender; very often we meet the adjective forms of the appellatives where the word "rieka" (river) or "voda" (water) has been omitted: Bystra, that is, "bystra voda" and Bystrica (a small rapid stream); Byster (a rapid brook) and Bystrec or Bysterec (a small rapid brook), etc. With the larger streams the word "river" is generally omitted and, therefore, the names of the larger rivers of Slovanic countries, inasmuch as they are of native origin, end in an "-a," that is, they are of the feminine gender. This apparently is refuted by the names Vah, Hron, Ipef, but, in our opinion, these are names of Celtic origin. In eastern Slovakia the river names Poprad and Hornad we regard as Daco-Sarmatian. The name Slovan cannot be the name of a settlement derived from the name of a town, as, for example, Romanus · from the name Roma, because there is no such town or city that could be the foundation of the word Slovan. Therefore, only a river name remains open to us, the name of a larger river, along which for a certain period of time the ancestors of the Slovans could have lived. Of course, the Slovanic name of this great river had to be of the feminine gender and, therefore, issue out of the presuposed river name "Slova," from which, by adding the suffix "-jan," was formed the name Slovan (in Russian: Slavjanin from the older form Slovjanin), which then became a national name in the ancient homeland of the Slovans. The River "Slova" In the national names of the south-Slovanic Slovenes (Slovinci) and the western-Slovanic Slovaks (Slovaci), the little altered ancient name of the Slovans has been preserved to this very day originating long before their departure from the ancient homeland. History tells us that the Slovenes by the end of the sixth century had already penetrated all the way to Pustertal in southern Tyrol and that the Slovaks occupied present-day Moravia and Slovakia before the sixth century. It follows from this that the �SLOVAKIA 37 national name of the Slovans must have originated already long before that time. And since, from the standpoint of linguistics, the name Slovan presupposes a river that was named Slova, we must look for such a river on the territory of the supposed ancient homeland of the Slovans. The region along this river had to be sufficiently large, its climactic conditions advantageous, and it had to spread over a geographical area that would assure sufficient protection against foreign invasions and thereby enable the biological development of the numerically great nation of the ancient Slovans. Comparative philology, Slavistics, as well as archeology and history, have long ago come to the generally accepted conclusion that the ancient homeland of the Slovanic peoples must be sought south of the present settlements of the Lithuanians and to the north of the northern arc of the Carpathians, approximately in the area of the eastern tributaries of the central Wisla and in the western water regions of the river Pripet', a tributary of the central Dnieper. As far as the area of the ancient homeland of the Slovans is concerned, as well as the chronology of the disintegration of the ancient Slovanic national and lingual unity, science has not as yet come to any unified conclusion, because particularly Slovanic scholars are frequently even subconsciously led by the contemporary political aspirations of their nations. Thus, for example, Lehr-Splawinski regards as the land of origin of the Slovans the areas of the Oder and Wisla rivers (vd. "Praslowianie," Biblioteka Studium Slowianskiego, Seria B, Nr. 1, Cracow, 1946), that is, the territory of present-day Poland. Generally the problem of the "land of origin" is very complicated and a more accurate localization of it is practically impossible when chronology is omitted, when the time of the existence of this ancient homeland is not marked out. People regard Denmark with the adjacent regions of northwestern Germany and southern Scandinavia as the ancient homeland of the Germans, but the predecessors of the Germans were not the first inhabitants of this territory and must have had their original homeland somewhere else before their advent into this last German homeland, that is, "last" as far as we know it. And the same holds for the �38 SLOVAKIA Slovans. Even the Trans-Carpathian homeland, whose accurate designation encounters so many difficulties, was not the first homeland of the Slovans. Conversely, however, it is the last homeland known to us and its area was not permanently limited because the Slovans spread and migrated just as the Germans and Celts had done before them. The Wisla and Oder regions are, of course, sufficiently large enough territories on which the nation of the ancient Slovans could have developed, but the non-Slovanic name of the Oder, the Celtic names of some of the tributaries of the Oder and Wisla rivers, and the lack of sufficient proof of the Slovanic origin of the name Wisla, indicate that we cannot here look for the land of origin of the Slovans in which the name Slovan could have originated. Besides this, there is nothing to prove even the possibility of expansion of the eastern Slovans from the Oder-Wisla homeland, which Lehr-Splawinski presupposes. There is no proof that the Oder or the Wisla were ever called Slova or any other name formed from the root "slov-" and, therefore, their water areas do not come into consideration in explaining the name Slovan. But there are also many other reasons why this region canot be considered as the land of origin of the Slovans. On the other hand, in folksongs, which have preserved its ancient name, the Dnieper is also called by the name Slavuta, which evidently comes from the older form Slovuta, because the name of the river could not be derived from the root "slav-" but only from the root "slov-" and Slovuta was changed into Slavuta in the same manner as was Slovjanin into Slavjanin, that is, due to the influence of the word slava. It is generally acknowledged that Dnieper, Dniester, and Don are names of Scythian, that is of Iranian origin. Slavuta as the Slovanic name of the Dnieper is certainly the older appellation, because in ancient times the Slovans they must have given the river a name earlier. Obviously came to the river Dnieper sooner than the Scythians, so they could not accept the Scythian word for a territory which the Scythians had not as yet settled. Under pressure from the Scythians, the Slovans came into the forest terrain along the great river whose Slovanic name is Sia- �SLOVAKIA 39 vuta and of which they Scythian name Dnieper was later circulated generally. Etymology of the Name "Slavuta" The archiac name Slavuta comes from the older form Slovuta which in turn was derived from the ancient Slovanic Slovonta. From the etymological standpoint, we are here concerned with an old adjective form, that is, with an ancient form of participle. From verbs of the type viesf, niesf, etc. (from the old Slovanic vezti, nesti), we have the present-day tongue participles of the feminine gender veduca, nesuca from the older forms vedontja, nesontja. The consonant "-j" in these forms is, of course, of ancient Slovanic origin, but not of the ancient tongue, as is attested to, for example, by the forms mohutny along with mohuci, slovutny, tekuty, etc. From the ancient Slovanic mogti (in Slovak today mocf) came the participle of the masculine gender mogontos, and mogonta in the feminine. Only later, probably when the so-called nominal declension of adjectives originated, when the form dobra became dobraja by the addition of "-ja," did the "-j" get also into the participial forms and the older mogontos became mogontjos, mogonta/mogontja, nesontos/nesontjos, nesonta/nesontja ( and later on, nesontja= nesuca), and so on. With this expansion of participles by a "-j", the form mogontos, mogonta dropped out of the category of participles, that is, it became a straight adjective and was expanded by the adjective suffix "-ny." So came into being the adjective mohutny and then the words mohutnosf, mohutnief. The adjective mohutny was so strongly differentiated with its significance from the appropriate verbal participle that, with the acceptance of Christianity, the Latin omnipotens was translated as vsemohuci and not vsemohutny. The consonant "-t-" in the word mohutny demonstrates the ancient origin of this adjective. The same holds for the adjective slovutny: in old Slovanic we first had slovontos, slovonta and this participle became an adjective with a special significance, that is, it became farther removed from the verb sluti, slovon, sloves (compare the old Czech slouti, slovu, sloves, etc.). The same thing happened here as with the form mogont-: the �40 SLOVAKIA suffix of adjectives was added and we got slovonty (now slovutny). To this day slovutny designates one who has a "sounding" (resounding, booming) name. But even before this meaning developed, the forms slovontos, slovonta had an altogether concrete meaning and meant as much as zvuciaci, zvuciaca (sounding, booming). The ancient Slovanic Slovonta (now Slavuta) meant "zvuciaca" (that is, river or water). The question is: do similar river names really exist? The analogy from German territory is at hand, because there we often come across the name Lauterbach, that is, a sounding or booming brook (Laut = sound, vowel; laut= soundingly, melodiously). From ancient times the Dnieper had the Slovanic appellation Slovonta, that is, a resounding (river), and to this day that part of the Dnieper where there are great rapids (porogi, prahy) is still called Slavuta. In historical times, when a part of the Slovans pushed farther East, from the Slovuta all the way to the river Don, the Scythian name for the river was, of course, accepted by the Slovans, but to this very day its typical epiteton ornans is "tichy" (silent, quiet) ; and they call the Don "tichy" in comparison to the Dnieper (zvuciaci) which is particularly known for its rapids (waterfalls, Zaporozie), which in many spots originally extended several kilometers. Water flowing over rapids made a resounding noise and, so, the river was named a resounding (booming) river (zvuciaca rieka), that is, Slovonta, Slavuta. The river originally could have been named SIova, that is, zvucna (= resounding), and later its name enlarged by the suffix "-uta," which better expressed its original meaning. The little river Neslovka is evidently "nezvucna" (not resounding), that is, quiet, while the Slavecna, a tributary of the Pripef, as well as the names of the type Slawa, Slawica, Slavuc, Slavec, etc., come from the root slov-, from which originally were formed the names of streams whose characteristic property was making a sound. The abstract meaning which we find, for example, in the Slovak word slovutny, is therefore of a secondary origin. The root slov- comes from the ancient kleu-, as Rozwadowski already mentioned, but he incorrectly designated it to mean to pour over, to clean ("oblievaf, cistif"), be- �SLOVAKIA 41 -cause only the meaning "zvucat:" (sound, boom) enables us to explain all the names of streams from the root slov( slav-). The words slava, slovo, slovutny come from a varied degree of the Indo-Euripean root Weu- (comp. the Greek Weos from Wefos, the Slovak slovo; the root Wou-, the "-o-" degree of the root Weu-, is also in the word slava). The predecessors of the Slovans came from the East into the region of the lower flow of the Dnieper before the Scythians and had to name it Slova. This great river in ancient times flowed mostly in a woody terrain and particularly the linden forests stretched to the rapids (prahy= porogi). Kiev itself lies on the territory of the former tribe of Polani, whom Nestor's chronicle already mentions by name. The Polani lived south and south west of Kiev; and the Drevl'ania, that is, inhabitants of forests and woodlands, lived north of them. That is the way it was in the beginning of the historical period of Kievian Russia already in the ninth and tenth centuries A.D. We have already said that the name pofan was the name of a settlement derived from the word pole (field). The words rofa and pole originally designated various kinds of cultivated land: rofa comes from the older form or+lja and is connected with the word or-ati (to plow), that is, orlja (rol'a = orlja) ; it indicates land for plowing so that the word has preserved its original meaning to this very day. On the other hand, pole from the older form pol-jo is connected with the root pol-/pal- (poleti- paliti); originally, therefore, it indicated land that was gained by burning a forest. The Polani near Kiev settled first in the wooded terrain which they cleared for plowland by burning the trees. Similarly even the Polish tribe of Polani in the area of present-day Poznan in Greater Poland acquired its name which later became the national name of the Poles, since the creator of the Polish kingdom was the tribe of Polani. The word Poliak is only a continuation of the name Pofan, just as Slovak is of Slovan. Obviously, the Slovans of the Kiev area did not burn out the woods and forests on the border of the steppe, because they would thereby have come under the subjection of the Scythians. South of Kiev, really south of the Polani, in ancient times there stretched a large forest, which pro- �42 SLOVAKIA tected the Slovans from invasions by the steppe Scythians. This circumstance issues from the analysis of the word Pol'an, but it is also attested to by authors of antiquity who wrote about the enormous linden forests in the region south of Kiev. which we find Topographical names of Pol'ana among the southern Slovans (Croations, Slovenes, Serbs), the western Slovans (Slovaks and Czechs), and in lands where Slovaks originally lived, for example, in Lower Austria - do not give testimony of any Polish colonization, but are only proof of colonization by burning. A thousand years ago, the great tribe of the Lachi lived to the west of Kiev and southeast of the Polani of Poznan. In old Russian their territory is called Ljadskaja zemlja (uncultivated land) . Here we are concerned with the name Lendjan, that is, the inhabitants of land that was uncultivated. At the end of the ninth century, when the Magyars came to Kiev, there they found out about the strong tribe of Lendjani and accepted the word Lend'an, from which the Magyars later developed the form Lengyel to designate the Poles. After the Poles of Greater Poland became stronger, the Lachi first succumbed to the Poles (in the tenth century after the fall of the Great Moravian Empire) and gradually adopted the Polish tongue. The names Pol'ania, Eadzania (abbrev. Lasi) were tribal names used at the end of the ancient Slovanic period. The Desna, Tributary of the Dnieper The Slovans came into the region of the central Dnieper from the south or southeast, as is attested to by a tributary of the Slavuta above Kiev, the Desna. The name of this river could have come only from the predecessors of the present southern Slovans, because only in their language does desna mean "right." According to present geographical customs, we use the expressions "right bank" and "left bank" of a river according to the direction of flow, that is, the direction from the source to the mouth of a stream. In ancient times, however, the custom · was just the opposite of this, because new inhabitants did not come in from the mountains, that is, they did not descend according to the direction of the flow, but just the opposite; in �SLOVAKIA 43 settling a new territory they usually went against the current of great rivers and against the current of their tributaries. So, Desna, even though it means "right," is according to our geographical conceptions "left," that is, the left tributary of the Dnieper-Slavu ta. This means that the predecessors of the Slovans who named the tributary Desna could nohow come into the region of the Desna from the west or the north, but only from the south or southeast. It is only natural that Desna comes from those ancient Slovans who spoke a dialect from which later developed the languages of the southern Slovans (Yugoslavs = Juho , Slaviani), because only they have preserved the adjective desan, desna, desno (in Slovak: pravy, prava, prave). In other words, the predecessors of the present Yugoslavs were settled for a certain time even on the river Desna and only much later, after the Scythians became powerless, did they spread farther to the south all the way to the Black Sea and southwest, and finally occupy t,he Bankans. Therefore, in their ancient homeland the Slovanic tribes were distributed approximately the same as are today the Slovanic nations, of course, on a substantially smaller territory. Another river called Desna is a left tributary of the Bug above Vinica. This is a reliable sign that the pre'.iecessors of the southern Slovans for a certain time did live above the upper Bug. Similarly another Desna is the left tributary of the river Marica in Bulgaria. Apparently, however, this is not a logical appellation; even though in all three cases by the word "right" - that is, Desna - left tributaries are designated, it is self-evident since these river names indicate the direction from which the Slovanic inhabitants that had given them their names had come. And so, the Desnas have an extraordinary meaning in ascertaining the course of Slovanic colonization in ancient times. The name of Desna, the left tributary of the Dnieper above Kiev, demonstrates that the ancient Slovans came to the wooded region of the central Dnieper, against the current, that is, from the south, and already at the time when the Scythians were penetrating from the steppe regions of the southern Don into the steppe regions of the Dnieper. �44 SLOVAKIA According to this, then, we must look for the "real land of origin" of the Slovans along the waste areas of the central Dnieper, which with its enormous area and the ad-vantages of wooded terrain, as well as the climactic conditions of that time afforded especially good conditions so that for long centuries and practically without any warfare the ancient Slovans could develop into a numerically large nation, which later spread to the west, southwest and south, and, finally, to the east and north. The name Dnieper (Dneper) is undoubtedly of Scythian origin. The ancient Slovans, retreating before the pressure of the steppe Scythians, could not have accepted a Scythian name for a river that flowed through a territory which was never inhabited by the Scythians. They must have named this great stream first of all by their own name, that is, with a name of Slovanic origin. The popular and archiac name Slavuta indicates that the name is derived from the lower flow of river and that the predecessors of the Slovans, when they came to the "sounding river with rapids," named it according to this most expressive characteristic with the name Slova, namely, "zvucna" (sounding). This could have happened sometime in the second millenary before Christ, but not later than the beginning of the first millenary before Christ, because, according to most recent excavations near Senec in Slovakia, the Scythians were also in the steppe region of the central Danube already in the fifth and fourth centuries before Christ. From all this it follows that before their arrival into the water region of the Dnieper, the Slovans could not have been called Slovans, since this name is derived from the assumed river name Slova or Slovonta. But the Greeks in the fifth century B.C. did know of a great nation, the Sporoi who lived to the north of the Scythians in forests. Lehr-Splawinski connects the word Sporoi with the Greek "sporaden," according to which it would denote a "sporadically" dispersed nation. Our etymology of the name Sporoi is something else, but we cannot go into a solution of it at this time, because it would lead us too far away from our present subject. The very fact that an ancient Greek source from the �SLOVAKIA 45 fifth century B.C. does not use the name Slovan can indicate that this name was not used much among foreigners at that time, or that the Greeks, for traditional motives, used the older appellation of the Slovans, that is, Sporoi. Finally, it is necessary for us to mention that river names were no longer formed from the root slov- after the name Slovan became the national name of the Slovanic peoples. Of course, the process of forming the ancient Slovanic nation lasted long centuries and during this period some of the tribes emigrated to the west and southwest, and even to the northern arc of the Carpathians. But even these peripherally situated Slovanic tribes had connections with the rest of the ancient Slovans and were really the vanguard of their expansive colonization which could have developed fully only after the departure of the Celts from Central Europe, but particularly after the great German migration from the north to the south when thereby the areas were made free for the penetration of the Slovans to the west, southwest, and south. Conclusions About the Origin of the Name Slovan 1. From the linguistic standpoint, the name Slovan is the name of settlers, formed from a concrete by adding the suffix "-jan." Names from the root slav- are secondary, originating under the influence of the word slava. 2. It is necessary to issue out of the presupposed river name Slova, because in present Slovanic tongues there is no appelative slova, while on the other hand there are many river names derived from the root slov- right on the territory that could have been the "pravlasf" (land of origin) of the Slovans. 3. Of these names, only Slavuta, the original Slovanic name of the Dnieper preserved to this day, enables us to explain the name Slovan, because the form Slavuta from the older form Slovonta ("zvuciaca" - sounding) is only an extended form of the original Slova (zvucna). Only in the water region of the river that bore the name Slova (=Slavuta=Dnieper), could the name Slovan originate, because the predecessors of the Slovans, retreating before the pressure of the Scythians, came into the wooded region of this river. Only in this area were there all the climactic, �46 SLOVAKIA vital, and defensive conditions that enabled the developmen t. of the great nation of the ancient Slovans. 4. According to this, "the first known ancient homeland" (land of origin) of the Slovans in Europe was the area of the central Dnieper ( =Slova), from where the individual Slovanic tribes began to spread to the west, into the water areas of the central Visla which were abandoned by the Celts, and gradually they migrated farther south and southwest. For a certain time their ancient land of origin (pravlasf) extended to the water area of the central Wisla and spread farther. From their "first ancient homeland" to their last ancient homeland, there have passed over a thous-· and years. This calls for many researches before we can write the ancient history of the Slovans by periods. In the water area of the central Dnieper they must have lived not later than the beginning of the first millenary before Christ, where they came there from the southeast, retreating before the pressure of the Iranian Scythians. Before their advent to the area of the river Slova (later, the Dnieper), the predecessors of the Slovans could not have been called Slovans, but had to be called by some other name, as is attested to also by the ancient Greek name Sporoi. We hope that we have succeeded in clarifying the meaning of the presuppose d river name Slova and thereby corrected the hypothesis of Rozwadows ki. Besides that, we have tried to localize the river Slova, regarding this form as Slovanic and the older name of the river Dnieper, whose name is of Iranian, that is, of Scythian origin. The name Dnieper (in Ukrainian Diiipro) was spread only after the fall of the Scythians, when the Slovans of the Kiev area could spread to the south as far as the Black Sea. Only the water area of the Slova (Slavuta, now the Dnieper) could have been the cradle of the name Slovan and of the ancient Slovanic nation which gradually spread from the water area of the Dnieper to the west, southwest, and south, and which, after occupying especially large areas, began gradually to become different nationally and linguistically. The linguistic and national differentati on of the Slovans, however, falls into the historical period and can be traced relatively easily. �SLOVAKIA 47 The Origin of the Name "Slovak" In ancient Slovanic, from the word pole we got the name of Pofanin, who settled it, nom. plural Pofane, just as from the topographical name Praga we got Prazanin, plural Prazane (in old Czech "Prazenin," but plural Praiane). In the fourteenth century began the compensation of the forms in "-an" with forms in "-ak" and this change was completed in the fifteenth century, when Polak replaced Pofan, Prazak-Praz an, etc. At about the same time, the older forms Slovanin, pl. Slovane, were replaced with the forms Slovak, Slovaci. From the viewpoint of internal development of Slovak, it is necessary to recall that the form Slovak is evidently -0f western Slovak origin, which is otherwise understandab le when we consider that the inhabitants of western Slovakia, as well as Moravian Slovakia, that is, the whole of eastern Moravia, were the creators of the Great Moravian Empire in the ninth century. According to the vowel system of words of central Slovakia, today we ought to have Sloviak, Sloviaci, like zemiak-zemi aky against the forms zemak-zemak y of western Slovakia and Moravian Slovakia. In the language of central Slovakia, against the original long "-a" after soft consonants we have "-ia-," for example, the older cara, zar, and others, became ciara, ziar, etc.; but in dialects of western Slovakia we still find cara, zar, etc. And it is a fact that in places of western Slovakia, where the older (long) "a" has been preserved, that is, where people say cara, zar, etc., the forms Slovak, Slovaci have been preserved to this day (for example, in Sebechleby, Hont; in Gombas, Liptov; and places in Orava County). Finally, even Sloviak, Sloviaci of eastern Slovakia point to the fact that these forms originated from the older forms Slovak, Slovaci; this happened sometime in the 14th or 15th century. In the literary language of central Slovakia, which came to be used over 112 years ago instead of Bernolak's Slovak, the forms Slovak-Slova ci are evidently of west Slovakian origin; this is in complete agreement with historical development, because the tribes of western and Moravian Slovakia with the number of their inhabitants, as well �48 SLOVAKIA as historical significance, until the middle of the nineteenth century were the nucleus of the Slovak ethnic. Of all the Slovanic nations, only the Slovaci (Slovaks) and Slovinci (Slovenes) have preserved the name of the ancient Slovanic nation to this day. This very circumstance sufficiently proves that in the period of differentiation of the ancient Slovanic nation into individual Slovanic nations and tongues, the forefathers of the Slovaks and Slovenes preserved their original, that is, ancient Slovanic appellation, while the other Slovans - the Russians, Poles, Serbs, Croatians, Bulgarians, Czechs, etc., gave up their original name of Slovans. That the Slovenes preserved their original name is understandable, because they got to the very edge of the Slovanic world and from the end of the eighth century had foreign rulers. But the Slovaks preserved the original name of the ancient Slovans in their name most probably because they once lived on a territory at least five times as large as present Slovakia and because they were the creators of the first great Slovanic empire on the central Danube (under King Samo, 624-659) and, later, were the creators of the historic Great Moravian Empire that in the ninth century was the mightiest Slovanic state, so that the Slovaks did not have the least motive to abandon the traditional name Slovan from which in the 14th and 15th centuries the present form Slovak developed. Acording to this, the name Slovak contains the original name of all the Slovans and it may be just this clinging of the Slovaks to the original, ancient name that may be the basis of new researches that will clarify the reason why just the Slovaks have so adamantly clung to the ancient name of the Slovans which with its origin extends to their very ancient homeland in the Dnieper area. The findings of historians, archeologists, and ethnographers, and probably the philosophy of the Slovak language, will complement and clarify what cannot be done by pure linguistics which is limited to ascertaining, revealing, and clarifying linguistic facts and linguistic connections. (The Slovak original of this article appeared in "MOST" (The Bridge), a quarterly for Slovak Culture and the organ of the Slovak Writers and Artists Association, Cleveland, Ohio, published by the Rev. John J . Lach, Whiting, Ind.; Vol. ill, No. 1, 1956). � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 1958, Vol. 8 Description An account of the resource <ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 26), March 1958.</li> <li>Issue 2 (No. 27), June 1958.</li> <li>Issue 3 (No. 28), December 1958.</li> </ul> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Slovak League of America Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1958 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document 30 SLOVAKIA THE ORIGIN OF "SLOVAN" AND "SLOVAK" Dr. Henrich Bartek The et}'lffiology of the name Slovan has not been thusfar clarified satisfactorily. A more accurate definition of the origin and first homeland of the Slovans (Slavs) would be of extraordinary significance, ,p articularly if it were ipossilble to define more precisely in what area the ancient predecessors of the Slovans acquired their name. Thereiby at lea;st the aJpproximate determination of the time the name Slovan originated could become the b.asis for a more profound knowledge of the ancient history of the Slovanic peoples. The solution of the etymology of the word Slovan is, aibove all else, a linguistic problem and, therefore, we must analyze it first of aH a:ccording to the methods of this discipline, so that the remaining scientific departments, such as archeology, ethnography, and history would only have to support the lingll!istic deductions. Until the present time, in popular scientific, but also in many .scientific treatises, there are circulated many different views aJbout the origin of the name Slovan, some of which have been adhered to for long centuries. Before the thirteenth century, for example, the name Slovan was conected with the word Slava (glory). This etymology found and still finds swpport especially in the Russian form Slavjanin (Slahvyahneen), and its qualifying derivative slavjanskij (s'1a1hvyahnskee), whose root, it is said, confoI'.ms with the root of the word slava (slahvah). In the first half of the nineteenth century, this etymology was poipulari'z ed by the Slovak John Kollar in the poetical composition "Slavy dcera," as well as by his romanticscientific dissertations which he wrote as a professor of Slovanic (,SlaJV) archeology at the University of Vienna. This pqpular etymology was a.nd still is very much favored because it caters to the self-conscio,uisness of the Slovans. Nevertheless, the founder of Slavistics, the Czech scholar Joseph Dobrovsky, and the founder of Slova:nic archeology, the eminent SlaV'hStios savant of Slovwk origin, SLOVAKIA 31 Paul J. SaJ'ari!k, became aware of the untenability of the current explanation of the term Slovan. a:nd concluded that it wrus derived from slovo (1word). Arccortling to the first etymology, the popolar conc-e pt, Slovan would mean "gloriosus," while acco,r ding to the second, it would mean ''v,~rbosus.'' Dolbrovsky and Safarilk correctly deduced it from the root slov in exiplaining the term Slovan, because they probalbly considered the for,m from the r-o ot slav as secondary. But a,g ain,s t their etymology sipeaJks the fact that in the most ancient grou,p of S101Vanic words with the suffix jan, the names of inhaJbitants were formed from names that indioated concrete oibjects. The word slovo, however is a tyipical aJbstract thing and, therefore, cannot be the basis of the term indicating inhaibitants, which become the common national name of the Slorvanic peoples. Many other etymologies orf the name Slovan are not even considered because -o f their .p ha,n tastic nature. In 1-954, the well-1known Polish scholar of Slavistics, Thaddeus LehrSplruwinski, stated in the book which he wrote with Wl. Kuras zkiewicz and F1r. Slawsky (Przeglad i charakterystyka ja;zykow slowianskich): "Whence originated this term is not as yet sufficiently clrurified; most likely at first it indd!cated the peoiple who d,welled near some water (river or lake) that was named Slowa or Slowo (the Polish for Slova, Slovo). This e:,cpression existed at one time in the looguage of the ancient 'Slovanic peoples and related nations, and the suffix -anie ( -enie), w hkh we find in the term Slovanie (Slovienie), normally indicates the dwellers of territories (comp. Wislanie, Podhalanie, Krako· wianie, etc.) . Lehr-Splawinski evidently inclines here, with a reservation, to the ex,pla:nation offered in 1921 by the remarikalble Polish .p hilologist, Joihn Romvadowski (in the Magazine of Phlfo:logical and Lingustical Studies, dedicated to A. Belie), where he expressed the hypothesis that in the ancient Slovanic language there must have existed a river by the name of Slova or Slava, or a lake called Slovo. Rozwadowslci presupposed he was here concerned with the Indo-European root 'kleu- which meant, he said, "to pour 1 32 SLOVAKIA over, to clean" ( oblievat:, cistit:). To support his thesis he presented in his dissertation also these Slovanic names for rivers : Slawa, Slawica, Slavuta, Slavec, N eslovka. Rozwadowski's explanation is ,possibly the lbest from the standpoint of linguisti!cs, because he derives the name Slovan from concrete river names. Nevertheless, in our Olpinion, difficulties arise from the significance of the root slov- ("o!blievaf, cistif), as well as from the circumstance that he did not define according to which assumed river, called Slova, the S:lovans got their name. Bes~des that the names he mentions as coming from the roots slov- and slav- indicate streams of every different characteristics, so that one cannot exiplain them from the meaning of the root kleu/,s lov ("oblievaf, ocistif). At times we are concerned with small streams and rivers which pour over and clean nothing; at other times with a great stream (for example, Slavuta is the Slovanic archaic term of the Dnieper), whose character is i:n deep contrast with the small mountain streams that bear the names derived from the root slov- or slav-. If we should compare the terrain in which they flow, as well as the characteristics of a whole series of b,roOO{s and rirvers which the Slovans called by the name Bystrica, or Bystra, Bystrec, and other similar names, we would easily ascertain that their names generally indicate a most ex;pressive characteristic of these streams, that is, thcir raJpid, that is, "bystry" flow. We cannot claim a similar common characteristic, however, for the streams which haive the name Slawa, Slawica, Slavuta, Neslovka, etc., if we follow Rozwadowski's meaning of the root slov-. At least the common, very expressive characteristic of these streams is not evident according to the etymology proposed by Rozwadowski, because the meaning of the root kleu-/slov- assumed by him does not sufficiently warrant this characteristic property, according to which in the distant past these streams of various kinds could be called according to the names formed from the root slov- or slav.Words With the Roots "Slov- and "Slav-" Slovanic (Slavic) languages, we meet with a the In twofold sound of the national name of the Slovans. They 1 SLOVAKIA 33 are the names formed from the root slov-, as well as those formed from the root slav-, for example: Slowian (Polish), Slovan (Slovak and Czech), and (the Russian) Slavjanin, slavjanskij with the accent on the "-ja-." Slovenec, Slovenka (Slovene); and (in Slovak) Slovak, Slovenka, as well as the name Slovan, the name used up to the present time by the inhabitants near the Irmensky Lake in northern Russia (south of Ladoga Lake, and the name Slovinci, the name used by the adherents of the tribe that lives in the neighborhood of the Polish Kashubi on the coast of the Baltic Sea - all these obviously indicate that they are derived from the root slov-. But even the Russian Slavjanin originated from the older form Slovjanin in which the short -o- was duly changed into an -a- before the accented syllable. This is not uncommon in Russian orthography, where an -a- is used instead of -o- (golova - galava), because in Russian this term from ancient times was connected with the word slava, the root of which is slav-. The very fact that national and tribal names bearing the root slov- have been preserved in the border territories of the present ethnic Slovanic territory should be sufficient reason that it issue out of the root slov-. Names from the root slav- are evidently of a secondary origin. Otherwise, crossing of words from the root slov- and slav- is a current phenomenon in Slovanic languages. This is really due to the influence of! the word slava on words derived from the concept slovo. For example, the word pravoslavie (orthodoxy), as a literal translation of the Greek orthodoxia, should be spelled "pravoslovie" - and instead of pravoslavny we should have the adjective "pravoslovny." Yet, due to the influence of the word slava in all Slovanic tongues, we find words derived only from the stem pravoslav-. So, the Slovak blahoslavif (to bless) - the Polish blagoslawic, and Czech blahoslaviti - has slav- due to this influence, even though correctly it should be "blahoslovif," because even the Russian has blagoslovif from the ecclesiastico-Slovanic blagosloviti, which is a literal translation of the Greek eulogein. All this demonstrates that the root of the word slava has influenced from ancient times the words derived from the root slov- (slovo). The opposite influence, that is, com- 34 SLOVAKIA pensation of the root slav- by means of the root slovcannot be ascertained. Therefore, it is indisputable that the national name of the Slovans (Slavic people) comes from the root slov-; and in those Slovanic languages where we find the root slav- in place of it (for example, the Russian Slavjanin), we can safely say that this is due to phonological development (in Russian and White Russian), or to the influence of the word slava. This conclusion can be complemented with the wealth of material from the Slovanic languages. Here we shall mention only two examples from Slovakia. Topographical names demonstrate that they are derived from the root slov-, for example, Slovany in Turiec County. Here we have the older form of the name Slovak which was replaced by the newer already in the fourteenth century. The name of the community Slovany certainly belongs among the ancient names of Slovak origin and comes from the period when the predecessors of the Slovaks immigrated to Turiec and had to settle among non-Slovaks, probably among the remainder of the Celts. It makes sense then that, in a non-Slovak environment, the ancient Slovaks named their settlement Slovany (phonetically Slovani in the Turiec dialect, because the older "-ja-" after labials was changed here to "-a-'; the genitive is Slovian, appropriately from the older Slovan, where the "-ia-" is used in place of older "-a-" as in ciara from cara, etc.). The adjective of Slovany is also appropriately "sloviansky." Even in Spis County there is a community called Slovinky. So, in topographical names in Slovakia we find only the root slov-, that is, before the advent of the Slovaks to their present territory - before the fifth century - the national name of the Slovans was formed from the root slov-, so that the forms with slav- are obviously altogether newer forms, as we mentioned above. From all this it follows that in solving the etymology of the name Slovan, we must start with the root slov-~, and not with the root slav-. Therefore, the possibility of deriving the national name of the Slovaks from the word slava is completely out of the question. Accepting this view, we then have a realistic basis for the solution of the etymology of the word Slovan. SLOVAKIA 35 The Suffix "-Jan" In the ancient Slovanic tongue names of settlements were formed with the prefix "-jan," for example, pol'an designated an inhabitant of fields. Topographical names in "-any" nicely preserve the original function of the suffix "-jan," for example Brodzany (in the Nitra Valley) originally designated the inhabitants living near a ford (from the word brod there first originated brod+jan and then Brodzany); the name Lipany (for example, in eastern Slovakia, but also elsewhere in Slovanic countries) comes from lip + jan (really from the accusative Lipjany; even today in the dialect of eastern Slovakia it is Lipjani) and designates the inhabitants of a region in linden (basswood) trees, that is, of an area where there were forests of linden trees. According to this it is evident the suffix "-jan" was used to form the names of settlements from concretes, such as: brod, lipa, hora, luh, etc. The second ancient function of the suffix "-jan" was the formation of names of settlements to designate the inhabitants living in the area of some river, for example, the Polish Wislan from Wisljan still designates an inhabitant of the Wisla river region; similarly, the Slovak name Moravan comes from the name of the river Morava, Kysucan from Kysuce, and so on. This means that in the ancient Slovanic tongue the suffix "-jan" was used to create the names of settlers which were derived from concrete names, that is, appellatives, and from topographical names, particularly from the names of rivers. As far as the stem and the significance of the name Slovan is concerned, from the old form Slov + jan, it belongs among ancient names of settlements which were derived from concrete names. Since in the Slovanic languages there is not a trace after the concrete appellatives "slov, slova, slovo," and since the name Slovan is added in old Greek sources already from the sixth century B.C., it must be derived from some topographical name, because with its entire structure the name Slovan belongs to the same type of appellatives as Wislan, Moravan, and the like, that 36 SLOVAKIA is, to names derived from rivers, the names of which belong to the oldest group of topographical names. The names of Slovanic streams are generally of the feminine gender; very often we meet the adjective forms of the appellatives where the word "rieka" (river) or "voda" (water) has been omitted: Bystra, that is, "bystra voda" and Bystrica (a small rapid stream); Byster (a rapid brook) and Bystrec or Bysterec (a small rapid brook), etc. With the larger streams the word "river" is generally omitted and, therefore, the names of the larger rivers of Slovanic countries, inasmuch as they are of native origin, end in an "-a," that is, they are of the feminine gender. This apparently is refuted by the names Vah, Hron, Ipef, but, in our opinion, these are names of Celtic origin. In eastern Slovakia the river names Poprad and Hornad we regard as Daco-Sarmatian. The name Slovan cannot be the name of a settlement derived from the name of a town, as, for example, Romanus · from the name Roma, because there is no such town or city that could be the foundation of the word Slovan. Therefore, only a river name remains open to us, the name of a larger river, along which for a certain period of time the ancestors of the Slovans could have lived. Of course, the Slovanic name of this great river had to be of the feminine gender and, therefore, issue out of the presuposed river name "Slova," from which, by adding the suffix "-jan," was formed the name Slovan (in Russian: Slavjanin from the older form Slovjanin), which then became a national name in the ancient homeland of the Slovans. The River "Slova" In the national names of the south-Slovanic Slovenes (Slovinci) and the western-Slovanic Slovaks (Slovaci), the little altered ancient name of the Slovans has been preserved to this very day originating long before their departure from the ancient homeland. History tells us that the Slovenes by the end of the sixth century had already penetrated all the way to Pustertal in southern Tyrol and that the Slovaks occupied present-day Moravia and Slovakia before the sixth century. It follows from this that the SLOVAKIA 37 national name of the Slovans must have originated already long before that time. And since, from the standpoint of linguistics, the name Slovan presupposes a river that was named Slova, we must look for such a river on the territory of the supposed ancient homeland of the Slovans. The region along this river had to be sufficiently large, its climactic conditions advantageous, and it had to spread over a geographical area that would assure sufficient protection against foreign invasions and thereby enable the biological development of the numerically great nation of the ancient Slovans. Comparative philology, Slavistics, as well as archeology and history, have long ago come to the generally accepted conclusion that the ancient homeland of the Slovanic peoples must be sought south of the present settlements of the Lithuanians and to the north of the northern arc of the Carpathians, approximately in the area of the eastern tributaries of the central Wisla and in the western water regions of the river Pripet', a tributary of the central Dnieper. As far as the area of the ancient homeland of the Slovans is concerned, as well as the chronology of the disintegration of the ancient Slovanic national and lingual unity, science has not as yet come to any unified conclusion, because particularly Slovanic scholars are frequently even subconsciously led by the contemporary political aspirations of their nations. Thus, for example, Lehr-Splawinski regards as the land of origin of the Slovans the areas of the Oder and Wisla rivers (vd. "Praslowianie," Biblioteka Studium Slowianskiego, Seria B, Nr. 1, Cracow, 1946), that is, the territory of present-day Poland. Generally the problem of the "land of origin" is very complicated and a more accurate localization of it is practically impossible when chronology is omitted, when the time of the existence of this ancient homeland is not marked out. People regard Denmark with the adjacent regions of northwestern Germany and southern Scandinavia as the ancient homeland of the Germans, but the predecessors of the Germans were not the first inhabitants of this territory and must have had their original homeland somewhere else before their advent into this last German homeland, that is, "last" as far as we know it. And the same holds for the 38 SLOVAKIA Slovans. Even the Trans-Carpathian homeland, whose accurate designation encounters so many difficulties, was not the first homeland of the Slovans. Conversely, however, it is the last homeland known to us and its area was not permanently limited because the Slovans spread and migrated just as the Germans and Celts had done before them. The Wisla and Oder regions are, of course, sufficiently large enough territories on which the nation of the ancient Slovans could have developed, but the non-Slovanic name of the Oder, the Celtic names of some of the tributaries of the Oder and Wisla rivers, and the lack of sufficient proof of the Slovanic origin of the name Wisla, indicate that we cannot here look for the land of origin of the Slovans in which the name Slovan could have originated. Besides this, there is nothing to prove even the possibility of expansion of the eastern Slovans from the Oder-Wisla homeland, which Lehr-Splawinski presupposes. There is no proof that the Oder or the Wisla were ever called Slova or any other name formed from the root "slov-" and, therefore, their water areas do not come into consideration in explaining the name Slovan. But there are also many other reasons why this region canot be considered as the land of origin of the Slovans. On the other hand, in folksongs, which have preserved its ancient name, the Dnieper is also called by the name Slavuta, which evidently comes from the older form Slovuta, because the name of the river could not be derived from the root "slav-" but only from the root "slov-" and Slovuta was changed into Slavuta in the same manner as was Slovjanin into Slavjanin, that is, due to the influence of the word slava. It is generally acknowledged that Dnieper, Dniester, and Don are names of Scythian, that is of Iranian origin. Slavuta as the Slovanic name of the Dnieper is certainly the older appellation, because in ancient times the Slovans they must have given the river a name earlier. Obviously came to the river Dnieper sooner than the Scythians, so they could not accept the Scythian word for a territory which the Scythians had not as yet settled. Under pressure from the Scythians, the Slovans came into the forest terrain along the great river whose Slovanic name is Sia- SLOVAKIA 39 vuta and of which they Scythian name Dnieper was later circulated generally. Etymology of the Name "Slavuta" The archiac name Slavuta comes from the older form Slovuta which in turn was derived from the ancient Slovanic Slovonta. From the etymological standpoint, we are here concerned with an old adjective form, that is, with an ancient form of participle. From verbs of the type viesf, niesf, etc. (from the old Slovanic vezti, nesti), we have the present-day tongue participles of the feminine gender veduca, nesuca from the older forms vedontja, nesontja. The consonant "-j" in these forms is, of course, of ancient Slovanic origin, but not of the ancient tongue, as is attested to, for example, by the forms mohutny along with mohuci, slovutny, tekuty, etc. From the ancient Slovanic mogti (in Slovak today mocf) came the participle of the masculine gender mogontos, and mogonta in the feminine. Only later, probably when the so-called nominal declension of adjectives originated, when the form dobra became dobraja by the addition of "-ja," did the "-j" get also into the participial forms and the older mogontos became mogontjos, mogonta/mogontja, nesontos/nesontjos, nesonta/nesontja ( and later on, nesontja= nesuca), and so on. With this expansion of participles by a "-j", the form mogontos, mogonta dropped out of the category of participles, that is, it became a straight adjective and was expanded by the adjective suffix "-ny." So came into being the adjective mohutny and then the words mohutnosf, mohutnief. The adjective mohutny was so strongly differentiated with its significance from the appropriate verbal participle that, with the acceptance of Christianity, the Latin omnipotens was translated as vsemohuci and not vsemohutny. The consonant "-t-" in the word mohutny demonstrates the ancient origin of this adjective. The same holds for the adjective slovutny: in old Slovanic we first had slovontos, slovonta and this participle became an adjective with a special significance, that is, it became farther removed from the verb sluti, slovon, sloves (compare the old Czech slouti, slovu, sloves, etc.). The same thing happened here as with the form mogont-: the 40 SLOVAKIA suffix of adjectives was added and we got slovonty (now slovutny). To this day slovutny designates one who has a "sounding" (resounding, booming) name. But even before this meaning developed, the forms slovontos, slovonta had an altogether concrete meaning and meant as much as zvuciaci, zvuciaca (sounding, booming). The ancient Slovanic Slovonta (now Slavuta) meant "zvuciaca" (that is, river or water). The question is: do similar river names really exist? The analogy from German territory is at hand, because there we often come across the name Lauterbach, that is, a sounding or booming brook (Laut = sound, vowel; laut= soundingly, melodiously). From ancient times the Dnieper had the Slovanic appellation Slovonta, that is, a resounding (river), and to this day that part of the Dnieper where there are great rapids (porogi, prahy) is still called Slavuta. In historical times, when a part of the Slovans pushed farther East, from the Slovuta all the way to the river Don, the Scythian name for the river was, of course, accepted by the Slovans, but to this very day its typical epiteton ornans is "tichy" (silent, quiet) ; and they call the Don "tichy" in comparison to the Dnieper (zvuciaci) which is particularly known for its rapids (waterfalls, Zaporozie), which in many spots originally extended several kilometers. Water flowing over rapids made a resounding noise and, so, the river was named a resounding (booming) river (zvuciaca rieka), that is, Slovonta, Slavuta. The river originally could have been named SIova, that is, zvucna (= resounding), and later its name enlarged by the suffix "-uta," which better expressed its original meaning. The little river Neslovka is evidently "nezvucna" (not resounding), that is, quiet, while the Slavecna, a tributary of the Pripef, as well as the names of the type Slawa, Slawica, Slavuc, Slavec, etc., come from the root slov-, from which originally were formed the names of streams whose characteristic property was making a sound. The abstract meaning which we find, for example, in the Slovak word slovutny, is therefore of a secondary origin. The root slov- comes from the ancient kleu-, as Rozwadowski already mentioned, but he incorrectly designated it to mean to pour over, to clean ("oblievaf, cistif"), be- SLOVAKIA 41 -cause only the meaning "zvucat:" (sound, boom) enables us to explain all the names of streams from the root slov( slav-). The words slava, slovo, slovutny come from a varied degree of the Indo-Euripean root Weu- (comp. the Greek Weos from Wefos, the Slovak slovo; the root Wou-, the "-o-" degree of the root Weu-, is also in the word slava). The predecessors of the Slovans came from the East into the region of the lower flow of the Dnieper before the Scythians and had to name it Slova. This great river in ancient times flowed mostly in a woody terrain and particularly the linden forests stretched to the rapids (prahy= porogi). Kiev itself lies on the territory of the former tribe of Polani, whom Nestor's chronicle already mentions by name. The Polani lived south and south west of Kiev; and the Drevl'ania, that is, inhabitants of forests and woodlands, lived north of them. That is the way it was in the beginning of the historical period of Kievian Russia already in the ninth and tenth centuries A.D. We have already said that the name pofan was the name of a settlement derived from the word pole (field). The words rofa and pole originally designated various kinds of cultivated land: rofa comes from the older form or+lja and is connected with the word or-ati (to plow), that is, orlja (rol'a = orlja) ; it indicates land for plowing so that the word has preserved its original meaning to this very day. On the other hand, pole from the older form pol-jo is connected with the root pol-/pal- (poleti- paliti); originally, therefore, it indicated land that was gained by burning a forest. The Polani near Kiev settled first in the wooded terrain which they cleared for plowland by burning the trees. Similarly even the Polish tribe of Polani in the area of present-day Poznan in Greater Poland acquired its name which later became the national name of the Poles, since the creator of the Polish kingdom was the tribe of Polani. The word Poliak is only a continuation of the name Pofan, just as Slovak is of Slovan. Obviously, the Slovans of the Kiev area did not burn out the woods and forests on the border of the steppe, because they would thereby have come under the subjection of the Scythians. South of Kiev, really south of the Polani, in ancient times there stretched a large forest, which pro- 42 SLOVAKIA tected the Slovans from invasions by the steppe Scythians. This circumstance issues from the analysis of the word Pol'an, but it is also attested to by authors of antiquity who wrote about the enormous linden forests in the region south of Kiev. which we find Topographical names of Pol'ana among the southern Slovans (Croations, Slovenes, Serbs), the western Slovans (Slovaks and Czechs), and in lands where Slovaks originally lived, for example, in Lower Austria - do not give testimony of any Polish colonization, but are only proof of colonization by burning. A thousand years ago, the great tribe of the Lachi lived to the west of Kiev and southeast of the Polani of Poznan. In old Russian their territory is called Ljadskaja zemlja (uncultivated land) . Here we are concerned with the name Lendjan, that is, the inhabitants of land that was uncultivated. At the end of the ninth century, when the Magyars came to Kiev, there they found out about the strong tribe of Lendjani and accepted the word Lend'an, from which the Magyars later developed the form Lengyel to designate the Poles. After the Poles of Greater Poland became stronger, the Lachi first succumbed to the Poles (in the tenth century after the fall of the Great Moravian Empire) and gradually adopted the Polish tongue. The names Pol'ania, Eadzania (abbrev. Lasi) were tribal names used at the end of the ancient Slovanic period. The Desna, Tributary of the Dnieper The Slovans came into the region of the central Dnieper from the south or southeast, as is attested to by a tributary of the Slavuta above Kiev, the Desna. The name of this river could have come only from the predecessors of the present southern Slovans, because only in their language does desna mean "right." According to present geographical customs, we use the expressions "right bank" and "left bank" of a river according to the direction of flow, that is, the direction from the source to the mouth of a stream. In ancient times, however, the custom · was just the opposite of this, because new inhabitants did not come in from the mountains, that is, they did not descend according to the direction of the flow, but just the opposite; in SLOVAKIA 43 settling a new territory they usually went against the current of great rivers and against the current of their tributaries. So, Desna, even though it means "right," is according to our geographical conceptions "left," that is, the left tributary of the Dnieper-Slavu ta. This means that the predecessors of the Slovans who named the tributary Desna could nohow come into the region of the Desna from the west or the north, but only from the south or southeast. It is only natural that Desna comes from those ancient Slovans who spoke a dialect from which later developed the languages of the southern Slovans (Yugoslavs = Juho , Slaviani), because only they have preserved the adjective desan, desna, desno (in Slovak: pravy, prava, prave). In other words, the predecessors of the present Yugoslavs were settled for a certain time even on the river Desna and only much later, after the Scythians became powerless, did they spread farther to the south all the way to the Black Sea and southwest, and finally occupy t,he Bankans. Therefore, in their ancient homeland the Slovanic tribes were distributed approximately the same as are today the Slovanic nations, of course, on a substantially smaller territory. Another river called Desna is a left tributary of the Bug above Vinica. This is a reliable sign that the pre'.iecessors of the southern Slovans for a certain time did live above the upper Bug. Similarly another Desna is the left tributary of the river Marica in Bulgaria. Apparently, however, this is not a logical appellation; even though in all three cases by the word "right" - that is, Desna - left tributaries are designated, it is self-evident since these river names indicate the direction from which the Slovanic inhabitants that had given them their names had come. And so, the Desnas have an extraordinary meaning in ascertaining the course of Slovanic colonization in ancient times. The name of Desna, the left tributary of the Dnieper above Kiev, demonstrates that the ancient Slovans came to the wooded region of the central Dnieper, against the current, that is, from the south, and already at the time when the Scythians were penetrating from the steppe regions of the southern Don into the steppe regions of the Dnieper. 44 SLOVAKIA According to this, then, we must look for the "real land of origin" of the Slovans along the waste areas of the central Dnieper, which with its enormous area and the ad-vantages of wooded terrain, as well as the climactic conditions of that time afforded especially good conditions so that for long centuries and practically without any warfare the ancient Slovans could develop into a numerically large nation, which later spread to the west, southwest and south, and, finally, to the east and north. The name Dnieper (Dneper) is undoubtedly of Scythian origin. The ancient Slovans, retreating before the pressure of the steppe Scythians, could not have accepted a Scythian name for a river that flowed through a territory which was never inhabited by the Scythians. They must have named this great stream first of all by their own name, that is, with a name of Slovanic origin. The popular and archiac name Slavuta indicates that the name is derived from the lower flow of river and that the predecessors of the Slovans, when they came to the "sounding river with rapids," named it according to this most expressive characteristic with the name Slova, namely, "zvucna" (sounding). This could have happened sometime in the second millenary before Christ, but not later than the beginning of the first millenary before Christ, because, according to most recent excavations near Senec in Slovakia, the Scythians were also in the steppe region of the central Danube already in the fifth and fourth centuries before Christ. From all this it follows that before their arrival into the water region of the Dnieper, the Slovans could not have been called Slovans, since this name is derived from the assumed river name Slova or Slovonta. But the Greeks in the fifth century B.C. did know of a great nation, the Sporoi who lived to the north of the Scythians in forests. Lehr-Splawinski connects the word Sporoi with the Greek "sporaden," according to which it would denote a "sporadically" dispersed nation. Our etymology of the name Sporoi is something else, but we cannot go into a solution of it at this time, because it would lead us too far away from our present subject. The very fact that an ancient Greek source from the SLOVAKIA 45 fifth century B.C. does not use the name Slovan can indicate that this name was not used much among foreigners at that time, or that the Greeks, for traditional motives, used the older appellation of the Slovans, that is, Sporoi. Finally, it is necessary for us to mention that river names were no longer formed from the root slov- after the name Slovan became the national name of the Slovanic peoples. Of course, the process of forming the ancient Slovanic nation lasted long centuries and during this period some of the tribes emigrated to the west and southwest, and even to the northern arc of the Carpathians. But even these peripherally situated Slovanic tribes had connections with the rest of the ancient Slovans and were really the vanguard of their expansive colonization which could have developed fully only after the departure of the Celts from Central Europe, but particularly after the great German migration from the north to the south when thereby the areas were made free for the penetration of the Slovans to the west, southwest, and south. Conclusions About the Origin of the Name Slovan 1. From the linguistic standpoint, the name Slovan is the name of settlers, formed from a concrete by adding the suffix "-jan." Names from the root slav- are secondary, originating under the influence of the word slava. 2. It is necessary to issue out of the presupposed river name Slova, because in present Slovanic tongues there is no appelative slova, while on the other hand there are many river names derived from the root slov- right on the territory that could have been the "pravlasf" (land of origin) of the Slovans. 3. Of these names, only Slavuta, the original Slovanic name of the Dnieper preserved to this day, enables us to explain the name Slovan, because the form Slavuta from the older form Slovonta ("zvuciaca" - sounding) is only an extended form of the original Slova (zvucna). Only in the water region of the river that bore the name Slova (=Slavuta=Dnieper), could the name Slovan originate, because the predecessors of the Slovans, retreating before the pressure of the Scythians, came into the wooded region of this river. Only in this area were there all the climactic, 46 SLOVAKIA vital, and defensive conditions that enabled the developmen t. of the great nation of the ancient Slovans. 4. According to this, "the first known ancient homeland" (land of origin) of the Slovans in Europe was the area of the central Dnieper ( =Slova), from where the individual Slovanic tribes began to spread to the west, into the water areas of the central Visla which were abandoned by the Celts, and gradually they migrated farther south and southwest. For a certain time their ancient land of origin (pravlasf) extended to the water area of the central Wisla and spread farther. From their "first ancient homeland" to their last ancient homeland, there have passed over a thous-· and years. This calls for many researches before we can write the ancient history of the Slovans by periods. In the water area of the central Dnieper they must have lived not later than the beginning of the first millenary before Christ, where they came there from the southeast, retreating before the pressure of the Iranian Scythians. Before their advent to the area of the river Slova (later, the Dnieper), the predecessors of the Slovans could not have been called Slovans, but had to be called by some other name, as is attested to also by the ancient Greek name Sporoi. We hope that we have succeeded in clarifying the meaning of the presuppose d river name Slova and thereby corrected the hypothesis of Rozwadows ki. Besides that, we have tried to localize the river Slova, regarding this form as Slovanic and the older name of the river Dnieper, whose name is of Iranian, that is, of Scythian origin. The name Dnieper (in Ukrainian Diiipro) was spread only after the fall of the Scythians, when the Slovans of the Kiev area could spread to the south as far as the Black Sea. Only the water area of the Slova (Slavuta, now the Dnieper) could have been the cradle of the name Slovan and of the ancient Slovanic nation which gradually spread from the water area of the Dnieper to the west, southwest, and south, and which, after occupying especially large areas, began gradually to become different nationally and linguistically. The linguistic and national differentati on of the Slovans, however, falls into the historical period and can be traced relatively easily. SLOVAKIA 47 The Origin of the Name "Slovak" In ancient Slovanic, from the word pole we got the name of Pofanin, who settled it, nom. plural Pofane, just as from the topographical name Praga we got Prazanin, plural Prazane (in old Czech "Prazenin," but plural Praiane). In the fourteenth century began the compensation of the forms in "-an" with forms in "-ak" and this change was completed in the fifteenth century, when Polak replaced Pofan, Prazak-Praz an, etc. At about the same time, the older forms Slovanin, pl. Slovane, were replaced with the forms Slovak, Slovaci. From the viewpoint of internal development of Slovak, it is necessary to recall that the form Slovak is evidently -0f western Slovak origin, which is otherwise understandab le when we consider that the inhabitants of western Slovakia, as well as Moravian Slovakia, that is, the whole of eastern Moravia, were the creators of the Great Moravian Empire in the ninth century. According to the vowel system of words of central Slovakia, today we ought to have Sloviak, Sloviaci, like zemiak-zemi aky against the forms zemak-zemak y of western Slovakia and Moravian Slovakia. In the language of central Slovakia, against the original long "-a" after soft consonants we have "-ia-," for example, the older cara, zar, and others, became ciara, ziar, etc.; but in dialects of western Slovakia we still find cara, zar, etc. And it is a fact that in places of western Slovakia, where the older (long) "a" has been preserved, that is, where people say cara, zar, etc., the forms Slovak, Slovaci have been preserved to this day (for example, in Sebechleby, Hont; in Gombas, Liptov; and places in Orava County). Finally, even Sloviak, Sloviaci of eastern Slovakia point to the fact that these forms originated from the older forms Slovak, Slovaci; this happened sometime in the 14th or 15th century. In the literary language of central Slovakia, which came to be used over 112 years ago instead of Bernolak's Slovak, the forms Slovak-Slova ci are evidently of west Slovakian origin; this is in complete agreement with historical development, because the tribes of western and Moravian Slovakia with the number of their inhabitants, as well 48 SLOVAKIA as historical significance, until the middle of the nineteenth century were the nucleus of the Slovak ethnic. Of all the Slovanic nations, only the Slovaci (Slovaks) and Slovinci (Slovenes) have preserved the name of the ancient Slovanic nation to this day. This very circumstance sufficiently proves that in the period of differentiation of the ancient Slovanic nation into individual Slovanic nations and tongues, the forefathers of the Slovaks and Slovenes preserved their original, that is, ancient Slovanic appellation, while the other Slovans - the Russians, Poles, Serbs, Croatians, Bulgarians, Czechs, etc., gave up their original name of Slovans. That the Slovenes preserved their original name is understandable, because they got to the very edge of the Slovanic world and from the end of the eighth century had foreign rulers. But the Slovaks preserved the original name of the ancient Slovans in their name most probably because they once lived on a territory at least five times as large as present Slovakia and because they were the creators of the first great Slovanic empire on the central Danube (under King Samo, 624-659) and, later, were the creators of the historic Great Moravian Empire that in the ninth century was the mightiest Slovanic state, so that the Slovaks did not have the least motive to abandon the traditional name Slovan from which in the 14th and 15th centuries the present form Slovak developed. Acording to this, the name Slovak contains the original name of all the Slovans and it may be just this clinging of the Slovaks to the original, ancient name that may be the basis of new researches that will clarify the reason why just the Slovaks have so adamantly clung to the ancient name of the Slovans which with its origin extends to their very ancient homeland in the Dnieper area. The findings of historians, archeologists, and ethnographers, and probably the philosophy of the Slovak language, will complement and clarify what cannot be done by pure linguistics which is limited to ascertaining, revealing, and clarifying linguistic facts and linguistic connections. (The Slovak original of this article appeared in "MOST" (The Bridge), a quarterly for Slovak Culture and the organ of the Slovak Writers and Artists Association, Cleveland, Ohio, published by the Rev. John J . Lach, Whiting, Ind.; Vol. ill, No. 1, 1956).  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Origin of "Slovan" and "Slovak" Description An account of the resource Dr. Henrich Bartek Slovakia, Vol. 8, No. 2 (27), June 1958 pp. 30-48 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Bartek, Henrich, 1907-1986 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource June 1958 LCNAF https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/ef2e2e8a7aff230e4c71a8a6e3a12a03.pdf d8edca193738d3c50df9ad5bba2683a3 PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA 17 THE PAINTINGS IN THE BASILICA OF ST. CLEMENT JOSEPH G. CINCiK W:hen Sts. Cyril and Methodius labored among the Chazars (Kazars), in the Crimea on the Black Sea, preaching the Word of God, they discovered the corporal remains of St. Clement, pupil and fourth successor of St. Peter. In 863, the Slovak Apostles brought the remains of the martyr from Byzantium (Constantinople) to the territory of the ancient Slovaks, Great Moravia, after they had accepted the invitation of Prince Rastislav, sovereign of the Slovak lands, to preach the Word of God to his people in a language they could understand. In 867, when Cyril and Methodius went to Rome for an audience with the Holy Father, they took the remains of St. Clement with them. It was thus that St. Clement returned to his native city. Pope Adrian II expressed heartfelt thanks for the precious gift of the holy brothers. Leading the solemn procession ,h imself, the Holy Father had the remains of St. Clement placed in that part of the Basilica of St. Clement which today we call "the lower church." It is alleged that some time later, St. Cyril himself found :h is last resting place alongside the grave of St. Clement, on the right side of the main altar. Cyril, only 41, did not return to Slovakia; he died in Rome. His brother Methodius returned alone to continue in his apostolic work among the ancient Slovaks. From the artistic side, the Basilica of St. Clement offers many moments which can be connected with the presence of the Slovak Apostles and their group, especially the artistic decoration of the walls of the "lower church," many fragments of which have been preserved to this day. These are the same paintings that Cyril and Methodius admired in their day. There are also iconographic souvenirs which were motivated by the saintly brothers' stay in Rome, and it is with these that we shall deal here, because they interest us most. The Basilica of St. Clement in Ro~ is not a simple structure from one period. As a crosscut through the building demonstrates, it is composed of three different building eras: 1. The foundation walls extend deeply into Roman �St. Cyril taken to last resting place tn Basi- lica of St. Clement �SS. Cyril and Methodlua defe.nd the use of Slo• vak I n liturgy before Pope Adrian 11 In 867 �20 SLOVAKIA times; they were built in the last years of the Roman kings, during the reign of Tarquinius Superbus (534-510 B. C.), or in the earliest republican times. On the same level under today's surface of the earth - spread a later brick struclure from the period of the emperors. About the time of the birth of Christ this building belonged to the parents of St. Clement, and that is why it is also called "Dominicum Clementis." A part of the original home of St. Clement, which St. Peter and St. Paul often visited, served as an oratory after Clement was martyred. In the year 303 A .D., this oratory was changed by imperial edict into a pagan place of idolatrous worship to honor the god Mithras. The lowest parts of the Basilica were witness to t:he events of the first Christia.us from apostolic times. They were inhabited and visited 1by men who had personal con!.act with our Savior. In 311 A. D., Emperor Galerius ordered. the "Dominicum Clementis" returned to the Christians. But this place, desecrated by the blood of the pagan Bull Cult and called "Mithraeum," was no longer used by the Christians. They sealed the entrance into it. 2. After the victory of Emperor Constantine a large church was built out of quadrangular stones over the old "Dominicum Clementis." Under the arches of this church, Sts. Cyril and Methodius and their delegation had their quarters in 867. This part of the Basilica is today called the "lower church" - and the remains of St. Clement and St. Cyril are there. 3. In 1008, Pope Pascholis II had the present "upper church" built over the "lower church;" it is smaller and narrower than the original "lower church." In the "upper church" of the Basilica - renovated in the baroque style during the pontificate of Pope Clement XI (1715)-there is a side-chapel dedicated to Sts. Cyril and Methodius. Since the end of the 19th century, pilgrimages by the Slovaks an!,! other Slova.nic nations to the Basilica of St. Clement have increased greatly. In 1886, the Basilica was decorated with the frescoes of Nobili on the initiative Pope Leo XIII and the support of Croatian Bishop strossmayer. Three of them especially attract our attention. �SLOVAKIA 21 Behind the altar, the one on the right depicts Pope Leo Xill placing the Church in the form of a very small church under the protection of the Savior; St. Cyril stands to his right and St. Methodius to his left. Both are clothed in bishop's robes. On the right wall is a painting of the scene before Pope Adrian II and the bishops. Standing before them are Sts. Cyril and Methodius, refuting the charges that they had introduced harmful novelties into t:he liturgy. The painting on the left pictures the transfer of the corporal remains of St. Cyril to the "lower church" of St. Clement by Benedictine Brothers. In a certain sense, this chapel is a sort of national and Christian oratory of the Slovanic peoples in Rome. Today the Basilica is administered by Irish monks of the Dominican Order. Shortly after the end of World War II, Michael Sincak of Monessen, Pa., led a pilgrimage of American Slovaks to the Basilica, where they marked with a simple marble altar the alleged resting place of St. Cyril. During the excavations and reparations of the lowest part of the Basilica (the "Dominicum Clementis") many souvenirs were found: fragments of headpieces, columns, inscriptions, minute reliefs, staitu.es, vessels, lanterns, etc., of the Roman and early Christian era, which are very significant for the history of art and archeology. Numerous decorative fragments of stone and marble from the "lower church" may be found in the various municipal museums of Rome or are built into the walls of the front hallway of the "lower church" which once resounded with the footsteps of the Slovak Apostles, Sts. Cyril and Methodius. On the walls of the "lower- church" are interesting artistic souvenirs from the IV-IX centuries A.D. On the older skeins of mu1als-mostly of the Byzantium type-from the 8th . century, inl,pressive are the scenes from the life of St. Clement, the Virgin Mary, and several saints. There is a painting of the Virgin Mary with Jesus in the recess on the right side of the nave. The Mother of God is pictured as the Queen of Heaven, sitting on an emperor's throne, clothed in the robe of a Byzantium queen which is ornamented with jewels, pearls and precious stones, and wearing a rich diadem headpiece. Jesus sits in his �22 SLOVAKIA mother's lap a,nd also is clothed in the Byzantium style of the VII-IX centuries. As the Ruler of Christian souls, He is holding in his little hands the sign of power, a parchment scroll. Of the newer skein of paintings, depicting Sts. Cyril and Methodius in Rome, four important iconographic fragments have been preserved: 1. St. Cyril kneeling before Emperor Michael III of Byzantium, accepting the mission to preach the Word of God to the Kazars or probably the Slovaks; 2. (Also from the second half of the 9th century), St. Cyril is shown baptizing a pagan standing in water, probably a Kazar or a member of some Slovanic people; 3. The third painting, comparatively well preserved, shows our Savior in the center, flanked by the Archangels Michael and Gabriel, and, in front of them, as smaller figures, St. Methodius without a beard and with a chalice, and St. Cyril with a beard and a book held to his bosom. Both are still without a "gloriola" above their heads, which indicates that this painting was done before they were proclaimed saints, probably while they lived and certainly before St. Cyril died. To the ri,g ht of $t. Methodiu.s, we see the figure of St. Andrew, and to the left of St. Cyril that of St. Clement. This painting represents the earliest portraits of Sts. Cyril and Methodius-and contemporaneously and relatively the most genuine, that is, styled in the Byzantium-Carolinian tradition. Once again we see the figure of the two brothers on the painting which depicts the transfer of the remains of St. Clement to the Basilica with a solemn procession, headed by Pope Adrian II and our Apostles Sts. Cyril and Methodius. The paintings are in the artistic spirit of the Benedictine school at Monte Cassino and are, from the iconographic and liturgical standpoint, very interesting, since the clothing worn and other marks depicted inform us about the robes and customs of the IX-X centuries. On the last painting, people are in solemn procession, carrying palm branches (symbol of martyrdom-victory), waving church banners, symbol of bishops and abbots, crosiers and crosses, while deacons incense the remains of St. Clement. In the left corner we see the figure of Pope Adrian II, his white tiara embellished with but a single �SLOVAKIA 23 crown (in the later Middle Ages the papal tiara had three crowm.s) . On the right of the Pope, we behold St. Cyril and, on his left, St. Methodius. We note that St. Cyril has a gloriola over his head, while St. Methodius has not, though he is depicted there as a bishop. This means that this painting is older than that of the Savior with the Archangels and the two saintly brothers. There is another conjecture, that later - perhaps after the death of St. Cyril - the painting was complemented with these details. We know that St. Method.ius later appeared on several occasions in Rome as a Bishop and Archbishop of Pannonia-Moravia, the land of the ancient Slovaks. Experts of Christian iconography also say that the absence of a gloriola above the head of St. Method.ius means that the painting probably did originate after St. Cyril's death, but during the lifetime of St. Methodius; some time after 870, when obviously, the gloriola was not appropriate for Methodius. There is evidence that the same type of paintings embellished the first Christian churches in old Slovakia in the 9th century A.D., in the building of which the creative hands of the Benedictines are undeniable. Above all else they are noticeable in the field of the artistic painting which came out of the area of Rome and Monte Cassino, and from northern Italy, from the middle of the 9th century, to the north through the Alps to the territory of the Blatnohrad principality in Pannonia and to southern Slovakia. Stylistic and compositional marks of paintings from the period of the Slovak rulers were used to the end of the 10th and the beginning of the eleventh century, as is demonstrated by the latest discoveries in the PannoniaBlatnohrad area (for example, in Hidegseg, near the Nezider Lake) . For other examples of the painting art, and even the creative art, from the period of Great Moravia and Sts. Cyril and Methodius, we do not have to go to Rome. Artistic souvenirs of Slovak pre-Roman-Carolingian art have been uncovered in areas which were inhabited by the Slovaks on both sides of the Danube in the 9th and 10th centuries. �24 SLOVAKIA REFERENCE LITERATURE R. L. Bensly: The Eplstolea of St. Clement to the Corinthians in Syriac, etc., CamlbTidge, 1899. Acta Sa,nctorum (Bollandia,na): Marti nus II, pp. H seq. Jacopo da Vara,gdne: Leggenda aurea, Vol. III, Firenze (A. Le- vasti), 1926, ,p p. 1464-1484. L . Duchesne: Llber Pontificalis, Paris, 1886, I. p. LXXI- LXXIII. R. S. Lipsius : Chronologie der romische Blachofe, Kdel, 1869. C. H. Tur.ner: The Early E·piscopal Liata (JournaJ of Theological Studies, XVHI, 1917). J. S. Franco: Klements in Cheraonesus, Lemberg (Lvov), 1906, pp. 293-301. Fr. Snopek: Clemens von Rom und seine Reliquien, K!romefilsky Slov.aik, 1918. K.Kiinstle: lkonographie der chrlstlichen Kunst, II, Ikonogr!llPhie der Hei1igen, 19·26, Frei-burg in Bref.sgau, p. 1'65 seq. (Clemens). L. Nolam: The Baslllca of San Clemente in Rome, IV Edition, 1943, Roma. Carlo Cecchelli: San Cemente, s. a., Danesi Editore Roma (Series "Le ch!ese di Roma il1ustrate"-Vols. 24-25). F. X. Zimmerma,n: Die Kirchen Roms, 1935, Ed. Piper, -M iinchen, p. 272 seq. G. B. De Rossi: I mo"umenti scoperti sot-to la basilica di S. Clemente studiati, etc. (fa " Bulletilna d i Archeolog. cristiana"-1870, 1874, 1875, 1882, 1884-85, 1887-89) . Dublin Review, Oct. 1871, p . 403 seq. Fels Th. Gsell: Romlsche ausgrabungen in letzten Decenium: Die Unterklrche S. Clemente, Hi!d•b erghau,sen, 1870. L. Nolan: De effoaaion~bus peractla ad S. Clementis in Urbe (Analecta samri Ord. Frat. Praooiatorum, Vol. XIII, 1918, pp. 344-351. J . H . Parr-k er: Archeology of Rome, OXford, 1874, Tv. XI, p . 58 seq. Al Thomson: Re<:ent Excavations in Rome, E<Unburg, 1866. A. L. Frothingham: The Monuments of Christian Rome, from Con,stainrtillle to -the Renai,ssamce, New York, 1908. J. G. Gray: The House and the Basilica of S. Clemente, i-n the Journal of the British and American Archeologtlcal Society in Rome, III, 1>art 3; The Church of S. Cemente In the light of Mons. Wilperts recent researches, 1907, IV, part 1, pp. 98-109. G. Mullooly: St. Clement, Pope and Martyr, and His Basilica in Rome, Rome, 1869; 2nd oo., 1873. X. X. X.: Basilica of St. Clemente in Rome, Rome , 1924. L. Nolrun: The Irish Dominicans in Rome, Rome, 1911. P. Toesca : Storia dell arte Italians, I, II Medioevo, Torino, 1927, pp.8, 584 seq . Ad. Ve nturd: Storla dell arte ltaliana, I, Mila.no, 1901, v. 1 ui vol. I-VITI, 1902-1923. J . W!lpert: Die romische Mosalken und Malerelen der Kirchli chen Kunstl. � SLOVAKIA 17 THE PAINTINGS IN THE BASILICA OF ST. CLEMENT JOSEPH G. CINCiK W:hen Sts. Cyril and Methodius labored among the Chazars (Kazars), in the Crimea on the Black Sea, preaching the Word of God, they discovered the corporal remains of St. Clement, pupil and fourth successor of St. Peter. In 863, the Slovak Apostles brought the remains of the martyr from Byzantium (Constantinople) to the territory of the ancient Slovaks, Great Moravia, after they had accepted the invitation of Prince Rastislav, sovereign of the Slovak lands, to preach the Word of God to his people in a language they could understand. In 867, when Cyril and Methodius went to Rome for an audience with the Holy Father, they took the remains of St. Clement with them. It was thus that St. Clement returned to his native city. Pope Adrian II expressed heartfelt thanks for the precious gift of the holy brothers. Leading the solemn procession ,h imself, the Holy Father had the remains of St. Clement placed in that part of the Basilica of St. Clement which today we call "the lower church." It is alleged that some time later, St. Cyril himself found :h is last resting place alongside the grave of St. Clement, on the right side of the main altar. Cyril, only 41, did not return to Slovakia; he died in Rome. His brother Methodius returned alone to continue in his apostolic work among the ancient Slovaks. From the artistic side, the Basilica of St. Clement offers many moments which can be connected with the presence of the Slovak Apostles and their group, especially the artistic decoration of the walls of the "lower church," many fragments of which have been preserved to this day. These are the same paintings that Cyril and Methodius admired in their day. There are also iconographic souvenirs which were motivated by the saintly brothers' stay in Rome, and it is with these that we shall deal here, because they interest us most. The Basilica of St. Clement in Ro~ is not a simple structure from one period. As a crosscut through the building demonstrates, it is composed of three different building eras: 1. The foundation walls extend deeply into Roman �St. Cyril taken to last resting place tn Basi- lica of St. Clement �SS. Cyril and Methodlua defe.nd the use of Slo• vak I n liturgy before Pope Adrian 11 In 867 �20 SLOVAKIA times; they were built in the last years of the Roman kings, during the reign of Tarquinius Superbus (534-510 B. C.), or in the earliest republican times. On the same level under today's surface of the earth - spread a later brick struclure from the period of the emperors. About the time of the birth of Christ this building belonged to the parents of St. Clement, and that is why it is also called "Dominicum Clementis." A part of the original home of St. Clement, which St. Peter and St. Paul often visited, served as an oratory after Clement was martyred. In the year 303 A .D., this oratory was changed by imperial edict into a pagan place of idolatrous worship to honor the god Mithras. The lowest parts of the Basilica were witness to t:he events of the first Christia.us from apostolic times. They were inhabited and visited 1by men who had personal con!.act with our Savior. In 311 A. D., Emperor Galerius ordered. the "Dominicum Clementis" returned to the Christians. But this place, desecrated by the blood of the pagan Bull Cult and called "Mithraeum," was no longer used by the Christians. They sealed the entrance into it. 2. After the victory of Emperor Constantine a large church was built out of quadrangular stones over the old "Dominicum Clementis." Under the arches of this church, Sts. Cyril and Methodius and their delegation had their quarters in 867. This part of the Basilica is today called the "lower church" - and the remains of St. Clement and St. Cyril are there. 3. In 1008, Pope Pascholis II had the present "upper church" built over the "lower church;" it is smaller and narrower than the original "lower church." In the "upper church" of the Basilica - renovated in the baroque style during the pontificate of Pope Clement XI (1715)-there is a side-chapel dedicated to Sts. Cyril and Methodius. Since the end of the 19th century, pilgrimages by the Slovaks an!,! other Slova.nic nations to the Basilica of St. Clement have increased greatly. In 1886, the Basilica was decorated with the frescoes of Nobili on the initiative Pope Leo XIII and the support of Croatian Bishop strossmayer. Three of them especially attract our attention. �SLOVAKIA 21 Behind the altar, the one on the right depicts Pope Leo Xill placing the Church in the form of a very small church under the protection of the Savior; St. Cyril stands to his right and St. Methodius to his left. Both are clothed in bishop's robes. On the right wall is a painting of the scene before Pope Adrian II and the bishops. Standing before them are Sts. Cyril and Methodius, refuting the charges that they had introduced harmful novelties into t:he liturgy. The painting on the left pictures the transfer of the corporal remains of St. Cyril to the "lower church" of St. Clement by Benedictine Brothers. In a certain sense, this chapel is a sort of national and Christian oratory of the Slovanic peoples in Rome. Today the Basilica is administered by Irish monks of the Dominican Order. Shortly after the end of World War II, Michael Sincak of Monessen, Pa., led a pilgrimage of American Slovaks to the Basilica, where they marked with a simple marble altar the alleged resting place of St. Cyril. During the excavations and reparations of the lowest part of the Basilica (the "Dominicum Clementis") many souvenirs were found: fragments of headpieces, columns, inscriptions, minute reliefs, staitu.es, vessels, lanterns, etc., of the Roman and early Christian era, which are very significant for the history of art and archeology. Numerous decorative fragments of stone and marble from the "lower church" may be found in the various municipal museums of Rome or are built into the walls of the front hallway of the "lower church" which once resounded with the footsteps of the Slovak Apostles, Sts. Cyril and Methodius. On the walls of the "lower- church" are interesting artistic souvenirs from the IV-IX centuries A.D. On the older skeins of mu1als-mostly of the Byzantium type-from the 8th . century, inl,pressive are the scenes from the life of St. Clement, the Virgin Mary, and several saints. There is a painting of the Virgin Mary with Jesus in the recess on the right side of the nave. The Mother of God is pictured as the Queen of Heaven, sitting on an emperor's throne, clothed in the robe of a Byzantium queen which is ornamented with jewels, pearls and precious stones, and wearing a rich diadem headpiece. Jesus sits in his �22 SLOVAKIA mother's lap a,nd also is clothed in the Byzantium style of the VII-IX centuries. As the Ruler of Christian souls, He is holding in his little hands the sign of power, a parchment scroll. Of the newer skein of paintings, depicting Sts. Cyril and Methodius in Rome, four important iconographic fragments have been preserved: 1. St. Cyril kneeling before Emperor Michael III of Byzantium, accepting the mission to preach the Word of God to the Kazars or probably the Slovaks; 2. (Also from the second half of the 9th century), St. Cyril is shown baptizing a pagan standing in water, probably a Kazar or a member of some Slovanic people; 3. The third painting, comparatively well preserved, shows our Savior in the center, flanked by the Archangels Michael and Gabriel, and, in front of them, as smaller figures, St. Methodius without a beard and with a chalice, and St. Cyril with a beard and a book held to his bosom. Both are still without a "gloriola" above their heads, which indicates that this painting was done before they were proclaimed saints, probably while they lived and certainly before St. Cyril died. To the ri,g ht of $t. Methodiu.s, we see the figure of St. Andrew, and to the left of St. Cyril that of St. Clement. This painting represents the earliest portraits of Sts. Cyril and Methodius-and contemporaneously and relatively the most genuine, that is, styled in the Byzantium-Carolinian tradition. Once again we see the figure of the two brothers on the painting which depicts the transfer of the remains of St. Clement to the Basilica with a solemn procession, headed by Pope Adrian II and our Apostles Sts. Cyril and Methodius. The paintings are in the artistic spirit of the Benedictine school at Monte Cassino and are, from the iconographic and liturgical standpoint, very interesting, since the clothing worn and other marks depicted inform us about the robes and customs of the IX-X centuries. On the last painting, people are in solemn procession, carrying palm branches (symbol of martyrdom-victory), waving church banners, symbol of bishops and abbots, crosiers and crosses, while deacons incense the remains of St. Clement. In the left corner we see the figure of Pope Adrian II, his white tiara embellished with but a single �SLOVAKIA 23 crown (in the later Middle Ages the papal tiara had three crowm.s) . On the right of the Pope, we behold St. Cyril and, on his left, St. Methodius. We note that St. Cyril has a gloriola over his head, while St. Methodius has not, though he is depicted there as a bishop. This means that this painting is older than that of the Savior with the Archangels and the two saintly brothers. There is another conjecture, that later - perhaps after the death of St. Cyril - the painting was complemented with these details. We know that St. Method.ius later appeared on several occasions in Rome as a Bishop and Archbishop of Pannonia-Moravia, the land of the ancient Slovaks. Experts of Christian iconography also say that the absence of a gloriola above the head of St. Method.ius means that the painting probably did originate after St. Cyril's death, but during the lifetime of St. Methodius; some time after 870, when obviously, the gloriola was not appropriate for Methodius. There is evidence that the same type of paintings embellished the first Christian churches in old Slovakia in the 9th century A.D., in the building of which the creative hands of the Benedictines are undeniable. Above all else they are noticeable in the field of the artistic painting which came out of the area of Rome and Monte Cassino, and from northern Italy, from the middle of the 9th century, to the north through the Alps to the territory of the Blatnohrad principality in Pannonia and to southern Slovakia. Stylistic and compositional marks of paintings from the period of the Slovak rulers were used to the end of the 10th and the beginning of the eleventh century, as is demonstrated by the latest discoveries in the PannoniaBlatnohrad area (for example, in Hidegseg, near the Nezider Lake) . For other examples of the painting art, and even the creative art, from the period of Great Moravia and Sts. Cyril and Methodius, we do not have to go to Rome. Artistic souvenirs of Slovak pre-Roman-Carolingian art have been uncovered in areas which were inhabited by the Slovaks on both sides of the Danube in the 9th and 10th centuries. �24 SLOVAKIA REFERENCE LITERATURE R. L. Bensly: The Eplstolea of St. Clement to the Corinthians in Syriac, etc., CamlbTidge, 1899. Acta Sa,nctorum (Bollandia,na): Marti nus II, pp. H seq. Jacopo da Vara,gdne: Leggenda aurea, Vol. III, Firenze (A. Le- vasti), 1926, ,p p. 1464-1484. L . Duchesne: Llber Pontificalis, Paris, 1886, I. p. LXXI- LXXIII. R. S. Lipsius : Chronologie der romische Blachofe, Kdel, 1869. C. H. Tur.ner: The Early E·piscopal Liata (JournaJ of Theological Studies, XVHI, 1917). J. S. Franco: Klements in Cheraonesus, Lemberg (Lvov), 1906, pp. 293-301. Fr. Snopek: Clemens von Rom und seine Reliquien, K!romefilsky Slov.aik, 1918. K.Kiinstle: lkonographie der chrlstlichen Kunst, II, Ikonogr!llPhie der Hei1igen, 19·26, Frei-burg in Bref.sgau, p. 1'65 seq. (Clemens). L. Nolam: The Baslllca of San Clemente in Rome, IV Edition, 1943, Roma. Carlo Cecchelli: San Cemente, s. a., Danesi Editore Roma (Series "Le ch!ese di Roma il1ustrate"-Vols. 24-25). F. X. Zimmerma,n: Die Kirchen Roms, 1935, Ed. Piper, -M iinchen, p. 272 seq. G. B. De Rossi: I mo"umenti scoperti sot-to la basilica di S. Clemente studiati, etc. (fa " Bulletilna d i Archeolog. cristiana"-1870, 1874, 1875, 1882, 1884-85, 1887-89) . Dublin Review, Oct. 1871, p . 403 seq. Fels Th. Gsell: Romlsche ausgrabungen in letzten Decenium: Die Unterklrche S. Clemente, Hi!d•b erghau,sen, 1870. L. Nolan: De effoaaion~bus peractla ad S. Clementis in Urbe (Analecta samri Ord. Frat. Praooiatorum, Vol. XIII, 1918, pp. 344-351. J . H . Parr-k er: Archeology of Rome, OXford, 1874, Tv. XI, p . 58 seq. Al Thomson: Re<:ent Excavations in Rome, E<Unburg, 1866. A. L. Frothingham: The Monuments of Christian Rome, from Con,stainrtillle to -the Renai,ssamce, New York, 1908. J. G. Gray: The House and the Basilica of S. Clemente, i-n the Journal of the British and American Archeologtlcal Society in Rome, III, 1>art 3; The Church of S. Cemente In the light of Mons. Wilperts recent researches, 1907, IV, part 1, pp. 98-109. G. Mullooly: St. Clement, Pope and Martyr, and His Basilica in Rome, Rome, 1869; 2nd oo., 1873. X. X. X.: Basilica of St. Clemente in Rome, Rome , 1924. L. Nolrun: The Irish Dominicans in Rome, Rome, 1911. P. Toesca : Storia dell arte Italians, I, II Medioevo, Torino, 1927, pp.8, 584 seq . Ad. Ve nturd: Storla dell arte ltaliana, I, Mila.no, 1901, v. 1 ui vol. I-VITI, 1902-1923. J . W!lpert: Die romische Mosalken und Malerelen der Kirchli chen Kunstl. � 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 1963, Vol. 13 Description An account of the resource Issue 1 (No. 36), March 1963. 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 1963 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 17 THE PAINTINGS IN THE BASILICA OF ST. CLEMENT JOSEPH G. CINCiK W:hen Sts. Cyril and Methodius labored among the Chazars (Kazars), in the Crimea on the Black Sea, preaching the Word of God, they discovered the corporal remains of St. Clement, pupil and fourth successor of St. Peter. In 863, the Slovak Apostles brought the remains of the martyr from Byzantium (Constantinople) to the territory of the ancient Slovaks, Great Moravia, after they had accepted the invitation of Prince Rastislav, sovereign of the Slovak lands, to preach the Word of God to his people in a language they could understand. In 867, when Cyril and Methodius went to Rome for an audience with the Holy Father, they took the remains of St. Clement with them. It was thus that St. Clement returned to his native city. Pope Adrian II expressed heartfelt thanks for the precious gift of the holy brothers. Leading the solemn procession ,h imself, the Holy Father had the remains of St. Clement placed in that part of the Basilica of St. Clement which today we call "the lower church." It is alleged that some time later, St. Cyril himself found :h is last resting place alongside the grave of St. Clement, on the right side of the main altar. Cyril, only 41, did not return to Slovakia; he died in Rome. His brother Methodius returned alone to continue in his apostolic work among the ancient Slovaks. From the artistic side, the Basilica of St. Clement offers many moments which can be connected with the presence of the Slovak Apostles and their group, especially the artistic decoration of the walls of the "lower church," many fragments of which have been preserved to this day. These are the same paintings that Cyril and Methodius admired in their day. There are also iconographic souvenirs which were motivated by the saintly brothers' stay in Rome, and it is with these that we shall deal here, because they interest us most. The Basilica of St. Clement in Ro~ is not a simple structure from one period. As a crosscut through the building demonstrates, it is composed of three different building eras: 1. The foundation walls extend deeply into Roman St. Cyril taken to last resting place tn Basi- lica of St. Clement SS. Cyril and Methodlua defe.nd the use of Slo• vak I n liturgy before Pope Adrian 11 In 867 20 SLOVAKIA times; they were built in the last years of the Roman kings, during the reign of Tarquinius Superbus (534-510 B. C.), or in the earliest republican times. On the same level under today's surface of the earth - spread a later brick struclure from the period of the emperors. About the time of the birth of Christ this building belonged to the parents of St. Clement, and that is why it is also called "Dominicum Clementis." A part of the original home of St. Clement, which St. Peter and St. Paul often visited, served as an oratory after Clement was martyred. In the year 303 A .D., this oratory was changed by imperial edict into a pagan place of idolatrous worship to honor the god Mithras. The lowest parts of the Basilica were witness to t:he events of the first Christia.us from apostolic times. They were inhabited and visited 1by men who had personal con!.act with our Savior. In 311 A. D., Emperor Galerius ordered. the "Dominicum Clementis" returned to the Christians. But this place, desecrated by the blood of the pagan Bull Cult and called "Mithraeum," was no longer used by the Christians. They sealed the entrance into it. 2. After the victory of Emperor Constantine a large church was built out of quadrangular stones over the old "Dominicum Clementis." Under the arches of this church, Sts. Cyril and Methodius and their delegation had their quarters in 867. This part of the Basilica is today called the "lower church" - and the remains of St. Clement and St. Cyril are there. 3. In 1008, Pope Pascholis II had the present "upper church" built over the "lower church;" it is smaller and narrower than the original "lower church." In the "upper church" of the Basilica - renovated in the baroque style during the pontificate of Pope Clement XI (1715)-there is a side-chapel dedicated to Sts. Cyril and Methodius. Since the end of the 19th century, pilgrimages by the Slovaks an!,! other Slova.nic nations to the Basilica of St. Clement have increased greatly. In 1886, the Basilica was decorated with the frescoes of Nobili on the initiative Pope Leo XIII and the support of Croatian Bishop strossmayer. Three of them especially attract our attention. SLOVAKIA 21 Behind the altar, the one on the right depicts Pope Leo Xill placing the Church in the form of a very small church under the protection of the Savior; St. Cyril stands to his right and St. Methodius to his left. Both are clothed in bishop's robes. On the right wall is a painting of the scene before Pope Adrian II and the bishops. Standing before them are Sts. Cyril and Methodius, refuting the charges that they had introduced harmful novelties into t:he liturgy. The painting on the left pictures the transfer of the corporal remains of St. Cyril to the "lower church" of St. Clement by Benedictine Brothers. In a certain sense, this chapel is a sort of national and Christian oratory of the Slovanic peoples in Rome. Today the Basilica is administered by Irish monks of the Dominican Order. Shortly after the end of World War II, Michael Sincak of Monessen, Pa., led a pilgrimage of American Slovaks to the Basilica, where they marked with a simple marble altar the alleged resting place of St. Cyril. During the excavations and reparations of the lowest part of the Basilica (the "Dominicum Clementis") many souvenirs were found: fragments of headpieces, columns, inscriptions, minute reliefs, staitu.es, vessels, lanterns, etc., of the Roman and early Christian era, which are very significant for the history of art and archeology. Numerous decorative fragments of stone and marble from the "lower church" may be found in the various municipal museums of Rome or are built into the walls of the front hallway of the "lower church" which once resounded with the footsteps of the Slovak Apostles, Sts. Cyril and Methodius. On the walls of the "lower- church" are interesting artistic souvenirs from the IV-IX centuries A.D. On the older skeins of mu1als-mostly of the Byzantium type-from the 8th . century, inl,pressive are the scenes from the life of St. Clement, the Virgin Mary, and several saints. There is a painting of the Virgin Mary with Jesus in the recess on the right side of the nave. The Mother of God is pictured as the Queen of Heaven, sitting on an emperor's throne, clothed in the robe of a Byzantium queen which is ornamented with jewels, pearls and precious stones, and wearing a rich diadem headpiece. Jesus sits in his 22 SLOVAKIA mother's lap a,nd also is clothed in the Byzantium style of the VII-IX centuries. As the Ruler of Christian souls, He is holding in his little hands the sign of power, a parchment scroll. Of the newer skein of paintings, depicting Sts. Cyril and Methodius in Rome, four important iconographic fragments have been preserved: 1. St. Cyril kneeling before Emperor Michael III of Byzantium, accepting the mission to preach the Word of God to the Kazars or probably the Slovaks; 2. (Also from the second half of the 9th century), St. Cyril is shown baptizing a pagan standing in water, probably a Kazar or a member of some Slovanic people; 3. The third painting, comparatively well preserved, shows our Savior in the center, flanked by the Archangels Michael and Gabriel, and, in front of them, as smaller figures, St. Methodius without a beard and with a chalice, and St. Cyril with a beard and a book held to his bosom. Both are still without a "gloriola" above their heads, which indicates that this painting was done before they were proclaimed saints, probably while they lived and certainly before St. Cyril died. To the ri,g ht of $t. Methodiu.s, we see the figure of St. Andrew, and to the left of St. Cyril that of St. Clement. This painting represents the earliest portraits of Sts. Cyril and Methodius-and contemporaneously and relatively the most genuine, that is, styled in the Byzantium-Carolinian tradition. Once again we see the figure of the two brothers on the painting which depicts the transfer of the remains of St. Clement to the Basilica with a solemn procession, headed by Pope Adrian II and our Apostles Sts. Cyril and Methodius. The paintings are in the artistic spirit of the Benedictine school at Monte Cassino and are, from the iconographic and liturgical standpoint, very interesting, since the clothing worn and other marks depicted inform us about the robes and customs of the IX-X centuries. On the last painting, people are in solemn procession, carrying palm branches (symbol of martyrdom-victory), waving church banners, symbol of bishops and abbots, crosiers and crosses, while deacons incense the remains of St. Clement. In the left corner we see the figure of Pope Adrian II, his white tiara embellished with but a single SLOVAKIA 23 crown (in the later Middle Ages the papal tiara had three crowm.s) . On the right of the Pope, we behold St. Cyril and, on his left, St. Methodius. We note that St. Cyril has a gloriola over his head, while St. Methodius has not, though he is depicted there as a bishop. This means that this painting is older than that of the Savior with the Archangels and the two saintly brothers. There is another conjecture, that later - perhaps after the death of St. Cyril - the painting was complemented with these details. We know that St. Method.ius later appeared on several occasions in Rome as a Bishop and Archbishop of Pannonia-Moravia, the land of the ancient Slovaks. Experts of Christian iconography also say that the absence of a gloriola above the head of St. Method.ius means that the painting probably did originate after St. Cyril's death, but during the lifetime of St. Methodius; some time after 870, when obviously, the gloriola was not appropriate for Methodius. There is evidence that the same type of paintings embellished the first Christian churches in old Slovakia in the 9th century A.D., in the building of which the creative hands of the Benedictines are undeniable. Above all else they are noticeable in the field of the artistic painting which came out of the area of Rome and Monte Cassino, and from northern Italy, from the middle of the 9th century, to the north through the Alps to the territory of the Blatnohrad principality in Pannonia and to southern Slovakia. Stylistic and compositional marks of paintings from the period of the Slovak rulers were used to the end of the 10th and the beginning of the eleventh century, as is demonstrated by the latest discoveries in the PannoniaBlatnohrad area (for example, in Hidegseg, near the Nezider Lake) . For other examples of the painting art, and even the creative art, from the period of Great Moravia and Sts. Cyril and Methodius, we do not have to go to Rome. Artistic souvenirs of Slovak pre-Roman-Carolingian art have been uncovered in areas which were inhabited by the Slovaks on both sides of the Danube in the 9th and 10th centuries. 24 SLOVAKIA REFERENCE LITERATURE R. L. Bensly: The Eplstolea of St. Clement to the Corinthians in Syriac, etc., CamlbTidge, 1899. Acta Sa,nctorum (Bollandia,na): Marti nus II, pp. H seq. Jacopo da Vara,gdne: Leggenda aurea, Vol. III, Firenze (A. Le- vasti), 1926, ,p p. 1464-1484. L . Duchesne: Llber Pontificalis, Paris, 1886, I. p. LXXI- LXXIII. R. S. Lipsius : Chronologie der romische Blachofe, Kdel, 1869. C. H. Tur.ner: The Early E·piscopal Liata (JournaJ of Theological Studies, XVHI, 1917). J. S. Franco: Klements in Cheraonesus, Lemberg (Lvov), 1906, pp. 293-301. Fr. Snopek: Clemens von Rom und seine Reliquien, K!romefilsky Slov.aik, 1918. K.Kiinstle: lkonographie der chrlstlichen Kunst, II, Ikonogr!llPhie der Hei1igen, 19·26, Frei-burg in Bref.sgau, p. 1'65 seq. (Clemens). L. Nolam: The Baslllca of San Clemente in Rome, IV Edition, 1943, Roma. Carlo Cecchelli: San Cemente, s. a., Danesi Editore Roma (Series "Le ch!ese di Roma il1ustrate"-Vols. 24-25). F. X. Zimmerma,n: Die Kirchen Roms, 1935, Ed. Piper, -M iinchen, p. 272 seq. G. B. De Rossi: I mo"umenti scoperti sot-to la basilica di S. Clemente studiati, etc. (fa " Bulletilna d i Archeolog. cristiana"-1870, 1874, 1875, 1882, 1884-85, 1887-89) . Dublin Review, Oct. 1871, p . 403 seq. Fels Th. Gsell: Romlsche ausgrabungen in letzten Decenium: Die Unterklrche S. Clemente, Hi!d•b erghau,sen, 1870. L. Nolan: De effoaaion~bus peractla ad S. Clementis in Urbe (Analecta samri Ord. Frat. Praooiatorum, Vol. XIII, 1918, pp. 344-351. J . H . Parr-k er: Archeology of Rome, OXford, 1874, Tv. XI, p . 58 seq. Al Thomson: Re<:ent Excavations in Rome, E<Unburg, 1866. A. L. Frothingham: The Monuments of Christian Rome, from Con,stainrtillle to -the Renai,ssamce, New York, 1908. J. G. Gray: The House and the Basilica of S. Clemente, i-n the Journal of the British and American Archeologtlcal Society in Rome, III, 1>art 3; The Church of S. Cemente In the light of Mons. Wilperts recent researches, 1907, IV, part 1, pp. 98-109. G. Mullooly: St. Clement, Pope and Martyr, and His Basilica in Rome, Rome, 1869; 2nd oo., 1873. X. X. X.: Basilica of St. Clemente in Rome, Rome , 1924. L. Nolrun: The Irish Dominicans in Rome, Rome, 1911. P. Toesca : Storia dell arte Italians, I, II Medioevo, Torino, 1927, pp.8, 584 seq . Ad. Ve nturd: Storla dell arte ltaliana, I, Mila.no, 1901, v. 1 ui vol. I-VITI, 1902-1923. J . W!lpert: Die romische Mosalken und Malerelen der Kirchli chen Kunstl.  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Paintings in the Basilica of St. Clement Description An account of the resource Joseph G. Cincík Slovakia, Vol. 13, No. 1 (36), March 1963 pp. 17-24 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Cincík, Jozef G., 1909-1992 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource March 1963 LCNAF https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/e3079eeccc6e86efed774db51630d377.pdf eeb77fd02d34f9f19427c4c6aa3ed8fb PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA 99 The Place of Slovak A:mong Slavic Languages The western world has many hazy notions, unfortunate misconceptions, and erroneous views about the proper place of Slovak in the family of Slavic tongues. To a marked degree, these views were craftily shaped by the systematic propagandizing of various administrators in the Prague government which in the 1918-1938 period sponsored one theory of Czech philologists with such fanfare and publicity that a well-meaning and easily persuaded audience in the West often did not recognize propaganda as such; specifically it did not distinguish the difference that exist between an advertised theory-one that had been examined and decisively controverted a long time ago--and the true state of affairs. Let us review a bit of this. Toward the close of the nineteenth century, there was a school of Czech philologists (Gebauer, Vondrak, Pastrnek, and somewhat later, especially after 1918, Vazny, Travnicek, Hujer et al.) that undertook popularizing the idea that the Slovak language is just a dialect of the Czech, or more conveniently to their purpose, just a dialect of the "Czechoslovak" tongue. It is not our intent to analyze the circumstances surrounding the origins of their theory or the contrived propaganda used to promote it; neither are we going to examine the inadequate linguistic backgrounds or the scant understanding of the Slovak language that characterize some of the supporters of this theory; nor shall we consider the political motivation of ·their efforts . It is the idea itself that concerns us here. A theory of this kind was again fondly argued somewhat later-during the period of the Czecho-Slovak Republic, 1918-1938, and was handily used as a theoretic substructure to support the movement of Czech domination over the Slovaks; specifically, it was their "scientific" justification for the attempt to czechize the Slovaks. A typical example of such pseudoscientific assumptions adopted by some Czech scholars was the study of Professor F. Travnicek: �100 SLOVAKIA "Czechoslovak relationship based on language considerations" (the periodical Bratislava VII, 1933, pp. 217-234), which endorse the recommendation that the Slovaks adopt Czech as their literary language-or put it directly-that they become czechized. In the interim between the two world wars, Czech officialdom not only sponsored the theory of the so-called "Czechoslovak" language through home and foreign publications, it also used every means to make the theory a reality, to impose its adoption. Note the trend even in such matters as this example: In 1938 Dr. Jan Stanislav, who is at present professor of the history of the Slovak language at the univerzity of Bratislava, wrote and prepared for publication a Slovak grammar. By official restriction (and this as late as 1938! ) the work was subjected to a change of title: Czechoslovak grammar (Prague-Presov, 1938), and the author was advised "to heed the instruction guides that were issued here between the two wars for the teaching of the Czech and Slovak language in intermediate schools." In the spirit of this directive, the author was further required "to compile a parallel history of the Czech and Slovak language" and to publish it within the theory of the "Czechoslovak language." (cf. J. Stanislav, Dejiny slovenskeho jazyka, I, Bratislava, 1958, p. 21). Knowledgeable scholars like Boris Unbegann (cf. Bulletin de la Societe de linguistique de Paris, XXXIX, pp. 151-152), who doubtless was unaware of the fact that in the Czecho-Slovak Republic scientific research must conform to inflexible governmental controls and directives in order to make even an intermediate grammar suited for high school adoption, validly criticized the author for an unorthodox position concerning a "Czechoslovak" tongue. The unsavory proposition about a "Czechoslovak language" was formidably opposed not only by Slovak scholars but also by linguists of other Slavic nations. From as early as the nineteenth century Russian Slavists (0. Bod'anskij, Izmail Sreznevskij) regarded Slovak as a discrete language. Gebauer's theorizing (cf. primarily his Historickd mluvnice jazyka ceskeho, I, Prague-Vienna, 1894) was convincingly refuted by Timofej D. Florinskij, Professor of the university of Kiev and one of the outstanding Russian Slavists of the nineteenth century, specifically in his opus Lekcii po �SLOVAKIA 101 slavianskomu jazykoznaniju (Part II. Petersburg-Kiev, 1897, pp. 220-344). In this study Professor Florinskij em- phatically rejects Gebauer's thesis that Slovak is a dialect of Czech, and he amply demonstrates that Slovak justly has its own identity and place in the family of Slavic tongues along with Czech, Polish, Serbian, Croatian, Russian and other Slavic languages. The Soviet philologist A. M. seliscev defends a similar position in his book Slavianskoje jazykoznanije (I. Moscow, 1941). The renowned Slovak grammarian and philologist Samo Czambel championed the south-Slavic character and orientation of Slovak as well as its absolute distinction from and non-dependence on Czech (cf. such works as Czambel's Slovenskd rec, I, pp. 29 ff., and Slovenskd rec a jej miesto v rodine slovanskych jazykov, 1906). He supports the conclusions of his research with weighty proofs for the position that Slovak does not belong to the class of west-Slavic languages but that it is rather of the southSlavic branches. Up to the present time, this thesis of Czambel has not been either universally endorsed nor definitely and conclucively disproved. (On this subject consult the following authorities: Stefan Kniesza, "Zur Geschichte der Jugoslavismen im Mittelslowakischen," Etudes slaves et roumaines, I, Budapest, 1948, pp. 139-147. J. Stanislav, "Juhoslavizmy v strednej slovencine," Slovenska rec, xv, 1949-1950, no. 2, pp. 37-45.) This position of Czambel is accepted, for example, by the Ukrainian philologist P. Buzuk (Narys istorii ukrainskoi movy, Kiev, 1927). In his book I storija na bulgarski ezik, I, 1919, the Bulgarian linguist B. Conev uses a number to excerpts paralleling Slovak and Bulgarian passages to indicate the south-Slavic, and even the specifically Bulgarian characteristics of the Slovak manner of expression. This kind of common bond between central-Slovak and the south-Slavonic languages is also pointed out by the Polish linguist Z. Stieber ("Jugoslavizmy w dijalekcie srodkowoslowackim," Lud slawianski, Cracow, 1930, I 2 A, pp. 230244). There are language scholars of the West who are fond of calling attention to the similarities and kinship between the Czech and the Slovak languages. It is true, for example, that some western-Slovak and Moravian-Slovak dialects �102 SLOVAKIA represent the transition to Czech and are apparently closer to Czech than to any other Slavic tongue. Yet let it not be forgotten that by the same token there are east-Slovak dialects that figure the transition from Slovak to Polish (cf., for example, Czambel, Slovenskd rec, I, 1, p. 29) . Czambel upholds the view that this speech is really a form of Slovakized Polish; Stieber (Stanowisko m6wy Slovak6w, 1937) maintains that it is a dialect produced by a mutation of Polish and Slovak. Among the newer Slovak linguists who more recently brought conclusive proof that Slovak is definitely a discrete language, we have such scholars as Dr, tudovit Novak ( Jazykovedne glosy k ceskoslovenskej otdzke, 1935, pp. 71-93) and Dr. Henrich Bartek ("Prispevok k dejinam slovenciny," Sbornik literdrno-vedeckeho odboru Spolku sv. Vojtecha, roe. III, vol. 1-2, 1936, pp. 37-117). See also the Polish Slavist Stieber (Stanowisko m6wy Slowak6w . pp. 15 ff .) . Dr. Novak writes that the Slovak language is "a lingual product of very ancient origin but it has a distinctively original and independent evolution of its own, wholly unallied to the Czech. Today's central Slovak is a direct organic continuation from the proto-Slovanic speech that was proper to that region." Dr. Novak further stresses the point that the linguistic distinction of central Slovak "began evolving far back in the primeval ultra-Carpathian fatherland and continued even in the domain of mid-European territory" and that "central Slovak developed separately and independently." After World War II, the official Marxist department of linguistics and philology in the Czecho-Slovak Republic abandoned the theory of a "Czechoslovak" tongue affirming that such a proposition is scientifically unsound and untenable. "Officially" it endorsed the thesis that Slovak is a distinctive language in the family of Slavic languages (cf. Jozef Kirschbaum, "Contemporary tendencies in Slovak philology," in Slavic and East European Studies, vol. IV, no. 3-4, p. 13, Montreal, 1960). Interestingly, every year brings a rather significant number of books translated in the Czecho-Slovak Republic from Czech to Sloyak and conversely from Slovak to Czech. Anyone who is sufficiently interested in this subject can pursue it further by examining the list of titles published �SLOVAKIA 103 annually by the UNESCO "Index translationum." And inasmuch as social life and relations within the state require of some people an easy and ready acquaintance with both tongues, a number of Slovak-Czech and CzechSlovak dictionaries have been published. ( Cf., for example, Jaroslav Necas-Miloslav Kopecky's Slovensko-cesky a ceskoslovensky slovnik rozdilnych vyrazu, Statni pedagogicke nakladatelstvi, Prague, 1964, 512 pp.) Although this NecasKopecky dictionary lacks a great number of words whose Czech form is totally different from Slovak and are essential in every-day contacts and communication (e.g., klebeta-Cz. pomluva; metla-Cz. koste; pohar-Cz. sklenice; zeml'a-Cz. houska, etc.), still it deserves the close study and examination of western promoters who naively accept the notion retailed by Czech propaganda about the "affinity" of Slovak and Czech. It is true that Slovak-Czech and Czech-Slovak dictionaries were compiled at an even earlier date (e.g. F. Frydecky-P. Kempis, Pfirucni slovnik cesko-slovensky a slovenskocesky, 1919; J. Kubin, Slovnik cesko-slovensky, Prague, 1920; P. Tvrdy, Ceskoslovensky diferencidlny slovnik, Trnava, 1922; J. K. Garaj, Prirucny slovnik diferencidlny a synonymicky, Turciansky sv. Martin, 1937; M. Kalal, Slovnik z literatury a ndreci, etc.). Recently there appeared a new dictionary compiled specifically for military usage (Ceskoslovensky vojensky slovnik, The Ministry of National Defense, Prague, 1962, 350 pp.). All this, however, by no means indicates a final halt on the part of the Czechs to czechize the Slovaks and their language. At the Slovak Academy of Sciences in Bratislava, the learned journal Slovenskd rec, vol. 31, no. 2, 19.66, pp. 82, 105, 106, 107, 112 carries reports of a number of Slovak linguists exposing the pressures to which the political administration had resorted in order to coerce these scholars to introduce Czech words into a large Slovak dictionary then in preparation. Leaders holding top positions in the so-called "age of the cult of personality" advocated a movement of assimilation. In Slovakia this movement is characterized particularly by intensified Czech terrorism in the effort to occupy Slovakia. Writing in Kulturny zivot (no. 39, 1964), a communist periodical published in Bratislava, the communist writer Michael �104 SLOVAKIA Charvat thus characterized this effort: "As far as eye can see throughout the socialist world, the crest of the rule of the personality cult falls short of total decline in verbal creativity. With us in Slovakia, however, over and above this situation there are also other distinct matter that once and for all ought to be made clear, Though all the social sciences were influenced by the cult of personality, none yielded to this movement as readily and as completely as did Slovak officialdom's department of linguistics. Incredible as it may seem, in this period it actually revived the decadent anti-marxist theory of Czecho-Slovakism, a product of the Benes-Prazak day. Where champions of the personality cult promoted offering 'fraternal help' in place of liquidating the Slovak nation, there official linguistic circles substituted for liquidation of the Slovak language the expression 'an approximation of Slovak to Czech'." These attempts evoked passionate resistance not only among Slovak linguists but on the part of all Slovak public as well . Especially repugnant and detested were bilingual-Czech and Slovak-radio and television programs, and this reaction of non-acceptance came from both Slovak and Czech audiences. Czech viewers and listeners understood Slovak broadcasts poorly; for the Slovaks there was an added aggraviation since Czech is to them first and foremost the language of an overlording element that must be resisted. It is interesting to note that the Czech Milan s imecek observed in the Czech Literdrne noviny (Prague, February 26, 1966 )) that "bilingual broadcasts are a definite aspect of lingual schizophrenia." The Bratislava Kulturny zivot of November 25, 1966, no. 48, p. 6 makes the following commentary concerning this wrangle: "Consider the problem of our bilingual broadcasts. The Prague studio, for example, requires the television films of Saturday and Sunday to be dubbed in Czech exclusively, explaining that viewers complain because they do not understand Slovak. This objection can be raised validly by the Slovak audiences as well, charging obvious difficult y with Czech." The paper further observes that "every cultivated nation has its rights to dubbing and t herefore there must be a perspective of reckoning with the eventual dubbing of adult films into Slovak as well. It becomes a serious situation in the domain of films for cine - �SLOVAKIA 105 ma. The poor attendance which Czech lands and Moravia report at Slovak films is attributed to the comprehension problem-among other factors. For this reason, dubbing Czech onto Slovak films is now under serious consideration." Dr. Andrew Kubina translated by Sister M . Martina Tybor, SS.C.M. The Slovak Dictionary of 1648 The discovery of a Latin-Magyar-Slovak dictionary published by the univerzity press in Trnava in 1648 brings proof that a Slovak literary language existed i~ Slovakia as early as two hundred years before Anton Bernolak, the scholar who codified Slovak grammar in 1787. The earliest listing of this book is found in Csery's catalogue of books published by the Trnava university press (Historia C. R. Scientiarum universitatis Pestiensis, fasc. III ab anno 1641-1660) . It is dated 1648: "Typographia in domo S. Adalberti in platea Pistorum collocata est, et expressit: Vocabularium Ungarico-Slavico-Latinum. Tyrnaviae 1649 in 8° ." In his study A Bibliography of Slovak Writings compiled in 1946, Jan Misianik called attention to this entry in Csery's accmmt. He concluded, however, that the dictionary itself had not been preserved since he was not able to find it anywhere. 1 Finally this work, so significant in the field of Slovak letters was most fortunately discovered by the eminent historian Msgr. Jan Postenyi, a papal prelate, who had searched long years for some trace of it. In 1967, with the help of devoted scholarly friends, he had the good fortune to come upon it in the library of Brno university. The volume is titled "Verborum in institutione gramatica contentorum in ungaricum et sclavonicum translatio. Secundum ordinem Alphabeticum, Tyrnaviae Typis Academicis, per Philippum Jacobum Mayr, Anno 1648."2 The words "Monasterij Rayhrad" are written in ink on the cover of the book. Apparently the book originally belonged to the Benedictine library in Rajhrad. This fifty-page dictionary with words recorded in Slovak is the oldest known Slovak dictionary. � SLOVAKIA 99 The Place of Slovak A:mong Slavic Languages The western world has many hazy notions, unfortunate misconceptions, and erroneous views about the proper place of Slovak in the family of Slavic tongues. To a marked degree, these views were craftily shaped by the systematic propagandizing of various administrators in the Prague government which in the 1918-1938 period sponsored one theory of Czech philologists with such fanfare and publicity that a well-meaning and easily persuaded audience in the West often did not recognize propaganda as such; specifically it did not distinguish the difference that exist between an advertised theory-one that had been examined and decisively controverted a long time ago--and the true state of affairs. Let us review a bit of this. Toward the close of the nineteenth century, there was a school of Czech philologists (Gebauer, Vondrak, Pastrnek, and somewhat later, especially after 1918, Vazny, Travnicek, Hujer et al.) that undertook popularizing the idea that the Slovak language is just a dialect of the Czech, or more conveniently to their purpose, just a dialect of the "Czechoslovak" tongue. It is not our intent to analyze the circumstances surrounding the origins of their theory or the contrived propaganda used to promote it; neither are we going to examine the inadequate linguistic backgrounds or the scant understanding of the Slovak language that characterize some of the supporters of this theory; nor shall we consider the political motivation of ·their efforts . It is the idea itself that concerns us here. A theory of this kind was again fondly argued somewhat later-during the period of the Czecho-Slovak Republic, 1918-1938, and was handily used as a theoretic substructure to support the movement of Czech domination over the Slovaks; specifically, it was their "scientific" justification for the attempt to czechize the Slovaks. A typical example of such pseudoscientific assumptions adopted by some Czech scholars was the study of Professor F. Travnicek: �100 SLOVAKIA "Czechoslovak relationship based on language considerations" (the periodical Bratislava VII, 1933, pp. 217-234), which endorse the recommendation that the Slovaks adopt Czech as their literary language-or put it directly-that they become czechized. In the interim between the two world wars, Czech officialdom not only sponsored the theory of the so-called "Czechoslovak" language through home and foreign publications, it also used every means to make the theory a reality, to impose its adoption. Note the trend even in such matters as this example: In 1938 Dr. Jan Stanislav, who is at present professor of the history of the Slovak language at the univerzity of Bratislava, wrote and prepared for publication a Slovak grammar. By official restriction (and this as late as 1938! ) the work was subjected to a change of title: Czechoslovak grammar (Prague-Presov, 1938), and the author was advised "to heed the instruction guides that were issued here between the two wars for the teaching of the Czech and Slovak language in intermediate schools." In the spirit of this directive, the author was further required "to compile a parallel history of the Czech and Slovak language" and to publish it within the theory of the "Czechoslovak language." (cf. J. Stanislav, Dejiny slovenskeho jazyka, I, Bratislava, 1958, p. 21). Knowledgeable scholars like Boris Unbegann (cf. Bulletin de la Societe de linguistique de Paris, XXXIX, pp. 151-152), who doubtless was unaware of the fact that in the Czecho-Slovak Republic scientific research must conform to inflexible governmental controls and directives in order to make even an intermediate grammar suited for high school adoption, validly criticized the author for an unorthodox position concerning a "Czechoslovak" tongue. The unsavory proposition about a "Czechoslovak language" was formidably opposed not only by Slovak scholars but also by linguists of other Slavic nations. From as early as the nineteenth century Russian Slavists (0. Bod'anskij, Izmail Sreznevskij) regarded Slovak as a discrete language. Gebauer's theorizing (cf. primarily his Historickd mluvnice jazyka ceskeho, I, Prague-Vienna, 1894) was convincingly refuted by Timofej D. Florinskij, Professor of the university of Kiev and one of the outstanding Russian Slavists of the nineteenth century, specifically in his opus Lekcii po �SLOVAKIA 101 slavianskomu jazykoznaniju (Part II. Petersburg-Kiev, 1897, pp. 220-344). In this study Professor Florinskij em- phatically rejects Gebauer's thesis that Slovak is a dialect of Czech, and he amply demonstrates that Slovak justly has its own identity and place in the family of Slavic tongues along with Czech, Polish, Serbian, Croatian, Russian and other Slavic languages. The Soviet philologist A. M. seliscev defends a similar position in his book Slavianskoje jazykoznanije (I. Moscow, 1941). The renowned Slovak grammarian and philologist Samo Czambel championed the south-Slavic character and orientation of Slovak as well as its absolute distinction from and non-dependence on Czech (cf. such works as Czambel's Slovenskd rec, I, pp. 29 ff., and Slovenskd rec a jej miesto v rodine slovanskych jazykov, 1906). He supports the conclusions of his research with weighty proofs for the position that Slovak does not belong to the class of west-Slavic languages but that it is rather of the southSlavic branches. Up to the present time, this thesis of Czambel has not been either universally endorsed nor definitely and conclucively disproved. (On this subject consult the following authorities: Stefan Kniesza, "Zur Geschichte der Jugoslavismen im Mittelslowakischen," Etudes slaves et roumaines, I, Budapest, 1948, pp. 139-147. J. Stanislav, "Juhoslavizmy v strednej slovencine," Slovenska rec, xv, 1949-1950, no. 2, pp. 37-45.) This position of Czambel is accepted, for example, by the Ukrainian philologist P. Buzuk (Narys istorii ukrainskoi movy, Kiev, 1927). In his book I storija na bulgarski ezik, I, 1919, the Bulgarian linguist B. Conev uses a number to excerpts paralleling Slovak and Bulgarian passages to indicate the south-Slavic, and even the specifically Bulgarian characteristics of the Slovak manner of expression. This kind of common bond between central-Slovak and the south-Slavonic languages is also pointed out by the Polish linguist Z. Stieber ("Jugoslavizmy w dijalekcie srodkowoslowackim," Lud slawianski, Cracow, 1930, I 2 A, pp. 230244). There are language scholars of the West who are fond of calling attention to the similarities and kinship between the Czech and the Slovak languages. It is true, for example, that some western-Slovak and Moravian-Slovak dialects �102 SLOVAKIA represent the transition to Czech and are apparently closer to Czech than to any other Slavic tongue. Yet let it not be forgotten that by the same token there are east-Slovak dialects that figure the transition from Slovak to Polish (cf., for example, Czambel, Slovenskd rec, I, 1, p. 29) . Czambel upholds the view that this speech is really a form of Slovakized Polish; Stieber (Stanowisko m6wy Slovak6w, 1937) maintains that it is a dialect produced by a mutation of Polish and Slovak. Among the newer Slovak linguists who more recently brought conclusive proof that Slovak is definitely a discrete language, we have such scholars as Dr, tudovit Novak ( Jazykovedne glosy k ceskoslovenskej otdzke, 1935, pp. 71-93) and Dr. Henrich Bartek ("Prispevok k dejinam slovenciny," Sbornik literdrno-vedeckeho odboru Spolku sv. Vojtecha, roe. III, vol. 1-2, 1936, pp. 37-117). See also the Polish Slavist Stieber (Stanowisko m6wy Slowak6w . pp. 15 ff .) . Dr. Novak writes that the Slovak language is "a lingual product of very ancient origin but it has a distinctively original and independent evolution of its own, wholly unallied to the Czech. Today's central Slovak is a direct organic continuation from the proto-Slovanic speech that was proper to that region." Dr. Novak further stresses the point that the linguistic distinction of central Slovak "began evolving far back in the primeval ultra-Carpathian fatherland and continued even in the domain of mid-European territory" and that "central Slovak developed separately and independently." After World War II, the official Marxist department of linguistics and philology in the Czecho-Slovak Republic abandoned the theory of a "Czechoslovak" tongue affirming that such a proposition is scientifically unsound and untenable. "Officially" it endorsed the thesis that Slovak is a distinctive language in the family of Slavic languages (cf. Jozef Kirschbaum, "Contemporary tendencies in Slovak philology," in Slavic and East European Studies, vol. IV, no. 3-4, p. 13, Montreal, 1960). Interestingly, every year brings a rather significant number of books translated in the Czecho-Slovak Republic from Czech to Sloyak and conversely from Slovak to Czech. Anyone who is sufficiently interested in this subject can pursue it further by examining the list of titles published �SLOVAKIA 103 annually by the UNESCO "Index translationum." And inasmuch as social life and relations within the state require of some people an easy and ready acquaintance with both tongues, a number of Slovak-Czech and CzechSlovak dictionaries have been published. ( Cf., for example, Jaroslav Necas-Miloslav Kopecky's Slovensko-cesky a ceskoslovensky slovnik rozdilnych vyrazu, Statni pedagogicke nakladatelstvi, Prague, 1964, 512 pp.) Although this NecasKopecky dictionary lacks a great number of words whose Czech form is totally different from Slovak and are essential in every-day contacts and communication (e.g., klebeta-Cz. pomluva; metla-Cz. koste; pohar-Cz. sklenice; zeml'a-Cz. houska, etc.), still it deserves the close study and examination of western promoters who naively accept the notion retailed by Czech propaganda about the "affinity" of Slovak and Czech. It is true that Slovak-Czech and Czech-Slovak dictionaries were compiled at an even earlier date (e.g. F. Frydecky-P. Kempis, Pfirucni slovnik cesko-slovensky a slovenskocesky, 1919; J. Kubin, Slovnik cesko-slovensky, Prague, 1920; P. Tvrdy, Ceskoslovensky diferencidlny slovnik, Trnava, 1922; J. K. Garaj, Prirucny slovnik diferencidlny a synonymicky, Turciansky sv. Martin, 1937; M. Kalal, Slovnik z literatury a ndreci, etc.). Recently there appeared a new dictionary compiled specifically for military usage (Ceskoslovensky vojensky slovnik, The Ministry of National Defense, Prague, 1962, 350 pp.). All this, however, by no means indicates a final halt on the part of the Czechs to czechize the Slovaks and their language. At the Slovak Academy of Sciences in Bratislava, the learned journal Slovenskd rec, vol. 31, no. 2, 19.66, pp. 82, 105, 106, 107, 112 carries reports of a number of Slovak linguists exposing the pressures to which the political administration had resorted in order to coerce these scholars to introduce Czech words into a large Slovak dictionary then in preparation. Leaders holding top positions in the so-called "age of the cult of personality" advocated a movement of assimilation. In Slovakia this movement is characterized particularly by intensified Czech terrorism in the effort to occupy Slovakia. Writing in Kulturny zivot (no. 39, 1964), a communist periodical published in Bratislava, the communist writer Michael �104 SLOVAKIA Charvat thus characterized this effort: "As far as eye can see throughout the socialist world, the crest of the rule of the personality cult falls short of total decline in verbal creativity. With us in Slovakia, however, over and above this situation there are also other distinct matter that once and for all ought to be made clear, Though all the social sciences were influenced by the cult of personality, none yielded to this movement as readily and as completely as did Slovak officialdom's department of linguistics. Incredible as it may seem, in this period it actually revived the decadent anti-marxist theory of Czecho-Slovakism, a product of the Benes-Prazak day. Where champions of the personality cult promoted offering 'fraternal help' in place of liquidating the Slovak nation, there official linguistic circles substituted for liquidation of the Slovak language the expression 'an approximation of Slovak to Czech'." These attempts evoked passionate resistance not only among Slovak linguists but on the part of all Slovak public as well . Especially repugnant and detested were bilingual-Czech and Slovak-radio and television programs, and this reaction of non-acceptance came from both Slovak and Czech audiences. Czech viewers and listeners understood Slovak broadcasts poorly; for the Slovaks there was an added aggraviation since Czech is to them first and foremost the language of an overlording element that must be resisted. It is interesting to note that the Czech Milan s imecek observed in the Czech Literdrne noviny (Prague, February 26, 1966 )) that "bilingual broadcasts are a definite aspect of lingual schizophrenia." The Bratislava Kulturny zivot of November 25, 1966, no. 48, p. 6 makes the following commentary concerning this wrangle: "Consider the problem of our bilingual broadcasts. The Prague studio, for example, requires the television films of Saturday and Sunday to be dubbed in Czech exclusively, explaining that viewers complain because they do not understand Slovak. This objection can be raised validly by the Slovak audiences as well, charging obvious difficult y with Czech." The paper further observes that "every cultivated nation has its rights to dubbing and t herefore there must be a perspective of reckoning with the eventual dubbing of adult films into Slovak as well. It becomes a serious situation in the domain of films for cine - �SLOVAKIA 105 ma. The poor attendance which Czech lands and Moravia report at Slovak films is attributed to the comprehension problem-among other factors. For this reason, dubbing Czech onto Slovak films is now under serious consideration." Dr. Andrew Kubina translated by Sister M . Martina Tybor, SS.C.M. The Slovak Dictionary of 1648 The discovery of a Latin-Magyar-Slovak dictionary published by the univerzity press in Trnava in 1648 brings proof that a Slovak literary language existed i~ Slovakia as early as two hundred years before Anton Bernolak, the scholar who codified Slovak grammar in 1787. The earliest listing of this book is found in Csery's catalogue of books published by the Trnava university press (Historia C. R. Scientiarum universitatis Pestiensis, fasc. III ab anno 1641-1660) . It is dated 1648: "Typographia in domo S. Adalberti in platea Pistorum collocata est, et expressit: Vocabularium Ungarico-Slavico-Latinum. Tyrnaviae 1649 in 8° ." In his study A Bibliography of Slovak Writings compiled in 1946, Jan Misianik called attention to this entry in Csery's accmmt. He concluded, however, that the dictionary itself had not been preserved since he was not able to find it anywhere. 1 Finally this work, so significant in the field of Slovak letters was most fortunately discovered by the eminent historian Msgr. Jan Postenyi, a papal prelate, who had searched long years for some trace of it. In 1967, with the help of devoted scholarly friends, he had the good fortune to come upon it in the library of Brno university. The volume is titled "Verborum in institutione gramatica contentorum in ungaricum et sclavonicum translatio. Secundum ordinem Alphabeticum, Tyrnaviae Typis Academicis, per Philippum Jacobum Mayr, Anno 1648."2 The words "Monasterij Rayhrad" are written in ink on the cover of the book. Apparently the book originally belonged to the Benedictine library in Rajhrad. This fifty-page dictionary with words recorded in Slovak is the oldest known Slovak dictionary. � 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 1969, Vol. 19 Description An account of the resource Vol. 19 (No. 42), 1969. 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 1969 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 99 The Place of Slovak A:mong Slavic Languages The western world has many hazy notions, unfortunate misconceptions, and erroneous views about the proper place of Slovak in the family of Slavic tongues. To a marked degree, these views were craftily shaped by the systematic propagandizing of various administrators in the Prague government which in the 1918-1938 period sponsored one theory of Czech philologists with such fanfare and publicity that a well-meaning and easily persuaded audience in the West often did not recognize propaganda as such; specifically it did not distinguish the difference that exist between an advertised theory-one that had been examined and decisively controverted a long time ago--and the true state of affairs. Let us review a bit of this. Toward the close of the nineteenth century, there was a school of Czech philologists (Gebauer, Vondrak, Pastrnek, and somewhat later, especially after 1918, Vazny, Travnicek, Hujer et al.) that undertook popularizing the idea that the Slovak language is just a dialect of the Czech, or more conveniently to their purpose, just a dialect of the "Czechoslovak" tongue. It is not our intent to analyze the circumstances surrounding the origins of their theory or the contrived propaganda used to promote it; neither are we going to examine the inadequate linguistic backgrounds or the scant understanding of the Slovak language that characterize some of the supporters of this theory; nor shall we consider the political motivation of ·their efforts . It is the idea itself that concerns us here. A theory of this kind was again fondly argued somewhat later-during the period of the Czecho-Slovak Republic, 1918-1938, and was handily used as a theoretic substructure to support the movement of Czech domination over the Slovaks; specifically, it was their "scientific" justification for the attempt to czechize the Slovaks. A typical example of such pseudoscientific assumptions adopted by some Czech scholars was the study of Professor F. Travnicek: 100 SLOVAKIA "Czechoslovak relationship based on language considerations" (the periodical Bratislava VII, 1933, pp. 217-234), which endorse the recommendation that the Slovaks adopt Czech as their literary language-or put it directly-that they become czechized. In the interim between the two world wars, Czech officialdom not only sponsored the theory of the so-called "Czechoslovak" language through home and foreign publications, it also used every means to make the theory a reality, to impose its adoption. Note the trend even in such matters as this example: In 1938 Dr. Jan Stanislav, who is at present professor of the history of the Slovak language at the univerzity of Bratislava, wrote and prepared for publication a Slovak grammar. By official restriction (and this as late as 1938! ) the work was subjected to a change of title: Czechoslovak grammar (Prague-Presov, 1938), and the author was advised "to heed the instruction guides that were issued here between the two wars for the teaching of the Czech and Slovak language in intermediate schools." In the spirit of this directive, the author was further required "to compile a parallel history of the Czech and Slovak language" and to publish it within the theory of the "Czechoslovak language." (cf. J. Stanislav, Dejiny slovenskeho jazyka, I, Bratislava, 1958, p. 21). Knowledgeable scholars like Boris Unbegann (cf. Bulletin de la Societe de linguistique de Paris, XXXIX, pp. 151-152), who doubtless was unaware of the fact that in the Czecho-Slovak Republic scientific research must conform to inflexible governmental controls and directives in order to make even an intermediate grammar suited for high school adoption, validly criticized the author for an unorthodox position concerning a "Czechoslovak" tongue. The unsavory proposition about a "Czechoslovak language" was formidably opposed not only by Slovak scholars but also by linguists of other Slavic nations. From as early as the nineteenth century Russian Slavists (0. Bod'anskij, Izmail Sreznevskij) regarded Slovak as a discrete language. Gebauer's theorizing (cf. primarily his Historickd mluvnice jazyka ceskeho, I, Prague-Vienna, 1894) was convincingly refuted by Timofej D. Florinskij, Professor of the university of Kiev and one of the outstanding Russian Slavists of the nineteenth century, specifically in his opus Lekcii po SLOVAKIA 101 slavianskomu jazykoznaniju (Part II. Petersburg-Kiev, 1897, pp. 220-344). In this study Professor Florinskij em- phatically rejects Gebauer's thesis that Slovak is a dialect of Czech, and he amply demonstrates that Slovak justly has its own identity and place in the family of Slavic tongues along with Czech, Polish, Serbian, Croatian, Russian and other Slavic languages. The Soviet philologist A. M. seliscev defends a similar position in his book Slavianskoje jazykoznanije (I. Moscow, 1941). The renowned Slovak grammarian and philologist Samo Czambel championed the south-Slavic character and orientation of Slovak as well as its absolute distinction from and non-dependence on Czech (cf. such works as Czambel's Slovenskd rec, I, pp. 29 ff., and Slovenskd rec a jej miesto v rodine slovanskych jazykov, 1906). He supports the conclusions of his research with weighty proofs for the position that Slovak does not belong to the class of west-Slavic languages but that it is rather of the southSlavic branches. Up to the present time, this thesis of Czambel has not been either universally endorsed nor definitely and conclucively disproved. (On this subject consult the following authorities: Stefan Kniesza, "Zur Geschichte der Jugoslavismen im Mittelslowakischen," Etudes slaves et roumaines, I, Budapest, 1948, pp. 139-147. J. Stanislav, "Juhoslavizmy v strednej slovencine," Slovenska rec, xv, 1949-1950, no. 2, pp. 37-45.) This position of Czambel is accepted, for example, by the Ukrainian philologist P. Buzuk (Narys istorii ukrainskoi movy, Kiev, 1927). In his book I storija na bulgarski ezik, I, 1919, the Bulgarian linguist B. Conev uses a number to excerpts paralleling Slovak and Bulgarian passages to indicate the south-Slavic, and even the specifically Bulgarian characteristics of the Slovak manner of expression. This kind of common bond between central-Slovak and the south-Slavonic languages is also pointed out by the Polish linguist Z. Stieber ("Jugoslavizmy w dijalekcie srodkowoslowackim," Lud slawianski, Cracow, 1930, I 2 A, pp. 230244). There are language scholars of the West who are fond of calling attention to the similarities and kinship between the Czech and the Slovak languages. It is true, for example, that some western-Slovak and Moravian-Slovak dialects 102 SLOVAKIA represent the transition to Czech and are apparently closer to Czech than to any other Slavic tongue. Yet let it not be forgotten that by the same token there are east-Slovak dialects that figure the transition from Slovak to Polish (cf., for example, Czambel, Slovenskd rec, I, 1, p. 29) . Czambel upholds the view that this speech is really a form of Slovakized Polish; Stieber (Stanowisko m6wy Slovak6w, 1937) maintains that it is a dialect produced by a mutation of Polish and Slovak. Among the newer Slovak linguists who more recently brought conclusive proof that Slovak is definitely a discrete language, we have such scholars as Dr, tudovit Novak ( Jazykovedne glosy k ceskoslovenskej otdzke, 1935, pp. 71-93) and Dr. Henrich Bartek ("Prispevok k dejinam slovenciny," Sbornik literdrno-vedeckeho odboru Spolku sv. Vojtecha, roe. III, vol. 1-2, 1936, pp. 37-117). See also the Polish Slavist Stieber (Stanowisko m6wy Slowak6w . pp. 15 ff .) . Dr. Novak writes that the Slovak language is "a lingual product of very ancient origin but it has a distinctively original and independent evolution of its own, wholly unallied to the Czech. Today's central Slovak is a direct organic continuation from the proto-Slovanic speech that was proper to that region." Dr. Novak further stresses the point that the linguistic distinction of central Slovak "began evolving far back in the primeval ultra-Carpathian fatherland and continued even in the domain of mid-European territory" and that "central Slovak developed separately and independently." After World War II, the official Marxist department of linguistics and philology in the Czecho-Slovak Republic abandoned the theory of a "Czechoslovak" tongue affirming that such a proposition is scientifically unsound and untenable. "Officially" it endorsed the thesis that Slovak is a distinctive language in the family of Slavic languages (cf. Jozef Kirschbaum, "Contemporary tendencies in Slovak philology," in Slavic and East European Studies, vol. IV, no. 3-4, p. 13, Montreal, 1960). Interestingly, every year brings a rather significant number of books translated in the Czecho-Slovak Republic from Czech to Sloyak and conversely from Slovak to Czech. Anyone who is sufficiently interested in this subject can pursue it further by examining the list of titles published SLOVAKIA 103 annually by the UNESCO "Index translationum." And inasmuch as social life and relations within the state require of some people an easy and ready acquaintance with both tongues, a number of Slovak-Czech and CzechSlovak dictionaries have been published. ( Cf., for example, Jaroslav Necas-Miloslav Kopecky's Slovensko-cesky a ceskoslovensky slovnik rozdilnych vyrazu, Statni pedagogicke nakladatelstvi, Prague, 1964, 512 pp.) Although this NecasKopecky dictionary lacks a great number of words whose Czech form is totally different from Slovak and are essential in every-day contacts and communication (e.g., klebeta-Cz. pomluva; metla-Cz. koste; pohar-Cz. sklenice; zeml'a-Cz. houska, etc.), still it deserves the close study and examination of western promoters who naively accept the notion retailed by Czech propaganda about the "affinity" of Slovak and Czech. It is true that Slovak-Czech and Czech-Slovak dictionaries were compiled at an even earlier date (e.g. F. Frydecky-P. Kempis, Pfirucni slovnik cesko-slovensky a slovenskocesky, 1919; J. Kubin, Slovnik cesko-slovensky, Prague, 1920; P. Tvrdy, Ceskoslovensky diferencidlny slovnik, Trnava, 1922; J. K. Garaj, Prirucny slovnik diferencidlny a synonymicky, Turciansky sv. Martin, 1937; M. Kalal, Slovnik z literatury a ndreci, etc.). Recently there appeared a new dictionary compiled specifically for military usage (Ceskoslovensky vojensky slovnik, The Ministry of National Defense, Prague, 1962, 350 pp.). All this, however, by no means indicates a final halt on the part of the Czechs to czechize the Slovaks and their language. At the Slovak Academy of Sciences in Bratislava, the learned journal Slovenskd rec, vol. 31, no. 2, 19.66, pp. 82, 105, 106, 107, 112 carries reports of a number of Slovak linguists exposing the pressures to which the political administration had resorted in order to coerce these scholars to introduce Czech words into a large Slovak dictionary then in preparation. Leaders holding top positions in the so-called "age of the cult of personality" advocated a movement of assimilation. In Slovakia this movement is characterized particularly by intensified Czech terrorism in the effort to occupy Slovakia. Writing in Kulturny zivot (no. 39, 1964), a communist periodical published in Bratislava, the communist writer Michael 104 SLOVAKIA Charvat thus characterized this effort: "As far as eye can see throughout the socialist world, the crest of the rule of the personality cult falls short of total decline in verbal creativity. With us in Slovakia, however, over and above this situation there are also other distinct matter that once and for all ought to be made clear, Though all the social sciences were influenced by the cult of personality, none yielded to this movement as readily and as completely as did Slovak officialdom's department of linguistics. Incredible as it may seem, in this period it actually revived the decadent anti-marxist theory of Czecho-Slovakism, a product of the Benes-Prazak day. Where champions of the personality cult promoted offering 'fraternal help' in place of liquidating the Slovak nation, there official linguistic circles substituted for liquidation of the Slovak language the expression 'an approximation of Slovak to Czech'." These attempts evoked passionate resistance not only among Slovak linguists but on the part of all Slovak public as well . Especially repugnant and detested were bilingual-Czech and Slovak-radio and television programs, and this reaction of non-acceptance came from both Slovak and Czech audiences. Czech viewers and listeners understood Slovak broadcasts poorly; for the Slovaks there was an added aggraviation since Czech is to them first and foremost the language of an overlording element that must be resisted. It is interesting to note that the Czech Milan s imecek observed in the Czech Literdrne noviny (Prague, February 26, 1966 )) that "bilingual broadcasts are a definite aspect of lingual schizophrenia." The Bratislava Kulturny zivot of November 25, 1966, no. 48, p. 6 makes the following commentary concerning this wrangle: "Consider the problem of our bilingual broadcasts. The Prague studio, for example, requires the television films of Saturday and Sunday to be dubbed in Czech exclusively, explaining that viewers complain because they do not understand Slovak. This objection can be raised validly by the Slovak audiences as well, charging obvious difficult y with Czech." The paper further observes that "every cultivated nation has its rights to dubbing and t herefore there must be a perspective of reckoning with the eventual dubbing of adult films into Slovak as well. It becomes a serious situation in the domain of films for cine - SLOVAKIA 105 ma. The poor attendance which Czech lands and Moravia report at Slovak films is attributed to the comprehension problem-among other factors. For this reason, dubbing Czech onto Slovak films is now under serious consideration." Dr. Andrew Kubina translated by Sister M . Martina Tybor, SS.C.M. The Slovak Dictionary of 1648 The discovery of a Latin-Magyar-Slovak dictionary published by the univerzity press in Trnava in 1648 brings proof that a Slovak literary language existed i~ Slovakia as early as two hundred years before Anton Bernolak, the scholar who codified Slovak grammar in 1787. The earliest listing of this book is found in Csery's catalogue of books published by the Trnava university press (Historia C. R. Scientiarum universitatis Pestiensis, fasc. III ab anno 1641-1660) . It is dated 1648: "Typographia in domo S. Adalberti in platea Pistorum collocata est, et expressit: Vocabularium Ungarico-Slavico-Latinum. Tyrnaviae 1649 in 8° ." In his study A Bibliography of Slovak Writings compiled in 1946, Jan Misianik called attention to this entry in Csery's accmmt. He concluded, however, that the dictionary itself had not been preserved since he was not able to find it anywhere. 1 Finally this work, so significant in the field of Slovak letters was most fortunately discovered by the eminent historian Msgr. Jan Postenyi, a papal prelate, who had searched long years for some trace of it. In 1967, with the help of devoted scholarly friends, he had the good fortune to come upon it in the library of Brno university. The volume is titled "Verborum in institutione gramatica contentorum in ungaricum et sclavonicum translatio. Secundum ordinem Alphabeticum, Tyrnaviae Typis Academicis, per Philippum Jacobum Mayr, Anno 1648."2 The words "Monasterij Rayhrad" are written in ink on the cover of the book. Apparently the book originally belonged to the Benedictine library in Rajhrad. This fifty-page dictionary with words recorded in Slovak is the oldest known Slovak dictionary.  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Place of Slovak Among Slavic Languages Description An account of the resource Andrew Kubina, LL.D. Slovakia, Vol. 19 (No. 42), 1969 pp. 99-105 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Kubina, Andrew Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1969 name https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/5edc284d17758e850b18677db576a170.pdf 0e39061bb4a6fb9513a5ab59437e5fc6 PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA 11 THE POLITICAL MESSAGE OF MATUS CERNAK By Dr. Joseph Kirschbaum On J'lliy 5, 1955 Matus CernaJk, a .d istinguished Sl01Vaik politician and diplomat, was assassinated in Munich, Germany. Forces rabid in orpposing our effort ,to secure and esfablish an independent Slovakia could have hardly struck a more tell.mg blow than was this dastardly attack, for by it they .removed from :actiive service an esteemed patriot,. this Cernak of whom it may be said that of all n:a. tiona1 movers currently in exile, he most closely approximated what, lt'elatively speaking, we might designate as the position of a 8Jll-accredited legaJte of the Slovak nation to the republic of Western Germany. And to him as such were paid final tributes and honors in death not only by the ch8Jllcello.r of Western Germany himself who expressed deep sympathy cm the occasion of Cerna.k's tragic death. :rn Gemiany Matus Cern.ak signalized himse1f beyond his office as a desewing politidan and drplomat. It was due mostly 'to his lll.Iltiring diligence and interest that two noteworthy pulbl:ications continued to appear after the departure of Dr. Jozef Pauoo; viz., SLOBODNE SLOVENSKO ('Free Slovaikia, founded by Dr. Pauco) and SWWAKi1SCHE KORJRESPO!NiDENe;. Concern for the social well-being of hundreds of .Slorvak re£ugees who arrived in Germany also came to, devolrve upon Cerna.k, and his name is vecy closely associated with the Slorvaik institute in M'll.Il.ich. IDven this meagelt' cwt-and-dry survey of his recent major acltivities yields us the realization that 1lhe foul politioal murder, which so unexpectedly wrested Matus Cerna;k f.rom our midst, is to all the Slwaks in the free world and to the struggle for a democratic independent Sloiva.k.ia a much greater loss and a much more sigmfi.. cant incident than we had ap1Pmised and accounted it in the earliest hours of our grief. After the Cernova masS8Jcre of 1907, the murder of Stefanik m 1919 and of Dr. Jozef Tiso in 1947, this attack of July 5, :1!955, will be re- �12 corded in Slorvaik national annals as a historically 'Vital eivent. The death of fMatws Cemak marks mot merely the passing o.f another exiled SlO'V'3Jk diplomat and ipatriot who dedicated all his mind and heart to the struggle to liberate Slorvaikia from Oom.mJUnism and the Czech yoke. Matus Cerna'k's previ!ous politicial background, his personal character and talents, hi•s uncompromising doggedness and his tireless and successful activities within the territory of one of the most decisive powers affecting the fate of Slova,kia - all this contributed to make Cerna·k indispensalble to the CU"rrent state of our pol,i tical efforts as w~U as a symlbol of posterity. Who Was Matus Oernak? Matus Cerruik was bo,r n on August 28, 1903, in the town of Vieska where his father was a miller. After his preliminary education in iPrievidza, Kezmarok, and Banska Bystrica,. he undertook university studies ,i n 'Brague and subsequently ,in Leipzig, Germany. His courses were orientated toward a professorship. Having attained his diploma, he spent several years in teaching •a t Trnava, and in 19i30 he became a high school instnuctor in Bratislava. Until 1937 Cernwk devoted himself a,lmost exclusirvely to aoademic pursuits and to cultural interests. He was, however, one of the younger element, a member of that youthful and vitally conscious generation of !Slovruks who in the 1932 demonstrations at Trencianske Teplice gave Prague incontrovertible evidence of the fact that the spiritual and political development of Slova,kia will follow native inspiration and bent and wiN not ibe trammeled by constraining directirves from Prague. As a youthful patriot, then, Cernak naturally found himself an active participant in various political demonstrn:tions Slllpporting ·Slorvakia's interests and deserts. It wa.s the temper of the times that shaped his destiny. He made more and more public appearances and spirited pronouncements hut after his patriotic manifesto delivered in the ,Slovak National Theater in 1937, Cernak was overnight not only projected ,i nto popular ac- �SLOVAKIA 13 claim but was also irrevocably committed to bis role as an outstanding leader in the political arena, The keynote of his message on this occasian was "Orurs is that portion of land 'beneath the Tatras and to us rightfully belongs all i1ls yield." This cry and justification came to echo from inrn.1mera:ble speaker's platforms and it blazed its appeal throughout all the press houses of SlovaJkia. Within. a year after this induction into public national life, Matus Cernak, despite his youthful thirty-five years, became a minister in the Prague government. Prague,. long accustomed to an accord of fawning subservience and servility ,o n the part of those to whom she had granted political ministries and various similar offices, ,s oon realized that this Cernak who accepted a ministerial portfolio came as a representative of a new generation. He was not a hireling. He was a public servant who bore the concerns of the Slovak nation deep in his heart, one to be touched neither by bribes nor by intimidatioo. He was upright as well as fearless and his attitude was undisguised. He understood that it served no purpose to temporize with the Czechs; consequently, ne had hardly estaJblished himself in his new office when, mincing no words, he demanded as by a 24-hour ultimatum that Dr. Benes examme the Slova,k problem in the spirit of the Pittsburgh Pact; i.e.,. Cernak sought to activate Slovakia's autonomy as it had been guaranteed by the Czechs when Thomas G. Masaryk signed the Pittsburgh Pact in 1918 and the unreserved ratification of the Parli'ament convened on Noivember 12, 1918 had made the agreement binding both legally and morally. Benes was unwilling to meet Cerna.k's terms. Manfully and honorably, Cer:nak offered his resignation from ministerial duties and his decisive action hastened Slovakia's autonomy and later her complete independence. In the autonomous state of Slovakia (October 6, 1938 - March 13, 1939) Cernak became a prominent and '!)01)ular personality. iHe was named minister of education and after the proclamation of independence, he was appointed the first Slovak envoy to Berlin. �14 SLOVAKIA Be11lin was not only the most significant, it was also the most difficult ambassadorial .p ost. The very existence of the Slovak •r epublic often hUlll.g by a hair there, and the ·Sloviak diplomatic representative had to exercise consummate tact whille at the sarrne time he preserved an inflexible devotion to his country and defended the interests committed to him in sa:cred trust. Matus Ce.milk proved himself in this capacity. He again advanced the welfare of Slovakia with the sarrne degree of ardor and uncomprom~•s ing vigor which had characterized him formerly in Prague, and his mission was successful. So well, in fact, did he acquaint himself of his duties that he won for the SlovaJk caruse the sympathies even of that power that oome after ,t he occurpaition of Germa.ny, a.nd in its eyes, too, he was accepted as a non--ae<!redited envoy of the Slovak nation. Political reprisals meted out a ,prison sentence for Cerna.k, and after serving several years in B:vatislava, he left Slovrukia ,i n 1948. (His country was then degraded by the Communistic and Czech regimes. Cernak in exille dedicated himself to the struggle to secure a new freedom and independence for Slo-v:aki-a, a sacred fight against Communism, a ,c rusade for the triumph of democracy, and liberty. For this reason, the ·b rutal political murder .of Matus Cernak, who had been favored lby fate to assume in this national struggle for liberty rund independence a role granted only to heroes rund to persons of Ulll.COmmom historic statUTe,. has shaken every worthy SlorvaJk and every honorable person in the world. For in that little post office in Munich there feN :at the hands of a cynical muroerer not merely a member of the little Slovak nation rbut a wholiJ.y dedicated defender of the idea of freedom and democracy, and that at the very hour when the representatives of international Communism and of Czech imperialism were sporting the ma:sk of surface smiles and pretending sugiared speeches on peace and coo.p eration and coexistence. If the world's free press agencies, broadcasts and tele- �SLOVAKIA 15 vised reports from Bonn to W aslrington, from Paris to Canada, Australia, Argentina, and all the free world ciroufated reports and commentaries 00: this despica,ble political crime, then it was in tribute to the 'Victim Cerna;k, a promoter of the ideal of freedom and democracy. Only the intervention and meddling of the forces of cowardly appeasement, of colla.:boration with Communism and Czechsown hatred of the Slov,a,ks prevented the .glorification of this sacrifice, Matus Cernak, as a 1price demanded by the true instinct of Communism and of Czech chau'Vinism. Their malice alone precluded the hailing of Matus Cermilk as a martyr to the cause of liberty and democracy, blessings cherished by the -umiversal free world. This honor Matus Cernalk fully deserves. The Slwak nation at home and all loyal Slovaks now exiled a:nd -scattered throrughout the far-d:hmg countries of the free world can appraise this holocaust of Matus Cerna'k in its full historic significance. Why Was Matus Cernak Slain? Matus Cernruk fell because he was the foe of Communism and of Czech efforts to dominate Slov,m a and to usur.p her rights. He was singled orut as one of the most unyielding exponents of the principle of liberty and a democratic way for Slovalkia. For these reasons he beoame mar,ked as a sworn enemy of the dual powers of :international Communism and of Czech aggressiv~ pretensions. Beoaiu:se he had already established a record of several years o.f sru'Ccessful service on the Slovaik political front which has !been in the recent past and whlch will very likely in the near future again be of paramount importance in the 1SlOV'a.:k contest for liberty and independence, not only Communistic Prague hurt also the adherents of there-e~bl-ished Czech hegemony QIVer Slovakia ranked him as the number one man on their list of resistance leaders active in exile to thwart their nefarious designs. He fell ,b ecause of his love for SloWJkia suffering under Czech domination., because of his friendly attitude toward the Gel'Ill.an nation, and b.ecaruse of the fruitf.ul mission he was accomplishing in the Republic oif Western �16 SLOVAKIA Germany where he had all. the p:vospects of continuing an eminently flourishing career. ·· .. Whether the base assassin will be discoivered as an individual or not, it is unmistakably clear to every thinking person just whose henchmen he must have been and in whose employ he accomplished his dastardly, bloody deed. Since 1945 so great ·a number of outstanding Slovak patriots has 1b een killed, deported and deprived of liberty that doUJbt concerning the mastermind of this vicious crime would hardly be in place. Czechs, iboth of the Communist water-mar.k and non-Communist conformers, especially those who in the wake of unsuccessful collaJboration with Communism escaped into the countries of western Euvope live in abnormal foar.s bred by guilt, the spawn of those crimes they per.petrated against the Sudeten and Cavpathian Ge:rnnans. Their panic mounts as they see Germany mow in the ascendency. as one of the influential nations in international 1p olitics. To iboth classes of Czechs it is clear that the existence of the Czecho~Slovalk Republic, the question of Czeoh !b oundar~es and conditions affecting the principles of life for the Czech nation in the future will come to depend in no small measure and in no negligible way on Germany and on this decisive f.actor whether or not :Slovalkia will succeed in winning the support of influential ,powers which will further her endeavor for independence. Matus Cernak with over 15 years of residence _in Germ.any and very desirable contacts and personal acquaintances even among the highest of German dignitaries was undenia;bly instrumental ,i n ,s oouring favor for the idea of SlovaJkia's independence. His peroonal integrity and his indefatiga;ble efforts in behalf of his country, as posthumously a;ppraised ,b y the German press and attested to by hll!lldreds ,of telegrams of condolence, won sympathetic response even in the highest levels of political power in Bonn and presaged ultimate success for the Slova;k cause. It was primarily for this re8JSOn that the foes of the Slovak nation and of the Slovalk effort to attain national independence decided to liquidate Cerna:k. �SLOVAKIA , 17 The Political Message of M. Oernak Cernak was felied in the heat of the national struggle. He died with a conlViotion -Of Slovak truth, confident in the ultimate victory of the :natural ri.ght of the Slo.valk people to enjoy their pro,per national life. He ,c onsummated his own supreme sacr.ifice in the spirit of his motto "To liberty through sacrifice" and he signed his political credo with his own life's blood. It is not clifficll!lt nor willl it be difficult to• ascertain what wolilld have been the final political messaige of Cernak. He wrote it in 1938 in terms of his adamant resist• ance to compromise, his steadfastness and his patriotic ardorr. You can find it recorded in hundreds of his articles and political manifestos, in his life-long political career and in his heroic martyrdom. In the ranks of Slo'Vlak political figures, personages who have gone ,befo:rre us in death, Cernak takes hiis pla:ce as the representative of a new political generation, one which has sought ,a nd which stiill seeks a. solution. of the Slovak problem on a ,b roader European basis within the cadre of modern demo:cratic and Christian powers. For his pdlitical mission dn exile, Matus Cernruk was betteT prepared. than were most .Slovaks, and iby his educational background and his professional experience as well as by his ,personal endo.w,ments -8Jlld characteristics he satisfactorily evidenced a Slovalk sense of ,balance and maturity and fitness :for lirfe. He allso exemplified .Slovakia's innate belonging to Europe and to European traditions. 'Dhe most substantial and eloquent ·proof of his adequacy to fitl the ro[e he chose in the fight for a democratic and independent .Slov:akia is his very assassination, the tragiic ,b omb which the antagoodsts orf a Christian and independent SlwaJki'a sent him. The death of Matus Cerna:k is a painflill and very grievoU1S loss to the Slovak forces woriking •i n exiJe; it is one of the severest blows which the Slo¥~k people could suffer at this time. The manner to which their foes had to resort in order to bring 0Jbout CernaJk's deswuction, �18 SLOVAKIA however, is d.n itself an assurance to all Slovaik em:igres that in the eyes of Prague and of international Communism ,i t is no "quan·t ite negligeable," that it is, in fact, so formidable a hindrance to them for the Slovaks to be allied with the democracies that they even ventured such a brutal scandal to register their reaction. To Slovruk 1patriots in exile, mourning the death of their most distinguished representative, Matus Cernak, this realization begets a fresh spur to redoubled activities. Consummate triumph of the Slovaik hope for independence beckons on the trail over which Matus Cernak has forged ahead in honor and in complete unflinching dedication. God grant it! - "BuNetin of the Slovruk National Council Abroad," June, 1956) . • • • LABOR AND THE SWVAK REPUBLIC J. C. Bukovina " Our policy shall not be socialis·tic, but social. We shall not incite J:}eople against our. selves, but we shall train them to be understanding and Wilted . .A:bove all else, work is the foundation of our policy." 'Dr. Joseph Tlso, Oct. 8, 1S38. October 6, 1938, and March 14, 1939, found the S10vruks prepared. The Hlin:ka ·S lovak People's Party, whic:h had fought consistently for twenty years before Munich to secure the national existence of the Slova!k nation, was fully prepared for these two historical milestones - to take over the direction of the fate of the Slovak nation. The fight of the Slovaks for national independence in the pre-Munich Czecho-Slovak State was actually a struggle and a call of the Slovruk nation for social justice. Once the Czechs under T. G. Masaryk and Dr. Exlward Benes had taken over the reigns of state, promises made to the Slovruks in America and elsewhere were soon forgotten, and the Slovalks found themselves again in the position of the exploited. Like the Magyars, the Czechs found little trouble in recruiting Judas Slovaks to promote not the interests of the Slovak nation, but the interests of the Czech nation, � SLOVAKIA 11 THE POLITICAL MESSAGE OF MATUS CERNAK By Dr. Joseph Kirschbaum On J'lliy 5, 1955 Matus CernaJk, a .d istinguished Sl01Vaik politician and diplomat, was assassinated in Munich, Germany. Forces rabid in orpposing our effort ,to secure and esfablish an independent Slovakia could have hardly struck a more tell.mg blow than was this dastardly attack, for by it they .removed from :actiive service an esteemed patriot,. this Cernak of whom it may be said that of all n:a. tiona1 movers currently in exile, he most closely approximated what, lt'elatively speaking, we might designate as the position of a 8Jll-accredited legaJte of the Slovak nation to the republic of Western Germany. And to him as such were paid final tributes and honors in death not only by the ch8Jllcello.r of Western Germany himself who expressed deep sympathy cm the occasion of Cerna.k's tragic death. :rn Gemiany Matus Cern.ak signalized himse1f beyond his office as a desewing politidan and drplomat. It was due mostly 'to his lll.Iltiring diligence and interest that two noteworthy pulbl:ications continued to appear after the departure of Dr. Jozef Pauoo; viz., SLOBODNE SLOVENSKO ('Free Slovaikia, founded by Dr. Pauco) and SWWAKi1SCHE KORJRESPO!NiDENe;. Concern for the social well-being of hundreds of .Slorvak re£ugees who arrived in Germany also came to, devolrve upon Cerna.k, and his name is vecy closely associated with the Slorvaik institute in M'll.Il.ich. IDven this meagelt' cwt-and-dry survey of his recent major acltivities yields us the realization that 1lhe foul politioal murder, which so unexpectedly wrested Matus Cerna;k f.rom our midst, is to all the Slwaks in the free world and to the struggle for a democratic independent Sloiva.k.ia a much greater loss and a much more sigmfi.. cant incident than we had ap1Pmised and accounted it in the earliest hours of our grief. After the Cernova masS8Jcre of 1907, the murder of Stefanik m 1919 and of Dr. Jozef Tiso in 1947, this attack of July 5, :1!955, will be re- �12 corded in Slorvaik national annals as a historically 'Vital eivent. The death of fMatws Cemak marks mot merely the passing o.f another exiled SlO'V'3Jk diplomat and ipatriot who dedicated all his mind and heart to the struggle to liberate Slorvaikia from Oom.mJUnism and the Czech yoke. Matus Cerna'k's previ!ous politicial background, his personal character and talents, hi•s uncompromising doggedness and his tireless and successful activities within the territory of one of the most decisive powers affecting the fate of Slova,kia - all this contributed to make Cerna·k indispensalble to the CU"rrent state of our pol,i tical efforts as w~U as a symlbol of posterity. Who Was Matus Oernak? Matus Cerruik was bo,r n on August 28, 1903, in the town of Vieska where his father was a miller. After his preliminary education in iPrievidza, Kezmarok, and Banska Bystrica,. he undertook university studies ,i n 'Brague and subsequently ,in Leipzig, Germany. His courses were orientated toward a professorship. Having attained his diploma, he spent several years in teaching •a t Trnava, and in 19i30 he became a high school instnuctor in Bratislava. Until 1937 Cernwk devoted himself a,lmost exclusirvely to aoademic pursuits and to cultural interests. He was, however, one of the younger element, a member of that youthful and vitally conscious generation of !Slovruks who in the 1932 demonstrations at Trencianske Teplice gave Prague incontrovertible evidence of the fact that the spiritual and political development of Slova,kia will follow native inspiration and bent and wiN not ibe trammeled by constraining directirves from Prague. As a youthful patriot, then, Cernak naturally found himself an active participant in various political demonstrn:tions Slllpporting ·Slorvakia's interests and deserts. It wa.s the temper of the times that shaped his destiny. He made more and more public appearances and spirited pronouncements hut after his patriotic manifesto delivered in the ,Slovak National Theater in 1937, Cernak was overnight not only projected ,i nto popular ac- �SLOVAKIA 13 claim but was also irrevocably committed to bis role as an outstanding leader in the political arena, The keynote of his message on this occasian was "Orurs is that portion of land 'beneath the Tatras and to us rightfully belongs all i1ls yield." This cry and justification came to echo from inrn.1mera:ble speaker's platforms and it blazed its appeal throughout all the press houses of SlovaJkia. Within. a year after this induction into public national life, Matus Cernak, despite his youthful thirty-five years, became a minister in the Prague government. Prague,. long accustomed to an accord of fawning subservience and servility ,o n the part of those to whom she had granted political ministries and various similar offices, ,s oon realized that this Cernak who accepted a ministerial portfolio came as a representative of a new generation. He was not a hireling. He was a public servant who bore the concerns of the Slovak nation deep in his heart, one to be touched neither by bribes nor by intimidatioo. He was upright as well as fearless and his attitude was undisguised. He understood that it served no purpose to temporize with the Czechs; consequently, ne had hardly estaJblished himself in his new office when, mincing no words, he demanded as by a 24-hour ultimatum that Dr. Benes examme the Slova,k problem in the spirit of the Pittsburgh Pact; i.e.,. Cernak sought to activate Slovakia's autonomy as it had been guaranteed by the Czechs when Thomas G. Masaryk signed the Pittsburgh Pact in 1918 and the unreserved ratification of the Parli'ament convened on Noivember 12, 1918 had made the agreement binding both legally and morally. Benes was unwilling to meet Cerna.k's terms. Manfully and honorably, Cer:nak offered his resignation from ministerial duties and his decisive action hastened Slovakia's autonomy and later her complete independence. In the autonomous state of Slovakia (October 6, 1938 - March 13, 1939) Cernak became a prominent and '!)01)ular personality. iHe was named minister of education and after the proclamation of independence, he was appointed the first Slovak envoy to Berlin. �14 SLOVAKIA Be11lin was not only the most significant, it was also the most difficult ambassadorial .p ost. The very existence of the Slovak •r epublic often hUlll.g by a hair there, and the ·Sloviak diplomatic representative had to exercise consummate tact whille at the sarrne time he preserved an inflexible devotion to his country and defended the interests committed to him in sa:cred trust. Matus Ce.milk proved himself in this capacity. He again advanced the welfare of Slovakia with the sarrne degree of ardor and uncomprom~•s ing vigor which had characterized him formerly in Prague, and his mission was successful. So well, in fact, did he acquaint himself of his duties that he won for the SlovaJk caruse the sympathies even of that power that oome after ,t he occurpaition of Germa.ny, a.nd in its eyes, too, he was accepted as a non--ae<!redited envoy of the Slovak nation. Political reprisals meted out a ,prison sentence for Cerna.k, and after serving several years in B:vatislava, he left Slovrukia ,i n 1948. (His country was then degraded by the Communistic and Czech regimes. Cernak in exille dedicated himself to the struggle to secure a new freedom and independence for Slo-v:aki-a, a sacred fight against Communism, a ,c rusade for the triumph of democracy, and liberty. For this reason, the ·b rutal political murder .of Matus Cernak, who had been favored lby fate to assume in this national struggle for liberty rund independence a role granted only to heroes rund to persons of Ulll.COmmom historic statUTe,. has shaken every worthy SlorvaJk and every honorable person in the world. For in that little post office in Munich there feN :at the hands of a cynical muroerer not merely a member of the little Slovak nation rbut a wholiJ.y dedicated defender of the idea of freedom and democracy, and that at the very hour when the representatives of international Communism and of Czech imperialism were sporting the ma:sk of surface smiles and pretending sugiared speeches on peace and coo.p eration and coexistence. If the world's free press agencies, broadcasts and tele- �SLOVAKIA 15 vised reports from Bonn to W aslrington, from Paris to Canada, Australia, Argentina, and all the free world ciroufated reports and commentaries 00: this despica,ble political crime, then it was in tribute to the 'Victim Cerna;k, a promoter of the ideal of freedom and democracy. Only the intervention and meddling of the forces of cowardly appeasement, of colla.:boration with Communism and Czechsown hatred of the Slov,a,ks prevented the .glorification of this sacrifice, Matus Cernak, as a 1price demanded by the true instinct of Communism and of Czech chau'Vinism. Their malice alone precluded the hailing of Matus Cermilk as a martyr to the cause of liberty and democracy, blessings cherished by the -umiversal free world. This honor Matus Cernalk fully deserves. The Slwak nation at home and all loyal Slovaks now exiled a:nd -scattered throrughout the far-d:hmg countries of the free world can appraise this holocaust of Matus Cerna'k in its full historic significance. Why Was Matus Cernak Slain? Matus Cernruk fell because he was the foe of Communism and of Czech efforts to dominate Slov,m a and to usur.p her rights. He was singled orut as one of the most unyielding exponents of the principle of liberty and a democratic way for Slovalkia. For these reasons he beoame mar,ked as a sworn enemy of the dual powers of :international Communism and of Czech aggressiv~ pretensions. Beoaiu:se he had already established a record of several years o.f sru'Ccessful service on the Slovaik political front which has !been in the recent past and whlch will very likely in the near future again be of paramount importance in the 1SlOV'a.:k contest for liberty and independence, not only Communistic Prague hurt also the adherents of there-e~bl-ished Czech hegemony QIVer Slovakia ranked him as the number one man on their list of resistance leaders active in exile to thwart their nefarious designs. He fell ,b ecause of his love for SloWJkia suffering under Czech domination., because of his friendly attitude toward the Gel'Ill.an nation, and b.ecaruse of the fruitf.ul mission he was accomplishing in the Republic oif Western �16 SLOVAKIA Germany where he had all. the p:vospects of continuing an eminently flourishing career. ·· .. Whether the base assassin will be discoivered as an individual or not, it is unmistakably clear to every thinking person just whose henchmen he must have been and in whose employ he accomplished his dastardly, bloody deed. Since 1945 so great ·a number of outstanding Slovak patriots has 1b een killed, deported and deprived of liberty that doUJbt concerning the mastermind of this vicious crime would hardly be in place. Czechs, iboth of the Communist water-mar.k and non-Communist conformers, especially those who in the wake of unsuccessful collaJboration with Communism escaped into the countries of western Euvope live in abnormal foar.s bred by guilt, the spawn of those crimes they per.petrated against the Sudeten and Cavpathian Ge:rnnans. Their panic mounts as they see Germany mow in the ascendency. as one of the influential nations in international 1p olitics. To iboth classes of Czechs it is clear that the existence of the Czecho~Slovalk Republic, the question of Czeoh !b oundar~es and conditions affecting the principles of life for the Czech nation in the future will come to depend in no small measure and in no negligible way on Germany and on this decisive f.actor whether or not :Slovalkia will succeed in winning the support of influential ,powers which will further her endeavor for independence. Matus Cernak with over 15 years of residence _in Germ.any and very desirable contacts and personal acquaintances even among the highest of German dignitaries was undenia;bly instrumental ,i n ,s oouring favor for the idea of SlovaJkia's independence. His peroonal integrity and his indefatiga;ble efforts in behalf of his country, as posthumously a;ppraised ,b y the German press and attested to by hll!lldreds ,of telegrams of condolence, won sympathetic response even in the highest levels of political power in Bonn and presaged ultimate success for the Slova;k cause. It was primarily for this re8JSOn that the foes of the Slovak nation and of the Slovalk effort to attain national independence decided to liquidate Cerna:k. �SLOVAKIA , 17 The Political Message of M. Oernak Cernak was felied in the heat of the national struggle. He died with a conlViotion -Of Slovak truth, confident in the ultimate victory of the :natural ri.ght of the Slo.valk people to enjoy their pro,per national life. He ,c onsummated his own supreme sacr.ifice in the spirit of his motto "To liberty through sacrifice" and he signed his political credo with his own life's blood. It is not clifficll!lt nor willl it be difficult to• ascertain what wolilld have been the final political messaige of Cernak. He wrote it in 1938 in terms of his adamant resist• ance to compromise, his steadfastness and his patriotic ardorr. You can find it recorded in hundreds of his articles and political manifestos, in his life-long political career and in his heroic martyrdom. In the ranks of Slo'Vlak political figures, personages who have gone ,befo:rre us in death, Cernak takes hiis pla:ce as the representative of a new political generation, one which has sought ,a nd which stiill seeks a. solution. of the Slovak problem on a ,b roader European basis within the cadre of modern demo:cratic and Christian powers. For his pdlitical mission dn exile, Matus Cernruk was betteT prepared. than were most .Slovaks, and iby his educational background and his professional experience as well as by his ,personal endo.w,ments -8Jlld characteristics he satisfactorily evidenced a Slovalk sense of ,balance and maturity and fitness :for lirfe. He allso exemplified .Slovakia's innate belonging to Europe and to European traditions. 'Dhe most substantial and eloquent ·proof of his adequacy to fitl the ro[e he chose in the fight for a democratic and independent .Slov:akia is his very assassination, the tragiic ,b omb which the antagoodsts orf a Christian and independent SlwaJki'a sent him. The death of Matus Cerna:k is a painflill and very grievoU1S loss to the Slovak forces woriking •i n exiJe; it is one of the severest blows which the Slo¥~k people could suffer at this time. The manner to which their foes had to resort in order to bring 0Jbout CernaJk's deswuction, �18 SLOVAKIA however, is d.n itself an assurance to all Slovaik em:igres that in the eyes of Prague and of international Communism ,i t is no "quan·t ite negligeable," that it is, in fact, so formidable a hindrance to them for the Slovaks to be allied with the democracies that they even ventured such a brutal scandal to register their reaction. To Slovruk 1patriots in exile, mourning the death of their most distinguished representative, Matus Cernak, this realization begets a fresh spur to redoubled activities. Consummate triumph of the Slovaik hope for independence beckons on the trail over which Matus Cernak has forged ahead in honor and in complete unflinching dedication. God grant it! - "BuNetin of the Slovruk National Council Abroad," June, 1956) . • • • LABOR AND THE SWVAK REPUBLIC J. C. Bukovina " Our policy shall not be socialis·tic, but social. We shall not incite J:}eople against our. selves, but we shall train them to be understanding and Wilted . .A:bove all else, work is the foundation of our policy." 'Dr. Joseph Tlso, Oct. 8, 1S38. October 6, 1938, and March 14, 1939, found the S10vruks prepared. The Hlin:ka ·S lovak People's Party, whic:h had fought consistently for twenty years before Munich to secure the national existence of the Slova!k nation, was fully prepared for these two historical milestones - to take over the direction of the fate of the Slovak nation. The fight of the Slovaks for national independence in the pre-Munich Czecho-Slovak State was actually a struggle and a call of the Slovruk nation for social justice. Once the Czechs under T. G. Masaryk and Dr. Exlward Benes had taken over the reigns of state, promises made to the Slovruks in America and elsewhere were soon forgotten, and the Slovalks found themselves again in the position of the exploited. Like the Magyars, the Czechs found little trouble in recruiting Judas Slovaks to promote not the interests of the Slovak nation, but the interests of the Czech nation, � 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 11 THE POLITICAL MESSAGE OF MATUS CERNAK By Dr. Joseph Kirschbaum On J'lliy 5, 1955 Matus CernaJk, a .d istinguished Sl01Vaik politician and diplomat, was assassinated in Munich, Germany. Forces rabid in orpposing our effort ,to secure and esfablish an independent Slovakia could have hardly struck a more tell.mg blow than was this dastardly attack, for by it they .removed from :actiive service an esteemed patriot,. this Cernak of whom it may be said that of all n:a. tiona1 movers currently in exile, he most closely approximated what, lt'elatively speaking, we might designate as the position of a 8Jll-accredited legaJte of the Slovak nation to the republic of Western Germany. And to him as such were paid final tributes and honors in death not only by the ch8Jllcello.r of Western Germany himself who expressed deep sympathy cm the occasion of Cerna.k's tragic death. :rn Gemiany Matus Cern.ak signalized himse1f beyond his office as a desewing politidan and drplomat. It was due mostly 'to his lll.Iltiring diligence and interest that two noteworthy pulbl:ications continued to appear after the departure of Dr. Jozef Pauoo; viz., SLOBODNE SLOVENSKO ('Free Slovaikia, founded by Dr. Pauco) and SWWAKi1SCHE KORJRESPO!NiDENe;. Concern for the social well-being of hundreds of .Slorvak re£ugees who arrived in Germany also came to, devolrve upon Cerna.k, and his name is vecy closely associated with the Slorvaik institute in M'll.Il.ich. IDven this meagelt' cwt-and-dry survey of his recent major acltivities yields us the realization that 1lhe foul politioal murder, which so unexpectedly wrested Matus Cerna;k f.rom our midst, is to all the Slwaks in the free world and to the struggle for a democratic independent Sloiva.k.ia a much greater loss and a much more sigmfi.. cant incident than we had ap1Pmised and accounted it in the earliest hours of our grief. After the Cernova masS8Jcre of 1907, the murder of Stefanik m 1919 and of Dr. Jozef Tiso in 1947, this attack of July 5, :1!955, will be re- 12 corded in Slorvaik national annals as a historically 'Vital eivent. The death of fMatws Cemak marks mot merely the passing o.f another exiled SlO'V'3Jk diplomat and ipatriot who dedicated all his mind and heart to the struggle to liberate Slorvaikia from Oom.mJUnism and the Czech yoke. Matus Cerna'k's previ!ous politicial background, his personal character and talents, hi•s uncompromising doggedness and his tireless and successful activities within the territory of one of the most decisive powers affecting the fate of Slova,kia - all this contributed to make Cerna·k indispensalble to the CU"rrent state of our pol,i tical efforts as w~U as a symlbol of posterity. Who Was Matus Oernak? Matus Cerruik was bo,r n on August 28, 1903, in the town of Vieska where his father was a miller. After his preliminary education in iPrievidza, Kezmarok, and Banska Bystrica,. he undertook university studies ,i n 'Brague and subsequently ,in Leipzig, Germany. His courses were orientated toward a professorship. Having attained his diploma, he spent several years in teaching •a t Trnava, and in 19i30 he became a high school instnuctor in Bratislava. Until 1937 Cernwk devoted himself a,lmost exclusirvely to aoademic pursuits and to cultural interests. He was, however, one of the younger element, a member of that youthful and vitally conscious generation of !Slovruks who in the 1932 demonstrations at Trencianske Teplice gave Prague incontrovertible evidence of the fact that the spiritual and political development of Slova,kia will follow native inspiration and bent and wiN not ibe trammeled by constraining directirves from Prague. As a youthful patriot, then, Cernak naturally found himself an active participant in various political demonstrn:tions Slllpporting ·Slorvakia's interests and deserts. It wa.s the temper of the times that shaped his destiny. He made more and more public appearances and spirited pronouncements hut after his patriotic manifesto delivered in the ,Slovak National Theater in 1937, Cernak was overnight not only projected ,i nto popular ac- SLOVAKIA 13 claim but was also irrevocably committed to bis role as an outstanding leader in the political arena, The keynote of his message on this occasian was "Orurs is that portion of land 'beneath the Tatras and to us rightfully belongs all i1ls yield." This cry and justification came to echo from inrn.1mera:ble speaker's platforms and it blazed its appeal throughout all the press houses of SlovaJkia. Within. a year after this induction into public national life, Matus Cernak, despite his youthful thirty-five years, became a minister in the Prague government. Prague,. long accustomed to an accord of fawning subservience and servility ,o n the part of those to whom she had granted political ministries and various similar offices, ,s oon realized that this Cernak who accepted a ministerial portfolio came as a representative of a new generation. He was not a hireling. He was a public servant who bore the concerns of the Slovak nation deep in his heart, one to be touched neither by bribes nor by intimidatioo. He was upright as well as fearless and his attitude was undisguised. He understood that it served no purpose to temporize with the Czechs; consequently, ne had hardly estaJblished himself in his new office when, mincing no words, he demanded as by a 24-hour ultimatum that Dr. Benes examme the Slova,k problem in the spirit of the Pittsburgh Pact; i.e.,. Cernak sought to activate Slovakia's autonomy as it had been guaranteed by the Czechs when Thomas G. Masaryk signed the Pittsburgh Pact in 1918 and the unreserved ratification of the Parli'ament convened on Noivember 12, 1918 had made the agreement binding both legally and morally. Benes was unwilling to meet Cerna.k's terms. Manfully and honorably, Cer:nak offered his resignation from ministerial duties and his decisive action hastened Slovakia's autonomy and later her complete independence. In the autonomous state of Slovakia (October 6, 1938 - March 13, 1939) Cernak became a prominent and '!)01)ular personality. iHe was named minister of education and after the proclamation of independence, he was appointed the first Slovak envoy to Berlin. 14 SLOVAKIA Be11lin was not only the most significant, it was also the most difficult ambassadorial .p ost. The very existence of the Slovak •r epublic often hUlll.g by a hair there, and the ·Sloviak diplomatic representative had to exercise consummate tact whille at the sarrne time he preserved an inflexible devotion to his country and defended the interests committed to him in sa:cred trust. Matus Ce.milk proved himself in this capacity. He again advanced the welfare of Slovakia with the sarrne degree of ardor and uncomprom~•s ing vigor which had characterized him formerly in Prague, and his mission was successful. So well, in fact, did he acquaint himself of his duties that he won for the SlovaJk caruse the sympathies even of that power that oome after ,t he occurpaition of Germa.ny, a.nd in its eyes, too, he was accepted as a non--ae<!redited envoy of the Slovak nation. Political reprisals meted out a ,prison sentence for Cerna.k, and after serving several years in B:vatislava, he left Slovrukia ,i n 1948. (His country was then degraded by the Communistic and Czech regimes. Cernak in exille dedicated himself to the struggle to secure a new freedom and independence for Slo-v:aki-a, a sacred fight against Communism, a ,c rusade for the triumph of democracy, and liberty. For this reason, the ·b rutal political murder .of Matus Cernak, who had been favored lby fate to assume in this national struggle for liberty rund independence a role granted only to heroes rund to persons of Ulll.COmmom historic statUTe,. has shaken every worthy SlorvaJk and every honorable person in the world. For in that little post office in Munich there feN :at the hands of a cynical muroerer not merely a member of the little Slovak nation rbut a wholiJ.y dedicated defender of the idea of freedom and democracy, and that at the very hour when the representatives of international Communism and of Czech imperialism were sporting the ma:sk of surface smiles and pretending sugiared speeches on peace and coo.p eration and coexistence. If the world's free press agencies, broadcasts and tele- SLOVAKIA 15 vised reports from Bonn to W aslrington, from Paris to Canada, Australia, Argentina, and all the free world ciroufated reports and commentaries 00: this despica,ble political crime, then it was in tribute to the 'Victim Cerna;k, a promoter of the ideal of freedom and democracy. Only the intervention and meddling of the forces of cowardly appeasement, of colla.:boration with Communism and Czechsown hatred of the Slov,a,ks prevented the .glorification of this sacrifice, Matus Cernak, as a 1price demanded by the true instinct of Communism and of Czech chau'Vinism. Their malice alone precluded the hailing of Matus Cermilk as a martyr to the cause of liberty and democracy, blessings cherished by the -umiversal free world. This honor Matus Cernalk fully deserves. The Slwak nation at home and all loyal Slovaks now exiled a:nd -scattered throrughout the far-d:hmg countries of the free world can appraise this holocaust of Matus Cerna'k in its full historic significance. Why Was Matus Cernak Slain? Matus Cernruk fell because he was the foe of Communism and of Czech efforts to dominate Slov,m a and to usur.p her rights. He was singled orut as one of the most unyielding exponents of the principle of liberty and a democratic way for Slovalkia. For these reasons he beoame mar,ked as a sworn enemy of the dual powers of :international Communism and of Czech aggressiv~ pretensions. Beoaiu:se he had already established a record of several years o.f sru'Ccessful service on the Slovaik political front which has !been in the recent past and whlch will very likely in the near future again be of paramount importance in the 1SlOV'a.:k contest for liberty and independence, not only Communistic Prague hurt also the adherents of there-e~bl-ished Czech hegemony QIVer Slovakia ranked him as the number one man on their list of resistance leaders active in exile to thwart their nefarious designs. He fell ,b ecause of his love for SloWJkia suffering under Czech domination., because of his friendly attitude toward the Gel'Ill.an nation, and b.ecaruse of the fruitf.ul mission he was accomplishing in the Republic oif Western 16 SLOVAKIA Germany where he had all. the p:vospects of continuing an eminently flourishing career. ·· .. Whether the base assassin will be discoivered as an individual or not, it is unmistakably clear to every thinking person just whose henchmen he must have been and in whose employ he accomplished his dastardly, bloody deed. Since 1945 so great ·a number of outstanding Slovak patriots has 1b een killed, deported and deprived of liberty that doUJbt concerning the mastermind of this vicious crime would hardly be in place. Czechs, iboth of the Communist water-mar.k and non-Communist conformers, especially those who in the wake of unsuccessful collaJboration with Communism escaped into the countries of western Euvope live in abnormal foar.s bred by guilt, the spawn of those crimes they per.petrated against the Sudeten and Cavpathian Ge:rnnans. Their panic mounts as they see Germany mow in the ascendency. as one of the influential nations in international 1p olitics. To iboth classes of Czechs it is clear that the existence of the Czecho~Slovalk Republic, the question of Czeoh !b oundar~es and conditions affecting the principles of life for the Czech nation in the future will come to depend in no small measure and in no negligible way on Germany and on this decisive f.actor whether or not :Slovalkia will succeed in winning the support of influential ,powers which will further her endeavor for independence. Matus Cernak with over 15 years of residence _in Germ.any and very desirable contacts and personal acquaintances even among the highest of German dignitaries was undenia;bly instrumental ,i n ,s oouring favor for the idea of SlovaJkia's independence. His peroonal integrity and his indefatiga;ble efforts in behalf of his country, as posthumously a;ppraised ,b y the German press and attested to by hll!lldreds ,of telegrams of condolence, won sympathetic response even in the highest levels of political power in Bonn and presaged ultimate success for the Slova;k cause. It was primarily for this re8JSOn that the foes of the Slovak nation and of the Slovalk effort to attain national independence decided to liquidate Cerna:k. SLOVAKIA , 17 The Political Message of M. Oernak Cernak was felied in the heat of the national struggle. He died with a conlViotion -Of Slovak truth, confident in the ultimate victory of the :natural ri.ght of the Slo.valk people to enjoy their pro,per national life. He ,c onsummated his own supreme sacr.ifice in the spirit of his motto "To liberty through sacrifice" and he signed his political credo with his own life's blood. It is not clifficll!lt nor willl it be difficult to• ascertain what wolilld have been the final political messaige of Cernak. He wrote it in 1938 in terms of his adamant resist• ance to compromise, his steadfastness and his patriotic ardorr. You can find it recorded in hundreds of his articles and political manifestos, in his life-long political career and in his heroic martyrdom. In the ranks of Slo'Vlak political figures, personages who have gone ,befo:rre us in death, Cernak takes hiis pla:ce as the representative of a new political generation, one which has sought ,a nd which stiill seeks a. solution. of the Slovak problem on a ,b roader European basis within the cadre of modern demo:cratic and Christian powers. For his pdlitical mission dn exile, Matus Cernruk was betteT prepared. than were most .Slovaks, and iby his educational background and his professional experience as well as by his ,personal endo.w,ments -8Jlld characteristics he satisfactorily evidenced a Slovalk sense of ,balance and maturity and fitness :for lirfe. He allso exemplified .Slovakia's innate belonging to Europe and to European traditions. 'Dhe most substantial and eloquent ·proof of his adequacy to fitl the ro[e he chose in the fight for a democratic and independent .Slov:akia is his very assassination, the tragiic ,b omb which the antagoodsts orf a Christian and independent SlwaJki'a sent him. The death of Matus Cerna:k is a painflill and very grievoU1S loss to the Slovak forces woriking •i n exiJe; it is one of the severest blows which the Slo¥~k people could suffer at this time. The manner to which their foes had to resort in order to bring 0Jbout CernaJk's deswuction, 18 SLOVAKIA however, is d.n itself an assurance to all Slovaik em:igres that in the eyes of Prague and of international Communism ,i t is no "quan·t ite negligeable," that it is, in fact, so formidable a hindrance to them for the Slovaks to be allied with the democracies that they even ventured such a brutal scandal to register their reaction. To Slovruk 1patriots in exile, mourning the death of their most distinguished representative, Matus Cernak, this realization begets a fresh spur to redoubled activities. Consummate triumph of the Slovaik hope for independence beckons on the trail over which Matus Cernak has forged ahead in honor and in complete unflinching dedication. God grant it! - "BuNetin of the Slovruk National Council Abroad," June, 1956) . • • • LABOR AND THE SWVAK REPUBLIC J. C. Bukovina " Our policy shall not be socialis·tic, but social. We shall not incite J:}eople against our. selves, but we shall train them to be understanding and Wilted . .A:bove all else, work is the foundation of our policy." 'Dr. Joseph Tlso, Oct. 8, 1S38. October 6, 1938, and March 14, 1939, found the S10vruks prepared. The Hlin:ka ·S lovak People's Party, whic:h had fought consistently for twenty years before Munich to secure the national existence of the Slova!k nation, was fully prepared for these two historical milestones - to take over the direction of the fate of the Slovak nation. The fight of the Slovaks for national independence in the pre-Munich Czecho-Slovak State was actually a struggle and a call of the Slovruk nation for social justice. Once the Czechs under T. G. Masaryk and Dr. Exlward Benes had taken over the reigns of state, promises made to the Slovruks in America and elsewhere were soon forgotten, and the Slovalks found themselves again in the position of the exploited. Like the Magyars, the Czechs found little trouble in recruiting Judas Slovaks to promote not the interests of the Slovak nation, but the interests of the Czech nation,  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Political Message of Matúš Černák Description An account of the resource Dr. Joseph Kirschbaum Slovakia, Vol. 6, No. 2 (19), June 1956 pp. 11-18 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Kirschbaum, Jozef M., 1913-2001 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource June 1956 SNK https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/31e0c60f69f15d24ad7724109f4ac0c8.pdf 90c5be899b963ddadef1addb70cd7a93 PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA 35 The Politica] }\Iessage of l\'Iat(1s (:ernak By Dr. Jozef Kirschbaum On July 5. 1955 Matus cernak, a distinguished Slovak politician and diplomat, was assassinated in Munich, Germany. Forces rabid in opposing Slovak effort to secure to establish an independent Slovakia could have hardly struck a mere telling blow than was this dastardly attack, for by it they removed from active service an esteemed patriot, this cernak of whom it may be said that of all national movers currently in exile, he must closely approximated what relatively speaking, we might designate as the position of a non-accredited legate of the Slovak nation to the republic of Western Germany. And to him as such were paid final tributes and honors in death not only by the officials of that government but by the chancellor of Western Germany himself who expressed deep sympathy on the occasion of cernak's tragic death. In Germany Matus cernak signalized himself beyond his office as a deserving politician and diplomat. It was due mostly to his untiring diligence and interest that two noteworthy publications continued to appear after the departure of Dr . Jozef Pauco; viz., SLOBODNE SLOVENSKO (Free Slovakia, founded by Dr. Pauco ) and SLOWAKISCHE KORRESPONDENZ. Concern for the social wellbeing of hundreds of Slovak refugees who arrived in Germany alw came to devolve upon cernak, and his name is very closely associated with the Slovak Institute in Munich. Even this meager cut-and-dry survey of his major activities in exile yields us the realization that the foul political murder, which so unexpectedly wrested Matus cernak from our midst, is to all the Slovaks in the free world and to the struggle for a democratic independent Slovakia a much greater loss and a much more significant incident than we had appraised and accounted it in the earliest hours of our grief. After the cernova massacre of 1907, the murder of Stefanik in 1919 and of Dr. Jozef Tiso �36 SLOVAKI A in 1947, the attack of July 5, 1955 will be recorded in Slovak national annals as a historica lly vital event. The death of Matus Cernak marks not merely the passing of another exiled Slovak diplomat and patriot who dedicated all his mind and heart to the struggle to liberate Slovakia from ·commun ism and the Czech yoke. Matus Cerna.k's previous political backgrou nd, his personal characte r and talents, his uncompr omising doggedne ss and his tireless and successfu l activities within the territory of one of the most decisive powers affecting the fate of Slovakia -all this contribu ted tc make Cernak indispens able to the current state of our political efforts as well as a symbol for posterity . WHO WAS MATOS CERN.AK Matus Cernak was born on August 28, 1903 in the town of Vieska where his father was a miller. After his prelimin ary educatio n in Prievidza , Kezmaro k, and Banska Bystrica, he undertoo k universit y studies in Prague and subseque ntly in Leipzig, Germany . His courses were orientated toward a professor ship. Having attained his diploma, he spent several years in teaching at Trnava, and in 1930 he became a high school instructo r i.n Bratislav a. Until 1937 Cernak devoted himself almost exclusive ly to academic pursuits and to cultural interests. He was, however, one of the younger element, a member of that youthful and vitally consciou s generatio n of Slovaks who in the 1932 demonst rations at Trencian ske Teplice gave Prague incontrov ertible evidence of the fact that the spiritual and political developm ent of Slovakia will follow native inspirati on and bent and will not be trammele d by constrain ing directive s from Prague. As a youthful patriot, then, Cernak naturally found himself ah active participa nt in various political demonst rations supportin g Slovakia 's interests and deserts. It was the temper of the times that shaped his destiny. He made more and more public appearan ces and spirited pronounc ements but after his patriotic manifest o delivered in the Slovak National Theater in 1937, Cernak was overnigh t not only projected into popular acclaim but was also irrevocab ly commite d to his role as an outstand ing �SLOVAKIA 37 leader in the political arena. The keynote of his message on this occasion was "Ours is that portion of land beneath the Tatra and to us rightfully belongs all its yield." This cry and justification came to echo from innumerable speaker's platforms and it blazed its appeal throughout all the press houses of Slovakia. Within a year after this induction into public national life, Matus Cerrnik, despite his youthful thirty-five years, became a minister in the Prague government. Prague, long accustomed to an accord of fawning subservience and servility on the part of those to whom she had granted political ministries and various similar offices, soon realized that this Cernak who accepted a ministerial portfolio came as a representative of a new generation. H e was not a hireling. He was a public servant who bore the concerns of the Slovak nation deep in his heart, one to be touched neither by bribes nor by intimidation. He was upright as well as fearless and his attitude was undisguised . He understood that it served no purpose to temporize with the Czechs ; consequently, he had hardly established himself in his new office when, mincing no words, he demanded as by a 24-hour ultimatum that Dr. Benes examine the Slovak problem in the spirit of the Pittsburgh , Pact; i. e., Cerrn'i.k sought to activate Slovakia's autonomy as it had been guaranteed by the Czechs when Thomas G. Masaryk signed the Pittsburgh Pact in 1918 and the unreserved ratification of the Parliament convened on November 12, 1918 had made the agreement binding both legally and morally. Benes was unwilling to meet Cerna.k's terms. Manfully and honorably, Cernak offered his resignation from ministerial duties and his decisive action hastened Slovakia's autonomy and later her complete independence. In the autonomous state of Slovakia (October 6, 1938 - March 14, 1939 ) 0 ernak became a prominent and popular personality. He was named minister of education and after the proclamation of independence, he was appointed the first Slovak envoy to Berlin. Berlin was not only the most significant, it was also tbe most difficult ambassadorial post. The very existence of the Slovak republic often hung by a hair there, and the Slovak diplomatic representative had to exercise consum- �38 SLOVAKIA mate tact while at the same time he preserved an inflexible devotion to his country and defended the interests committed to him in sacred trust. Matus cernak proved himself in this capacity. He again advanced the welfare of Slovakia with the same degree of ardor and uncompromising vigor which had characterized him formerly in Prague, and his mission was successful. So well, in fact, did he acquit himselr to his duties that he won for the Slovak cause the sympathies even of that power that came after the occupation of Germany, and in its eyes, too, he was accepted as a non-accredited envoy of the Slovak nation. Political reprisals meted out a prison sentence for Cernak, and after serving several years in Bratislava, he left Slovakia in 1948. His country was then degraded by the Communistic and Czech regimes. Cernak in exile dedicated himself to the struggle to secure a new freedom and independence for Slovakia, a sacred fight against Communism, a crusade for the triumph of democracy and liberty. For this reason, the brutal political murder of Matus Cernak, who ha.ct been favored by fate to assume in this national struggle for liberty and independence a role granted only tc heroes and to persons of uncommon historic stature, has shaken every worthy Slovak and every honorable person in the world. For in that little post office in Munich there fell at the hands of a cynical murderer and merely a member of the little Slovak nation but a wholly dedicated defender of the idea of freedom and democracy, and that at the very hour when the representatives of international Communism and of Czech imperialism were sporting the ma~k of surface smiles and pretending sugared speeches on peace and cooperation and coexistence. If the world's free press agencies, broadcasts and televised reports from Bonn to Washington, from Paris to Canada, Australia, Argentina, and all the free world circulated reports and commentaries on this despicable political crime, then it was in tribute to the victim cernak, a promoter of the ideal of freedom and democracy. Only the intervention and meddling of the forces of cowardly appeasement , of collaboration with Communism and Czechsown hatred of the Slovaks prevented the glorification �SLOVAKIA 39 of this sacrifice of Matus cernak as· a price demanded by the true instinct of Communism and of Czech chauvinism. Their malice alone precluded the hailing of Matus cern.ak as a martyr to the cause of liberty and democracy, blessings cherished by the universal free world. This honor Matus cernak fully deserves. Slovak nation and all loyal Slovaks now exiled and scattered throughout the far-flung countries of the free world can appraise this holocaus~ of Matus cernak in its full historic significance. WHY WAS MATO$ CERNAK SLAIN? Matus cernak fell because he was the foe of Communism and of Czech efforts to dominate Slovakia and to usurp her rights. He was singled out as one of the most unyielding exponents of the principle of liberty and a democratic way for Slovakia. For these reasons he became marked as a sworn enemy of the dual powers of international Communism and of Czech aggressive pretensions. Because he had already established a record of several years of successful service on the Slovak political front which has been in the recent past and which will very likely in the near future again be a paramount importance in the Slovak contest for liberty and independence, not only Communistic Prague but also the adherents of there-established Czech hegemony over Slovakia ranked him as the number one man on their list of resistance leaders active in exile to thwart their nefarious designs. He fell because of his love for Slovakia suffering under Czech domination, because of his friendly attitude toward the German nation, and because of the fruitful mission he was accomplishing in the Republic of Western Germany where he had all the prospects of continuing an eminently flourishing career. Whether the base assassin will be discovered as an individual or not, it is unmistakably clear to every thinking person just whose henchmen he must have been and in whose employ he accomplished his ambushed bloody deed. Since 1945 so great a number of outstanding Slovak patriots has been killed, deported anq deprivea of liberty that doubt concerning the mastermind of this vicious �40 SLOVAKIA crime would hardly be in place. Czechs, both of the Communist water-mark and non-Communist conformers, especially those who in the wake of unsuccessful collaboration with Communism escaped into the countries of western Europe, live in abnormal fears bred by guilt, the spawn of those crimes they perpetrated against Sudeten and Carpathian Germans. Their panic mounts as they see Germany now in the ascendancy as one of the influential nations in international politics. To both classes of Czechs it is clear that the existence of the Czecho-Slovak Republic, the question of Czech boundaries and conditions affecting the principles of life for the Czech nation in the future will come to depend in no small measure and in no negligible way on Germany and on this decisive factor whether or not Slovakia will succeed in winning the suppor t of influential powers which will further her endeavor for independence. Matus c ernak with over 15 years of residence in Germany an d very desirable contacts and personal acquaintance even among the highest of German dignitaries was undeniably instrumental in securing favor for the idea of Slovakia'~ independence. His personal integrity and his indefatigable efforts in behalf of his country, as posthumously appraised by the German press and attested to by hundreds of telegrams of condolence, won sympathetic response even in the highest levels of political power in Bonn and presaged ultimate success for the Slovak cause. It was primar ily for this reason that the foes of the Slovak nation and of the Slovak effort to attain national independence decided to liquidate cernak. THE POLITICAL MESSAGE OF MATO$ CERNA K cernak was felled in the heat of the national struggle. H e died with a conviction of Slovak truth, confident in the ultimate victory of the natural right of the Slovak p eople to enjoy their proper national life. He consummated his own supremf sacrifice in the spirit of his motto "To liberty through sacrifice" and he signed his political credo with his own life's blood. It is n ot difficult nor will be difficult to ascertain what would have been the final political message of cernak. �SLOVAKIA 41 He wrote it in 1938 in terms of his adamant resistance to compromise, his steadfastness and his patriotic ardor. You can find it recorded in hundreds of his articles and political manifestoes, in his life-long political career and in his heroic martyrdom . In the ranks of Slovak political figures, personages who have gone before us in death, cernak takes his place as the representative of a new political generation, one which has sought and which still seeks a solution of the Slovak problem on a broader European basis within the cadre of modern democratic and Christian powers. For his political mission in exile, Matus cernak was better prepared. than were most Slovaks, and by his educational background and his professional experience as well as by his personal endowments and characteristics he satisfactorily evidenced a Slovak; sense of balance and maturity and fitness for life. He also exemplified Slovakia's innate belonging to Europe and to European traditions. The most substantial and eloquent proof of his adequacy to fill the role he chose in the fight for a democratic and independent Slovakia is his very assassination, the tragic bomb which the antagonists of a Christian and independent Slovakia sent him. THE SLOVAK LEAGUE OF AMERICA is an AMERICAN INSTITUTION; it was organized May 26, 1907, at Cleveland, 0., by the Rev. Stephen Furdek. THE SLOVAK LEAGUE OF AMERICA heartily commends all efforts of our governmental and other organs to ferret out and unmask all Communists and fellow travellers, as well as all persons and organizations who wittingly or unwittingly give aid and comfort to the conspiracy of Communism promoted by the Soviet Union. � SLOVAKIA 35 The Politica] }\Iessage of l\'Iat(1s (:ernak By Dr. Jozef Kirschbaum On July 5. 1955 Matus cernak, a distinguished Slovak politician and diplomat, was assassinated in Munich, Germany. Forces rabid in opposing Slovak effort to secure to establish an independent Slovakia could have hardly struck a mere telling blow than was this dastardly attack, for by it they removed from active service an esteemed patriot, this cernak of whom it may be said that of all national movers currently in exile, he must closely approximated what relatively speaking, we might designate as the position of a non-accredited legate of the Slovak nation to the republic of Western Germany. And to him as such were paid final tributes and honors in death not only by the officials of that government but by the chancellor of Western Germany himself who expressed deep sympathy on the occasion of cernak's tragic death. In Germany Matus cernak signalized himself beyond his office as a deserving politician and diplomat. It was due mostly to his untiring diligence and interest that two noteworthy publications continued to appear after the departure of Dr . Jozef Pauco; viz., SLOBODNE SLOVENSKO (Free Slovakia, founded by Dr. Pauco ) and SLOWAKISCHE KORRESPONDENZ. Concern for the social wellbeing of hundreds of Slovak refugees who arrived in Germany alw came to devolve upon cernak, and his name is very closely associated with the Slovak Institute in Munich. Even this meager cut-and-dry survey of his major activities in exile yields us the realization that the foul political murder, which so unexpectedly wrested Matus cernak from our midst, is to all the Slovaks in the free world and to the struggle for a democratic independent Slovakia a much greater loss and a much more significant incident than we had appraised and accounted it in the earliest hours of our grief. After the cernova massacre of 1907, the murder of Stefanik in 1919 and of Dr. Jozef Tiso �36 SLOVAKI A in 1947, the attack of July 5, 1955 will be recorded in Slovak national annals as a historica lly vital event. The death of Matus Cernak marks not merely the passing of another exiled Slovak diplomat and patriot who dedicated all his mind and heart to the struggle to liberate Slovakia from ·commun ism and the Czech yoke. Matus Cerna.k's previous political backgrou nd, his personal characte r and talents, his uncompr omising doggedne ss and his tireless and successfu l activities within the territory of one of the most decisive powers affecting the fate of Slovakia -all this contribu ted tc make Cernak indispens able to the current state of our political efforts as well as a symbol for posterity . WHO WAS MATOS CERN.AK Matus Cernak was born on August 28, 1903 in the town of Vieska where his father was a miller. After his prelimin ary educatio n in Prievidza , Kezmaro k, and Banska Bystrica, he undertoo k universit y studies in Prague and subseque ntly in Leipzig, Germany . His courses were orientated toward a professor ship. Having attained his diploma, he spent several years in teaching at Trnava, and in 1930 he became a high school instructo r i.n Bratislav a. Until 1937 Cernak devoted himself almost exclusive ly to academic pursuits and to cultural interests. He was, however, one of the younger element, a member of that youthful and vitally consciou s generatio n of Slovaks who in the 1932 demonst rations at Trencian ske Teplice gave Prague incontrov ertible evidence of the fact that the spiritual and political developm ent of Slovakia will follow native inspirati on and bent and will not be trammele d by constrain ing directive s from Prague. As a youthful patriot, then, Cernak naturally found himself ah active participa nt in various political demonst rations supportin g Slovakia 's interests and deserts. It was the temper of the times that shaped his destiny. He made more and more public appearan ces and spirited pronounc ements but after his patriotic manifest o delivered in the Slovak National Theater in 1937, Cernak was overnigh t not only projected into popular acclaim but was also irrevocab ly commite d to his role as an outstand ing �SLOVAKIA 37 leader in the political arena. The keynote of his message on this occasion was "Ours is that portion of land beneath the Tatra and to us rightfully belongs all its yield." This cry and justification came to echo from innumerable speaker's platforms and it blazed its appeal throughout all the press houses of Slovakia. Within a year after this induction into public national life, Matus Cerrnik, despite his youthful thirty-five years, became a minister in the Prague government. Prague, long accustomed to an accord of fawning subservience and servility on the part of those to whom she had granted political ministries and various similar offices, soon realized that this Cernak who accepted a ministerial portfolio came as a representative of a new generation. H e was not a hireling. He was a public servant who bore the concerns of the Slovak nation deep in his heart, one to be touched neither by bribes nor by intimidation. He was upright as well as fearless and his attitude was undisguised . He understood that it served no purpose to temporize with the Czechs ; consequently, he had hardly established himself in his new office when, mincing no words, he demanded as by a 24-hour ultimatum that Dr. Benes examine the Slovak problem in the spirit of the Pittsburgh , Pact; i. e., Cerrn'i.k sought to activate Slovakia's autonomy as it had been guaranteed by the Czechs when Thomas G. Masaryk signed the Pittsburgh Pact in 1918 and the unreserved ratification of the Parliament convened on November 12, 1918 had made the agreement binding both legally and morally. Benes was unwilling to meet Cerna.k's terms. Manfully and honorably, Cernak offered his resignation from ministerial duties and his decisive action hastened Slovakia's autonomy and later her complete independence. In the autonomous state of Slovakia (October 6, 1938 - March 14, 1939 ) 0 ernak became a prominent and popular personality. He was named minister of education and after the proclamation of independence, he was appointed the first Slovak envoy to Berlin. Berlin was not only the most significant, it was also tbe most difficult ambassadorial post. The very existence of the Slovak republic often hung by a hair there, and the Slovak diplomatic representative had to exercise consum- �38 SLOVAKIA mate tact while at the same time he preserved an inflexible devotion to his country and defended the interests committed to him in sacred trust. Matus cernak proved himself in this capacity. He again advanced the welfare of Slovakia with the same degree of ardor and uncompromising vigor which had characterized him formerly in Prague, and his mission was successful. So well, in fact, did he acquit himselr to his duties that he won for the Slovak cause the sympathies even of that power that came after the occupation of Germany, and in its eyes, too, he was accepted as a non-accredited envoy of the Slovak nation. Political reprisals meted out a prison sentence for Cernak, and after serving several years in Bratislava, he left Slovakia in 1948. His country was then degraded by the Communistic and Czech regimes. Cernak in exile dedicated himself to the struggle to secure a new freedom and independence for Slovakia, a sacred fight against Communism, a crusade for the triumph of democracy and liberty. For this reason, the brutal political murder of Matus Cernak, who ha.ct been favored by fate to assume in this national struggle for liberty and independence a role granted only tc heroes and to persons of uncommon historic stature, has shaken every worthy Slovak and every honorable person in the world. For in that little post office in Munich there fell at the hands of a cynical murderer and merely a member of the little Slovak nation but a wholly dedicated defender of the idea of freedom and democracy, and that at the very hour when the representatives of international Communism and of Czech imperialism were sporting the ma~k of surface smiles and pretending sugared speeches on peace and cooperation and coexistence. If the world's free press agencies, broadcasts and televised reports from Bonn to Washington, from Paris to Canada, Australia, Argentina, and all the free world circulated reports and commentaries on this despicable political crime, then it was in tribute to the victim cernak, a promoter of the ideal of freedom and democracy. Only the intervention and meddling of the forces of cowardly appeasement , of collaboration with Communism and Czechsown hatred of the Slovaks prevented the glorification �SLOVAKIA 39 of this sacrifice of Matus cernak as· a price demanded by the true instinct of Communism and of Czech chauvinism. Their malice alone precluded the hailing of Matus cern.ak as a martyr to the cause of liberty and democracy, blessings cherished by the universal free world. This honor Matus cernak fully deserves. Slovak nation and all loyal Slovaks now exiled and scattered throughout the far-flung countries of the free world can appraise this holocaus~ of Matus cernak in its full historic significance. WHY WAS MATO$ CERNAK SLAIN? Matus cernak fell because he was the foe of Communism and of Czech efforts to dominate Slovakia and to usurp her rights. He was singled out as one of the most unyielding exponents of the principle of liberty and a democratic way for Slovakia. For these reasons he became marked as a sworn enemy of the dual powers of international Communism and of Czech aggressive pretensions. Because he had already established a record of several years of successful service on the Slovak political front which has been in the recent past and which will very likely in the near future again be a paramount importance in the Slovak contest for liberty and independence, not only Communistic Prague but also the adherents of there-established Czech hegemony over Slovakia ranked him as the number one man on their list of resistance leaders active in exile to thwart their nefarious designs. He fell because of his love for Slovakia suffering under Czech domination, because of his friendly attitude toward the German nation, and because of the fruitful mission he was accomplishing in the Republic of Western Germany where he had all the prospects of continuing an eminently flourishing career. Whether the base assassin will be discovered as an individual or not, it is unmistakably clear to every thinking person just whose henchmen he must have been and in whose employ he accomplished his ambushed bloody deed. Since 1945 so great a number of outstanding Slovak patriots has been killed, deported anq deprivea of liberty that doubt concerning the mastermind of this vicious �40 SLOVAKIA crime would hardly be in place. Czechs, both of the Communist water-mark and non-Communist conformers, especially those who in the wake of unsuccessful collaboration with Communism escaped into the countries of western Europe, live in abnormal fears bred by guilt, the spawn of those crimes they perpetrated against Sudeten and Carpathian Germans. Their panic mounts as they see Germany now in the ascendancy as one of the influential nations in international politics. To both classes of Czechs it is clear that the existence of the Czecho-Slovak Republic, the question of Czech boundaries and conditions affecting the principles of life for the Czech nation in the future will come to depend in no small measure and in no negligible way on Germany and on this decisive factor whether or not Slovakia will succeed in winning the suppor t of influential powers which will further her endeavor for independence. Matus c ernak with over 15 years of residence in Germany an d very desirable contacts and personal acquaintance even among the highest of German dignitaries was undeniably instrumental in securing favor for the idea of Slovakia'~ independence. His personal integrity and his indefatigable efforts in behalf of his country, as posthumously appraised by the German press and attested to by hundreds of telegrams of condolence, won sympathetic response even in the highest levels of political power in Bonn and presaged ultimate success for the Slovak cause. It was primar ily for this reason that the foes of the Slovak nation and of the Slovak effort to attain national independence decided to liquidate cernak. THE POLITICAL MESSAGE OF MATO$ CERNA K cernak was felled in the heat of the national struggle. H e died with a conviction of Slovak truth, confident in the ultimate victory of the natural right of the Slovak p eople to enjoy their proper national life. He consummated his own supremf sacrifice in the spirit of his motto "To liberty through sacrifice" and he signed his political credo with his own life's blood. It is n ot difficult nor will be difficult to ascertain what would have been the final political message of cernak. �SLOVAKIA 41 He wrote it in 1938 in terms of his adamant resistance to compromise, his steadfastness and his patriotic ardor. You can find it recorded in hundreds of his articles and political manifestoes, in his life-long political career and in his heroic martyrdom . In the ranks of Slovak political figures, personages who have gone before us in death, cernak takes his place as the representative of a new political generation, one which has sought and which still seeks a solution of the Slovak problem on a broader European basis within the cadre of modern democratic and Christian powers. For his political mission in exile, Matus cernak was better prepared. than were most Slovaks, and by his educational background and his professional experience as well as by his personal endowments and characteristics he satisfactorily evidenced a Slovak; sense of balance and maturity and fitness for life. He also exemplified Slovakia's innate belonging to Europe and to European traditions. The most substantial and eloquent proof of his adequacy to fill the role he chose in the fight for a democratic and independent Slovakia is his very assassination, the tragic bomb which the antagonists of a Christian and independent Slovakia sent him. THE SLOVAK LEAGUE OF AMERICA is an AMERICAN INSTITUTION; it was organized May 26, 1907, at Cleveland, 0., by the Rev. Stephen Furdek. THE SLOVAK LEAGUE OF AMERICA heartily commends all efforts of our governmental and other organs to ferret out and unmask all Communists and fellow travellers, as well as all persons and organizations who wittingly or unwittingly give aid and comfort to the conspiracy of Communism promoted by the Soviet Union. � 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 1970, Vol. 20 Description An account of the resource Vol. 20 (No. 43), 1970. 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 1970 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 35 The Politica] }\Iessage of l\'Iat(1s (:ernak By Dr. Jozef Kirschbaum On July 5. 1955 Matus cernak, a distinguished Slovak politician and diplomat, was assassinated in Munich, Germany. Forces rabid in opposing Slovak effort to secure to establish an independent Slovakia could have hardly struck a mere telling blow than was this dastardly attack, for by it they removed from active service an esteemed patriot, this cernak of whom it may be said that of all national movers currently in exile, he must closely approximated what relatively speaking, we might designate as the position of a non-accredited legate of the Slovak nation to the republic of Western Germany. And to him as such were paid final tributes and honors in death not only by the officials of that government but by the chancellor of Western Germany himself who expressed deep sympathy on the occasion of cernak's tragic death. In Germany Matus cernak signalized himself beyond his office as a deserving politician and diplomat. It was due mostly to his untiring diligence and interest that two noteworthy publications continued to appear after the departure of Dr . Jozef Pauco; viz., SLOBODNE SLOVENSKO (Free Slovakia, founded by Dr. Pauco ) and SLOWAKISCHE KORRESPONDENZ. Concern for the social wellbeing of hundreds of Slovak refugees who arrived in Germany alw came to devolve upon cernak, and his name is very closely associated with the Slovak Institute in Munich. Even this meager cut-and-dry survey of his major activities in exile yields us the realization that the foul political murder, which so unexpectedly wrested Matus cernak from our midst, is to all the Slovaks in the free world and to the struggle for a democratic independent Slovakia a much greater loss and a much more significant incident than we had appraised and accounted it in the earliest hours of our grief. After the cernova massacre of 1907, the murder of Stefanik in 1919 and of Dr. Jozef Tiso 36 SLOVAKI A in 1947, the attack of July 5, 1955 will be recorded in Slovak national annals as a historica lly vital event. The death of Matus Cernak marks not merely the passing of another exiled Slovak diplomat and patriot who dedicated all his mind and heart to the struggle to liberate Slovakia from ·commun ism and the Czech yoke. Matus Cerna.k's previous political backgrou nd, his personal characte r and talents, his uncompr omising doggedne ss and his tireless and successfu l activities within the territory of one of the most decisive powers affecting the fate of Slovakia -all this contribu ted tc make Cernak indispens able to the current state of our political efforts as well as a symbol for posterity . WHO WAS MATOS CERN.AK Matus Cernak was born on August 28, 1903 in the town of Vieska where his father was a miller. After his prelimin ary educatio n in Prievidza , Kezmaro k, and Banska Bystrica, he undertoo k universit y studies in Prague and subseque ntly in Leipzig, Germany . His courses were orientated toward a professor ship. Having attained his diploma, he spent several years in teaching at Trnava, and in 1930 he became a high school instructo r i.n Bratislav a. Until 1937 Cernak devoted himself almost exclusive ly to academic pursuits and to cultural interests. He was, however, one of the younger element, a member of that youthful and vitally consciou s generatio n of Slovaks who in the 1932 demonst rations at Trencian ske Teplice gave Prague incontrov ertible evidence of the fact that the spiritual and political developm ent of Slovakia will follow native inspirati on and bent and will not be trammele d by constrain ing directive s from Prague. As a youthful patriot, then, Cernak naturally found himself ah active participa nt in various political demonst rations supportin g Slovakia 's interests and deserts. It was the temper of the times that shaped his destiny. He made more and more public appearan ces and spirited pronounc ements but after his patriotic manifest o delivered in the Slovak National Theater in 1937, Cernak was overnigh t not only projected into popular acclaim but was also irrevocab ly commite d to his role as an outstand ing SLOVAKIA 37 leader in the political arena. The keynote of his message on this occasion was "Ours is that portion of land beneath the Tatra and to us rightfully belongs all its yield." This cry and justification came to echo from innumerable speaker's platforms and it blazed its appeal throughout all the press houses of Slovakia. Within a year after this induction into public national life, Matus Cerrnik, despite his youthful thirty-five years, became a minister in the Prague government. Prague, long accustomed to an accord of fawning subservience and servility on the part of those to whom she had granted political ministries and various similar offices, soon realized that this Cernak who accepted a ministerial portfolio came as a representative of a new generation. H e was not a hireling. He was a public servant who bore the concerns of the Slovak nation deep in his heart, one to be touched neither by bribes nor by intimidation. He was upright as well as fearless and his attitude was undisguised . He understood that it served no purpose to temporize with the Czechs ; consequently, he had hardly established himself in his new office when, mincing no words, he demanded as by a 24-hour ultimatum that Dr. Benes examine the Slovak problem in the spirit of the Pittsburgh , Pact; i. e., Cerrn'i.k sought to activate Slovakia's autonomy as it had been guaranteed by the Czechs when Thomas G. Masaryk signed the Pittsburgh Pact in 1918 and the unreserved ratification of the Parliament convened on November 12, 1918 had made the agreement binding both legally and morally. Benes was unwilling to meet Cerna.k's terms. Manfully and honorably, Cernak offered his resignation from ministerial duties and his decisive action hastened Slovakia's autonomy and later her complete independence. In the autonomous state of Slovakia (October 6, 1938 - March 14, 1939 ) 0 ernak became a prominent and popular personality. He was named minister of education and after the proclamation of independence, he was appointed the first Slovak envoy to Berlin. Berlin was not only the most significant, it was also tbe most difficult ambassadorial post. The very existence of the Slovak republic often hung by a hair there, and the Slovak diplomatic representative had to exercise consum- 38 SLOVAKIA mate tact while at the same time he preserved an inflexible devotion to his country and defended the interests committed to him in sacred trust. Matus cernak proved himself in this capacity. He again advanced the welfare of Slovakia with the same degree of ardor and uncompromising vigor which had characterized him formerly in Prague, and his mission was successful. So well, in fact, did he acquit himselr to his duties that he won for the Slovak cause the sympathies even of that power that came after the occupation of Germany, and in its eyes, too, he was accepted as a non-accredited envoy of the Slovak nation. Political reprisals meted out a prison sentence for Cernak, and after serving several years in Bratislava, he left Slovakia in 1948. His country was then degraded by the Communistic and Czech regimes. Cernak in exile dedicated himself to the struggle to secure a new freedom and independence for Slovakia, a sacred fight against Communism, a crusade for the triumph of democracy and liberty. For this reason, the brutal political murder of Matus Cernak, who ha.ct been favored by fate to assume in this national struggle for liberty and independence a role granted only tc heroes and to persons of uncommon historic stature, has shaken every worthy Slovak and every honorable person in the world. For in that little post office in Munich there fell at the hands of a cynical murderer and merely a member of the little Slovak nation but a wholly dedicated defender of the idea of freedom and democracy, and that at the very hour when the representatives of international Communism and of Czech imperialism were sporting the ma~k of surface smiles and pretending sugared speeches on peace and cooperation and coexistence. If the world's free press agencies, broadcasts and televised reports from Bonn to Washington, from Paris to Canada, Australia, Argentina, and all the free world circulated reports and commentaries on this despicable political crime, then it was in tribute to the victim cernak, a promoter of the ideal of freedom and democracy. Only the intervention and meddling of the forces of cowardly appeasement , of collaboration with Communism and Czechsown hatred of the Slovaks prevented the glorification SLOVAKIA 39 of this sacrifice of Matus cernak as· a price demanded by the true instinct of Communism and of Czech chauvinism. Their malice alone precluded the hailing of Matus cern.ak as a martyr to the cause of liberty and democracy, blessings cherished by the universal free world. This honor Matus cernak fully deserves. Slovak nation and all loyal Slovaks now exiled and scattered throughout the far-flung countries of the free world can appraise this holocaus~ of Matus cernak in its full historic significance. WHY WAS MATO$ CERNAK SLAIN? Matus cernak fell because he was the foe of Communism and of Czech efforts to dominate Slovakia and to usurp her rights. He was singled out as one of the most unyielding exponents of the principle of liberty and a democratic way for Slovakia. For these reasons he became marked as a sworn enemy of the dual powers of international Communism and of Czech aggressive pretensions. Because he had already established a record of several years of successful service on the Slovak political front which has been in the recent past and which will very likely in the near future again be a paramount importance in the Slovak contest for liberty and independence, not only Communistic Prague but also the adherents of there-established Czech hegemony over Slovakia ranked him as the number one man on their list of resistance leaders active in exile to thwart their nefarious designs. He fell because of his love for Slovakia suffering under Czech domination, because of his friendly attitude toward the German nation, and because of the fruitful mission he was accomplishing in the Republic of Western Germany where he had all the prospects of continuing an eminently flourishing career. Whether the base assassin will be discovered as an individual or not, it is unmistakably clear to every thinking person just whose henchmen he must have been and in whose employ he accomplished his ambushed bloody deed. Since 1945 so great a number of outstanding Slovak patriots has been killed, deported anq deprivea of liberty that doubt concerning the mastermind of this vicious 40 SLOVAKIA crime would hardly be in place. Czechs, both of the Communist water-mark and non-Communist conformers, especially those who in the wake of unsuccessful collaboration with Communism escaped into the countries of western Europe, live in abnormal fears bred by guilt, the spawn of those crimes they perpetrated against Sudeten and Carpathian Germans. Their panic mounts as they see Germany now in the ascendancy as one of the influential nations in international politics. To both classes of Czechs it is clear that the existence of the Czecho-Slovak Republic, the question of Czech boundaries and conditions affecting the principles of life for the Czech nation in the future will come to depend in no small measure and in no negligible way on Germany and on this decisive factor whether or not Slovakia will succeed in winning the suppor t of influential powers which will further her endeavor for independence. Matus c ernak with over 15 years of residence in Germany an d very desirable contacts and personal acquaintance even among the highest of German dignitaries was undeniably instrumental in securing favor for the idea of Slovakia'~ independence. His personal integrity and his indefatigable efforts in behalf of his country, as posthumously appraised by the German press and attested to by hundreds of telegrams of condolence, won sympathetic response even in the highest levels of political power in Bonn and presaged ultimate success for the Slovak cause. It was primar ily for this reason that the foes of the Slovak nation and of the Slovak effort to attain national independence decided to liquidate cernak. THE POLITICAL MESSAGE OF MATO$ CERNA K cernak was felled in the heat of the national struggle. H e died with a conviction of Slovak truth, confident in the ultimate victory of the natural right of the Slovak p eople to enjoy their proper national life. He consummated his own supremf sacrifice in the spirit of his motto "To liberty through sacrifice" and he signed his political credo with his own life's blood. It is n ot difficult nor will be difficult to ascertain what would have been the final political message of cernak. SLOVAKIA 41 He wrote it in 1938 in terms of his adamant resistance to compromise, his steadfastness and his patriotic ardor. You can find it recorded in hundreds of his articles and political manifestoes, in his life-long political career and in his heroic martyrdom . In the ranks of Slovak political figures, personages who have gone before us in death, cernak takes his place as the representative of a new political generation, one which has sought and which still seeks a solution of the Slovak problem on a broader European basis within the cadre of modern democratic and Christian powers. For his political mission in exile, Matus cernak was better prepared. than were most Slovaks, and by his educational background and his professional experience as well as by his personal endowments and characteristics he satisfactorily evidenced a Slovak; sense of balance and maturity and fitness for life. He also exemplified Slovakia's innate belonging to Europe and to European traditions. The most substantial and eloquent proof of his adequacy to fill the role he chose in the fight for a democratic and independent Slovakia is his very assassination, the tragic bomb which the antagonists of a Christian and independent Slovakia sent him. THE SLOVAK LEAGUE OF AMERICA is an AMERICAN INSTITUTION; it was organized May 26, 1907, at Cleveland, 0., by the Rev. Stephen Furdek. THE SLOVAK LEAGUE OF AMERICA heartily commends all efforts of our governmental and other organs to ferret out and unmask all Communists and fellow travellers, as well as all persons and organizations who wittingly or unwittingly give aid and comfort to the conspiracy of Communism promoted by the Soviet Union.  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Political Message of Matúš Černák Description An account of the resource Dr. Jozef Kirschbaum Slovakia, Vol. 20 (No. 43), 1970 pp. 35-41 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Kirschbaum, Jozef M., 1913-2001 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1970 SNK https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/74e92f3c4011eb55a040b909f3f3f351.pdf d085a6846bc9f744ad30c6fda7fd224c PDF Text Text 172 SLOVAKIA DOCUMENTATION: THE POLITICAL, ECONOMIC, AND CULTURAL SITUATION IN THE SLOVAK REPUBLIC (AS OF MAY, 1995) M. Mark Stolarik (Paper Presented to the Symposium " Economies in Transition: Europe to the Bering Strait, University of Montana, Missoula, May 1, 1995) 1 It is difficult to paint a clear picture of contemporary Slovakia because this newly-independent country is still undergoing rcvo1utionary changes at all levels of society due to the collapse of Communism in 1989. Since there is no model for the Slovaks ( or other states of East Central Europe) to follow in the transition from totalitarian Communism to democratic Capitalism. the current Slovak government is proceeding slowly and cautiously in this direction, amid much criticism. My observations arc based on official and unofficial visits to Slovakia in the last five years, on ' This paper was supposed to have been published as a part of the Proceedings by the organizers of the symposium. Since the Proceedings never saw the light of day. the author clecicled to publish the article in Slovakia because it an:urately reflected the political. economic and cultural situation in 1995 Slovakia. It should be react as a document of its time. �SLOVAKIA 173 my reading of a portion of the Slovak and western press, on reports issued by Radio Free Europe and the Voice of America, and on long discussions with various government officials, who have asked to remain anonymous . The political situation in the Slovak Republic is the most problematic. The Parliament (officially called the National Council of the Slovak Republic) consists of a unicameral legislature of 150 deputies who are elected to a four-year term on the basis of proportional representation. Slovakia has over 50 political parties but only seven of them (or party coalitions) are currently represented in Parliament. In order to run in an election, each new party must first obtain 10,000 certified signatures on a petition, and then must win at least 5% of the votes in order to obtain a seat. Party coalitions must win at least 10% of the vote. The seats are apportioned according to the percentage of votes won by each party .2 The elections held on September 30-October I, 1994, produced no clear winner, as is usual in a proportional representative system. Slovakia is currently governed by a coalition consisting of the left-of-center Movement for a Democratic Slovakia led by Vladimir Mcciar, which won 35% of the popular vote. or 61 scats; by the pro-communist Association of Workers of Slovakia led by Jan r.uptak. which won 7.3% of the vote and 13 scats: and the ultra-nationalist Slovak National Party led by Jan Slota. which won 5 .4% of the vote and 9 scats in Parliament. This coalition ended up with a grand total of 83 scats, although in April I 99 5 three members of the Association of Workers of Slovakia split with their leader and they reduced the coalition's voting majority 1 For more details on the electoral process in the Slovak Republic sec "The Con- stitution of the Slovak Republic." in Albert P. Blaustein & Gisbert H. Flanz. eds .. Constitution.~ of the Countries of the World (Dobbs Fe1Ty. New York: Oceana Publications. Inc .. 1993). 84-88 . �SLOVAKJA 174 to 80 seats. The oppos1t1on consists of the left-wing coalition Common Choice led by Peter Weiss, with 10.4 % of the popular vote or 17 seats; the Coalition of Magyar Parties led by Miklos Ouray, with 10.2% of the vote or 16 seats ; the right-wing Christian Democratic Movement led by Jan Carnog ursky , with I 0 . 1°4, of the votes or 16 seats; and the centrist Democratic Union of Slovakia led by Jozef Moravcik, with 8.6% of the vote or 13 seats.' Current Slovak politics is dominated by one strong leader who seems determined to undercut, by whatever means possible, other political leaders, many of whom are his former friends and associates . Prime Minister Vladimir Meciar, who is an attorney by training , and who supported the reforms of Alexander Dubcek in the 1960's, was purged from the ruling Communist Party in 1970 , and later became a corporate lawyer near the city of Trencfn . He entered politics in 1990, when the ruling Public Against Violence , the group of intellectuals which took power from the Communists in Slovakia in November of 1989, advertized for the position of Minister of the Interior of the post-communist Slovak Republic . Mr. Meciar won the competition and allegedly used his control over the Interior Ministry to both discover the past sins of his opponents, and to cover up those of his supporters . After the 3 "S lovakia's voters again turn to pugnacio us fom1er PM ." The Globe and Ma il (Toronto). October 3. 1994. The official election results were communicated to all embassies of the Sl ovak Rep ubli c by a "Tlacovy telegram MZY SR pre zahranicnu dipl omatich1 sluzbu SR." on October 3. 1994. of wh ich I have a copy. Fur an analysis of the results see Martin Yotruba's "S lovak News" (mimeogra phed). Slovak Studies Program. University of Pittsburgh. Sept. 27-Oct. 2. 1994. A much later analysis by Michael J. Kopanic. Jr.. including the creation of the coalition. appeared as "The Recent Elections in Slovakia." in Association for th e Study of NMion.1/ities: A nalysis of Current Eve nts. 6 (No.9. May. 1995). 1-3. For the split in the Association of Workers in Slovakia see Narodmi obroda, April 4. 1995 . �SLOVAKIA 175 Public Against Violence won the largest percentage of the vote in the June elections of 1990, it selected Mr. Meciar to become Prime Minister of the Slovak Republic , which at that time was still a part of the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic. While in this post, Mr. Meciar allegedly joined with others in slowing or manipulating the process of investigating (" lustracny proces" in Slovak) whether or not high government officials had collaborated with, or served as agents. of the dreaded communist secret p olice. He also increasi ngly argued with the presidium of the Public Against Violence, and its coalition partner, the Christian Demo4 cratic Movement, over government policy . Even though Mr. Meciar is very intelligent, 1s an excellent speaker, has a photographic memory, and radiates charisma wherever he goes, he appears to have what is colloquially known as a "type A" personality. In other words, he feels that he has to be in complete control of any situation, he seldom seeks advice, and is not very tol erant of criticism. He prefers to be surrounded by "yes ' For a brief biography or Mci'iar sec Kto Jc kto na S/ovensku. 199 P ( Ko nzo rci u111 Encyk lopcd ia: Bratislava. 199 I ). I 14- 15: The allegations ;:igainst Meci;:ir were 111adc by his political oppone nts in the Slovak Parlia111cnt's Defense and Security Co111111ittec on November 7. 1991 . cf. ··'Secret Report' Clai111s Meciar KGB Connections:· Foreign Bmadcast ln fonna tion Service (Washington. D.C.. hereafter FBIS). November 13. 1991. p.1 4: and summarized by Jan Obrman ··S lo vak Politician Accused or Secret Police Tics:· R adio Free Europe I R adio Liberty Rese.irch R eport (hereafter R FEIRL R ese.irch R eport ). Apri l 10. 1992 . Sec also ··Meciar Proposes Repeal or Screening Law:· CTK. December 21. I 99 3 . Two highly -placed public servants in the Slovak government. one or whom worked in the Office or the Pri111c Minister for both Mr. Mci': iar. and hi s predecessors. recently repeated these allegations to 111e. Since they fear for their jobs. the se public servants have asked me to keep secret their names. and the circu mstances or our 111cetings. At this time it is impossible to confinn. or disprove. these allegations since the ril es of the fonner secret police. which are in Prague. arc not open to the public . �SLOYAKJA 176 men" .5 Since the governing coalition Presidium was also composed of some very strong personalities, who opposed Mr. Meciar's attempts to become Chairman of the Public Against Violence in March of 1991, they decided to remove him from his Prime Ministerial post in April of that year. The Presidium replaced Mr. Meciar with Jan Carnogursky, an attorney and former Catholic dissident during the communist regime, who was also the founder and Chairman of the Christian Democratic Movement. 6 Mr. Meciar, and his most loyal supporters, subsequently withdrew from the Public Against Violence, which later fell apart, and they created the Movement for a Democratic Slovakia, which won the largest percentage of the votes in the June, 1992 elections . 7 In the next two years Mr. Meciar reached the height of his glory, but also suffered the humiliation of defeat. It was Mr. Meciar who in the summer of 1992, as Slovak Prime Minister, negotiated with Czech Prime Minister Vaclav Klaus the dissolution 5 This observation is based on my reading of the Slovak press. on observing Mr. Mcciar delivering a po litical address in Nitra in August. 1993. on a pri va tc meeting that I had with him in September. 1993. and on several discussions that I had with Mr. Igor Uhrfk. The latte r is a fervent Slovak nationali st who sold his successful industrial-insurance business in New York city in 1992 and returned to Slovakia to ··help o ut" in 1993. He contributed 1,000.000 Slovak crowns to the Slovak National Pa11y. was made vicc-Chainnan of the Party. and later be came a principal advisor to the Minister of Privatization of the Slovak govern ment (as a volunteer). After Mr. Meciar's return to power in the fall of 1994. and a split in the Slovak National Party. among other things. Mr. Uhrfk became disgusted with Slovak politics and returned to the United States . " Kto je kto na S/ovensk11 1991 '.'. 190. 7 Jiri Pchc, ··s1ovak Nationalists Agitate for more Autonomy. Oppose Radical Pri vatizatio n." RFEIRL Research R eport. March 20. I 991: '"50,000 rally after Slovak leader fired," New York Times. April 24, I 99 I. A9: For more details sec Robert A. Young. The Breakup of Czechas/avakia (Kingston: Queen 's Uni vcrs ity. Insti tute of Intergovernmental Relati ons. Research Paper #3 2. 1994 ). 5. IO - J6. �SLOVAKIA 177 of the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic, and it was Mr. Meciar who proudly stood at the helm of the newly-independent Slovak Republic on January 1, 1993. Even though Mr. Meciar was not initially a nationalist, he shrewdly perceived that Slovak nationalism was the strongest single force in post-Communist CzechoSlovakia, and by 1992 he and his followers had firmly embraced this movement. 8 Slovak nationalism, however, was not enough to save Mr. Meciar from himself. He suffered his second major political defeat when the Slovak Parliament in February 1993 elected, not the physician Roman Kovac , the preferred candidate of Mr. Meciar's party for President of the Republic, but rather the fom1er Minister of Finance Michal Kovac .9 Much to Mr. Meciar's surprise, the latter refused to become a mere figurehead and instead took his duties as President quite seriously, to the point of attacking Mr. Meciar in the Slovak Parliament for alleged dictatorial tendencies in March of 1994. Meanwhile, Mr. Meciar had lost the confidence of several of his key allies and supporters, including Milan Knazko, his former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jozef Moravcfk, the subsequent Minister of Foreign Affairs, and two Deputy Prime Ministers, including Roman Kovac and I.:udovft Cernak, the latter '"Talks fail: Czechoslovakia dose to breakup. " Ottawa Citizen. June 9. 1992 : "Leaders start negotiations on splitting Czechoslovakia." The Globe and Mail. June 17. 1992: "Who Split Czechoslovakia'?" The New York Times. September 24. 1992. A29: "Parliament approves Czech-Slovak split." The Globe and Mail. November 26. 1992. "Fireworks. Tears and Doubt in Slovakia." The New York Times.January I. 1993. Al4: sec also Sabrina Petra Ramct. "The Reemergence of Slovakia." Nationalities Papers. 22 (No. I. Spring. 1994). I07 - 112 . '' "Havel elected first president of Czech Republic: Slovaks to hold runoff after vote rebuffs Prime Minister's candidate." The Globe and Mail. January 27. I 993 , A6: "Ex-Communist Chosen President of Slovakia." The New York Times. February 16. 1993. A7. �178 SLOVAKIA his coalition partner from the Slovak National Party! The net result was a parliamentary vote of no-confidence in Mr. Meciar and his party, his third political defeat, and his loss of power for a second time. Most of his former allies in the MOS, who abandoned him, joined Jozef Moravcfk's centrist Democratic Union of Slovakia. From March to October of 1994, a left-right coalition headed by Prime Minister Jozef Moravcfk ruled Slovakia. 111 For these reasons, ever since his election victory of 1994, and his subsequent return to power, Mr. Mcciar has tried to topple the President of the Slovak Republic and to destroy the Democratic Union of Slovakia. Between October and December of 1994 Mr. Meciar looked for coalition partners who would join him in his campaign against the President but had to settle for the two coalition partners mentioned above, who assured him of a voting majority in the Parliament, but not enough votes (90) to remove the President. Since he could not muster the votes to remove the President, he decided to try to strip him of some of his legal powers. For example, in April of 1995 Mr. Mcciar prevailed upon the Slovak Parliament to transfer from the President to the Prime Minister the right to appoint the Chief of Slovakia's Security Intelligence Service (the successor to the Secret Policc). 11 1 " .. Broad Coaliti on to govern Slovakia." The Globe and Mail. March 15 . 1994 . For the viewpoints of the two protagonists regarding the reasons for their fal - ling out see --sprava o stave Slovenskej republiky prednesena prezidentom SR Michalom Kovacom v Naroclncj radc SR dna 8.3.1994" and .. Prcjav predscdu vlady Slovcnskej republiky Yladimfra Mcciara na 27. sch6dzi NR SR di\a 11.3. 1994." published in a special issue of Republika (Bratis lava.March. I 9. 1994 ). I 5pp. For a legal interpretation of this struggle sec Spencer Zifcak ...The Battle over Presidential Power in Slovakia," Slovakia. 36 ( 1998). 70-80. For a profile of the Moravcfk government and its policies sec --cTK Profiles New Cabinet Members" in FB/S,March 17. 1994.4- 12 and --Text of Policy Statement of Slovak Government," FBIS. April 25. 1994, 16-30. 11 "Je Lexa v NR SR. v SIS. alebo v Iese?" Sme (Bratislava). April 26. 199 5. �179 SLOVAKIA Meanwhile, Mr. Meciar charged that the Democratic Union of Slovakia had not gathered the necessary 10,000 signatures before the elections of 1994. If he could prove his charge, then the DU members of Parliament would be stripped of their seats and Mr. Meciar would by default have the three-fifths of the votes necessary to remove the President. Unfortunately for Mr. Meciar, the Slovak Constitutional Court, headed by Milan Cic, the first Prime Minister of the post-communist Slovak Republic, and a former friend of Mr. Meciar, upheld the validity of the 10,000 signatures obtained by the DU before the 1994 elections. This did not stop Mr. Meciar from having his 80 supporters in Parliament pass a motion of " no confidence" in the President on May 5th, and in ordering the Slovak police to check on the validity of the l 0,000 signatures by visiting the homes of the signatories, and in the process harassing supporters of the DU. 12 Mr. Mcciar has also had his difficulties with the press . While he was out of office in 1994, the previous coalition government supported full freedom of the press , including radio and televi sion, and appointed boards of directors who were likewise inclined. Very few of these individuals were supporters of Mr. Mcciar. Once he returned to power in December of 1994 (it took him over two months to put together a coalition), Mr. Meciar began to fire the old boards of directors of radio and television (which arc still state-controlled), and to replace them \.Vith his own people. These , in turn , cancelled certain satiric television programs which had made fun of Mr. Meciar. As a result, there have been several mass-demonstrations in Bratislava against Mr. Meciar's alleged attempts to control the mass-media. Therefore, while television and radio commentators have ceased to lampoon 11 Zifcak. op.cit.. p.70; ··overovanie podpisov na harkoch DU je porusenie peticneho prava obcanov." Srne. May 23 . 1995 . �SLOVAKIA 180 Mr. Meciar, the print media, which 1s largely privatized , is still very critical of him . 13 The economic situation in Slovakia, meanwhile, is improving. Slovakia did not slide into a deep depression after it became independent, as some Western pundits had predicted . Instead, after some uncertainty in 1993, its economy grew by a spectacular 4.8% in 1994 and its budget deficit was a respectable 3% of GDP. Meanwhile, the Slovak crown , its basic unit of currency, was devalued by only 10% in 1993, it is convertible to hard currencies , and it remains stable. The rate of inflation also dropped from 25% in 1993 to around 11. 7% in 1994. Unemployment, however, remains high -14%. One of the causes of Slovak unemployment is the collapse of its heavy-arms industry, which used to serve the now-defunct Warsaw Pact and its allies world-wide. Converting this arms industry into something more useful remains a major challenge to the government of the Slovak Republic. 13 14 Re uter, December 16. 1994, as reported by Martin Votruba in Slovak News. December 16- 18. 1994; Jiri Pchc, .. Anti-Mcciar Rall y in Bratislava," R FEIRL Reports. Ibid., December 8- 11. In a TA SR report of May 12. 1995. Mr. Mcciar was quoted as saying that the press is free in Slovakia... but all newspapers should admit who owns them. and who pays them." impl ying that the print press in Slovakia is large ly financed by fore igners who arc hosti le to the current governme nt. The CTK on the same date quoted Juraj Veres. editor of N,irod n;i obroda (Bratislava). as agree ing that the Slovak press was still free . but th at ··the government is trying to gain contro l over the dailies:· However. he added th at lately "the go vernment has been backing down ." For Mr. Mci:iar's earlier problems with the press sec Jan Obnuan ...The Slovak Government vers us the Media." RFEIRL Research R eport. February 5. 1993 . 14 For an example of negative reporting o n Slovakia's eco nomic future sec Step- hen Enge lberg, "New Nation. Imperiled Economy." New York Time.~. February 12. 1993. DI; for an admission that the Slovak economy is doing surprisingly well see "How the Slovaks Have Taken Flight." The Globe nncl Mail. December 5, 1994. A JO (reprinted from the Wall Street Jo urnal); and --standard and Poors o Slovensk u." Sme. April 7. 199 5. �181 SLOVAKJA Indeed, converting the whole system from a command economy to a form of private enterprise remain s the major problem for the Slovak government. U ndcr Communism the state nationalized all the industry and the bulk of the land, it controlled all the means of production, it regulated prices, and subsidized housing , transportation and food, and created a complete welfare state with free education from pre-school through university, and free universal health-care. Unfortunately, the state enacted all these changes without the consent of the people, it enforced them through the use of police terror, and it discriminated in favour of members of the Communist Party and children of the workingclass when dispensing economic and cultural benefits. 15 Now that the Communists are no longer in charge, the various governments of Slovakia have tried to transform the economy into a form of private enterprise, as called for in the Constitution of the Slovak Republic. Since no real models exist on how to do this , n umcrous laws and regulations have been passed to try to bring it about. The first steps were taken in early 1991 when the Parliament of the C1.ech and Slovak Federal Republic passed a law for the restitution of confiscated private property (chiefly land). While some former landowners were delighted to receive their land back, most young people in Slovakia showed no interest in working it. The amount of land seized from individual families by the Communists had been small in the first place, and most young ' ' The literature on this subject is vast. For two co ncise a11iclcs that deal with most of this period sec Robert K. Evanson. ··Regime and Working Class in Czechoslovakia. 1948- 1%8." Soviet Studies. 37 (Nn. 2. 1985 ). 248-68; and by the same author "Political Repressi o n in Czechoslovakia. Slavonic Pi1pcrs. 28 (No. I. 1986). 1-21. 1948- 1984." Canadian �182 SLOVAKJA people have no intention of becoming smallholding • peasants 16 agam . Managers, officials, and many workers on collective and state farms , on the other hand , wish to preserve these institutions. Since collectives and state farms provide their employees with a guaranteed income, regular hours, easy work, and many opportunities for theft, the employees are loath to see such farms disappear. Such employees are among the pillars of support that Mr. Meciar can count on during elections. 17 The various churches of Slovakia, meanwhile, especially the Roman and Greek Catholic Churches, which were singled out for persecution by the Communists, have had much of their confiscated property returned . In l 991-92 the federal government returned most of the buildings that the Communists had seized from religious orders, and in the fall of l 993 Mr. Meciar's government returned most of the buildings that had been confiscated from Church Dioceses. However, most church land that was confiscated and turned into state or collective farms was not returned, largely because of the opposition of the collectives. Thus , the churches continue to rely upon government support for their existence, and '" "Czechoslovakia plans to return property ." Philadelphia 24, I 99 L ..Transfonn:icia pornohospod:irstva Inquirer. February a rcstitucie:· Pr.ic:.i (Bra ti slava). May 31. 1993; "Refonns Alter the Landscape or Czechoslovakia's Fanning ." New Y ork Times, June 4, I 99 L Milan Svec, "Czechoslovakia's Velvet Di vorce." Current Hist ory (November. I 992 ). 377; and discussions with the tw o public servants mentioned above in footnote 3. 17 "Who voted for Whom'1" (a poll conducted by the Slovak Research Office). as reported by Martin Yotruba in Slovak News. 7-9 October. 1994. p.4. The o bservatio ns abo ut state fam1s and collectives were made by the two public servants mentioned above. On many occasions when I visited Slovakia in the era of Communism. I also discussed collectives and state fanns with some of my relatives. who worked at such institutions. They detalied the many kinds of theft possible at state farms and collectives. �183 SLOVAKIA from a North American perspective, this . I8 S h Ip . IS an unhealthy relation- Meanwhile, the federal Parliament also passed the "small privatization" Act of J 990 concerning small business. This Act enabled a few thousand entrepreneurs to borrow money from banks to establish small retail businesses such as travel agencies, restaurants, bakeries, grocery stores, computer stores, and various skilled trades. These kinds of enterprises are flourishing all over Slovakia. 19 A little later the federal Parliament passed another Act that concerned itself with the privatization of large industries, the socalled "large privatization." This would involve all except the most strategic industries such as atomic energy, natural gas, transportation, the arms industry and so on . However, since the government did not wish its large industries to be bought by foreigners, and since most of the citizens of the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic did not have the wealth tn purchase these industries outright, the government decided to enact a "coupon privati1.ation." By this plan , every citi1.cn over the age of 18 was entitled to buy a privatization coupon for J .000 C1.echoslovak crowns (Kcs), and then invest it in the company of his choice. The " For the story of the persecution of the churches in Slovakia sec Theodoric J. Zubek. The Church of Silence in Slovakia (Whi ting. IN: John J. Lach. 1956). and Michal Lacko. "The Forced Liquidation of the Union of Uzhorocl." Slovak Studies. I (1961). 145-85: for the story of the underground church in Slovakia under Communism sec "Secret Bishop." and for the story of the rebuilding of the Jesuit Order sec " New Oppmtunitics in Slovakia." Company: a magazine o{ the American Jc.m ils. 8 (No. 3. Spring. 1991 ). 2-5. and 9- 11. Details of the resti tution laws passed after 1990 can be found in Sharon Fisher. "Church Restitu tion Law Passed in Slovakia." RFEIRL Rese.1rch Report. November 19. 1993 . '" "Chystiime historicky ziikon: Ekonomicka refonna konecnc dostala tviir." Niirodn,i obroda. September 5. 1990. 13: Svec. op.cit.. 377 . �184 SLOVAKIA number of shares he would receive would depend upon the value of the company. This was the first step in the creation of a stock market in the Republic. The government also decided that this process would be divided into several rounds since it involved so many industries. The first round took place while the CzcchoSlovak Federation still existed ? ' The second round of the coupon privatization was supposed to take place after Slovakia became independent. However, the government of Mr. Mcciar soon discovered that most Slovaks were not investing their coupons directly into the companies for sale, but rather were selling them to investment companies controlled by foreigners . The Meciar government did not want to allow these foreign-owned holding companies to buy up so much of Slovakia's industries, and it postponed this privatization . However, the Moravcik government, which ruled Slovakia between March and October, 1994, allowed this privatization to continue . Then, when Mr. Meciar returned to power in the fall of 1994, he halted the privatization again. At the end of March, 1995 the government of Mr. Meciar decided to allow half of this coupon privatization to proceed, but he reserved the other half for potential Slovak buyers, most of whom arc in fact the managers of these industries . These managers allegedly neglected the upkeep of their factories and, therefore, their value has declined. Thus, if this privatization continues, the managers of these factories stand to make a lot of money once the value of their factories goes up again. Mr. Meciar's enemies have charged that these managers arc in league with Mr. Mcciar, that they arc all former Communists, and that they provide him with financial support. Mr. Meciar's supporters, on the other hand, charge that the proponents of the 1 " "A Divorce that Could Save the Czech Economy," The Wall Street Journal. March 11. 1991 ; Svec. op. cit.. 377 . �SLOVAKIA 185 strict coupon privatization are in leag ue with Mr. Moravcik and . financially support the opposition parties. Neutral observers have told me that both sides arc guilty of profiteering from this privatization process , and the greed and corruption involved goes a long way toward s explaining the bitterness of current Slovak politics. Also, because Mr. Meciar reduced the number of businesses to be privati1.ed in half, that is, from an estimated value of 80 billion Sk to 40 billion Sk, the 3.2 million holders of pri vatization coupons in the Slovak Republic witnessed a drop in the value of their coupons from 24,000 Sk to 12,000 Sk by March of 1995. Forty deputies of the Slovak Parliament then approached the Constitutional Court in Kosicc to protest against Law No . 340/ J 994, which had halted the coupon privatization on November 3-4, 1994, a nd the Constitutional Court decided in their favour. It then o rdere d the Slovak Parliament to re-write the law so that it would no t violate individuals' rights to private property as guaranteed by th e Slovak Constitution . Mr.Meciar's reaction was to propose that the privatization coupons be exchanged for government bo nd s, which could be redeemed for 10,000 Sk, or held for their interest, or used to purchase shares in companies. Most opposition deputies denounced this suggestion as ··theft" from the coupon-holders . 21 The average citizen. meanwhile, has had to tighten his belt several notches since the fall of Communism. While the gove rnment still controls the price o f electricity, transportation. fuel and basic " Smc. Apri l 6. 1995: "Privatizacny zakon nie je v s11lade s ustavou SR." TA SR. May 25 . 1995: "V . Meciar o novej kuponovej privatiz,icii ." Smc. June 8. 1995: "Anketa Sme:• Smc. June 8. 1995. Once again . the two public servants. cited above. ex plained the complexity of this iss ue to me. Dr. Juraj Svec. the Recto r of Comenius University in Bratislava. and a member of Parliament for the DU. confinned their analysis when he visited with me o n March 26. 1995. �186 SLOYAKJA foodstuffs, it has decided to provide smaller subsidies for these goods or services and, therefore, it has raised their prices dramatically in the last four years . Thus, while a streetcar ride used to cost a mere one crown, it now costs five ; while gasoline used to cost seven crowns a litre, it now costs nineteen. And, while a liter 22 of milk used to cost two crowns, it now costs twclvc . Wages, of state employees, on the other hand, have not kept up with the rise in prices. While members of the Slovak Parliament voted themselves hefty pay increases in the summer of 1993 (from 10,000 Sk to 25,000 Sk per month), ordinary state employees do not share in this largesse. Indeed, the wage-structure of state employees is still very Communist. Thus , a physician starting his career receives only 4,000 Sk, which is less than the wage of the average truck-driver! As a result, physicians in Slovakia recently demanded a 200% wage increase, and threatened to go on strike if they did not receive it. Teachers and professors are s1m1larly und erpaid , with the former receiving 5,000 Sk and the latter 8,600 Sk. Even though Mr. Mcciar promised during the last election campaign, among other things, to double teachers' salaries , " Interviews with the the two public servan ts cited above. plus my ow n observations on visits to Slovakia in the summers or 1990. 1991. 1992. I ()9J and 1994. In May of 1990 I visi ted Slovak ia as a delegate of the Slovak League of Ame ri ca. wh ich had come on a ••fact -finding" mission. This was an offi cial mis sio n. spo nsored by the governme nt of the Slovak Republic. It was the first official visi t of the Slovak Leag ue since 1938. whe n the first de legati on of th e League brought to Slovakia the original of the Pittsburgh Ag reeme nt. In 1993 I visited Slovakia as the newl y-elected president of the Canadian Slovak League. In this capaci ty I had official di scussio ns with Prime Minister Meciar and with Jan Findra, Chancellor to the President. My visits in I 991. 1992 and 1994 were for scholarly purposes - to participate in historical co nfere nces. �SLOVAKIA 187 he has thus far failed to do so. Indeed, Slovak schoolteachers are also threatening to go on strike over this issue. 23 Employees of the growing private enterprises, on the other hand , generally make much more than state employees. For instance, clerks in private banks earn 10,000-15,000 crowns a month. Accountants and computer programmers in private firms make up to 20,000 Sk per month. And attorneys, who were among the first to privatize in the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic , arc among the highest-paid professionals in Slovakia. Finally, growing numbers of entrepreneurs have become millionaires many times over. and some of these 'nouveau-riche' flaunt their wealth with expensive western cars, clothes, and other consumer goods. They have provoked increasing resentment among state employees, whose salaries have remained far behind the increase in the cost of consumer goods and scrviccs. 24 The price of housing has also skyrocketed . Under Communism, if one had the right connections, one could obtain a beautiful villa in the hills overlooking Bratislava and the Danube river officially for about 250,000 Kcs (and unofficially, that is, with an additional under-the-table payment of 250.000 Kcs). Now these villas cost anywhere from 2,000,000 to 20,000.000 Sk. Similarly, state and co-op apartments, which usually consist of only three rooms plus a small kitchen and tiny bath, are commanding premium prices. The co-op apartments, where one purchased the 11 Smc. April 6. 1995: " Pricskum ukaza l. zc vysc 70% lckarov jc oc ho tnych vs tupit' dn st rajku." Smc. April 26 . 1995: " Skolstvo dostane 530 mili6nov ." Smc. May 14. 1995 : "Ultimatum lckarnv na zvyscnic platov o 200% vyprsalo. strajkovat' sa asi ncbudc." Sme. May 15. 1995 : ··Pricmern,i mzda v skolstve nad'alcj ncjasna." Smc. June 8. 1995: and discussions with the two public servants cited above. " Discussions with the two public servants cited above. plus personal observations from past visits to Slovakia. �188 SLOVAKIA right to live for 30,000 Kcs under Communism , can now be bought by the renters for 50,000 Sk, and can then be re-sold for anywhere between 750,000 to 1,000,000 Sk 1 Former state-ow ned apartments, meanwhile, which until recently could not be purchased were often sub-leased to others for very hig h rents. The process of their sale will soon approximate what happened with the co-op apartments. The state, meanwhile, has lost interest in providing additional ho using for the people. Various entcrpreneurs have taken over this task, and the newly-built apartments generall y sell for around 1,000,000 Sk, which is far beyond what the average Slovak can a ffo rd. 25 Health care, meanwhile, is also in a state o f transition . Before 1989, health care was universal and free. However, one received quality care only if one was either a high functionary of the Communist Party, which had its own special clinics and hospitals , with modern , western , equipment; or, if one bribed one's physician and nurse with extra money or gifts. And, exotic western drugs were usuall y not available, except to the privileged few . Many American and Canadian Slovaks remember well the pl ain tive letters that they used to receive from their unfortunate relatives in Slovakia under Communism, and how these relatives sent prescriptions for Western-made drugs, along with the addresses of pharmacies in Switzerland , which when paid in hard 21 currencies, were willing to fill these orders for them . ' 15 Ibid. 1 Milada Vachudova and Sharon Fisher. "' Health Care Crisis : The Czech and '' Slovak Republics ." RFEIRL Research Report. October 8. 1993. 44-46: and dis c ussio ns wi th friends and relatives on visits to Slovakia in 1968. 1970. 1983 and 1988 . Our fami ly in Canada used to regularly receive requests fo r western drugs. and we filled these requests th rough a willing phannacist in Switze rland . Dr. Do broslav Valik of Bry n Mawr. Pe nnsy lvani a. to ld me in Octo ber of 1992 of having tried to establish a Dental Clinic in Bratislava right after the "'Ve lve t �SLOVAKIA 189 In an effort to save money, the Slovak government is trying to privatize parts of the health-care system, but at a very slow pace. Pharmacies have all been privatized and one can now buy whatever drugs one needs. However, the state pays only for routine drugs, and not always for the full amount. The more exotic drugs, which arc now readily available, must be paid for by the patient. Dentists are also privatizing as quickly as they can, with about one-third currently being self-s upporting and ex pensive . Most physicians, however, have not yet taken the plunge and arc unlikel y to do so. Because of their poor salaries , most M.D.'s in Slovakia cannot afford to purchase the expensive equipment necessary to open an office or clinic, and they also cannot afford private liability insurance. As long as they continue to work for state-run hospitals, they do not need liability insurance, and, thu s, they continue to be state employees . And, because they continue to be underpaid , many demand extra payments or gifts if they are to provide quality care. Meanwhile, most Slovaks oppose the privatization of their health care. They want it to remain universal and free . Thus, the Mcciar government is moving slowly and cautiously in trying to reform the health-care systcm. 27 The educational system of Slovakia is also undergo ing change. Shortly after the Communists sci1.cd power the y a bolished all religious schools and put education at the service or the state. The whole system from pre-school throug h university was then statefunded and controlled. Marxism was taught as the philosophy or Revo luti o n.. of 1989. Much to his amazement. his friends from the VPN showed him the clinic for funner me mbers of the Commu nist Pa11y in Bratislava. It had all the latest western equipment one could imagine. unlike clin ics for the general public . 17 Yaduchova & Fisher. op. cit.. 48-49. a nd discussions servants cited above . with the two public �SLOVAKIA 190 the state, and all teachers had to conform or face expulsion . Higher • education was free but operated under a quota system whereby in the process of admission children o f the working-class were favoured over those of the middle or upper classes . The latter then resorted to bribery to get their children into institutions of higher learning. Meanwhile , to their credit, the Communists also established several new universities , including the full-service Safarik University in Kos ice and the College of Transportation in Zilina, among others, to satisfy the demands of an increasingly industrialized society .2x After the downfall of Communism, state-support for cd ucation continued , but not its ideological requirements . Most universities held new elections for rectors and deans , and the professors and students threw out the communist administrators . However, because most of the communist professors have tenure, the uni versities cannot get rid of them. It will take another generation before these Marxist professors reach retirement age, and arc finally replaced by a new generation of professors . And even the new generation will bo hard to find, because the wages paid to professors arc so low. Meanwhile. the quota system that favored students of working-class origins has been replaced by a 4uota " Ladi slav G resfk. --vyc hova rokoch 1956 - 1960 ." vy,o kos ko lskej inte ligencie na Sl ove nsku v Historicky i'a.rnri.~. 31 ( No .6 . 198) ). 8') 1-91 O: A 111011 Hrnko & Jozef Zatkuliak," Uni vcrzita Ko me nskc ho na rozhranf piitiles iatyc h a sestHesialyc h rokov ." Hi.~toricky t'a .r npis. 32 (No.4. I 984 ). 59J-(1 19: pe rso na l o bservati o ns fro n1 past visi ts to Slovakia. di scussio ns w ith the two pub I ic servants cited abo ve. and di sc ussio n with Rudolf Korec. Recto r of Safarik U ni versity. May. 1990. On a visit to Slovakia in the summer of 1968 I asked one of my co usins what he was studying. He replied .. Philosophy ." When I in4uired a bo ut the kind o f philosophy . he replied "'Marxism-Lcnini sm 1" His mo ther. meanw hil e . w ho was a sc hoolteac her. used to go to church in a vill age o ut s id e o f the to wn in whi ch she lived. because if she had been seen atlendin g c hurc h services in her home to wn . she would have lost her job. �SLOVAKIA 191 based on grades . Even though Slovakia today has 14 institutions of higher learning, including brand-new universities in Trnava and Banska Bystrica, it still enrolls only 18% of high sc hool grad uatcs, which is very low when compared to Western Europe or North America, which attract between 30% and 50%. Meanwhile , the state has permitted the re-establishment of religious sc hools funded by the government. However, their number remains small beca use forty years of Communism thoroughly discredited religious education , and most employees of the Ministry of Education arc still opposed to their expansion .2'> Whether or not the government decides to in vest more m higher education remains to be seen. Recent attempts to introduce tuition to cover 20% of the cost of their education have met fierc e resistance from the students. Meanwhile, the quality of university education in Slovakia is not very high, large ly because the teaching staff was cut off from the West for over 40 years , and also because universities stressed education rather than researc h. Tha t is why all the Slovak universities arc hurridly signing agreements with universities all over the Western world that provide for scholarly exchanges o f staff and students . However. it is difficult to attract top Western scholars to teach at Slovak uni versities when they can expect salaries of only $300.00 per month . Onl y true idealists have thu s far volunteered to teac h at Slovak unive rsities under such conditions. 10 ' " Disrnssion with Rudolf Korec. Rector or Safarik University in Kosice. May. 1990: discussion wi th Dean Ladislav Pauliny. Farn lty of A11s. Co menius U ni ve rsity. May. 1994: discussio n with Juraj Svec. Rec tor of Comcni us Univers it y. March 26. 1995 : and discu ssions with the two public servants cited above. '" Discussion with Juraj Svec. op.cit.. and " Pod l'a prof. M. Urbana. dost:.\vaj11 vysokc skoly v SR iba tretinu financii v porovnani s vyspelymi st:.\tmi." TA SR. May 26. 1995. �SLOVAKIA 192 Slovak culture, meanwhile, is also undergoing a radical transformation. Under Communism all cultural activities were state-financed and controlled, and all cultural output was for the sake of promoting Marxism. A Slovak Academy of Sciences, as well as Unions of writers and creative artists were founded in the early l 950's, and they operated under five-year plans . Compliant historians, writers, and creative artists not only became state employees with respectable salaries, but they also received such perks as the use of confiscated castles for meetings and vacations, and statesubsidized clubs that served good food at very low prices . As long as they toed the Party line, their books were published or their paintings and illustrations were bought by mu se ums or publishing houses, and no-one worried, for instance, about how many copies of a book were actually sold, since the government subsidized everything. On the other hand , historians , writers and creative artists could only praise Communism and denounce Capitalism. Certain key personages in Slovak history, such as the Rev. Andrej Hlinka, founder and leader of the Slovak People's Party in the first third of the twentieth century, either became "non-persons" in official publications, or else were denounced as reactionary clcrico-fascists . The past was deliberately distorted to serve the communist futurc. Those intellectuals who refused to go along with this system were persecuted by being allowed to work only at menial labour, and those who dared to openly oppose this Marxist control over culture ended up in jail. 11 .II Julius Mesaros. " Retlexie O piitaesiatych a sestl:lcsiatych rokoch." f-lis/orick f casopis. 39 (Nos. 4-5. 199 I ). 379-88: Richard Marsina. "S lovensk.i historiografia I 945- I 990." f-li storickf brnpi5. 39 (Nos .4-5. I 99 I). 370-79: and discussions with Slovak historians and writers during my visits to Slovakia between 1968 and 1994. �SLOVAKJA 193 After the collapse of Communism, most Slovak intellectuals threw off the shackles of Marxism and started to create freely, as in other countries. Freedom, however, came with a price - declining government support. The bloated Slovak Academy of Sciences (SA V) has been reduced from 7,000 members in 1989 to 3,000 in 1995. While some people have been advocating its total abolition, others have come to its defense. In recent days , certain members of Mr. Meciar's government have even advocated that the Academy be retained in its present form , and that it continue to do basic research as before, while leaving university professors to do the teaching. This Soviet model runs contrary to western traditions, whereby university professors do both research and teaching, and government-supported research is kept to a minimum. Rectors of Slovakia's universities wish to adopt the western model and arc currently negotiating with the Meciar government to try to reach a compromise on this very touchy . \1 question. Slovakia's writers. meanwhile, have had to learn to fend for themselves. Some have become entrepreneurs in the publishing industry , which has shrunk in size and has become more selective in what it accepts for publication , based upon its market potential; others have entered politics and the diplomatic service, giving these professions an unusual (in North America, at least) intellectual llair; and a third group is now dependent upon government grants to subsidize its publications. Needless to say, the compc- 11 ·-z prejavu predsedu SA V Branislava Lichardusa na slavnostnom zhromaz- denf k 40. vyrociu SAY'". Spdvy sluvcnskcj akademic vied. 30 (No. I. 1994). 35; discussion with Dr. Juraj Svec. Rector of Comenius University. March 26. I 995; and discussion with Dr. Branislav Lichardus. president of the Slovak Academy of Sciences and Ambassador of the Slovak Republic to the United States, April 22. 1995. in Washington. D.C. �SLOVAKIA 194 tition for such grants is very fierce, with only the best writers receiving support. No wonder that Slovak writers jealously g uard their perks and get very indignant when reminded that the government will not for long let them keep their castle at Budmerice, especially if some wealthy westerner offers to buy it for a large sum of money .D Slovak writers also face fierce competition from western writers. Bookstores are full of novels by westerners, especially Americans such as Stephen King (in translation), and only outstanding Slovak novels now have any chance of commercial success. This also applies to children's books , especially those published by the Walt Disney Corporation. Traditional Slovak children 's books, illustrated by Slovak graphic artists, now have to compete for the hearts and minds of Slovak children with Walt Disney characters such as Bambi and Mowgli speaking in Slovak! Unfortunately, Slovak writers also have to compete with the whole world of pornography, which is also a specialty of the West. Newspaper Kiosks in Bratislava feature as many naked women on magazine covers as one can see in Western Europe . This is another kind of price that one pays for freedom. 34 The Slovak media is also undergoing rapid change. The Slovak film industry (Koliba studios), which used to produce ten JJ Di sc ussions with the two public servants cited above. When I visited Slova- kia in the summer of 1992. I tonnented writer l.'.ubos Jurik with the suggestion th at he would soon lose his summer retreat at Budmcricc castle whe n some .. ri c h Arab sheik would offer $50.000,000 for it. " Jurik . who now works as the official spokesman fo r Dr. Ivan Gasparovic, the Speaker of the Slovak Parliament. became indignant at my suggestion. Meanwhile. the writer Anton Hykisch now serves as Ambassador of the Slovak Republic to Canada. 14 Personal observati ons based upo n my visits to Slovakia in 1990. 199 1, 1992. 1993 , 1994. The semi -monthl y KniinJ revue (Bratislava). now regularly features reviews of books published in the major western lan guages. �SLOVAKIA 195 fairly high-quality feature films per year with government subsidies in the past, now struggles to produce one a year. This industry, too, has to compete with the West, especially with Hollywood, and no country has yet succeeded in doing this. Thus, if the Slovak government wishes its film industry to continue to exist, it will have to continue to subsidize it. 35 Slovak television , meanwhile, is in the throes of a great controversy. Only two Slovak television stations exist at the moment , and both arc government-funded and controlled . As mentioned above, Mr. Meciar recently dismissed the Boards of Directors of both stations and replaced them with his own people, and many intellectuals have accused him of trying to control the electronic media. These intellectuals seem to have forgotten the folk-saying .. he who pays the piper, calls the tune. " The only solution that I sec to this dilemma is for Slovak entrepreneurs to establish private television stations, either in Slovakia. or, if necessary, in neighbouring Austria or the Czech lands, which will compete for the hearts and minds of their audiences. the same way that private television stations <lo in the West. Meanwhile. cheap films and programs from all over the world, either dubbed or licensed in Slovakia, now dominate the air-wavcs. 11 ' The Slovak print media, by contrast. 1s vibrant and free . Under Communism all media, whether print or electronic. had to " Ce lestine Bohlen . .. East Europe's Cultural Life. Once a Refu ge. Now Ec lipsed:· New York Ti Illes. November 13. 1990. A I. A 12: discussions public servants cited above: personal observations with the based upon my visits t o Slovakia . '" Sec above. footnote 12. for the dismissal of the directors of Slo vak radio and televisio n. Interestingly enough. on April 22. 1995. the first private cable net work began to broadcast in Slo vakia. It is called ··Vasa tcl c vfzia" (Your Televi sion ). or VTV. and at the moment covers only the Bratisl ava area. although it soon hopes to expand across the co untry. CL Slllc. April 24. 1995 . �196 SLOVAKIA parrot the Party line. In order to discover what was really gomg on, people had to learn to "read between the lines." Clever journalists often sent subtle signals to their readers by, for instance, not mentioning some prominent Party functionaries in a story, which meant that they were falling into disfavour, or else by lavishing praise upon them, which meant that they were about to be promoted . Not any more. Slovakia has about a dozen nationwide independent dailies , and only one - Slovenska republika supports the Meciar government. The rest are generally critical of the government, with Narodna obroda being the most objective , while Sme, which is edited by former members of the Public Against Violence, is the most critical. Unfortunately, the government still controls the supply and price of newsprint, and recently threatened, through taxes , to raise the price by I00% if the criticism of Mr. Meciar did not stop. Ten independent dailies responded by issuing newspapers with blank front pages, and the government backed off. Nevertheless, this game of "chicken" between Mr. Meciar, and Slovakia's independent press continues .~7 In spite of all the difficulties it faces, Slovakia is well on its way towards democratic Capitalism. Mr. Meciar's "Type 'A' ·'personality notwithstanding, Slovakia is a functioning democracy with a democratically-elected Parliament and President. And by signing a historic treaty with Hungary on March 19th. in which he promised that Slovakia would guarantee the cultural and JJ For the implications of the switd1 from a government-controlled press tu one that is free see Owen V. Johnson. '"Half Slave - Half Free: The Crisis of the Russian and East European Press," AAASS Newsletter. 33 (March. 1993 ). I. 4. The opinion regarding the objectivity of various Slovak newspapers is mine. For details regarding the recent struggle between Mr. Mcciar and the Slovak press see "Slovak Press Special," Slovak News (U . of Pittsburgh), March 3-5. 1995. For the reaction of America's most important daily to this struggle sec ··Slovakia Takes a Wrong Tum," New York Times. March 7. 1995. A 18 . �SLOVAKIA 197 linguistic rights of its Hungarian citizens, Mr. Meciar showed that he is capable of compromise, · and he can, if he is so inclined, behave as a pan-European politician. The Members of Parliament, and government Ministers, however, still have to learn the political culture of democracy--to treat each other with respect, and to serve the people, not just their own interests. This will take time, however, and we should be patient while it does. After all, some of our own politicians need to learn the same lesson .38 It should be apparent, therefore, that the most difficult part of the transition from Communism to Capitalism is in the realm of individual versus collective rights. After the overthrow of the Communists in 1989 most Slovaks were delighted to recover their individual rights, such as the freedom of expression, the freedom to travel to the West, and so on. However, with the increase in the cost of living that has occurred in the last four years, these rights have lost some of their lustre. Instead, many people are growing increasingly restive about their collective rights, that is, to free and universal health care, to free education, and to a whole host or previously free social programs which Communism inaugurated. It was Mr. Meciar's promises in the last elections to guarantee some of these social programs that, along with his strong nationalism. brought him the largest number of votes. How he will manage to retain these expensive social programs, and at the same time reform the economy and make it more market-oriented, remains to be seen. Indeed. many western countries share Mr. " For a grudging acknowledgement that Slovakia is a functioning democracy sec "2-Ycar-Old Slovakia Toddling Toward Democracy." New York Times. March I 9. 1995. AJ. For the treaty with Hungary see Sharon Fisher "Slovakia and Hungary Sign Bilateral Treaty.'' OMRI. Inc .. as cited in Slovak News. March 19. 1995. �198 SLOVAKIA Meciar's dilemma - how to promote capitalist growth while subsidizing expensive social programs . � 172 SLOVAKIA DOCUMENTATION: THE POLITICAL, ECONOMIC, AND CULTURAL SITUATION IN THE SLOVAK REPUBLIC (AS OF MAY, 1995) M. Mark Stolarik (Paper Presented to the Symposium " Economies in Transition: Europe to the Bering Strait, University of Montana, Missoula, May 1, 1995) 1 It is difficult to paint a clear picture of contemporary Slovakia because this newly-independent country is still undergoing rcvo1utionary changes at all levels of society due to the collapse of Communism in 1989. Since there is no model for the Slovaks ( or other states of East Central Europe) to follow in the transition from totalitarian Communism to democratic Capitalism. the current Slovak government is proceeding slowly and cautiously in this direction, amid much criticism. My observations arc based on official and unofficial visits to Slovakia in the last five years, on ' This paper was supposed to have been published as a part of the Proceedings by the organizers of the symposium. Since the Proceedings never saw the light of day. the author clecicled to publish the article in Slovakia because it an:urately reflected the political. economic and cultural situation in 1995 Slovakia. It should be react as a document of its time. �SLOVAKIA 173 my reading of a portion of the Slovak and western press, on reports issued by Radio Free Europe and the Voice of America, and on long discussions with various government officials, who have asked to remain anonymous . The political situation in the Slovak Republic is the most problematic. The Parliament (officially called the National Council of the Slovak Republic) consists of a unicameral legislature of 150 deputies who are elected to a four-year term on the basis of proportional representation. Slovakia has over 50 political parties but only seven of them (or party coalitions) are currently represented in Parliament. In order to run in an election, each new party must first obtain 10,000 certified signatures on a petition, and then must win at least 5% of the votes in order to obtain a seat. Party coalitions must win at least 10% of the vote. The seats are apportioned according to the percentage of votes won by each party .2 The elections held on September 30-October I, 1994, produced no clear winner, as is usual in a proportional representative system. Slovakia is currently governed by a coalition consisting of the left-of-center Movement for a Democratic Slovakia led by Vladimir Mcciar, which won 35% of the popular vote. or 61 scats; by the pro-communist Association of Workers of Slovakia led by Jan r.uptak. which won 7.3% of the vote and 13 scats: and the ultra-nationalist Slovak National Party led by Jan Slota. which won 5 .4% of the vote and 9 scats in Parliament. This coalition ended up with a grand total of 83 scats, although in April I 99 5 three members of the Association of Workers of Slovakia split with their leader and they reduced the coalition's voting majority 1 For more details on the electoral process in the Slovak Republic sec "The Con- stitution of the Slovak Republic." in Albert P. Blaustein & Gisbert H. Flanz. eds .. Constitution.~ of the Countries of the World (Dobbs Fe1Ty. New York: Oceana Publications. Inc .. 1993). 84-88 . �SLOVAKJA 174 to 80 seats. The oppos1t1on consists of the left-wing coalition Common Choice led by Peter Weiss, with 10.4 % of the popular vote or 17 seats; the Coalition of Magyar Parties led by Miklos Ouray, with 10.2% of the vote or 16 seats ; the right-wing Christian Democratic Movement led by Jan Carnog ursky , with I 0 . 1°4, of the votes or 16 seats; and the centrist Democratic Union of Slovakia led by Jozef Moravcik, with 8.6% of the vote or 13 seats.' Current Slovak politics is dominated by one strong leader who seems determined to undercut, by whatever means possible, other political leaders, many of whom are his former friends and associates . Prime Minister Vladimir Meciar, who is an attorney by training , and who supported the reforms of Alexander Dubcek in the 1960's, was purged from the ruling Communist Party in 1970 , and later became a corporate lawyer near the city of Trencfn . He entered politics in 1990, when the ruling Public Against Violence , the group of intellectuals which took power from the Communists in Slovakia in November of 1989, advertized for the position of Minister of the Interior of the post-communist Slovak Republic . Mr. Meciar won the competition and allegedly used his control over the Interior Ministry to both discover the past sins of his opponents, and to cover up those of his supporters . After the 3 "S lovakia's voters again turn to pugnacio us fom1er PM ." The Globe and Ma il (Toronto). October 3. 1994. The official election results were communicated to all embassies of the Sl ovak Rep ubli c by a "Tlacovy telegram MZY SR pre zahranicnu dipl omatich1 sluzbu SR." on October 3. 1994. of wh ich I have a copy. Fur an analysis of the results see Martin Yotruba's "S lovak News" (mimeogra phed). Slovak Studies Program. University of Pittsburgh. Sept. 27-Oct. 2. 1994. A much later analysis by Michael J. Kopanic. Jr.. including the creation of the coalition. appeared as "The Recent Elections in Slovakia." in Association for th e Study of NMion.1/ities: A nalysis of Current Eve nts. 6 (No.9. May. 1995). 1-3. For the split in the Association of Workers in Slovakia see Narodmi obroda, April 4. 1995 . �SLOVAKIA 175 Public Against Violence won the largest percentage of the vote in the June elections of 1990, it selected Mr. Meciar to become Prime Minister of the Slovak Republic , which at that time was still a part of the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic. While in this post, Mr. Meciar allegedly joined with others in slowing or manipulating the process of investigating (" lustracny proces" in Slovak) whether or not high government officials had collaborated with, or served as agents. of the dreaded communist secret p olice. He also increasi ngly argued with the presidium of the Public Against Violence, and its coalition partner, the Christian Demo4 cratic Movement, over government policy . Even though Mr. Meciar is very intelligent, 1s an excellent speaker, has a photographic memory, and radiates charisma wherever he goes, he appears to have what is colloquially known as a "type A" personality. In other words, he feels that he has to be in complete control of any situation, he seldom seeks advice, and is not very tol erant of criticism. He prefers to be surrounded by "yes ' For a brief biography or Mci'iar sec Kto Jc kto na S/ovensku. 199 P ( Ko nzo rci u111 Encyk lopcd ia: Bratislava. 199 I ). I 14- 15: The allegations ;:igainst Meci;:ir were 111adc by his political oppone nts in the Slovak Parlia111cnt's Defense and Security Co111111ittec on November 7. 1991 . cf. ··'Secret Report' Clai111s Meciar KGB Connections:· Foreign Bmadcast ln fonna tion Service (Washington. D.C.. hereafter FBIS). November 13. 1991. p.1 4: and summarized by Jan Obrman ··S lo vak Politician Accused or Secret Police Tics:· R adio Free Europe I R adio Liberty Rese.irch R eport (hereafter R FEIRL R ese.irch R eport ). Apri l 10. 1992 . Sec also ··Meciar Proposes Repeal or Screening Law:· CTK. December 21. I 99 3 . Two highly -placed public servants in the Slovak government. one or whom worked in the Office or the Pri111c Minister for both Mr. Mci': iar. and hi s predecessors. recently repeated these allegations to 111e. Since they fear for their jobs. the se public servants have asked me to keep secret their names. and the circu mstances or our 111cetings. At this time it is impossible to confinn. or disprove. these allegations since the ril es of the fonner secret police. which are in Prague. arc not open to the public . �SLOYAKJA 176 men" .5 Since the governing coalition Presidium was also composed of some very strong personalities, who opposed Mr. Meciar's attempts to become Chairman of the Public Against Violence in March of 1991, they decided to remove him from his Prime Ministerial post in April of that year. The Presidium replaced Mr. Meciar with Jan Carnogursky, an attorney and former Catholic dissident during the communist regime, who was also the founder and Chairman of the Christian Democratic Movement. 6 Mr. Meciar, and his most loyal supporters, subsequently withdrew from the Public Against Violence, which later fell apart, and they created the Movement for a Democratic Slovakia, which won the largest percentage of the votes in the June, 1992 elections . 7 In the next two years Mr. Meciar reached the height of his glory, but also suffered the humiliation of defeat. It was Mr. Meciar who in the summer of 1992, as Slovak Prime Minister, negotiated with Czech Prime Minister Vaclav Klaus the dissolution 5 This observation is based on my reading of the Slovak press. on observing Mr. Mcciar delivering a po litical address in Nitra in August. 1993. on a pri va tc meeting that I had with him in September. 1993. and on several discussions that I had with Mr. Igor Uhrfk. The latte r is a fervent Slovak nationali st who sold his successful industrial-insurance business in New York city in 1992 and returned to Slovakia to ··help o ut" in 1993. He contributed 1,000.000 Slovak crowns to the Slovak National Pa11y. was made vicc-Chainnan of the Party. and later be came a principal advisor to the Minister of Privatization of the Slovak govern ment (as a volunteer). After Mr. Meciar's return to power in the fall of 1994. and a split in the Slovak National Party. among other things. Mr. Uhrfk became disgusted with Slovak politics and returned to the United States . " Kto je kto na S/ovensk11 1991 '.'. 190. 7 Jiri Pchc, ··s1ovak Nationalists Agitate for more Autonomy. Oppose Radical Pri vatizatio n." RFEIRL Research R eport. March 20. I 991: '"50,000 rally after Slovak leader fired," New York Times. April 24, I 99 I. A9: For more details sec Robert A. Young. The Breakup of Czechas/avakia (Kingston: Queen 's Uni vcrs ity. Insti tute of Intergovernmental Relati ons. Research Paper #3 2. 1994 ). 5. IO - J6. �SLOVAKIA 177 of the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic, and it was Mr. Meciar who proudly stood at the helm of the newly-independent Slovak Republic on January 1, 1993. Even though Mr. Meciar was not initially a nationalist, he shrewdly perceived that Slovak nationalism was the strongest single force in post-Communist CzechoSlovakia, and by 1992 he and his followers had firmly embraced this movement. 8 Slovak nationalism, however, was not enough to save Mr. Meciar from himself. He suffered his second major political defeat when the Slovak Parliament in February 1993 elected, not the physician Roman Kovac , the preferred candidate of Mr. Meciar's party for President of the Republic, but rather the fom1er Minister of Finance Michal Kovac .9 Much to Mr. Meciar's surprise, the latter refused to become a mere figurehead and instead took his duties as President quite seriously, to the point of attacking Mr. Meciar in the Slovak Parliament for alleged dictatorial tendencies in March of 1994. Meanwhile, Mr. Meciar had lost the confidence of several of his key allies and supporters, including Milan Knazko, his former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jozef Moravcfk, the subsequent Minister of Foreign Affairs, and two Deputy Prime Ministers, including Roman Kovac and I.:udovft Cernak, the latter '"Talks fail: Czechoslovakia dose to breakup. " Ottawa Citizen. June 9. 1992 : "Leaders start negotiations on splitting Czechoslovakia." The Globe and Mail. June 17. 1992: "Who Split Czechoslovakia'?" The New York Times. September 24. 1992. A29: "Parliament approves Czech-Slovak split." The Globe and Mail. November 26. 1992. "Fireworks. Tears and Doubt in Slovakia." The New York Times.January I. 1993. Al4: sec also Sabrina Petra Ramct. "The Reemergence of Slovakia." Nationalities Papers. 22 (No. I. Spring. 1994). I07 - 112 . '' "Havel elected first president of Czech Republic: Slovaks to hold runoff after vote rebuffs Prime Minister's candidate." The Globe and Mail. January 27. I 993 , A6: "Ex-Communist Chosen President of Slovakia." The New York Times. February 16. 1993. A7. �178 SLOVAKIA his coalition partner from the Slovak National Party! The net result was a parliamentary vote of no-confidence in Mr. Meciar and his party, his third political defeat, and his loss of power for a second time. Most of his former allies in the MOS, who abandoned him, joined Jozef Moravcfk's centrist Democratic Union of Slovakia. From March to October of 1994, a left-right coalition headed by Prime Minister Jozef Moravcfk ruled Slovakia. 111 For these reasons, ever since his election victory of 1994, and his subsequent return to power, Mr. Mcciar has tried to topple the President of the Slovak Republic and to destroy the Democratic Union of Slovakia. Between October and December of 1994 Mr. Meciar looked for coalition partners who would join him in his campaign against the President but had to settle for the two coalition partners mentioned above, who assured him of a voting majority in the Parliament, but not enough votes (90) to remove the President. Since he could not muster the votes to remove the President, he decided to try to strip him of some of his legal powers. For example, in April of 1995 Mr. Mcciar prevailed upon the Slovak Parliament to transfer from the President to the Prime Minister the right to appoint the Chief of Slovakia's Security Intelligence Service (the successor to the Secret Policc). 11 1 " .. Broad Coaliti on to govern Slovakia." The Globe and Mail. March 15 . 1994 . For the viewpoints of the two protagonists regarding the reasons for their fal - ling out see --sprava o stave Slovenskej republiky prednesena prezidentom SR Michalom Kovacom v Naroclncj radc SR dna 8.3.1994" and .. Prcjav predscdu vlady Slovcnskej republiky Yladimfra Mcciara na 27. sch6dzi NR SR di\a 11.3. 1994." published in a special issue of Republika (Bratis lava.March. I 9. 1994 ). I 5pp. For a legal interpretation of this struggle sec Spencer Zifcak ...The Battle over Presidential Power in Slovakia," Slovakia. 36 ( 1998). 70-80. For a profile of the Moravcfk government and its policies sec --cTK Profiles New Cabinet Members" in FB/S,March 17. 1994.4- 12 and --Text of Policy Statement of Slovak Government," FBIS. April 25. 1994, 16-30. 11 "Je Lexa v NR SR. v SIS. alebo v Iese?" Sme (Bratislava). April 26. 199 5. �179 SLOVAKIA Meanwhile, Mr. Meciar charged that the Democratic Union of Slovakia had not gathered the necessary 10,000 signatures before the elections of 1994. If he could prove his charge, then the DU members of Parliament would be stripped of their seats and Mr. Meciar would by default have the three-fifths of the votes necessary to remove the President. Unfortunately for Mr. Meciar, the Slovak Constitutional Court, headed by Milan Cic, the first Prime Minister of the post-communist Slovak Republic, and a former friend of Mr. Meciar, upheld the validity of the 10,000 signatures obtained by the DU before the 1994 elections. This did not stop Mr. Meciar from having his 80 supporters in Parliament pass a motion of " no confidence" in the President on May 5th, and in ordering the Slovak police to check on the validity of the l 0,000 signatures by visiting the homes of the signatories, and in the process harassing supporters of the DU. 12 Mr. Mcciar has also had his difficulties with the press . While he was out of office in 1994, the previous coalition government supported full freedom of the press , including radio and televi sion, and appointed boards of directors who were likewise inclined. Very few of these individuals were supporters of Mr. Mcciar. Once he returned to power in December of 1994 (it took him over two months to put together a coalition), Mr. Meciar began to fire the old boards of directors of radio and television (which arc still state-controlled), and to replace them \.Vith his own people. These , in turn , cancelled certain satiric television programs which had made fun of Mr. Meciar. As a result, there have been several mass-demonstrations in Bratislava against Mr. Meciar's alleged attempts to control the mass-media. Therefore, while television and radio commentators have ceased to lampoon 11 Zifcak. op.cit.. p.70; ··overovanie podpisov na harkoch DU je porusenie peticneho prava obcanov." Srne. May 23 . 1995 . �SLOVAKIA 180 Mr. Meciar, the print media, which 1s largely privatized , is still very critical of him . 13 The economic situation in Slovakia, meanwhile, is improving. Slovakia did not slide into a deep depression after it became independent, as some Western pundits had predicted . Instead, after some uncertainty in 1993, its economy grew by a spectacular 4.8% in 1994 and its budget deficit was a respectable 3% of GDP. Meanwhile, the Slovak crown , its basic unit of currency, was devalued by only 10% in 1993, it is convertible to hard currencies , and it remains stable. The rate of inflation also dropped from 25% in 1993 to around 11. 7% in 1994. Unemployment, however, remains high -14%. One of the causes of Slovak unemployment is the collapse of its heavy-arms industry, which used to serve the now-defunct Warsaw Pact and its allies world-wide. Converting this arms industry into something more useful remains a major challenge to the government of the Slovak Republic. 13 14 Re uter, December 16. 1994, as reported by Martin Votruba in Slovak News. December 16- 18. 1994; Jiri Pchc, .. Anti-Mcciar Rall y in Bratislava," R FEIRL Reports. Ibid., December 8- 11. In a TA SR report of May 12. 1995. Mr. Mcciar was quoted as saying that the press is free in Slovakia... but all newspapers should admit who owns them. and who pays them." impl ying that the print press in Slovakia is large ly financed by fore igners who arc hosti le to the current governme nt. The CTK on the same date quoted Juraj Veres. editor of N,irod n;i obroda (Bratislava). as agree ing that the Slovak press was still free . but th at ··the government is trying to gain contro l over the dailies:· However. he added th at lately "the go vernment has been backing down ." For Mr. Mci:iar's earlier problems with the press sec Jan Obnuan ...The Slovak Government vers us the Media." RFEIRL Research R eport. February 5. 1993 . 14 For an example of negative reporting o n Slovakia's eco nomic future sec Step- hen Enge lberg, "New Nation. Imperiled Economy." New York Time.~. February 12. 1993. DI; for an admission that the Slovak economy is doing surprisingly well see "How the Slovaks Have Taken Flight." The Globe nncl Mail. December 5, 1994. A JO (reprinted from the Wall Street Jo urnal); and --standard and Poors o Slovensk u." Sme. April 7. 199 5. �181 SLOVAKJA Indeed, converting the whole system from a command economy to a form of private enterprise remain s the major problem for the Slovak government. U ndcr Communism the state nationalized all the industry and the bulk of the land, it controlled all the means of production, it regulated prices, and subsidized housing , transportation and food, and created a complete welfare state with free education from pre-school through university, and free universal health-care. Unfortunately, the state enacted all these changes without the consent of the people, it enforced them through the use of police terror, and it discriminated in favour of members of the Communist Party and children of the workingclass when dispensing economic and cultural benefits. 15 Now that the Communists are no longer in charge, the various governments of Slovakia have tried to transform the economy into a form of private enterprise, as called for in the Constitution of the Slovak Republic. Since no real models exist on how to do this , n umcrous laws and regulations have been passed to try to bring it about. The first steps were taken in early 1991 when the Parliament of the C1.ech and Slovak Federal Republic passed a law for the restitution of confiscated private property (chiefly land). While some former landowners were delighted to receive their land back, most young people in Slovakia showed no interest in working it. The amount of land seized from individual families by the Communists had been small in the first place, and most young ' ' The literature on this subject is vast. For two co ncise a11iclcs that deal with most of this period sec Robert K. Evanson. ··Regime and Working Class in Czechoslovakia. 1948- 1%8." Soviet Studies. 37 (Nn. 2. 1985 ). 248-68; and by the same author "Political Repressi o n in Czechoslovakia. Slavonic Pi1pcrs. 28 (No. I. 1986). 1-21. 1948- 1984." Canadian �182 SLOVAKJA people have no intention of becoming smallholding • peasants 16 agam . Managers, officials, and many workers on collective and state farms , on the other hand , wish to preserve these institutions. Since collectives and state farms provide their employees with a guaranteed income, regular hours, easy work, and many opportunities for theft, the employees are loath to see such farms disappear. Such employees are among the pillars of support that Mr. Meciar can count on during elections. 17 The various churches of Slovakia, meanwhile, especially the Roman and Greek Catholic Churches, which were singled out for persecution by the Communists, have had much of their confiscated property returned . In l 991-92 the federal government returned most of the buildings that the Communists had seized from religious orders, and in the fall of l 993 Mr. Meciar's government returned most of the buildings that had been confiscated from Church Dioceses. However, most church land that was confiscated and turned into state or collective farms was not returned, largely because of the opposition of the collectives. Thus , the churches continue to rely upon government support for their existence, and '" "Czechoslovakia plans to return property ." Philadelphia 24, I 99 L ..Transfonn:icia pornohospod:irstva Inquirer. February a rcstitucie:· Pr.ic:.i (Bra ti slava). May 31. 1993; "Refonns Alter the Landscape or Czechoslovakia's Fanning ." New Y ork Times, June 4, I 99 L Milan Svec, "Czechoslovakia's Velvet Di vorce." Current Hist ory (November. I 992 ). 377; and discussions with the tw o public servants mentioned above in footnote 3. 17 "Who voted for Whom'1" (a poll conducted by the Slovak Research Office). as reported by Martin Yotruba in Slovak News. 7-9 October. 1994. p.4. The o bservatio ns abo ut state fam1s and collectives were made by the two public servants mentioned above. On many occasions when I visited Slovakia in the era of Communism. I also discussed collectives and state fanns with some of my relatives. who worked at such institutions. They detalied the many kinds of theft possible at state farms and collectives. �183 SLOVAKIA from a North American perspective, this . I8 S h Ip . IS an unhealthy relation- Meanwhile, the federal Parliament also passed the "small privatization" Act of J 990 concerning small business. This Act enabled a few thousand entrepreneurs to borrow money from banks to establish small retail businesses such as travel agencies, restaurants, bakeries, grocery stores, computer stores, and various skilled trades. These kinds of enterprises are flourishing all over Slovakia. 19 A little later the federal Parliament passed another Act that concerned itself with the privatization of large industries, the socalled "large privatization." This would involve all except the most strategic industries such as atomic energy, natural gas, transportation, the arms industry and so on . However, since the government did not wish its large industries to be bought by foreigners, and since most of the citizens of the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic did not have the wealth tn purchase these industries outright, the government decided to enact a "coupon privati1.ation." By this plan , every citi1.cn over the age of 18 was entitled to buy a privatization coupon for J .000 C1.echoslovak crowns (Kcs), and then invest it in the company of his choice. The " For the story of the persecution of the churches in Slovakia sec Theodoric J. Zubek. The Church of Silence in Slovakia (Whi ting. IN: John J. Lach. 1956). and Michal Lacko. "The Forced Liquidation of the Union of Uzhorocl." Slovak Studies. I (1961). 145-85: for the story of the underground church in Slovakia under Communism sec "Secret Bishop." and for the story of the rebuilding of the Jesuit Order sec " New Oppmtunitics in Slovakia." Company: a magazine o{ the American Jc.m ils. 8 (No. 3. Spring. 1991 ). 2-5. and 9- 11. Details of the resti tution laws passed after 1990 can be found in Sharon Fisher. "Church Restitu tion Law Passed in Slovakia." RFEIRL Rese.1rch Report. November 19. 1993 . '" "Chystiime historicky ziikon: Ekonomicka refonna konecnc dostala tviir." Niirodn,i obroda. September 5. 1990. 13: Svec. op.cit.. 377 . �184 SLOVAKIA number of shares he would receive would depend upon the value of the company. This was the first step in the creation of a stock market in the Republic. The government also decided that this process would be divided into several rounds since it involved so many industries. The first round took place while the CzcchoSlovak Federation still existed ? ' The second round of the coupon privatization was supposed to take place after Slovakia became independent. However, the government of Mr. Mcciar soon discovered that most Slovaks were not investing their coupons directly into the companies for sale, but rather were selling them to investment companies controlled by foreigners . The Meciar government did not want to allow these foreign-owned holding companies to buy up so much of Slovakia's industries, and it postponed this privatization . However, the Moravcik government, which ruled Slovakia between March and October, 1994, allowed this privatization to continue . Then, when Mr. Meciar returned to power in the fall of 1994, he halted the privatization again. At the end of March, 1995 the government of Mr. Meciar decided to allow half of this coupon privatization to proceed, but he reserved the other half for potential Slovak buyers, most of whom arc in fact the managers of these industries . These managers allegedly neglected the upkeep of their factories and, therefore, their value has declined. Thus, if this privatization continues, the managers of these factories stand to make a lot of money once the value of their factories goes up again. Mr. Meciar's enemies have charged that these managers arc in league with Mr. Mcciar, that they arc all former Communists, and that they provide him with financial support. Mr. Meciar's supporters, on the other hand, charge that the proponents of the 1 " "A Divorce that Could Save the Czech Economy," The Wall Street Journal. March 11. 1991 ; Svec. op. cit.. 377 . �SLOVAKIA 185 strict coupon privatization are in leag ue with Mr. Moravcik and . financially support the opposition parties. Neutral observers have told me that both sides arc guilty of profiteering from this privatization process , and the greed and corruption involved goes a long way toward s explaining the bitterness of current Slovak politics. Also, because Mr. Meciar reduced the number of businesses to be privati1.ed in half, that is, from an estimated value of 80 billion Sk to 40 billion Sk, the 3.2 million holders of pri vatization coupons in the Slovak Republic witnessed a drop in the value of their coupons from 24,000 Sk to 12,000 Sk by March of 1995. Forty deputies of the Slovak Parliament then approached the Constitutional Court in Kosicc to protest against Law No . 340/ J 994, which had halted the coupon privatization on November 3-4, 1994, a nd the Constitutional Court decided in their favour. It then o rdere d the Slovak Parliament to re-write the law so that it would no t violate individuals' rights to private property as guaranteed by th e Slovak Constitution . Mr.Meciar's reaction was to propose that the privatization coupons be exchanged for government bo nd s, which could be redeemed for 10,000 Sk, or held for their interest, or used to purchase shares in companies. Most opposition deputies denounced this suggestion as ··theft" from the coupon-holders . 21 The average citizen. meanwhile, has had to tighten his belt several notches since the fall of Communism. While the gove rnment still controls the price o f electricity, transportation. fuel and basic " Smc. Apri l 6. 1995: "Privatizacny zakon nie je v s11lade s ustavou SR." TA SR. May 25 . 1995: "V . Meciar o novej kuponovej privatiz,icii ." Smc. June 8. 1995: "Anketa Sme:• Smc. June 8. 1995. Once again . the two public servants. cited above. ex plained the complexity of this iss ue to me. Dr. Juraj Svec. the Recto r of Comenius University in Bratislava. and a member of Parliament for the DU. confinned their analysis when he visited with me o n March 26. 1995. �186 SLOYAKJA foodstuffs, it has decided to provide smaller subsidies for these goods or services and, therefore, it has raised their prices dramatically in the last four years . Thus, while a streetcar ride used to cost a mere one crown, it now costs five ; while gasoline used to cost seven crowns a litre, it now costs nineteen. And, while a liter 22 of milk used to cost two crowns, it now costs twclvc . Wages, of state employees, on the other hand, have not kept up with the rise in prices. While members of the Slovak Parliament voted themselves hefty pay increases in the summer of 1993 (from 10,000 Sk to 25,000 Sk per month), ordinary state employees do not share in this largesse. Indeed, the wage-structure of state employees is still very Communist. Thus , a physician starting his career receives only 4,000 Sk, which is less than the wage of the average truck-driver! As a result, physicians in Slovakia recently demanded a 200% wage increase, and threatened to go on strike if they did not receive it. Teachers and professors are s1m1larly und erpaid , with the former receiving 5,000 Sk and the latter 8,600 Sk. Even though Mr. Mcciar promised during the last election campaign, among other things, to double teachers' salaries , " Interviews with the the two public servan ts cited above. plus my ow n observations on visits to Slovakia in the summers or 1990. 1991. 1992. I ()9J and 1994. In May of 1990 I visi ted Slovak ia as a delegate of the Slovak League of Ame ri ca. wh ich had come on a ••fact -finding" mission. This was an offi cial mis sio n. spo nsored by the governme nt of the Slovak Republic. It was the first official visi t of the Slovak Leag ue since 1938. whe n the first de legati on of th e League brought to Slovakia the original of the Pittsburgh Ag reeme nt. In 1993 I visited Slovakia as the newl y-elected president of the Canadian Slovak League. In this capaci ty I had official di scussio ns with Prime Minister Meciar and with Jan Findra, Chancellor to the President. My visits in I 991. 1992 and 1994 were for scholarly purposes - to participate in historical co nfere nces. �SLOVAKIA 187 he has thus far failed to do so. Indeed, Slovak schoolteachers are also threatening to go on strike over this issue. 23 Employees of the growing private enterprises, on the other hand , generally make much more than state employees. For instance, clerks in private banks earn 10,000-15,000 crowns a month. Accountants and computer programmers in private firms make up to 20,000 Sk per month. And attorneys, who were among the first to privatize in the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic , arc among the highest-paid professionals in Slovakia. Finally, growing numbers of entrepreneurs have become millionaires many times over. and some of these 'nouveau-riche' flaunt their wealth with expensive western cars, clothes, and other consumer goods. They have provoked increasing resentment among state employees, whose salaries have remained far behind the increase in the cost of consumer goods and scrviccs. 24 The price of housing has also skyrocketed . Under Communism, if one had the right connections, one could obtain a beautiful villa in the hills overlooking Bratislava and the Danube river officially for about 250,000 Kcs (and unofficially, that is, with an additional under-the-table payment of 250.000 Kcs). Now these villas cost anywhere from 2,000,000 to 20,000.000 Sk. Similarly, state and co-op apartments, which usually consist of only three rooms plus a small kitchen and tiny bath, are commanding premium prices. The co-op apartments, where one purchased the 11 Smc. April 6. 1995: " Pricskum ukaza l. zc vysc 70% lckarov jc oc ho tnych vs tupit' dn st rajku." Smc. April 26 . 1995: " Skolstvo dostane 530 mili6nov ." Smc. May 14. 1995 : "Ultimatum lckarnv na zvyscnic platov o 200% vyprsalo. strajkovat' sa asi ncbudc." Sme. May 15. 1995 : ··Pricmern,i mzda v skolstve nad'alcj ncjasna." Smc. June 8. 1995: and discussions with the two public servants cited above. " Discussions with the two public servants cited above. plus personal observations from past visits to Slovakia. �188 SLOVAKIA right to live for 30,000 Kcs under Communism , can now be bought by the renters for 50,000 Sk, and can then be re-sold for anywhere between 750,000 to 1,000,000 Sk 1 Former state-ow ned apartments, meanwhile, which until recently could not be purchased were often sub-leased to others for very hig h rents. The process of their sale will soon approximate what happened with the co-op apartments. The state, meanwhile, has lost interest in providing additional ho using for the people. Various entcrpreneurs have taken over this task, and the newly-built apartments generall y sell for around 1,000,000 Sk, which is far beyond what the average Slovak can a ffo rd. 25 Health care, meanwhile, is also in a state o f transition . Before 1989, health care was universal and free. However, one received quality care only if one was either a high functionary of the Communist Party, which had its own special clinics and hospitals , with modern , western , equipment; or, if one bribed one's physician and nurse with extra money or gifts. And, exotic western drugs were usuall y not available, except to the privileged few . Many American and Canadian Slovaks remember well the pl ain tive letters that they used to receive from their unfortunate relatives in Slovakia under Communism, and how these relatives sent prescriptions for Western-made drugs, along with the addresses of pharmacies in Switzerland , which when paid in hard 21 currencies, were willing to fill these orders for them . ' 15 Ibid. 1 Milada Vachudova and Sharon Fisher. "' Health Care Crisis : The Czech and '' Slovak Republics ." RFEIRL Research Report. October 8. 1993. 44-46: and dis c ussio ns wi th friends and relatives on visits to Slovakia in 1968. 1970. 1983 and 1988 . Our fami ly in Canada used to regularly receive requests fo r western drugs. and we filled these requests th rough a willing phannacist in Switze rland . Dr. Do broslav Valik of Bry n Mawr. Pe nnsy lvani a. to ld me in Octo ber of 1992 of having tried to establish a Dental Clinic in Bratislava right after the "'Ve lve t �SLOVAKIA 189 In an effort to save money, the Slovak government is trying to privatize parts of the health-care system, but at a very slow pace. Pharmacies have all been privatized and one can now buy whatever drugs one needs. However, the state pays only for routine drugs, and not always for the full amount. The more exotic drugs, which arc now readily available, must be paid for by the patient. Dentists are also privatizing as quickly as they can, with about one-third currently being self-s upporting and ex pensive . Most physicians, however, have not yet taken the plunge and arc unlikel y to do so. Because of their poor salaries , most M.D.'s in Slovakia cannot afford to purchase the expensive equipment necessary to open an office or clinic, and they also cannot afford private liability insurance. As long as they continue to work for state-run hospitals, they do not need liability insurance, and, thu s, they continue to be state employees . And, because they continue to be underpaid , many demand extra payments or gifts if they are to provide quality care. Meanwhile, most Slovaks oppose the privatization of their health care. They want it to remain universal and free . Thus, the Mcciar government is moving slowly and cautiously in trying to reform the health-care systcm. 27 The educational system of Slovakia is also undergo ing change. Shortly after the Communists sci1.cd power the y a bolished all religious schools and put education at the service or the state. The whole system from pre-school throug h university was then statefunded and controlled. Marxism was taught as the philosophy or Revo luti o n.. of 1989. Much to his amazement. his friends from the VPN showed him the clinic for funner me mbers of the Commu nist Pa11y in Bratislava. It had all the latest western equipment one could imagine. unlike clin ics for the general public . 17 Yaduchova & Fisher. op. cit.. 48-49. a nd discussions servants cited above . with the two public �SLOVAKIA 190 the state, and all teachers had to conform or face expulsion . Higher • education was free but operated under a quota system whereby in the process of admission children o f the working-class were favoured over those of the middle or upper classes . The latter then resorted to bribery to get their children into institutions of higher learning. Meanwhile , to their credit, the Communists also established several new universities , including the full-service Safarik University in Kos ice and the College of Transportation in Zilina, among others, to satisfy the demands of an increasingly industrialized society .2x After the downfall of Communism, state-support for cd ucation continued , but not its ideological requirements . Most universities held new elections for rectors and deans , and the professors and students threw out the communist administrators . However, because most of the communist professors have tenure, the uni versities cannot get rid of them. It will take another generation before these Marxist professors reach retirement age, and arc finally replaced by a new generation of professors . And even the new generation will bo hard to find, because the wages paid to professors arc so low. Meanwhile. the quota system that favored students of working-class origins has been replaced by a 4uota " Ladi slav G resfk. --vyc hova rokoch 1956 - 1960 ." vy,o kos ko lskej inte ligencie na Sl ove nsku v Historicky i'a.rnri.~. 31 ( No .6 . 198) ). 8') 1-91 O: A 111011 Hrnko & Jozef Zatkuliak," Uni vcrzita Ko me nskc ho na rozhranf piitiles iatyc h a sestHesialyc h rokov ." Hi.~toricky t'a .r npis. 32 (No.4. I 984 ). 59J-(1 19: pe rso na l o bservati o ns fro n1 past visi ts to Slovakia. di scussio ns w ith the two pub I ic servants cited abo ve. and di sc ussio n with Rudolf Korec. Recto r of Safarik U ni versity. May. 1990. On a visit to Slovakia in the summer of 1968 I asked one of my co usins what he was studying. He replied .. Philosophy ." When I in4uired a bo ut the kind o f philosophy . he replied "'Marxism-Lcnini sm 1" His mo ther. meanw hil e . w ho was a sc hoolteac her. used to go to church in a vill age o ut s id e o f the to wn in whi ch she lived. because if she had been seen atlendin g c hurc h services in her home to wn . she would have lost her job. �SLOVAKIA 191 based on grades . Even though Slovakia today has 14 institutions of higher learning, including brand-new universities in Trnava and Banska Bystrica, it still enrolls only 18% of high sc hool grad uatcs, which is very low when compared to Western Europe or North America, which attract between 30% and 50%. Meanwhile , the state has permitted the re-establishment of religious sc hools funded by the government. However, their number remains small beca use forty years of Communism thoroughly discredited religious education , and most employees of the Ministry of Education arc still opposed to their expansion .2'> Whether or not the government decides to in vest more m higher education remains to be seen. Recent attempts to introduce tuition to cover 20% of the cost of their education have met fierc e resistance from the students. Meanwhile, the quality of university education in Slovakia is not very high, large ly because the teaching staff was cut off from the West for over 40 years , and also because universities stressed education rather than researc h. Tha t is why all the Slovak universities arc hurridly signing agreements with universities all over the Western world that provide for scholarly exchanges o f staff and students . However. it is difficult to attract top Western scholars to teach at Slovak uni versities when they can expect salaries of only $300.00 per month . Onl y true idealists have thu s far volunteered to teac h at Slovak unive rsities under such conditions. 10 ' " Disrnssion with Rudolf Korec. Rector or Safarik University in Kosice. May. 1990: discussion wi th Dean Ladislav Pauliny. Farn lty of A11s. Co menius U ni ve rsity. May. 1994: discussio n with Juraj Svec. Rec tor of Comcni us Univers it y. March 26. 1995 : and discu ssions with the two public servants cited above. '" Discussion with Juraj Svec. op.cit.. and " Pod l'a prof. M. Urbana. dost:.\vaj11 vysokc skoly v SR iba tretinu financii v porovnani s vyspelymi st:.\tmi." TA SR. May 26. 1995. �SLOVAKIA 192 Slovak culture, meanwhile, is also undergoing a radical transformation. Under Communism all cultural activities were state-financed and controlled, and all cultural output was for the sake of promoting Marxism. A Slovak Academy of Sciences, as well as Unions of writers and creative artists were founded in the early l 950's, and they operated under five-year plans . Compliant historians, writers, and creative artists not only became state employees with respectable salaries, but they also received such perks as the use of confiscated castles for meetings and vacations, and statesubsidized clubs that served good food at very low prices . As long as they toed the Party line, their books were published or their paintings and illustrations were bought by mu se ums or publishing houses, and no-one worried, for instance, about how many copies of a book were actually sold, since the government subsidized everything. On the other hand , historians , writers and creative artists could only praise Communism and denounce Capitalism. Certain key personages in Slovak history, such as the Rev. Andrej Hlinka, founder and leader of the Slovak People's Party in the first third of the twentieth century, either became "non-persons" in official publications, or else were denounced as reactionary clcrico-fascists . The past was deliberately distorted to serve the communist futurc. Those intellectuals who refused to go along with this system were persecuted by being allowed to work only at menial labour, and those who dared to openly oppose this Marxist control over culture ended up in jail. 11 .II Julius Mesaros. " Retlexie O piitaesiatych a sestl:lcsiatych rokoch." f-lis/orick f casopis. 39 (Nos. 4-5. 199 I ). 379-88: Richard Marsina. "S lovensk.i historiografia I 945- I 990." f-li storickf brnpi5. 39 (Nos .4-5. I 99 I). 370-79: and discussions with Slovak historians and writers during my visits to Slovakia between 1968 and 1994. �SLOVAKJA 193 After the collapse of Communism, most Slovak intellectuals threw off the shackles of Marxism and started to create freely, as in other countries. Freedom, however, came with a price - declining government support. The bloated Slovak Academy of Sciences (SA V) has been reduced from 7,000 members in 1989 to 3,000 in 1995. While some people have been advocating its total abolition, others have come to its defense. In recent days , certain members of Mr. Meciar's government have even advocated that the Academy be retained in its present form , and that it continue to do basic research as before, while leaving university professors to do the teaching. This Soviet model runs contrary to western traditions, whereby university professors do both research and teaching, and government-supported research is kept to a minimum. Rectors of Slovakia's universities wish to adopt the western model and arc currently negotiating with the Meciar government to try to reach a compromise on this very touchy . \1 question. Slovakia's writers. meanwhile, have had to learn to fend for themselves. Some have become entrepreneurs in the publishing industry , which has shrunk in size and has become more selective in what it accepts for publication , based upon its market potential; others have entered politics and the diplomatic service, giving these professions an unusual (in North America, at least) intellectual llair; and a third group is now dependent upon government grants to subsidize its publications. Needless to say, the compc- 11 ·-z prejavu predsedu SA V Branislava Lichardusa na slavnostnom zhromaz- denf k 40. vyrociu SAY'". Spdvy sluvcnskcj akademic vied. 30 (No. I. 1994). 35; discussion with Dr. Juraj Svec. Rector of Comenius University. March 26. I 995; and discussion with Dr. Branislav Lichardus. president of the Slovak Academy of Sciences and Ambassador of the Slovak Republic to the United States, April 22. 1995. in Washington. D.C. �SLOVAKIA 194 tition for such grants is very fierce, with only the best writers receiving support. No wonder that Slovak writers jealously g uard their perks and get very indignant when reminded that the government will not for long let them keep their castle at Budmerice, especially if some wealthy westerner offers to buy it for a large sum of money .D Slovak writers also face fierce competition from western writers. Bookstores are full of novels by westerners, especially Americans such as Stephen King (in translation), and only outstanding Slovak novels now have any chance of commercial success. This also applies to children's books , especially those published by the Walt Disney Corporation. Traditional Slovak children 's books, illustrated by Slovak graphic artists, now have to compete for the hearts and minds of Slovak children with Walt Disney characters such as Bambi and Mowgli speaking in Slovak! Unfortunately, Slovak writers also have to compete with the whole world of pornography, which is also a specialty of the West. Newspaper Kiosks in Bratislava feature as many naked women on magazine covers as one can see in Western Europe . This is another kind of price that one pays for freedom. 34 The Slovak media is also undergoing rapid change. The Slovak film industry (Koliba studios), which used to produce ten JJ Di sc ussions with the two public servants cited above. When I visited Slova- kia in the summer of 1992. I tonnented writer l.'.ubos Jurik with the suggestion th at he would soon lose his summer retreat at Budmcricc castle whe n some .. ri c h Arab sheik would offer $50.000,000 for it. " Jurik . who now works as the official spokesman fo r Dr. Ivan Gasparovic, the Speaker of the Slovak Parliament. became indignant at my suggestion. Meanwhile. the writer Anton Hykisch now serves as Ambassador of the Slovak Republic to Canada. 14 Personal observati ons based upo n my visits to Slovakia in 1990. 199 1, 1992. 1993 , 1994. The semi -monthl y KniinJ revue (Bratislava). now regularly features reviews of books published in the major western lan guages. �SLOVAKIA 195 fairly high-quality feature films per year with government subsidies in the past, now struggles to produce one a year. This industry, too, has to compete with the West, especially with Hollywood, and no country has yet succeeded in doing this. Thus, if the Slovak government wishes its film industry to continue to exist, it will have to continue to subsidize it. 35 Slovak television , meanwhile, is in the throes of a great controversy. Only two Slovak television stations exist at the moment , and both arc government-funded and controlled . As mentioned above, Mr. Meciar recently dismissed the Boards of Directors of both stations and replaced them with his own people, and many intellectuals have accused him of trying to control the electronic media. These intellectuals seem to have forgotten the folk-saying .. he who pays the piper, calls the tune. " The only solution that I sec to this dilemma is for Slovak entrepreneurs to establish private television stations, either in Slovakia. or, if necessary, in neighbouring Austria or the Czech lands, which will compete for the hearts and minds of their audiences. the same way that private television stations <lo in the West. Meanwhile. cheap films and programs from all over the world, either dubbed or licensed in Slovakia, now dominate the air-wavcs. 11 ' The Slovak print media, by contrast. 1s vibrant and free . Under Communism all media, whether print or electronic. had to " Ce lestine Bohlen . .. East Europe's Cultural Life. Once a Refu ge. Now Ec lipsed:· New York Ti Illes. November 13. 1990. A I. A 12: discussions public servants cited above: personal observations with the based upon my visits t o Slovakia . '" Sec above. footnote 12. for the dismissal of the directors of Slo vak radio and televisio n. Interestingly enough. on April 22. 1995. the first private cable net work began to broadcast in Slo vakia. It is called ··Vasa tcl c vfzia" (Your Televi sion ). or VTV. and at the moment covers only the Bratisl ava area. although it soon hopes to expand across the co untry. CL Slllc. April 24. 1995 . �196 SLOVAKIA parrot the Party line. In order to discover what was really gomg on, people had to learn to "read between the lines." Clever journalists often sent subtle signals to their readers by, for instance, not mentioning some prominent Party functionaries in a story, which meant that they were falling into disfavour, or else by lavishing praise upon them, which meant that they were about to be promoted . Not any more. Slovakia has about a dozen nationwide independent dailies , and only one - Slovenska republika supports the Meciar government. The rest are generally critical of the government, with Narodna obroda being the most objective , while Sme, which is edited by former members of the Public Against Violence, is the most critical. Unfortunately, the government still controls the supply and price of newsprint, and recently threatened, through taxes , to raise the price by I00% if the criticism of Mr. Meciar did not stop. Ten independent dailies responded by issuing newspapers with blank front pages, and the government backed off. Nevertheless, this game of "chicken" between Mr. Meciar, and Slovakia's independent press continues .~7 In spite of all the difficulties it faces, Slovakia is well on its way towards democratic Capitalism. Mr. Meciar's "Type 'A' ·'personality notwithstanding, Slovakia is a functioning democracy with a democratically-elected Parliament and President. And by signing a historic treaty with Hungary on March 19th. in which he promised that Slovakia would guarantee the cultural and JJ For the implications of the switd1 from a government-controlled press tu one that is free see Owen V. Johnson. '"Half Slave - Half Free: The Crisis of the Russian and East European Press," AAASS Newsletter. 33 (March. 1993 ). I. 4. The opinion regarding the objectivity of various Slovak newspapers is mine. For details regarding the recent struggle between Mr. Mcciar and the Slovak press see "Slovak Press Special," Slovak News (U . of Pittsburgh), March 3-5. 1995. For the reaction of America's most important daily to this struggle sec ··Slovakia Takes a Wrong Tum," New York Times. March 7. 1995. A 18 . �SLOVAKIA 197 linguistic rights of its Hungarian citizens, Mr. Meciar showed that he is capable of compromise, · and he can, if he is so inclined, behave as a pan-European politician. The Members of Parliament, and government Ministers, however, still have to learn the political culture of democracy--to treat each other with respect, and to serve the people, not just their own interests. This will take time, however, and we should be patient while it does. After all, some of our own politicians need to learn the same lesson .38 It should be apparent, therefore, that the most difficult part of the transition from Communism to Capitalism is in the realm of individual versus collective rights. After the overthrow of the Communists in 1989 most Slovaks were delighted to recover their individual rights, such as the freedom of expression, the freedom to travel to the West, and so on. However, with the increase in the cost of living that has occurred in the last four years, these rights have lost some of their lustre. Instead, many people are growing increasingly restive about their collective rights, that is, to free and universal health care, to free education, and to a whole host or previously free social programs which Communism inaugurated. It was Mr. Meciar's promises in the last elections to guarantee some of these social programs that, along with his strong nationalism. brought him the largest number of votes. How he will manage to retain these expensive social programs, and at the same time reform the economy and make it more market-oriented, remains to be seen. Indeed. many western countries share Mr. " For a grudging acknowledgement that Slovakia is a functioning democracy sec "2-Ycar-Old Slovakia Toddling Toward Democracy." New York Times. March I 9. 1995. AJ. For the treaty with Hungary see Sharon Fisher "Slovakia and Hungary Sign Bilateral Treaty.'' OMRI. Inc .. as cited in Slovak News. March 19. 1995. �198 SLOVAKIA Meciar's dilemma - how to promote capitalist growth while subsidizing expensive social programs . � 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 2003, Vol. 37 Description An account of the resource Vol. 37 (No. 68-69), 2003. 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 2003 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 172 SLOVAKIA DOCUMENTATION: THE POLITICAL, ECONOMIC, AND CULTURAL SITUATION IN THE SLOVAK REPUBLIC (AS OF MAY, 1995) M. Mark Stolarik (Paper Presented to the Symposium " Economies in Transition: Europe to the Bering Strait, University of Montana, Missoula, May 1, 1995) 1 It is difficult to paint a clear picture of contemporary Slovakia because this newly-independent country is still undergoing rcvo1utionary changes at all levels of society due to the collapse of Communism in 1989. Since there is no model for the Slovaks ( or other states of East Central Europe) to follow in the transition from totalitarian Communism to democratic Capitalism. the current Slovak government is proceeding slowly and cautiously in this direction, amid much criticism. My observations arc based on official and unofficial visits to Slovakia in the last five years, on ' This paper was supposed to have been published as a part of the Proceedings by the organizers of the symposium. Since the Proceedings never saw the light of day. the author clecicled to publish the article in Slovakia because it an:urately reflected the political. economic and cultural situation in 1995 Slovakia. It should be react as a document of its time. SLOVAKIA 173 my reading of a portion of the Slovak and western press, on reports issued by Radio Free Europe and the Voice of America, and on long discussions with various government officials, who have asked to remain anonymous . The political situation in the Slovak Republic is the most problematic. The Parliament (officially called the National Council of the Slovak Republic) consists of a unicameral legislature of 150 deputies who are elected to a four-year term on the basis of proportional representation. Slovakia has over 50 political parties but only seven of them (or party coalitions) are currently represented in Parliament. In order to run in an election, each new party must first obtain 10,000 certified signatures on a petition, and then must win at least 5% of the votes in order to obtain a seat. Party coalitions must win at least 10% of the vote. The seats are apportioned according to the percentage of votes won by each party .2 The elections held on September 30-October I, 1994, produced no clear winner, as is usual in a proportional representative system. Slovakia is currently governed by a coalition consisting of the left-of-center Movement for a Democratic Slovakia led by Vladimir Mcciar, which won 35% of the popular vote. or 61 scats; by the pro-communist Association of Workers of Slovakia led by Jan r.uptak. which won 7.3% of the vote and 13 scats: and the ultra-nationalist Slovak National Party led by Jan Slota. which won 5 .4% of the vote and 9 scats in Parliament. This coalition ended up with a grand total of 83 scats, although in April I 99 5 three members of the Association of Workers of Slovakia split with their leader and they reduced the coalition's voting majority 1 For more details on the electoral process in the Slovak Republic sec "The Con- stitution of the Slovak Republic." in Albert P. Blaustein & Gisbert H. Flanz. eds .. Constitution.~ of the Countries of the World (Dobbs Fe1Ty. New York: Oceana Publications. Inc .. 1993). 84-88 . SLOVAKJA 174 to 80 seats. The oppos1t1on consists of the left-wing coalition Common Choice led by Peter Weiss, with 10.4 % of the popular vote or 17 seats; the Coalition of Magyar Parties led by Miklos Ouray, with 10.2% of the vote or 16 seats ; the right-wing Christian Democratic Movement led by Jan Carnog ursky , with I 0 . 1°4, of the votes or 16 seats; and the centrist Democratic Union of Slovakia led by Jozef Moravcik, with 8.6% of the vote or 13 seats.' Current Slovak politics is dominated by one strong leader who seems determined to undercut, by whatever means possible, other political leaders, many of whom are his former friends and associates . Prime Minister Vladimir Meciar, who is an attorney by training , and who supported the reforms of Alexander Dubcek in the 1960's, was purged from the ruling Communist Party in 1970 , and later became a corporate lawyer near the city of Trencfn . He entered politics in 1990, when the ruling Public Against Violence , the group of intellectuals which took power from the Communists in Slovakia in November of 1989, advertized for the position of Minister of the Interior of the post-communist Slovak Republic . Mr. Meciar won the competition and allegedly used his control over the Interior Ministry to both discover the past sins of his opponents, and to cover up those of his supporters . After the 3 "S lovakia's voters again turn to pugnacio us fom1er PM ." The Globe and Ma il (Toronto). October 3. 1994. The official election results were communicated to all embassies of the Sl ovak Rep ubli c by a "Tlacovy telegram MZY SR pre zahranicnu dipl omatich1 sluzbu SR." on October 3. 1994. of wh ich I have a copy. Fur an analysis of the results see Martin Yotruba's "S lovak News" (mimeogra phed). Slovak Studies Program. University of Pittsburgh. Sept. 27-Oct. 2. 1994. A much later analysis by Michael J. Kopanic. Jr.. including the creation of the coalition. appeared as "The Recent Elections in Slovakia." in Association for th e Study of NMion.1/ities: A nalysis of Current Eve nts. 6 (No.9. May. 1995). 1-3. For the split in the Association of Workers in Slovakia see Narodmi obroda, April 4. 1995 . SLOVAKIA 175 Public Against Violence won the largest percentage of the vote in the June elections of 1990, it selected Mr. Meciar to become Prime Minister of the Slovak Republic , which at that time was still a part of the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic. While in this post, Mr. Meciar allegedly joined with others in slowing or manipulating the process of investigating (" lustracny proces" in Slovak) whether or not high government officials had collaborated with, or served as agents. of the dreaded communist secret p olice. He also increasi ngly argued with the presidium of the Public Against Violence, and its coalition partner, the Christian Demo4 cratic Movement, over government policy . Even though Mr. Meciar is very intelligent, 1s an excellent speaker, has a photographic memory, and radiates charisma wherever he goes, he appears to have what is colloquially known as a "type A" personality. In other words, he feels that he has to be in complete control of any situation, he seldom seeks advice, and is not very tol erant of criticism. He prefers to be surrounded by "yes ' For a brief biography or Mci'iar sec Kto Jc kto na S/ovensku. 199 P ( Ko nzo rci u111 Encyk lopcd ia: Bratislava. 199 I ). I 14- 15: The allegations ;:igainst Meci;:ir were 111adc by his political oppone nts in the Slovak Parlia111cnt's Defense and Security Co111111ittec on November 7. 1991 . cf. ··'Secret Report' Clai111s Meciar KGB Connections:· Foreign Bmadcast ln fonna tion Service (Washington. D.C.. hereafter FBIS). November 13. 1991. p.1 4: and summarized by Jan Obrman ··S lo vak Politician Accused or Secret Police Tics:· R adio Free Europe I R adio Liberty Rese.irch R eport (hereafter R FEIRL R ese.irch R eport ). Apri l 10. 1992 . Sec also ··Meciar Proposes Repeal or Screening Law:· CTK. December 21. I 99 3 . Two highly -placed public servants in the Slovak government. one or whom worked in the Office or the Pri111c Minister for both Mr. Mci': iar. and hi s predecessors. recently repeated these allegations to 111e. Since they fear for their jobs. the se public servants have asked me to keep secret their names. and the circu mstances or our 111cetings. At this time it is impossible to confinn. or disprove. these allegations since the ril es of the fonner secret police. which are in Prague. arc not open to the public . SLOYAKJA 176 men" .5 Since the governing coalition Presidium was also composed of some very strong personalities, who opposed Mr. Meciar's attempts to become Chairman of the Public Against Violence in March of 1991, they decided to remove him from his Prime Ministerial post in April of that year. The Presidium replaced Mr. Meciar with Jan Carnogursky, an attorney and former Catholic dissident during the communist regime, who was also the founder and Chairman of the Christian Democratic Movement. 6 Mr. Meciar, and his most loyal supporters, subsequently withdrew from the Public Against Violence, which later fell apart, and they created the Movement for a Democratic Slovakia, which won the largest percentage of the votes in the June, 1992 elections . 7 In the next two years Mr. Meciar reached the height of his glory, but also suffered the humiliation of defeat. It was Mr. Meciar who in the summer of 1992, as Slovak Prime Minister, negotiated with Czech Prime Minister Vaclav Klaus the dissolution 5 This observation is based on my reading of the Slovak press. on observing Mr. Mcciar delivering a po litical address in Nitra in August. 1993. on a pri va tc meeting that I had with him in September. 1993. and on several discussions that I had with Mr. Igor Uhrfk. The latte r is a fervent Slovak nationali st who sold his successful industrial-insurance business in New York city in 1992 and returned to Slovakia to ··help o ut" in 1993. He contributed 1,000.000 Slovak crowns to the Slovak National Pa11y. was made vicc-Chainnan of the Party. and later be came a principal advisor to the Minister of Privatization of the Slovak govern ment (as a volunteer). After Mr. Meciar's return to power in the fall of 1994. and a split in the Slovak National Party. among other things. Mr. Uhrfk became disgusted with Slovak politics and returned to the United States . " Kto je kto na S/ovensk11 1991 '.'. 190. 7 Jiri Pchc, ··s1ovak Nationalists Agitate for more Autonomy. Oppose Radical Pri vatizatio n." RFEIRL Research R eport. March 20. I 991: '"50,000 rally after Slovak leader fired," New York Times. April 24, I 99 I. A9: For more details sec Robert A. Young. The Breakup of Czechas/avakia (Kingston: Queen 's Uni vcrs ity. Insti tute of Intergovernmental Relati ons. Research Paper #3 2. 1994 ). 5. IO - J6. SLOVAKIA 177 of the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic, and it was Mr. Meciar who proudly stood at the helm of the newly-independent Slovak Republic on January 1, 1993. Even though Mr. Meciar was not initially a nationalist, he shrewdly perceived that Slovak nationalism was the strongest single force in post-Communist CzechoSlovakia, and by 1992 he and his followers had firmly embraced this movement. 8 Slovak nationalism, however, was not enough to save Mr. Meciar from himself. He suffered his second major political defeat when the Slovak Parliament in February 1993 elected, not the physician Roman Kovac , the preferred candidate of Mr. Meciar's party for President of the Republic, but rather the fom1er Minister of Finance Michal Kovac .9 Much to Mr. Meciar's surprise, the latter refused to become a mere figurehead and instead took his duties as President quite seriously, to the point of attacking Mr. Meciar in the Slovak Parliament for alleged dictatorial tendencies in March of 1994. Meanwhile, Mr. Meciar had lost the confidence of several of his key allies and supporters, including Milan Knazko, his former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jozef Moravcfk, the subsequent Minister of Foreign Affairs, and two Deputy Prime Ministers, including Roman Kovac and I.:udovft Cernak, the latter '"Talks fail: Czechoslovakia dose to breakup. " Ottawa Citizen. June 9. 1992 : "Leaders start negotiations on splitting Czechoslovakia." The Globe and Mail. June 17. 1992: "Who Split Czechoslovakia'?" The New York Times. September 24. 1992. A29: "Parliament approves Czech-Slovak split." The Globe and Mail. November 26. 1992. "Fireworks. Tears and Doubt in Slovakia." The New York Times.January I. 1993. Al4: sec also Sabrina Petra Ramct. "The Reemergence of Slovakia." Nationalities Papers. 22 (No. I. Spring. 1994). I07 - 112 . '' "Havel elected first president of Czech Republic: Slovaks to hold runoff after vote rebuffs Prime Minister's candidate." The Globe and Mail. January 27. I 993 , A6: "Ex-Communist Chosen President of Slovakia." The New York Times. February 16. 1993. A7. 178 SLOVAKIA his coalition partner from the Slovak National Party! The net result was a parliamentary vote of no-confidence in Mr. Meciar and his party, his third political defeat, and his loss of power for a second time. Most of his former allies in the MOS, who abandoned him, joined Jozef Moravcfk's centrist Democratic Union of Slovakia. From March to October of 1994, a left-right coalition headed by Prime Minister Jozef Moravcfk ruled Slovakia. 111 For these reasons, ever since his election victory of 1994, and his subsequent return to power, Mr. Mcciar has tried to topple the President of the Slovak Republic and to destroy the Democratic Union of Slovakia. Between October and December of 1994 Mr. Meciar looked for coalition partners who would join him in his campaign against the President but had to settle for the two coalition partners mentioned above, who assured him of a voting majority in the Parliament, but not enough votes (90) to remove the President. Since he could not muster the votes to remove the President, he decided to try to strip him of some of his legal powers. For example, in April of 1995 Mr. Mcciar prevailed upon the Slovak Parliament to transfer from the President to the Prime Minister the right to appoint the Chief of Slovakia's Security Intelligence Service (the successor to the Secret Policc). 11 1 " .. Broad Coaliti on to govern Slovakia." The Globe and Mail. March 15 . 1994 . For the viewpoints of the two protagonists regarding the reasons for their fal - ling out see --sprava o stave Slovenskej republiky prednesena prezidentom SR Michalom Kovacom v Naroclncj radc SR dna 8.3.1994" and .. Prcjav predscdu vlady Slovcnskej republiky Yladimfra Mcciara na 27. sch6dzi NR SR di\a 11.3. 1994." published in a special issue of Republika (Bratis lava.March. I 9. 1994 ). I 5pp. For a legal interpretation of this struggle sec Spencer Zifcak ...The Battle over Presidential Power in Slovakia," Slovakia. 36 ( 1998). 70-80. For a profile of the Moravcfk government and its policies sec --cTK Profiles New Cabinet Members" in FB/S,March 17. 1994.4- 12 and --Text of Policy Statement of Slovak Government," FBIS. April 25. 1994, 16-30. 11 "Je Lexa v NR SR. v SIS. alebo v Iese?" Sme (Bratislava). April 26. 199 5. 179 SLOVAKIA Meanwhile, Mr. Meciar charged that the Democratic Union of Slovakia had not gathered the necessary 10,000 signatures before the elections of 1994. If he could prove his charge, then the DU members of Parliament would be stripped of their seats and Mr. Meciar would by default have the three-fifths of the votes necessary to remove the President. Unfortunately for Mr. Meciar, the Slovak Constitutional Court, headed by Milan Cic, the first Prime Minister of the post-communist Slovak Republic, and a former friend of Mr. Meciar, upheld the validity of the 10,000 signatures obtained by the DU before the 1994 elections. This did not stop Mr. Meciar from having his 80 supporters in Parliament pass a motion of " no confidence" in the President on May 5th, and in ordering the Slovak police to check on the validity of the l 0,000 signatures by visiting the homes of the signatories, and in the process harassing supporters of the DU. 12 Mr. Mcciar has also had his difficulties with the press . While he was out of office in 1994, the previous coalition government supported full freedom of the press , including radio and televi sion, and appointed boards of directors who were likewise inclined. Very few of these individuals were supporters of Mr. Mcciar. Once he returned to power in December of 1994 (it took him over two months to put together a coalition), Mr. Meciar began to fire the old boards of directors of radio and television (which arc still state-controlled), and to replace them \.Vith his own people. These , in turn , cancelled certain satiric television programs which had made fun of Mr. Meciar. As a result, there have been several mass-demonstrations in Bratislava against Mr. Meciar's alleged attempts to control the mass-media. Therefore, while television and radio commentators have ceased to lampoon 11 Zifcak. op.cit.. p.70; ··overovanie podpisov na harkoch DU je porusenie peticneho prava obcanov." Srne. May 23 . 1995 . SLOVAKIA 180 Mr. Meciar, the print media, which 1s largely privatized , is still very critical of him . 13 The economic situation in Slovakia, meanwhile, is improving. Slovakia did not slide into a deep depression after it became independent, as some Western pundits had predicted . Instead, after some uncertainty in 1993, its economy grew by a spectacular 4.8% in 1994 and its budget deficit was a respectable 3% of GDP. Meanwhile, the Slovak crown , its basic unit of currency, was devalued by only 10% in 1993, it is convertible to hard currencies , and it remains stable. The rate of inflation also dropped from 25% in 1993 to around 11. 7% in 1994. Unemployment, however, remains high -14%. One of the causes of Slovak unemployment is the collapse of its heavy-arms industry, which used to serve the now-defunct Warsaw Pact and its allies world-wide. Converting this arms industry into something more useful remains a major challenge to the government of the Slovak Republic. 13 14 Re uter, December 16. 1994, as reported by Martin Votruba in Slovak News. December 16- 18. 1994; Jiri Pchc, .. Anti-Mcciar Rall y in Bratislava," R FEIRL Reports. Ibid., December 8- 11. In a TA SR report of May 12. 1995. Mr. Mcciar was quoted as saying that the press is free in Slovakia... but all newspapers should admit who owns them. and who pays them." impl ying that the print press in Slovakia is large ly financed by fore igners who arc hosti le to the current governme nt. The CTK on the same date quoted Juraj Veres. editor of N,irod n;i obroda (Bratislava). as agree ing that the Slovak press was still free . but th at ··the government is trying to gain contro l over the dailies:· However. he added th at lately "the go vernment has been backing down ." For Mr. Mci:iar's earlier problems with the press sec Jan Obnuan ...The Slovak Government vers us the Media." RFEIRL Research R eport. February 5. 1993 . 14 For an example of negative reporting o n Slovakia's eco nomic future sec Step- hen Enge lberg, "New Nation. Imperiled Economy." New York Time.~. February 12. 1993. DI; for an admission that the Slovak economy is doing surprisingly well see "How the Slovaks Have Taken Flight." The Globe nncl Mail. December 5, 1994. A JO (reprinted from the Wall Street Jo urnal); and --standard and Poors o Slovensk u." Sme. April 7. 199 5. 181 SLOVAKJA Indeed, converting the whole system from a command economy to a form of private enterprise remain s the major problem for the Slovak government. U ndcr Communism the state nationalized all the industry and the bulk of the land, it controlled all the means of production, it regulated prices, and subsidized housing , transportation and food, and created a complete welfare state with free education from pre-school through university, and free universal health-care. Unfortunately, the state enacted all these changes without the consent of the people, it enforced them through the use of police terror, and it discriminated in favour of members of the Communist Party and children of the workingclass when dispensing economic and cultural benefits. 15 Now that the Communists are no longer in charge, the various governments of Slovakia have tried to transform the economy into a form of private enterprise, as called for in the Constitution of the Slovak Republic. Since no real models exist on how to do this , n umcrous laws and regulations have been passed to try to bring it about. The first steps were taken in early 1991 when the Parliament of the C1.ech and Slovak Federal Republic passed a law for the restitution of confiscated private property (chiefly land). While some former landowners were delighted to receive their land back, most young people in Slovakia showed no interest in working it. The amount of land seized from individual families by the Communists had been small in the first place, and most young ' ' The literature on this subject is vast. For two co ncise a11iclcs that deal with most of this period sec Robert K. Evanson. ··Regime and Working Class in Czechoslovakia. 1948- 1%8." Soviet Studies. 37 (Nn. 2. 1985 ). 248-68; and by the same author "Political Repressi o n in Czechoslovakia. Slavonic Pi1pcrs. 28 (No. I. 1986). 1-21. 1948- 1984." Canadian 182 SLOVAKJA people have no intention of becoming smallholding • peasants 16 agam . Managers, officials, and many workers on collective and state farms , on the other hand , wish to preserve these institutions. Since collectives and state farms provide their employees with a guaranteed income, regular hours, easy work, and many opportunities for theft, the employees are loath to see such farms disappear. Such employees are among the pillars of support that Mr. Meciar can count on during elections. 17 The various churches of Slovakia, meanwhile, especially the Roman and Greek Catholic Churches, which were singled out for persecution by the Communists, have had much of their confiscated property returned . In l 991-92 the federal government returned most of the buildings that the Communists had seized from religious orders, and in the fall of l 993 Mr. Meciar's government returned most of the buildings that had been confiscated from Church Dioceses. However, most church land that was confiscated and turned into state or collective farms was not returned, largely because of the opposition of the collectives. Thus , the churches continue to rely upon government support for their existence, and '" "Czechoslovakia plans to return property ." Philadelphia 24, I 99 L ..Transfonn:icia pornohospod:irstva Inquirer. February a rcstitucie:· Pr.ic:.i (Bra ti slava). May 31. 1993; "Refonns Alter the Landscape or Czechoslovakia's Fanning ." New Y ork Times, June 4, I 99 L Milan Svec, "Czechoslovakia's Velvet Di vorce." Current Hist ory (November. I 992 ). 377; and discussions with the tw o public servants mentioned above in footnote 3. 17 "Who voted for Whom'1" (a poll conducted by the Slovak Research Office). as reported by Martin Yotruba in Slovak News. 7-9 October. 1994. p.4. The o bservatio ns abo ut state fam1s and collectives were made by the two public servants mentioned above. On many occasions when I visited Slovakia in the era of Communism. I also discussed collectives and state fanns with some of my relatives. who worked at such institutions. They detalied the many kinds of theft possible at state farms and collectives. 183 SLOVAKIA from a North American perspective, this . I8 S h Ip . IS an unhealthy relation- Meanwhile, the federal Parliament also passed the "small privatization" Act of J 990 concerning small business. This Act enabled a few thousand entrepreneurs to borrow money from banks to establish small retail businesses such as travel agencies, restaurants, bakeries, grocery stores, computer stores, and various skilled trades. These kinds of enterprises are flourishing all over Slovakia. 19 A little later the federal Parliament passed another Act that concerned itself with the privatization of large industries, the socalled "large privatization." This would involve all except the most strategic industries such as atomic energy, natural gas, transportation, the arms industry and so on . However, since the government did not wish its large industries to be bought by foreigners, and since most of the citizens of the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic did not have the wealth tn purchase these industries outright, the government decided to enact a "coupon privati1.ation." By this plan , every citi1.cn over the age of 18 was entitled to buy a privatization coupon for J .000 C1.echoslovak crowns (Kcs), and then invest it in the company of his choice. The " For the story of the persecution of the churches in Slovakia sec Theodoric J. Zubek. The Church of Silence in Slovakia (Whi ting. IN: John J. Lach. 1956). and Michal Lacko. "The Forced Liquidation of the Union of Uzhorocl." Slovak Studies. I (1961). 145-85: for the story of the underground church in Slovakia under Communism sec "Secret Bishop." and for the story of the rebuilding of the Jesuit Order sec " New Oppmtunitics in Slovakia." Company: a magazine o{ the American Jc.m ils. 8 (No. 3. Spring. 1991 ). 2-5. and 9- 11. Details of the resti tution laws passed after 1990 can be found in Sharon Fisher. "Church Restitu tion Law Passed in Slovakia." RFEIRL Rese.1rch Report. November 19. 1993 . '" "Chystiime historicky ziikon: Ekonomicka refonna konecnc dostala tviir." Niirodn,i obroda. September 5. 1990. 13: Svec. op.cit.. 377 . 184 SLOVAKIA number of shares he would receive would depend upon the value of the company. This was the first step in the creation of a stock market in the Republic. The government also decided that this process would be divided into several rounds since it involved so many industries. The first round took place while the CzcchoSlovak Federation still existed ? ' The second round of the coupon privatization was supposed to take place after Slovakia became independent. However, the government of Mr. Mcciar soon discovered that most Slovaks were not investing their coupons directly into the companies for sale, but rather were selling them to investment companies controlled by foreigners . The Meciar government did not want to allow these foreign-owned holding companies to buy up so much of Slovakia's industries, and it postponed this privatization . However, the Moravcik government, which ruled Slovakia between March and October, 1994, allowed this privatization to continue . Then, when Mr. Meciar returned to power in the fall of 1994, he halted the privatization again. At the end of March, 1995 the government of Mr. Meciar decided to allow half of this coupon privatization to proceed, but he reserved the other half for potential Slovak buyers, most of whom arc in fact the managers of these industries . These managers allegedly neglected the upkeep of their factories and, therefore, their value has declined. Thus, if this privatization continues, the managers of these factories stand to make a lot of money once the value of their factories goes up again. Mr. Meciar's enemies have charged that these managers arc in league with Mr. Mcciar, that they arc all former Communists, and that they provide him with financial support. Mr. Meciar's supporters, on the other hand, charge that the proponents of the 1 " "A Divorce that Could Save the Czech Economy," The Wall Street Journal. March 11. 1991 ; Svec. op. cit.. 377 . SLOVAKIA 185 strict coupon privatization are in leag ue with Mr. Moravcik and . financially support the opposition parties. Neutral observers have told me that both sides arc guilty of profiteering from this privatization process , and the greed and corruption involved goes a long way toward s explaining the bitterness of current Slovak politics. Also, because Mr. Meciar reduced the number of businesses to be privati1.ed in half, that is, from an estimated value of 80 billion Sk to 40 billion Sk, the 3.2 million holders of pri vatization coupons in the Slovak Republic witnessed a drop in the value of their coupons from 24,000 Sk to 12,000 Sk by March of 1995. Forty deputies of the Slovak Parliament then approached the Constitutional Court in Kosicc to protest against Law No . 340/ J 994, which had halted the coupon privatization on November 3-4, 1994, a nd the Constitutional Court decided in their favour. It then o rdere d the Slovak Parliament to re-write the law so that it would no t violate individuals' rights to private property as guaranteed by th e Slovak Constitution . Mr.Meciar's reaction was to propose that the privatization coupons be exchanged for government bo nd s, which could be redeemed for 10,000 Sk, or held for their interest, or used to purchase shares in companies. Most opposition deputies denounced this suggestion as ··theft" from the coupon-holders . 21 The average citizen. meanwhile, has had to tighten his belt several notches since the fall of Communism. While the gove rnment still controls the price o f electricity, transportation. fuel and basic " Smc. Apri l 6. 1995: "Privatizacny zakon nie je v s11lade s ustavou SR." TA SR. May 25 . 1995: "V . Meciar o novej kuponovej privatiz,icii ." Smc. June 8. 1995: "Anketa Sme:• Smc. June 8. 1995. Once again . the two public servants. cited above. ex plained the complexity of this iss ue to me. Dr. Juraj Svec. the Recto r of Comenius University in Bratislava. and a member of Parliament for the DU. confinned their analysis when he visited with me o n March 26. 1995. 186 SLOYAKJA foodstuffs, it has decided to provide smaller subsidies for these goods or services and, therefore, it has raised their prices dramatically in the last four years . Thus, while a streetcar ride used to cost a mere one crown, it now costs five ; while gasoline used to cost seven crowns a litre, it now costs nineteen. And, while a liter 22 of milk used to cost two crowns, it now costs twclvc . Wages, of state employees, on the other hand, have not kept up with the rise in prices. While members of the Slovak Parliament voted themselves hefty pay increases in the summer of 1993 (from 10,000 Sk to 25,000 Sk per month), ordinary state employees do not share in this largesse. Indeed, the wage-structure of state employees is still very Communist. Thus , a physician starting his career receives only 4,000 Sk, which is less than the wage of the average truck-driver! As a result, physicians in Slovakia recently demanded a 200% wage increase, and threatened to go on strike if they did not receive it. Teachers and professors are s1m1larly und erpaid , with the former receiving 5,000 Sk and the latter 8,600 Sk. Even though Mr. Mcciar promised during the last election campaign, among other things, to double teachers' salaries , " Interviews with the the two public servan ts cited above. plus my ow n observations on visits to Slovakia in the summers or 1990. 1991. 1992. I ()9J and 1994. In May of 1990 I visi ted Slovak ia as a delegate of the Slovak League of Ame ri ca. wh ich had come on a ••fact -finding" mission. This was an offi cial mis sio n. spo nsored by the governme nt of the Slovak Republic. It was the first official visi t of the Slovak Leag ue since 1938. whe n the first de legati on of th e League brought to Slovakia the original of the Pittsburgh Ag reeme nt. In 1993 I visited Slovakia as the newl y-elected president of the Canadian Slovak League. In this capaci ty I had official di scussio ns with Prime Minister Meciar and with Jan Findra, Chancellor to the President. My visits in I 991. 1992 and 1994 were for scholarly purposes - to participate in historical co nfere nces. SLOVAKIA 187 he has thus far failed to do so. Indeed, Slovak schoolteachers are also threatening to go on strike over this issue. 23 Employees of the growing private enterprises, on the other hand , generally make much more than state employees. For instance, clerks in private banks earn 10,000-15,000 crowns a month. Accountants and computer programmers in private firms make up to 20,000 Sk per month. And attorneys, who were among the first to privatize in the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic , arc among the highest-paid professionals in Slovakia. Finally, growing numbers of entrepreneurs have become millionaires many times over. and some of these 'nouveau-riche' flaunt their wealth with expensive western cars, clothes, and other consumer goods. They have provoked increasing resentment among state employees, whose salaries have remained far behind the increase in the cost of consumer goods and scrviccs. 24 The price of housing has also skyrocketed . Under Communism, if one had the right connections, one could obtain a beautiful villa in the hills overlooking Bratislava and the Danube river officially for about 250,000 Kcs (and unofficially, that is, with an additional under-the-table payment of 250.000 Kcs). Now these villas cost anywhere from 2,000,000 to 20,000.000 Sk. Similarly, state and co-op apartments, which usually consist of only three rooms plus a small kitchen and tiny bath, are commanding premium prices. The co-op apartments, where one purchased the 11 Smc. April 6. 1995: " Pricskum ukaza l. zc vysc 70% lckarov jc oc ho tnych vs tupit' dn st rajku." Smc. April 26 . 1995: " Skolstvo dostane 530 mili6nov ." Smc. May 14. 1995 : "Ultimatum lckarnv na zvyscnic platov o 200% vyprsalo. strajkovat' sa asi ncbudc." Sme. May 15. 1995 : ··Pricmern,i mzda v skolstve nad'alcj ncjasna." Smc. June 8. 1995: and discussions with the two public servants cited above. " Discussions with the two public servants cited above. plus personal observations from past visits to Slovakia. 188 SLOVAKIA right to live for 30,000 Kcs under Communism , can now be bought by the renters for 50,000 Sk, and can then be re-sold for anywhere between 750,000 to 1,000,000 Sk 1 Former state-ow ned apartments, meanwhile, which until recently could not be purchased were often sub-leased to others for very hig h rents. The process of their sale will soon approximate what happened with the co-op apartments. The state, meanwhile, has lost interest in providing additional ho using for the people. Various entcrpreneurs have taken over this task, and the newly-built apartments generall y sell for around 1,000,000 Sk, which is far beyond what the average Slovak can a ffo rd. 25 Health care, meanwhile, is also in a state o f transition . Before 1989, health care was universal and free. However, one received quality care only if one was either a high functionary of the Communist Party, which had its own special clinics and hospitals , with modern , western , equipment; or, if one bribed one's physician and nurse with extra money or gifts. And, exotic western drugs were usuall y not available, except to the privileged few . Many American and Canadian Slovaks remember well the pl ain tive letters that they used to receive from their unfortunate relatives in Slovakia under Communism, and how these relatives sent prescriptions for Western-made drugs, along with the addresses of pharmacies in Switzerland , which when paid in hard 21 currencies, were willing to fill these orders for them . ' 15 Ibid. 1 Milada Vachudova and Sharon Fisher. "' Health Care Crisis : The Czech and '' Slovak Republics ." RFEIRL Research Report. October 8. 1993. 44-46: and dis c ussio ns wi th friends and relatives on visits to Slovakia in 1968. 1970. 1983 and 1988 . Our fami ly in Canada used to regularly receive requests fo r western drugs. and we filled these requests th rough a willing phannacist in Switze rland . Dr. Do broslav Valik of Bry n Mawr. Pe nnsy lvani a. to ld me in Octo ber of 1992 of having tried to establish a Dental Clinic in Bratislava right after the "'Ve lve t SLOVAKIA 189 In an effort to save money, the Slovak government is trying to privatize parts of the health-care system, but at a very slow pace. Pharmacies have all been privatized and one can now buy whatever drugs one needs. However, the state pays only for routine drugs, and not always for the full amount. The more exotic drugs, which arc now readily available, must be paid for by the patient. Dentists are also privatizing as quickly as they can, with about one-third currently being self-s upporting and ex pensive . Most physicians, however, have not yet taken the plunge and arc unlikel y to do so. Because of their poor salaries , most M.D.'s in Slovakia cannot afford to purchase the expensive equipment necessary to open an office or clinic, and they also cannot afford private liability insurance. As long as they continue to work for state-run hospitals, they do not need liability insurance, and, thu s, they continue to be state employees . And, because they continue to be underpaid , many demand extra payments or gifts if they are to provide quality care. Meanwhile, most Slovaks oppose the privatization of their health care. They want it to remain universal and free . Thus, the Mcciar government is moving slowly and cautiously in trying to reform the health-care systcm. 27 The educational system of Slovakia is also undergo ing change. Shortly after the Communists sci1.cd power the y a bolished all religious schools and put education at the service or the state. The whole system from pre-school throug h university was then statefunded and controlled. Marxism was taught as the philosophy or Revo luti o n.. of 1989. Much to his amazement. his friends from the VPN showed him the clinic for funner me mbers of the Commu nist Pa11y in Bratislava. It had all the latest western equipment one could imagine. unlike clin ics for the general public . 17 Yaduchova & Fisher. op. cit.. 48-49. a nd discussions servants cited above . with the two public SLOVAKIA 190 the state, and all teachers had to conform or face expulsion . Higher • education was free but operated under a quota system whereby in the process of admission children o f the working-class were favoured over those of the middle or upper classes . The latter then resorted to bribery to get their children into institutions of higher learning. Meanwhile , to their credit, the Communists also established several new universities , including the full-service Safarik University in Kos ice and the College of Transportation in Zilina, among others, to satisfy the demands of an increasingly industrialized society .2x After the downfall of Communism, state-support for cd ucation continued , but not its ideological requirements . Most universities held new elections for rectors and deans , and the professors and students threw out the communist administrators . However, because most of the communist professors have tenure, the uni versities cannot get rid of them. It will take another generation before these Marxist professors reach retirement age, and arc finally replaced by a new generation of professors . And even the new generation will bo hard to find, because the wages paid to professors arc so low. Meanwhile. the quota system that favored students of working-class origins has been replaced by a 4uota " Ladi slav G resfk. --vyc hova rokoch 1956 - 1960 ." vy,o kos ko lskej inte ligencie na Sl ove nsku v Historicky i'a.rnri.~. 31 ( No .6 . 198) ). 8') 1-91 O: A 111011 Hrnko & Jozef Zatkuliak," Uni vcrzita Ko me nskc ho na rozhranf piitiles iatyc h a sestHesialyc h rokov ." Hi.~toricky t'a .r npis. 32 (No.4. I 984 ). 59J-(1 19: pe rso na l o bservati o ns fro n1 past visi ts to Slovakia. di scussio ns w ith the two pub I ic servants cited abo ve. and di sc ussio n with Rudolf Korec. Recto r of Safarik U ni versity. May. 1990. On a visit to Slovakia in the summer of 1968 I asked one of my co usins what he was studying. He replied .. Philosophy ." When I in4uired a bo ut the kind o f philosophy . he replied "'Marxism-Lcnini sm 1" His mo ther. meanw hil e . w ho was a sc hoolteac her. used to go to church in a vill age o ut s id e o f the to wn in whi ch she lived. because if she had been seen atlendin g c hurc h services in her home to wn . she would have lost her job. SLOVAKIA 191 based on grades . Even though Slovakia today has 14 institutions of higher learning, including brand-new universities in Trnava and Banska Bystrica, it still enrolls only 18% of high sc hool grad uatcs, which is very low when compared to Western Europe or North America, which attract between 30% and 50%. Meanwhile , the state has permitted the re-establishment of religious sc hools funded by the government. However, their number remains small beca use forty years of Communism thoroughly discredited religious education , and most employees of the Ministry of Education arc still opposed to their expansion .2'> Whether or not the government decides to in vest more m higher education remains to be seen. Recent attempts to introduce tuition to cover 20% of the cost of their education have met fierc e resistance from the students. Meanwhile, the quality of university education in Slovakia is not very high, large ly because the teaching staff was cut off from the West for over 40 years , and also because universities stressed education rather than researc h. Tha t is why all the Slovak universities arc hurridly signing agreements with universities all over the Western world that provide for scholarly exchanges o f staff and students . However. it is difficult to attract top Western scholars to teach at Slovak uni versities when they can expect salaries of only $300.00 per month . Onl y true idealists have thu s far volunteered to teac h at Slovak unive rsities under such conditions. 10 ' " Disrnssion with Rudolf Korec. Rector or Safarik University in Kosice. May. 1990: discussion wi th Dean Ladislav Pauliny. Farn lty of A11s. Co menius U ni ve rsity. May. 1994: discussio n with Juraj Svec. Rec tor of Comcni us Univers it y. March 26. 1995 : and discu ssions with the two public servants cited above. '" Discussion with Juraj Svec. op.cit.. and " Pod l'a prof. M. Urbana. dost:.\vaj11 vysokc skoly v SR iba tretinu financii v porovnani s vyspelymi st:.\tmi." TA SR. May 26. 1995. SLOVAKIA 192 Slovak culture, meanwhile, is also undergoing a radical transformation. Under Communism all cultural activities were state-financed and controlled, and all cultural output was for the sake of promoting Marxism. A Slovak Academy of Sciences, as well as Unions of writers and creative artists were founded in the early l 950's, and they operated under five-year plans . Compliant historians, writers, and creative artists not only became state employees with respectable salaries, but they also received such perks as the use of confiscated castles for meetings and vacations, and statesubsidized clubs that served good food at very low prices . As long as they toed the Party line, their books were published or their paintings and illustrations were bought by mu se ums or publishing houses, and no-one worried, for instance, about how many copies of a book were actually sold, since the government subsidized everything. On the other hand , historians , writers and creative artists could only praise Communism and denounce Capitalism. Certain key personages in Slovak history, such as the Rev. Andrej Hlinka, founder and leader of the Slovak People's Party in the first third of the twentieth century, either became "non-persons" in official publications, or else were denounced as reactionary clcrico-fascists . The past was deliberately distorted to serve the communist futurc. Those intellectuals who refused to go along with this system were persecuted by being allowed to work only at menial labour, and those who dared to openly oppose this Marxist control over culture ended up in jail. 11 .II Julius Mesaros. " Retlexie O piitaesiatych a sestl:lcsiatych rokoch." f-lis/orick f casopis. 39 (Nos. 4-5. 199 I ). 379-88: Richard Marsina. "S lovensk.i historiografia I 945- I 990." f-li storickf brnpi5. 39 (Nos .4-5. I 99 I). 370-79: and discussions with Slovak historians and writers during my visits to Slovakia between 1968 and 1994. SLOVAKJA 193 After the collapse of Communism, most Slovak intellectuals threw off the shackles of Marxism and started to create freely, as in other countries. Freedom, however, came with a price - declining government support. The bloated Slovak Academy of Sciences (SA V) has been reduced from 7,000 members in 1989 to 3,000 in 1995. While some people have been advocating its total abolition, others have come to its defense. In recent days , certain members of Mr. Meciar's government have even advocated that the Academy be retained in its present form , and that it continue to do basic research as before, while leaving university professors to do the teaching. This Soviet model runs contrary to western traditions, whereby university professors do both research and teaching, and government-supported research is kept to a minimum. Rectors of Slovakia's universities wish to adopt the western model and arc currently negotiating with the Meciar government to try to reach a compromise on this very touchy . \1 question. Slovakia's writers. meanwhile, have had to learn to fend for themselves. Some have become entrepreneurs in the publishing industry , which has shrunk in size and has become more selective in what it accepts for publication , based upon its market potential; others have entered politics and the diplomatic service, giving these professions an unusual (in North America, at least) intellectual llair; and a third group is now dependent upon government grants to subsidize its publications. Needless to say, the compc- 11 ·-z prejavu predsedu SA V Branislava Lichardusa na slavnostnom zhromaz- denf k 40. vyrociu SAY'". Spdvy sluvcnskcj akademic vied. 30 (No. I. 1994). 35; discussion with Dr. Juraj Svec. Rector of Comenius University. March 26. I 995; and discussion with Dr. Branislav Lichardus. president of the Slovak Academy of Sciences and Ambassador of the Slovak Republic to the United States, April 22. 1995. in Washington. D.C. SLOVAKIA 194 tition for such grants is very fierce, with only the best writers receiving support. No wonder that Slovak writers jealously g uard their perks and get very indignant when reminded that the government will not for long let them keep their castle at Budmerice, especially if some wealthy westerner offers to buy it for a large sum of money .D Slovak writers also face fierce competition from western writers. Bookstores are full of novels by westerners, especially Americans such as Stephen King (in translation), and only outstanding Slovak novels now have any chance of commercial success. This also applies to children's books , especially those published by the Walt Disney Corporation. Traditional Slovak children 's books, illustrated by Slovak graphic artists, now have to compete for the hearts and minds of Slovak children with Walt Disney characters such as Bambi and Mowgli speaking in Slovak! Unfortunately, Slovak writers also have to compete with the whole world of pornography, which is also a specialty of the West. Newspaper Kiosks in Bratislava feature as many naked women on magazine covers as one can see in Western Europe . This is another kind of price that one pays for freedom. 34 The Slovak media is also undergoing rapid change. The Slovak film industry (Koliba studios), which used to produce ten JJ Di sc ussions with the two public servants cited above. When I visited Slova- kia in the summer of 1992. I tonnented writer l.'.ubos Jurik with the suggestion th at he would soon lose his summer retreat at Budmcricc castle whe n some .. ri c h Arab sheik would offer $50.000,000 for it. " Jurik . who now works as the official spokesman fo r Dr. Ivan Gasparovic, the Speaker of the Slovak Parliament. became indignant at my suggestion. Meanwhile. the writer Anton Hykisch now serves as Ambassador of the Slovak Republic to Canada. 14 Personal observati ons based upo n my visits to Slovakia in 1990. 199 1, 1992. 1993 , 1994. The semi -monthl y KniinJ revue (Bratislava). now regularly features reviews of books published in the major western lan guages. SLOVAKIA 195 fairly high-quality feature films per year with government subsidies in the past, now struggles to produce one a year. This industry, too, has to compete with the West, especially with Hollywood, and no country has yet succeeded in doing this. Thus, if the Slovak government wishes its film industry to continue to exist, it will have to continue to subsidize it. 35 Slovak television , meanwhile, is in the throes of a great controversy. Only two Slovak television stations exist at the moment , and both arc government-funded and controlled . As mentioned above, Mr. Meciar recently dismissed the Boards of Directors of both stations and replaced them with his own people, and many intellectuals have accused him of trying to control the electronic media. These intellectuals seem to have forgotten the folk-saying .. he who pays the piper, calls the tune. " The only solution that I sec to this dilemma is for Slovak entrepreneurs to establish private television stations, either in Slovakia. or, if necessary, in neighbouring Austria or the Czech lands, which will compete for the hearts and minds of their audiences. the same way that private television stations <lo in the West. Meanwhile. cheap films and programs from all over the world, either dubbed or licensed in Slovakia, now dominate the air-wavcs. 11 ' The Slovak print media, by contrast. 1s vibrant and free . Under Communism all media, whether print or electronic. had to " Ce lestine Bohlen . .. East Europe's Cultural Life. Once a Refu ge. Now Ec lipsed:· New York Ti Illes. November 13. 1990. A I. A 12: discussions public servants cited above: personal observations with the based upon my visits t o Slovakia . '" Sec above. footnote 12. for the dismissal of the directors of Slo vak radio and televisio n. Interestingly enough. on April 22. 1995. the first private cable net work began to broadcast in Slo vakia. It is called ··Vasa tcl c vfzia" (Your Televi sion ). or VTV. and at the moment covers only the Bratisl ava area. although it soon hopes to expand across the co untry. CL Slllc. April 24. 1995 . 196 SLOVAKIA parrot the Party line. In order to discover what was really gomg on, people had to learn to "read between the lines." Clever journalists often sent subtle signals to their readers by, for instance, not mentioning some prominent Party functionaries in a story, which meant that they were falling into disfavour, or else by lavishing praise upon them, which meant that they were about to be promoted . Not any more. Slovakia has about a dozen nationwide independent dailies , and only one - Slovenska republika supports the Meciar government. The rest are generally critical of the government, with Narodna obroda being the most objective , while Sme, which is edited by former members of the Public Against Violence, is the most critical. Unfortunately, the government still controls the supply and price of newsprint, and recently threatened, through taxes , to raise the price by I00% if the criticism of Mr. Meciar did not stop. Ten independent dailies responded by issuing newspapers with blank front pages, and the government backed off. Nevertheless, this game of "chicken" between Mr. Meciar, and Slovakia's independent press continues .~7 In spite of all the difficulties it faces, Slovakia is well on its way towards democratic Capitalism. Mr. Meciar's "Type 'A' ·'personality notwithstanding, Slovakia is a functioning democracy with a democratically-elected Parliament and President. And by signing a historic treaty with Hungary on March 19th. in which he promised that Slovakia would guarantee the cultural and JJ For the implications of the switd1 from a government-controlled press tu one that is free see Owen V. Johnson. '"Half Slave - Half Free: The Crisis of the Russian and East European Press," AAASS Newsletter. 33 (March. 1993 ). I. 4. The opinion regarding the objectivity of various Slovak newspapers is mine. For details regarding the recent struggle between Mr. Mcciar and the Slovak press see "Slovak Press Special," Slovak News (U . of Pittsburgh), March 3-5. 1995. For the reaction of America's most important daily to this struggle sec ··Slovakia Takes a Wrong Tum," New York Times. March 7. 1995. A 18 . SLOVAKIA 197 linguistic rights of its Hungarian citizens, Mr. Meciar showed that he is capable of compromise, · and he can, if he is so inclined, behave as a pan-European politician. The Members of Parliament, and government Ministers, however, still have to learn the political culture of democracy--to treat each other with respect, and to serve the people, not just their own interests. This will take time, however, and we should be patient while it does. After all, some of our own politicians need to learn the same lesson .38 It should be apparent, therefore, that the most difficult part of the transition from Communism to Capitalism is in the realm of individual versus collective rights. After the overthrow of the Communists in 1989 most Slovaks were delighted to recover their individual rights, such as the freedom of expression, the freedom to travel to the West, and so on. However, with the increase in the cost of living that has occurred in the last four years, these rights have lost some of their lustre. Instead, many people are growing increasingly restive about their collective rights, that is, to free and universal health care, to free education, and to a whole host or previously free social programs which Communism inaugurated. It was Mr. Meciar's promises in the last elections to guarantee some of these social programs that, along with his strong nationalism. brought him the largest number of votes. How he will manage to retain these expensive social programs, and at the same time reform the economy and make it more market-oriented, remains to be seen. Indeed. many western countries share Mr. " For a grudging acknowledgement that Slovakia is a functioning democracy sec "2-Ycar-Old Slovakia Toddling Toward Democracy." New York Times. March I 9. 1995. AJ. For the treaty with Hungary see Sharon Fisher "Slovakia and Hungary Sign Bilateral Treaty.'' OMRI. Inc .. as cited in Slovak News. March 19. 1995. 198 SLOVAKIA Meciar's dilemma - how to promote capitalist growth while subsidizing expensive social programs .  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Political, Economic, and Cultural Situation in the Slovak Republic (As of May, 1995) Description An account of the resource M. Mark Stolarik Slovakia, Vol. 37 (No. 68-69), 2003 pp. 172-198 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Stolarik, M. Mark, 1943- Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2003 LCNAF https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/a4829aa90812842d138553e424271452.pdf a156b41d572d5a6feffcf8f54343047a PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA 43 THE POLITICS OF HLINKA'S PARTY IN THE SLOVAK REPUBLIC (jk) - On October 6, 1938, representatlves of all SLOVAK polltical parties and branches of au CZECH polltical partles - excepting th e Communist and the Social Democratlc parties - met in Žilina, Slovakia. There it was agreed to accept the program of Hllnka's Slovak People's Party (HSPP). The same representatives met in Bratislava on November 8, 1938, and, in the natlonal lnterest, decided to unite all polltical forces In a single party under the name of the Party of Natlonal Unity (PNU). No coerclon of any kind was used to brlng about this accompllshment. The representatlves of all Slovak and Czech parties were hapPY that representatlves of the vlctorlous autonomlstlc movement did not resort to reprlsals, but gave all of them a chance to take part in the pol!tlcal llfe of Slovakia. Autonomy or Slovakla was the polltlcal program of Hllnka's Slo• vak People's Party and Rázus's Slovak National Party (SNP) excluslvely. National interest and interna! and forelgn polltlcal de· velopments led the representatlves of Slovak autonomy to unlte all polltlcal parties In Slovakla in the Party or Natlonal Unity. After a twenty-year fight, Prague was forced to grant Slovakla autonomy and, so, to capitulate In the matter of the fiction of a united "Czechoslo· vak" nation (ethnlcally speaklng). AII polltlcal partles in Slovakia exceptlng the parties of Andrew Hlinka and Martin RAzus - also capltulated by jolnlng the Party of National Unity, because they had stood centrallsm and dld not recognize the exlstence of the Slovak natlon. Unity was not forced on any political party, as was later clalmed by the enemles of the Slovak Republic. We repeat: all political partie• of Slovakia realized that lt was in the natlonal lnterest to unite all political forces in 1938 and, therefore, joined the Pai-ty of National Unity voluntarily. The news that this feat was accompllshed was joyously acclalmed by the whole of Slovakla. At that Ume, Dr. Joseph Tlso wrote ln the "SLOVÁK": "The Slovak natlon has become united in the spirit of Bernolák and Štúr, ln the spirit of Moyses and Kuzmány, and ln the spirit of Hlinka and Rázus. Class dlstinctlons bave ceased and we now have only the united Slovak natlon." Representatives of other polltical parties (naturally, excluding the Communists and Social Democrats, whose partles were dlssolved) thought, spoke and wrote along the same llnes. The Executive Commlttee of the Slovak National Party, assembled at Žilina, December 15, 1938, lssued a proclamation ln whlch lt sald: "The adherents of the Slovak National Party recognlze the nec·esslty of unltlng all Slovaks in one polltlcal party and wholeheartedly offer to work for the welfare and happlness of the whole natlon. We are convinced that thls unlty shall evoke In all Slovaks - at horne and abroad - the greatest joy and satisfactlon. Long live the unlted Slovak natlon ! " �44 SLOVAK:IA In its Christmas message, published in the NA TIONAL NEWS, the SNP spoke even more clearly and forcefnlly: "Political reconclllation has come to our nation. We have declded to build our new future in the fleld of politics united on a natlonal program. This fact was received wlth joy by the Slovak public, because in these uncertaln times lt assures the most reliable and safest way to save our national individuality and its validation to the fullest extent in public life." The message was underslgned by. Dr. Emil Stodola. Dr. Ján Paulíny-T oth, Dr. Miloš Vančo, prof. Vladlmlr Cernák, Senior Otto Škrovina, Senior L'udovit Šenšel, Ing. Štefan Kada, and Dr. Martin Kvetko. Not only polltlcal clrcles felt the need for politlcal unlty and joyously welcomed lt when it was realized, but literary and cultural clrcles as well. One needs only to refer to the journals and newspapers of that tíme to convince hlmself of that fact. Irregardless of political affiliation or creed the vast majority of the Slovak natlon approved politlcal unity. Naturally, there were a few dlssenters in the Services of Czech imperlallsm who could not see any posslblllty of playlng a leading role In the new Slovak life. But even these did not make themselves heard at that tlme; in the new formulatlon of Slovak polltical life they dld not see "the successlon of fasclsm and the death of democracy" and they did not defend thelr "democratlc" convictions. Such was the polltical atmosphere to March 1939. In March 1939 national unlty was a bit s haken when the Czech army occupied Bratislava and some polltlcal leaders of former Czech political parties agaln offered thelr services to Czech imperiallsm and jolned wlth it. But the shock was or very short duratlon and did not bring any changes In the polltlcal life of Slovakia, b ecause the representatlves of Czechoslovaklsm did not know how to fight for their convlctlons. They always served the regime in power and, acted accordingly even after the proclamation of the Independent Slovak Republlc. Naturally, the prestlge of Hllnka's party only increased wltb these events, because not only Slovak autonomy. but even the Slovak State was, above all, tbe result of the fight of HSPP and lts leadership. The Party's 20-year struggle against Czech efforts to assimiliate the Slovaks nationally and gain political and economic control of Slovakla - alded only by Rázus's Slovak National Party - Jed to the autonomy of Slovakla and then, by the law of evolution and logic, to independence. The Slovak State was the result of the organlzed wlll of the Slovak nation. While others were deaf to the pulse of the tlmes and based thelr politics on fiction, Hllnka's Slovak People's Party - sprlnging ldeologlcally from the Slovak earth and the heart of the Slovak natlon, set out on the road that Jed to political and state lndependence. (Vd. Tiso, SLOVÁK - No. 32, 1941, and Klrschbaum, NÁSTUP - No. 19, 1939). It was only natural, then, that HSPP remalned at the head of political llfe even In the Slovak Republlc, especially slnce there were no other political parties when lndependence was proclalmed and no serious attempts were made to create them. Tbe Magyars and the Germans, as natlonal mlnoritles, had thelr own political parties, so that trom the beglnnlng to the end ot the Slovak Republlc there were three parties that were protected by the Constitution and duly rep· �SLOVAKIA 45 resented in Parliament by their own representatlves. Even the small minortly of the Ukrainian-speaklng population had its own representatives within the fold of the HSPP. After the proclamation of indendence of Slovakia, Hllnka's Slovak People's Party - the opposition party that had fought for Slovak autonomy up to October 1938 - ,s uddenly became the ruling party, the Government, and almost exclusively became responsible for the building of the State and for the fate or the Slovak nation. After the revolutlon it still retained the name or the Party of National Unity. Up to 1938 HSPP had few paid workers In its ranks; most of t he work was done voluntarlly by zealous, untlrlng young Slovak patriots fired with the idea of freedom and independence. After March 14, 1939, the leaders of the HSPP were confronted with the arduous task of settlng up the State admlnistratlon to serve the politlcal, economic and social needs of the Slovak Republlc. The task was entrusted to the younger lntelllgentsia of the HSPP that had proven its loyalty in the struggle for lndependence and worked selflessly and courageously in the interest or t he Slovak people. This accession of younger people into high functions in the political and state life of Slovakia was, however, a general prenomenom. It was necessitated by the fact that the older members of the HSPP were in government and parllament positions, the diplomatlc corps, etc. Tnto the organlzation apparatus were taken young representatlves or the other civic parties that exlsted before 1939. Along with outstanding workers of the HSPP, ther,e were in responsible positions also adherents or the former parties of Hodža, Rázus, the National Democratlc Party, nay, even workers wlth soclal-democratic tend encies. They were not only in the Centra! Committee, but in the branch organlzations also. But even under the conditions and events that had been caused by the revolution of March 1939, the ldeology and the program of the HSPP did not have to undergo any changes. The Party's program in the past followed the interests of the Slovak nat!on, stood on the Christian and social principles both in the spiritual and materlal regard, and defended the presldent of the Party, could rlghtfully say even in the Slovak Republic: "Here we stand with our ideology, with which we have for centuries long struggled in the past, so that we might keep golng and organizlng under the great motto: For God and Natlon. Therefore: No declination from ou r old !deology, because we would then deviate from the root. The building of the Government and State l.fiall go along with the same party, based on the very same program that has led us in the past so that by our polltlcal and structural activity we might lead the nation along the lines t hat would safeguard its future. We need not b ring into the natlon values and ideals of foreign orlg!n, but we must develop our old spirit" (SLOVAK, 1940, No. 189). The stand of the younger generation was clearly formulated on the eve of the tirst meeting of the Party which took place October 1, 1939. Tn the "NÁSTUP" (Accession) , No. 19. 1939, we flnd the following: "It 1s our good fortune that the basic principles of our ideology, which had Jed our Party in the struggle, need not be altered even now after vlctory. After adding to the organlzatlonal structure of �SLOVAKIA the Party, !t w!ll be necessary only to glve form to this ideology and apply !t to every phase of our state and natlonal l!fe. We were true to ourselves In the struggle and we shall rema!n true to ourselves also In work. Th!s healthy realism, whlch has told us to come out of the natlon and turn all attentlon and work to its welfare, must be the characterlstlc symbol of every act ot our pol!t!cs even now." Just as the pres!dent of the Party, so the younger generatlon in the leadershlp ot the Party stressed that forelgn models need not be lmitated. When Dr. Jose,p.h Klrschbaum became the General Secretary of the HSPP, he sa!d: "In these changing tlmes we shall have ,to organlze our Party in such a way so that !t could sateguard the !nterests of the Slovak nation under any polltlcal changes - Interna! or forelgn. The Party will, therefore, have to develop accord!ng to g!ven, polit!cal Slovak relations, working and organizatlon prem!ses, ,such as preva!l in Slovakia, and it shall have to suff!ce for our natlonal character. No klnd or senseless copylng could help us, lf we did not bave any psychic and factual premlses for so doing" (NÁSTUP - AprU 1, 1939). Naturally, the roles of the Party in Slovakia lncreased. lt became "the only bearer of the polltlcal wlll of the natlon" and was supposed to be "the connecting llnk of all those forces that are partaking in the polltlcal and economic bullding of the state" ("SLOVÁK," No. 98, 1939). The Party ·became "the oll and the brains In the state apparatus, the bearer of polltical consciousness; it provlded the program and became the foundation ot State authority" (SLOVÁK, No. 99, 1940). What klnd of program d!d the Party give tl·e nat!on? Here are several noteworthy points: "For labor we want a social justice which reconciles our wage policy. We want to validate it for the remalning ranks of the natlon for the wbole worklng class of Slovak people, especially for tbe agronomlsts. The farmers certalnly deserve to have thelr patr!otic patlence ot past years respected and that !ncreased attentlon be given thelr needs. "Our tradesmen and buslnessmen shall be insured against old age, invalidity or unemployment. A healthy undertaklng and an adequate wage must be our gu!de for regulatlng employer-employee relationsh!ps." Furthermore, the Party demanded "a true management of public mon!es, lncreased wages for the lower categorles to a measure that would enable the establishment and upkeep ot a fam!ly and do away w!th offic!al graft and corrUPtlon." To lmprove the llvlng standard of the Slovak people, the Party demanded regulatory and melloratlve projects, the harnesslng ot water power and the electrification ot industria!, trade and agrlcultural projects, bolstering and bu!lding up of domestlc lndustry, of homes, various schools, etc. (SLOVÁK, No. 13, 1941). In a word, lt dld just about everychlng to convlnce the people that it can fare well economlcally, soclally and culturally only In a state of lts own, one In whlch the natlon ltself manages lts own affalrs. The HSPP endeavored to do all this tor the natlon as a whole, wlthout regard to polltical or religlous aftlllation in the past. Dr. Joseph Tlso, presldent ot the Party, proclalmed categorlcally: �SLOVAKIA 47 "Hlinka'a Slovak People's Party in lts struggle for the rights of the Slovak nation has never made a partisan affalr ot the great idea ot the nation. It has always tried to unite all Slovaks into the union which we have now achleved. And as in that fight, so now in the building of free Slovakla, we do not exclude a single Slovak, but conversely, we invite every one who thinks sincerely and well with the Slovak nation, because we want all Slovak minds and all Slovak hands to work together ror the welfare of the Slovak natlon" (TISOVA NÁUKA, dr. Štefan Polakovič, page 214). It was in this spirit that tbe Party actually began the buildlng of the new Slovakia. No one was driven from public li!e - not even tbe Slovaks who for twenty years served forelgn lnterests for persona! gain - nor were tbe adherents of the Communlst Party de'Prived of bread. AU got a chance to do somethlng and acqulre property, sometbing they could never have even dreamed to get in the Czecboslovak Republic. This spirit or Christian conciliation and national tolerance carried witbin itself, of course, certaln dangers, as was demonstrated later. Wbat the Party and its leadersbip did in 1939 In the interest of the unlty of the nation, many former servants of Prague centrallsm a international communism regarded as a weakness and began to upset the nlce ldeas of the new Slovak llte, belng aided In thls work by some dlssatisfied elements in tbe ranka of the HSPP ltselt. After an objective study of tbe program, ideology and practlcal policy or the HSPP, !s it posslble to say truthfully that the Party was a rasclst or Nazi party, which necessarlly means also an anti· Chrlstían party? Did it imitate foreign models or dld it grow out of non-Slovak traditlons and needs? There ls only one truthtul answer to these questions: Certalnly not! During the war even the propagandists of Dr. Edward Beneš were qulte careful what they said publicly about tbe HSPP. Only the reglme of Lettrlch and Husák Jabeled the HSPP as fascist and nazl so that they could have an excuse for confiscating the property o r the HSPP and for persecuting its representatives. Dr. Kúnoši, present Ambassador or Czechoslovakia to Buenos Aires, published a book about the Czecho-Slovak problem wlth an introductlon by Lord Cecil. In it this -son of former commlssar Béla Khun reluctantly proves that the Party was not nazi or fascist by quotlng from speeches of leading factors of the HSPP. For example, he quotes the following from a speech of Dr. Joseph Tlso (3-16-40): "We want to attaln not what we admire In other natlons, but what happens In the circumstances to be J)08Sible. When the poductive conditions of each ciass are different, we do not mechanically bring all classes to a common denomlnator: we introduce a corporatlve system." About the time when the HSPP and the HG (Hlinka Guard) fought bitterly for the leadership in the nation and state, Kúnoši writes: "Whlle Mach claimed for the Guard the directorship of the Gov• ernment, Dr. Kirschbaum, as the Party's Secretary General, was saylng: The party sees to lt that polltlcal and ideologlcal development should not depart from tbe Slovak natlonal tradltlon and that by means or the party the people should take part in dlrectlng the pollcy �48 SLOVAKIA of the State" (A. Kú noši, THE BASIS OF CZECHOSLOVAK UNITY, London, 1944, pages 63, 76). And Kúnoši quotes otber expressions whicb teli us tbat tbe HSPP did not change its Christian-National program even after t he proc Jamation of Slovak independence. Quotlng trom an Interview which tbe Secretary General (K!rschbaum) of the HSPP had with the editor of the "Hrvatska Straž" (The Croatian Guard) on Marcb 13, 1940, Kúnoš! writes: "The programme of the Hlinka Populist Party has not altered even after the dizzy changes which brought about the declaratlon of our independence. Just as Andrej Hl!nka embodled the aims of tbe party in the slogan 'For God and Nation,' so th!s doctrine has been taken over by the party's present leader, Dr. T!so" (Idem, page 64)Cer tainly, because of the d!fficult war situat!on and the pressure exerted by Germany on the wbole of E urope, the HSPP and its leadership were not always successful in making Slovak politics in the interest of the nation as they wished. But, on the whole, the HSPP kept Slovakia away from every ideological influence which was not compatible with Christianity and Slovak traditions. After Salzburg (July 1940) , the HSPP had at first very little influence on practical policy of the Government and, tberefore, cannot be held respons!ble for !t. But the HSPP and its president Dr. Joseph Tiso certainly deserve credit for the fact that even the most del!cate problems were solved in Slovakia in a mu ch more humane manner than in the other states of centra! Europe. It is also to the credit of the HSPP and Tiso that nazism did not spread among tbe Slovaks more than it did. And the HSPP certa!nly was responsible for the fact that Slovakla, despite the tense international situation, not only fared well and safeguarded persona! and property rights, but in fact enjoyed more freedom and democracy than she did under the reg!me of Dr. Beneš and Dr. Lettrlcb after 1945. "Not a single political execution took piace in the Slovak State,'' we read in a booklet issued by Lettrich's Bureau of Information in 1946. And the International Committee of the Red Cross has it recorded in an official report that "at definite periods Slovakia was actually regarded as a relative asylum for J ews, especially those trom Poland. The J ews that remained in Slovakia were comparatlvely safe until tbe revolt which took place at the end of August 1944" (Revue Internatlonal de la Croix Rouge, 1947, N. 348, pgs. 957-959). Therefore, considering the difficult war conditions and the sltuatlon in which the Slovak nation was left by Dr. Beneš in 1938, lt can be sald quite frankly ,that the HSPP actually d!d more than was expected of it. The party saved the nation and its substance at a Ume when !t was faced wlth physical and spir!tual ruín. After bis flight from "l!berated" Czecho-Slovak!a that was also admitted by one of the leaders of Lettrich's regime, who wrote confidentially: "The fact remains, that a sign!ficant part of the pol!t!c!ans of the Slovak People's Par ty and especially its the populace was not incl!ned to fascism and lt prevented its spread so effectively that, exceptlng retaliations against J ews and Commun!sts, no speclal act!ons were undertaken against tbe vast majority of the people. "And so, with regard to the fact that Slovak people managed tbe affairs in Slovakia, we can hardly speak of treason and collabora- �SLOVAKIA 49 tion - like the Communlsts tried to do in order to frighten the people and create chaos, so that they could come to power." Nevertheless, Lettrlch's regime planted a forest of gallows instead of trees of freedom, and Hllnka's Slovak People's Party was not only outlawed, but its members were exposed to the most cruel persecution recorded In Slovak hlstory. • • • • THE SLOVA.KS AND COMMUNJSM KAROL SIDOR For ages our Slovak program has been identical both at home and in Amerlca. Only the forms and the Ume of lts reallzatlon change. The basis of our program remalns the adherence to God as the Creator of heaven and earth on Whom all thlngs depend. We do not recognize any reglme or state in which God has no place, or which enacts laws that are dlrectly opposed to God and the falth. That ls why we proclalm ourselves agalnst Bolshevlsm and agalnst everythlng that leads to lt. We are agalnst Bolshevlsm for fundamental reasons and not because Bolshevlsm has taken our properties, driven us from our homes, or because it has imprlsoned or kllled some members of our famllles. To America have come such polltlclans who praised Bolshevism and co-governed with Bolshevlks. But wben Bolsbevism deprlved tbem of polltical power and materlal wealtb, in a word when Bolshevlsm harmed tbem materlally, only tben dld they take a stand against lt. These men oppose Communlsm for material reasons, whereas we Slovaks stand opposed to lt for ldeologlcal reasons, for rellglous reasons. Our own Louis Stur wrote in bis work "The Slovanlc Peoples and tbe World ot the Future" - written over a bundred years ago, in 1849: "Communism has arrived at the same goal as atheism and apostacy from Christlanity. In every form of Communism the outlook on llfe !s gloomy, bereft of every tender joy. lt leads to the most cruel slavery. Communism, let it pretend and endeavor as !t will to make mankind sbare in all rlghts, nevertheless knows notbing about humanity. It degrades buman belngs. lt belongs among the most senseless lnnovations thus far hatched out of the human mlnd." After the first world war when Bolshevlsm came into power Iu Russia, Pope Plus XI wrote Quite clearly In bis "Quadrageslmo Anno" that llberalism had helped social democracy come lnto the world. He sald: "Let us bear In mlnd that tbe parent of thls cultural Soclallsm was Llberallsm, and that lts offsprlng was Bolshevlsm." The Holy Father warned the rulers of the world when he further sald: "We cannot contemplate wlthout profound sorrow the heedlessness of those who seem to make llght ot these lmmlnent dangers and wlth stolld lndlfference allow the propagatlon far and wlde ot tbose doctrlnes whlch seek by violence and bloodshed the destructlon of all soclety. Even more severely must be condemned the foolhardlness of those who neglect to remove or modlfy such condltlons as exasperate tbe mlnds of the people, and so prepare the way for the overthrow and ruln of the social order." � SLOVAKIA 43 THE POLITICS OF HLINKA'S PARTY IN THE SLOVAK REPUBLIC (jk) - On October 6, 1938, representatlves of all SLOVAK polltical parties and branches of au CZECH polltical partles - excepting th e Communist and the Social Democratlc parties - met in Žilina, Slovakia. There it was agreed to accept the program of Hllnka's Slovak People's Party (HSPP). The same representatives met in Bratislava on November 8, 1938, and, in the natlonal lnterest, decided to unite all polltical forces In a single party under the name of the Party of Natlonal Unity (PNU). No coerclon of any kind was used to brlng about this accompllshment. The representatlves of all Slovak and Czech parties were hapPY that representatlves of the vlctorlous autonomlstlc movement did not resort to reprlsals, but gave all of them a chance to take part in the pol!tlcal llfe of Slovakia. Autonomy or Slovakla was the polltlcal program of Hllnka's Slo• vak People's Party and Rázus's Slovak National Party (SNP) excluslvely. National interest and interna! and forelgn polltlcal de· velopments led the representatlves of Slovak autonomy to unlte all polltlcal parties In Slovakla in the Party or Natlonal Unity. After a twenty-year fight, Prague was forced to grant Slovakla autonomy and, so, to capitulate In the matter of the fiction of a united "Czechoslo· vak" nation (ethnlcally speaklng). AII polltlcal partles in Slovakia exceptlng the parties of Andrew Hlinka and Martin RAzus - also capltulated by jolnlng the Party of National Unity, because they had stood centrallsm and dld not recognize the exlstence of the Slovak natlon. Unity was not forced on any political party, as was later clalmed by the enemles of the Slovak Republic. We repeat: all political partie• of Slovakia realized that lt was in the natlonal lnterest to unite all political forces in 1938 and, therefore, joined the Pai-ty of National Unity voluntarily. The news that this feat was accompllshed was joyously acclalmed by the whole of Slovakla. At that Ume, Dr. Joseph Tlso wrote ln the "SLOVÁK": "The Slovak natlon has become united in the spirit of Bernolák and Štúr, ln the spirit of Moyses and Kuzmány, and ln the spirit of Hlinka and Rázus. Class dlstinctlons bave ceased and we now have only the united Slovak natlon." Representatives of other polltical parties (naturally, excluding the Communists and Social Democrats, whose partles were dlssolved) thought, spoke and wrote along the same llnes. The Executive Commlttee of the Slovak National Party, assembled at Žilina, December 15, 1938, lssued a proclamation ln whlch lt sald: "The adherents of the Slovak National Party recognlze the nec·esslty of unltlng all Slovaks in one polltlcal party and wholeheartedly offer to work for the welfare and happlness of the whole natlon. We are convinced that thls unlty shall evoke In all Slovaks - at horne and abroad - the greatest joy and satisfactlon. Long live the unlted Slovak natlon ! " �44 SLOVAK:IA In its Christmas message, published in the NA TIONAL NEWS, the SNP spoke even more clearly and forcefnlly: "Political reconclllation has come to our nation. We have declded to build our new future in the fleld of politics united on a natlonal program. This fact was received wlth joy by the Slovak public, because in these uncertaln times lt assures the most reliable and safest way to save our national individuality and its validation to the fullest extent in public life." The message was underslgned by. Dr. Emil Stodola. Dr. Ján Paulíny-T oth, Dr. Miloš Vančo, prof. Vladlmlr Cernák, Senior Otto Škrovina, Senior L'udovit Šenšel, Ing. Štefan Kada, and Dr. Martin Kvetko. Not only polltlcal clrcles felt the need for politlcal unlty and joyously welcomed lt when it was realized, but literary and cultural clrcles as well. One needs only to refer to the journals and newspapers of that tíme to convince hlmself of that fact. Irregardless of political affiliation or creed the vast majority of the Slovak natlon approved politlcal unity. Naturally, there were a few dlssenters in the Services of Czech imperlallsm who could not see any posslblllty of playlng a leading role In the new Slovak life. But even these did not make themselves heard at that tlme; in the new formulatlon of Slovak polltical life they dld not see "the successlon of fasclsm and the death of democracy" and they did not defend thelr "democratlc" convictions. Such was the polltical atmosphere to March 1939. In March 1939 national unlty was a bit s haken when the Czech army occupied Bratislava and some polltlcal leaders of former Czech political parties agaln offered thelr services to Czech imperiallsm and jolned wlth it. But the shock was or very short duratlon and did not bring any changes In the polltlcal life of Slovakia, b ecause the representatlves of Czechoslovaklsm did not know how to fight for their convlctlons. They always served the regime in power and, acted accordingly even after the proclamation of the Independent Slovak Republlc. Naturally, the prestlge of Hllnka's party only increased wltb these events, because not only Slovak autonomy. but even the Slovak State was, above all, tbe result of the fight of HSPP and lts leadership. The Party's 20-year struggle against Czech efforts to assimiliate the Slovaks nationally and gain political and economic control of Slovakla - alded only by Rázus's Slovak National Party - Jed to the autonomy of Slovakla and then, by the law of evolution and logic, to independence. The Slovak State was the result of the organlzed wlll of the Slovak nation. While others were deaf to the pulse of the tlmes and based thelr politics on fiction, Hllnka's Slovak People's Party - sprlnging ldeologlcally from the Slovak earth and the heart of the Slovak natlon, set out on the road that Jed to political and state lndependence. (Vd. Tiso, SLOVÁK - No. 32, 1941, and Klrschbaum, NÁSTUP - No. 19, 1939). It was only natural, then, that HSPP remalned at the head of political llfe even In the Slovak Republlc, especially slnce there were no other political parties when lndependence was proclalmed and no serious attempts were made to create them. Tbe Magyars and the Germans, as natlonal mlnoritles, had thelr own political parties, so that trom the beglnnlng to the end ot the Slovak Republlc there were three parties that were protected by the Constitution and duly rep· �SLOVAKIA 45 resented in Parliament by their own representatlves. Even the small minortly of the Ukrainian-speaklng population had its own representatives within the fold of the HSPP. After the proclamation of indendence of Slovakia, Hllnka's Slovak People's Party - the opposition party that had fought for Slovak autonomy up to October 1938 - ,s uddenly became the ruling party, the Government, and almost exclusively became responsible for the building of the State and for the fate or the Slovak nation. After the revolutlon it still retained the name or the Party of National Unity. Up to 1938 HSPP had few paid workers In its ranks; most of t he work was done voluntarlly by zealous, untlrlng young Slovak patriots fired with the idea of freedom and independence. After March 14, 1939, the leaders of the HSPP were confronted with the arduous task of settlng up the State admlnistratlon to serve the politlcal, economic and social needs of the Slovak Republlc. The task was entrusted to the younger lntelllgentsia of the HSPP that had proven its loyalty in the struggle for lndependence and worked selflessly and courageously in the interest or t he Slovak people. This accession of younger people into high functions in the political and state life of Slovakia was, however, a general prenomenom. It was necessitated by the fact that the older members of the HSPP were in government and parllament positions, the diplomatlc corps, etc. Tnto the organlzation apparatus were taken young representatlves or the other civic parties that exlsted before 1939. Along with outstanding workers of the HSPP, ther,e were in responsible positions also adherents or the former parties of Hodža, Rázus, the National Democratlc Party, nay, even workers wlth soclal-democratic tend encies. They were not only in the Centra! Committee, but in the branch organlzations also. But even under the conditions and events that had been caused by the revolution of March 1939, the ldeology and the program of the HSPP did not have to undergo any changes. The Party's program in the past followed the interests of the Slovak nat!on, stood on the Christian and social principles both in the spiritual and materlal regard, and defended the presldent of the Party, could rlghtfully say even in the Slovak Republic: "Here we stand with our ideology, with which we have for centuries long struggled in the past, so that we might keep golng and organizlng under the great motto: For God and Natlon. Therefore: No declination from ou r old !deology, because we would then deviate from the root. The building of the Government and State l.fiall go along with the same party, based on the very same program that has led us in the past so that by our polltlcal and structural activity we might lead the nation along the lines t hat would safeguard its future. We need not b ring into the natlon values and ideals of foreign orlg!n, but we must develop our old spirit" (SLOVAK, 1940, No. 189). The stand of the younger generation was clearly formulated on the eve of the tirst meeting of the Party which took place October 1, 1939. Tn the "NÁSTUP" (Accession) , No. 19. 1939, we flnd the following: "It 1s our good fortune that the basic principles of our ideology, which had Jed our Party in the struggle, need not be altered even now after vlctory. After adding to the organlzatlonal structure of �SLOVAKIA the Party, !t w!ll be necessary only to glve form to this ideology and apply !t to every phase of our state and natlonal l!fe. We were true to ourselves In the struggle and we shall rema!n true to ourselves also In work. Th!s healthy realism, whlch has told us to come out of the natlon and turn all attentlon and work to its welfare, must be the characterlstlc symbol of every act ot our pol!t!cs even now." Just as the pres!dent of the Party, so the younger generatlon in the leadershlp ot the Party stressed that forelgn models need not be lmitated. When Dr. Jose,p.h Klrschbaum became the General Secretary of the HSPP, he sa!d: "In these changing tlmes we shall have ,to organlze our Party in such a way so that !t could sateguard the !nterests of the Slovak nation under any polltlcal changes - Interna! or forelgn. The Party will, therefore, have to develop accord!ng to g!ven, polit!cal Slovak relations, working and organizatlon prem!ses, ,such as preva!l in Slovakia, and it shall have to suff!ce for our natlonal character. No klnd or senseless copylng could help us, lf we did not bave any psychic and factual premlses for so doing" (NÁSTUP - AprU 1, 1939). Naturally, the roles of the Party in Slovakia lncreased. lt became "the only bearer of the polltlcal wlll of the natlon" and was supposed to be "the connecting llnk of all those forces that are partaking in the polltlcal and economic bullding of the state" ("SLOVÁK," No. 98, 1939). The Party ·became "the oll and the brains In the state apparatus, the bearer of polltical consciousness; it provlded the program and became the foundation ot State authority" (SLOVÁK, No. 99, 1940). What klnd of program d!d the Party give tl·e nat!on? Here are several noteworthy points: "For labor we want a social justice which reconciles our wage policy. We want to validate it for the remalning ranks of the natlon for the wbole worklng class of Slovak people, especially for tbe agronomlsts. The farmers certalnly deserve to have thelr patr!otic patlence ot past years respected and that !ncreased attentlon be given thelr needs. "Our tradesmen and buslnessmen shall be insured against old age, invalidity or unemployment. A healthy undertaklng and an adequate wage must be our gu!de for regulatlng employer-employee relationsh!ps." Furthermore, the Party demanded "a true management of public mon!es, lncreased wages for the lower categorles to a measure that would enable the establishment and upkeep ot a fam!ly and do away w!th offic!al graft and corrUPtlon." To lmprove the llvlng standard of the Slovak people, the Party demanded regulatory and melloratlve projects, the harnesslng ot water power and the electrification ot industria!, trade and agrlcultural projects, bolstering and bu!lding up of domestlc lndustry, of homes, various schools, etc. (SLOVÁK, No. 13, 1941). In a word, lt dld just about everychlng to convlnce the people that it can fare well economlcally, soclally and culturally only In a state of lts own, one In whlch the natlon ltself manages lts own affalrs. The HSPP endeavored to do all this tor the natlon as a whole, wlthout regard to polltical or religlous aftlllation in the past. Dr. Joseph Tlso, presldent ot the Party, proclalmed categorlcally: �SLOVAKIA 47 "Hlinka'a Slovak People's Party in lts struggle for the rights of the Slovak nation has never made a partisan affalr ot the great idea ot the nation. It has always tried to unite all Slovaks into the union which we have now achleved. And as in that fight, so now in the building of free Slovakla, we do not exclude a single Slovak, but conversely, we invite every one who thinks sincerely and well with the Slovak nation, because we want all Slovak minds and all Slovak hands to work together ror the welfare of the Slovak natlon" (TISOVA NÁUKA, dr. Štefan Polakovič, page 214). It was in this spirit that tbe Party actually began the buildlng of the new Slovakia. No one was driven from public li!e - not even tbe Slovaks who for twenty years served forelgn lnterests for persona! gain - nor were tbe adherents of the Communlst Party de'Prived of bread. AU got a chance to do somethlng and acqulre property, sometbing they could never have even dreamed to get in the Czecboslovak Republic. This spirit or Christian conciliation and national tolerance carried witbin itself, of course, certaln dangers, as was demonstrated later. Wbat the Party and its leadersbip did in 1939 In the interest of the unlty of the nation, many former servants of Prague centrallsm a international communism regarded as a weakness and began to upset the nlce ldeas of the new Slovak llte, belng aided In thls work by some dlssatisfied elements in tbe ranka of the HSPP ltselt. After an objective study of tbe program, ideology and practlcal policy or the HSPP, !s it posslble to say truthfully that the Party was a rasclst or Nazi party, which necessarlly means also an anti· Chrlstían party? Did it imitate foreign models or dld it grow out of non-Slovak traditlons and needs? There ls only one truthtul answer to these questions: Certalnly not! During the war even the propagandists of Dr. Edward Beneš were qulte careful what they said publicly about tbe HSPP. Only the reglme of Lettrlch and Husák Jabeled the HSPP as fascist and nazl so that they could have an excuse for confiscating the property o r the HSPP and for persecuting its representatives. Dr. Kúnoši, present Ambassador or Czechoslovakia to Buenos Aires, published a book about the Czecho-Slovak problem wlth an introductlon by Lord Cecil. In it this -son of former commlssar Béla Khun reluctantly proves that the Party was not nazi or fascist by quotlng from speeches of leading factors of the HSPP. For example, he quotes the following from a speech of Dr. Joseph Tlso (3-16-40): "We want to attaln not what we admire In other natlons, but what happens In the circumstances to be J)08Sible. When the poductive conditions of each ciass are different, we do not mechanically bring all classes to a common denomlnator: we introduce a corporatlve system." About the time when the HSPP and the HG (Hlinka Guard) fought bitterly for the leadership in the nation and state, Kúnoši writes: "Whlle Mach claimed for the Guard the directorship of the Gov• ernment, Dr. Kirschbaum, as the Party's Secretary General, was saylng: The party sees to lt that polltlcal and ideologlcal development should not depart from tbe Slovak natlonal tradltlon and that by means or the party the people should take part in dlrectlng the pollcy �48 SLOVAKIA of the State" (A. Kú noši, THE BASIS OF CZECHOSLOVAK UNITY, London, 1944, pages 63, 76). And Kúnoši quotes otber expressions whicb teli us tbat tbe HSPP did not change its Christian-National program even after t he proc Jamation of Slovak independence. Quotlng trom an Interview which tbe Secretary General (K!rschbaum) of the HSPP had with the editor of the "Hrvatska Straž" (The Croatian Guard) on Marcb 13, 1940, Kúnoš! writes: "The programme of the Hlinka Populist Party has not altered even after the dizzy changes which brought about the declaratlon of our independence. Just as Andrej Hl!nka embodled the aims of tbe party in the slogan 'For God and Nation,' so th!s doctrine has been taken over by the party's present leader, Dr. T!so" (Idem, page 64)Cer tainly, because of the d!fficult war situat!on and the pressure exerted by Germany on the wbole of E urope, the HSPP and its leadership were not always successful in making Slovak politics in the interest of the nation as they wished. But, on the whole, the HSPP kept Slovakia away from every ideological influence which was not compatible with Christianity and Slovak traditions. After Salzburg (July 1940) , the HSPP had at first very little influence on practical policy of the Government and, tberefore, cannot be held respons!ble for !t. But the HSPP and its president Dr. Joseph Tiso certainly deserve credit for the fact that even the most del!cate problems were solved in Slovakia in a mu ch more humane manner than in the other states of centra! Europe. It is also to the credit of the HSPP and Tiso that nazism did not spread among tbe Slovaks more than it did. And the HSPP certa!nly was responsible for the fact that Slovakla, despite the tense international situation, not only fared well and safeguarded persona! and property rights, but in fact enjoyed more freedom and democracy than she did under the reg!me of Dr. Beneš and Dr. Lettrlcb after 1945. "Not a single political execution took piace in the Slovak State,'' we read in a booklet issued by Lettrich's Bureau of Information in 1946. And the International Committee of the Red Cross has it recorded in an official report that "at definite periods Slovakia was actually regarded as a relative asylum for J ews, especially those trom Poland. The J ews that remained in Slovakia were comparatlvely safe until tbe revolt which took place at the end of August 1944" (Revue Internatlonal de la Croix Rouge, 1947, N. 348, pgs. 957-959). Therefore, considering the difficult war conditions and the sltuatlon in which the Slovak nation was left by Dr. Beneš in 1938, lt can be sald quite frankly ,that the HSPP actually d!d more than was expected of it. The party saved the nation and its substance at a Ume when !t was faced wlth physical and spir!tual ruín. After bis flight from "l!berated" Czecho-Slovak!a that was also admitted by one of the leaders of Lettrich's regime, who wrote confidentially: "The fact remains, that a sign!ficant part of the pol!t!c!ans of the Slovak People's Par ty and especially its the populace was not incl!ned to fascism and lt prevented its spread so effectively that, exceptlng retaliations against J ews and Commun!sts, no speclal act!ons were undertaken against tbe vast majority of the people. "And so, with regard to the fact that Slovak people managed tbe affairs in Slovakia, we can hardly speak of treason and collabora- �SLOVAKIA 49 tion - like the Communlsts tried to do in order to frighten the people and create chaos, so that they could come to power." Nevertheless, Lettrlch's regime planted a forest of gallows instead of trees of freedom, and Hllnka's Slovak People's Party was not only outlawed, but its members were exposed to the most cruel persecution recorded In Slovak hlstory. • • • • THE SLOVA.KS AND COMMUNJSM KAROL SIDOR For ages our Slovak program has been identical both at home and in Amerlca. Only the forms and the Ume of lts reallzatlon change. The basis of our program remalns the adherence to God as the Creator of heaven and earth on Whom all thlngs depend. We do not recognize any reglme or state in which God has no place, or which enacts laws that are dlrectly opposed to God and the falth. That ls why we proclalm ourselves agalnst Bolshevlsm and agalnst everythlng that leads to lt. We are agalnst Bolshevlsm for fundamental reasons and not because Bolshevlsm has taken our properties, driven us from our homes, or because it has imprlsoned or kllled some members of our famllles. To America have come such polltlclans who praised Bolshevism and co-governed with Bolshevlks. But wben Bolsbevism deprlved tbem of polltical power and materlal wealtb, in a word when Bolshevlsm harmed tbem materlally, only tben dld they take a stand against lt. These men oppose Communlsm for material reasons, whereas we Slovaks stand opposed to lt for ldeologlcal reasons, for rellglous reasons. Our own Louis Stur wrote in bis work "The Slovanlc Peoples and tbe World ot the Future" - written over a bundred years ago, in 1849: "Communism has arrived at the same goal as atheism and apostacy from Christlanity. In every form of Communism the outlook on llfe !s gloomy, bereft of every tender joy. lt leads to the most cruel slavery. Communism, let it pretend and endeavor as !t will to make mankind sbare in all rlghts, nevertheless knows notbing about humanity. It degrades buman belngs. lt belongs among the most senseless lnnovations thus far hatched out of the human mlnd." After the first world war when Bolshevlsm came into power Iu Russia, Pope Plus XI wrote Quite clearly In bis "Quadrageslmo Anno" that llberalism had helped social democracy come lnto the world. He sald: "Let us bear In mlnd that tbe parent of thls cultural Soclallsm was Llberallsm, and that lts offsprlng was Bolshevlsm." The Holy Father warned the rulers of the world when he further sald: "We cannot contemplate wlthout profound sorrow the heedlessness of those who seem to make llght ot these lmmlnent dangers and wlth stolld lndlfference allow the propagatlon far and wlde ot tbose doctrlnes whlch seek by violence and bloodshed the destructlon of all soclety. Even more severely must be condemned the foolhardlness of those who neglect to remove or modlfy such condltlons as exasperate tbe mlnds of the people, and so prepare the way for the overthrow and ruln of the social order." � 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 1951, Vol. 1 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 1951 Description An account of the resource <ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 1), May 1951.</li> <li>Issue 2 (No. 2), December 1951.</li> </ul> Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context <ul><li><a href="https://n2t.net/ark:/13960/s261hfmshm7" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><span>ark:/13960/s261hfmshm7</span></a></li> <li><a href="https://n2t.net/ark:/13960/s21tk2wkzj4" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><span>ark:/13960/s21tk2wkzj4</span></a></li> </ul> Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document SLOVAKIA 43 THE POLITICS OF HLINKA'S PARTY IN THE SLOVAK REPUBLIC (jk) - On October 6, 1938, representatlves of all SLOVAK polltical parties and branches of au CZECH polltical partles - excepting th e Communist and the Social Democratlc parties - met in Žilina, Slovakia. There it was agreed to accept the program of Hllnka's Slovak People's Party (HSPP). The same representatives met in Bratislava on November 8, 1938, and, in the natlonal lnterest, decided to unite all polltical forces In a single party under the name of the Party of Natlonal Unity (PNU). No coerclon of any kind was used to brlng about this accompllshment. The representatlves of all Slovak and Czech parties were hapPY that representatlves of the vlctorlous autonomlstlc movement did not resort to reprlsals, but gave all of them a chance to take part in the pol!tlcal llfe of Slovakia. Autonomy or Slovakla was the polltlcal program of Hllnka's Slo• vak People's Party and Rázus's Slovak National Party (SNP) excluslvely. National interest and interna! and forelgn polltlcal de· velopments led the representatlves of Slovak autonomy to unlte all polltlcal parties In Slovakla in the Party or Natlonal Unity. After a twenty-year fight, Prague was forced to grant Slovakla autonomy and, so, to capitulate In the matter of the fiction of a united "Czechoslo· vak" nation (ethnlcally speaklng). AII polltlcal partles in Slovakia exceptlng the parties of Andrew Hlinka and Martin RAzus - also capltulated by jolnlng the Party of National Unity, because they had stood centrallsm and dld not recognize the exlstence of the Slovak natlon. Unity was not forced on any political party, as was later clalmed by the enemles of the Slovak Republic. We repeat: all political partie• of Slovakia realized that lt was in the natlonal lnterest to unite all political forces in 1938 and, therefore, joined the Pai-ty of National Unity voluntarily. The news that this feat was accompllshed was joyously acclalmed by the whole of Slovakla. At that Ume, Dr. Joseph Tlso wrote ln the "SLOVÁK": "The Slovak natlon has become united in the spirit of Bernolák and Štúr, ln the spirit of Moyses and Kuzmány, and ln the spirit of Hlinka and Rázus. Class dlstinctlons bave ceased and we now have only the united Slovak natlon." Representatives of other polltical parties (naturally, excluding the Communists and Social Democrats, whose partles were dlssolved) thought, spoke and wrote along the same llnes. The Executive Commlttee of the Slovak National Party, assembled at Žilina, December 15, 1938, lssued a proclamation ln whlch lt sald: "The adherents of the Slovak National Party recognlze the nec·esslty of unltlng all Slovaks in one polltlcal party and wholeheartedly offer to work for the welfare and happlness of the whole natlon. We are convinced that thls unlty shall evoke In all Slovaks - at horne and abroad - the greatest joy and satisfactlon. Long live the unlted Slovak natlon ! " 44 SLOVAK:IA In its Christmas message, published in the NA TIONAL NEWS, the SNP spoke even more clearly and forcefnlly: "Political reconclllation has come to our nation. We have declded to build our new future in the fleld of politics united on a natlonal program. This fact was received wlth joy by the Slovak public, because in these uncertaln times lt assures the most reliable and safest way to save our national individuality and its validation to the fullest extent in public life." The message was underslgned by. Dr. Emil Stodola. Dr. Ján Paulíny-T oth, Dr. Miloš Vančo, prof. Vladlmlr Cernák, Senior Otto Škrovina, Senior L'udovit Šenšel, Ing. Štefan Kada, and Dr. Martin Kvetko. Not only polltlcal clrcles felt the need for politlcal unlty and joyously welcomed lt when it was realized, but literary and cultural clrcles as well. One needs only to refer to the journals and newspapers of that tíme to convince hlmself of that fact. Irregardless of political affiliation or creed the vast majority of the Slovak natlon approved politlcal unity. Naturally, there were a few dlssenters in the Services of Czech imperlallsm who could not see any posslblllty of playlng a leading role In the new Slovak life. But even these did not make themselves heard at that tlme; in the new formulatlon of Slovak polltical life they dld not see "the successlon of fasclsm and the death of democracy" and they did not defend thelr "democratlc" convictions. Such was the polltical atmosphere to March 1939. In March 1939 national unlty was a bit s haken when the Czech army occupied Bratislava and some polltlcal leaders of former Czech political parties agaln offered thelr services to Czech imperiallsm and jolned wlth it. But the shock was or very short duratlon and did not bring any changes In the polltlcal life of Slovakia, b ecause the representatlves of Czechoslovaklsm did not know how to fight for their convlctlons. They always served the regime in power and, acted accordingly even after the proclamation of the Independent Slovak Republlc. Naturally, the prestlge of Hllnka's party only increased wltb these events, because not only Slovak autonomy. but even the Slovak State was, above all, tbe result of the fight of HSPP and lts leadership. The Party's 20-year struggle against Czech efforts to assimiliate the Slovaks nationally and gain political and economic control of Slovakla - alded only by Rázus's Slovak National Party - Jed to the autonomy of Slovakla and then, by the law of evolution and logic, to independence. The Slovak State was the result of the organlzed wlll of the Slovak nation. While others were deaf to the pulse of the tlmes and based thelr politics on fiction, Hllnka's Slovak People's Party - sprlnging ldeologlcally from the Slovak earth and the heart of the Slovak natlon, set out on the road that Jed to political and state lndependence. (Vd. Tiso, SLOVÁK - No. 32, 1941, and Klrschbaum, NÁSTUP - No. 19, 1939). It was only natural, then, that HSPP remalned at the head of political llfe even In the Slovak Republlc, especially slnce there were no other political parties when lndependence was proclalmed and no serious attempts were made to create them. Tbe Magyars and the Germans, as natlonal mlnoritles, had thelr own political parties, so that trom the beglnnlng to the end ot the Slovak Republlc there were three parties that were protected by the Constitution and duly rep· SLOVAKIA 45 resented in Parliament by their own representatlves. Even the small minortly of the Ukrainian-speaklng population had its own representatives within the fold of the HSPP. After the proclamation of indendence of Slovakia, Hllnka's Slovak People's Party - the opposition party that had fought for Slovak autonomy up to October 1938 - ,s uddenly became the ruling party, the Government, and almost exclusively became responsible for the building of the State and for the fate or the Slovak nation. After the revolutlon it still retained the name or the Party of National Unity. Up to 1938 HSPP had few paid workers In its ranks; most of t he work was done voluntarlly by zealous, untlrlng young Slovak patriots fired with the idea of freedom and independence. After March 14, 1939, the leaders of the HSPP were confronted with the arduous task of settlng up the State admlnistratlon to serve the politlcal, economic and social needs of the Slovak Republlc. The task was entrusted to the younger lntelllgentsia of the HSPP that had proven its loyalty in the struggle for lndependence and worked selflessly and courageously in the interest or t he Slovak people. This accession of younger people into high functions in the political and state life of Slovakia was, however, a general prenomenom. It was necessitated by the fact that the older members of the HSPP were in government and parllament positions, the diplomatlc corps, etc. Tnto the organlzation apparatus were taken young representatlves or the other civic parties that exlsted before 1939. Along with outstanding workers of the HSPP, ther,e were in responsible positions also adherents or the former parties of Hodža, Rázus, the National Democratlc Party, nay, even workers wlth soclal-democratic tend encies. They were not only in the Centra! Committee, but in the branch organlzations also. But even under the conditions and events that had been caused by the revolution of March 1939, the ldeology and the program of the HSPP did not have to undergo any changes. The Party's program in the past followed the interests of the Slovak nat!on, stood on the Christian and social principles both in the spiritual and materlal regard, and defended the presldent of the Party, could rlghtfully say even in the Slovak Republic: "Here we stand with our ideology, with which we have for centuries long struggled in the past, so that we might keep golng and organizlng under the great motto: For God and Natlon. Therefore: No declination from ou r old !deology, because we would then deviate from the root. The building of the Government and State l.fiall go along with the same party, based on the very same program that has led us in the past so that by our polltlcal and structural activity we might lead the nation along the lines t hat would safeguard its future. We need not b ring into the natlon values and ideals of foreign orlg!n, but we must develop our old spirit" (SLOVAK, 1940, No. 189). The stand of the younger generation was clearly formulated on the eve of the tirst meeting of the Party which took place October 1, 1939. Tn the "NÁSTUP" (Accession) , No. 19. 1939, we flnd the following: "It 1s our good fortune that the basic principles of our ideology, which had Jed our Party in the struggle, need not be altered even now after vlctory. After adding to the organlzatlonal structure of SLOVAKIA the Party, !t w!ll be necessary only to glve form to this ideology and apply !t to every phase of our state and natlonal l!fe. We were true to ourselves In the struggle and we shall rema!n true to ourselves also In work. Th!s healthy realism, whlch has told us to come out of the natlon and turn all attentlon and work to its welfare, must be the characterlstlc symbol of every act ot our pol!t!cs even now." Just as the pres!dent of the Party, so the younger generatlon in the leadershlp ot the Party stressed that forelgn models need not be lmitated. When Dr. Jose,p.h Klrschbaum became the General Secretary of the HSPP, he sa!d: "In these changing tlmes we shall have ,to organlze our Party in such a way so that !t could sateguard the !nterests of the Slovak nation under any polltlcal changes - Interna! or forelgn. The Party will, therefore, have to develop accord!ng to g!ven, polit!cal Slovak relations, working and organizatlon prem!ses, ,such as preva!l in Slovakia, and it shall have to suff!ce for our natlonal character. No klnd or senseless copylng could help us, lf we did not bave any psychic and factual premlses for so doing" (NÁSTUP - AprU 1, 1939). Naturally, the roles of the Party in Slovakia lncreased. lt became "the only bearer of the polltlcal wlll of the natlon" and was supposed to be "the connecting llnk of all those forces that are partaking in the polltlcal and economic bullding of the state" ("SLOVÁK," No. 98, 1939). The Party ·became "the oll and the brains In the state apparatus, the bearer of polltical consciousness; it provlded the program and became the foundation ot State authority" (SLOVÁK, No. 99, 1940). What klnd of program d!d the Party give tl·e nat!on? Here are several noteworthy points: "For labor we want a social justice which reconciles our wage policy. We want to validate it for the remalning ranks of the natlon for the wbole worklng class of Slovak people, especially for tbe agronomlsts. The farmers certalnly deserve to have thelr patr!otic patlence ot past years respected and that !ncreased attentlon be given thelr needs. "Our tradesmen and buslnessmen shall be insured against old age, invalidity or unemployment. A healthy undertaklng and an adequate wage must be our gu!de for regulatlng employer-employee relationsh!ps." Furthermore, the Party demanded "a true management of public mon!es, lncreased wages for the lower categorles to a measure that would enable the establishment and upkeep ot a fam!ly and do away w!th offic!al graft and corrUPtlon." To lmprove the llvlng standard of the Slovak people, the Party demanded regulatory and melloratlve projects, the harnesslng ot water power and the electrification ot industria!, trade and agrlcultural projects, bolstering and bu!lding up of domestlc lndustry, of homes, various schools, etc. (SLOVÁK, No. 13, 1941). In a word, lt dld just about everychlng to convlnce the people that it can fare well economlcally, soclally and culturally only In a state of lts own, one In whlch the natlon ltself manages lts own affalrs. The HSPP endeavored to do all this tor the natlon as a whole, wlthout regard to polltical or religlous aftlllation in the past. Dr. Joseph Tlso, presldent ot the Party, proclalmed categorlcally: SLOVAKIA 47 "Hlinka'a Slovak People's Party in lts struggle for the rights of the Slovak nation has never made a partisan affalr ot the great idea ot the nation. It has always tried to unite all Slovaks into the union which we have now achleved. And as in that fight, so now in the building of free Slovakla, we do not exclude a single Slovak, but conversely, we invite every one who thinks sincerely and well with the Slovak nation, because we want all Slovak minds and all Slovak hands to work together ror the welfare of the Slovak natlon" (TISOVA NÁUKA, dr. Štefan Polakovič, page 214). It was in this spirit that tbe Party actually began the buildlng of the new Slovakia. No one was driven from public li!e - not even tbe Slovaks who for twenty years served forelgn lnterests for persona! gain - nor were tbe adherents of the Communlst Party de'Prived of bread. AU got a chance to do somethlng and acqulre property, sometbing they could never have even dreamed to get in the Czecboslovak Republic. This spirit or Christian conciliation and national tolerance carried witbin itself, of course, certaln dangers, as was demonstrated later. Wbat the Party and its leadersbip did in 1939 In the interest of the unlty of the nation, many former servants of Prague centrallsm a international communism regarded as a weakness and began to upset the nlce ldeas of the new Slovak llte, belng aided In thls work by some dlssatisfied elements in tbe ranka of the HSPP ltselt. After an objective study of tbe program, ideology and practlcal policy or the HSPP, !s it posslble to say truthfully that the Party was a rasclst or Nazi party, which necessarlly means also an anti· Chrlstían party? Did it imitate foreign models or dld it grow out of non-Slovak traditlons and needs? There ls only one truthtul answer to these questions: Certalnly not! During the war even the propagandists of Dr. Edward Beneš were qulte careful what they said publicly about tbe HSPP. Only the reglme of Lettrlch and Husák Jabeled the HSPP as fascist and nazl so that they could have an excuse for confiscating the property o r the HSPP and for persecuting its representatives. Dr. Kúnoši, present Ambassador or Czechoslovakia to Buenos Aires, published a book about the Czecho-Slovak problem wlth an introductlon by Lord Cecil. In it this -son of former commlssar Béla Khun reluctantly proves that the Party was not nazi or fascist by quotlng from speeches of leading factors of the HSPP. For example, he quotes the following from a speech of Dr. Joseph Tlso (3-16-40): "We want to attaln not what we admire In other natlons, but what happens In the circumstances to be J)08Sible. When the poductive conditions of each ciass are different, we do not mechanically bring all classes to a common denomlnator: we introduce a corporatlve system." About the time when the HSPP and the HG (Hlinka Guard) fought bitterly for the leadership in the nation and state, Kúnoši writes: "Whlle Mach claimed for the Guard the directorship of the Gov• ernment, Dr. Kirschbaum, as the Party's Secretary General, was saylng: The party sees to lt that polltlcal and ideologlcal development should not depart from tbe Slovak natlonal tradltlon and that by means or the party the people should take part in dlrectlng the pollcy 48 SLOVAKIA of the State" (A. Kú noši, THE BASIS OF CZECHOSLOVAK UNITY, London, 1944, pages 63, 76). And Kúnoši quotes otber expressions whicb teli us tbat tbe HSPP did not change its Christian-National program even after t he proc Jamation of Slovak independence. Quotlng trom an Interview which tbe Secretary General (K!rschbaum) of the HSPP had with the editor of the "Hrvatska Straž" (The Croatian Guard) on Marcb 13, 1940, Kúnoš! writes: "The programme of the Hlinka Populist Party has not altered even after the dizzy changes which brought about the declaratlon of our independence. Just as Andrej Hl!nka embodled the aims of tbe party in the slogan 'For God and Nation,' so th!s doctrine has been taken over by the party's present leader, Dr. T!so" (Idem, page 64)Cer tainly, because of the d!fficult war situat!on and the pressure exerted by Germany on the wbole of E urope, the HSPP and its leadership were not always successful in making Slovak politics in the interest of the nation as they wished. But, on the whole, the HSPP kept Slovakia away from every ideological influence which was not compatible with Christianity and Slovak traditions. After Salzburg (July 1940) , the HSPP had at first very little influence on practical policy of the Government and, tberefore, cannot be held respons!ble for !t. But the HSPP and its president Dr. Joseph Tiso certainly deserve credit for the fact that even the most del!cate problems were solved in Slovakia in a mu ch more humane manner than in the other states of centra! Europe. It is also to the credit of the HSPP and Tiso that nazism did not spread among tbe Slovaks more than it did. And the HSPP certa!nly was responsible for the fact that Slovakla, despite the tense international situation, not only fared well and safeguarded persona! and property rights, but in fact enjoyed more freedom and democracy than she did under the reg!me of Dr. Beneš and Dr. Lettrlcb after 1945. "Not a single political execution took piace in the Slovak State,'' we read in a booklet issued by Lettrich's Bureau of Information in 1946. And the International Committee of the Red Cross has it recorded in an official report that "at definite periods Slovakia was actually regarded as a relative asylum for J ews, especially those trom Poland. The J ews that remained in Slovakia were comparatlvely safe until tbe revolt which took place at the end of August 1944" (Revue Internatlonal de la Croix Rouge, 1947, N. 348, pgs. 957-959). Therefore, considering the difficult war conditions and the sltuatlon in which the Slovak nation was left by Dr. Beneš in 1938, lt can be sald quite frankly ,that the HSPP actually d!d more than was expected of it. The party saved the nation and its substance at a Ume when !t was faced wlth physical and spir!tual ruín. After bis flight from "l!berated" Czecho-Slovak!a that was also admitted by one of the leaders of Lettrich's regime, who wrote confidentially: "The fact remains, that a sign!ficant part of the pol!t!c!ans of the Slovak People's Par ty and especially its the populace was not incl!ned to fascism and lt prevented its spread so effectively that, exceptlng retaliations against J ews and Commun!sts, no speclal act!ons were undertaken against tbe vast majority of the people. "And so, with regard to the fact that Slovak people managed tbe affairs in Slovakia, we can hardly speak of treason and collabora- SLOVAKIA 49 tion - like the Communlsts tried to do in order to frighten the people and create chaos, so that they could come to power." Nevertheless, Lettrlch's regime planted a forest of gallows instead of trees of freedom, and Hllnka's Slovak People's Party was not only outlawed, but its members were exposed to the most cruel persecution recorded In Slovak hlstory. • • • • THE SLOVA.KS AND COMMUNJSM KAROL SIDOR For ages our Slovak program has been identical both at home and in Amerlca. Only the forms and the Ume of lts reallzatlon change. The basis of our program remalns the adherence to God as the Creator of heaven and earth on Whom all thlngs depend. We do not recognize any reglme or state in which God has no place, or which enacts laws that are dlrectly opposed to God and the falth. That ls why we proclalm ourselves agalnst Bolshevlsm and agalnst everythlng that leads to lt. We are agalnst Bolshevlsm for fundamental reasons and not because Bolshevlsm has taken our properties, driven us from our homes, or because it has imprlsoned or kllled some members of our famllles. To America have come such polltlclans who praised Bolshevism and co-governed with Bolshevlks. But wben Bolsbevism deprlved tbem of polltical power and materlal wealtb, in a word when Bolshevlsm harmed tbem materlally, only tben dld they take a stand against lt. These men oppose Communlsm for material reasons, whereas we Slovaks stand opposed to lt for ldeologlcal reasons, for rellglous reasons. Our own Louis Stur wrote in bis work "The Slovanlc Peoples and tbe World ot the Future" - written over a bundred years ago, in 1849: "Communism has arrived at the same goal as atheism and apostacy from Christlanity. In every form of Communism the outlook on llfe !s gloomy, bereft of every tender joy. lt leads to the most cruel slavery. Communism, let it pretend and endeavor as !t will to make mankind sbare in all rlghts, nevertheless knows notbing about humanity. It degrades buman belngs. lt belongs among the most senseless lnnovations thus far hatched out of the human mlnd." After the first world war when Bolshevlsm came into power Iu Russia, Pope Plus XI wrote Quite clearly In bis "Quadrageslmo Anno" that llberalism had helped social democracy come lnto the world. He sald: "Let us bear In mlnd that tbe parent of thls cultural Soclallsm was Llberallsm, and that lts offsprlng was Bolshevlsm." The Holy Father warned the rulers of the world when he further sald: "We cannot contemplate wlthout profound sorrow the heedlessness of those who seem to make llght ot these lmmlnent dangers and wlth stolld lndlfference allow the propagatlon far and wlde ot tbose doctrlnes whlch seek by violence and bloodshed the destructlon of all soclety. Even more severely must be condemned the foolhardlness of those who neglect to remove or modlfy such condltlons as exasperate tbe mlnds of the people, and so prepare the way for the overthrow and ruln of the social order."  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Politics of Hlinka's Party in the Slovak Republic Description An account of the resource Slovakia, Vol. 1, No. 1 (1), May 1951 pp. 43-49 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource May 1951 https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/65d497ab39df6b0f93cbb39130c9fec7.pdf 7b27e4881f6d9f38358ccc2e2afa5066 PDF Text Text 26 SLOVAKIA THE PRACTICAL ASPECT OF A FEDERATION Joseph Pauco, Ph.D. I Eastern Europe provides a political observer with a motley mosaic of opinions. Living here are many nations and ra.c es which even a Central European does not properly recognize and many times does not know whether to classify them with European nations or with the Asiatics. Whoever searches more profoundly into their history and studies their political struggles at least cursorily will notice that in many regards their history and their programs are very similar to those of every p.ation in Central or Western Europe. You will find smaller and larger groups; small nations bound to the destiny of great ones, and their mutual relationship is manifested nearly always by the same complaints as those of other nations-suppressi on, imperialism, wars, revolutions, heroic deeds of national leaders, etc. In general, it is said that the East-European nations a.re politically less developed. Enemies of their freedom say that they are the more primitive nations and, therefore, certain slogans and principles of program are more highly spirited and sometimes sound like a voice from the romantic times of the past century. One thing is certain, that generally in almost all East-European nations, as can be seen from the course of their emigration, there is a great deal of conservatism both with regard to the form of warfare as well as the peaceful arrangement of Eastern Europe, or the territory of Asia Minor. Usually in all ideological proclamations, which are designated not only for the limited domestic public, but also for foreign countries, the stereotyped assertion is re-iterated that it is imperative to build national states in the whole of Eastern Europe. They promote not only the disintegration of Soviet Russia, but also oppose every form of a greater Russian empire. And systematically they oppose the much used Russian thesis about several Russian nations, incidentally, the false naming of some non-Russian nations (Little Russia, correctly the Ukrainia, etc.). �SLOVAKIA 27 Taken <Ybjectively, these nations must be fully understood. Not only small nations, that is tribes (as for example, of the Upper Caucasus), but also large nations (forty million Ukrainian and eighteen million Byelorussian people) did not have their own state for long centuries. Then in this conglomeration of East-European nations there also are such that cannot at all claim that they are building upon their own state traditions. And we may go even farther. Not until the twentieth century did small tribes or groups begin to create individual units which claimed national rights as nations with all the attributes of culturally and politically mature nations to manage their own destiny (Upper Caucasus). It was, for example, quite unknown to Europeans and less so to Americans that the Cossacks declared themselves an independent nation. History discloses that the Cossacks were in the service of Russian Czars and one part of them was inclined towards the Ukrainians; their language is Russian and Ukrainian. But we were acquainted only with legendary Cossack heroes. We knew very little about their political endeavors. But now there exists a strong movement for a Cossackia, i. e. an independent Cossack state. Besides all this, many of the East-European nations experienced a transfer process, especially during the Soviet reign of terror. The Ceceni (Tchetchene) of the Upper Caucasus are no longer in their original place. They were spread over the entire Soviet Union simply because they were a healthy and belligerent nation. A similar fate befell the small (two hundred thousands) Kalmuck nation and many other small nations. Transfer or resettling of nations is the best tactic of the Soviet. Already a whole million inhabitants of the Baltic states has been forcefully transferred to the Soviet interior and to Siberia; Russi.ans, Tartars, Uzbcks, and many others have supplanted them. It is no wonder then that all the nations of Eastern Europe and Asia Minor nations from an instinct of self-preservation insist on national independent states. Naturally, these tendencies manifest themselves most acutely within the strong nations, as for example, the Ukrainians. The Ukrainian �28 SLOVAKIA emigration is divided into at least ten political parties: from the most extreme rightists to socialists. But there is hardly one Ukrainian factor in emigration who does not favor an independent Great Ukrainia. Many times it appears that it is impossible to speak with East-European representatives about any other type of political organization other than national states. Fear of the entire future arrangement is often responsible for this. But all things considered, there is no fundamental aversion toward fedemlistic endeavors. True, the East-European is little interested in a West-European federation, because he is convinced that Western Europe has an insignificant interest in the correct solution of the Eastern question. But, inadvertantly, all thoughts and manifestations, which come to light in connection with either a West-European or a federation involving the whole of Europe, affect also the spiritual stratum of East-European emigration. And so, in their club meetings and their reviews, periodicals, and newspapers, they often discuss this most recent political problem seriously and minutely. This is not merely a confirmation of what has already been done in this matter, but learned East-European professors, politicians and publicists have the courage to draw a parallel between the West and East, between the intellectual efforts for a federation in the West and the practical ,possibilities in the East. Few are those who will analyze all the problems publicly. However, we have found many instances of debates concerning a European and a. regional Central-European and East-EuropeanAsia Minor federation. And it was not always a voice from the East which took a negative stand to the conception of a federation itself. Finally, even exclusive, nationalistic, international emigrant organizations allow for a closer or liberal relationship of individual nations. Such an International of Freedom, consisting of twenty one Central and East-European emigrations, bases its fundamental program on an inter-continental confederation of states, including all of Eastern Europe, except Russia and all of Asia Minor. The Anti-Bolshevik Block of nations, building exclusively on national states, has within its Constitution a clause which �SLOVAKIA 29 speaks of the possibility of creating smaller or larger units and co-states. The oldest East-European anti-bolshevik international emigrant organization, Prometheus, working already twenty eight years, receives most sympathetically the trends which favor a European federation and a regional federation. Therefore, the idea of federalism is not foreign to the East-European peoples, nor to those who never had their own state and who yearn to be free. In comparing these efforts from the East, undoubtedly the thought arises with regard to Central Europe where the Slov,a ks dwell. What is the situation there? II One argument against Slovak persistence and perseverance in the struggle for an indpendent state usually is its national "youthfulness". This argument was used especially during the years following World War I, when the struggle of the Slovaks began to be serious both in form and intensivity, and opponents of Slovak freedom had to resort to all kinds of, and many times, less successful arguments. This argument could have been valid to a certain extent only until Slovak intellectuals refuted the false legend that the Slovak nation has no history and until the Slovaks themselves proved by their creative spirit that their naJt:ion can ad~pt itself m a'Il!y period to its neiighibors in all fields and that its cultural endeavors are not more inferior, but in many respects the Slovak genius surpasses its partners and becomes distinctly original. Therefore, such an argument could not carry weight for very long. It lost in realism very quickly with the Slo• vak people, and it was the spirit of the Slovaks that proved it is possible to create a new Slovak environement in the spiritual and national-political regard without lures and snares, without thorough saturation from secondary sources. The "youthful" Slovak nation had chosen its own course so that it could live its own national life. Against facts, and particularly the vitality of all the component parts of the Slovak nation, it was difficult to �30 SLOVAKIA keep on using endlessly the arguments used during the first few years following World War I. Quickly, therefore, as the views of the Slovak people began to change, and as the course of the policy of "lures" was changed by facts, the very same people suddenly ascertained that the Slovak nation is biologically so strong that its neighbors will have to draw from this healthy blood bank to preserve themselves, to revive, and also become stronger. This was an immoral attempt to destroy the national Slovak body. After drawing upon the biological vitality, a degeneration of spiritual values among the Slovak nation would be inevitable. It was not possible, therefore, from motives of self-preservation, to agree with such "allurements." From this theory our Czech neighbors moved further. Not only biologically were we supposed to save one of our neighbors, but we were also supposed to contribute to its cultural and religious revival. These voices were heard frequently after World War II. All this is defective and for the Slovaks extremely dangerous. Surely, to save, let us say, a nation twice as large, from certain ruin, is a beautiful and historically valuable sacrifice. But nothing more or less than a sacrifice. Probably, our investments would be faulty and all our magnanimity could once avenge itself on our nation. By our own efforts we would be perhaps the cause of new dramas in the years to come, similar to the various struggles of the past. On the surface, it would 'be a sublime act, but in reality the murder of our own nation. We would in fact be guilty of perpetrating national suicide. We admit that we feel sorry for the decline and demise of any nation and its culture. Higher motives and self-love prevent us from pouring into the disintegrating body of our neighbor - even if he asks us to do so - all that God has given us as a manifestation of our own strength and cultural development. We realize that our development was hampered, that we are just beginning to live, that the culmination of our life is yet to come. Because of this motive -- that we would not collapse before we present evidence of our spiritual and �SLOVAKIA 31 national-political heroism to the world - there is for us no enticement which would lead us from the path of our very own interests. True, this is not an egotistic and selfish course. We have the highest interest in this only because we do not want to fall and perish under the guise of such dangerous and, frequently, even enticing allurements. On the other hand, we are fully convinced that in a more extensive Central and All-European society we will be able to do more even from the spiritual and material viewpoints. Binding ourselves exclusively to the interests of just one neighbor would mean our gradual extinction and destruction. Even if we were the center of attraction for a definite time, this would be a very narrow circle and our rapid exhaustion would soon turn away the attention of all friends. Nevertheless, natural development can be assured to us only in a healthy competition in a normal advancement which is not weighed down with too great a burden. An alliance, let us say, with the Czechs - an alliance of complete biological and spiritual growing-together - would stifle within us all manifestations of individuality exclusively for the benefit of the larger Czech nation. We are for co-operation, but we wish to put it on a real foundation of as extensive a co-operation as possible. If it is true that we are still a "youthful" nation, immature, but full of life and having all the prerequisites for the restoration of biological and cultural life of a certain nation, then the realistic hypothesis is more valid, that is, that all the energy which we should invest in behalf of one of our neighbors, in time will uphold the Slovak nation much longer as an individual factor within the Central European family of nations, healthy and capable of its own undertakings. The healthy Slovak nation, being fully willing to accept the closest co-operation within the framework of an European federation, wants to be equal with its political and cultural sense to the most serious factors of world political planning. The health and resources in which the Slovak nation abounds - and in this respect it has many preferences �32 SLOVAKIA over some European nations - assures it of all suppositions, that it will know how to maintain itself in the European family of states. And, of course, everything it produces with its intellect and hands above the average and above its living standards, it will gladly let its partners have. There is a great difference whether the healthy and elementally powerful expressions of the Slovaks, about which many do not doubt, should benefit one of our neighbors exclusively, or whether we should share them with the whole of Europe. Definitely, we shall choose the latter course. It is direct, logical and free of allurements. We do not fear a contest, competition, or spiritual rivalry. Our healthy construction, which others envy, certainly will overcome all remnants of prejudice and, above all, will convince all the other European partners that they can count on the Slovak nation in every field of endeavor that this nation is aware of its duty not only to itself, but also to others. It is not envious, or even hazardous. III There is no doUJbt ,t hat the time will come for the creation of larige staite unilts even in the Old World. Europe already has '1:a,id 1Jhe fourndat'ions of a .federation which, in the eyes of 1Jheori1S1ts - the mo·s t oUJtstanding contemporrury politicians oif :Eill!rope - ii.,s. dea;r f.ro:rn almost every side. Oillly groUJps nolt ,i nterested in the welfare of Europe tum away fll'om tMs ,i,d'ea. We SlcwaJks cannot but be interested even in the pracllical side of the maJtter, i'nasmruch as we wolllld liike to see ouriselves, on the one hand, among the independent naltiorrs of Centra'l Europe, who are waiting for the creation of a European f ederrution, anld, on the other, we do not wamrt ,t o stand unipreprured .toward aJll those facto1rs, who rure placing obstacles in the way of Slovakia beco ming a member of sUldh a European federrution. One of tlhe most serious rea!sons why some groups op,pose our diredt pairbic~pation in the European federaJtion, and at best wish to see us in it only through the medium of Czecho..Slovakia, usually is an alleged extreme Slovak nrutionali:s m. Pruradoxically as it sounds, this allegation �SLOVAKIA 33 is not casua!l, ,b ut is used systemaiticruly as a seriOUJS rurgu,men,t ·a gainst us. ]t simply d0€S not sound naJtuiral and serious that the Slovaks come w.iith the thawght of mer,ginig Slovakia, as an ,i ndependent state unit, into run EUII'Opean federaltion. Many SJlo;v,aJk politicians aire figihting very effectively for this idea already sevarall decades. Dr. M,;IJ.an Ho~a was noit an extreme Slovak naMonalist, even though he we:nit tJhrough a CO!Ill/Paratiively motley degree of .poilitical thoughit. Thiis MiJan Hlod:za dedicated all h~s intelilect Ito the federalistic idea and, therefore, belongs among tihe most s,i,g,n!iificant figwres in this modern movement not on!ly in owr Slovak enVliromnent, but in relation to Central Emrope as well. Even though he was a ceilltra[ist in the Ozec!ho-Slo:vaik Republic, nevertheless, with the greater pairt of hlis spirilt he belonged .to the broader CentralEJuropean environment. Olther Sl01Vak politicians also emerged and aTe still emer,gi,rug wiith the ildea o!f a fedarrutJion. The Ptresidenlt of the Slovak Repulb1:ic, Dr. Joseph 'Dirso, did not conceal his convicltion tihat evolution coU!ld not proceed otfherwise than in the sipinit of federa[iization. In his ,pUlbli'C wtterances he made several allusions to .this grave pr-ob'lem as if to prepare tlhe Slo,v~k puibHc for a new epoch of national and state life. Kairol Sidor, lfo11mer .Sl'ovak ambassador, does noit deny his conception of federal,i'SIID. Even the officia,l program of the Sllova!k NaJtiona1 Oouncil Abroad, which Karol Sidor heads, is ma;rked as a pro·g ram for an independent Slovak State within a framework Olf an EurQpean federation. Per'hrups, the moslt pr6dluotive ,t heol'ist, in the ranks of those ,w ho comprise the .Slovak NaJtional Com11ci1 and are coming on the scene from the young Slo,vaJk generation to take the responsiJM.lity for trhe devel01p.merut of affairs, is Dr. Joseph Kinschlbamn. Not only firom the view.point of evo[utionary necessity, bwt chiefly because he grrusped 1:!his complex of questions sensibly and soientificahly, KiTsch!baum, since the end of World War II, prepared and pu.fbliished numemus d.Jisserta;tions and studies which aiim to prove to the wor+ld that Sfova:ks have t!heir own modern poilitica,l con- �34 SLOVAKIA ceiption amJd also people who display an animruted an:d interest ~111 the problem of a fedel'a!lirzed ffiurolpe. 'Siimill'a dy, other SIJ.avak ipoliltical wOII1kers, publ!idats and wriiters, tea/Che.rs a!Ild iinltellootuals are worlmnig for a federation (Dr. Iilin.amJUel Bohm, Dr. Francis Hrusovsky, Reiv. Niicho'las Siprinc, Dr. Joseph Mi!lrus, Dr. JO'Seph Cieker, Tu-. Imrrich KrUIZlia:k, Dr . .A;r.ved Grr-ebert., Louis IVcmdra and many othem). In contemporary trends of Sllorvaik politics the most foscinalting connedt:ling lilnk is the idea of federa,tion. Thruruk. !imig in a pradtiicaJl way, i1t is imipossiible to picture a Slovalk p,oliitician or pol'ilticaJ theorist who seriiously de<~ls wiltih the idea of lar,ge un1its, s'U/Ch as a Cerubrrul-Ewropeam or Eiulropean federation WOllfild be, and wOllNd wish to lead his nation along the path oif inltoierance and of nationally scOIUTg'ed p8JSISions. Therefore, tJhe Slovaks and t!heir politiicrul and oUJlrtural representatives are not ibwillding a diam on the poinlted edge of chaUMiin:iSlm, but adhere to the notion of a futm-·e EUTopean federation. IV U'IllU'Sual ]t is interesting to note that it was chiefly rthe Czech Socialistic pam'ties wlhreh both in Czechia and Siovalkia ooleashed the most saiv-age conflict about the unfilty of the "Czeclhoslavialk" langwa.ge. 'Dhe same parties who diid not forget to pdse even in our country as progressive prurties. in oocoirdlalllCe to Marxislt ideolo.g y. Iif tJhe Slov3/k naltion opposed this the'ir "progress," then it was in a lar,ge meaiswre becaJUJse they ibrOll.lglht confusion inlto the tiundamenitaJ oonceipts of polliitiiJool Iiife, and, in fact, reaction which excludes aiN criticism. Czech socl,rulism has shown ilbself as the pioneer of f,r ustrruted thinking, and if we tiram:sfer i'ts conception to a practlicall field, we see that it has 1,i1dikuled iltself as has no otller move1ment whiibh had anything to do, directly or indirectly, wti.th the SlO!Vak natioo.. For twenty fuM yerurs, Ozecll poliitiios tenaciously held to ''OzoohO'SlovaikiSin" as a sally bridge into S'lov:alkia. Other Ozedh parties ad/Opted thlis slogan from the socirulists. Scientists seized wpon i1t and were fuhlowed by OI.ech journalists. �SLOVAKIA 35 And thus, in fact, a period ensued when representatirves of Ozech spirit and prruatioa1 pdliitircs were more enraged in gaining a position for the artificial construdtion of "OzechiQslavaJkism" than a real settlement of relaitionshi1ps among 'the minorilties Indisputably we muist thank their inC'ons!i.derate, one-si'ded and undemocratic pol1'tiicail program fo:r the faot 1:hat Prague centralism found irt:se'lf in ruirrs wilt!h the first thrust. The so-called "Czechoslovaks" have denied the Slovaiks the right to self-existence. The Slo,v ak naltion, nevertheless, persistently fought for the recognition otf this most naturaJl right. And it did so in harmony witlh cmltural Europe, which no one, except the Communhrts labeled as reactionary or backward. In politica! morals, tile stirug,gle for the recognition of the suptreme riig1hlts of a nation signifies, in ,t he .p ositive sense d:f the ward, the most noble expression of progressiveness. The Slovaks, therefore, a.ire ahead of the Ozetdhs in thlis re~ard by t!hirtty years. Many exipeniments were .necessary to reform. the "Czechoslovruks" rut least prurtliail'1.y. There had to be a war - for tfrlem new exiperieniceis both on the domestic and fureig.n fronts. Once moce they had ,t o ascertain the mmd of the S'lO,VM{ nation, to scrutinize the trends of European and nonIDuropean politilc's, so that rome of them ta:o'tica.1.[,y, others per1haps sincerely, woulld rubandon the ruinous policy of •~czeichosllO'V'alkifum." After WoI"ld War H, less was said albout "OzeclhO's:lovaJk" unity and, partliculrurly, about a united lan.guiage. It mu'Slt be mentioned again, tha.'t :the most Ulillprog.ressirve of all in this regarrtl were the ~etch Socialists. The otfrler Czech polrnicians and theiT Slovak a.Hies rewgn.ized the right of the Sfovruk nation to its own existence . But at that time the Slovaks were more advanced. They had gone through the hist.orically rich segment of their own state. ft is certain that there is a greait deaft of difference between "Oze1ehosi1ova'k" comprehension - it stilil is bound Uip with a joint state aind the standipdinrt: of t!he Slovaks. To get ruhead by means oif a steady for-warn effort and in aiM farms - to find what benefi't!s best t!he 11:fe am.d development of the nation - the SlovaJks provoo that they rure marehing �36 SLOVAKIA in 1:Jhe spirit of the ,t imes and, as an independenlt ,and competitiive ,_po1fficai unit, seek to persevere aloll!gside the most cmltwred European naltions. Toda,y, ffiurope ,is ffillllch frul"bher a'long t'he way than the "0zec'ho,SilovaJks." Theorelti.cafily and practica'lliy it i,s prepa,r ed for a federation of ai1l nations. The so-caUed "Czecihoslova'k1s " are ait tJhe crossroa;dis. Some a~ere to the form of the fiirt;t Ozecho-!SlovaJk Repuiblic, while others rure silent and say nolt!hlil!g a!boult a forurtlh or fitfth Czecho-Slova.!k Repulblic for whiich they would want to fight. StillJ. others ta:l:k obscurely about the possibillity of a federafted Czecho·~SIJ.oivakia. There i's allso a founth 0zech g,r1oop whi'ch does not wish to interfere in Slova!k affaiiI"S and i's f[gh'ting for a CentralEuropean or IDwopean federation in w'hiich it reckons wilth an inde,pendent Czech Ulnit and a separate Sloivaik unilt. On tlhe ort:her hand, conltemporary SIJ.ovak ,p oHtits is following clearly and .ll!nreserveidly whait is best for an inde,pendenrt Sl01Vak State wli:thin the framework of a European federation. Compari.Il!g 1:Jhe effort's of t'he "Czechoslava1ki:;" wi'bh those of the Sl0iv-alks, we see, that even now there is a brusiic dliifrferenice b.e'tween them and that "CzechoSl01Va:k,i sm" wppears in the role of the mo'sit reactionary factor in Central Ewrope. But, willy-nilly, some of its representatiives have come oloser to the tlhinking of the .S1'oivaJk nati:on and ,g radually are rcliinquish~n,g their b1goited and ar,chaii.c views. Hoiweiver, t'here stiifl remains the difference of thirty yerurs. We can, therefore, clearly see from these .s imply-staited realities thaJt llhe sen:se of SlovaJk pol,i rtks tended toward a broader lilirI10ipean and worM society. There its a basic diffeirence whether we get into tJhi,s broader so'o iety of nations throrugh owr OiWll doors, or wihether we shalJ.l be led m'to it throrugh foreign dooirs wiit!h those of others; whether we wm lodk ,pa.ssi.rvely lllpOn the work, or whether we shali talke part in ilt w~tJh joint forces. A IDuropean fed:era/tlion will bring run end to these mistaJkes. We are det:inilteliy decfarin1g for a European associatioo, becruuse, rucicording to moral,s , ciulltll!re and p<Ylitical ma!tuirity, we rightfully beloD!g in it. � 26 SLOVAKIA THE PRACTICAL ASPECT OF A FEDERATION Joseph Pauco, Ph.D. I Eastern Europe provides a political observer with a motley mosaic of opinions. Living here are many nations and ra.c es which even a Central European does not properly recognize and many times does not know whether to classify them with European nations or with the Asiatics. Whoever searches more profoundly into their history and studies their political struggles at least cursorily will notice that in many regards their history and their programs are very similar to those of every p.ation in Central or Western Europe. You will find smaller and larger groups; small nations bound to the destiny of great ones, and their mutual relationship is manifested nearly always by the same complaints as those of other nations-suppressi on, imperialism, wars, revolutions, heroic deeds of national leaders, etc. In general, it is said that the East-European nations a.re politically less developed. Enemies of their freedom say that they are the more primitive nations and, therefore, certain slogans and principles of program are more highly spirited and sometimes sound like a voice from the romantic times of the past century. One thing is certain, that generally in almost all East-European nations, as can be seen from the course of their emigration, there is a great deal of conservatism both with regard to the form of warfare as well as the peaceful arrangement of Eastern Europe, or the territory of Asia Minor. Usually in all ideological proclamations, which are designated not only for the limited domestic public, but also for foreign countries, the stereotyped assertion is re-iterated that it is imperative to build national states in the whole of Eastern Europe. They promote not only the disintegration of Soviet Russia, but also oppose every form of a greater Russian empire. And systematically they oppose the much used Russian thesis about several Russian nations, incidentally, the false naming of some non-Russian nations (Little Russia, correctly the Ukrainia, etc.). �SLOVAKIA 27 Taken <Ybjectively, these nations must be fully understood. Not only small nations, that is tribes (as for example, of the Upper Caucasus), but also large nations (forty million Ukrainian and eighteen million Byelorussian people) did not have their own state for long centuries. Then in this conglomeration of East-European nations there also are such that cannot at all claim that they are building upon their own state traditions. And we may go even farther. Not until the twentieth century did small tribes or groups begin to create individual units which claimed national rights as nations with all the attributes of culturally and politically mature nations to manage their own destiny (Upper Caucasus). It was, for example, quite unknown to Europeans and less so to Americans that the Cossacks declared themselves an independent nation. History discloses that the Cossacks were in the service of Russian Czars and one part of them was inclined towards the Ukrainians; their language is Russian and Ukrainian. But we were acquainted only with legendary Cossack heroes. We knew very little about their political endeavors. But now there exists a strong movement for a Cossackia, i. e. an independent Cossack state. Besides all this, many of the East-European nations experienced a transfer process, especially during the Soviet reign of terror. The Ceceni (Tchetchene) of the Upper Caucasus are no longer in their original place. They were spread over the entire Soviet Union simply because they were a healthy and belligerent nation. A similar fate befell the small (two hundred thousands) Kalmuck nation and many other small nations. Transfer or resettling of nations is the best tactic of the Soviet. Already a whole million inhabitants of the Baltic states has been forcefully transferred to the Soviet interior and to Siberia; Russi.ans, Tartars, Uzbcks, and many others have supplanted them. It is no wonder then that all the nations of Eastern Europe and Asia Minor nations from an instinct of self-preservation insist on national independent states. Naturally, these tendencies manifest themselves most acutely within the strong nations, as for example, the Ukrainians. The Ukrainian �28 SLOVAKIA emigration is divided into at least ten political parties: from the most extreme rightists to socialists. But there is hardly one Ukrainian factor in emigration who does not favor an independent Great Ukrainia. Many times it appears that it is impossible to speak with East-European representatives about any other type of political organization other than national states. Fear of the entire future arrangement is often responsible for this. But all things considered, there is no fundamental aversion toward fedemlistic endeavors. True, the East-European is little interested in a West-European federation, because he is convinced that Western Europe has an insignificant interest in the correct solution of the Eastern question. But, inadvertantly, all thoughts and manifestations, which come to light in connection with either a West-European or a federation involving the whole of Europe, affect also the spiritual stratum of East-European emigration. And so, in their club meetings and their reviews, periodicals, and newspapers, they often discuss this most recent political problem seriously and minutely. This is not merely a confirmation of what has already been done in this matter, but learned East-European professors, politicians and publicists have the courage to draw a parallel between the West and East, between the intellectual efforts for a federation in the West and the practical ,possibilities in the East. Few are those who will analyze all the problems publicly. However, we have found many instances of debates concerning a European and a. regional Central-European and East-EuropeanAsia Minor federation. And it was not always a voice from the East which took a negative stand to the conception of a federation itself. Finally, even exclusive, nationalistic, international emigrant organizations allow for a closer or liberal relationship of individual nations. Such an International of Freedom, consisting of twenty one Central and East-European emigrations, bases its fundamental program on an inter-continental confederation of states, including all of Eastern Europe, except Russia and all of Asia Minor. The Anti-Bolshevik Block of nations, building exclusively on national states, has within its Constitution a clause which �SLOVAKIA 29 speaks of the possibility of creating smaller or larger units and co-states. The oldest East-European anti-bolshevik international emigrant organization, Prometheus, working already twenty eight years, receives most sympathetically the trends which favor a European federation and a regional federation. Therefore, the idea of federalism is not foreign to the East-European peoples, nor to those who never had their own state and who yearn to be free. In comparing these efforts from the East, undoubtedly the thought arises with regard to Central Europe where the Slov,a ks dwell. What is the situation there? II One argument against Slovak persistence and perseverance in the struggle for an indpendent state usually is its national "youthfulness". This argument was used especially during the years following World War I, when the struggle of the Slovaks began to be serious both in form and intensivity, and opponents of Slovak freedom had to resort to all kinds of, and many times, less successful arguments. This argument could have been valid to a certain extent only until Slovak intellectuals refuted the false legend that the Slovak nation has no history and until the Slovaks themselves proved by their creative spirit that their naJt:ion can ad~pt itself m a'Il!y period to its neiighibors in all fields and that its cultural endeavors are not more inferior, but in many respects the Slovak genius surpasses its partners and becomes distinctly original. Therefore, such an argument could not carry weight for very long. It lost in realism very quickly with the Slo• vak people, and it was the spirit of the Slovaks that proved it is possible to create a new Slovak environement in the spiritual and national-political regard without lures and snares, without thorough saturation from secondary sources. The "youthful" Slovak nation had chosen its own course so that it could live its own national life. Against facts, and particularly the vitality of all the component parts of the Slovak nation, it was difficult to �30 SLOVAKIA keep on using endlessly the arguments used during the first few years following World War I. Quickly, therefore, as the views of the Slovak people began to change, and as the course of the policy of "lures" was changed by facts, the very same people suddenly ascertained that the Slovak nation is biologically so strong that its neighbors will have to draw from this healthy blood bank to preserve themselves, to revive, and also become stronger. This was an immoral attempt to destroy the national Slovak body. After drawing upon the biological vitality, a degeneration of spiritual values among the Slovak nation would be inevitable. It was not possible, therefore, from motives of self-preservation, to agree with such "allurements." From this theory our Czech neighbors moved further. Not only biologically were we supposed to save one of our neighbors, but we were also supposed to contribute to its cultural and religious revival. These voices were heard frequently after World War II. All this is defective and for the Slovaks extremely dangerous. Surely, to save, let us say, a nation twice as large, from certain ruin, is a beautiful and historically valuable sacrifice. But nothing more or less than a sacrifice. Probably, our investments would be faulty and all our magnanimity could once avenge itself on our nation. By our own efforts we would be perhaps the cause of new dramas in the years to come, similar to the various struggles of the past. On the surface, it would 'be a sublime act, but in reality the murder of our own nation. We would in fact be guilty of perpetrating national suicide. We admit that we feel sorry for the decline and demise of any nation and its culture. Higher motives and self-love prevent us from pouring into the disintegrating body of our neighbor - even if he asks us to do so - all that God has given us as a manifestation of our own strength and cultural development. We realize that our development was hampered, that we are just beginning to live, that the culmination of our life is yet to come. Because of this motive -- that we would not collapse before we present evidence of our spiritual and �SLOVAKIA 31 national-political heroism to the world - there is for us no enticement which would lead us from the path of our very own interests. True, this is not an egotistic and selfish course. We have the highest interest in this only because we do not want to fall and perish under the guise of such dangerous and, frequently, even enticing allurements. On the other hand, we are fully convinced that in a more extensive Central and All-European society we will be able to do more even from the spiritual and material viewpoints. Binding ourselves exclusively to the interests of just one neighbor would mean our gradual extinction and destruction. Even if we were the center of attraction for a definite time, this would be a very narrow circle and our rapid exhaustion would soon turn away the attention of all friends. Nevertheless, natural development can be assured to us only in a healthy competition in a normal advancement which is not weighed down with too great a burden. An alliance, let us say, with the Czechs - an alliance of complete biological and spiritual growing-together - would stifle within us all manifestations of individuality exclusively for the benefit of the larger Czech nation. We are for co-operation, but we wish to put it on a real foundation of as extensive a co-operation as possible. If it is true that we are still a "youthful" nation, immature, but full of life and having all the prerequisites for the restoration of biological and cultural life of a certain nation, then the realistic hypothesis is more valid, that is, that all the energy which we should invest in behalf of one of our neighbors, in time will uphold the Slovak nation much longer as an individual factor within the Central European family of nations, healthy and capable of its own undertakings. The healthy Slovak nation, being fully willing to accept the closest co-operation within the framework of an European federation, wants to be equal with its political and cultural sense to the most serious factors of world political planning. The health and resources in which the Slovak nation abounds - and in this respect it has many preferences �32 SLOVAKIA over some European nations - assures it of all suppositions, that it will know how to maintain itself in the European family of states. And, of course, everything it produces with its intellect and hands above the average and above its living standards, it will gladly let its partners have. There is a great difference whether the healthy and elementally powerful expressions of the Slovaks, about which many do not doubt, should benefit one of our neighbors exclusively, or whether we should share them with the whole of Europe. Definitely, we shall choose the latter course. It is direct, logical and free of allurements. We do not fear a contest, competition, or spiritual rivalry. Our healthy construction, which others envy, certainly will overcome all remnants of prejudice and, above all, will convince all the other European partners that they can count on the Slovak nation in every field of endeavor that this nation is aware of its duty not only to itself, but also to others. It is not envious, or even hazardous. III There is no doUJbt ,t hat the time will come for the creation of larige staite unilts even in the Old World. Europe already has '1:a,id 1Jhe fourndat'ions of a .federation which, in the eyes of 1Jheori1S1ts - the mo·s t oUJtstanding contemporrury politicians oif :Eill!rope - ii.,s. dea;r f.ro:rn almost every side. Oillly groUJps nolt ,i nterested in the welfare of Europe tum away fll'om tMs ,i,d'ea. We SlcwaJks cannot but be interested even in the pracllical side of the maJtter, i'nasmruch as we wolllld liike to see ouriselves, on the one hand, among the independent naltiorrs of Centra'l Europe, who are waiting for the creation of a European f ederrution, anld, on the other, we do not wamrt ,t o stand unipreprured .toward aJll those facto1rs, who rure placing obstacles in the way of Slovakia beco ming a member of sUldh a European federrution. One of tlhe most serious rea!sons why some groups op,pose our diredt pairbic~pation in the European federaJtion, and at best wish to see us in it only through the medium of Czecho..Slovakia, usually is an alleged extreme Slovak nrutionali:s m. Pruradoxically as it sounds, this allegation �SLOVAKIA 33 is not casua!l, ,b ut is used systemaiticruly as a seriOUJS rurgu,men,t ·a gainst us. ]t simply d0€S not sound naJtuiral and serious that the Slovaks come w.iith the thawght of mer,ginig Slovakia, as an ,i ndependent state unit, into run EUII'Opean federaltion. Many SJlo;v,aJk politicians aire figihting very effectively for this idea already sevarall decades. Dr. M,;IJ.an Ho~a was noit an extreme Slovak naMonalist, even though he we:nit tJhrough a CO!Ill/Paratiively motley degree of .poilitical thoughit. Thiis MiJan Hlod:za dedicated all h~s intelilect Ito the federalistic idea and, therefore, belongs among tihe most s,i,g,n!iificant figwres in this modern movement not on!ly in owr Slovak enVliromnent, but in relation to Central Emrope as well. Even though he was a ceilltra[ist in the Ozec!ho-Slo:vaik Republic, nevertheless, with the greater pairt of hlis spirilt he belonged .to the broader CentralEJuropean environment. Olther Sl01Vak politicians also emerged and aTe still emer,gi,rug wiith the ildea o!f a fedarrutJion. The Ptresidenlt of the Slovak Repulb1:ic, Dr. Joseph 'Dirso, did not conceal his convicltion tihat evolution coU!ld not proceed otfherwise than in the sipinit of federa[iization. In his ,pUlbli'C wtterances he made several allusions to .this grave pr-ob'lem as if to prepare tlhe Slo,v~k puibHc for a new epoch of national and state life. Kairol Sidor, lfo11mer .Sl'ovak ambassador, does noit deny his conception of federal,i'SIID. Even the officia,l program of the Sllova!k NaJtiona1 Oouncil Abroad, which Karol Sidor heads, is ma;rked as a pro·g ram for an independent Slovak State within a framework Olf an EurQpean federation. Per'hrups, the moslt pr6dluotive ,t heol'ist, in the ranks of those ,w ho comprise the .Slovak NaJtional Com11ci1 and are coming on the scene from the young Slo,vaJk generation to take the responsiJM.lity for trhe devel01p.merut of affairs, is Dr. Joseph Kinschlbamn. Not only firom the view.point of evo[utionary necessity, bwt chiefly because he grrusped 1:!his complex of questions sensibly and soientificahly, KiTsch!baum, since the end of World War II, prepared and pu.fbliished numemus d.Jisserta;tions and studies which aiim to prove to the wor+ld that Sfova:ks have t!heir own modern poilitica,l con- �34 SLOVAKIA ceiption amJd also people who display an animruted an:d interest ~111 the problem of a fedel'a!lirzed ffiurolpe. 'Siimill'a dy, other SIJ.avak ipoliltical wOII1kers, publ!idats and wriiters, tea/Che.rs a!Ild iinltellootuals are worlmnig for a federation (Dr. Iilin.amJUel Bohm, Dr. Francis Hrusovsky, Reiv. Niicho'las Siprinc, Dr. Joseph Mi!lrus, Dr. JO'Seph Cieker, Tu-. Imrrich KrUIZlia:k, Dr . .A;r.ved Grr-ebert., Louis IVcmdra and many othem). In contemporary trends of Sllorvaik politics the most foscinalting connedt:ling lilnk is the idea of federa,tion. Thruruk. !imig in a pradtiicaJl way, i1t is imipossiible to picture a Slovalk p,oliitician or pol'ilticaJ theorist who seriiously de<~ls wiltih the idea of lar,ge un1its, s'U/Ch as a Cerubrrul-Ewropeam or Eiulropean federation WOllfild be, and wOllNd wish to lead his nation along the path oif inltoierance and of nationally scOIUTg'ed p8JSISions. Therefore, tJhe Slovaks and t!heir politiicrul and oUJlrtural representatives are not ibwillding a diam on the poinlted edge of chaUMiin:iSlm, but adhere to the notion of a futm-·e EUTopean federation. IV U'IllU'Sual ]t is interesting to note that it was chiefly rthe Czech Socialistic pam'ties wlhreh both in Czechia and Siovalkia ooleashed the most saiv-age conflict about the unfilty of the "Czeclhoslavialk" langwa.ge. 'Dhe same parties who diid not forget to pdse even in our country as progressive prurties. in oocoirdlalllCe to Marxislt ideolo.g y. Iif tJhe Slov3/k naltion opposed this the'ir "progress," then it was in a lar,ge meaiswre becaJUJse they ibrOll.lglht confusion inlto the tiundamenitaJ oonceipts of polliitiiJool Iiife, and, in fact, reaction which excludes aiN criticism. Czech socl,rulism has shown ilbself as the pioneer of f,r ustrruted thinking, and if we tiram:sfer i'ts conception to a practlicall field, we see that it has 1,i1dikuled iltself as has no otller move1ment whiibh had anything to do, directly or indirectly, wti.th the SlO!Vak natioo.. For twenty fuM yerurs, Ozecll poliitiios tenaciously held to ''OzoohO'SlovaikiSin" as a sally bridge into S'lov:alkia. Other Ozedh parties ad/Opted thlis slogan from the socirulists. Scientists seized wpon i1t and were fuhlowed by OI.ech journalists. �SLOVAKIA 35 And thus, in fact, a period ensued when representatirves of Ozech spirit and prruatioa1 pdliitircs were more enraged in gaining a position for the artificial construdtion of "OzechiQslavaJkism" than a real settlement of relaitionshi1ps among 'the minorilties Indisputably we muist thank their inC'ons!i.derate, one-si'ded and undemocratic pol1'tiicail program fo:r the faot 1:hat Prague centralism found irt:se'lf in ruirrs wilt!h the first thrust. The so-called "Czechoslovaks" have denied the Slovaiks the right to self-existence. The Slo,v ak naltion, nevertheless, persistently fought for the recognition otf this most naturaJl right. And it did so in harmony witlh cmltural Europe, which no one, except the Communhrts labeled as reactionary or backward. In politica! morals, tile stirug,gle for the recognition of the suptreme riig1hlts of a nation signifies, in ,t he .p ositive sense d:f the ward, the most noble expression of progressiveness. The Slovaks, therefore, a.ire ahead of the Ozetdhs in thlis re~ard by t!hirtty years. Many exipeniments were .necessary to reform. the "Czechoslovruks" rut least prurtliail'1.y. There had to be a war - for tfrlem new exiperieniceis both on the domestic and fureig.n fronts. Once moce they had ,t o ascertain the mmd of the S'lO,VM{ nation, to scrutinize the trends of European and nonIDuropean politilc's, so that rome of them ta:o'tica.1.[,y, others per1haps sincerely, woulld rubandon the ruinous policy of •~czeichosllO'V'alkifum." After WoI"ld War H, less was said albout "OzeclhO's:lovaJk" unity and, partliculrurly, about a united lan.guiage. It mu'Slt be mentioned again, tha.'t :the most Ulillprog.ressirve of all in this regarrtl were the ~etch Socialists. The otfrler Czech polrnicians and theiT Slovak a.Hies rewgn.ized the right of the Sfovruk nation to its own existence . But at that time the Slovaks were more advanced. They had gone through the hist.orically rich segment of their own state. ft is certain that there is a greait deaft of difference between "Oze1ehosi1ova'k" comprehension - it stilil is bound Uip with a joint state aind the standipdinrt: of t!he Slovaks. To get ruhead by means oif a steady for-warn effort and in aiM farms - to find what benefi't!s best t!he 11:fe am.d development of the nation - the SlovaJks provoo that they rure marehing �36 SLOVAKIA in 1:Jhe spirit of the ,t imes and, as an independenlt ,and competitiive ,_po1fficai unit, seek to persevere aloll!gside the most cmltwred European naltions. Toda,y, ffiurope ,is ffillllch frul"bher a'long t'he way than the "0zec'ho,SilovaJks." Theorelti.cafily and practica'lliy it i,s prepa,r ed for a federation of ai1l nations. The so-caUed "Czecihoslova'k1s " are ait tJhe crossroa;dis. Some a~ere to the form of the fiirt;t Ozecho-!SlovaJk Repuiblic, while others rure silent and say nolt!hlil!g a!boult a forurtlh or fitfth Czecho-Slova.!k Repulblic for whiich they would want to fight. StillJ. others ta:l:k obscurely about the possibillity of a federafted Czecho·~SIJ.oivakia. There i's allso a founth 0zech g,r1oop whi'ch does not wish to interfere in Slova!k affaiiI"S and i's f[gh'ting for a CentralEuropean or IDwopean federation in w'hiich it reckons wilth an inde,pendent Czech Ulnit and a separate Sloivaik unilt. On tlhe ort:her hand, conltemporary SIJ.ovak ,p oHtits is following clearly and .ll!nreserveidly whait is best for an inde,pendenrt Sl01Vak State wli:thin the framework of a European federation. Compari.Il!g 1:Jhe effort's of t'he "Czechoslava1ki:;" wi'bh those of the Sl0iv-alks, we see, that even now there is a brusiic dliifrferenice b.e'tween them and that "CzechoSl01Va:k,i sm" wppears in the role of the mo'sit reactionary factor in Central Ewrope. But, willy-nilly, some of its representatiives have come oloser to the tlhinking of the .S1'oivaJk nati:on and ,g radually are rcliinquish~n,g their b1goited and ar,chaii.c views. Hoiweiver, t'here stiifl remains the difference of thirty yerurs. We can, therefore, clearly see from these .s imply-staited realities thaJt llhe sen:se of SlovaJk pol,i rtks tended toward a broader lilirI10ipean and worM society. There its a basic diffeirence whether we get into tJhi,s broader so'o iety of nations throrugh owr OiWll doors, or wihether we shalJ.l be led m'to it throrugh foreign dooirs wiit!h those of others; whether we wm lodk ,pa.ssi.rvely lllpOn the work, or whether we shali talke part in ilt w~tJh joint forces. A IDuropean fed:era/tlion will bring run end to these mistaJkes. We are det:inilteliy decfarin1g for a European associatioo, becruuse, rucicording to moral,s , ciulltll!re and p<Ylitical ma!tuirity, we rightfully beloD!g in 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 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 26 SLOVAKIA THE PRACTICAL ASPECT OF A FEDERATION Joseph Pauco, Ph.D. I Eastern Europe provides a political observer with a motley mosaic of opinions. Living here are many nations and ra.c es which even a Central European does not properly recognize and many times does not know whether to classify them with European nations or with the Asiatics. Whoever searches more profoundly into their history and studies their political struggles at least cursorily will notice that in many regards their history and their programs are very similar to those of every p.ation in Central or Western Europe. You will find smaller and larger groups; small nations bound to the destiny of great ones, and their mutual relationship is manifested nearly always by the same complaints as those of other nations-suppressi on, imperialism, wars, revolutions, heroic deeds of national leaders, etc. In general, it is said that the East-European nations a.re politically less developed. Enemies of their freedom say that they are the more primitive nations and, therefore, certain slogans and principles of program are more highly spirited and sometimes sound like a voice from the romantic times of the past century. One thing is certain, that generally in almost all East-European nations, as can be seen from the course of their emigration, there is a great deal of conservatism both with regard to the form of warfare as well as the peaceful arrangement of Eastern Europe, or the territory of Asia Minor. Usually in all ideological proclamations, which are designated not only for the limited domestic public, but also for foreign countries, the stereotyped assertion is re-iterated that it is imperative to build national states in the whole of Eastern Europe. They promote not only the disintegration of Soviet Russia, but also oppose every form of a greater Russian empire. And systematically they oppose the much used Russian thesis about several Russian nations, incidentally, the false naming of some non-Russian nations (Little Russia, correctly the Ukrainia, etc.). SLOVAKIA 27 Taken <Ybjectively, these nations must be fully understood. Not only small nations, that is tribes (as for example, of the Upper Caucasus), but also large nations (forty million Ukrainian and eighteen million Byelorussian people) did not have their own state for long centuries. Then in this conglomeration of East-European nations there also are such that cannot at all claim that they are building upon their own state traditions. And we may go even farther. Not until the twentieth century did small tribes or groups begin to create individual units which claimed national rights as nations with all the attributes of culturally and politically mature nations to manage their own destiny (Upper Caucasus). It was, for example, quite unknown to Europeans and less so to Americans that the Cossacks declared themselves an independent nation. History discloses that the Cossacks were in the service of Russian Czars and one part of them was inclined towards the Ukrainians; their language is Russian and Ukrainian. But we were acquainted only with legendary Cossack heroes. We knew very little about their political endeavors. But now there exists a strong movement for a Cossackia, i. e. an independent Cossack state. Besides all this, many of the East-European nations experienced a transfer process, especially during the Soviet reign of terror. The Ceceni (Tchetchene) of the Upper Caucasus are no longer in their original place. They were spread over the entire Soviet Union simply because they were a healthy and belligerent nation. A similar fate befell the small (two hundred thousands) Kalmuck nation and many other small nations. Transfer or resettling of nations is the best tactic of the Soviet. Already a whole million inhabitants of the Baltic states has been forcefully transferred to the Soviet interior and to Siberia; Russi.ans, Tartars, Uzbcks, and many others have supplanted them. It is no wonder then that all the nations of Eastern Europe and Asia Minor nations from an instinct of self-preservation insist on national independent states. Naturally, these tendencies manifest themselves most acutely within the strong nations, as for example, the Ukrainians. The Ukrainian 28 SLOVAKIA emigration is divided into at least ten political parties: from the most extreme rightists to socialists. But there is hardly one Ukrainian factor in emigration who does not favor an independent Great Ukrainia. Many times it appears that it is impossible to speak with East-European representatives about any other type of political organization other than national states. Fear of the entire future arrangement is often responsible for this. But all things considered, there is no fundamental aversion toward fedemlistic endeavors. True, the East-European is little interested in a West-European federation, because he is convinced that Western Europe has an insignificant interest in the correct solution of the Eastern question. But, inadvertantly, all thoughts and manifestations, which come to light in connection with either a West-European or a federation involving the whole of Europe, affect also the spiritual stratum of East-European emigration. And so, in their club meetings and their reviews, periodicals, and newspapers, they often discuss this most recent political problem seriously and minutely. This is not merely a confirmation of what has already been done in this matter, but learned East-European professors, politicians and publicists have the courage to draw a parallel between the West and East, between the intellectual efforts for a federation in the West and the practical ,possibilities in the East. Few are those who will analyze all the problems publicly. However, we have found many instances of debates concerning a European and a. regional Central-European and East-EuropeanAsia Minor federation. And it was not always a voice from the East which took a negative stand to the conception of a federation itself. Finally, even exclusive, nationalistic, international emigrant organizations allow for a closer or liberal relationship of individual nations. Such an International of Freedom, consisting of twenty one Central and East-European emigrations, bases its fundamental program on an inter-continental confederation of states, including all of Eastern Europe, except Russia and all of Asia Minor. The Anti-Bolshevik Block of nations, building exclusively on national states, has within its Constitution a clause which SLOVAKIA 29 speaks of the possibility of creating smaller or larger units and co-states. The oldest East-European anti-bolshevik international emigrant organization, Prometheus, working already twenty eight years, receives most sympathetically the trends which favor a European federation and a regional federation. Therefore, the idea of federalism is not foreign to the East-European peoples, nor to those who never had their own state and who yearn to be free. In comparing these efforts from the East, undoubtedly the thought arises with regard to Central Europe where the Slov,a ks dwell. What is the situation there? II One argument against Slovak persistence and perseverance in the struggle for an indpendent state usually is its national "youthfulness". This argument was used especially during the years following World War I, when the struggle of the Slovaks began to be serious both in form and intensivity, and opponents of Slovak freedom had to resort to all kinds of, and many times, less successful arguments. This argument could have been valid to a certain extent only until Slovak intellectuals refuted the false legend that the Slovak nation has no history and until the Slovaks themselves proved by their creative spirit that their naJt:ion can ad~pt itself m a'Il!y period to its neiighibors in all fields and that its cultural endeavors are not more inferior, but in many respects the Slovak genius surpasses its partners and becomes distinctly original. Therefore, such an argument could not carry weight for very long. It lost in realism very quickly with the Slo• vak people, and it was the spirit of the Slovaks that proved it is possible to create a new Slovak environement in the spiritual and national-political regard without lures and snares, without thorough saturation from secondary sources. The "youthful" Slovak nation had chosen its own course so that it could live its own national life. Against facts, and particularly the vitality of all the component parts of the Slovak nation, it was difficult to 30 SLOVAKIA keep on using endlessly the arguments used during the first few years following World War I. Quickly, therefore, as the views of the Slovak people began to change, and as the course of the policy of "lures" was changed by facts, the very same people suddenly ascertained that the Slovak nation is biologically so strong that its neighbors will have to draw from this healthy blood bank to preserve themselves, to revive, and also become stronger. This was an immoral attempt to destroy the national Slovak body. After drawing upon the biological vitality, a degeneration of spiritual values among the Slovak nation would be inevitable. It was not possible, therefore, from motives of self-preservation, to agree with such "allurements." From this theory our Czech neighbors moved further. Not only biologically were we supposed to save one of our neighbors, but we were also supposed to contribute to its cultural and religious revival. These voices were heard frequently after World War II. All this is defective and for the Slovaks extremely dangerous. Surely, to save, let us say, a nation twice as large, from certain ruin, is a beautiful and historically valuable sacrifice. But nothing more or less than a sacrifice. Probably, our investments would be faulty and all our magnanimity could once avenge itself on our nation. By our own efforts we would be perhaps the cause of new dramas in the years to come, similar to the various struggles of the past. On the surface, it would 'be a sublime act, but in reality the murder of our own nation. We would in fact be guilty of perpetrating national suicide. We admit that we feel sorry for the decline and demise of any nation and its culture. Higher motives and self-love prevent us from pouring into the disintegrating body of our neighbor - even if he asks us to do so - all that God has given us as a manifestation of our own strength and cultural development. We realize that our development was hampered, that we are just beginning to live, that the culmination of our life is yet to come. Because of this motive -- that we would not collapse before we present evidence of our spiritual and SLOVAKIA 31 national-political heroism to the world - there is for us no enticement which would lead us from the path of our very own interests. True, this is not an egotistic and selfish course. We have the highest interest in this only because we do not want to fall and perish under the guise of such dangerous and, frequently, even enticing allurements. On the other hand, we are fully convinced that in a more extensive Central and All-European society we will be able to do more even from the spiritual and material viewpoints. Binding ourselves exclusively to the interests of just one neighbor would mean our gradual extinction and destruction. Even if we were the center of attraction for a definite time, this would be a very narrow circle and our rapid exhaustion would soon turn away the attention of all friends. Nevertheless, natural development can be assured to us only in a healthy competition in a normal advancement which is not weighed down with too great a burden. An alliance, let us say, with the Czechs - an alliance of complete biological and spiritual growing-together - would stifle within us all manifestations of individuality exclusively for the benefit of the larger Czech nation. We are for co-operation, but we wish to put it on a real foundation of as extensive a co-operation as possible. If it is true that we are still a "youthful" nation, immature, but full of life and having all the prerequisites for the restoration of biological and cultural life of a certain nation, then the realistic hypothesis is more valid, that is, that all the energy which we should invest in behalf of one of our neighbors, in time will uphold the Slovak nation much longer as an individual factor within the Central European family of nations, healthy and capable of its own undertakings. The healthy Slovak nation, being fully willing to accept the closest co-operation within the framework of an European federation, wants to be equal with its political and cultural sense to the most serious factors of world political planning. The health and resources in which the Slovak nation abounds - and in this respect it has many preferences 32 SLOVAKIA over some European nations - assures it of all suppositions, that it will know how to maintain itself in the European family of states. And, of course, everything it produces with its intellect and hands above the average and above its living standards, it will gladly let its partners have. There is a great difference whether the healthy and elementally powerful expressions of the Slovaks, about which many do not doubt, should benefit one of our neighbors exclusively, or whether we should share them with the whole of Europe. Definitely, we shall choose the latter course. It is direct, logical and free of allurements. We do not fear a contest, competition, or spiritual rivalry. Our healthy construction, which others envy, certainly will overcome all remnants of prejudice and, above all, will convince all the other European partners that they can count on the Slovak nation in every field of endeavor that this nation is aware of its duty not only to itself, but also to others. It is not envious, or even hazardous. III There is no doUJbt ,t hat the time will come for the creation of larige staite unilts even in the Old World. Europe already has '1:a,id 1Jhe fourndat'ions of a .federation which, in the eyes of 1Jheori1S1ts - the mo·s t oUJtstanding contemporrury politicians oif :Eill!rope - ii.,s. dea;r f.ro:rn almost every side. Oillly groUJps nolt ,i nterested in the welfare of Europe tum away fll'om tMs ,i,d'ea. We SlcwaJks cannot but be interested even in the pracllical side of the maJtter, i'nasmruch as we wolllld liike to see ouriselves, on the one hand, among the independent naltiorrs of Centra'l Europe, who are waiting for the creation of a European f ederrution, anld, on the other, we do not wamrt ,t o stand unipreprured .toward aJll those facto1rs, who rure placing obstacles in the way of Slovakia beco ming a member of sUldh a European federrution. One of tlhe most serious rea!sons why some groups op,pose our diredt pairbic~pation in the European federaJtion, and at best wish to see us in it only through the medium of Czecho..Slovakia, usually is an alleged extreme Slovak nrutionali:s m. Pruradoxically as it sounds, this allegation SLOVAKIA 33 is not casua!l, ,b ut is used systemaiticruly as a seriOUJS rurgu,men,t ·a gainst us. ]t simply d0€S not sound naJtuiral and serious that the Slovaks come w.iith the thawght of mer,ginig Slovakia, as an ,i ndependent state unit, into run EUII'Opean federaltion. Many SJlo;v,aJk politicians aire figihting very effectively for this idea already sevarall decades. Dr. M,;IJ.an Ho~a was noit an extreme Slovak naMonalist, even though he we:nit tJhrough a CO!Ill/Paratiively motley degree of .poilitical thoughit. Thiis MiJan Hlod:za dedicated all h~s intelilect Ito the federalistic idea and, therefore, belongs among tihe most s,i,g,n!iificant figwres in this modern movement not on!ly in owr Slovak enVliromnent, but in relation to Central Emrope as well. Even though he was a ceilltra[ist in the Ozec!ho-Slo:vaik Republic, nevertheless, with the greater pairt of hlis spirilt he belonged .to the broader CentralEJuropean environment. Olther Sl01Vak politicians also emerged and aTe still emer,gi,rug wiith the ildea o!f a fedarrutJion. The Ptresidenlt of the Slovak Repulb1:ic, Dr. Joseph 'Dirso, did not conceal his convicltion tihat evolution coU!ld not proceed otfherwise than in the sipinit of federa[iization. In his ,pUlbli'C wtterances he made several allusions to .this grave pr-ob'lem as if to prepare tlhe Slo,v~k puibHc for a new epoch of national and state life. Kairol Sidor, lfo11mer .Sl'ovak ambassador, does noit deny his conception of federal,i'SIID. Even the officia,l program of the Sllova!k NaJtiona1 Oouncil Abroad, which Karol Sidor heads, is ma;rked as a pro·g ram for an independent Slovak State within a framework Olf an EurQpean federation. Per'hrups, the moslt pr6dluotive ,t heol'ist, in the ranks of those ,w ho comprise the .Slovak NaJtional Com11ci1 and are coming on the scene from the young Slo,vaJk generation to take the responsiJM.lity for trhe devel01p.merut of affairs, is Dr. Joseph Kinschlbamn. Not only firom the view.point of evo[utionary necessity, bwt chiefly because he grrusped 1:!his complex of questions sensibly and soientificahly, KiTsch!baum, since the end of World War II, prepared and pu.fbliished numemus d.Jisserta;tions and studies which aiim to prove to the wor+ld that Sfova:ks have t!heir own modern poilitica,l con- 34 SLOVAKIA ceiption amJd also people who display an animruted an:d interest ~111 the problem of a fedel'a!lirzed ffiurolpe. 'Siimill'a dy, other SIJ.avak ipoliltical wOII1kers, publ!idats and wriiters, tea/Che.rs a!Ild iinltellootuals are worlmnig for a federation (Dr. Iilin.amJUel Bohm, Dr. Francis Hrusovsky, Reiv. Niicho'las Siprinc, Dr. Joseph Mi!lrus, Dr. JO'Seph Cieker, Tu-. Imrrich KrUIZlia:k, Dr . .A;r.ved Grr-ebert., Louis IVcmdra and many othem). In contemporary trends of Sllorvaik politics the most foscinalting connedt:ling lilnk is the idea of federa,tion. Thruruk. !imig in a pradtiicaJl way, i1t is imipossiible to picture a Slovalk p,oliitician or pol'ilticaJ theorist who seriiously de<~ls wiltih the idea of lar,ge un1its, s'U/Ch as a Cerubrrul-Ewropeam or Eiulropean federation WOllfild be, and wOllNd wish to lead his nation along the path oif inltoierance and of nationally scOIUTg'ed p8JSISions. Therefore, tJhe Slovaks and t!heir politiicrul and oUJlrtural representatives are not ibwillding a diam on the poinlted edge of chaUMiin:iSlm, but adhere to the notion of a futm-·e EUTopean federation. IV U'IllU'Sual ]t is interesting to note that it was chiefly rthe Czech Socialistic pam'ties wlhreh both in Czechia and Siovalkia ooleashed the most saiv-age conflict about the unfilty of the "Czeclhoslavialk" langwa.ge. 'Dhe same parties who diid not forget to pdse even in our country as progressive prurties. in oocoirdlalllCe to Marxislt ideolo.g y. Iif tJhe Slov3/k naltion opposed this the'ir "progress," then it was in a lar,ge meaiswre becaJUJse they ibrOll.lglht confusion inlto the tiundamenitaJ oonceipts of polliitiiJool Iiife, and, in fact, reaction which excludes aiN criticism. Czech socl,rulism has shown ilbself as the pioneer of f,r ustrruted thinking, and if we tiram:sfer i'ts conception to a practlicall field, we see that it has 1,i1dikuled iltself as has no otller move1ment whiibh had anything to do, directly or indirectly, wti.th the SlO!Vak natioo.. For twenty fuM yerurs, Ozecll poliitiios tenaciously held to ''OzoohO'SlovaikiSin" as a sally bridge into S'lov:alkia. Other Ozedh parties ad/Opted thlis slogan from the socirulists. Scientists seized wpon i1t and were fuhlowed by OI.ech journalists. SLOVAKIA 35 And thus, in fact, a period ensued when representatirves of Ozech spirit and prruatioa1 pdliitircs were more enraged in gaining a position for the artificial construdtion of "OzechiQslavaJkism" than a real settlement of relaitionshi1ps among 'the minorilties Indisputably we muist thank their inC'ons!i.derate, one-si'ded and undemocratic pol1'tiicail program fo:r the faot 1:hat Prague centralism found irt:se'lf in ruirrs wilt!h the first thrust. The so-called "Czechoslovaks" have denied the Slovaiks the right to self-existence. The Slo,v ak naltion, nevertheless, persistently fought for the recognition otf this most naturaJl right. And it did so in harmony witlh cmltural Europe, which no one, except the Communhrts labeled as reactionary or backward. In politica! morals, tile stirug,gle for the recognition of the suptreme riig1hlts of a nation signifies, in ,t he .p ositive sense d:f the ward, the most noble expression of progressiveness. The Slovaks, therefore, a.ire ahead of the Ozetdhs in thlis re~ard by t!hirtty years. Many exipeniments were .necessary to reform. the "Czechoslovruks" rut least prurtliail'1.y. There had to be a war - for tfrlem new exiperieniceis both on the domestic and fureig.n fronts. Once moce they had ,t o ascertain the mmd of the S'lO,VM{ nation, to scrutinize the trends of European and nonIDuropean politilc's, so that rome of them ta:o'tica.1.[,y, others per1haps sincerely, woulld rubandon the ruinous policy of •~czeichosllO'V'alkifum." After WoI"ld War H, less was said albout "OzeclhO's:lovaJk" unity and, partliculrurly, about a united lan.guiage. It mu'Slt be mentioned again, tha.'t :the most Ulillprog.ressirve of all in this regarrtl were the ~etch Socialists. The otfrler Czech polrnicians and theiT Slovak a.Hies rewgn.ized the right of the Sfovruk nation to its own existence . But at that time the Slovaks were more advanced. They had gone through the hist.orically rich segment of their own state. ft is certain that there is a greait deaft of difference between "Oze1ehosi1ova'k" comprehension - it stilil is bound Uip with a joint state aind the standipdinrt: of t!he Slovaks. To get ruhead by means oif a steady for-warn effort and in aiM farms - to find what benefi't!s best t!he 11:fe am.d development of the nation - the SlovaJks provoo that they rure marehing 36 SLOVAKIA in 1:Jhe spirit of the ,t imes and, as an independenlt ,and competitiive ,_po1fficai unit, seek to persevere aloll!gside the most cmltwred European naltions. Toda,y, ffiurope ,is ffillllch frul"bher a'long t'he way than the "0zec'ho,SilovaJks." Theorelti.cafily and practica'lliy it i,s prepa,r ed for a federation of ai1l nations. The so-caUed "Czecihoslova'k1s " are ait tJhe crossroa;dis. Some a~ere to the form of the fiirt;t Ozecho-!SlovaJk Repuiblic, while others rure silent and say nolt!hlil!g a!boult a forurtlh or fitfth Czecho-Slova.!k Repulblic for whiich they would want to fight. StillJ. others ta:l:k obscurely about the possibillity of a federafted Czecho·~SIJ.oivakia. There i's allso a founth 0zech g,r1oop whi'ch does not wish to interfere in Slova!k affaiiI"S and i's f[gh'ting for a CentralEuropean or IDwopean federation in w'hiich it reckons wilth an inde,pendent Czech Ulnit and a separate Sloivaik unilt. On tlhe ort:her hand, conltemporary SIJ.ovak ,p oHtits is following clearly and .ll!nreserveidly whait is best for an inde,pendenrt Sl01Vak State wli:thin the framework of a European federation. Compari.Il!g 1:Jhe effort's of t'he "Czechoslava1ki:;" wi'bh those of the Sl0iv-alks, we see, that even now there is a brusiic dliifrferenice b.e'tween them and that "CzechoSl01Va:k,i sm" wppears in the role of the mo'sit reactionary factor in Central Ewrope. But, willy-nilly, some of its representatiives have come oloser to the tlhinking of the .S1'oivaJk nati:on and ,g radually are rcliinquish~n,g their b1goited and ar,chaii.c views. Hoiweiver, t'here stiifl remains the difference of thirty yerurs. We can, therefore, clearly see from these .s imply-staited realities thaJt llhe sen:se of SlovaJk pol,i rtks tended toward a broader lilirI10ipean and worM society. There its a basic diffeirence whether we get into tJhi,s broader so'o iety of nations throrugh owr OiWll doors, or wihether we shalJ.l be led m'to it throrugh foreign dooirs wiit!h those of others; whether we wm lodk ,pa.ssi.rvely lllpOn the work, or whether we shali talke part in ilt w~tJh joint forces. A IDuropean fed:era/tlion will bring run end to these mistaJkes. We are det:inilteliy decfarin1g for a European associatioo, becruuse, rucicording to moral,s , ciulltll!re and p<Ylitical ma!tuirity, we rightfully beloD!g in 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 The Practical Aspect of a Federation Description An account of the resource Joseph Pauco, Ph. D. Slovakia, Vol. 3, No. 2 (7), July 1953 pp. 26-36 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Paučo, Jozef, 1914-1975 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource July 1953 SNK https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/276651af8e54a7db0a911f26f960cb00.pdf 9c03d1d299698b8baccc6bb0fb35cc54 PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA 49 . ' The Protestant Reformation and Slovak Ethnic Consciousness DAVID P . DANIEL The Pennsylvania State University - Erie For many of the descendants of Slovak immigrants to the United States , the history of the Reformation in Slovakia and its impact upon the emergence of an ethnic self-consciousness among these people is an unknown aspect of their Slovak heritage. This is not surprising for the cultural significance of the Reformation for the Slovaks has not been examined extensively in western histories of the Reformation Era of East Central Europe, Czechoslovakia, Hungary , or of the Slovak people . (1) Czech historians usually do little more than assert that the Reformation fostered or reinforced, especially by the continuing use of the Kralice Bible by Slovak Lutherans, the cultural and linguistic ties between the Czechs and the Slovaks . Hungarian scholars , on the other hand, seldom differentiate between the Reformation in Slovakia and its course the remaining counties of Hungary. Even many Slovak scholars, especially those of the Catholic tradition , quickly pass over the Reformation Era and its significance for the Slovaks. At the same time, a growing number of European and American scholars has recognized that the Reformation was one of the major milestones in the development of Slovak ethnic self-consciousness.(2) In their attempts to unravel the complexities of Slovak history, they have sought to explain why, during the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries , many of the leaders of the Slovak national revival were products of the Lutheran tradition in Slovakia. Unfortunately , few of their findings have found their way into the literature available to the English-reading public. Moreover , most of these studies have focused primarily upon the language and literature of the Slovaks and have not considered to any great extent the non-literary aspects of ethnicity and ethnic self-consciousness. Certainly the study of ethnicity and of cultural history does require an extensive examination of the language and literature of a particular people . Literature, in the broadest sense of that word, encapsulates the language , manners , mores, and other peculiarities of the culture of any people. On the other hand, it must also be recognized that a people 's •in �50 SLOVAKIA awareness of its own particular identity vis-a-vis other groups does not arise solely from the fact that it employs a distinct language. A common history, a sense of common destiny, and access to institutions, however primitive they might be, wherein a people can give expression to their own conceptions of themselves and determine their own future, are also necessary for the development and preservation of an ethnic selfconsciousness . In this light, the Reformation of the sixteenth century must be considered as one of the major forces contributing to the emergence of an ethnic, though not a political, self-consciousness among the Slovaks. SOME GENERAL FEATURES OF THE REFORMATION IN SLOVAKIA Before turning to the question of how the Reformation contributed to the growth of Slovak ethnic self-consciousness, it might be helpful to review , at least in some general outlines, the major features of the Reformation in Slovakia.(3) As elsewhere in Europe, the Reformation in Slovakia was rooted in long lasting conflicts within Hungary. The extra-imperial nature of the Sacred Crown of Hungary, the ardent nationalism of the Magyars , the conflict between the Habsburgs and the Zapolyas for the throne of Hungary, the multiplicity of ethnic groups with their inter-ethnic rivalries, the proximity of the Turks, and the complex political relationships between the various segments of the population and between all of them and the kings of Hungary created a chaotic situation within Hungary which enabled the Reformation to spread quickly throughout East Central Europe in general and Slovakia in particular. This political and social situation was exacerbated, at the beginning of the sixteenth century, by the failure of the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church to remedy some ma'{_1ifold abuses which were abhorrent to many. Simony, pluralism, absenteeism, feuds among the hierarchs, incessant demands for funds ; paris.hes and- even bishoprics remaining vacant for years or suffering under incompetent or miserably trained curates - all were being criticized with increasing regularity by both clergy and laymen. Since the hierarchy failed to act to cleanse the Church of the most egregious abuses in practice and theology or to stem the tide of moral laxity, many secular leaders and clerics in Slovakia early heeded Luther' s call for the reform of the life of the Church. Luther's teachings spread quickly into all regions of Slovakia but especially into the cities of central and eastern Slovakia which were �SLOVAKIA 51 predominantly German in population. Town after town, noble after noble, went over to the standard of reform. It would be erroneous to assume, as many have, that the laymen and clerics who supported the Reformation did so only out of base economic motives. and a desire for self-aggrandizement. While there were some who were notv eluctant to expropriate the endowments of the Church to enrich themselves , and this included some who remained Catholics , the bulk of the evidence which is available indicates that a great number of magistrates and magnates were conscientiously and legitimately concerned with the quality of pastoral service being provided to them and to those dependent upon them. They were seeking to purify the Church of its most egregious abuses and staunchly defended their rights to encourage the free preaching of the Gospel in their territories and to oversee the collection and distribution of funds for the charitable activities of the Church. These individuals frequently aided the evangelical cause with both money and political support. Many laymen made substantial grants to enable students and pastors from Slovakia to study Lutheran theology abroad or to establish local academies , staffed by reformist rectors and teachers, in the cities and throughout the countryside of Slovakia. This active supervision of the local congregations by the nobles and city councils was possible not only because of the impotency of the hierarchy after 1526 but also because of the provisions of the charters of privileges to the cities and of the patents of nobility which granted to these laymen substantial rights and prerogatives in the supervision of the churches and their resources . (4) So it was that the Lutheran Reformation spread quickly into and throughout Slovakia. Merchants traveling to Germany returned with copies of Luther's writings after 1518 while, beginning in 1522 with the matriculation of George Baumhenckel from Banska Bystrica , an ever increasing stream of students left Slovakia to study at the University of Wittenberg.(5) By 1525 reformist doctrines were known and accepted in Banska Bystrica, Bardejov , Levoca, and in many of the smaller towns and villages of Slovakia. Despite attempts to limit the spread of Lutheranism by the passage of anti-heretic laws by the Hungarian Diets of 1523 and 1525 , the Reformation continued to spread. The defeat of the Hungarian forces by the Turks at Mohacs in 1526, which resulted in the death of King Lous II, the Cardinal Primate of Hungary, several bishops and high nobles , and scores of parish priests and lower nobles, led to a prolonged struggle over the throne of Hungary between Ferdinand I and John Zapolya , the latter supporter by the lesser Magyar nobles . This accentuated the difficulties within Hungary as a �52 SLOVAKIA whole and made it possible for the Reformation to spread throughout Slovakia without meeting any really effective resistance . (6) Because of this leadership vacuum in both Church and State during the early years of the Reformation, the Lutheran movement in Slovakia achieved its successes with a minimum of conflict, a development which is quite remarkable in comparison to what transpired in the rest of Europe during the first half of the sixteenth century. The Lutheran leaders were able to work within and utilize the structures and institutions of the Catholic Church as they moved to fill the vacuum in ecclesiastical leadership at the local and regional levels. Lutheran pastors were called as preachers to serve the congregations in the cities and the countryside and gradually became a majority within the various seniorats or pastoral conferences . By the middle of the sixteenth century, most of the seniorats in Slovakia were comprised of and headed by Lutherans. It is also interesting to note that the particular lization and factionalization which characterized the northern and western European Reformation by 1520 did not emerge in Slovakia until the middle of the century, after the evangelical reform movement was well established. After 1550, however, the Roman Catholic hierarchy began to recover its strength and, especially after the Council of Trent, inaugurated measures designed to regain that which had been lost through weakness and neglect. Aided by Emperor Ferdinand I, the Roman Catholic hierarchy began to apply against the Lutherans the laws of the Diet of 1548 proscribing Anabaptist and Sacramentarian theologies . Seeking to differentiate between their views and those of the other reformist groups in Hungary and to identify themselves clearly with the Augsburg Confession, which had originally been accepted by Emperor Charles V in 1530 and subsequently recognized by Ferdinand and by the Peace of Augsburg of 1555, the Lutherans of Slovakia began to define their faith and dociifine more precisely. Within a period of 21 years, the Lutherans of Slov~ia adopted three major regional confessions of faith, all of them based primarily upon the Augsburg Confession and its Apology and the writings of Philip Melanchthon . In 1548 the five royal free cities of eastern Slovakia, Bardejov , Levoca, Presov, Kosice, and Sabinov, united in accepting the Confessio Pentapolitana prepared by Leonard Stoeckel, Rector of the so-called "Humanist" school in Bardejov. Ten years later, the seven mining cities of central Slovakia, Banska Bystrica, Banska Stiavnica, Kremnica, Nova Bana, Pukanec, tubietova, and Banska Bela, accepted the Confessio Montana prepared by Ulrich Cubicularius. In 1569, the towns of Spis county followed the lead of the larger cities and accepted �SLOVAKIA 53 the Confessio Scepusia~a written by Cyriak Koch and Valentin Megander.(7) ' , The supporters of Helvetic theologies did not remain idle, for they too adopted several confessions of faith which defined their doctrine more precisely. As a result, by 1575 the reformation movements in Hungary had divided into separate and distinct groups. Despite a few exceptions , for there were a few Calvinist Slovaks and Lutheran Magyars, the Magyar protestants were adherents to Helvetic Reformed theology while the vast majority of Slovaks and Germans adhered to the faith expressed in their own and the Augsburg confessions. The confessionalism which established the hegemony of Lutheranism in Slovakia and the denominationalization of the Reformation by 1575 did not, however, bring to an end the theological problems of, or controversies among, the Lutherans , and between the Lutherans and the Reformed. After 1580 , the doctrines of the Real Presence of the body and blood of Christ in the Lord' s Supper and the Communication of Attributes, that is that the attributes of Christ's divine nature were communicated to his human nature , continued to plague the Lutherans in Slovakia.(8) From the Synod of Kremnica in 1580 until the synods of Zilina (1610) and Spisske Podhradie (1614) , the Lutherans of Slovakia debated these theological points in connection with the question of whether or not they should accept the Formula of Concord (1577) , as contained in the Book of Concord (1580) , as normative for their own theology. Since the Lutherans of Slovakia had consistently defended their right to practice the Lutheran faith by citing its recognition in Germany by the Hungarian kings as emperors , many were reluctant to accept the Formula and Book of Concord as their doctrinal norm . They felt that they could be charged with having accepted a new , nonrecognized confession of faith. They preferred, therefore , to stand by their own confession of faith. There were also some who were reluctant to accept the Formula of Concord because they suspected that it was intended to displace the writings of Philip Melanchthon who had taught and befriended many of the clergy of Slovakia while they were studying at the University of Wittenberg . Many of these individuals tended to question the precise definitions and formulations of the doctrines of the Eucharist and the Communication of Attributes contained in the Formula and most of these individuals were of German ancestry. The defenders of Lutheran orthodoxy as defined by the Formula, therefore , attacked these moderates as Cryptocalvinists. Among the leading spokesmen for Lutheran orthodoxy were the Slovaks Elias Lani and Severinus Scultety who, together with the �54 SLOVAKIA nobleman Gregor Horvath Stancic de Hradecz and the German Albert Grawer , urged the acceptance of the Book of Concord at the colloquies held in Csepreg (1591) and in Kezmarok (1595-1596), and at many of the synods held regularly by the various regional pastoral conferences throughout eastern Slovakia. (9) The debate over the acceptance of the Book of Concord might have been even more prolonged had not the political situation changed drastically. In 1592 the truce between the Habsburgs and the Turks was shattered and the Fifteen Years' War ensued. During the course of this struggle, the Catholic hierarchy tried to confiscate the churches of the Lutherans in several cities in Slovakia while, in 1604, Matthias II attempted to extend royal authority by repudiating the rights of the nobles and the cities to discuss matters pertaining to religion in the Diet of Hungary. As in the first days of the Reformation, the lay leaders came to the aid of the Protestant groups. The Reformed magnate, Stephen Bocskay of Transylvania, took up arms against the Habsburgs and, after gaining control of royal Hungary (Slovakia), forced Matthias to repudiate as unconstitutional the decree of 1604 and to accept the Peace of Vienna of 1606 which established the right of the Lutherans and Calvinists to exist in Hungary much as the Peace of Augsburg of 1555 had sanctioned Lutheranism in the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation.(10) The terms of the Peace of Vienna were further refined and defined by the decisions of the Diet of 1608 which not only clearly sanctioned the right of the Lutherans and Calvinists to practice their own faith but also to establish their own independent ecclesiastical institutions . Under the sponsorship of the Palatine (Chancellor) of Hungary, the Lutheran magnate George Thurzo, representatives of the Lutherans in the counties of western Slovakia met in Zilina on March 27-30, 1610 and created three superintendencies to administer the Lutheran congregations .(11) The Synod also established the rules governing the administrative and other activities of the superintendents and accepted the Formula of Concord and the Book of Concord as the norm and guide for Lutheran doctrine. Already accepted py the Lutherans in Gerner county in 1604, and in Turiec county in 1608 ~t the Synod of Turciansky Sviity Martin,(12) the Book of Concord was also accepted by the eastern cities of Spis and Saris counties in January of 1614 at the Synod of Spisske Podhradie. (13) It is important to note that the organizations established by the synods of Zilina and Spisske Podhradie, as well as those of the other regions of Slovakia which had been or would be confirmed by the Palatine, resulted in a diminution of lay influence in the ecclesiastical �SLOVAKIA 55 organizations in favor of clerical authority and administration. This development was _contracy to trends elsewhere in Europe . To be sure, the local congregations s\ill had lay patrons or defenders but the superintendencies and districts were independent of direct lay supervision. This centralization of the regional administration of the Lutheran churches in the hands of the clergy while, at the same time, the superintendencies remained independent of each other, both helped and hindered the maintenance of Lutheranism in Slovakia during the Counter-Reformation of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries . The lack of a single administrative unit for all the Lutherans in Slovakia made it difficult for them to resist effectively the combined forces of the Roman Catholic Church and the Habsburgs. On the other hand, since the leadership of the Lutheran movement was primarily in the hands of the clergy, it was able to survive the strong pressures exerted upon it by the state and the noble families who returned to the Catholic Church. Despite the vicissitudes of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth century, the Lutherans continued to maintain their faith and practices despite greatly reduced numbers and stringent restrictions. Although Slovak Lutherans became and have remained a minority within the Slovak people, the Reformation remained indelibly etched upon the consciousness of the Slovaks. As F. G. Heymann noted: Among the Slovak gentry and intellegentsia, Lutheranism maintained a foothold, and its adherents remained one of the most active, culturally productive and nationally conscious elements of the Slovak people in the period down to the late eighteenth century .(14) Indeed, many of the leaders of the national revival of the late eighteenth and the nineteenth centuries in Slovakia, as well as in Bohemia and Hungary, were raised in Lutheran homes and parsonages and were imbued with the evangelical heritage. Jan Kollar, I.:udovit Stur, Jozef Hurban, Michal Miloslav Hodza, Karol Kuzmany , and many others, were either Lutheran clergymen or teachers, or the sons of Lutheran pastors and teachers.(15) What explains this tenacity of the Lutheran tradition in Slovakia and its impact upon the development of Slovak ethnic selfconsciousness? In what way did the Lutheran Reformation aid in the development of the ethnic awareness of the Slovaks? Although many explanations can be proferred, it appears that the Reformation contributed to the growth of a Slovak ethnic self-awareness and a Slovak �56 SLOVAKIA culture in at least three ways. The Reformation provided an opportunity for Slovaks to assume leadership roles in the Lutheran Church in Slovakia as administrators and theologians. The Lutheran movement established evangelical schools throughout Slovakia which provided Slovaks with an opportunity to obtain more than a rudimentary education. Finally, the liturgical, devotional, and theological works produced by Slovak Lutherans enabled them to maintain their peculiar identity vis-a-vis both the Magyars and the Germans. SLOVAKS AS LEADERS OF LUTHERANISM IN SLOVAKIA During the early years of the Reformation in Slovakia, the first to adhere to the teachings of Luther were the Germans of the cities of central and eastern Slovakia. The Slovaks were drawn to Lutheranism slowly but steadily, following the lead of the German population and of the magnates and nobles. However, by the last third of the sixteenth century, Slovaks had become the majority in the Lutheran movement and Slovak clerics began to emerge as leaders in the administration of the Lutheran congregations and seniorats and as influential theologians. It was during the theological controversies over the acceptance of the Formula and Book of Concord that Slovak clergy emerged as the defenders of Lutheran orthodoxy in Slovakia. Elias Lani, Severin Skultety and the nobleman Gregor Horvath Stancic were unswerving in their advocacy of the Book of Concord at the synods and colloquies held during the last decade of the sixteenth century. It is interesting to note that the Book of Concord was accepted first in those seniorats and districts in which Slovaks were in the majority while the cities of the central montana district and of Spis and Saris counties where German clergy were in the majority, the Book of Concord was accepted only after the synods of Zilina and Spisske Podhradie, and even then, only at the urging of the Thurzos and with some reluctance . While the reasons for the Slovak acceptance of Lutheran orthodoxy are still difficult to determine with any certainty, there is evidence that one of the reasons was the influence of the Lutheran school at Straza, supported by Stancic, and others like it in Slovakia. Althq_ugh many Slovaks went to Wittenberg, there were others who received 'their theological education in Slovakia and Strafa was the foremost school among those providing instruction in theology in Slovakia. Stancic, the patron of the school, was no mere theological dilettante but a capable lay theologian cognizant of theological developments at home and in Germany and �SLOVAKIA 57 Switzerland.(16) His support for the Book of Concord and Lutheran orthodoxy permeated his shortlived school whose most illustrious graduate and teacher was Elias Lani.(17) Lani was on~ of th~ most persuasive and forceful leaders of Lutheranism in Slovakia dµring the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries and must be considered one of the leading organizers and theologians of the Lutheran movement in Slovakia. While still in eastern Slovakia during the 1590s, Lani participated in the colloquies held at Csepreg and Kezmarok and, during the disputes with Sebastian Ambrosius or Lam and other Cryptocalvinists over adiaphora or nonessential theological matters, such as the use of pictures in churches, Lani wrote several defenses of the orthodox Lutheran position upholding Christian liberty.(18) He subsequently moved to Mosovce where, in 1598, he was elected Senior of the pastoral conferences in Turiec county and there gained the acceptance of the Formula of Concord and of rules governing the life of the clergy of the conference. Shortly after the Synod of Turciansky Svaty Martin of March 1608 he was called to serve as the Pastor at Vel'ka Bytca, the residence of George Thurzo and there served the Palatine as pastor and advisor. Elected Senior of the Upper Trencin Seniorat in January 1609 he was instrumental in assisting Thurzo in organizing the Synod of Zilina and his influence can be clearly seen in the deliberations and decisions of the Synod.(19) While Lani, who died in 1618, was the most notable of the Slovak theologians of the Reformation Era, he was certainly not the only Slovak to attain a position of leadership within the Church. Severin Skultety was a lector in Bardejov, a teacher at Presov, and the Senior of the five royal free cities of eastern Slovakia from 1593 until his death in 1600. He , too, was an associate of Stancic and a supporter of the Book of Concord. He began a history of the Lutheran movement in Slovakia and, along with other original works, published in Bardejov in 1581 a translation into Slovak of Luther's Small Catechism. (20) Other theologians of significance include Jan Pruno, who published a SlovakLatin edition of the Small Catechism in Hlohovec c. 1585, and also Leonard Mokosin, Senior in Liptov, who authored an epic poem based upon the books of the Old Testament. Slovaks, such as Daniel Pribis, Stefan Pilarik , and Jakub Jakubei, the intellectual presager of Jan Kollar, continued to make important contributions to the theological development of the Lutheran movement in Slovakia during the seventeenth century. Although most of the works of these theologians were written in Latin and were heavily influenced by the Lutheran theologians of Germany, it must be recognized that the theological �58 SLOVAKIA activity of Slovaks enabled Lutheranism in Slovakia to become more than merely a German religion. Slovaks were also active in the administration of the Lutheran Church in Slovakia, especially in the counties of western Slovakia. At the Synod of Zilina, the three superintendents elected by the nobles, clergy, and representatives of some of the towns, were the Slovaks Lani, Samuel Melikus, and Isaak Abrahamides Hrochotius or Hrochotsky, to whom the two German and the Magyar inspectors were responsible.(21) They were followed by a long line of Slovak superintendents who administered the various districts or superintendencies of the Lutherans in Slovakia. Of the seven major superintendencies, Germans predominated only in the one for the mining cities of central Slovakia and in the two in Spis and Saris counties for the five royal free cities and for the 24 Spis cities. The rest were largely Slovak and normally headed by Slovak superintendents. The Slovak influence in the administration of the Lutheran Church can be even more clearly appreciated when it is recognized that the majority of the some 800-900 Lutheran congregations in Slovakia were composed of Slovaks and had pastors of the same background. Even in the towns where the German population predominated, Slovaks had their own congregations and pastors who ministered to their specific needs, preaching to and teaching the members of these congregations in their own language. By preaching and teaching in the vernacular, the Slovak Lutheran clergymen perpetuated the use of Slovak and fostered the awareness of the Slovaks as a particular and distinct ethnic group within the Hungarian kingdom. As theologians and administrators the Slovak clergy guided and enriched the life of Slovak Lutherans and afforded them an opportunity to express their own faith in a language comprehensible to them. At the same time, the availability of positions as clerics in the Lutheran church made it possible for Slovak individuals to achieve positions of prominence and leadership in their communities and aided in the creation of a Slovak intelligentsia. \ LUTHERANISM, EDUCATION, AND SLOVAK ETHNICITY Among the institutions which helped to spread the Lutheran Reformation throughout Slovakia and which, during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, perpetuated its heritage, the evangelical schools of Slovakia were especially important. Lutherans throughout �SLOVAKIA 59 Europe emphasized popular education, and evangelical schools were established and supported by Lutheran communities. According to Johann Rezik, there were four types of schools which emerged in Slovakia during the Reformation Era: the Scholae Magnatum et Nob ilium; the Scholae Civitatenses; the Scholae Oppidane ; and the Scholae Pagenses ~(22) Th~se city, town and village schools, supported by the local authorities or by nobles, did not differ so much in their curricula as in the scope of their programs, the character of their patrons, and in the size and composition of their student bodies . The most important were the city Latin schools, especially those of the larger free cities, which were often endowed by a magnate in addition to receiving regular financial support from the magistrates of the cities.(23) Under lay control, but usually directed by a rector who had received some theological training, the municipal Latin schools became the centers of reformist teaching and continued the humanist pedagogical tradition in Slovakia. Although many would close because of financial difficulties or were taken over by Roman Catholics during the turmoil of the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, the schools of Slovakia attained a great repute throughout Hungary and were recognized for their academic excellence in both the German states and in Poland. The most significant of the early evangelical schools were located in Kezmarok, Presov, Banska Bystrica, Levoca, and Bardejov.(24) Under the rectorate of Leonard Stoeckel (d. 1560) a protege and friend of Melanchthon, Bardejov was considered the premier educational institution in Slovakia and attracted the sons of magnates and nobles as well as of the citizens of the cities. Stoeckel prepared the Leges Scholae Bartphensis in 1540 which combined the classic humanist pedagogical concerns with Lutheran theology .(25) Borrowing heavily but not slavishly from the German humanists, such as John Agricola, Herman Talechi and Philip Melanchthon, Stoeckel constructed a curriculum which emphasized the study of Latin, the classical authors, and the Lutheran faith . Latin was the medium of instruction and each day began with readings from the Scriptures while regular attendance at church services was also required. The students also put on plays, with heavy doctrinal content, for the community and, under the direction of a cantor, sang at regular and special services in the town church. Although other school orders, such as those for Banska Bystrica and Banska Stiavnica by Michael Pechov, and variations on Abraham Schremmel's ordinances for the Strasbourg schools were also used in Slovakia, the Leges of Stoeckel was the most influential. (26) His �60 SLOVAKIA teaching of the doctrines of the Augsburg Confession through the humanist methodology became standard in the evangelical schools of Slovakia. Not only were the instructors Lutheran, but the materials used for instruction also had a Lutheran perspective, for among the textbooks used were the Scriptures, Luther's Small Catechism, Melanchthon's Examen Theologicum, Loci Communes, Rhetorica, Dialectica, and his Entymoligia.(27) It should also be noted that although most of the academic materials and instruction were in Latin, during the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries some scholarly works in Slovak began to appear ; indeed, most of the works published in Slovak during the sixteenth century, even of a non-theological nature, were published by evangelicals who maintained numerous presses throughout Slovakia. While the curricula of these schools were not intended to meet the particular needs of Slovaks , but were to provide all students with a sound basic humanist education in preparation for further study at the major universities of Europe, especially Wittenberg, the schools did admit students of Slovak birth. In fact there were schools, such as those at Zilina, Turciansky Svaty Martin, Mosovce, Trencin, and Straza where the majority of students were Slovak.(28) The school at Straza became a center for the study of Lutheran theology for those Slovaks who were unable to go abroad to complete their education. All of these schools provided Slovaks with an opportunity to acquire more than just a rudimentary education and prepared them to assume positions of leadership and responsibility in Slovakia. The Slovak intelligentsia of the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, as were their counterparts during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, were greatly influenced by intellectual developments in Germany and they not only participated in the broader intellectual movements of Europe but adapted them to meet their own particular needs and the situation within Slovakia. The writings of Slovak Lutheran intellectuals and the curricula of the Lutheran schools of Slovakia helped to foster a greater appreciation of the heritage and culture of the Slovak people and it is not surprising that many of the leaders of the Slovak national revival were educated in the Lutheran tradition in the evangelical schools of Sloyakia. \ LUTHERANISM AND THE EMERGENCE OF SLOVAK LITERATURE During the early stages of the Reformation in Slovakia there were no works published in Slovak. The clergy of Slovak ancestry, educated �SLOVAKIA 61 in the Latin schools, could read for themselves the works published in Latin and German and were usually content to utilize Latin, the lingua franca of the sixteenth · century, to express publicly their own theological views. But, as '\ more and more Slovaks adhered to the Lutheran faith with its emph~sis upon vernacular worship, the need for devotional and liturgical works in Slovak became increasingly obvious. Already in 1546 the first work published in Slovak, a devotional book by Vasek z Zalesin, was printed in Wittenberg while the first book in Slovak published in Slovakia was Scultety' s translation of the Small Catechism of Luther. (29) Of more immediate significance for the spread of Lutheranism among the Slovaks was the development of Slovak liturgies and hymnody. During the early years of the Reformation this need was met by borrowing materials produced by Czech Utraquists and the Unitas Fratrum, which could be used by Slovaks without any great difficulty, and by translations into Slovak of hymns by Luther and other reformers and of German orders of worship , especially the Wittenberg Order of 1533.(30) By 1560 there were reports of Lutheran services being held in Slovak not only in the almost completely Slovak areas of Liptov county and along the Vah but also in the mining cities of central Slovakia.(31) In 1580 the Synod of Trencin approved its own church order, the Canones rituum sacrorum Trenchini, which established in 27 articles the rules governing the liturgical life of the Lutherans in the region along the Vah river.(32) The use of Slovak in worship was also encouraged by the appearance of the Bohemian Agenda of 1581. This agenda was used as a guide in the preparation of the Bystrica Agenda, in manuscript form, in 1585. Revised in 1595 and again in 1608, the Bystrica Agenda was approved in 1613 by the Lutheran superintendents of western Slovakia who, following the directions of the Synod of Zilina, were to establish a standard for the liturgical practices of the Slovak congregations under their jurisdiction. (33) But these agendas and church orders, which aided in the standardization of liturgical language and practice among the Lutheran congregations of Slovakia, could not meet all of the worship and devotional needs of the Slovak population since literary Slovak had not yet been codified . These needs were met by the appearance of a new Czech translation of the Bible and by the compilation of an hymnbook by George Tranovsky. These works provided the Slovaks with a vernacular devotional literature in kralicina Czech which was adopted and adapted for use as the literary language of the Slovak Lutherans until the 19th century. �62 SLOVAKIA Since the Germans of Slovakia generally utilized the Bible translation of Luther it was the Slovaks who most acutely felt the need for a vernacular Bible. Early in the Reformation Era they relied on the old Slavic version of Sts. Cyril and Methodius or on the Venetian or Nuremberg Czech translations which had found their way into Slovakia.(34) However, the Kralice Bible translation proved to be the most acceptable of the Czech translations and became the standard one used by the Slovak Lutherans, remaining in general use even into the twentieth century. The Kralice Bible, published in six volumes from 1579-1593, was the work of a translation committee under the chairmanship of a Moravian Bishop of the Unitas Fratrum. John Zerotin of Moravia opened his castle to them and helped to underwrite the expenses involved in the printing of the translation.(35) George Thurzo, a close friend of Zerotin, obtained copies of the work and encouraged its use by the Slovak Lutherans in his lands who did appropriate it for both public and private devotions.(36) Throughout Hungary and Slovakia meanwhile, the use of hymns sung by the congregation had become quite common early in the Reformation. The earliest hymns used by the Slovaks were translations of the Psalms or of the medieval "gradual" or "sequence" hymns and were usually prepared in manuscript form.(37) Many of Luther's hymns and those of his co-workers were translated while Czech evangelical or Hussite hymns were borrowed intact or rephrased. Among the early Slovak hymn writers were George Banovsky, Jan Pruno, Elias Lani, and Daniel Pribis. Pribis, for example , supplemented his Catechism of 1634 with a collection of 113 hymns in Slovak which included seven of his own and eight by Lani.(38) The most noted writer and compiler of hymns for the Slovak Lutherans was Tranovsky. Born in 1591 in Tesin (eastern Silesia) , Tranovsky was brought up in the Lutheran faith and in April 1607 entered the University of Wittenberg. After a short stay in Prague he traveled to eastern Moravia but , after the outbreak of the Thirty Years ' War in 1618 Tranovsky was forced to flee to Slovakia where, on May 29, 1637, he died while serving as the pastor of the Slovak Lutheran congregation at Liptovsky Svaty Mikulas.(39) His Cithara Sanctorum, or Harp of the Saints , was a devotional aitd liturgical guide for individuals as well as a hymnbook for congregations ; Seven hundred pages long, the first edition of the work was -divided into four major sections , each containing hymns for the various seasons , festivals , and services of the ecclesiastical year, along with a section of hymns on specific doctrines arranged according to the structure of the Small Catechism of Luther. The hymnal proper was followed by a series of �SLOVAKIA 63 \ indices , a collection of prayers , and an indication of the preferred liturgy to be used. No other book , except for the Kralice Bible, had such a great significance for the Slovak Lutherans. It can be said that the Cithara Sanctorum , or " Tranoscius " as it became popularly known , was the Slovak expression , in song and verse , of the spirit and content of the Lutheran Reformation and became the focus of Slovak Lutheran devotional life . Both Jan Kollar and P. J . Safarik emphasized the cultural significance of the "Tranoscius" and openly acknowledged their own indebtedness to Tranovsky.(40) But if the Kralice Bible and the ''Tranoscius '' were the epitome of Slovak Lutheran devotional and cultural expressions they were not the only influences upon the development of Slovak literature. Slovak postilla or sermon collections were also produced late in the sixteenth century while Nikodem Sartorius of Zvolen prepared the first Slovak commentary on the Bible.(41) Prayer books and religious poetry collections also became very popular. While it would certainly be an overstatement to claim that the heritage of Reformation Lutheranism was the only or even the most notable influence upon the development of a Slovak ethnic selfconsciousness , it would be equally erroneous not to recognize that the Reformation and the Lutheran heritage did help to foster such a selfconsciousness . As for other peoples elsewhere in Europe, the Lutheran Reformation accentuated the linguistic and ethnic peculiarities of the Slovaks and , as the Slovak Lutherans continued to practice their faith and worship in their own langauge and to guide the fortunes of their own church, they kept alive, in their religious life and experiences, their own ethno-linguistic individuality and identity. It is not surprising then, that from the Lutheran tradition came many of those leaders of the national revival who, while they examined and treasured their past, also sought to mold the destiny of their people and to make them into a modern nation. FOOTNOTES David P . Daniel , The Historiograp hy of the R eformation in Slo vakia (St . Louis, Mo.: 1977), 4. (1) (2) The most significant recent work on the history of the Slovaks and their ethnic selfconsciousness is the three volume study of Ludwig von Gogolak, B eitriige zur Geschichte des slowak ischen Volk es (Munich : 1963-1972 ). Volume I, Die N ationswerdung de r Slowaken und die Anfiinge der tschechoslowakischen Frag e, 1526-1790 is an exce llent examination of the relationship of the Reformation to Slovak ethnicity. An earlier study of importance is T. J . G. Locher, Die nationale Differe nzierung und �64 SLOVAKIA lntegrierung der Slowaken und Tschechen in ihrem geschichtlichen Verlauf bis 1848 (Haarlem: 1931) . (3) For a more detailed survey of the Reformation Era in Slovakia in English see David P. Daniel , "Highlights of the Lutheran Reformation in Slovakia," Concordia Theological Quarterly 42 :1 (1978), 21-34. (4) Gustav Hammann, " Magister Nicolaus von Sabinov : Ein Beitrag uber den Humanismus und die fruehe Reformation in der Slowakei," Zeitschrift fu er Ostforschung 16 (1967), 25-40 . (5) Johann Borbis, Die euangelisch-lutherische Kirche Ungarns (Noerdlingen: 1864), 29-30; J . P. Tomasik, Andenken an die 300-jahrige Jubelfeier der euangelischen Gemeine in der k. Freistadt Leutschau (Leutschau : 1844) , 17-18. (6)Branislav Varsik, "K pociatkom Reformacie na Slovensku ," Historica Slouaca I/II (1940-41), 304-335. (7) Viktor Bruckner (ed .), Gedenkbuch anlasslich der 400-jahrigen Jahreswende der Confessio Augustana (Leipzig : 1930) , 3-67 . (8) Daniel , "Highlights," 29-30. (9) Jan Kvacala , Dejiny Reformacie na Slo ue nsku (Lipt . Sv. Mikulas: 1935), 131-136. Kvacala's book is the standard history of the Slovak Reformation in Slovak. For other works on the Reformation in Slovakia see Jarold K. Zeman , The Hussite Movement and the Reformation in Bohemia, Moravia and Slovakia (1350-1650) (Ann Arbor: 1977), and also Daniel, The Historiography of the Reformation in Slovakia. (10) An excellent study of the circumstances surrounding Bocskay 's Rebellion and the Peace of Vienna is Geza Lencz, Der Au/stand Bocskays und der Wiener Friede. Eine kirchenhistorische Studie (Debreczen: 1917) . (11) Borbis , 124-126 ; Kvacala , 147-148. (12) Kvacala, 132; Otto Skrovina, Z historie turc':ianskeho euanj. se niorcitu ajeho sborou (Tore . Sv. Martin : 1929), 9-10 . (13) For the acts of the Synod of Zilina and of Spisske Podhradie see Johannes Szeberinyi, Corpus maxime memorabilium synodorum euangelicarum Augustanae Confessionis in Hungaria cum praefatione Historica in Singulas (Pesthini: 1848) , 1542 . (14) Frederick G. Heymann, Poland and Czechoslovakia (Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: 1966) , 63. (15) See Thomas Capek, The Slovaks of Hungary. Slavs and Panslauism (New York : 1906) for the earliest study of the Slovaks and the Slovak national revival in English. (16) Stancic translated into Hungarian several works of the noted orthodox Lutheran theologian , Martin Chernnitz . He also wrote an \ account of the colloquy held at Csepreg : Historia Colloquii Chepregiensis, De Coen~ Domini _. . . (Bartphae: 1591) . (17) For an examination of the life of Lani see Jan Mocko, Elicis Lcini, prvy superintendent cirkue euanj. augs. uyzn. u Uhrach ajeho doba (Lipt. Sv . Mikulas: 1902). His theological significance is treated by Jan Kvacala, " El. Lani a vit'azstvo lutherskeho smeru v evanjelickej cirkvi na Slovensku," Viera a ueda I (1930), 153-165 . (18) Elias Lani, Scutum Libertatis Christianae in usu Ceremoniarum nominatim autem imaginum: oppositum Disceptationi D. Thomae Fabricii Tholnensis, Ministri Patakini, de Christianorum imaginibus (Bartphae : 1595); and also Defen sio libertatis �SLOVAKIA 65 Christianae in vsv imaginum Historico, quam pro asserendo scvto svo, adversvs Exarmationem Thomae Fabricij (Bartphae : n.d.). (19) Juraj Janoska, 0 Synode Zilinskej (Lipt. Sv. Mikulas: 1910) and E. A. Doleschall, "Die Silleiner Synode," Jahrbuch der Gesellschaft fuer die Geschichte des Protestantismus in Oesterreic_h 4 (1883), 96-104. (20) Gogolak, I, 43. (21) Borbis, 47 . (22) Kvacala, Dejiny, 101-102. (23) Peter Vajcik, Skolstvo, §tudijne a §kolske poriadky na Slovensku v 16. storoc5i (Bratislava: 1955). 27, 57; Johann Liptak and Roland Steinacker, Deutsche ev. Schulwesen in der Slowakei (Stuttgart: 1957) , 5-15; Johann Liptak, Geschichte des evangelischenLyzeumsA .B . inKiismark (Kiismark: 1933) , 17-18, 26-29. (24) Vajcik, 2-13 . (25) Johann Samuel Klein, Nachrichten von den Lebensumstiinden und Schriften evangelischer Prediger in alien Gemeine des Koenigreichs Ungarn I (Leipzig: 1787), 332-341; E. Szelenyi, " Ev. Pedagoes," in V. Bruckner (Ed.), Gedenkbuch, 439-440. (26) Vajcik, 81 ff. and 109 ff. (27) Ibid . , 110-112; 120-123. See also Janos Breznyik , A Selmecbcinyai cigost. hitv. evang. egyhaz es lyceum tortenete (Selmecbanyan: 1883) , 350-364. (28) Gogolak, I, 45-46. (29) Ibid., 44 . (30) Jan Petrik, Dejiny slovenskych evanjelickych a. v. sluiieb Bozich (Lipt. Sv . Mikulas: 1946) , 54-62, 99-103. (31) Gogolak, I, 46-47. (32) Petrik, 65-91. (33) Ibid., 103-116. (34) Edmund DeSchweinitz, History of the Church Known as the Unitas Fratrum (Bethlehem, Pa.: 1901), 410. (35) Ibid., 423-424; Mirjam Bohatcova, " Bible Kralicka, jeji vznik a vyznam," in Vlasta Fialova, Kralice (Brno: 1959), 51-61. (36) Gogolak, I, 59. (37) Mihaly Bucsay, Geschichte des Protestantismus in Ungarn (Stuttgart: 1959), 66-67 , 76 . (38) Jaroslav Vajda, "A History of the Cithara Sanctorum (Tranoscius) (unpulished B.D. thesis, Concordia Theological Seminary, St. Louis, 1944) , 13 f. (39) For the life and significance of Tranovsky see Jan P . Durovic, Zivotopis Juraja Tranovskeho (Lipt. Sv . Mikulas: 1942) , Jan Mocko, Zivot Jura Tranovskeho (Senice : 1891), and Walter Stoekl, " Georg Tranoscius, der groesste lutherische Liederdichter der Slowakei,' ' in Desider Alexy (ed .), Roland Steinacker: Ein Leben fuer Kirche und Volk : Festschrift zur 90 Geburtstag von R . Steinacker (Stuttgart: 1960) , 54-78 . (40) Gogolak, I, 84 . (41) Ibid . , 61-65. � SLOVAKIA 49 . ' The Protestant Reformation and Slovak Ethnic Consciousness DAVID P . DANIEL The Pennsylvania State University - Erie For many of the descendants of Slovak immigrants to the United States , the history of the Reformation in Slovakia and its impact upon the emergence of an ethnic self-consciousness among these people is an unknown aspect of their Slovak heritage. This is not surprising for the cultural significance of the Reformation for the Slovaks has not been examined extensively in western histories of the Reformation Era of East Central Europe, Czechoslovakia, Hungary , or of the Slovak people . (1) Czech historians usually do little more than assert that the Reformation fostered or reinforced, especially by the continuing use of the Kralice Bible by Slovak Lutherans, the cultural and linguistic ties between the Czechs and the Slovaks . Hungarian scholars , on the other hand, seldom differentiate between the Reformation in Slovakia and its course the remaining counties of Hungary. Even many Slovak scholars, especially those of the Catholic tradition , quickly pass over the Reformation Era and its significance for the Slovaks. At the same time, a growing number of European and American scholars has recognized that the Reformation was one of the major milestones in the development of Slovak ethnic self-consciousness.(2) In their attempts to unravel the complexities of Slovak history, they have sought to explain why, during the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries , many of the leaders of the Slovak national revival were products of the Lutheran tradition in Slovakia. Unfortunately , few of their findings have found their way into the literature available to the English-reading public. Moreover , most of these studies have focused primarily upon the language and literature of the Slovaks and have not considered to any great extent the non-literary aspects of ethnicity and ethnic self-consciousness. Certainly the study of ethnicity and of cultural history does require an extensive examination of the language and literature of a particular people . Literature, in the broadest sense of that word, encapsulates the language , manners , mores, and other peculiarities of the culture of any people. On the other hand, it must also be recognized that a people 's •in �50 SLOVAKIA awareness of its own particular identity vis-a-vis other groups does not arise solely from the fact that it employs a distinct language. A common history, a sense of common destiny, and access to institutions, however primitive they might be, wherein a people can give expression to their own conceptions of themselves and determine their own future, are also necessary for the development and preservation of an ethnic selfconsciousness . In this light, the Reformation of the sixteenth century must be considered as one of the major forces contributing to the emergence of an ethnic, though not a political, self-consciousness among the Slovaks. SOME GENERAL FEATURES OF THE REFORMATION IN SLOVAKIA Before turning to the question of how the Reformation contributed to the growth of Slovak ethnic self-consciousness, it might be helpful to review , at least in some general outlines, the major features of the Reformation in Slovakia.(3) As elsewhere in Europe, the Reformation in Slovakia was rooted in long lasting conflicts within Hungary. The extra-imperial nature of the Sacred Crown of Hungary, the ardent nationalism of the Magyars , the conflict between the Habsburgs and the Zapolyas for the throne of Hungary, the multiplicity of ethnic groups with their inter-ethnic rivalries, the proximity of the Turks, and the complex political relationships between the various segments of the population and between all of them and the kings of Hungary created a chaotic situation within Hungary which enabled the Reformation to spread quickly throughout East Central Europe in general and Slovakia in particular. This political and social situation was exacerbated, at the beginning of the sixteenth century, by the failure of the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church to remedy some ma'{_1ifold abuses which were abhorrent to many. Simony, pluralism, absenteeism, feuds among the hierarchs, incessant demands for funds ; paris.hes and- even bishoprics remaining vacant for years or suffering under incompetent or miserably trained curates - all were being criticized with increasing regularity by both clergy and laymen. Since the hierarchy failed to act to cleanse the Church of the most egregious abuses in practice and theology or to stem the tide of moral laxity, many secular leaders and clerics in Slovakia early heeded Luther' s call for the reform of the life of the Church. Luther's teachings spread quickly into all regions of Slovakia but especially into the cities of central and eastern Slovakia which were �SLOVAKIA 51 predominantly German in population. Town after town, noble after noble, went over to the standard of reform. It would be erroneous to assume, as many have, that the laymen and clerics who supported the Reformation did so only out of base economic motives. and a desire for self-aggrandizement. While there were some who were notv eluctant to expropriate the endowments of the Church to enrich themselves , and this included some who remained Catholics , the bulk of the evidence which is available indicates that a great number of magistrates and magnates were conscientiously and legitimately concerned with the quality of pastoral service being provided to them and to those dependent upon them. They were seeking to purify the Church of its most egregious abuses and staunchly defended their rights to encourage the free preaching of the Gospel in their territories and to oversee the collection and distribution of funds for the charitable activities of the Church. These individuals frequently aided the evangelical cause with both money and political support. Many laymen made substantial grants to enable students and pastors from Slovakia to study Lutheran theology abroad or to establish local academies , staffed by reformist rectors and teachers, in the cities and throughout the countryside of Slovakia. This active supervision of the local congregations by the nobles and city councils was possible not only because of the impotency of the hierarchy after 1526 but also because of the provisions of the charters of privileges to the cities and of the patents of nobility which granted to these laymen substantial rights and prerogatives in the supervision of the churches and their resources . (4) So it was that the Lutheran Reformation spread quickly into and throughout Slovakia. Merchants traveling to Germany returned with copies of Luther's writings after 1518 while, beginning in 1522 with the matriculation of George Baumhenckel from Banska Bystrica , an ever increasing stream of students left Slovakia to study at the University of Wittenberg.(5) By 1525 reformist doctrines were known and accepted in Banska Bystrica, Bardejov , Levoca, and in many of the smaller towns and villages of Slovakia. Despite attempts to limit the spread of Lutheranism by the passage of anti-heretic laws by the Hungarian Diets of 1523 and 1525 , the Reformation continued to spread. The defeat of the Hungarian forces by the Turks at Mohacs in 1526, which resulted in the death of King Lous II, the Cardinal Primate of Hungary, several bishops and high nobles , and scores of parish priests and lower nobles, led to a prolonged struggle over the throne of Hungary between Ferdinand I and John Zapolya , the latter supporter by the lesser Magyar nobles . This accentuated the difficulties within Hungary as a �52 SLOVAKIA whole and made it possible for the Reformation to spread throughout Slovakia without meeting any really effective resistance . (6) Because of this leadership vacuum in both Church and State during the early years of the Reformation, the Lutheran movement in Slovakia achieved its successes with a minimum of conflict, a development which is quite remarkable in comparison to what transpired in the rest of Europe during the first half of the sixteenth century. The Lutheran leaders were able to work within and utilize the structures and institutions of the Catholic Church as they moved to fill the vacuum in ecclesiastical leadership at the local and regional levels. Lutheran pastors were called as preachers to serve the congregations in the cities and the countryside and gradually became a majority within the various seniorats or pastoral conferences . By the middle of the sixteenth century, most of the seniorats in Slovakia were comprised of and headed by Lutherans. It is also interesting to note that the particular lization and factionalization which characterized the northern and western European Reformation by 1520 did not emerge in Slovakia until the middle of the century, after the evangelical reform movement was well established. After 1550, however, the Roman Catholic hierarchy began to recover its strength and, especially after the Council of Trent, inaugurated measures designed to regain that which had been lost through weakness and neglect. Aided by Emperor Ferdinand I, the Roman Catholic hierarchy began to apply against the Lutherans the laws of the Diet of 1548 proscribing Anabaptist and Sacramentarian theologies . Seeking to differentiate between their views and those of the other reformist groups in Hungary and to identify themselves clearly with the Augsburg Confession, which had originally been accepted by Emperor Charles V in 1530 and subsequently recognized by Ferdinand and by the Peace of Augsburg of 1555, the Lutherans of Slovakia began to define their faith and dociifine more precisely. Within a period of 21 years, the Lutherans of Slov~ia adopted three major regional confessions of faith, all of them based primarily upon the Augsburg Confession and its Apology and the writings of Philip Melanchthon . In 1548 the five royal free cities of eastern Slovakia, Bardejov , Levoca, Presov, Kosice, and Sabinov, united in accepting the Confessio Pentapolitana prepared by Leonard Stoeckel, Rector of the so-called "Humanist" school in Bardejov. Ten years later, the seven mining cities of central Slovakia, Banska Bystrica, Banska Stiavnica, Kremnica, Nova Bana, Pukanec, tubietova, and Banska Bela, accepted the Confessio Montana prepared by Ulrich Cubicularius. In 1569, the towns of Spis county followed the lead of the larger cities and accepted �SLOVAKIA 53 the Confessio Scepusia~a written by Cyriak Koch and Valentin Megander.(7) ' , The supporters of Helvetic theologies did not remain idle, for they too adopted several confessions of faith which defined their doctrine more precisely. As a result, by 1575 the reformation movements in Hungary had divided into separate and distinct groups. Despite a few exceptions , for there were a few Calvinist Slovaks and Lutheran Magyars, the Magyar protestants were adherents to Helvetic Reformed theology while the vast majority of Slovaks and Germans adhered to the faith expressed in their own and the Augsburg confessions. The confessionalism which established the hegemony of Lutheranism in Slovakia and the denominationalization of the Reformation by 1575 did not, however, bring to an end the theological problems of, or controversies among, the Lutherans , and between the Lutherans and the Reformed. After 1580 , the doctrines of the Real Presence of the body and blood of Christ in the Lord' s Supper and the Communication of Attributes, that is that the attributes of Christ's divine nature were communicated to his human nature , continued to plague the Lutherans in Slovakia.(8) From the Synod of Kremnica in 1580 until the synods of Zilina (1610) and Spisske Podhradie (1614) , the Lutherans of Slovakia debated these theological points in connection with the question of whether or not they should accept the Formula of Concord (1577) , as contained in the Book of Concord (1580) , as normative for their own theology. Since the Lutherans of Slovakia had consistently defended their right to practice the Lutheran faith by citing its recognition in Germany by the Hungarian kings as emperors , many were reluctant to accept the Formula and Book of Concord as their doctrinal norm . They felt that they could be charged with having accepted a new , nonrecognized confession of faith. They preferred, therefore , to stand by their own confession of faith. There were also some who were reluctant to accept the Formula of Concord because they suspected that it was intended to displace the writings of Philip Melanchthon who had taught and befriended many of the clergy of Slovakia while they were studying at the University of Wittenberg . Many of these individuals tended to question the precise definitions and formulations of the doctrines of the Eucharist and the Communication of Attributes contained in the Formula and most of these individuals were of German ancestry. The defenders of Lutheran orthodoxy as defined by the Formula, therefore , attacked these moderates as Cryptocalvinists. Among the leading spokesmen for Lutheran orthodoxy were the Slovaks Elias Lani and Severinus Scultety who, together with the �54 SLOVAKIA nobleman Gregor Horvath Stancic de Hradecz and the German Albert Grawer , urged the acceptance of the Book of Concord at the colloquies held in Csepreg (1591) and in Kezmarok (1595-1596), and at many of the synods held regularly by the various regional pastoral conferences throughout eastern Slovakia. (9) The debate over the acceptance of the Book of Concord might have been even more prolonged had not the political situation changed drastically. In 1592 the truce between the Habsburgs and the Turks was shattered and the Fifteen Years' War ensued. During the course of this struggle, the Catholic hierarchy tried to confiscate the churches of the Lutherans in several cities in Slovakia while, in 1604, Matthias II attempted to extend royal authority by repudiating the rights of the nobles and the cities to discuss matters pertaining to religion in the Diet of Hungary. As in the first days of the Reformation, the lay leaders came to the aid of the Protestant groups. The Reformed magnate, Stephen Bocskay of Transylvania, took up arms against the Habsburgs and, after gaining control of royal Hungary (Slovakia), forced Matthias to repudiate as unconstitutional the decree of 1604 and to accept the Peace of Vienna of 1606 which established the right of the Lutherans and Calvinists to exist in Hungary much as the Peace of Augsburg of 1555 had sanctioned Lutheranism in the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation.(10) The terms of the Peace of Vienna were further refined and defined by the decisions of the Diet of 1608 which not only clearly sanctioned the right of the Lutherans and Calvinists to practice their own faith but also to establish their own independent ecclesiastical institutions . Under the sponsorship of the Palatine (Chancellor) of Hungary, the Lutheran magnate George Thurzo, representatives of the Lutherans in the counties of western Slovakia met in Zilina on March 27-30, 1610 and created three superintendencies to administer the Lutheran congregations .(11) The Synod also established the rules governing the administrative and other activities of the superintendents and accepted the Formula of Concord and the Book of Concord as the norm and guide for Lutheran doctrine. Already accepted py the Lutherans in Gerner county in 1604, and in Turiec county in 1608 ~t the Synod of Turciansky Sviity Martin,(12) the Book of Concord was also accepted by the eastern cities of Spis and Saris counties in January of 1614 at the Synod of Spisske Podhradie. (13) It is important to note that the organizations established by the synods of Zilina and Spisske Podhradie, as well as those of the other regions of Slovakia which had been or would be confirmed by the Palatine, resulted in a diminution of lay influence in the ecclesiastical �SLOVAKIA 55 organizations in favor of clerical authority and administration. This development was _contracy to trends elsewhere in Europe . To be sure, the local congregations s\ill had lay patrons or defenders but the superintendencies and districts were independent of direct lay supervision. This centralization of the regional administration of the Lutheran churches in the hands of the clergy while, at the same time, the superintendencies remained independent of each other, both helped and hindered the maintenance of Lutheranism in Slovakia during the Counter-Reformation of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries . The lack of a single administrative unit for all the Lutherans in Slovakia made it difficult for them to resist effectively the combined forces of the Roman Catholic Church and the Habsburgs. On the other hand, since the leadership of the Lutheran movement was primarily in the hands of the clergy, it was able to survive the strong pressures exerted upon it by the state and the noble families who returned to the Catholic Church. Despite the vicissitudes of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth century, the Lutherans continued to maintain their faith and practices despite greatly reduced numbers and stringent restrictions. Although Slovak Lutherans became and have remained a minority within the Slovak people, the Reformation remained indelibly etched upon the consciousness of the Slovaks. As F. G. Heymann noted: Among the Slovak gentry and intellegentsia, Lutheranism maintained a foothold, and its adherents remained one of the most active, culturally productive and nationally conscious elements of the Slovak people in the period down to the late eighteenth century .(14) Indeed, many of the leaders of the national revival of the late eighteenth and the nineteenth centuries in Slovakia, as well as in Bohemia and Hungary, were raised in Lutheran homes and parsonages and were imbued with the evangelical heritage. Jan Kollar, I.:udovit Stur, Jozef Hurban, Michal Miloslav Hodza, Karol Kuzmany , and many others, were either Lutheran clergymen or teachers, or the sons of Lutheran pastors and teachers.(15) What explains this tenacity of the Lutheran tradition in Slovakia and its impact upon the development of Slovak ethnic selfconsciousness? In what way did the Lutheran Reformation aid in the development of the ethnic awareness of the Slovaks? Although many explanations can be proferred, it appears that the Reformation contributed to the growth of a Slovak ethnic self-awareness and a Slovak �56 SLOVAKIA culture in at least three ways. The Reformation provided an opportunity for Slovaks to assume leadership roles in the Lutheran Church in Slovakia as administrators and theologians. The Lutheran movement established evangelical schools throughout Slovakia which provided Slovaks with an opportunity to obtain more than a rudimentary education. Finally, the liturgical, devotional, and theological works produced by Slovak Lutherans enabled them to maintain their peculiar identity vis-a-vis both the Magyars and the Germans. SLOVAKS AS LEADERS OF LUTHERANISM IN SLOVAKIA During the early years of the Reformation in Slovakia, the first to adhere to the teachings of Luther were the Germans of the cities of central and eastern Slovakia. The Slovaks were drawn to Lutheranism slowly but steadily, following the lead of the German population and of the magnates and nobles. However, by the last third of the sixteenth century, Slovaks had become the majority in the Lutheran movement and Slovak clerics began to emerge as leaders in the administration of the Lutheran congregations and seniorats and as influential theologians. It was during the theological controversies over the acceptance of the Formula and Book of Concord that Slovak clergy emerged as the defenders of Lutheran orthodoxy in Slovakia. Elias Lani, Severin Skultety and the nobleman Gregor Horvath Stancic were unswerving in their advocacy of the Book of Concord at the synods and colloquies held during the last decade of the sixteenth century. It is interesting to note that the Book of Concord was accepted first in those seniorats and districts in which Slovaks were in the majority while the cities of the central montana district and of Spis and Saris counties where German clergy were in the majority, the Book of Concord was accepted only after the synods of Zilina and Spisske Podhradie, and even then, only at the urging of the Thurzos and with some reluctance . While the reasons for the Slovak acceptance of Lutheran orthodoxy are still difficult to determine with any certainty, there is evidence that one of the reasons was the influence of the Lutheran school at Straza, supported by Stancic, and others like it in Slovakia. Althq_ugh many Slovaks went to Wittenberg, there were others who received 'their theological education in Slovakia and Strafa was the foremost school among those providing instruction in theology in Slovakia. Stancic, the patron of the school, was no mere theological dilettante but a capable lay theologian cognizant of theological developments at home and in Germany and �SLOVAKIA 57 Switzerland.(16) His support for the Book of Concord and Lutheran orthodoxy permeated his shortlived school whose most illustrious graduate and teacher was Elias Lani.(17) Lani was on~ of th~ most persuasive and forceful leaders of Lutheranism in Slovakia dµring the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries and must be considered one of the leading organizers and theologians of the Lutheran movement in Slovakia. While still in eastern Slovakia during the 1590s, Lani participated in the colloquies held at Csepreg and Kezmarok and, during the disputes with Sebastian Ambrosius or Lam and other Cryptocalvinists over adiaphora or nonessential theological matters, such as the use of pictures in churches, Lani wrote several defenses of the orthodox Lutheran position upholding Christian liberty.(18) He subsequently moved to Mosovce where, in 1598, he was elected Senior of the pastoral conferences in Turiec county and there gained the acceptance of the Formula of Concord and of rules governing the life of the clergy of the conference. Shortly after the Synod of Turciansky Svaty Martin of March 1608 he was called to serve as the Pastor at Vel'ka Bytca, the residence of George Thurzo and there served the Palatine as pastor and advisor. Elected Senior of the Upper Trencin Seniorat in January 1609 he was instrumental in assisting Thurzo in organizing the Synod of Zilina and his influence can be clearly seen in the deliberations and decisions of the Synod.(19) While Lani, who died in 1618, was the most notable of the Slovak theologians of the Reformation Era, he was certainly not the only Slovak to attain a position of leadership within the Church. Severin Skultety was a lector in Bardejov, a teacher at Presov, and the Senior of the five royal free cities of eastern Slovakia from 1593 until his death in 1600. He , too, was an associate of Stancic and a supporter of the Book of Concord. He began a history of the Lutheran movement in Slovakia and, along with other original works, published in Bardejov in 1581 a translation into Slovak of Luther's Small Catechism. (20) Other theologians of significance include Jan Pruno, who published a SlovakLatin edition of the Small Catechism in Hlohovec c. 1585, and also Leonard Mokosin, Senior in Liptov, who authored an epic poem based upon the books of the Old Testament. Slovaks, such as Daniel Pribis, Stefan Pilarik , and Jakub Jakubei, the intellectual presager of Jan Kollar, continued to make important contributions to the theological development of the Lutheran movement in Slovakia during the seventeenth century. Although most of the works of these theologians were written in Latin and were heavily influenced by the Lutheran theologians of Germany, it must be recognized that the theological �58 SLOVAKIA activity of Slovaks enabled Lutheranism in Slovakia to become more than merely a German religion. Slovaks were also active in the administration of the Lutheran Church in Slovakia, especially in the counties of western Slovakia. At the Synod of Zilina, the three superintendents elected by the nobles, clergy, and representatives of some of the towns, were the Slovaks Lani, Samuel Melikus, and Isaak Abrahamides Hrochotius or Hrochotsky, to whom the two German and the Magyar inspectors were responsible.(21) They were followed by a long line of Slovak superintendents who administered the various districts or superintendencies of the Lutherans in Slovakia. Of the seven major superintendencies, Germans predominated only in the one for the mining cities of central Slovakia and in the two in Spis and Saris counties for the five royal free cities and for the 24 Spis cities. The rest were largely Slovak and normally headed by Slovak superintendents. The Slovak influence in the administration of the Lutheran Church can be even more clearly appreciated when it is recognized that the majority of the some 800-900 Lutheran congregations in Slovakia were composed of Slovaks and had pastors of the same background. Even in the towns where the German population predominated, Slovaks had their own congregations and pastors who ministered to their specific needs, preaching to and teaching the members of these congregations in their own language. By preaching and teaching in the vernacular, the Slovak Lutheran clergymen perpetuated the use of Slovak and fostered the awareness of the Slovaks as a particular and distinct ethnic group within the Hungarian kingdom. As theologians and administrators the Slovak clergy guided and enriched the life of Slovak Lutherans and afforded them an opportunity to express their own faith in a language comprehensible to them. At the same time, the availability of positions as clerics in the Lutheran church made it possible for Slovak individuals to achieve positions of prominence and leadership in their communities and aided in the creation of a Slovak intelligentsia. \ LUTHERANISM, EDUCATION, AND SLOVAK ETHNICITY Among the institutions which helped to spread the Lutheran Reformation throughout Slovakia and which, during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, perpetuated its heritage, the evangelical schools of Slovakia were especially important. Lutherans throughout �SLOVAKIA 59 Europe emphasized popular education, and evangelical schools were established and supported by Lutheran communities. According to Johann Rezik, there were four types of schools which emerged in Slovakia during the Reformation Era: the Scholae Magnatum et Nob ilium; the Scholae Civitatenses; the Scholae Oppidane ; and the Scholae Pagenses ~(22) Th~se city, town and village schools, supported by the local authorities or by nobles, did not differ so much in their curricula as in the scope of their programs, the character of their patrons, and in the size and composition of their student bodies . The most important were the city Latin schools, especially those of the larger free cities, which were often endowed by a magnate in addition to receiving regular financial support from the magistrates of the cities.(23) Under lay control, but usually directed by a rector who had received some theological training, the municipal Latin schools became the centers of reformist teaching and continued the humanist pedagogical tradition in Slovakia. Although many would close because of financial difficulties or were taken over by Roman Catholics during the turmoil of the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, the schools of Slovakia attained a great repute throughout Hungary and were recognized for their academic excellence in both the German states and in Poland. The most significant of the early evangelical schools were located in Kezmarok, Presov, Banska Bystrica, Levoca, and Bardejov.(24) Under the rectorate of Leonard Stoeckel (d. 1560) a protege and friend of Melanchthon, Bardejov was considered the premier educational institution in Slovakia and attracted the sons of magnates and nobles as well as of the citizens of the cities. Stoeckel prepared the Leges Scholae Bartphensis in 1540 which combined the classic humanist pedagogical concerns with Lutheran theology .(25) Borrowing heavily but not slavishly from the German humanists, such as John Agricola, Herman Talechi and Philip Melanchthon, Stoeckel constructed a curriculum which emphasized the study of Latin, the classical authors, and the Lutheran faith . Latin was the medium of instruction and each day began with readings from the Scriptures while regular attendance at church services was also required. The students also put on plays, with heavy doctrinal content, for the community and, under the direction of a cantor, sang at regular and special services in the town church. Although other school orders, such as those for Banska Bystrica and Banska Stiavnica by Michael Pechov, and variations on Abraham Schremmel's ordinances for the Strasbourg schools were also used in Slovakia, the Leges of Stoeckel was the most influential. (26) His �60 SLOVAKIA teaching of the doctrines of the Augsburg Confession through the humanist methodology became standard in the evangelical schools of Slovakia. Not only were the instructors Lutheran, but the materials used for instruction also had a Lutheran perspective, for among the textbooks used were the Scriptures, Luther's Small Catechism, Melanchthon's Examen Theologicum, Loci Communes, Rhetorica, Dialectica, and his Entymoligia.(27) It should also be noted that although most of the academic materials and instruction were in Latin, during the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries some scholarly works in Slovak began to appear ; indeed, most of the works published in Slovak during the sixteenth century, even of a non-theological nature, were published by evangelicals who maintained numerous presses throughout Slovakia. While the curricula of these schools were not intended to meet the particular needs of Slovaks , but were to provide all students with a sound basic humanist education in preparation for further study at the major universities of Europe, especially Wittenberg, the schools did admit students of Slovak birth. In fact there were schools, such as those at Zilina, Turciansky Svaty Martin, Mosovce, Trencin, and Straza where the majority of students were Slovak.(28) The school at Straza became a center for the study of Lutheran theology for those Slovaks who were unable to go abroad to complete their education. All of these schools provided Slovaks with an opportunity to acquire more than just a rudimentary education and prepared them to assume positions of leadership and responsibility in Slovakia. The Slovak intelligentsia of the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, as were their counterparts during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, were greatly influenced by intellectual developments in Germany and they not only participated in the broader intellectual movements of Europe but adapted them to meet their own particular needs and the situation within Slovakia. The writings of Slovak Lutheran intellectuals and the curricula of the Lutheran schools of Slovakia helped to foster a greater appreciation of the heritage and culture of the Slovak people and it is not surprising that many of the leaders of the Slovak national revival were educated in the Lutheran tradition in the evangelical schools of Sloyakia. \ LUTHERANISM AND THE EMERGENCE OF SLOVAK LITERATURE During the early stages of the Reformation in Slovakia there were no works published in Slovak. The clergy of Slovak ancestry, educated �SLOVAKIA 61 in the Latin schools, could read for themselves the works published in Latin and German and were usually content to utilize Latin, the lingua franca of the sixteenth · century, to express publicly their own theological views. But, as '\ more and more Slovaks adhered to the Lutheran faith with its emph~sis upon vernacular worship, the need for devotional and liturgical works in Slovak became increasingly obvious. Already in 1546 the first work published in Slovak, a devotional book by Vasek z Zalesin, was printed in Wittenberg while the first book in Slovak published in Slovakia was Scultety' s translation of the Small Catechism of Luther. (29) Of more immediate significance for the spread of Lutheranism among the Slovaks was the development of Slovak liturgies and hymnody. During the early years of the Reformation this need was met by borrowing materials produced by Czech Utraquists and the Unitas Fratrum, which could be used by Slovaks without any great difficulty, and by translations into Slovak of hymns by Luther and other reformers and of German orders of worship , especially the Wittenberg Order of 1533.(30) By 1560 there were reports of Lutheran services being held in Slovak not only in the almost completely Slovak areas of Liptov county and along the Vah but also in the mining cities of central Slovakia.(31) In 1580 the Synod of Trencin approved its own church order, the Canones rituum sacrorum Trenchini, which established in 27 articles the rules governing the liturgical life of the Lutherans in the region along the Vah river.(32) The use of Slovak in worship was also encouraged by the appearance of the Bohemian Agenda of 1581. This agenda was used as a guide in the preparation of the Bystrica Agenda, in manuscript form, in 1585. Revised in 1595 and again in 1608, the Bystrica Agenda was approved in 1613 by the Lutheran superintendents of western Slovakia who, following the directions of the Synod of Zilina, were to establish a standard for the liturgical practices of the Slovak congregations under their jurisdiction. (33) But these agendas and church orders, which aided in the standardization of liturgical language and practice among the Lutheran congregations of Slovakia, could not meet all of the worship and devotional needs of the Slovak population since literary Slovak had not yet been codified . These needs were met by the appearance of a new Czech translation of the Bible and by the compilation of an hymnbook by George Tranovsky. These works provided the Slovaks with a vernacular devotional literature in kralicina Czech which was adopted and adapted for use as the literary language of the Slovak Lutherans until the 19th century. �62 SLOVAKIA Since the Germans of Slovakia generally utilized the Bible translation of Luther it was the Slovaks who most acutely felt the need for a vernacular Bible. Early in the Reformation Era they relied on the old Slavic version of Sts. Cyril and Methodius or on the Venetian or Nuremberg Czech translations which had found their way into Slovakia.(34) However, the Kralice Bible translation proved to be the most acceptable of the Czech translations and became the standard one used by the Slovak Lutherans, remaining in general use even into the twentieth century. The Kralice Bible, published in six volumes from 1579-1593, was the work of a translation committee under the chairmanship of a Moravian Bishop of the Unitas Fratrum. John Zerotin of Moravia opened his castle to them and helped to underwrite the expenses involved in the printing of the translation.(35) George Thurzo, a close friend of Zerotin, obtained copies of the work and encouraged its use by the Slovak Lutherans in his lands who did appropriate it for both public and private devotions.(36) Throughout Hungary and Slovakia meanwhile, the use of hymns sung by the congregation had become quite common early in the Reformation. The earliest hymns used by the Slovaks were translations of the Psalms or of the medieval "gradual" or "sequence" hymns and were usually prepared in manuscript form.(37) Many of Luther's hymns and those of his co-workers were translated while Czech evangelical or Hussite hymns were borrowed intact or rephrased. Among the early Slovak hymn writers were George Banovsky, Jan Pruno, Elias Lani, and Daniel Pribis. Pribis, for example , supplemented his Catechism of 1634 with a collection of 113 hymns in Slovak which included seven of his own and eight by Lani.(38) The most noted writer and compiler of hymns for the Slovak Lutherans was Tranovsky. Born in 1591 in Tesin (eastern Silesia) , Tranovsky was brought up in the Lutheran faith and in April 1607 entered the University of Wittenberg. After a short stay in Prague he traveled to eastern Moravia but , after the outbreak of the Thirty Years ' War in 1618 Tranovsky was forced to flee to Slovakia where, on May 29, 1637, he died while serving as the pastor of the Slovak Lutheran congregation at Liptovsky Svaty Mikulas.(39) His Cithara Sanctorum, or Harp of the Saints , was a devotional aitd liturgical guide for individuals as well as a hymnbook for congregations ; Seven hundred pages long, the first edition of the work was -divided into four major sections , each containing hymns for the various seasons , festivals , and services of the ecclesiastical year, along with a section of hymns on specific doctrines arranged according to the structure of the Small Catechism of Luther. The hymnal proper was followed by a series of �SLOVAKIA 63 \ indices , a collection of prayers , and an indication of the preferred liturgy to be used. No other book , except for the Kralice Bible, had such a great significance for the Slovak Lutherans. It can be said that the Cithara Sanctorum , or " Tranoscius " as it became popularly known , was the Slovak expression , in song and verse , of the spirit and content of the Lutheran Reformation and became the focus of Slovak Lutheran devotional life . Both Jan Kollar and P. J . Safarik emphasized the cultural significance of the "Tranoscius" and openly acknowledged their own indebtedness to Tranovsky.(40) But if the Kralice Bible and the ''Tranoscius '' were the epitome of Slovak Lutheran devotional and cultural expressions they were not the only influences upon the development of Slovak literature. Slovak postilla or sermon collections were also produced late in the sixteenth century while Nikodem Sartorius of Zvolen prepared the first Slovak commentary on the Bible.(41) Prayer books and religious poetry collections also became very popular. While it would certainly be an overstatement to claim that the heritage of Reformation Lutheranism was the only or even the most notable influence upon the development of a Slovak ethnic selfconsciousness , it would be equally erroneous not to recognize that the Reformation and the Lutheran heritage did help to foster such a selfconsciousness . As for other peoples elsewhere in Europe, the Lutheran Reformation accentuated the linguistic and ethnic peculiarities of the Slovaks and , as the Slovak Lutherans continued to practice their faith and worship in their own langauge and to guide the fortunes of their own church, they kept alive, in their religious life and experiences, their own ethno-linguistic individuality and identity. It is not surprising then, that from the Lutheran tradition came many of those leaders of the national revival who, while they examined and treasured their past, also sought to mold the destiny of their people and to make them into a modern nation. FOOTNOTES David P . Daniel , The Historiograp hy of the R eformation in Slo vakia (St . Louis, Mo.: 1977), 4. (1) (2) The most significant recent work on the history of the Slovaks and their ethnic selfconsciousness is the three volume study of Ludwig von Gogolak, B eitriige zur Geschichte des slowak ischen Volk es (Munich : 1963-1972 ). Volume I, Die N ationswerdung de r Slowaken und die Anfiinge der tschechoslowakischen Frag e, 1526-1790 is an exce llent examination of the relationship of the Reformation to Slovak ethnicity. An earlier study of importance is T. J . G. Locher, Die nationale Differe nzierung und �64 SLOVAKIA lntegrierung der Slowaken und Tschechen in ihrem geschichtlichen Verlauf bis 1848 (Haarlem: 1931) . (3) For a more detailed survey of the Reformation Era in Slovakia in English see David P. Daniel , "Highlights of the Lutheran Reformation in Slovakia," Concordia Theological Quarterly 42 :1 (1978), 21-34. (4) Gustav Hammann, " Magister Nicolaus von Sabinov : Ein Beitrag uber den Humanismus und die fruehe Reformation in der Slowakei," Zeitschrift fu er Ostforschung 16 (1967), 25-40 . (5) Johann Borbis, Die euangelisch-lutherische Kirche Ungarns (Noerdlingen: 1864), 29-30; J . P. Tomasik, Andenken an die 300-jahrige Jubelfeier der euangelischen Gemeine in der k. Freistadt Leutschau (Leutschau : 1844) , 17-18. (6)Branislav Varsik, "K pociatkom Reformacie na Slovensku ," Historica Slouaca I/II (1940-41), 304-335. (7) Viktor Bruckner (ed .), Gedenkbuch anlasslich der 400-jahrigen Jahreswende der Confessio Augustana (Leipzig : 1930) , 3-67 . (8) Daniel , "Highlights," 29-30. (9) Jan Kvacala , Dejiny Reformacie na Slo ue nsku (Lipt . Sv. Mikulas: 1935), 131-136. Kvacala's book is the standard history of the Slovak Reformation in Slovak. For other works on the Reformation in Slovakia see Jarold K. Zeman , The Hussite Movement and the Reformation in Bohemia, Moravia and Slovakia (1350-1650) (Ann Arbor: 1977), and also Daniel, The Historiography of the Reformation in Slovakia. (10) An excellent study of the circumstances surrounding Bocskay 's Rebellion and the Peace of Vienna is Geza Lencz, Der Au/stand Bocskays und der Wiener Friede. Eine kirchenhistorische Studie (Debreczen: 1917) . (11) Borbis , 124-126 ; Kvacala , 147-148. (12) Kvacala, 132; Otto Skrovina, Z historie turc':ianskeho euanj. se niorcitu ajeho sborou (Tore . Sv. Martin : 1929), 9-10 . (13) For the acts of the Synod of Zilina and of Spisske Podhradie see Johannes Szeberinyi, Corpus maxime memorabilium synodorum euangelicarum Augustanae Confessionis in Hungaria cum praefatione Historica in Singulas (Pesthini: 1848) , 1542 . (14) Frederick G. Heymann, Poland and Czechoslovakia (Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: 1966) , 63. (15) See Thomas Capek, The Slovaks of Hungary. Slavs and Panslauism (New York : 1906) for the earliest study of the Slovaks and the Slovak national revival in English. (16) Stancic translated into Hungarian several works of the noted orthodox Lutheran theologian , Martin Chernnitz . He also wrote an \ account of the colloquy held at Csepreg : Historia Colloquii Chepregiensis, De Coen~ Domini _. . . (Bartphae: 1591) . (17) For an examination of the life of Lani see Jan Mocko, Elicis Lcini, prvy superintendent cirkue euanj. augs. uyzn. u Uhrach ajeho doba (Lipt. Sv . Mikulas: 1902). His theological significance is treated by Jan Kvacala, " El. Lani a vit'azstvo lutherskeho smeru v evanjelickej cirkvi na Slovensku," Viera a ueda I (1930), 153-165 . (18) Elias Lani, Scutum Libertatis Christianae in usu Ceremoniarum nominatim autem imaginum: oppositum Disceptationi D. Thomae Fabricii Tholnensis, Ministri Patakini, de Christianorum imaginibus (Bartphae : 1595); and also Defen sio libertatis �SLOVAKIA 65 Christianae in vsv imaginum Historico, quam pro asserendo scvto svo, adversvs Exarmationem Thomae Fabricij (Bartphae : n.d.). (19) Juraj Janoska, 0 Synode Zilinskej (Lipt. Sv. Mikulas: 1910) and E. A. Doleschall, "Die Silleiner Synode," Jahrbuch der Gesellschaft fuer die Geschichte des Protestantismus in Oesterreic_h 4 (1883), 96-104. (20) Gogolak, I, 43. (21) Borbis, 47 . (22) Kvacala, Dejiny, 101-102. (23) Peter Vajcik, Skolstvo, §tudijne a §kolske poriadky na Slovensku v 16. storoc5i (Bratislava: 1955). 27, 57; Johann Liptak and Roland Steinacker, Deutsche ev. Schulwesen in der Slowakei (Stuttgart: 1957) , 5-15; Johann Liptak, Geschichte des evangelischenLyzeumsA .B . inKiismark (Kiismark: 1933) , 17-18, 26-29. (24) Vajcik, 2-13 . (25) Johann Samuel Klein, Nachrichten von den Lebensumstiinden und Schriften evangelischer Prediger in alien Gemeine des Koenigreichs Ungarn I (Leipzig: 1787), 332-341; E. Szelenyi, " Ev. Pedagoes," in V. Bruckner (Ed.), Gedenkbuch, 439-440. (26) Vajcik, 81 ff. and 109 ff. (27) Ibid . , 110-112; 120-123. See also Janos Breznyik , A Selmecbcinyai cigost. hitv. evang. egyhaz es lyceum tortenete (Selmecbanyan: 1883) , 350-364. (28) Gogolak, I, 45-46. (29) Ibid., 44 . (30) Jan Petrik, Dejiny slovenskych evanjelickych a. v. sluiieb Bozich (Lipt. Sv . Mikulas: 1946) , 54-62, 99-103. (31) Gogolak, I, 46-47. (32) Petrik, 65-91. (33) Ibid., 103-116. (34) Edmund DeSchweinitz, History of the Church Known as the Unitas Fratrum (Bethlehem, Pa.: 1901), 410. (35) Ibid., 423-424; Mirjam Bohatcova, " Bible Kralicka, jeji vznik a vyznam," in Vlasta Fialova, Kralice (Brno: 1959), 51-61. (36) Gogolak, I, 59. (37) Mihaly Bucsay, Geschichte des Protestantismus in Ungarn (Stuttgart: 1959), 66-67 , 76 . (38) Jaroslav Vajda, "A History of the Cithara Sanctorum (Tranoscius) (unpulished B.D. thesis, Concordia Theological Seminary, St. Louis, 1944) , 13 f. (39) For the life and significance of Tranovsky see Jan P . Durovic, Zivotopis Juraja Tranovskeho (Lipt. Sv . Mikulas: 1942) , Jan Mocko, Zivot Jura Tranovskeho (Senice : 1891), and Walter Stoekl, " Georg Tranoscius, der groesste lutherische Liederdichter der Slowakei,' ' in Desider Alexy (ed .), Roland Steinacker: Ein Leben fuer Kirche und Volk : Festschrift zur 90 Geburtstag von R . Steinacker (Stuttgart: 1960) , 54-78 . (40) Gogolak, I, 84 . (41) Ibid . , 61-65. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 1978-79, Vol. 28 Description An account of the resource Vol. 28 (No. 51-52), 1978-79. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Slovak League of America Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1978-79 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document SLOVAKIA 49 . ' The Protestant Reformation and Slovak Ethnic Consciousness DAVID P . DANIEL The Pennsylvania State University - Erie For many of the descendants of Slovak immigrants to the United States , the history of the Reformation in Slovakia and its impact upon the emergence of an ethnic self-consciousness among these people is an unknown aspect of their Slovak heritage. This is not surprising for the cultural significance of the Reformation for the Slovaks has not been examined extensively in western histories of the Reformation Era of East Central Europe, Czechoslovakia, Hungary , or of the Slovak people . (1) Czech historians usually do little more than assert that the Reformation fostered or reinforced, especially by the continuing use of the Kralice Bible by Slovak Lutherans, the cultural and linguistic ties between the Czechs and the Slovaks . Hungarian scholars , on the other hand, seldom differentiate between the Reformation in Slovakia and its course the remaining counties of Hungary. Even many Slovak scholars, especially those of the Catholic tradition , quickly pass over the Reformation Era and its significance for the Slovaks. At the same time, a growing number of European and American scholars has recognized that the Reformation was one of the major milestones in the development of Slovak ethnic self-consciousness.(2) In their attempts to unravel the complexities of Slovak history, they have sought to explain why, during the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries , many of the leaders of the Slovak national revival were products of the Lutheran tradition in Slovakia. Unfortunately , few of their findings have found their way into the literature available to the English-reading public. Moreover , most of these studies have focused primarily upon the language and literature of the Slovaks and have not considered to any great extent the non-literary aspects of ethnicity and ethnic self-consciousness. Certainly the study of ethnicity and of cultural history does require an extensive examination of the language and literature of a particular people . Literature, in the broadest sense of that word, encapsulates the language , manners , mores, and other peculiarities of the culture of any people. On the other hand, it must also be recognized that a people 's •in 50 SLOVAKIA awareness of its own particular identity vis-a-vis other groups does not arise solely from the fact that it employs a distinct language. A common history, a sense of common destiny, and access to institutions, however primitive they might be, wherein a people can give expression to their own conceptions of themselves and determine their own future, are also necessary for the development and preservation of an ethnic selfconsciousness . In this light, the Reformation of the sixteenth century must be considered as one of the major forces contributing to the emergence of an ethnic, though not a political, self-consciousness among the Slovaks. SOME GENERAL FEATURES OF THE REFORMATION IN SLOVAKIA Before turning to the question of how the Reformation contributed to the growth of Slovak ethnic self-consciousness, it might be helpful to review , at least in some general outlines, the major features of the Reformation in Slovakia.(3) As elsewhere in Europe, the Reformation in Slovakia was rooted in long lasting conflicts within Hungary. The extra-imperial nature of the Sacred Crown of Hungary, the ardent nationalism of the Magyars , the conflict between the Habsburgs and the Zapolyas for the throne of Hungary, the multiplicity of ethnic groups with their inter-ethnic rivalries, the proximity of the Turks, and the complex political relationships between the various segments of the population and between all of them and the kings of Hungary created a chaotic situation within Hungary which enabled the Reformation to spread quickly throughout East Central Europe in general and Slovakia in particular. This political and social situation was exacerbated, at the beginning of the sixteenth century, by the failure of the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church to remedy some ma'{_1ifold abuses which were abhorrent to many. Simony, pluralism, absenteeism, feuds among the hierarchs, incessant demands for funds ; paris.hes and- even bishoprics remaining vacant for years or suffering under incompetent or miserably trained curates - all were being criticized with increasing regularity by both clergy and laymen. Since the hierarchy failed to act to cleanse the Church of the most egregious abuses in practice and theology or to stem the tide of moral laxity, many secular leaders and clerics in Slovakia early heeded Luther' s call for the reform of the life of the Church. Luther's teachings spread quickly into all regions of Slovakia but especially into the cities of central and eastern Slovakia which were SLOVAKIA 51 predominantly German in population. Town after town, noble after noble, went over to the standard of reform. It would be erroneous to assume, as many have, that the laymen and clerics who supported the Reformation did so only out of base economic motives. and a desire for self-aggrandizement. While there were some who were notv eluctant to expropriate the endowments of the Church to enrich themselves , and this included some who remained Catholics , the bulk of the evidence which is available indicates that a great number of magistrates and magnates were conscientiously and legitimately concerned with the quality of pastoral service being provided to them and to those dependent upon them. They were seeking to purify the Church of its most egregious abuses and staunchly defended their rights to encourage the free preaching of the Gospel in their territories and to oversee the collection and distribution of funds for the charitable activities of the Church. These individuals frequently aided the evangelical cause with both money and political support. Many laymen made substantial grants to enable students and pastors from Slovakia to study Lutheran theology abroad or to establish local academies , staffed by reformist rectors and teachers, in the cities and throughout the countryside of Slovakia. This active supervision of the local congregations by the nobles and city councils was possible not only because of the impotency of the hierarchy after 1526 but also because of the provisions of the charters of privileges to the cities and of the patents of nobility which granted to these laymen substantial rights and prerogatives in the supervision of the churches and their resources . (4) So it was that the Lutheran Reformation spread quickly into and throughout Slovakia. Merchants traveling to Germany returned with copies of Luther's writings after 1518 while, beginning in 1522 with the matriculation of George Baumhenckel from Banska Bystrica , an ever increasing stream of students left Slovakia to study at the University of Wittenberg.(5) By 1525 reformist doctrines were known and accepted in Banska Bystrica, Bardejov , Levoca, and in many of the smaller towns and villages of Slovakia. Despite attempts to limit the spread of Lutheranism by the passage of anti-heretic laws by the Hungarian Diets of 1523 and 1525 , the Reformation continued to spread. The defeat of the Hungarian forces by the Turks at Mohacs in 1526, which resulted in the death of King Lous II, the Cardinal Primate of Hungary, several bishops and high nobles , and scores of parish priests and lower nobles, led to a prolonged struggle over the throne of Hungary between Ferdinand I and John Zapolya , the latter supporter by the lesser Magyar nobles . This accentuated the difficulties within Hungary as a 52 SLOVAKIA whole and made it possible for the Reformation to spread throughout Slovakia without meeting any really effective resistance . (6) Because of this leadership vacuum in both Church and State during the early years of the Reformation, the Lutheran movement in Slovakia achieved its successes with a minimum of conflict, a development which is quite remarkable in comparison to what transpired in the rest of Europe during the first half of the sixteenth century. The Lutheran leaders were able to work within and utilize the structures and institutions of the Catholic Church as they moved to fill the vacuum in ecclesiastical leadership at the local and regional levels. Lutheran pastors were called as preachers to serve the congregations in the cities and the countryside and gradually became a majority within the various seniorats or pastoral conferences . By the middle of the sixteenth century, most of the seniorats in Slovakia were comprised of and headed by Lutherans. It is also interesting to note that the particular lization and factionalization which characterized the northern and western European Reformation by 1520 did not emerge in Slovakia until the middle of the century, after the evangelical reform movement was well established. After 1550, however, the Roman Catholic hierarchy began to recover its strength and, especially after the Council of Trent, inaugurated measures designed to regain that which had been lost through weakness and neglect. Aided by Emperor Ferdinand I, the Roman Catholic hierarchy began to apply against the Lutherans the laws of the Diet of 1548 proscribing Anabaptist and Sacramentarian theologies . Seeking to differentiate between their views and those of the other reformist groups in Hungary and to identify themselves clearly with the Augsburg Confession, which had originally been accepted by Emperor Charles V in 1530 and subsequently recognized by Ferdinand and by the Peace of Augsburg of 1555, the Lutherans of Slovakia began to define their faith and dociifine more precisely. Within a period of 21 years, the Lutherans of Slov~ia adopted three major regional confessions of faith, all of them based primarily upon the Augsburg Confession and its Apology and the writings of Philip Melanchthon . In 1548 the five royal free cities of eastern Slovakia, Bardejov , Levoca, Presov, Kosice, and Sabinov, united in accepting the Confessio Pentapolitana prepared by Leonard Stoeckel, Rector of the so-called "Humanist" school in Bardejov. Ten years later, the seven mining cities of central Slovakia, Banska Bystrica, Banska Stiavnica, Kremnica, Nova Bana, Pukanec, tubietova, and Banska Bela, accepted the Confessio Montana prepared by Ulrich Cubicularius. In 1569, the towns of Spis county followed the lead of the larger cities and accepted SLOVAKIA 53 the Confessio Scepusia~a written by Cyriak Koch and Valentin Megander.(7) ' , The supporters of Helvetic theologies did not remain idle, for they too adopted several confessions of faith which defined their doctrine more precisely. As a result, by 1575 the reformation movements in Hungary had divided into separate and distinct groups. Despite a few exceptions , for there were a few Calvinist Slovaks and Lutheran Magyars, the Magyar protestants were adherents to Helvetic Reformed theology while the vast majority of Slovaks and Germans adhered to the faith expressed in their own and the Augsburg confessions. The confessionalism which established the hegemony of Lutheranism in Slovakia and the denominationalization of the Reformation by 1575 did not, however, bring to an end the theological problems of, or controversies among, the Lutherans , and between the Lutherans and the Reformed. After 1580 , the doctrines of the Real Presence of the body and blood of Christ in the Lord' s Supper and the Communication of Attributes, that is that the attributes of Christ's divine nature were communicated to his human nature , continued to plague the Lutherans in Slovakia.(8) From the Synod of Kremnica in 1580 until the synods of Zilina (1610) and Spisske Podhradie (1614) , the Lutherans of Slovakia debated these theological points in connection with the question of whether or not they should accept the Formula of Concord (1577) , as contained in the Book of Concord (1580) , as normative for their own theology. Since the Lutherans of Slovakia had consistently defended their right to practice the Lutheran faith by citing its recognition in Germany by the Hungarian kings as emperors , many were reluctant to accept the Formula and Book of Concord as their doctrinal norm . They felt that they could be charged with having accepted a new , nonrecognized confession of faith. They preferred, therefore , to stand by their own confession of faith. There were also some who were reluctant to accept the Formula of Concord because they suspected that it was intended to displace the writings of Philip Melanchthon who had taught and befriended many of the clergy of Slovakia while they were studying at the University of Wittenberg . Many of these individuals tended to question the precise definitions and formulations of the doctrines of the Eucharist and the Communication of Attributes contained in the Formula and most of these individuals were of German ancestry. The defenders of Lutheran orthodoxy as defined by the Formula, therefore , attacked these moderates as Cryptocalvinists. Among the leading spokesmen for Lutheran orthodoxy were the Slovaks Elias Lani and Severinus Scultety who, together with the 54 SLOVAKIA nobleman Gregor Horvath Stancic de Hradecz and the German Albert Grawer , urged the acceptance of the Book of Concord at the colloquies held in Csepreg (1591) and in Kezmarok (1595-1596), and at many of the synods held regularly by the various regional pastoral conferences throughout eastern Slovakia. (9) The debate over the acceptance of the Book of Concord might have been even more prolonged had not the political situation changed drastically. In 1592 the truce between the Habsburgs and the Turks was shattered and the Fifteen Years' War ensued. During the course of this struggle, the Catholic hierarchy tried to confiscate the churches of the Lutherans in several cities in Slovakia while, in 1604, Matthias II attempted to extend royal authority by repudiating the rights of the nobles and the cities to discuss matters pertaining to religion in the Diet of Hungary. As in the first days of the Reformation, the lay leaders came to the aid of the Protestant groups. The Reformed magnate, Stephen Bocskay of Transylvania, took up arms against the Habsburgs and, after gaining control of royal Hungary (Slovakia), forced Matthias to repudiate as unconstitutional the decree of 1604 and to accept the Peace of Vienna of 1606 which established the right of the Lutherans and Calvinists to exist in Hungary much as the Peace of Augsburg of 1555 had sanctioned Lutheranism in the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation.(10) The terms of the Peace of Vienna were further refined and defined by the decisions of the Diet of 1608 which not only clearly sanctioned the right of the Lutherans and Calvinists to practice their own faith but also to establish their own independent ecclesiastical institutions . Under the sponsorship of the Palatine (Chancellor) of Hungary, the Lutheran magnate George Thurzo, representatives of the Lutherans in the counties of western Slovakia met in Zilina on March 27-30, 1610 and created three superintendencies to administer the Lutheran congregations .(11) The Synod also established the rules governing the administrative and other activities of the superintendents and accepted the Formula of Concord and the Book of Concord as the norm and guide for Lutheran doctrine. Already accepted py the Lutherans in Gerner county in 1604, and in Turiec county in 1608 ~t the Synod of Turciansky Sviity Martin,(12) the Book of Concord was also accepted by the eastern cities of Spis and Saris counties in January of 1614 at the Synod of Spisske Podhradie. (13) It is important to note that the organizations established by the synods of Zilina and Spisske Podhradie, as well as those of the other regions of Slovakia which had been or would be confirmed by the Palatine, resulted in a diminution of lay influence in the ecclesiastical SLOVAKIA 55 organizations in favor of clerical authority and administration. This development was _contracy to trends elsewhere in Europe . To be sure, the local congregations s\ill had lay patrons or defenders but the superintendencies and districts were independent of direct lay supervision. This centralization of the regional administration of the Lutheran churches in the hands of the clergy while, at the same time, the superintendencies remained independent of each other, both helped and hindered the maintenance of Lutheranism in Slovakia during the Counter-Reformation of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries . The lack of a single administrative unit for all the Lutherans in Slovakia made it difficult for them to resist effectively the combined forces of the Roman Catholic Church and the Habsburgs. On the other hand, since the leadership of the Lutheran movement was primarily in the hands of the clergy, it was able to survive the strong pressures exerted upon it by the state and the noble families who returned to the Catholic Church. Despite the vicissitudes of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth century, the Lutherans continued to maintain their faith and practices despite greatly reduced numbers and stringent restrictions. Although Slovak Lutherans became and have remained a minority within the Slovak people, the Reformation remained indelibly etched upon the consciousness of the Slovaks. As F. G. Heymann noted: Among the Slovak gentry and intellegentsia, Lutheranism maintained a foothold, and its adherents remained one of the most active, culturally productive and nationally conscious elements of the Slovak people in the period down to the late eighteenth century .(14) Indeed, many of the leaders of the national revival of the late eighteenth and the nineteenth centuries in Slovakia, as well as in Bohemia and Hungary, were raised in Lutheran homes and parsonages and were imbued with the evangelical heritage. Jan Kollar, I.:udovit Stur, Jozef Hurban, Michal Miloslav Hodza, Karol Kuzmany , and many others, were either Lutheran clergymen or teachers, or the sons of Lutheran pastors and teachers.(15) What explains this tenacity of the Lutheran tradition in Slovakia and its impact upon the development of Slovak ethnic selfconsciousness? In what way did the Lutheran Reformation aid in the development of the ethnic awareness of the Slovaks? Although many explanations can be proferred, it appears that the Reformation contributed to the growth of a Slovak ethnic self-awareness and a Slovak 56 SLOVAKIA culture in at least three ways. The Reformation provided an opportunity for Slovaks to assume leadership roles in the Lutheran Church in Slovakia as administrators and theologians. The Lutheran movement established evangelical schools throughout Slovakia which provided Slovaks with an opportunity to obtain more than a rudimentary education. Finally, the liturgical, devotional, and theological works produced by Slovak Lutherans enabled them to maintain their peculiar identity vis-a-vis both the Magyars and the Germans. SLOVAKS AS LEADERS OF LUTHERANISM IN SLOVAKIA During the early years of the Reformation in Slovakia, the first to adhere to the teachings of Luther were the Germans of the cities of central and eastern Slovakia. The Slovaks were drawn to Lutheranism slowly but steadily, following the lead of the German population and of the magnates and nobles. However, by the last third of the sixteenth century, Slovaks had become the majority in the Lutheran movement and Slovak clerics began to emerge as leaders in the administration of the Lutheran congregations and seniorats and as influential theologians. It was during the theological controversies over the acceptance of the Formula and Book of Concord that Slovak clergy emerged as the defenders of Lutheran orthodoxy in Slovakia. Elias Lani, Severin Skultety and the nobleman Gregor Horvath Stancic were unswerving in their advocacy of the Book of Concord at the synods and colloquies held during the last decade of the sixteenth century. It is interesting to note that the Book of Concord was accepted first in those seniorats and districts in which Slovaks were in the majority while the cities of the central montana district and of Spis and Saris counties where German clergy were in the majority, the Book of Concord was accepted only after the synods of Zilina and Spisske Podhradie, and even then, only at the urging of the Thurzos and with some reluctance . While the reasons for the Slovak acceptance of Lutheran orthodoxy are still difficult to determine with any certainty, there is evidence that one of the reasons was the influence of the Lutheran school at Straza, supported by Stancic, and others like it in Slovakia. Althq_ugh many Slovaks went to Wittenberg, there were others who received 'their theological education in Slovakia and Strafa was the foremost school among those providing instruction in theology in Slovakia. Stancic, the patron of the school, was no mere theological dilettante but a capable lay theologian cognizant of theological developments at home and in Germany and SLOVAKIA 57 Switzerland.(16) His support for the Book of Concord and Lutheran orthodoxy permeated his shortlived school whose most illustrious graduate and teacher was Elias Lani.(17) Lani was on~ of th~ most persuasive and forceful leaders of Lutheranism in Slovakia dµring the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries and must be considered one of the leading organizers and theologians of the Lutheran movement in Slovakia. While still in eastern Slovakia during the 1590s, Lani participated in the colloquies held at Csepreg and Kezmarok and, during the disputes with Sebastian Ambrosius or Lam and other Cryptocalvinists over adiaphora or nonessential theological matters, such as the use of pictures in churches, Lani wrote several defenses of the orthodox Lutheran position upholding Christian liberty.(18) He subsequently moved to Mosovce where, in 1598, he was elected Senior of the pastoral conferences in Turiec county and there gained the acceptance of the Formula of Concord and of rules governing the life of the clergy of the conference. Shortly after the Synod of Turciansky Svaty Martin of March 1608 he was called to serve as the Pastor at Vel'ka Bytca, the residence of George Thurzo and there served the Palatine as pastor and advisor. Elected Senior of the Upper Trencin Seniorat in January 1609 he was instrumental in assisting Thurzo in organizing the Synod of Zilina and his influence can be clearly seen in the deliberations and decisions of the Synod.(19) While Lani, who died in 1618, was the most notable of the Slovak theologians of the Reformation Era, he was certainly not the only Slovak to attain a position of leadership within the Church. Severin Skultety was a lector in Bardejov, a teacher at Presov, and the Senior of the five royal free cities of eastern Slovakia from 1593 until his death in 1600. He , too, was an associate of Stancic and a supporter of the Book of Concord. He began a history of the Lutheran movement in Slovakia and, along with other original works, published in Bardejov in 1581 a translation into Slovak of Luther's Small Catechism. (20) Other theologians of significance include Jan Pruno, who published a SlovakLatin edition of the Small Catechism in Hlohovec c. 1585, and also Leonard Mokosin, Senior in Liptov, who authored an epic poem based upon the books of the Old Testament. Slovaks, such as Daniel Pribis, Stefan Pilarik , and Jakub Jakubei, the intellectual presager of Jan Kollar, continued to make important contributions to the theological development of the Lutheran movement in Slovakia during the seventeenth century. Although most of the works of these theologians were written in Latin and were heavily influenced by the Lutheran theologians of Germany, it must be recognized that the theological 58 SLOVAKIA activity of Slovaks enabled Lutheranism in Slovakia to become more than merely a German religion. Slovaks were also active in the administration of the Lutheran Church in Slovakia, especially in the counties of western Slovakia. At the Synod of Zilina, the three superintendents elected by the nobles, clergy, and representatives of some of the towns, were the Slovaks Lani, Samuel Melikus, and Isaak Abrahamides Hrochotius or Hrochotsky, to whom the two German and the Magyar inspectors were responsible.(21) They were followed by a long line of Slovak superintendents who administered the various districts or superintendencies of the Lutherans in Slovakia. Of the seven major superintendencies, Germans predominated only in the one for the mining cities of central Slovakia and in the two in Spis and Saris counties for the five royal free cities and for the 24 Spis cities. The rest were largely Slovak and normally headed by Slovak superintendents. The Slovak influence in the administration of the Lutheran Church can be even more clearly appreciated when it is recognized that the majority of the some 800-900 Lutheran congregations in Slovakia were composed of Slovaks and had pastors of the same background. Even in the towns where the German population predominated, Slovaks had their own congregations and pastors who ministered to their specific needs, preaching to and teaching the members of these congregations in their own language. By preaching and teaching in the vernacular, the Slovak Lutheran clergymen perpetuated the use of Slovak and fostered the awareness of the Slovaks as a particular and distinct ethnic group within the Hungarian kingdom. As theologians and administrators the Slovak clergy guided and enriched the life of Slovak Lutherans and afforded them an opportunity to express their own faith in a language comprehensible to them. At the same time, the availability of positions as clerics in the Lutheran church made it possible for Slovak individuals to achieve positions of prominence and leadership in their communities and aided in the creation of a Slovak intelligentsia. \ LUTHERANISM, EDUCATION, AND SLOVAK ETHNICITY Among the institutions which helped to spread the Lutheran Reformation throughout Slovakia and which, during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, perpetuated its heritage, the evangelical schools of Slovakia were especially important. Lutherans throughout SLOVAKIA 59 Europe emphasized popular education, and evangelical schools were established and supported by Lutheran communities. According to Johann Rezik, there were four types of schools which emerged in Slovakia during the Reformation Era: the Scholae Magnatum et Nob ilium; the Scholae Civitatenses; the Scholae Oppidane ; and the Scholae Pagenses ~(22) Th~se city, town and village schools, supported by the local authorities or by nobles, did not differ so much in their curricula as in the scope of their programs, the character of their patrons, and in the size and composition of their student bodies . The most important were the city Latin schools, especially those of the larger free cities, which were often endowed by a magnate in addition to receiving regular financial support from the magistrates of the cities.(23) Under lay control, but usually directed by a rector who had received some theological training, the municipal Latin schools became the centers of reformist teaching and continued the humanist pedagogical tradition in Slovakia. Although many would close because of financial difficulties or were taken over by Roman Catholics during the turmoil of the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, the schools of Slovakia attained a great repute throughout Hungary and were recognized for their academic excellence in both the German states and in Poland. The most significant of the early evangelical schools were located in Kezmarok, Presov, Banska Bystrica, Levoca, and Bardejov.(24) Under the rectorate of Leonard Stoeckel (d. 1560) a protege and friend of Melanchthon, Bardejov was considered the premier educational institution in Slovakia and attracted the sons of magnates and nobles as well as of the citizens of the cities. Stoeckel prepared the Leges Scholae Bartphensis in 1540 which combined the classic humanist pedagogical concerns with Lutheran theology .(25) Borrowing heavily but not slavishly from the German humanists, such as John Agricola, Herman Talechi and Philip Melanchthon, Stoeckel constructed a curriculum which emphasized the study of Latin, the classical authors, and the Lutheran faith . Latin was the medium of instruction and each day began with readings from the Scriptures while regular attendance at church services was also required. The students also put on plays, with heavy doctrinal content, for the community and, under the direction of a cantor, sang at regular and special services in the town church. Although other school orders, such as those for Banska Bystrica and Banska Stiavnica by Michael Pechov, and variations on Abraham Schremmel's ordinances for the Strasbourg schools were also used in Slovakia, the Leges of Stoeckel was the most influential. (26) His 60 SLOVAKIA teaching of the doctrines of the Augsburg Confession through the humanist methodology became standard in the evangelical schools of Slovakia. Not only were the instructors Lutheran, but the materials used for instruction also had a Lutheran perspective, for among the textbooks used were the Scriptures, Luther's Small Catechism, Melanchthon's Examen Theologicum, Loci Communes, Rhetorica, Dialectica, and his Entymoligia.(27) It should also be noted that although most of the academic materials and instruction were in Latin, during the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries some scholarly works in Slovak began to appear ; indeed, most of the works published in Slovak during the sixteenth century, even of a non-theological nature, were published by evangelicals who maintained numerous presses throughout Slovakia. While the curricula of these schools were not intended to meet the particular needs of Slovaks , but were to provide all students with a sound basic humanist education in preparation for further study at the major universities of Europe, especially Wittenberg, the schools did admit students of Slovak birth. In fact there were schools, such as those at Zilina, Turciansky Svaty Martin, Mosovce, Trencin, and Straza where the majority of students were Slovak.(28) The school at Straza became a center for the study of Lutheran theology for those Slovaks who were unable to go abroad to complete their education. All of these schools provided Slovaks with an opportunity to acquire more than just a rudimentary education and prepared them to assume positions of leadership and responsibility in Slovakia. The Slovak intelligentsia of the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, as were their counterparts during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, were greatly influenced by intellectual developments in Germany and they not only participated in the broader intellectual movements of Europe but adapted them to meet their own particular needs and the situation within Slovakia. The writings of Slovak Lutheran intellectuals and the curricula of the Lutheran schools of Slovakia helped to foster a greater appreciation of the heritage and culture of the Slovak people and it is not surprising that many of the leaders of the Slovak national revival were educated in the Lutheran tradition in the evangelical schools of Sloyakia. \ LUTHERANISM AND THE EMERGENCE OF SLOVAK LITERATURE During the early stages of the Reformation in Slovakia there were no works published in Slovak. The clergy of Slovak ancestry, educated SLOVAKIA 61 in the Latin schools, could read for themselves the works published in Latin and German and were usually content to utilize Latin, the lingua franca of the sixteenth · century, to express publicly their own theological views. But, as '\ more and more Slovaks adhered to the Lutheran faith with its emph~sis upon vernacular worship, the need for devotional and liturgical works in Slovak became increasingly obvious. Already in 1546 the first work published in Slovak, a devotional book by Vasek z Zalesin, was printed in Wittenberg while the first book in Slovak published in Slovakia was Scultety' s translation of the Small Catechism of Luther. (29) Of more immediate significance for the spread of Lutheranism among the Slovaks was the development of Slovak liturgies and hymnody. During the early years of the Reformation this need was met by borrowing materials produced by Czech Utraquists and the Unitas Fratrum, which could be used by Slovaks without any great difficulty, and by translations into Slovak of hymns by Luther and other reformers and of German orders of worship , especially the Wittenberg Order of 1533.(30) By 1560 there were reports of Lutheran services being held in Slovak not only in the almost completely Slovak areas of Liptov county and along the Vah but also in the mining cities of central Slovakia.(31) In 1580 the Synod of Trencin approved its own church order, the Canones rituum sacrorum Trenchini, which established in 27 articles the rules governing the liturgical life of the Lutherans in the region along the Vah river.(32) The use of Slovak in worship was also encouraged by the appearance of the Bohemian Agenda of 1581. This agenda was used as a guide in the preparation of the Bystrica Agenda, in manuscript form, in 1585. Revised in 1595 and again in 1608, the Bystrica Agenda was approved in 1613 by the Lutheran superintendents of western Slovakia who, following the directions of the Synod of Zilina, were to establish a standard for the liturgical practices of the Slovak congregations under their jurisdiction. (33) But these agendas and church orders, which aided in the standardization of liturgical language and practice among the Lutheran congregations of Slovakia, could not meet all of the worship and devotional needs of the Slovak population since literary Slovak had not yet been codified . These needs were met by the appearance of a new Czech translation of the Bible and by the compilation of an hymnbook by George Tranovsky. These works provided the Slovaks with a vernacular devotional literature in kralicina Czech which was adopted and adapted for use as the literary language of the Slovak Lutherans until the 19th century. 62 SLOVAKIA Since the Germans of Slovakia generally utilized the Bible translation of Luther it was the Slovaks who most acutely felt the need for a vernacular Bible. Early in the Reformation Era they relied on the old Slavic version of Sts. Cyril and Methodius or on the Venetian or Nuremberg Czech translations which had found their way into Slovakia.(34) However, the Kralice Bible translation proved to be the most acceptable of the Czech translations and became the standard one used by the Slovak Lutherans, remaining in general use even into the twentieth century. The Kralice Bible, published in six volumes from 1579-1593, was the work of a translation committee under the chairmanship of a Moravian Bishop of the Unitas Fratrum. John Zerotin of Moravia opened his castle to them and helped to underwrite the expenses involved in the printing of the translation.(35) George Thurzo, a close friend of Zerotin, obtained copies of the work and encouraged its use by the Slovak Lutherans in his lands who did appropriate it for both public and private devotions.(36) Throughout Hungary and Slovakia meanwhile, the use of hymns sung by the congregation had become quite common early in the Reformation. The earliest hymns used by the Slovaks were translations of the Psalms or of the medieval "gradual" or "sequence" hymns and were usually prepared in manuscript form.(37) Many of Luther's hymns and those of his co-workers were translated while Czech evangelical or Hussite hymns were borrowed intact or rephrased. Among the early Slovak hymn writers were George Banovsky, Jan Pruno, Elias Lani, and Daniel Pribis. Pribis, for example , supplemented his Catechism of 1634 with a collection of 113 hymns in Slovak which included seven of his own and eight by Lani.(38) The most noted writer and compiler of hymns for the Slovak Lutherans was Tranovsky. Born in 1591 in Tesin (eastern Silesia) , Tranovsky was brought up in the Lutheran faith and in April 1607 entered the University of Wittenberg. After a short stay in Prague he traveled to eastern Moravia but , after the outbreak of the Thirty Years ' War in 1618 Tranovsky was forced to flee to Slovakia where, on May 29, 1637, he died while serving as the pastor of the Slovak Lutheran congregation at Liptovsky Svaty Mikulas.(39) His Cithara Sanctorum, or Harp of the Saints , was a devotional aitd liturgical guide for individuals as well as a hymnbook for congregations ; Seven hundred pages long, the first edition of the work was -divided into four major sections , each containing hymns for the various seasons , festivals , and services of the ecclesiastical year, along with a section of hymns on specific doctrines arranged according to the structure of the Small Catechism of Luther. The hymnal proper was followed by a series of SLOVAKIA 63 \ indices , a collection of prayers , and an indication of the preferred liturgy to be used. No other book , except for the Kralice Bible, had such a great significance for the Slovak Lutherans. It can be said that the Cithara Sanctorum , or " Tranoscius " as it became popularly known , was the Slovak expression , in song and verse , of the spirit and content of the Lutheran Reformation and became the focus of Slovak Lutheran devotional life . Both Jan Kollar and P. J . Safarik emphasized the cultural significance of the "Tranoscius" and openly acknowledged their own indebtedness to Tranovsky.(40) But if the Kralice Bible and the ''Tranoscius '' were the epitome of Slovak Lutheran devotional and cultural expressions they were not the only influences upon the development of Slovak literature. Slovak postilla or sermon collections were also produced late in the sixteenth century while Nikodem Sartorius of Zvolen prepared the first Slovak commentary on the Bible.(41) Prayer books and religious poetry collections also became very popular. While it would certainly be an overstatement to claim that the heritage of Reformation Lutheranism was the only or even the most notable influence upon the development of a Slovak ethnic selfconsciousness , it would be equally erroneous not to recognize that the Reformation and the Lutheran heritage did help to foster such a selfconsciousness . As for other peoples elsewhere in Europe, the Lutheran Reformation accentuated the linguistic and ethnic peculiarities of the Slovaks and , as the Slovak Lutherans continued to practice their faith and worship in their own langauge and to guide the fortunes of their own church, they kept alive, in their religious life and experiences, their own ethno-linguistic individuality and identity. It is not surprising then, that from the Lutheran tradition came many of those leaders of the national revival who, while they examined and treasured their past, also sought to mold the destiny of their people and to make them into a modern nation. FOOTNOTES David P . Daniel , The Historiograp hy of the R eformation in Slo vakia (St . Louis, Mo.: 1977), 4. (1) (2) The most significant recent work on the history of the Slovaks and their ethnic selfconsciousness is the three volume study of Ludwig von Gogolak, B eitriige zur Geschichte des slowak ischen Volk es (Munich : 1963-1972 ). Volume I, Die N ationswerdung de r Slowaken und die Anfiinge der tschechoslowakischen Frag e, 1526-1790 is an exce llent examination of the relationship of the Reformation to Slovak ethnicity. An earlier study of importance is T. J . G. Locher, Die nationale Differe nzierung und 64 SLOVAKIA lntegrierung der Slowaken und Tschechen in ihrem geschichtlichen Verlauf bis 1848 (Haarlem: 1931) . (3) For a more detailed survey of the Reformation Era in Slovakia in English see David P. Daniel , "Highlights of the Lutheran Reformation in Slovakia," Concordia Theological Quarterly 42 :1 (1978), 21-34. (4) Gustav Hammann, " Magister Nicolaus von Sabinov : Ein Beitrag uber den Humanismus und die fruehe Reformation in der Slowakei," Zeitschrift fu er Ostforschung 16 (1967), 25-40 . (5) Johann Borbis, Die euangelisch-lutherische Kirche Ungarns (Noerdlingen: 1864), 29-30; J . P. Tomasik, Andenken an die 300-jahrige Jubelfeier der euangelischen Gemeine in der k. Freistadt Leutschau (Leutschau : 1844) , 17-18. (6)Branislav Varsik, "K pociatkom Reformacie na Slovensku ," Historica Slouaca I/II (1940-41), 304-335. (7) Viktor Bruckner (ed .), Gedenkbuch anlasslich der 400-jahrigen Jahreswende der Confessio Augustana (Leipzig : 1930) , 3-67 . (8) Daniel , "Highlights," 29-30. (9) Jan Kvacala , Dejiny Reformacie na Slo ue nsku (Lipt . Sv. Mikulas: 1935), 131-136. Kvacala's book is the standard history of the Slovak Reformation in Slovak. For other works on the Reformation in Slovakia see Jarold K. Zeman , The Hussite Movement and the Reformation in Bohemia, Moravia and Slovakia (1350-1650) (Ann Arbor: 1977), and also Daniel, The Historiography of the Reformation in Slovakia. (10) An excellent study of the circumstances surrounding Bocskay 's Rebellion and the Peace of Vienna is Geza Lencz, Der Au/stand Bocskays und der Wiener Friede. Eine kirchenhistorische Studie (Debreczen: 1917) . (11) Borbis , 124-126 ; Kvacala , 147-148. (12) Kvacala, 132; Otto Skrovina, Z historie turc':ianskeho euanj. se niorcitu ajeho sborou (Tore . Sv. Martin : 1929), 9-10 . (13) For the acts of the Synod of Zilina and of Spisske Podhradie see Johannes Szeberinyi, Corpus maxime memorabilium synodorum euangelicarum Augustanae Confessionis in Hungaria cum praefatione Historica in Singulas (Pesthini: 1848) , 1542 . (14) Frederick G. Heymann, Poland and Czechoslovakia (Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: 1966) , 63. (15) See Thomas Capek, The Slovaks of Hungary. Slavs and Panslauism (New York : 1906) for the earliest study of the Slovaks and the Slovak national revival in English. (16) Stancic translated into Hungarian several works of the noted orthodox Lutheran theologian , Martin Chernnitz . He also wrote an \ account of the colloquy held at Csepreg : Historia Colloquii Chepregiensis, De Coen~ Domini _. . . (Bartphae: 1591) . (17) For an examination of the life of Lani see Jan Mocko, Elicis Lcini, prvy superintendent cirkue euanj. augs. uyzn. u Uhrach ajeho doba (Lipt. Sv . Mikulas: 1902). His theological significance is treated by Jan Kvacala, " El. Lani a vit'azstvo lutherskeho smeru v evanjelickej cirkvi na Slovensku," Viera a ueda I (1930), 153-165 . (18) Elias Lani, Scutum Libertatis Christianae in usu Ceremoniarum nominatim autem imaginum: oppositum Disceptationi D. Thomae Fabricii Tholnensis, Ministri Patakini, de Christianorum imaginibus (Bartphae : 1595); and also Defen sio libertatis SLOVAKIA 65 Christianae in vsv imaginum Historico, quam pro asserendo scvto svo, adversvs Exarmationem Thomae Fabricij (Bartphae : n.d.). (19) Juraj Janoska, 0 Synode Zilinskej (Lipt. Sv. Mikulas: 1910) and E. A. Doleschall, "Die Silleiner Synode," Jahrbuch der Gesellschaft fuer die Geschichte des Protestantismus in Oesterreic_h 4 (1883), 96-104. (20) Gogolak, I, 43. (21) Borbis, 47 . (22) Kvacala, Dejiny, 101-102. (23) Peter Vajcik, Skolstvo, §tudijne a §kolske poriadky na Slovensku v 16. storoc5i (Bratislava: 1955). 27, 57; Johann Liptak and Roland Steinacker, Deutsche ev. Schulwesen in der Slowakei (Stuttgart: 1957) , 5-15; Johann Liptak, Geschichte des evangelischenLyzeumsA .B . inKiismark (Kiismark: 1933) , 17-18, 26-29. (24) Vajcik, 2-13 . (25) Johann Samuel Klein, Nachrichten von den Lebensumstiinden und Schriften evangelischer Prediger in alien Gemeine des Koenigreichs Ungarn I (Leipzig: 1787), 332-341; E. Szelenyi, " Ev. Pedagoes," in V. Bruckner (Ed.), Gedenkbuch, 439-440. (26) Vajcik, 81 ff. and 109 ff. (27) Ibid . , 110-112; 120-123. See also Janos Breznyik , A Selmecbcinyai cigost. hitv. evang. egyhaz es lyceum tortenete (Selmecbanyan: 1883) , 350-364. (28) Gogolak, I, 45-46. (29) Ibid., 44 . (30) Jan Petrik, Dejiny slovenskych evanjelickych a. v. sluiieb Bozich (Lipt. Sv . Mikulas: 1946) , 54-62, 99-103. (31) Gogolak, I, 46-47. (32) Petrik, 65-91. (33) Ibid., 103-116. (34) Edmund DeSchweinitz, History of the Church Known as the Unitas Fratrum (Bethlehem, Pa.: 1901), 410. (35) Ibid., 423-424; Mirjam Bohatcova, " Bible Kralicka, jeji vznik a vyznam," in Vlasta Fialova, Kralice (Brno: 1959), 51-61. (36) Gogolak, I, 59. (37) Mihaly Bucsay, Geschichte des Protestantismus in Ungarn (Stuttgart: 1959), 66-67 , 76 . (38) Jaroslav Vajda, "A History of the Cithara Sanctorum (Tranoscius) (unpulished B.D. thesis, Concordia Theological Seminary, St. Louis, 1944) , 13 f. (39) For the life and significance of Tranovsky see Jan P . Durovic, Zivotopis Juraja Tranovskeho (Lipt. Sv . Mikulas: 1942) , Jan Mocko, Zivot Jura Tranovskeho (Senice : 1891), and Walter Stoekl, " Georg Tranoscius, der groesste lutherische Liederdichter der Slowakei,' ' in Desider Alexy (ed .), Roland Steinacker: Ein Leben fuer Kirche und Volk : Festschrift zur 90 Geburtstag von R . Steinacker (Stuttgart: 1960) , 54-78 . (40) Gogolak, I, 84 . (41) Ibid . , 61-65.  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Protestant Reformation and Slovak Ethnic Consciousness Description An account of the resource David P. Daniel Slovakia, Vol. 28 (No. 51-52), 1978-79 pp. 49-65 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Daniel, David P., 1940-2020 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1978-79 SNK https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/4cf23d1de317242aa7b3b53d9845a1ba.pdf 5ae41e4c22c3723c5c58f0fff39e3903 PDF Text Text 28 SLOVAKIA mE PURGE IN PRAGUE JOSEPH A. MIKUŠ Two very prominent Communis,t personalities were executed recently in Prague: Karel Slansky, former Seeretary General of the Czech Communist Party, and Vladimír C lementis, former Forelgn Minister of Czecho-Slovakia. To Central-European observers probably the grealtest a,urprjse of the Prague purge tria! was the faot that two different "deviationisms" were tried and convicted by the same court a.'t one and the same Ume: the "Zionism" or the Jewish group, headed by Slansky, and the ",Slovak nationalism" of Clementis. This may appear as the same kind of crime ~rom an external and purely Jegalistic view or Communist "justice," bu:t politioally there Js a clear distinction between the two "deviaitionisms." Three years ago Slansky and Clementis were regarded as antagonistic personalities in the Communist Party of Czecho-Slovakia. At that time Slansky w-as an lmportant leader of "proletarlan internationalism," the accepted Communi-st concept of international colJaboration. For a long tíme he was considered as "a man of Moscow." But being an lntellectual, he was obsessed wlth the very dangerous ambltlon of trylng to overshadow "the man from the people," Mr. Gdttwald. Slansky was, therefore, the victim of a persona! rivalry with Gottwald in their struggle for power. As Secretary General of the Czech Communlst Party, Slansky thought he could play the role of Stalln in Czecho-61ovakla, while for Gdttwald it would be sufficient to play the role of Shvernlk. Now, at the brlal, this rlvalry had to be ťonsidered and expresseed in terms of criminal law. Slnce the Soviet Union bad to change its aVtltude toward Israel, consldering the Ara:b world of more lmportance on the po!itical chessboard, lt was eai!y to construct the crlme of Slansky as a colluslon wlth a foreign power agalnst -the interests of the Czecho-'Slovak State. The story of Clementls !s a different one. In the eyes of Moscow, his Communist record slnce 1939 w,as not good; 1t did not conform wifä Stalinlst pollcy. At .fäat time, you wlll recall, he expresseď Mmself agaln1>t the Rlbbentrop•Molotov Pact. At the end of Worlcl War II, even though he was a member of the Benes Government In London, Clementis preferred not to return to Prague via Moscow. And Moscow remembered. So did Gottwald. Molotov was cool toward Clementis at 11.he Peace Conference In Parls in 1946. Durlng a dlplomatlc receptlon, Mr. Molotov went fi.rst to exchange greetlngs with Mr. Hajdu, then only a member of the Czech0-'Slovak delegatlon, and only 'then approached Mr. Clementls, the Under.Secretary of State and Actlng Chief of the delegatlon. After the death of Jan Masaryk, Clementls became Minister of Foreign Affairs. Mr. Slansky, Secretary General of the Communist Party, together with three Under-Seoretarles in the Ministry or Foreign Affalra - Vavro Hajdu, Arthur London and Friedrich Gemlnder consplred against hlm. While -a ttending the UNO General A.ssemb!y sess!ons in New York, in 1949, as Chief of the Czecho-Slovak �iLOVAKIA 29 delegation, Clementls lost control of hls Ministry a:t home. Under the direction of Wllllam Siroky, then Vice-Premler, Hajdu, London and Geminder took over the controls of the Foreign Affairs Ministry and from that Ume on Mr. Clementis became their potential cal}tive. In November, 1949, rumors began to circulate in the world press that Mr. Clemen,us was not dispos ed to return to Czecho-Slovakia any more. But then Mr. Gottwald sent Mrs. Clementls by plane to New York to convince her husband that everythlng was in order and he could fully depend on the Presldenťs trust and protection. Mir. Clementis gave in to the pleadings of his wife and returned to Prague aibout the middle or December, 1949. There he wa.s greeted at the former Wilson Station by Mr. Slroky and the consplring Under-sSecretaries. Four months Iater, on Marc-h 14, 1950, Olementis was obliged ·to resign bis office "voluntair!ly" and a year later, in February 1951, he was lncarcerated. As far as intern,a l politics is concerned, Mr. Clementis wa.s partisan to a federative reform in Czecho-Slovakia and stood for certain nat:ional liberties in bis na:tive Slovakla. Clemel'lJtis, therefore became a victlm both of the "StallnL~m" of Moscow and the centralism of Prague. The next purge tria! is supposed to take place in a short time in Bratislava, capital of Slovakia, against a group of "Titoist" devia tion:lsts, among whom we may flnd: Gustav H usak, former Chief of the autonomous Government of Slovakla, Karol Schmidke, former president of the autonomous Parliament In Bratislava, Ladislav "Novomesky, former Minister of Educa:tion ln tbe Slov,ak autonomous Government, Daniel Okaly, b.rother-Jn-law of Clementis and former Minister of Interlor ln Slov-akia, Ivan Horvat, former M!nlsier Plenipotentiary in Budapest, and otbers. • • • WHO SAI D IT ? "The Czech People's Party regards the transfer of Germans as a historical success, lndeed, whlch with its slgnlficance falls In line immediatly next to the successful conclusion of the treaty with the USSR. . . , For thls success we are obllgated to Šrámek's government with great gratltude. . . . We were interested in gettlng rld of t he Germans as speedily as possible. Allow me on this occaslon to mentlon a pol!tician, who alongslde of President Beneš and Monsignor Šrámek had a signiflcant share in this plan of transfer. lt was Mr. Minister Dr. Rlpka (applause). Slnce the Autumn of 1938 I have been bis intimate fellow-worker. . . Ripka worked on the transfer of Germans, because he regarded the war that had erupted at that Ume as a really historlcal opportunity to clean our !and of burdensome German ballast ... AU the groups of the National Front at the end of 1943 even fully agreed wlth thls line and, therefore, the trans fer of the Germans ls also the result of the joint effort of all the groups and partles of the Natlonal Front. We shall exclude no one from thls success even though lt !s true that, e.g., the Communist Party in 1939- 1941 did not have so unanlmous and so uncompromlslngly Slovanic a conceptlon of the matter as lt ha.s today." - (Dr. Ivo Ducháček in the Prague Provis1onal Natlonal Assembly, March 8, 1946. He ls now supposed to be the "big wheel" in the Czechoslovak Divlslon of the VOICE OF AMERICA). � 28 SLOVAKIA mE PURGE IN PRAGUE JOSEPH A. MIKUŠ Two very prominent Communis,t personalities were executed recently in Prague: Karel Slansky, former Seeretary General of the Czech Communist Party, and Vladimír C lementis, former Forelgn Minister of Czecho-Slovakia. To Central-European observers probably the grealtest a,urprjse of the Prague purge tria! was the faot that two different "deviationisms" were tried and convicted by the same court a.'t one and the same Ume: the "Zionism" or the Jewish group, headed by Slansky, and the ",Slovak nationalism" of Clementis. This may appear as the same kind of crime ~rom an external and purely Jegalistic view or Communist "justice," bu:t politioally there Js a clear distinction between the two "deviaitionisms." Three years ago Slansky and Clementis were regarded as antagonistic personalities in the Communist Party of Czecho-Slovakia. At that time Slansky w-as an lmportant leader of "proletarlan internationalism," the accepted Communi-st concept of international colJaboration. For a long tíme he was considered as "a man of Moscow." But being an lntellectual, he was obsessed wlth the very dangerous ambltlon of trylng to overshadow "the man from the people," Mr. Gdttwald. Slansky was, therefore, the victim of a persona! rivalry with Gottwald in their struggle for power. As Secretary General of the Czech Communlst Party, Slansky thought he could play the role of Stalln in Czecho-61ovakla, while for Gdttwald it would be sufficient to play the role of Shvernlk. Now, at the brlal, this rlvalry had to be ťonsidered and expresseed in terms of criminal law. Slnce the Soviet Union bad to change its aVtltude toward Israel, consldering the Ara:b world of more lmportance on the po!itical chessboard, lt was eai!y to construct the crlme of Slansky as a colluslon wlth a foreign power agalnst -the interests of the Czecho-'Slovak State. The story of Clementls !s a different one. In the eyes of Moscow, his Communist record slnce 1939 w,as not good; 1t did not conform wifä Stalinlst pollcy. At .fäat time, you wlll recall, he expresseď Mmself agaln1>t the Rlbbentrop•Molotov Pact. At the end of Worlcl War II, even though he was a member of the Benes Government In London, Clementis preferred not to return to Prague via Moscow. And Moscow remembered. So did Gottwald. Molotov was cool toward Clementis at 11.he Peace Conference In Parls in 1946. Durlng a dlplomatlc receptlon, Mr. Molotov went fi.rst to exchange greetlngs with Mr. Hajdu, then only a member of the Czech0-'Slovak delegatlon, and only 'then approached Mr. Clementls, the Under.Secretary of State and Actlng Chief of the delegatlon. After the death of Jan Masaryk, Clementls became Minister of Foreign Affairs. Mr. Slansky, Secretary General of the Communist Party, together with three Under-Seoretarles in the Ministry or Foreign Affalra - Vavro Hajdu, Arthur London and Friedrich Gemlnder consplred against hlm. While -a ttending the UNO General A.ssemb!y sess!ons in New York, in 1949, as Chief of the Czecho-Slovak �iLOVAKIA 29 delegation, Clementls lost control of hls Ministry a:t home. Under the direction of Wllllam Siroky, then Vice-Premler, Hajdu, London and Geminder took over the controls of the Foreign Affairs Ministry and from that Ume on Mr. Clementis became their potential cal}tive. In November, 1949, rumors began to circulate in the world press that Mr. Clemen,us was not dispos ed to return to Czecho-Slovakia any more. But then Mr. Gottwald sent Mrs. Clementls by plane to New York to convince her husband that everythlng was in order and he could fully depend on the Presldenťs trust and protection. Mir. Clementis gave in to the pleadings of his wife and returned to Prague aibout the middle or December, 1949. There he wa.s greeted at the former Wilson Station by Mr. Slroky and the consplring Under-sSecretaries. Four months Iater, on Marc-h 14, 1950, Olementis was obliged ·to resign bis office "voluntair!ly" and a year later, in February 1951, he was lncarcerated. As far as intern,a l politics is concerned, Mr. Clementis wa.s partisan to a federative reform in Czecho-Slovakia and stood for certain nat:ional liberties in bis na:tive Slovakla. Clemel'lJtis, therefore became a victlm both of the "StallnL~m" of Moscow and the centralism of Prague. The next purge tria! is supposed to take place in a short time in Bratislava, capital of Slovakia, against a group of "Titoist" devia tion:lsts, among whom we may flnd: Gustav H usak, former Chief of the autonomous Government of Slovakla, Karol Schmidke, former president of the autonomous Parliament In Bratislava, Ladislav "Novomesky, former Minister of Educa:tion ln tbe Slov,ak autonomous Government, Daniel Okaly, b.rother-Jn-law of Clementis and former Minister of Interlor ln Slov-akia, Ivan Horvat, former M!nlsier Plenipotentiary in Budapest, and otbers. • • • WHO SAI D IT ? "The Czech People's Party regards the transfer of Germans as a historical success, lndeed, whlch with its slgnlficance falls In line immediatly next to the successful conclusion of the treaty with the USSR. . . , For thls success we are obllgated to Šrámek's government with great gratltude. . . . We were interested in gettlng rld of t he Germans as speedily as possible. Allow me on this occaslon to mentlon a pol!tician, who alongslde of President Beneš and Monsignor Šrámek had a signiflcant share in this plan of transfer. lt was Mr. Minister Dr. Rlpka (applause). Slnce the Autumn of 1938 I have been bis intimate fellow-worker. . . Ripka worked on the transfer of Germans, because he regarded the war that had erupted at that Ume as a really historlcal opportunity to clean our !and of burdensome German ballast ... AU the groups of the National Front at the end of 1943 even fully agreed wlth thls line and, therefore, the trans fer of the Germans ls also the result of the joint effort of all the groups and partles of the Natlonal Front. We shall exclude no one from thls success even though lt !s true that, e.g., the Communist Party in 1939- 1941 did not have so unanlmous and so uncompromlslngly Slovanic a conceptlon of the matter as lt ha.s today." - (Dr. Ivo Ducháček in the Prague Provis1onal Natlonal Assembly, March 8, 1946. He ls now supposed to be the "big wheel" in the Czechoslovak Divlslon of the VOICE OF AMERICA). � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 1952, Vol. 2 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 1952 Description An account of the resource <ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 3), March 1952.</li> <li>Issue 2 (No. 4), August 1952.</li> <li>Issue 3 (No. 5), December 1952.</li> </ul> Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document 28 SLOVAKIA mE PURGE IN PRAGUE JOSEPH A. MIKUŠ Two very prominent Communis,t personalities were executed recently in Prague: Karel Slansky, former Seeretary General of the Czech Communist Party, and Vladimír C lementis, former Forelgn Minister of Czecho-Slovakia. To Central-European observers probably the grealtest a,urprjse of the Prague purge tria! was the faot that two different "deviationisms" were tried and convicted by the same court a.'t one and the same Ume: the "Zionism" or the Jewish group, headed by Slansky, and the ",Slovak nationalism" of Clementis. This may appear as the same kind of crime ~rom an external and purely Jegalistic view or Communist "justice," bu:t politioally there Js a clear distinction between the two "deviaitionisms." Three years ago Slansky and Clementis were regarded as antagonistic personalities in the Communist Party of Czecho-Slovakia. At that time Slansky w-as an lmportant leader of "proletarlan internationalism," the accepted Communi-st concept of international colJaboration. For a long tíme he was considered as "a man of Moscow." But being an lntellectual, he was obsessed wlth the very dangerous ambltlon of trylng to overshadow "the man from the people," Mr. Gdttwald. Slansky was, therefore, the victim of a persona! rivalry with Gottwald in their struggle for power. As Secretary General of the Czech Communlst Party, Slansky thought he could play the role of Stalln in Czecho-61ovakla, while for Gdttwald it would be sufficient to play the role of Shvernlk. Now, at the brlal, this rlvalry had to be ťonsidered and expresseed in terms of criminal law. Slnce the Soviet Union bad to change its aVtltude toward Israel, consldering the Ara:b world of more lmportance on the po!itical chessboard, lt was eai!y to construct the crlme of Slansky as a colluslon wlth a foreign power agalnst -the interests of the Czecho-'Slovak State. The story of Clementls !s a different one. In the eyes of Moscow, his Communist record slnce 1939 w,as not good; 1t did not conform wifä Stalinlst pollcy. At .fäat time, you wlll recall, he expresseď Mmself agaln1>t the Rlbbentrop•Molotov Pact. At the end of Worlcl War II, even though he was a member of the Benes Government In London, Clementis preferred not to return to Prague via Moscow. And Moscow remembered. So did Gottwald. Molotov was cool toward Clementis at 11.he Peace Conference In Parls in 1946. Durlng a dlplomatlc receptlon, Mr. Molotov went fi.rst to exchange greetlngs with Mr. Hajdu, then only a member of the Czech0-'Slovak delegatlon, and only 'then approached Mr. Clementls, the Under.Secretary of State and Actlng Chief of the delegatlon. After the death of Jan Masaryk, Clementls became Minister of Foreign Affairs. Mr. Slansky, Secretary General of the Communist Party, together with three Under-Seoretarles in the Ministry or Foreign Affalra - Vavro Hajdu, Arthur London and Friedrich Gemlnder consplred against hlm. While -a ttending the UNO General A.ssemb!y sess!ons in New York, in 1949, as Chief of the Czecho-Slovak iLOVAKIA 29 delegation, Clementls lost control of hls Ministry a:t home. Under the direction of Wllllam Siroky, then Vice-Premler, Hajdu, London and Geminder took over the controls of the Foreign Affairs Ministry and from that Ume on Mr. Clementis became their potential cal}tive. In November, 1949, rumors began to circulate in the world press that Mr. Clemen,us was not dispos ed to return to Czecho-Slovakia any more. But then Mr. Gottwald sent Mrs. Clementls by plane to New York to convince her husband that everythlng was in order and he could fully depend on the Presldenťs trust and protection. Mir. Clementis gave in to the pleadings of his wife and returned to Prague aibout the middle or December, 1949. There he wa.s greeted at the former Wilson Station by Mr. Slroky and the consplring Under-sSecretaries. Four months Iater, on Marc-h 14, 1950, Olementis was obliged ·to resign bis office "voluntair!ly" and a year later, in February 1951, he was lncarcerated. As far as intern,a l politics is concerned, Mr. Clementis wa.s partisan to a federative reform in Czecho-Slovakia and stood for certain nat:ional liberties in bis na:tive Slovakla. Clemel'lJtis, therefore became a victlm both of the "StallnL~m" of Moscow and the centralism of Prague. The next purge tria! is supposed to take place in a short time in Bratislava, capital of Slovakia, against a group of "Titoist" devia tion:lsts, among whom we may flnd: Gustav H usak, former Chief of the autonomous Government of Slovakla, Karol Schmidke, former president of the autonomous Parliament In Bratislava, Ladislav "Novomesky, former Minister of Educa:tion ln tbe Slov,ak autonomous Government, Daniel Okaly, b.rother-Jn-law of Clementis and former Minister of Interlor ln Slov-akia, Ivan Horvat, former M!nlsier Plenipotentiary in Budapest, and otbers. • • • WHO SAI D IT ? "The Czech People's Party regards the transfer of Germans as a historical success, lndeed, whlch with its slgnlficance falls In line immediatly next to the successful conclusion of the treaty with the USSR. . . , For thls success we are obllgated to Šrámek's government with great gratltude. . . . We were interested in gettlng rld of t he Germans as speedily as possible. Allow me on this occaslon to mentlon a pol!tician, who alongslde of President Beneš and Monsignor Šrámek had a signiflcant share in this plan of transfer. lt was Mr. Minister Dr. Rlpka (applause). Slnce the Autumn of 1938 I have been bis intimate fellow-worker. . . Ripka worked on the transfer of Germans, because he regarded the war that had erupted at that Ume as a really historlcal opportunity to clean our !and of burdensome German ballast ... AU the groups of the National Front at the end of 1943 even fully agreed wlth thls line and, therefore, the trans fer of the Germans ls also the result of the joint effort of all the groups and partles of the Natlonal Front. We shall exclude no one from thls success even though lt !s true that, e.g., the Communist Party in 1939- 1941 did not have so unanlmous and so uncompromlslngly Slovanic a conceptlon of the matter as lt ha.s today." - (Dr. Ivo Ducháček in the Prague Provis1onal Natlonal Assembly, March 8, 1946. He ls now supposed to be the "big wheel" in the Czechoslovak Divlslon of the VOICE OF AMERICA).  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Purge in Prague Description An account of the resource Joseph A. Mikuš Slovakia, Vol. 2, No. 3 (5), December 1952 pp. 28-29 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Mikuš, Joseph A., 1909-2005 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource December 1952 LCNAF+dates https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/061d9750edea294dfb8e9ea0bd059782.pdf e5a874d77c8265b86711e154b433cd50 PDF Text Text 66 SLOVAKIA The Renaissance of the Slovak American Literature I The Americans of Slovak origin coming to the free shores of this country centuries ago and did not stop coming until the present day, have shown a tremendous energy and efficiency in bettering their material welfare. They worked, earned incomes, spent it, and enjoyed all the material affluence that the country offered them. Out of meager beginnings they have created considerable wealth by buying houses, establishing businesses, banks and fraternal organizations. On the spiritual level they were quite successful in building numerous churches, schools, and publishing an unprecedented number of newspapers and periodicals. In terms of serious literary endeavors, there were several authors who wrote novels, travelogues, short stories and especially poetry. Among the most recent ones, it was the late Msgr. Milos Mlynarovic. If we don't include such prominent newcomers as Mikulas sprinc, Karol Strmen, Karol Sidor, Jozef C. Hronsky and others, some of them living in America and others only publishing, it would be wrong. I refer here to the exquisite edition of books by the Slovak Defense Press in the fifties. Among the translators of Slovak poetry were Ivan Kramoris and Jaroslav Vajda (The Bloody Sonnets of Hviezdoslav). II There is a new literary star on the horizon of the Slovak American heaven of arts and letters. In Danville, Pennsylvania is located a beautiful Slovak academy of St. Cyril with the adjacent mother house of the Slovak Sisters. Among them lives Sister M. Martina Tybor who is currently engaged in cataloguing Slovakiana at Jankola Library and in teaching at the novitiate teacher-training institute at Villa Sacred Heart. Sister M. Martina is not only a diligent �SLOVAKIA 67 bibliographer, but also an exquisite poet in English. Her poetry is mostly scattered in the issues of Fialky and other periodicals. Apart from that, she has translated several books and studies by Msgr. John Rekem and Dr. Joseph Kirschbaum, but you would hardly find any sign of this and other work mostly because of Sister M. Martina's modesty. The end result is that in our midst lives an unassuming literary personality who has outgrown any living American-Slovak writer without anyone realizing her presence and tremendous potential. A somewhat more careful attention to such seemingly unimportant matters would make us realize the extent of M. Martina's contribution to the American-Slovak letters. Her most recent literary work entails two volumes of poetry by Rudolf Dilong translated into English. The first one is I Offer Bread and Salt, published in an exquisite form by the Slovak Jesuits in Galt, Ontario. It has been translated by M. Martina Tybor. The translation is a very good one, not only because of difficulty to translate Dilong, but also because of the inherent difficulty to translate into English from any language. The rhyme, rhytm, the sound, and other attributes of the language are so different from Slovak that it takes extraordinary skill to master this task. M. Martina Tybor has lived up to this task. The Marshall McLuhanistic style of Dilong which follows like this: V horach je dost' vidno, i ked' sa hajnici uvzali proti svetlu a nepustia ho do Mstin. (p. 17) sounds in Tybor's language in the following way; There is light enough in the mountains even though all the rangers had conspired against the light and outlawed it from the thickets. (p. 16) Although Dilong's two lines are without rhyme, they show a clear example of a symbolic presentation of his ideas. The only difference between Dilong and McLuhan is that while McLuhan shows the negative side of the world and tends to see its coming destruction, Dilong shows the helplessness of the world and at the same time �68 SLOVAKIA gives the hopeful answer to the seering problems of our generation. The following two lines Jestvovali uz vel'ki l'udia, pral'udia a ich katastr6fy. A nase prahory ostali po ich civilizaciach. (p. 23) which in Tybor's words sounds as follows: There have been great people--ancients and their catastrophic demise. And our hoary hills survived their civilization. (p. 22) are an example of Dilong's and Tybor's solution. The present day major dilemma of the human search for integrity is symbolized by Dilong's statement Na kamenny oltar nalial Elias vody a prosil Boha, aby ohen z neba spalil oltar pred tvarou pohanov, aby sa mu uverilo. (p. 31) and in Tybor's language; Elias poured water upon the stone altar and begged God to let fire from heaven consume the sacrifice in the presence of the pagans so that he would be believed. (p. 30) In fact, this book is full of such philosophical statements and it does belong to the most mature and well thought out poetry of Dilong. Dilong has been considered as an important Slovak surrealist, but this book of poetry surpasses the national limitations and should be considered a major contribution to the state of poetic arts in general. It is unique in its kind in the United States. As a man of spiritual endeavors, Dilong is most qualified to say about love the following lines: Laska sa vie udrzat' i na malom priestore. Laska nehl'ada nikdy vel'ke miesto pre seba, ale vel'ky pokoj. (p. 33) When M. Martina Tybor puts it in succint lines; Love can support itself even in little space. Love never seeks a great place for itself, just deep tranquility. (p. 32) it shows not only a great mastery on the part of Tybor's style, but it also shows a kinship to the spiritual world of Dilong. In fact, verses like these make the English translation equivalent in value to the Slovak original. The poet Dilong is an exile in several senses. He is an exile from his native Slovakia. As such, he knows the hardships of assimilation to the new life on this continent. In the second sense, he is an exile in terms of his religious order, which in a certain sense distinguishes him from the rest of the world. And thirdly, he is an exile of thought, only a select few understanding him and his plight for a more human world. All this pain and sorrow is con- �SLOVAKIA 69 centrated in one man alone and he expresses his alpha and omega as an axile in a brief and succinct statement which could not be imitated even by such genial minds as that of Strmefl and sprinc. The lines in Slovak: Pri ceste t'a caka medznik, ako tvoj domov. Batoh vzdychov k nemu prinesies. (p. 45) and in M. Martina Tybor's translation: There is a landmark at the roadside, awaiting your coming as surely as your home does. Here you will set down your pack of sights. (p. 44) The tremendous sensitivity of Dilong appears through all of his poetry in which he portrays his fellow travelers through this world of rushing to nowhere in which the misunderstanding of individual human beings is the order of the day. He very humbly says: 0, Boze, bud' pri cloveku, co ide s kyjakom k nam, lebo sme vel'mi citlivi. Pomaly ide, ale isto. (p. 47) and M. Tybor understandingly and compassionately shows the exact meaning when she reflects his ideas in her own poetic language: 0 God, be with the man who comes at us with a cudgel, for we are very sensitive. Slowly he come but surely. (p. 46) Dilong's vision of the human soul, in which there is a combination of our life here on earth with a special view of the eternal life into which all of us are supposed to tend to aspire is expressed again in simple phrase coached in metaphysical symbolism like the following: Stal som pri potoku a videl som na jeho dne nebo. Ale do neba tu vstupit' nemozno. (p. 57) and in M. Tybor's words: I stood at the brookside and saw heaven in the depth of its bed. But it is not possible to enter heaven here. One could follow through the whole book and show the tremendous power of vision of the poet as well as the translator. The symbolism of the Slovak verses of Dilong are excellently matched by equal value of M. Tybor's translations. Thus, two great minds have complimented each other in original production as well as creation in the translation. It is in this sense that M. Tybor's translation should be considered very creative. The two great minds show their potential in the second �70 SLOVAKIA volume of poetry by R. Dilong, also translated by M. Tybor, Wi th Christ in His Passi on. Here we find the creed of our poet of his whole life as a priest and poet of the highest of gifts when he humbly offers himself to his Lord God whose servant he has been all his life. M. Tybor, also a servant and follower of the works of the Lord has understood the poet's dedication and translates him in clear and simple language: Christ, I fall to my knees in the hour of your death. Look, my sin-bound sleep bordered on smug tranquility and all too long it did not change to tears following upon a bad dream. Out of my heart I tell you this: the cracked amphora will be removed and where the flowers had been steeped you will fill the air of the room with a tumbler of water that you will offer me; I , too, am your flower . (p. 7) The whole book is an excellent material for religious meditation in the time of Passion. The author has poured out his whole heart to the Lord in such a way that it could be any of us kneeling in front of the crucifix and telling the Lord of all our grief and sorrow. Of course, we could not say it with the angel's tongue like R. Dilong and M. Tybor. The most difficult of thoughts and plights are expressed here in a language both original Slovak and the English translation, that it looks almost like it is beautiful to suffer. In its metaphysical sense, it is exactly what Dilong and Tybor are trying to tell us. This book, unlike the other should be read by people who have been exposed to some religious meditation, or at least understanding the meaning of Christ's Passion. It is not going to be readily understood by the atheists of our time. On the other hand, the other book is a must for every person who considers himself intelligent enough to be able to read in depth the meaning of the problems of our times. �SLOVAKIA 71 III The two books of R. Dilong in an excellent translation of M. Tybor are sufficient to show that we are presented here with ideas of extraordinary dimensions unprecedented in the Slovak American cultural life. Two exquisite minds have presented us with an excellent feat for our spiritual well-being. Every American of Slovak descent should not miss reading these works. In fact they should be read by others who are interested in the present day spiritual problems of this country. However, it is one thing what one should do and another what one will actually do. If one should judge by the trends in such matters in the past, the translations will be forgotten next year and there will be no more creative work coming from either Dilong or Tybor. Of course, knowing both of them will prove that they are not easily discouraged. And rightly so. They may expect that after they are both long death, the younger generation of Americans of Slovak descent, coming fresh from their colleges, will ask their parents for the literary works of their ancestors. Some of them may not even know about such trivial matters but the young generation will find themselves. At that time, poets like Dilong and Tybor will get full appreciation. But of course, this does not have to happen this way. There are other Slovak intellectuals who came to these shores and who proved to be prominent writers. For instance, M. sprinc's book, To the Free Shores of America, is a classic. It would be good to do a research and find out how many honors were bestowed on sprinc because of this book. (He vrote others which can be considered classic, especially his essays, Letters from Coral). And Strmefl, the contemporary Dante in Slovak poetry; he received his Academic Palms from the French government for his outstanding contribution to the state of poetic arts. This honor should be considered as next in importance to the Nobel Prize. P. O'Reilly � 66 SLOVAKIA The Renaissance of the Slovak American Literature I The Americans of Slovak origin coming to the free shores of this country centuries ago and did not stop coming until the present day, have shown a tremendous energy and efficiency in bettering their material welfare. They worked, earned incomes, spent it, and enjoyed all the material affluence that the country offered them. Out of meager beginnings they have created considerable wealth by buying houses, establishing businesses, banks and fraternal organizations. On the spiritual level they were quite successful in building numerous churches, schools, and publishing an unprecedented number of newspapers and periodicals. In terms of serious literary endeavors, there were several authors who wrote novels, travelogues, short stories and especially poetry. Among the most recent ones, it was the late Msgr. Milos Mlynarovic. If we don't include such prominent newcomers as Mikulas sprinc, Karol Strmen, Karol Sidor, Jozef C. Hronsky and others, some of them living in America and others only publishing, it would be wrong. I refer here to the exquisite edition of books by the Slovak Defense Press in the fifties. Among the translators of Slovak poetry were Ivan Kramoris and Jaroslav Vajda (The Bloody Sonnets of Hviezdoslav). II There is a new literary star on the horizon of the Slovak American heaven of arts and letters. In Danville, Pennsylvania is located a beautiful Slovak academy of St. Cyril with the adjacent mother house of the Slovak Sisters. Among them lives Sister M. Martina Tybor who is currently engaged in cataloguing Slovakiana at Jankola Library and in teaching at the novitiate teacher-training institute at Villa Sacred Heart. Sister M. Martina is not only a diligent �SLOVAKIA 67 bibliographer, but also an exquisite poet in English. Her poetry is mostly scattered in the issues of Fialky and other periodicals. Apart from that, she has translated several books and studies by Msgr. John Rekem and Dr. Joseph Kirschbaum, but you would hardly find any sign of this and other work mostly because of Sister M. Martina's modesty. The end result is that in our midst lives an unassuming literary personality who has outgrown any living American-Slovak writer without anyone realizing her presence and tremendous potential. A somewhat more careful attention to such seemingly unimportant matters would make us realize the extent of M. Martina's contribution to the American-Slovak letters. Her most recent literary work entails two volumes of poetry by Rudolf Dilong translated into English. The first one is I Offer Bread and Salt, published in an exquisite form by the Slovak Jesuits in Galt, Ontario. It has been translated by M. Martina Tybor. The translation is a very good one, not only because of difficulty to translate Dilong, but also because of the inherent difficulty to translate into English from any language. The rhyme, rhytm, the sound, and other attributes of the language are so different from Slovak that it takes extraordinary skill to master this task. M. Martina Tybor has lived up to this task. The Marshall McLuhanistic style of Dilong which follows like this: V horach je dost' vidno, i ked' sa hajnici uvzali proti svetlu a nepustia ho do Mstin. (p. 17) sounds in Tybor's language in the following way; There is light enough in the mountains even though all the rangers had conspired against the light and outlawed it from the thickets. (p. 16) Although Dilong's two lines are without rhyme, they show a clear example of a symbolic presentation of his ideas. The only difference between Dilong and McLuhan is that while McLuhan shows the negative side of the world and tends to see its coming destruction, Dilong shows the helplessness of the world and at the same time �68 SLOVAKIA gives the hopeful answer to the seering problems of our generation. The following two lines Jestvovali uz vel'ki l'udia, pral'udia a ich katastr6fy. A nase prahory ostali po ich civilizaciach. (p. 23) which in Tybor's words sounds as follows: There have been great people--ancients and their catastrophic demise. And our hoary hills survived their civilization. (p. 22) are an example of Dilong's and Tybor's solution. The present day major dilemma of the human search for integrity is symbolized by Dilong's statement Na kamenny oltar nalial Elias vody a prosil Boha, aby ohen z neba spalil oltar pred tvarou pohanov, aby sa mu uverilo. (p. 31) and in Tybor's language; Elias poured water upon the stone altar and begged God to let fire from heaven consume the sacrifice in the presence of the pagans so that he would be believed. (p. 30) In fact, this book is full of such philosophical statements and it does belong to the most mature and well thought out poetry of Dilong. Dilong has been considered as an important Slovak surrealist, but this book of poetry surpasses the national limitations and should be considered a major contribution to the state of poetic arts in general. It is unique in its kind in the United States. As a man of spiritual endeavors, Dilong is most qualified to say about love the following lines: Laska sa vie udrzat' i na malom priestore. Laska nehl'ada nikdy vel'ke miesto pre seba, ale vel'ky pokoj. (p. 33) When M. Martina Tybor puts it in succint lines; Love can support itself even in little space. Love never seeks a great place for itself, just deep tranquility. (p. 32) it shows not only a great mastery on the part of Tybor's style, but it also shows a kinship to the spiritual world of Dilong. In fact, verses like these make the English translation equivalent in value to the Slovak original. The poet Dilong is an exile in several senses. He is an exile from his native Slovakia. As such, he knows the hardships of assimilation to the new life on this continent. In the second sense, he is an exile in terms of his religious order, which in a certain sense distinguishes him from the rest of the world. And thirdly, he is an exile of thought, only a select few understanding him and his plight for a more human world. All this pain and sorrow is con- �SLOVAKIA 69 centrated in one man alone and he expresses his alpha and omega as an axile in a brief and succinct statement which could not be imitated even by such genial minds as that of Strmefl and sprinc. The lines in Slovak: Pri ceste t'a caka medznik, ako tvoj domov. Batoh vzdychov k nemu prinesies. (p. 45) and in M. Martina Tybor's translation: There is a landmark at the roadside, awaiting your coming as surely as your home does. Here you will set down your pack of sights. (p. 44) The tremendous sensitivity of Dilong appears through all of his poetry in which he portrays his fellow travelers through this world of rushing to nowhere in which the misunderstanding of individual human beings is the order of the day. He very humbly says: 0, Boze, bud' pri cloveku, co ide s kyjakom k nam, lebo sme vel'mi citlivi. Pomaly ide, ale isto. (p. 47) and M. Tybor understandingly and compassionately shows the exact meaning when she reflects his ideas in her own poetic language: 0 God, be with the man who comes at us with a cudgel, for we are very sensitive. Slowly he come but surely. (p. 46) Dilong's vision of the human soul, in which there is a combination of our life here on earth with a special view of the eternal life into which all of us are supposed to tend to aspire is expressed again in simple phrase coached in metaphysical symbolism like the following: Stal som pri potoku a videl som na jeho dne nebo. Ale do neba tu vstupit' nemozno. (p. 57) and in M. Tybor's words: I stood at the brookside and saw heaven in the depth of its bed. But it is not possible to enter heaven here. One could follow through the whole book and show the tremendous power of vision of the poet as well as the translator. The symbolism of the Slovak verses of Dilong are excellently matched by equal value of M. Tybor's translations. Thus, two great minds have complimented each other in original production as well as creation in the translation. It is in this sense that M. Tybor's translation should be considered very creative. The two great minds show their potential in the second �70 SLOVAKIA volume of poetry by R. Dilong, also translated by M. Tybor, Wi th Christ in His Passi on. Here we find the creed of our poet of his whole life as a priest and poet of the highest of gifts when he humbly offers himself to his Lord God whose servant he has been all his life. M. Tybor, also a servant and follower of the works of the Lord has understood the poet's dedication and translates him in clear and simple language: Christ, I fall to my knees in the hour of your death. Look, my sin-bound sleep bordered on smug tranquility and all too long it did not change to tears following upon a bad dream. Out of my heart I tell you this: the cracked amphora will be removed and where the flowers had been steeped you will fill the air of the room with a tumbler of water that you will offer me; I , too, am your flower . (p. 7) The whole book is an excellent material for religious meditation in the time of Passion. The author has poured out his whole heart to the Lord in such a way that it could be any of us kneeling in front of the crucifix and telling the Lord of all our grief and sorrow. Of course, we could not say it with the angel's tongue like R. Dilong and M. Tybor. The most difficult of thoughts and plights are expressed here in a language both original Slovak and the English translation, that it looks almost like it is beautiful to suffer. In its metaphysical sense, it is exactly what Dilong and Tybor are trying to tell us. This book, unlike the other should be read by people who have been exposed to some religious meditation, or at least understanding the meaning of Christ's Passion. It is not going to be readily understood by the atheists of our time. On the other hand, the other book is a must for every person who considers himself intelligent enough to be able to read in depth the meaning of the problems of our times. �SLOVAKIA 71 III The two books of R. Dilong in an excellent translation of M. Tybor are sufficient to show that we are presented here with ideas of extraordinary dimensions unprecedented in the Slovak American cultural life. Two exquisite minds have presented us with an excellent feat for our spiritual well-being. Every American of Slovak descent should not miss reading these works. In fact they should be read by others who are interested in the present day spiritual problems of this country. However, it is one thing what one should do and another what one will actually do. If one should judge by the trends in such matters in the past, the translations will be forgotten next year and there will be no more creative work coming from either Dilong or Tybor. Of course, knowing both of them will prove that they are not easily discouraged. And rightly so. They may expect that after they are both long death, the younger generation of Americans of Slovak descent, coming fresh from their colleges, will ask their parents for the literary works of their ancestors. Some of them may not even know about such trivial matters but the young generation will find themselves. At that time, poets like Dilong and Tybor will get full appreciation. But of course, this does not have to happen this way. There are other Slovak intellectuals who came to these shores and who proved to be prominent writers. For instance, M. sprinc's book, To the Free Shores of America, is a classic. It would be good to do a research and find out how many honors were bestowed on sprinc because of this book. (He vrote others which can be considered classic, especially his essays, Letters from Coral). And Strmefl, the contemporary Dante in Slovak poetry; he received his Academic Palms from the French government for his outstanding contribution to the state of poetic arts. This honor should be considered as next in importance to the Nobel Prize. P. O'Reilly � 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 1973, Vol. 23 Description An account of the resource Vol. 23 (No. 46), 1973. 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 1973 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document 66 SLOVAKIA The Renaissance of the Slovak American Literature I The Americans of Slovak origin coming to the free shores of this country centuries ago and did not stop coming until the present day, have shown a tremendous energy and efficiency in bettering their material welfare. They worked, earned incomes, spent it, and enjoyed all the material affluence that the country offered them. Out of meager beginnings they have created considerable wealth by buying houses, establishing businesses, banks and fraternal organizations. On the spiritual level they were quite successful in building numerous churches, schools, and publishing an unprecedented number of newspapers and periodicals. In terms of serious literary endeavors, there were several authors who wrote novels, travelogues, short stories and especially poetry. Among the most recent ones, it was the late Msgr. Milos Mlynarovic. If we don't include such prominent newcomers as Mikulas sprinc, Karol Strmen, Karol Sidor, Jozef C. Hronsky and others, some of them living in America and others only publishing, it would be wrong. I refer here to the exquisite edition of books by the Slovak Defense Press in the fifties. Among the translators of Slovak poetry were Ivan Kramoris and Jaroslav Vajda (The Bloody Sonnets of Hviezdoslav). II There is a new literary star on the horizon of the Slovak American heaven of arts and letters. In Danville, Pennsylvania is located a beautiful Slovak academy of St. Cyril with the adjacent mother house of the Slovak Sisters. Among them lives Sister M. Martina Tybor who is currently engaged in cataloguing Slovakiana at Jankola Library and in teaching at the novitiate teacher-training institute at Villa Sacred Heart. Sister M. Martina is not only a diligent SLOVAKIA 67 bibliographer, but also an exquisite poet in English. Her poetry is mostly scattered in the issues of Fialky and other periodicals. Apart from that, she has translated several books and studies by Msgr. John Rekem and Dr. Joseph Kirschbaum, but you would hardly find any sign of this and other work mostly because of Sister M. Martina's modesty. The end result is that in our midst lives an unassuming literary personality who has outgrown any living American-Slovak writer without anyone realizing her presence and tremendous potential. A somewhat more careful attention to such seemingly unimportant matters would make us realize the extent of M. Martina's contribution to the American-Slovak letters. Her most recent literary work entails two volumes of poetry by Rudolf Dilong translated into English. The first one is I Offer Bread and Salt, published in an exquisite form by the Slovak Jesuits in Galt, Ontario. It has been translated by M. Martina Tybor. The translation is a very good one, not only because of difficulty to translate Dilong, but also because of the inherent difficulty to translate into English from any language. The rhyme, rhytm, the sound, and other attributes of the language are so different from Slovak that it takes extraordinary skill to master this task. M. Martina Tybor has lived up to this task. The Marshall McLuhanistic style of Dilong which follows like this: V horach je dost' vidno, i ked' sa hajnici uvzali proti svetlu a nepustia ho do Mstin. (p. 17) sounds in Tybor's language in the following way; There is light enough in the mountains even though all the rangers had conspired against the light and outlawed it from the thickets. (p. 16) Although Dilong's two lines are without rhyme, they show a clear example of a symbolic presentation of his ideas. The only difference between Dilong and McLuhan is that while McLuhan shows the negative side of the world and tends to see its coming destruction, Dilong shows the helplessness of the world and at the same time 68 SLOVAKIA gives the hopeful answer to the seering problems of our generation. The following two lines Jestvovali uz vel'ki l'udia, pral'udia a ich katastr6fy. A nase prahory ostali po ich civilizaciach. (p. 23) which in Tybor's words sounds as follows: There have been great people--ancients and their catastrophic demise. And our hoary hills survived their civilization. (p. 22) are an example of Dilong's and Tybor's solution. The present day major dilemma of the human search for integrity is symbolized by Dilong's statement Na kamenny oltar nalial Elias vody a prosil Boha, aby ohen z neba spalil oltar pred tvarou pohanov, aby sa mu uverilo. (p. 31) and in Tybor's language; Elias poured water upon the stone altar and begged God to let fire from heaven consume the sacrifice in the presence of the pagans so that he would be believed. (p. 30) In fact, this book is full of such philosophical statements and it does belong to the most mature and well thought out poetry of Dilong. Dilong has been considered as an important Slovak surrealist, but this book of poetry surpasses the national limitations and should be considered a major contribution to the state of poetic arts in general. It is unique in its kind in the United States. As a man of spiritual endeavors, Dilong is most qualified to say about love the following lines: Laska sa vie udrzat' i na malom priestore. Laska nehl'ada nikdy vel'ke miesto pre seba, ale vel'ky pokoj. (p. 33) When M. Martina Tybor puts it in succint lines; Love can support itself even in little space. Love never seeks a great place for itself, just deep tranquility. (p. 32) it shows not only a great mastery on the part of Tybor's style, but it also shows a kinship to the spiritual world of Dilong. In fact, verses like these make the English translation equivalent in value to the Slovak original. The poet Dilong is an exile in several senses. He is an exile from his native Slovakia. As such, he knows the hardships of assimilation to the new life on this continent. In the second sense, he is an exile in terms of his religious order, which in a certain sense distinguishes him from the rest of the world. And thirdly, he is an exile of thought, only a select few understanding him and his plight for a more human world. All this pain and sorrow is con- SLOVAKIA 69 centrated in one man alone and he expresses his alpha and omega as an axile in a brief and succinct statement which could not be imitated even by such genial minds as that of Strmefl and sprinc. The lines in Slovak: Pri ceste t'a caka medznik, ako tvoj domov. Batoh vzdychov k nemu prinesies. (p. 45) and in M. Martina Tybor's translation: There is a landmark at the roadside, awaiting your coming as surely as your home does. Here you will set down your pack of sights. (p. 44) The tremendous sensitivity of Dilong appears through all of his poetry in which he portrays his fellow travelers through this world of rushing to nowhere in which the misunderstanding of individual human beings is the order of the day. He very humbly says: 0, Boze, bud' pri cloveku, co ide s kyjakom k nam, lebo sme vel'mi citlivi. Pomaly ide, ale isto. (p. 47) and M. Tybor understandingly and compassionately shows the exact meaning when she reflects his ideas in her own poetic language: 0 God, be with the man who comes at us with a cudgel, for we are very sensitive. Slowly he come but surely. (p. 46) Dilong's vision of the human soul, in which there is a combination of our life here on earth with a special view of the eternal life into which all of us are supposed to tend to aspire is expressed again in simple phrase coached in metaphysical symbolism like the following: Stal som pri potoku a videl som na jeho dne nebo. Ale do neba tu vstupit' nemozno. (p. 57) and in M. Tybor's words: I stood at the brookside and saw heaven in the depth of its bed. But it is not possible to enter heaven here. One could follow through the whole book and show the tremendous power of vision of the poet as well as the translator. The symbolism of the Slovak verses of Dilong are excellently matched by equal value of M. Tybor's translations. Thus, two great minds have complimented each other in original production as well as creation in the translation. It is in this sense that M. Tybor's translation should be considered very creative. The two great minds show their potential in the second 70 SLOVAKIA volume of poetry by R. Dilong, also translated by M. Tybor, Wi th Christ in His Passi on. Here we find the creed of our poet of his whole life as a priest and poet of the highest of gifts when he humbly offers himself to his Lord God whose servant he has been all his life. M. Tybor, also a servant and follower of the works of the Lord has understood the poet's dedication and translates him in clear and simple language: Christ, I fall to my knees in the hour of your death. Look, my sin-bound sleep bordered on smug tranquility and all too long it did not change to tears following upon a bad dream. Out of my heart I tell you this: the cracked amphora will be removed and where the flowers had been steeped you will fill the air of the room with a tumbler of water that you will offer me; I , too, am your flower . (p. 7) The whole book is an excellent material for religious meditation in the time of Passion. The author has poured out his whole heart to the Lord in such a way that it could be any of us kneeling in front of the crucifix and telling the Lord of all our grief and sorrow. Of course, we could not say it with the angel's tongue like R. Dilong and M. Tybor. The most difficult of thoughts and plights are expressed here in a language both original Slovak and the English translation, that it looks almost like it is beautiful to suffer. In its metaphysical sense, it is exactly what Dilong and Tybor are trying to tell us. This book, unlike the other should be read by people who have been exposed to some religious meditation, or at least understanding the meaning of Christ's Passion. It is not going to be readily understood by the atheists of our time. On the other hand, the other book is a must for every person who considers himself intelligent enough to be able to read in depth the meaning of the problems of our times. SLOVAKIA 71 III The two books of R. Dilong in an excellent translation of M. Tybor are sufficient to show that we are presented here with ideas of extraordinary dimensions unprecedented in the Slovak American cultural life. Two exquisite minds have presented us with an excellent feat for our spiritual well-being. Every American of Slovak descent should not miss reading these works. In fact they should be read by others who are interested in the present day spiritual problems of this country. However, it is one thing what one should do and another what one will actually do. If one should judge by the trends in such matters in the past, the translations will be forgotten next year and there will be no more creative work coming from either Dilong or Tybor. Of course, knowing both of them will prove that they are not easily discouraged. And rightly so. They may expect that after they are both long death, the younger generation of Americans of Slovak descent, coming fresh from their colleges, will ask their parents for the literary works of their ancestors. Some of them may not even know about such trivial matters but the young generation will find themselves. At that time, poets like Dilong and Tybor will get full appreciation. But of course, this does not have to happen this way. There are other Slovak intellectuals who came to these shores and who proved to be prominent writers. For instance, M. sprinc's book, To the Free Shores of America, is a classic. It would be good to do a research and find out how many honors were bestowed on sprinc because of this book. (He vrote others which can be considered classic, especially his essays, Letters from Coral). And Strmefl, the contemporary Dante in Slovak poetry; he received his Academic Palms from the French government for his outstanding contribution to the state of poetic arts. This honor should be considered as next in importance to the Nobel Prize. P. O'Reilly  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Renaissance of the Slovak American Literature Description An account of the resource P. O'Reilly Slovakia, Vol. 23 (No. 46), 1973 pp. 66-71 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource O'Reilly, P. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1973 name https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/972606398b7036535e70791fa1bd27af.pdf 0eee8edb0f9e09c5d8dfe6637cce1b76 PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA 3 APOSTLE OF A'MErRICAN SLOVAKS THE REV. STEPHEN FURDEK By Phi1ip A . Hrobak Father Stephen Furdek was called to his eternal reward forty years ago, bwt his stature continues to grow with the years. When Furrdek died on January 18, 1915, he was mourned by Slovaks everywhere. Father Furdek was, indeed, a great American, a good Slovak, an exemplary priest of God, a true apostle of Christian charity, a successful organizer and leader of men. Rev. Stephen Furdek was born September 2, 1856, in the village of Trstena, Orava County, S1ovakia, materially probably one of the poorest of the poor communities of the land of the Tatras, which hras 'been inhabited 1zy Slovaks during the past 1500 years. It was there that Furdek completed his primary education as a boy. Then he attended the gymnasium at Banska Bystrica, transferring later to, the one at Nitra; and af.ter that he entered the seminary at Nitra. Completing his studies at Nitra with distinction, Furdek was sent to Pest University, where he became, ill a short time later and returned to Nitra. After recuperating, Fu.rdek taught school for a time in Straznice, Moravia, and then decided to study at the University of Prague. It was here that he studied classical ,philology for three years and became acquainted with Dr. Francis Bauer, rector of the seminary and, later, Cardinal and Archbishop of the Olomouc archbishopric, with whom he corresponded to his death. It was on the advice of Dr. Bauer that Furdek entered the seminary at Prague to complete his priestly studies. But he did not quite complete those there, because as a theologian in his fourth year he answered the call of Bishop Richard Gilmour of Cleveland, Ohio, for priests who could spook and understand Slovak and other SloV'anic languages. Parting wi:tlh his family and acquaintances in Trstena, Furdek set sail for America in March, 1882, and arrived in Cleveland, Ohio, several weelks Irater. ·· �4 SLOVAKIA In Cleveland, Furdek completed his studies for the priesthood and was ordained priest July 1, 1882. His first assignment was a chaplaincy at the Czech parish of St. Wenceslaus. In .Aipril, 1883, Bishop Gilmour appointed him pastor of the newly..founded congregation of Ourr Lady of Lourdes in the East 55th and Broadway section of Cleveland. However, at the end of May, 1883, Bishop Gilmour asked F1ather Furdek to take over the administration of the St. Procopius parish on the West Side, where a disturbance had occurred. Father furdek acquiesced, listened patiently to arguments proferred by the various ''warring" factions, reconciled and set them straight and made the parish a going concern. By February, 1884, Furdek was back at his old post of Our Lady of Lorurdes parish, where he labored successfully until his death in 1915. In the meantime, quite a number of Slorvrukis had settled in the downtown Wood.land-Scorvill-Commercial Avenue section of Cleveland; they attended St. Joseph's church on 23rd and Woodland Arvenue. Since the Franciscan Fathers there did not know Slovak or any related language, the Slov~s begged F'ather Furdek to do something about it. And he did. With the permission of the Bishop and the Franciscans, F'ather Furdek made his appearance regularly at one of the Masses at St. Joseph's to preach and instruct in Slov,aik, while one of the Franci,sca.n Fathers read the Holy Mass. As the number of Slovaik immigrants in Cleveland increased, they asked Father Furdek to help them esta;blish a parish "of our own" - a Slovak parish. This he did in 1888, when a lot, 180 by 180 feet, was bought at the corner of Corwin and Holton Avenues, just below Woodhill Road. IDven the Magyars of the Buckeye Road area contributed so that a wooden church was constructed on the site that same year. That was the start of St. Ladislaus parish. In 1890, at the request of his Bishop, Father Furdek went to Europe to seeGc out priests who would serve the spiritual needs of Slovaks, Slovenes and Croatians of the Cleveland diocese. After completing his mission, Furdek visited Lourdes and Rome and then returned to his parish in Cleveland. �SLOVAKIA 5 Father Furdek'.s entire life was a life of dedication to God and his fellowmen. EJarly in life he adopted the slogan "Za Boha a narod" (For God and nation) and adhered to it strictly throughout his life. The motto was adopted by the organizations which Furdek founded: the First Catholic Slovak Union of the United States of America (1890); the First Caitholic Slovak Ladies Union (1892); the Slovak Institute (Slovenska Matica - 1893); the Slovak League of America (1907); the National Fund, the Fund to Preserve our National Heritage. F'u.rdek also organized the St. Ladislaus parish in Cleveland and helped to found many others, including the parish schools which were built later. The First Catholic Slovak Union is undoubtedly the greatest achievement of Father Furdek's fruitful life. The biography of Furdek is substantially the history of the F'irst Catholic Slovak Union. Today this organization is the largest fraternal benefit society of Slovaks in the world. Furdek not only organized it, but was also its guiding spirit throughout his life. In the last quarter of the nineteenth century, the Slovruks from the Tatra country were literally pouring into America to better their economic lot and escape the political oppression of alien rulers at home. Furdek realized that much more could be acomplished by an organization than by an individual. He also knew that it was only natural for men to band together in a common cause. At the close of the nineteenth century, Slovak immigrants in various cities of the United States had already organized into benefit and social organizations on the local level. Furdek put hi:s sights on a national organization, which would do so much more "for God and nation." And Furdek's dream was realized when representatives of eight such Slovak societies answered his call for a convention at Cleveland, Ohio, September 4, 1890, and established the First Catholic Slovak Union. Today the First Catholic Slovruk Union is worth $22,000,000.00; over 200,000 Slovaks joined it since it was organized; the orgainization paid out some $40,000,000.00 �6 SLOV.A,~IA in death benefits to widows and or,phans of its members; another $5,000,000.00 in charity to individuals and institutions; and the Jednota Home for orphans, -opened in 1914, hras taken care of some 2,000 children of its members who lost one or both of their parents. In addition, the organization has paid for the high school education of many boys and girls who otherwise might have been deprived of it, because relatives could not afford to give it to them. Furdek and his followers, the members of the First Catholic Slovak Union, also ·played a major role in establishing some 300 Catholic •Slovak parishes, 150 parochial schools, several high schools; also St. Andrew's A:bbey of Slovruk Benedictines, Cleveland, Ohio, the Slovruk Franciscan Fathers of Clifton, N. J., P1ttsburgh, Pa., and Valparaiso, Ind., the Order of Sisters of Sts. Cyril and 'Methodius, Danville, Pa., the Slovak Dominican Sisters, Oxford, Mich., the Slovak Vincentian Sisters of Perrysville, Pa., and Bedford, Ohio, the Slovak Franciscan Sisters of Bellevue, Pa., Lacon, Ill., Bethlehem, Pa., and the Slovruk Btmedictine Sisters, Tinley Park, Ill. The First Catholic Slov~k Union of the United States and Canada has some 1100 subordinate branches with a total membership of 98,000. There are branches of the organization at practically every Catholic SlovaJk parish, as well as many non~Slovak parishes. Father Stephen Furdek was a man of U!Illblemished character, deep c01nvictions, and keen foresigiht; a man of the highest princtples, intelligent, kind, patient, just, understanding, ever ready to forgive and advise, quick to help and comfort the unfortunate. That is why Furdek was loved and revered by his own people and respected even by the enemies of his Church and nation. Thoroughly familiar with the virtues and failings of his people, Father Furdek did everything in his power to improve their material and spiritual -c ondition. All his labors tended to uplift his Slovak countrymen. His heart and haJnds were in practically every national and religious undertaking of the Slovaks in America. His only oomrplaitnt seemed to be that he could not do enough for his God and �SLOVAKIA 7 his people. Not only did he rouse the Slovaks of America and the members of the organization he founded to be up and doing, but he himself led the way, working selflessly and tirelessly, and supporting generously the cause at hand, whether it be a new church, a newly created foundation, a new school, the Holy Father, the domestic and foreign missions, etc. At the same time, however, Father Furdek was ever mindful of the sad plight of the Slovaks beneath the Tatras, the land of his fathers . Not only was he aware of it, but also decided to do something rubout it. He constantly appealed to the sons Ml.d daughters of the Slovak nation who came to the shores of free America not to be ashamed of their Slovak origin, but to proudly proclaim it. He appr~ ciated the blessings of freedom and wished to share them with his less fortunate brethren in Slovakia. How many times did Furdek sigh and pray "Lord, that our Slovak people over there might once enjoy the blessings of freedom that are mine in America!" And Father Furdek and his followers did much to alleviate the oppression of their countrymen at home Mld inspired many others to do likewise. The Slovak League of America, founded by Furdek in J 907, Cleveland, Ohio, is aJso a going concern today. Unlike the Jednota, the Slovaik League of Amerioa is not a fraternal insurance organi'zation, but a cultural and civic organizatioo of Americans of Slovruk desceint. Being an AmericMl institution it is primarily interested in promoting the welfare and security of the United States of America. But it is also interested in creating a better understanding and appreciation of the Slovaik nation, its histery, culture, traditions, achievements, and its long, hard struggle for freedom and independence. As a truly American organization it is resolutely opposed to the domination and exploitation of t:he Slovak nation by any other nation or political state. Like the other orgamzations founded by Furdek, the Slovruk League consistently repudiates Ml.d condemns Marxist communism. Father Furde'k believed that individuals . and nations could better their lot if they drew their strength from the rich, vital fountains of mO'ral forees, the foundation of �8 SLOVAKIA which are faith, religion and spiritual traditions. The circumstances that prevailed in Slovakia did not allow the Slovruks to prosper materially. As a nation they were humbled and alien rulers repudiated their inherent, God-given rights to freedom and independence. But spiritually, the Slovak nation never was poor but, in fact, wealthier than many other larger nations which were free and independent. The Slo'Vaks preserved their Christian character even under the most adverse conditions, and generation after generation preserved the individualistic traditions of the Slovak s,pirit. Father Furdek knew that the Slovaks in America did not have to surrender their character, their national traditions, but could in fact even develop the spiritual heritage of their forefathers and thus with the treasures of their own spirit contribute to the enrichment of Americam life. Father Furdek always contended that good Slovaks made good American citizens, that a Slovruk who remained loyal to God and his own nation simply could not become an unworthy citizen. Father Stephen Furdek was also a writer and poet of no mean a;bility. In 1891, he began publishing the newspaper "Jednota" (The Union) weekly, and fi'Ve years later the annual "Kalendar Jednota" or Jednota Almanac as it is called. Both are still being published by the First Catholic Slovak Union. Father Furdek not only ecli,ted these ,pu:blication.s, but also contributed heavily to them until his death in 1915. He found time, too, to write for several plllblications in Sloivakia. His was a very popular style; hL5 articles, stories, anecdotes and poems were relished 'by the Slovruks of America amd Europe. In 1910, he pub1'ished the book "S'Vet a jeho zahady" (The World and its Mysteries), an apologetic wurk repudiating the atheistic theories of scientists about the origin of the world and man. The importance vf hruving a school in every ,S lovak parish was highly appreciated and strongly advocated by Father Furdelk. It could be used to great advantage by both the young and the old. The latter could be instructed in English, and the former in SlO'Vak. Furdek aippreciated the fact that children especially .:ould not be expected to �SLOVAKIA 9 love something that was unlknown to them; they could love and a,ppreciate only wha.t they had an opportunity to become acquainted with. His Slovruk grammar and readers for children did much to preserve the Slovak 1-anguage in several generations of Slovaks in America. Father Furdek endearvored to a<!quaint Amerioans with Slovakia and the Slov,a ks, and the latter wi~ America. To win recogmtion for his people and preserve their good name was one of the principle aims of Father FurdeJk. Up to the time that Furdek began to pwblish his "Jedinota" (1891), the Slova,ks were referred to as "Hungarians, Huns, Sla,vish people, Slavonians, Slavs" - in a word, almost anything but what they really were. It was Furdek who insisted on the appellation •~sLOVAKS" and appealed to the readers of the J ednota in particU!lar to do likewise. Father Furdek enjoyed universal popul,a rity and the trust of his people. He was a man of great understanding, tact and diplomacy. Furdek settled many arguments and misunderstandings to the satisfaction of all parties COIIlcerned. An apostle of ,peace and tolerance, Furdek endeavored to a.void whatever might ca.use dissension and misunderstanding a,mong his people. To those who did not know him well, Furdek appeared to be cool, reserved and difficult to appl'Oach. That was Furdek O!Il the outside. Inside, however, beat a heart of gold, in fiact, Father Furdek was all heart. Furdek was not easily irritated, possessing surpr,i sing self-contro'I. even under the most trying circumstances. Hleated debates might be carried O!Il in his presence when, finally, he would be called upon to settle the a:vgument in question. Furdek always spoke little, 1but said very much, carefully weighing every word. He spoke softly, without any show of anger, bitterness or aggravation; he was fair and objectirve towards friend and foe alike in private as well as public relations with them. Father culties and thoroughly, fered what Furdek was not easily discouraged by diffidisappointmoots. He studied every problem presented his views intelligently and then ofhe thought was the best soJution. When he �10 SLOVAKIA decided it was in the best interests of the F,iz,st Oaitholic Slovak Union to change to the reserve system, he kept hammering away at it, appealing and ~laining to the membership and the delegates to the convention until the proposition was approved. We know today that if it had not been, the First CathoUc Slovak Union most liikely would not be in existence today. When Father Furdek thought it was time to seriously think of building a home for the orphaned children of the memlbers of the Je<lnota, he let the membership know rubout it and set himself to the task until the Jednota Home in Middletown, Pa., became a r~ ality in 1914. He also dreamed of building a high school and a uniiversity on the Jednota Home property, and if the good Lord had spared Furdek another decade, he undoubtedly would ha,ve promoted even these worthy objects successfully. Ailing for several years, Father Furdek ga,ve up his soul to its Maiker at 4 :40 p. m., January 18, 1915. The news of his death spread liike fire throughout Slovaik settlements in America; Slov~ks everywhere, Catholics aind non..Catholics alike, were deeply touched and mourned the passing of the greatest Slovaik in America. After the solemn Requiem chanted by the Rt. Rev. Monsignor O'Reilly, Ohancellor of the Diocese of Cleveland, in our Lady of Lourdes church, January 20, 1915, the earthly remains of Father Furdek were laid to rest in ,t he CalV'ary Cemetery. Over 10,000 people, including Bishop J. M. Koudelka of Superior, Wisconsin, 65 priests from Slovaik parishes of America, the Supreme Officers of the First Catholic SlovaJk Union, the Slovak League of America and other Slovak organizations, and many civic leaders, attended the last rites foc Father Furdek. Father Stephen Furdek, worthy son of the land of the majestic Tatras and adopted son of the land of the free and the home of the brave, fought the good fight, finished the course, and kept the faith. He shall live in the 'hearts of the Slovaks forever. Guided by his noble spirit they aire determined to carry on the good fight ''Za Boha a na:rod" until the end of time. � SLOVAKIA 3 APOSTLE OF A'MErRICAN SLOVAKS THE REV. STEPHEN FURDEK By Phi1ip A . Hrobak Father Stephen Furdek was called to his eternal reward forty years ago, bwt his stature continues to grow with the years. When Furrdek died on January 18, 1915, he was mourned by Slovaks everywhere. Father Furdek was, indeed, a great American, a good Slovak, an exemplary priest of God, a true apostle of Christian charity, a successful organizer and leader of men. Rev. Stephen Furdek was born September 2, 1856, in the village of Trstena, Orava County, S1ovakia, materially probably one of the poorest of the poor communities of the land of the Tatras, which hras 'been inhabited 1zy Slovaks during the past 1500 years. It was there that Furdek completed his primary education as a boy. Then he attended the gymnasium at Banska Bystrica, transferring later to, the one at Nitra; and af.ter that he entered the seminary at Nitra. Completing his studies at Nitra with distinction, Furdek was sent to Pest University, where he became, ill a short time later and returned to Nitra. After recuperating, Fu.rdek taught school for a time in Straznice, Moravia, and then decided to study at the University of Prague. It was here that he studied classical ,philology for three years and became acquainted with Dr. Francis Bauer, rector of the seminary and, later, Cardinal and Archbishop of the Olomouc archbishopric, with whom he corresponded to his death. It was on the advice of Dr. Bauer that Furdek entered the seminary at Prague to complete his priestly studies. But he did not quite complete those there, because as a theologian in his fourth year he answered the call of Bishop Richard Gilmour of Cleveland, Ohio, for priests who could spook and understand Slovak and other SloV'anic languages. Parting wi:tlh his family and acquaintances in Trstena, Furdek set sail for America in March, 1882, and arrived in Cleveland, Ohio, several weelks Irater. ·· �4 SLOVAKIA In Cleveland, Furdek completed his studies for the priesthood and was ordained priest July 1, 1882. His first assignment was a chaplaincy at the Czech parish of St. Wenceslaus. In .Aipril, 1883, Bishop Gilmour appointed him pastor of the newly..founded congregation of Ourr Lady of Lourdes in the East 55th and Broadway section of Cleveland. However, at the end of May, 1883, Bishop Gilmour asked F1ather Furdek to take over the administration of the St. Procopius parish on the West Side, where a disturbance had occurred. Father furdek acquiesced, listened patiently to arguments proferred by the various ''warring" factions, reconciled and set them straight and made the parish a going concern. By February, 1884, Furdek was back at his old post of Our Lady of Lorurdes parish, where he labored successfully until his death in 1915. In the meantime, quite a number of Slorvrukis had settled in the downtown Wood.land-Scorvill-Commercial Avenue section of Cleveland; they attended St. Joseph's church on 23rd and Woodland Arvenue. Since the Franciscan Fathers there did not know Slovak or any related language, the Slov~s begged F'ather Furdek to do something about it. And he did. With the permission of the Bishop and the Franciscans, F'ather Furdek made his appearance regularly at one of the Masses at St. Joseph's to preach and instruct in Slov,aik, while one of the Franci,sca.n Fathers read the Holy Mass. As the number of Slovaik immigrants in Cleveland increased, they asked Father Furdek to help them esta;blish a parish "of our own" - a Slovak parish. This he did in 1888, when a lot, 180 by 180 feet, was bought at the corner of Corwin and Holton Avenues, just below Woodhill Road. IDven the Magyars of the Buckeye Road area contributed so that a wooden church was constructed on the site that same year. That was the start of St. Ladislaus parish. In 1890, at the request of his Bishop, Father Furdek went to Europe to seeGc out priests who would serve the spiritual needs of Slovaks, Slovenes and Croatians of the Cleveland diocese. After completing his mission, Furdek visited Lourdes and Rome and then returned to his parish in Cleveland. �SLOVAKIA 5 Father Furdek'.s entire life was a life of dedication to God and his fellowmen. EJarly in life he adopted the slogan "Za Boha a narod" (For God and nation) and adhered to it strictly throughout his life. The motto was adopted by the organizations which Furdek founded: the First Catholic Slovak Union of the United States of America (1890); the First Caitholic Slovak Ladies Union (1892); the Slovak Institute (Slovenska Matica - 1893); the Slovak League of America (1907); the National Fund, the Fund to Preserve our National Heritage. F'u.rdek also organized the St. Ladislaus parish in Cleveland and helped to found many others, including the parish schools which were built later. The First Catholic Slovak Union is undoubtedly the greatest achievement of Father Furdek's fruitful life. The biography of Furdek is substantially the history of the F'irst Catholic Slovak Union. Today this organization is the largest fraternal benefit society of Slovaks in the world. Furdek not only organized it, but was also its guiding spirit throughout his life. In the last quarter of the nineteenth century, the Slovruks from the Tatra country were literally pouring into America to better their economic lot and escape the political oppression of alien rulers at home. Furdek realized that much more could be acomplished by an organization than by an individual. He also knew that it was only natural for men to band together in a common cause. At the close of the nineteenth century, Slovak immigrants in various cities of the United States had already organized into benefit and social organizations on the local level. Furdek put hi:s sights on a national organization, which would do so much more "for God and nation." And Furdek's dream was realized when representatives of eight such Slovak societies answered his call for a convention at Cleveland, Ohio, September 4, 1890, and established the First Catholic Slovak Union. Today the First Catholic Slovruk Union is worth $22,000,000.00; over 200,000 Slovaks joined it since it was organized; the orgainization paid out some $40,000,000.00 �6 SLOV.A,~IA in death benefits to widows and or,phans of its members; another $5,000,000.00 in charity to individuals and institutions; and the Jednota Home for orphans, -opened in 1914, hras taken care of some 2,000 children of its members who lost one or both of their parents. In addition, the organization has paid for the high school education of many boys and girls who otherwise might have been deprived of it, because relatives could not afford to give it to them. Furdek and his followers, the members of the First Catholic Slovak Union, also ·played a major role in establishing some 300 Catholic •Slovak parishes, 150 parochial schools, several high schools; also St. Andrew's A:bbey of Slovruk Benedictines, Cleveland, Ohio, the Slovruk Franciscan Fathers of Clifton, N. J., P1ttsburgh, Pa., and Valparaiso, Ind., the Order of Sisters of Sts. Cyril and 'Methodius, Danville, Pa., the Slovak Dominican Sisters, Oxford, Mich., the Slovak Vincentian Sisters of Perrysville, Pa., and Bedford, Ohio, the Slovak Franciscan Sisters of Bellevue, Pa., Lacon, Ill., Bethlehem, Pa., and the Slovruk Btmedictine Sisters, Tinley Park, Ill. The First Catholic Slov~k Union of the United States and Canada has some 1100 subordinate branches with a total membership of 98,000. There are branches of the organization at practically every Catholic SlovaJk parish, as well as many non~Slovak parishes. Father Stephen Furdek was a man of U!Illblemished character, deep c01nvictions, and keen foresigiht; a man of the highest princtples, intelligent, kind, patient, just, understanding, ever ready to forgive and advise, quick to help and comfort the unfortunate. That is why Furdek was loved and revered by his own people and respected even by the enemies of his Church and nation. Thoroughly familiar with the virtues and failings of his people, Father Furdek did everything in his power to improve their material and spiritual -c ondition. All his labors tended to uplift his Slovak countrymen. His heart and haJnds were in practically every national and religious undertaking of the Slovaks in America. His only oomrplaitnt seemed to be that he could not do enough for his God and �SLOVAKIA 7 his people. Not only did he rouse the Slovaks of America and the members of the organization he founded to be up and doing, but he himself led the way, working selflessly and tirelessly, and supporting generously the cause at hand, whether it be a new church, a newly created foundation, a new school, the Holy Father, the domestic and foreign missions, etc. At the same time, however, Father Furdek was ever mindful of the sad plight of the Slovaks beneath the Tatras, the land of his fathers . Not only was he aware of it, but also decided to do something rubout it. He constantly appealed to the sons Ml.d daughters of the Slovak nation who came to the shores of free America not to be ashamed of their Slovak origin, but to proudly proclaim it. He appr~ ciated the blessings of freedom and wished to share them with his less fortunate brethren in Slovakia. How many times did Furdek sigh and pray "Lord, that our Slovak people over there might once enjoy the blessings of freedom that are mine in America!" And Father Furdek and his followers did much to alleviate the oppression of their countrymen at home Mld inspired many others to do likewise. The Slovak League of America, founded by Furdek in J 907, Cleveland, Ohio, is aJso a going concern today. Unlike the Jednota, the Slovaik League of Amerioa is not a fraternal insurance organi'zation, but a cultural and civic organizatioo of Americans of Slovruk desceint. Being an AmericMl institution it is primarily interested in promoting the welfare and security of the United States of America. But it is also interested in creating a better understanding and appreciation of the Slovaik nation, its histery, culture, traditions, achievements, and its long, hard struggle for freedom and independence. As a truly American organization it is resolutely opposed to the domination and exploitation of t:he Slovak nation by any other nation or political state. Like the other orgamzations founded by Furdek, the Slovruk League consistently repudiates Ml.d condemns Marxist communism. Father Furde'k believed that individuals . and nations could better their lot if they drew their strength from the rich, vital fountains of mO'ral forees, the foundation of �8 SLOVAKIA which are faith, religion and spiritual traditions. The circumstances that prevailed in Slovakia did not allow the Slovruks to prosper materially. As a nation they were humbled and alien rulers repudiated their inherent, God-given rights to freedom and independence. But spiritually, the Slovak nation never was poor but, in fact, wealthier than many other larger nations which were free and independent. The Slo'Vaks preserved their Christian character even under the most adverse conditions, and generation after generation preserved the individualistic traditions of the Slovak s,pirit. Father Furdek knew that the Slovaks in America did not have to surrender their character, their national traditions, but could in fact even develop the spiritual heritage of their forefathers and thus with the treasures of their own spirit contribute to the enrichment of Americam life. Father Furdek always contended that good Slovaks made good American citizens, that a Slovruk who remained loyal to God and his own nation simply could not become an unworthy citizen. Father Stephen Furdek was also a writer and poet of no mean a;bility. In 1891, he began publishing the newspaper "Jednota" (The Union) weekly, and fi'Ve years later the annual "Kalendar Jednota" or Jednota Almanac as it is called. Both are still being published by the First Catholic Slovak Union. Father Furdek not only ecli,ted these ,pu:blication.s, but also contributed heavily to them until his death in 1915. He found time, too, to write for several plllblications in Sloivakia. His was a very popular style; hL5 articles, stories, anecdotes and poems were relished 'by the Slovruks of America amd Europe. In 1910, he pub1'ished the book "S'Vet a jeho zahady" (The World and its Mysteries), an apologetic wurk repudiating the atheistic theories of scientists about the origin of the world and man. The importance vf hruving a school in every ,S lovak parish was highly appreciated and strongly advocated by Father Furdelk. It could be used to great advantage by both the young and the old. The latter could be instructed in English, and the former in SlO'Vak. Furdek aippreciated the fact that children especially .:ould not be expected to �SLOVAKIA 9 love something that was unlknown to them; they could love and a,ppreciate only wha.t they had an opportunity to become acquainted with. His Slovruk grammar and readers for children did much to preserve the Slovak 1-anguage in several generations of Slovaks in America. Father Furdek endearvored to a<!quaint Amerioans with Slovakia and the Slov,a ks, and the latter wi~ America. To win recogmtion for his people and preserve their good name was one of the principle aims of Father FurdeJk. Up to the time that Furdek began to pwblish his "Jedinota" (1891), the Slova,ks were referred to as "Hungarians, Huns, Sla,vish people, Slavonians, Slavs" - in a word, almost anything but what they really were. It was Furdek who insisted on the appellation •~sLOVAKS" and appealed to the readers of the J ednota in particU!lar to do likewise. Father Furdek enjoyed universal popul,a rity and the trust of his people. He was a man of great understanding, tact and diplomacy. Furdek settled many arguments and misunderstandings to the satisfaction of all parties COIIlcerned. An apostle of ,peace and tolerance, Furdek endeavored to a.void whatever might ca.use dissension and misunderstanding a,mong his people. To those who did not know him well, Furdek appeared to be cool, reserved and difficult to appl'Oach. That was Furdek O!Il the outside. Inside, however, beat a heart of gold, in fiact, Father Furdek was all heart. Furdek was not easily irritated, possessing surpr,i sing self-contro'I. even under the most trying circumstances. Hleated debates might be carried O!Il in his presence when, finally, he would be called upon to settle the a:vgument in question. Furdek always spoke little, 1but said very much, carefully weighing every word. He spoke softly, without any show of anger, bitterness or aggravation; he was fair and objectirve towards friend and foe alike in private as well as public relations with them. Father culties and thoroughly, fered what Furdek was not easily discouraged by diffidisappointmoots. He studied every problem presented his views intelligently and then ofhe thought was the best soJution. When he �10 SLOVAKIA decided it was in the best interests of the F,iz,st Oaitholic Slovak Union to change to the reserve system, he kept hammering away at it, appealing and ~laining to the membership and the delegates to the convention until the proposition was approved. We know today that if it had not been, the First CathoUc Slovak Union most liikely would not be in existence today. When Father Furdek thought it was time to seriously think of building a home for the orphaned children of the memlbers of the Je<lnota, he let the membership know rubout it and set himself to the task until the Jednota Home in Middletown, Pa., became a r~ ality in 1914. He also dreamed of building a high school and a uniiversity on the Jednota Home property, and if the good Lord had spared Furdek another decade, he undoubtedly would ha,ve promoted even these worthy objects successfully. Ailing for several years, Father Furdek ga,ve up his soul to its Maiker at 4 :40 p. m., January 18, 1915. The news of his death spread liike fire throughout Slovaik settlements in America; Slov~ks everywhere, Catholics aind non..Catholics alike, were deeply touched and mourned the passing of the greatest Slovaik in America. After the solemn Requiem chanted by the Rt. Rev. Monsignor O'Reilly, Ohancellor of the Diocese of Cleveland, in our Lady of Lourdes church, January 20, 1915, the earthly remains of Father Furdek were laid to rest in ,t he CalV'ary Cemetery. Over 10,000 people, including Bishop J. M. Koudelka of Superior, Wisconsin, 65 priests from Slovaik parishes of America, the Supreme Officers of the First Catholic SlovaJk Union, the Slovak League of America and other Slovak organizations, and many civic leaders, attended the last rites foc Father Furdek. Father Stephen Furdek, worthy son of the land of the majestic Tatras and adopted son of the land of the free and the home of the brave, fought the good fight, finished the course, and kept the faith. He shall live in the 'hearts of the Slovaks forever. Guided by his noble spirit they aire determined to carry on the good fight ''Za Boha a na:rod" until the end of time. � 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 3 APOSTLE OF A'MErRICAN SLOVAKS THE REV. STEPHEN FURDEK By Phi1ip A . Hrobak Father Stephen Furdek was called to his eternal reward forty years ago, bwt his stature continues to grow with the years. When Furrdek died on January 18, 1915, he was mourned by Slovaks everywhere. Father Furdek was, indeed, a great American, a good Slovak, an exemplary priest of God, a true apostle of Christian charity, a successful organizer and leader of men. Rev. Stephen Furdek was born September 2, 1856, in the village of Trstena, Orava County, S1ovakia, materially probably one of the poorest of the poor communities of the land of the Tatras, which hras 'been inhabited 1zy Slovaks during the past 1500 years. It was there that Furdek completed his primary education as a boy. Then he attended the gymnasium at Banska Bystrica, transferring later to, the one at Nitra; and af.ter that he entered the seminary at Nitra. Completing his studies at Nitra with distinction, Furdek was sent to Pest University, where he became, ill a short time later and returned to Nitra. After recuperating, Fu.rdek taught school for a time in Straznice, Moravia, and then decided to study at the University of Prague. It was here that he studied classical ,philology for three years and became acquainted with Dr. Francis Bauer, rector of the seminary and, later, Cardinal and Archbishop of the Olomouc archbishopric, with whom he corresponded to his death. It was on the advice of Dr. Bauer that Furdek entered the seminary at Prague to complete his priestly studies. But he did not quite complete those there, because as a theologian in his fourth year he answered the call of Bishop Richard Gilmour of Cleveland, Ohio, for priests who could spook and understand Slovak and other SloV'anic languages. Parting wi:tlh his family and acquaintances in Trstena, Furdek set sail for America in March, 1882, and arrived in Cleveland, Ohio, several weelks Irater. ·· 4 SLOVAKIA In Cleveland, Furdek completed his studies for the priesthood and was ordained priest July 1, 1882. His first assignment was a chaplaincy at the Czech parish of St. Wenceslaus. In .Aipril, 1883, Bishop Gilmour appointed him pastor of the newly..founded congregation of Ourr Lady of Lourdes in the East 55th and Broadway section of Cleveland. However, at the end of May, 1883, Bishop Gilmour asked F1ather Furdek to take over the administration of the St. Procopius parish on the West Side, where a disturbance had occurred. Father furdek acquiesced, listened patiently to arguments proferred by the various ''warring" factions, reconciled and set them straight and made the parish a going concern. By February, 1884, Furdek was back at his old post of Our Lady of Lorurdes parish, where he labored successfully until his death in 1915. In the meantime, quite a number of Slorvrukis had settled in the downtown Wood.land-Scorvill-Commercial Avenue section of Cleveland; they attended St. Joseph's church on 23rd and Woodland Arvenue. Since the Franciscan Fathers there did not know Slovak or any related language, the Slov~s begged F'ather Furdek to do something about it. And he did. With the permission of the Bishop and the Franciscans, F'ather Furdek made his appearance regularly at one of the Masses at St. Joseph's to preach and instruct in Slov,aik, while one of the Franci,sca.n Fathers read the Holy Mass. As the number of Slovaik immigrants in Cleveland increased, they asked Father Furdek to help them esta;blish a parish "of our own" - a Slovak parish. This he did in 1888, when a lot, 180 by 180 feet, was bought at the corner of Corwin and Holton Avenues, just below Woodhill Road. IDven the Magyars of the Buckeye Road area contributed so that a wooden church was constructed on the site that same year. That was the start of St. Ladislaus parish. In 1890, at the request of his Bishop, Father Furdek went to Europe to seeGc out priests who would serve the spiritual needs of Slovaks, Slovenes and Croatians of the Cleveland diocese. After completing his mission, Furdek visited Lourdes and Rome and then returned to his parish in Cleveland. SLOVAKIA 5 Father Furdek'.s entire life was a life of dedication to God and his fellowmen. EJarly in life he adopted the slogan "Za Boha a narod" (For God and nation) and adhered to it strictly throughout his life. The motto was adopted by the organizations which Furdek founded: the First Catholic Slovak Union of the United States of America (1890); the First Caitholic Slovak Ladies Union (1892); the Slovak Institute (Slovenska Matica - 1893); the Slovak League of America (1907); the National Fund, the Fund to Preserve our National Heritage. F'u.rdek also organized the St. Ladislaus parish in Cleveland and helped to found many others, including the parish schools which were built later. The First Catholic Slovak Union is undoubtedly the greatest achievement of Father Furdek's fruitful life. The biography of Furdek is substantially the history of the F'irst Catholic Slovak Union. Today this organization is the largest fraternal benefit society of Slovaks in the world. Furdek not only organized it, but was also its guiding spirit throughout his life. In the last quarter of the nineteenth century, the Slovruks from the Tatra country were literally pouring into America to better their economic lot and escape the political oppression of alien rulers at home. Furdek realized that much more could be acomplished by an organization than by an individual. He also knew that it was only natural for men to band together in a common cause. At the close of the nineteenth century, Slovak immigrants in various cities of the United States had already organized into benefit and social organizations on the local level. Furdek put hi:s sights on a national organization, which would do so much more "for God and nation." And Furdek's dream was realized when representatives of eight such Slovak societies answered his call for a convention at Cleveland, Ohio, September 4, 1890, and established the First Catholic Slovak Union. Today the First Catholic Slovruk Union is worth $22,000,000.00; over 200,000 Slovaks joined it since it was organized; the orgainization paid out some $40,000,000.00 6 SLOV.A,~IA in death benefits to widows and or,phans of its members; another $5,000,000.00 in charity to individuals and institutions; and the Jednota Home for orphans, -opened in 1914, hras taken care of some 2,000 children of its members who lost one or both of their parents. In addition, the organization has paid for the high school education of many boys and girls who otherwise might have been deprived of it, because relatives could not afford to give it to them. Furdek and his followers, the members of the First Catholic Slovak Union, also ·played a major role in establishing some 300 Catholic •Slovak parishes, 150 parochial schools, several high schools; also St. Andrew's A:bbey of Slovruk Benedictines, Cleveland, Ohio, the Slovruk Franciscan Fathers of Clifton, N. J., P1ttsburgh, Pa., and Valparaiso, Ind., the Order of Sisters of Sts. Cyril and 'Methodius, Danville, Pa., the Slovak Dominican Sisters, Oxford, Mich., the Slovak Vincentian Sisters of Perrysville, Pa., and Bedford, Ohio, the Slovak Franciscan Sisters of Bellevue, Pa., Lacon, Ill., Bethlehem, Pa., and the Slovruk Btmedictine Sisters, Tinley Park, Ill. The First Catholic Slov~k Union of the United States and Canada has some 1100 subordinate branches with a total membership of 98,000. There are branches of the organization at practically every Catholic SlovaJk parish, as well as many non~Slovak parishes. Father Stephen Furdek was a man of U!Illblemished character, deep c01nvictions, and keen foresigiht; a man of the highest princtples, intelligent, kind, patient, just, understanding, ever ready to forgive and advise, quick to help and comfort the unfortunate. That is why Furdek was loved and revered by his own people and respected even by the enemies of his Church and nation. Thoroughly familiar with the virtues and failings of his people, Father Furdek did everything in his power to improve their material and spiritual -c ondition. All his labors tended to uplift his Slovak countrymen. His heart and haJnds were in practically every national and religious undertaking of the Slovaks in America. His only oomrplaitnt seemed to be that he could not do enough for his God and SLOVAKIA 7 his people. Not only did he rouse the Slovaks of America and the members of the organization he founded to be up and doing, but he himself led the way, working selflessly and tirelessly, and supporting generously the cause at hand, whether it be a new church, a newly created foundation, a new school, the Holy Father, the domestic and foreign missions, etc. At the same time, however, Father Furdek was ever mindful of the sad plight of the Slovaks beneath the Tatras, the land of his fathers . Not only was he aware of it, but also decided to do something rubout it. He constantly appealed to the sons Ml.d daughters of the Slovak nation who came to the shores of free America not to be ashamed of their Slovak origin, but to proudly proclaim it. He appr~ ciated the blessings of freedom and wished to share them with his less fortunate brethren in Slovakia. How many times did Furdek sigh and pray "Lord, that our Slovak people over there might once enjoy the blessings of freedom that are mine in America!" And Father Furdek and his followers did much to alleviate the oppression of their countrymen at home Mld inspired many others to do likewise. The Slovak League of America, founded by Furdek in J 907, Cleveland, Ohio, is aJso a going concern today. Unlike the Jednota, the Slovaik League of Amerioa is not a fraternal insurance organi'zation, but a cultural and civic organizatioo of Americans of Slovruk desceint. Being an AmericMl institution it is primarily interested in promoting the welfare and security of the United States of America. But it is also interested in creating a better understanding and appreciation of the Slovaik nation, its histery, culture, traditions, achievements, and its long, hard struggle for freedom and independence. As a truly American organization it is resolutely opposed to the domination and exploitation of t:he Slovak nation by any other nation or political state. Like the other orgamzations founded by Furdek, the Slovruk League consistently repudiates Ml.d condemns Marxist communism. Father Furde'k believed that individuals . and nations could better their lot if they drew their strength from the rich, vital fountains of mO'ral forees, the foundation of 8 SLOVAKIA which are faith, religion and spiritual traditions. The circumstances that prevailed in Slovakia did not allow the Slovruks to prosper materially. As a nation they were humbled and alien rulers repudiated their inherent, God-given rights to freedom and independence. But spiritually, the Slovak nation never was poor but, in fact, wealthier than many other larger nations which were free and independent. The Slo'Vaks preserved their Christian character even under the most adverse conditions, and generation after generation preserved the individualistic traditions of the Slovak s,pirit. Father Furdek knew that the Slovaks in America did not have to surrender their character, their national traditions, but could in fact even develop the spiritual heritage of their forefathers and thus with the treasures of their own spirit contribute to the enrichment of Americam life. Father Furdek always contended that good Slovaks made good American citizens, that a Slovruk who remained loyal to God and his own nation simply could not become an unworthy citizen. Father Stephen Furdek was also a writer and poet of no mean a;bility. In 1891, he began publishing the newspaper "Jednota" (The Union) weekly, and fi'Ve years later the annual "Kalendar Jednota" or Jednota Almanac as it is called. Both are still being published by the First Catholic Slovak Union. Father Furdek not only ecli,ted these ,pu:blication.s, but also contributed heavily to them until his death in 1915. He found time, too, to write for several plllblications in Sloivakia. His was a very popular style; hL5 articles, stories, anecdotes and poems were relished 'by the Slovruks of America amd Europe. In 1910, he pub1'ished the book "S'Vet a jeho zahady" (The World and its Mysteries), an apologetic wurk repudiating the atheistic theories of scientists about the origin of the world and man. The importance vf hruving a school in every ,S lovak parish was highly appreciated and strongly advocated by Father Furdelk. It could be used to great advantage by both the young and the old. The latter could be instructed in English, and the former in SlO'Vak. Furdek aippreciated the fact that children especially .:ould not be expected to SLOVAKIA 9 love something that was unlknown to them; they could love and a,ppreciate only wha.t they had an opportunity to become acquainted with. His Slovruk grammar and readers for children did much to preserve the Slovak 1-anguage in several generations of Slovaks in America. Father Furdek endearvored to a<!quaint Amerioans with Slovakia and the Slov,a ks, and the latter wi~ America. To win recogmtion for his people and preserve their good name was one of the principle aims of Father FurdeJk. Up to the time that Furdek began to pwblish his "Jedinota" (1891), the Slova,ks were referred to as "Hungarians, Huns, Sla,vish people, Slavonians, Slavs" - in a word, almost anything but what they really were. It was Furdek who insisted on the appellation •~sLOVAKS" and appealed to the readers of the J ednota in particU!lar to do likewise. Father Furdek enjoyed universal popul,a rity and the trust of his people. He was a man of great understanding, tact and diplomacy. Furdek settled many arguments and misunderstandings to the satisfaction of all parties COIIlcerned. An apostle of ,peace and tolerance, Furdek endeavored to a.void whatever might ca.use dissension and misunderstanding a,mong his people. To those who did not know him well, Furdek appeared to be cool, reserved and difficult to appl'Oach. That was Furdek O!Il the outside. Inside, however, beat a heart of gold, in fiact, Father Furdek was all heart. Furdek was not easily irritated, possessing surpr,i sing self-contro'I. even under the most trying circumstances. Hleated debates might be carried O!Il in his presence when, finally, he would be called upon to settle the a:vgument in question. Furdek always spoke little, 1but said very much, carefully weighing every word. He spoke softly, without any show of anger, bitterness or aggravation; he was fair and objectirve towards friend and foe alike in private as well as public relations with them. Father culties and thoroughly, fered what Furdek was not easily discouraged by diffidisappointmoots. He studied every problem presented his views intelligently and then ofhe thought was the best soJution. When he 10 SLOVAKIA decided it was in the best interests of the F,iz,st Oaitholic Slovak Union to change to the reserve system, he kept hammering away at it, appealing and ~laining to the membership and the delegates to the convention until the proposition was approved. We know today that if it had not been, the First CathoUc Slovak Union most liikely would not be in existence today. When Father Furdek thought it was time to seriously think of building a home for the orphaned children of the memlbers of the Je<lnota, he let the membership know rubout it and set himself to the task until the Jednota Home in Middletown, Pa., became a r~ ality in 1914. He also dreamed of building a high school and a uniiversity on the Jednota Home property, and if the good Lord had spared Furdek another decade, he undoubtedly would ha,ve promoted even these worthy objects successfully. Ailing for several years, Father Furdek ga,ve up his soul to its Maiker at 4 :40 p. m., January 18, 1915. The news of his death spread liike fire throughout Slovaik settlements in America; Slov~ks everywhere, Catholics aind non..Catholics alike, were deeply touched and mourned the passing of the greatest Slovaik in America. After the solemn Requiem chanted by the Rt. Rev. Monsignor O'Reilly, Ohancellor of the Diocese of Cleveland, in our Lady of Lourdes church, January 20, 1915, the earthly remains of Father Furdek were laid to rest in ,t he CalV'ary Cemetery. Over 10,000 people, including Bishop J. M. Koudelka of Superior, Wisconsin, 65 priests from Slovaik parishes of America, the Supreme Officers of the First Catholic SlovaJk Union, the Slovak League of America and other Slovak organizations, and many civic leaders, attended the last rites foc Father Furdek. Father Stephen Furdek, worthy son of the land of the majestic Tatras and adopted son of the land of the free and the home of the brave, fought the good fight, finished the course, and kept the faith. He shall live in the 'hearts of the Slovaks forever. Guided by his noble spirit they aire determined to carry on the good fight ''Za Boha a na:rod" until the end of time.  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Rev. Stephen Furdek Description An account of the resource Philip A. Hrobak Slovakia, Vol. 5, No. 2-3 (15-16), June-September 1955 pp. 3-10 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Hrobak, Philip Anthony, 1904-1964 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource June-September 1955 LCNAF https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/6ab65a70c2b64609832cfafbb7ce7d5d.pdf f6a76f57ce452b3fd5966ad435268d54 PDF Text Text 26 SLOVAKIA The Roma Of Slovakia Since 1939 David M. Crowe One of the most intriguing ethnic groups in Slovakia are the Roma or Gypsies. Traditionally regarded as social outcasts and misfits, the Roma have been a unique part of the Slovak historical landscape. Though there have been Roma in Slovakia since the Middle Ages, it was not until World War II that significant efforts were made to deal with the Slovak Roma. From 1939 until 1945, the Roma, often lumped together with the country's Jews, were subjected to a number of restrictive policies. Within a decade after the end of World War II, attention again was drawn to the Roma in the reconstructed Czechoslovak Republic, but particularly in Slovakia, where most of the country's Gypsies lived. To Czechoslovakia's communist leaders, the low socioeconomic status of the Roma was a national embarassment and underscored at least one failed aspect of the communist experiment. Driven by statistics that illustrated the low social, economic, educational, and cultural status of the Roma, considerable efforts were made through the 1980s to transform this traditionally nomadic people into sedentary, assimilated Slovak and Czech citizens. Though some significant gains were made, Slovak and Czech leaders were unable to stifle the centuries-old prejudice that had haunted Gypsies throughout Central and Eastern Europe. Though large numbers of Slovak Roma fled to the �SLOVAKIA 27 Czech Republic after the 1993 breakup of Czechoslovakia, a large Roma population still resides in Slovakia. The Roma or Gypsies have lived in Slovakia since the Middle Ages. By the 14th century, considerable Gypsy settlements began to appear in the Slovak portions of Hungary, particularly around feudal castles such as Spis (Zips) Castle. Initially, Roma were welcomed by local officials. Slovak peasants regarded these "Egyptians" as religious exiles from the Middle East. However, over time, positive Slovak attitudes towards the Roma began to change, particularly during the 16th century, when the region was plagued by religious wars and the Turkish threat. In Slovak Royal Hungary, for example, some noblemen began forcibly to expel Gypsies or force them to settle on the outskirts of towns and villages. 1 During the 17th century, Gypsies and others fleeing the Thirty Years War (1618 - 1648) entered Slovakia, which adopted new anti-Gypsy regulations to deal with the new Roma presence. Once the Austrian Habsburgs retook much of Hungary at the end of the 17th century, they implemented new regulations that strongly discouraged Roma settlement throughout the Austrian Empire. These harsh policies began to change under Maria Theresa (1740 - 1780). Her policies were designed to halt Gypsy immigration into her empire and force those already there to become sedentary. The Roma now became subject to all imperial taxes and obligations such as the draft. Gypsies were also required to give up their traditional dress and customs, and forbidden to marry other Gypsies. Roma children over five were taken from their parents and placed in the care of non-Gypsy Catholic parents. These policies were continued by Maria Theresa's son, Jopseph II (r. 1780 -1790), but fell into disarray after his death. 2 1 David M. Crowe, A History of the Gypsies of Eastern Europe and Russia (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1994 ), pp. 31-35. ' Ibid., pp. 36-40. �28 SLOVAKIA There are few glimpses of Slovak Rom during the first half of the 19th century, though there is more on them during the second half of this period. In 1856, a Gypsy school, one of the first in Europe, was opened in Nove Zamky. However, it was not until the general Hungarian census of 1880 and the Hungarian Gypsy census of 1893 that the first concrete evidence about the Roma presence in Slovakia surfaced. According to 1893 data, there were 36,231 Roma in Slovakia, most of them settled. Almost half of those employed worked in traditional Gypsy occupations, while an almost equal number were musicians. The census also indicated that a considerable number of Roma were involved in unsavory occupations. Almost 90% of Slovakia's Gypsies were Roman Catholics.3 Total Gypsy population figures declined dramatically in the new post-World War I Czechoslovak census of 1921. It showed only 7,967 Roma in Slovakia and almost none in the Czech lands. Experts reasoned that the low numbers could be caused by exclusive use of "mother tongue" in the census. More accurate 1926 data indicated 62,192 Roma in Slovakia, though gypsiologist Dr. Eva Davidova felt the real numbers were much higher. 4 Efforts were made in Slovakia during this period to open schools for Gypsies and to encourage the development of cultural organizations for them. Some attempts were also inade privately to improve Gypsy health. One of the most famous Gypsy schools in Slovakia at this time was in Uzhorod. Opened in 1925 by Pavel Fodor, it gained an international reputation for its instruction in Slovak. 5 What gains were made by Slovak Roma disappeared with the coming of World War II. After the German dismemberment 3 Ibid., pp. 40-42. • Ibid., pp. 42-44. ' Ibid., pp. 44-47. �SLOVAKIA 29 of Czechoslovak.a in 1939, two separate states emerged - the German- controlled Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia and the German-allied state of Slovakia. Whereas Gypsies in Bohemia and Moravia suffered from harsh Nazi policies throughout the Porajmos or Gypsy Holocaust, the Roma in Slovakia fared much better. 6 Part of the reason for Slovakia's comparatively mild treatment of its Gypsies centered around Germany's desire for Slovakia to be a model satellite state in southeastern Europe. Consequently, the government, the Catholic church, and business enjoyed semi-autonomy. Furthermore, Father Jozef Tiso, the head of state, opposed the complete nazification of his country. In time, Reich officials came to realize that the only way - they could achieve their goals was through political pressure and an intense propaganda campaign. Anything else would hamper Slovakia's contribution to the German war effort. Almost all of Slovakia's Gypsies survived the war because of this. This did not mean, however, that the Slovak government left its Roma population alone. Within months after the creation of Slovakia in the spring of 1939, the Tiso government ordered nomadic Gypsies to return to their legal residences, and made it illegal for them to do any horse trading. On September 25, 1939, Jews were deprived of their Slovak citizenship, while Gypsies who were born in Slovakia and wanted Slovak citizenship had to prove that they lived an orderly way of life; had a steady place of residence and employment; and were honorable citizens as reflected in their education, their moral and political trustworthiness, and their activity in their community, could they be included in the Slovak national community. If they did not fulfill the aforementioned conditions, or if they fulfilled them only ' Ibid. , pp. 47-51. �30 SLOVAKIA partially-if they worked only occasionally, if they spoke the Gypsy language among themselves, if their moral and political trustworthiness was doubtful, etc.--they could not be considered members of the Slovak national community. In other words, wandering Gypsies did not qualify for citizenship. 1 Four months later, Ferdinand Durcansky, Slovakia's Interior Minister, ordered that Gypsies and Jews were to work in special labor units as alternatives to military service, which was later set "at two terms of two months twice annually." Durcansky defined a Gypsy in Law No. 130/1940 of June 18, 1940, as someone who had two Roma parents and lived as a nomad, or a sedentary person who avoided work. Other regulations issued during this period made it illegal for Gypsies to ride public transportation, eat in cafes, or enter public parks. As Germany intensified pressure on the Slovaks to increase their contribution to the war effort, the Tiso government created seasonal labor camps in 1941 where Gypsies often made up over half of the workers. Conditions in the labor units were bad. Inmates suffered increasingly from inadequate clothing and shoes, cold, infestation with lice and bedbugs, hunger, and disease, especially trachoma and typhus. 8 7 Jorg K. Hoensch, "The Slovak Republic, 1939-1945," in Victor S. Mamatey and Radomfr Luza, eds., A History of the Czechoslovak Republic J9 J 8- J 948 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1973), pp. 278-279, 284-286; Jiff Upa, "The Fate of Gypsies in Czechoslovakia under Nazi Domination," in Michael Berenbaum, ed., A Mosaic of Victims· Non-Jews Persecuted and Murdered by the Nazis (New York: New York University Press, 1990), pp. 209-210; Ctibor Necas. Nad osudem ceskych a sI ovenskych Cikam1 v letech I 939- I 945 (Brno: Univerzita J. E. Purkyne, 1981 ), p. 70. • Upa, "Fate of Gypsies in Czechoslovakia," p. 210; Gypsy and Jewish service regulations were included in legislation of January 18, 1940, and February 29, 1940. Necas, Nad osudem, pp. 82-129, devotes a great deal of time to the little �SLOVAKIA 31 Many prisoners practiced self-mutilation to gain their freedom. In 1943, one member of the Slovak Diet, Hut'ka, criticized the conditions of the camps at Bystre nad Topl'ou. He felt the labor camps had been opened "to re-educate the asocial elements, not...to torture people and bring them into an even worse moral degradation." 9 On April 20, 1941, nomadic Gypsies were given eight days to return home. Once there, they were watched by the police and only allowed to leave with special permission. The Roma were also given two weeks to dispose of their horses and wagons . Gypsy houses located near public thoroughfares had to be torn down and reconstructed at a new site determined by officials. A Gypsy representative was to work with the local mayor to ensure that local ordinances were followed. Roma were also not allowed to own dogs. These regulations evidently did not curb all Gypsy nomadism, and officials explained when they opened a new labor camp in Krupina in the summer of 1941, that nomadic Roma were to be put in such camps to force them to live a sedentary life and to learn to do productive labor. These efforts still did not stop Gypsy nomadism, and on June 21, 1943, the government ordered that all Gypsy housing be removed from alongside busy roads. 10 Each Slovak community dealt with its Roma in a different manner. The 500 Gypsies in the village of Smizany were well integrated and none were sent to labor camps. When Hlinka Guards, the Slovak paramilitary group that modeled itself on the Italian "Black Shirts" and the German SA, arrived to take Gypknown history of the Gypsy Labor Units (pracovni utvary) from 1941-1944. He provides detailed Gypsy inmate statistics for the camps at Bystre nad Topl'ou , Dubnica nad Vlihom, llava, and Revuca; Donald Kenrick and Grattan Puxon, ~ Destiny of Europe's Gypsies (New York: Basic Books, I972), p. 136. • Lfpa, "Fate of Gypsies in Czechoslovakia," p. 210. 10 Ibid., p. 211; Necas, Nad osudem, pp. 74-75, 130. �32 SLOVAKIA sies from the village of Letanovce, the mayor only agreed to send two Roma who had reputations as drunks. Both Gypsies returned to Letanovce at the end of the war. 11 This atmosphere changed drastically during the summer of 1944. In June, Slovak Roma were accused of spreading typhoid throughout the country, and were forbidden to ride trains unless they had a special travel permit backed by a physician's certificate that showed them free of typhoid. Gypsies could only use the rail passes for outbound trips and had to get another one if they wanted to return home. The following month, the Interior Ministry informed its regional offices that there were still Roma in some of the country's towns and villages. It ordered local officials to move all Gypsies away from roadsides, and said that if any refused to comply, they would be executed. The decree added that more forced labor camps were being prepared for Slovak Roma. 12 The climate for the Gypsies got considerably worse with the German occupation of Slovakia on September 29, 1944. Spurred by the Slovak National Insurrection of August 29-0ctober 27, 1944, the Germans clamped down harshly on the Slovaks, including the Roma, because they had actively supported the uprising. One Gypsy leader, Tomas Farkas, headed a mixed guerilla band of Roma and Slovaks during the uprising. Farkas' detachment momentarily held up German forces near Tisovec as they moved towards Banska Bystrica, the military center of the rebellion. After Banska Bystrica fell, authorities arrested Farkas' son, and imprisoned him. When Slovak partisans retreated in the 11 Kenrick and Puxon, Destiny of Europe's Gypsies, p. 136; Emflia Horvlithova, Cii:ani na SJovensku (Bratislava: Vydavatel'stvo Slovenskej Akademie Vied, 1964), p. 171. Kenrick and Puxon, Destiny of Europe's Gypsies, p. 137; Horvathova, Ciian.i na SJoyensku, p. 171; the train regulations were issued on June 13, 1944, while others appeared on June 19-21, 1944. Necas, Nad osudem, pp. 130-132. 12 �SLOVAKIA 33 face of the German advance in the fall of 1944, the Gypsies, using hidden weapons, stayed behind to protect their families. After the rebellion's collapse, a German intelligence officer tricked the Roma into revealing details about their weapons cache. Hlinka Guards executed the Gypsy partisans as their families watched in horror. The Germans then killed all Roma women and children and buried their bodies in a lime pit. 13 Similar Gypsy massacres took place in other parts of Slovakia as retribution for their role in the Slovak National Insurrection. On November 14, 1944, 65 Roma were burned to death in two huts in Cierny Balog, while other Gypsies were forced to dig a large grave for their fallen comrades. Hlinka - Guards murdered the entire community of 111 Gypsies in Ilija eight days later, and on November 23 , butchered as many Roma as they could find in Slatina. Only three Gypsies escaped the massacre. A similar tragedy took place at Neresnice, where only two families survived. 14 Atrocities also took place at the labor camp at Dubnica nad Vahom. On September 29, 1944, German authorities in Trencin just south of Dubnica nad Vahom ordered that all male Roma from this region be sent to the labor camp at Dubnica. The Gypsy transfers were halted once the camp became full two weeks later. On November 2, 1944, Dubnica na Vahom was transformed into a concentration center for all Roma. Authorites freed all of the camp's non-Gypsy inmates to make room for the Roma. After a typhus epidemic ravaged a Gypsy camp at Ustie 1 Kenrick and Puxon, Destiny of Europe's Gypsies, pp. 137- 138; Hoensch, "The Slovak Republic," pp. 293-295 ; Anna Josko, "The Slovak Resistance Movement," in Mamatey and Luza, Histocy of the Czechoslovak Republic, pp . 375-380, 382-383. 14 Kenrick and Puxon, Destiny of Europe's Gyspies. pp. 137-138; authorities later found a mass grave at Kremnica, which was occupied by the Germans from November 5, 1944, to January 12, 1945. It contaimed 3,723 bodies, some of them Gypsies. Netas, Nad osudem, pp. 138-141. ' �34 SLOVAKIA nad Oravou in mid-December, authorites shipped its inmates to Dubnica nad Vahom. Before the arrival of the new Roma inmates, there were 729 Roma at Dubnica nad V ahom, 250 of them children. The only recorded atrocity at the camp took place on January 17, 1945, when 16 sick Gypsy prisoners were taken from the camp and told they were being shipped to the hopsital at Trencfn. Instead, they were driven in military trucks to a wooded area, forced into a pit, and executed. The Dubnica nad V ahom camp was closed on the eve of its capture by Soviet forces on April 8, 1945. Despite these tragedies, the Gypsy survival rate in Slovakia was quite high, and estimates are that only a few hundred of Slovakia's 100,000 Rom died in the Porajmos. 15 The liberation of Czechoslovakia in the spring of 1945 found the country traumatized by the human and economic devastation of the war. A massive campaign of expulsions aimed primarily at Germans and Magyars saw I .5 million people move into the former Sudetenland from other parts of Czechoslovakia, including some Gypsies. As the Germans were expelled from Cze- __ choslovakia, many Slovak Gypsies were sent to camps in northern Bohemia and Moravia where they worked as unskilled laborers. Not all Slovak Gypsies remained in the Czech lands, 15 Lfpa, "Fate of the Gypsies in Czechoslovakia," pp. 211 -213; Necas, Nad llS..Ll.d.e.m, pp. 111-112, I 34- 137 ; Kenrick and Puxon, Destiny of Europe's Gypsies, p. 138; Horvathova, Cii:ani na S)ovensku, p. 173 n34; David J. Kostelancik, "The Gypsies of Czechoslovakia: Political and Ideological Considerations in the Development of Policy," Studies in Comparative Communism, Vol. 22, No. 4 (Winter 1984), p. 309; the Gypsies were not Slovakia's only victims after the Slovak National Insurrection. Estimates are that from August 1944 until April 1945, "7,500 soldiers and 2,500 partisans were killed and 3,723 civilians ... were murdered and buried in mass graves; 900 were burned in lime kilns; 30,000 people were de)Xlrted to German concentration camps; 60 communities were completely destroyed by fires and 142 were partially wiped out." Josko, "Slovak Resistance Movement," p. 383. �SLOVAKIA 35 and some returned to Slovakia where they began to buy new homes. In addition, about 6,000 Olach [Olassti] Gypsies continued to live as nomads. Officials hoped the returning Slovak Roma would help solve the regions's severe labor shortage and serve as role models for other Roma. After the strong communist showing in the May 26, 1946, elections, the new Minister of the Interior, the Czech Vaclav Nosek, and others, called for restrictive policies against the Roma, whom Nosek and his supporters called questionable citizens of Czechoslovakia. 16 Efforts by Evzan Erban, the Minister of Labor and Social Welfare, to continue to send Slovak Gypsies to camps in the Czech lands were stopped by the non-communist Minister of Justice, Prokop Drtina in 1947. Nosek convinced Drtina to do a census of the country's Roma population to determine how many lived as nomads. According to the census, there were 84,438 Roma in Slovakia, and 16,752 in the Czech lands. The successful communist coup in early 1948 brought to power a party that a year earlier had pledged that it would do everything possible to integrate the Gypsies into the fabric of Czechoslovakian society, and raise their social, economic, and cultural status. 17 In 1949, the government of Klement Gottwald created a special commission to investigate the "Gypsy question." The 16 Kostelancik, "Gypsies of Czechoslovakia," pp. 309-310; Willy Guy, "Ways of Looking at Roms: The Case of Czechoslovakia," in Farnham Rehfisch, ed., Gypsies Tinkers and Other Travellers (New York: Academic Press, 1975), p. 213; Tom~ Grulich and Tom~ Hai~man, "lnstitucionalnf zajem o cikanske obyvatelstvo v Ceskoslovensku v letech 1945-1958," C:esky Lid, Vol. 73 , No. 2 ( 1986), p. 73. 17 Kostelancik, "Gypsies of Czechoslovakia," pp. 310-3 I I ; Vladimir Srb, "Cikani v Ceskoslovensku Demo2rafje, Vol. Xl , No. 3 (1969), p. 194; Zdenek Suda, The Czechoslovak Socialist Republic (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1969), pp. 32-36; Radomfr Luui, "Czechoslovakia between Democracy and Communism," in Mamatey and Luui, History of the Czechoslovak Republic, pp. 412-415. �36 SLOVAKIA new commission sponsored a detailed study of Czechoslovakia's Gypsies that appeared in 1950 as Zarazovani osob cikanskeho puvodu do trvaleho pracovniho procesu (Position of Individuals of Gypsy Origin in the Work Process). Two years later, this study was partly integrated into another report by the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare, Uprava pomeru osob cikanskeho puvodu (Report About the Life of the Gypsies in Czechoslovakia). This latter study blamed earlier governments and societies for the Roma's low social and economic status, and promised that the new People's Democratic State would resolve the "Gypsy question" if the Roma willingly and quickly become accustomed to conscientious work, they adopt trades, they take part in socialist competition, they become shock-workers, members and functionaries of the Czechoslovak Communist Party and the Revolutionary Trade-Union Movement. 18 However, over the next eight years, Czechoslovak leaders did little to help the Gypsies improve their quality of life. Numerous regional and local decrees touched on health care and housing needs, and emphasized changing the behavior of the Roma. 19 Communist Party propaganda, however, underscored improved Gypsy school attendance, literacy, and new attitudes towards work and integration. By the mid-1950s, this congratulatory tone changed as the reality of the Gypsy's plight and demographic growth became more apparent to the country's leadership. In 1956, authorities began to talk about a national Gypsy crisis, which was linked to their continued nomadism. 18 Kostelancik, "Gypsies of Czechoslovakia," pp. 3 I 0-311; Grulich and Hai~man, "Institucionalnf zajem o cikanske," p. 74. " Kostelancik, "Gypsies of Czechoslovakia," pp. 311, 320; Josef Kalvoda, "The Gypsies of Czechoslovakia," in David M. Crowe and John Kolsti, eds., ~ Gypsies of Eastern Europe (New York: M. E. Sharpe, 1991), p. 93. �SLOVAKIA 37 According to an article in Zemedelske Novjny (Agricultural Newspaper) in 1957, only 40% of the country's Roma were working in industry and agriculture. The Slovak journal Smena (Direction) added that the nomadic Roma lifestyle heightened prejudice towards them, which the journal compared to "discrimination against the Negro in the United States.":n These problems and attitudes, coupled with the size of the Roma population nationwide, which Radio Bratislava estimated in 1958 to be 150,000, prompted the Communist Party to approve a resolution on April 8, 1958, that demanded a new campaign to resolve the "Gypsy question." Similar to new policies throughout the Soviet bloc at that time, the Party called for a mass campaign addressed to both the Gypsies and white -- bigots, for lifting the Gypsies' extraterritorial immunities and punishment of nomadism. 21 Czechoslovakia's Gypsies were now officially divided into three categories - nomads, semi-nomads, and completely sedentary - in anticipation of Law No. 74, of October 17, 1958, "Act on Permanent Settlement of Nomadic People." The new law instructed local officials to work with nomads, whom it defined as an individual who 0 Otto Ulc, "Communist National Minority Policy: The Case of the Gypsies in Czechoslovakia," Soviet Studies, Vol. XX, No. 4 (April 1969), pp. 422-424 ; "Minorites in Eastern Europe," Eastern Europe. Vol. 8, No. 3 (March 1959), pp . 13-14. 21 "M inorities in Eastern Europe," p. 14; Kostelancik, "Gypsies of Czechoslovakia," p. 311, improperly places the date for the passage of Law No. 74 as November 17, 1958; Grulich and Hai§man, "Jnstitucionalnf zajem o cikanske," pp. 77-78; Guy, "Ways of Looking at Roms," pp. 214-215. Guy estimates the number of registered nomads at 20,000-27,000; Ulc, "Gyps ies in Czechoslovakia," pp. 424-426, says officials estimated that the semi-nomadic Rom were the largest group among the Gypsies. ' �38 SLOVAKIA in groups or individually, wanders from place to place, shuns honest work or obtains his livelihood by iniquitious means even though he may be registered in some community as its permanent resident.-n. According to the new law, if anyone continued to live in this manner, he or she could be imprisoned for six months to three years. Two other parts of Law No. 74 gave the Minister of the Interior the right 11 to issue executive orders to this effect, including registration of the nomads. 11 Though the new regulations never mentioned the Roma, they were its only target, particularly the country's 6,000 nomadic Olach Gypsies. Official estimates indicated that there were from 11,000 to 40,000 nomadic Roma in Czechoslovakia at this time. 23 In an effort to avoid charges of racism, officials also upgraded the Gypsies' official status to a "socio-ethnic group." Unfortunately, Czechoslovak authorities did not anticipate the complex economic and social problems that would accompany their efforts to force the complete integration of the nation's Gypsies. Many nomadic Roma found ways to avoid punishment for thsir lifestyle, while local efforts to force settlement through the assignment of precious housing to Gypsies created growing resentment against a group that some came to see as privileged. Many Slovaks and Czechs felt the Roma were a privileged group that had special rights without obligations. The public complained that the Gypsies were measured by different standards and took advantage of their unique position. More importantly, the government's new efforts did little to upgrade the low socio-economic status of the Roma, and perhaps made it worse for the newly settled Gypsies, who, located principally in Slova- 22 23 UII!, "Gypsies in Czechoslovakia," pp. 424-425. Ibid., pp. 425-426. �SLOVAKIA 39 kia, still lived in slums with inadequate plumbing and sanitation facilites. 24 Consequently, in 1965, the Communist Party asked local officials to do a more thorough investigation of the plight of the Roma and develop a long range plan for Gypsy assimilation. The result was Ordinance No. 502 of June 1965, which developed a Gypsy reform progam that centered around fullemployment possibilities for Gypsies able to work full time. These efforts were considered essential to upgrading the standard of living for Roma, and tied to plans to destroy substandard Gypsy settlements and the movement of Roma from Slovakia to other parts of the country. The Academy of Sciences was asked to do a study of Roma life, while the state-controlled media was ord.tred to help counter nationwide prejudice against the Roma. A new government body, the National Council for Questions of the Gypsy Population (NCQGP), which had no Gypsy members, was to serve as the program's watchdog. The NCQGP produced three position papers, but was abolished in 1968. 25 At the center of this new program was the destruction of substandard Gypsy housing and settlements, primarily in Slovakia, and the forced resettlement and employment of their Rom inhabitants. Officials estimated that 67.3% of Slovakia's 153,000 Gypsies lived in extremely substandard housing. The government pin-pointed 1,266 Roma settlements in Slovakia for destruction, and the transfer of 64,096 Gypsies. Officials planned to move the effected Slovak Gypsies to the Czech lands after their settlements were razed. Local governments, aided by national ,. Kostelancik, "Gypsies in Czechoslovakia," p. 426; Kalvoda, "Gypsies of Czechoslovakia." pp. 98-99. 25 Kostelancik, "Gypsies of Czechoslovakia." pp. 312-313; Ult, "Gypsies in Czechoslovakia." pp. 430-431. Of the 56,000 Rom in eastern Slovakia, only 2.2% had an adequate water supply; Guy, "Ways of Looking at Roms," pp. 2 I 922 . �40 SLOVAKIA subsidies, would then be responsible for the Gypsies' housing and employment. The resettlement program was voluntary. Once a Gypsy family was convinced of the wisdom of moving, the government would give the family a special payment, combined with a 25-30% subsidy and low cost government loan, which would be used to purchase a new home in the Czech lands. However, inadequate funding, coupled with growing resentment towards the new Roma presence in the Czech lands, and the unwillingness of some Gypsies to remain there, undercut the success of the program. Between 1965-1968, the government was only able to eliminate a third of the Roma settlements targeted for destruction. 26 As authorities struggled with the mixed results of this new transfer and employment program, Czechoslovakia was turned inside out by the events of the Prague Spring in 1968.Z7 On the eve of the Prague Spring, Czechoslovakia had an official Gypsy population of 223,993, with 164,526 in Slovakia, and 59,467 in the Czech lands. In 1968, the Roma in Slovakia formed their first official organization, the Union of Gypsy-Romanies (UGR or Zvaz Cikanov-Romov; Romani, Romano Jekhetaniben), followed by a similar Czech organization in 1969. Later that year, both groups joined together, but maintained separate Slovak and Czech branches. The UGR received funds from the National Front and had branches throughout Czechoslovakia. Its goals were to improve the socio-economic status of the Roma and enhance the Gypsies' awareness of their own culture and 2 • Ulc, "Gypsies in Czechoslovakia," pp. 432-433 ; Kostelancik, "Gypsies in Czechoslovakia," pp. 312-314; Guy, "Ways of Looking at Roms," pp. 219-220; Hiibschmannova, "Co je tak zvana cikanska otazka," p. 115 n I 9. 27 Otto Ulc, "Czechoslovakia," in Teresa Rakowska-Harmstone, ed., Communism io Eastern Europe, Second Edition (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1984), pp. 121-123; William Shawcross, ~ (New York : Touchstone Books/Simon & Schuster, Inc., 1990), pp. 114-119. �SLOVAKIA 41 traditions. The UGR also wanted to acquire nationality status for the Roma, which triggered an engaging debate between Gypsy and non-Gypsy intellectuals about the entire "Gypsy question." Central to the debate was Jaroslav Sus' 1963 study, Cikanska otazka v CSSR (The Gypsy Question in the CSSR), which described the Rom way of life as [an] undesirable combination of 'nomadism, tribalism ...and blood f euds,' and the Romani language as ... unworthy of preservation. Consequently, Sus felt that "unconditional assimilation [was] ... the only solution for the question." 28 Roma scholar Elena Htibschmannova, long an advcoate of --Gypsy nationality status, led the attack on Sus' ideas. Htibschmannova shifted responsibility for some aspects of the "Gypsy Question" to the shoulders of the government, as did the August 1969 Programme of the Founding Congress of the Czech Gypsy-Rom Association [Union], which felt that "fears of the results of granting rights to the Gypsies as a nationality" lay at the heart of the question. As this debate raged, plans were made to start a Roma journal, and the UGR's membership rolls swelled to 20,000 between 1968 - 1971. Several hundred Gypsy musical and sports groups were formed, and the media began to refer to the country's Roma as "citizens of Gypsy origin." Unfortunately, after the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia on August 21, 1968, the new government of Gustav Husak introduced an era of "normalization" that gradually chipped away at many of the gains achieved by the Roma during the Prague Spring. In April I 973, the government expelled the UGR from the National Front, and outlawed other Gypsy organizations because "they had failed to fulfill their integrative function." 29 21 " Crowe, Gypsies of Eastern Europe and Russia, pp. 58-59. Srb, "Cikani v Ceskoslovensku, ~ p. 194; Kostelancik, "Gypsies of �42 SLOVAKIA What followed was a renewed effort to force Gypsy integration and assimilation, coupled with a new sterialization scheme to reduce Gypsy births.~ One of the darker sides of the new Roma assimilation campaign were efforts to promote the sterilization of Gypsy women. The seed for this idea was planted in a February 29, 1972, Ministry of Health "Decree on Sterilization." Though "designed to safeguard against arbitrary or illinformed sterilization of all Czechoslovak citizens," the decree was used to encourage the sterilization of Romany women in order to reduce the high unhealthy' Romany population and, as a result, a disproportionately high number of Romany women were sterilized, often in violation of the existing safeguards and of their rights to non-discrimination on the basis of ethnicity or sex. 3 ' Czechoslovakia," pp. 3 I 7-318 ; Eva Davidova, "The Gypsies of Czechoslovakia, " Journal of the Gypsy Lore Society. Third Series, Vol. I, Nos. 12 (Jan uary-April), pp. 53-54; Guy, "Ways of Looking at Roms," pp. 220-22 I , 223, n44; Grattan Puxon, "Gypsies: Blacks of East Europe," The Nation. April 17, I 976, pp. 461-462; Hlibschmannova, "Co je tak zvana cikanska otazka," pp . 105, I 12 nl6, I 13- 114, I 16 n23, 117-118 ; Kalvoda, "Gypsies of Czechoslovakia," pp. 101-103 ; Otto Ulc, "Gypsies in Czechoslovakia: A Case of Unfinished Integration," Eastern European Politics and Societies, Vol. 2, No. 2 (Spring 1988), pp. 310-312. 30 Other estimates put the 1970 Roma population at over 300,000. Vladimir Srb, "Demograficky profil ~eskoslovenskych romu," Cesky Lid, Vol. 72 ( 1985), p. 139; Vladimir Srb, "K integraci cikanskeho obyvatelstva v CSSR," Demoi:rafie, Vol. XXI, No. 4 (1979), p. 323; V. Srb and J. Job, "Nektere demograficke, ekonomicke a kultumi charakteristiky romskehe obyvatelstva v CSSR 1970," Demoi:rafie, Vol. XVI, No. 2 (1974), p. 173 ; Kostelancik, "Gypsies of Czechoslovakia," p. 106; Paul S. Shoup, The East European and Soviet Data Handbook (New York: Columbia University Press, 1981), pp. 42, 48; Chris Cook and John Stevenson, The Loni:man Handbook of Modern European History )763-)985 (London: Longman, 1987), pp. 216,218. 31 Rachael Tritt, Jeri Laber, and Lois Whitman, Strui:i:Jini: for Ethnic Identity · Czechoslovakia's Endani:eced Gypsies (New York: Human Rights Watch, 1992), �SLOVAKIA 43 According to a Slovak document released in 1979 by Charter 77, a Czechoslovak dissident group, the Slovak government had already begun a program that used economic incentives to get Gypsy women to be sterilized because of earlier, unsuccessful government efforts "to control the high unhealthy Romany population through family planning and contraception." Local health workers offered some prospective sterilization candidates as much as 5,000 Crowns to undergo the procedure. As pressure intensified to get more Gypsy women to agree to sterilization, some health workers often made unfulfilled offers of as high as 30,000 Crowns. Charter 77 protested this practice in 1979, and claimed that it violated Article No. 259 of the state penal code, which dealt with genocide. But this was not the only - . criticism in Charter 77's 1979 document. On a broader scale, Charter 77 decried government practices designed to stop Gypsy nomadism and force assimilation, and the official denial of Roma ethnic status. According to Charter 77, the collective impact of these programs set into play "a process of social disintegration which has no comparison in the history of the Gypsies. This fact is substantiated by an ever increasing number of Gypsies who are sentenced to loss of freedom." 32 While it difficult to gauge the impact of the 1979 Charter 77 report on the plight of the Roma, population data from the 1980 census spurred further government action. The 1980 census showed a Roma population of 288,440, an increase of 31.3% over 1970 figures. Czechoslovakia's total population only grew by 6%. during the same period. The greatest increase in Gypsy growth rates was in the Czech republic, where the Roma population increased 47% between 1970 - 1980, versus a 25.5% rise in Slovakia. Even these figures, though, are misleading, since pp. 19, 139-144. 2 ' Tritt, Czechoslovakia's Endangered Gypsies, pp. 20, 24, 26-27; Ulc, "Gypsies in Czechoslovakia," pp. 314-315. �44 SLOVAKIA arbitrary counting methods showed a discrepancy between national census figures, and those recorded in local "Gypsy Registers," which indicated that there were 306,246 Roma in Czechoslovakia in 1980. The absolute rise in Gypsy population numbers was less troubling to the government than the national and Rom childbirth rate figures. The overall Czechoslovak childbirth rate was on the decline, and by 1982 was "below the level of biological reproduction." The average Czechoslovak woman bore 2.4 children in the 1970s compared to 6.4 children for a Gypsy woman. 33 These increases were remarkable, particularly in light of continued government efforts to destroy Slovak Gypsy slums and the forced movement of Slovak Roma to Czech portions of the country. Other Gypsies also moved to the Czech lands because of better job opportunities and a higher standard of living. Between 1972-1980, officials destroyed 4,000 Roma dwellings in Slovakia, and moved 4,850 Gypsies elsewhere. Though Gypsy housing standards improved appreciably between during this period, there were still 5.6 persons in thct average Roma apartment or house versus a national average of 3.1 persons per dwelling. By 1980, a little more than 70% of the country's Gypsy population lived in apartments, while 10% still lived in primitive settlements that were to be destroyed by 1990. The number in extremely unfit housing dropped from 80.7% in 1970 to 49% between 1970 and 1980. Another part of the Roma assimilation campaign centered around attempts to force more Gypsy children into the public schools. In 1971, only 10% of the eligible Roma children in Czechoslovakia attended kindergarten, a figure that rose to 33 Srb, "Demograficky profil foskoslovenskych Romu," pp. 139-140. There were 88,507 Gypsies in the Czech Republic in 1980, and 199,853 in Slovakia; Ul~, "Gypsies in Czechoslovakia," pp. 315-316; Kalvoda, "Gypsies of Czechoslovakia," pp. 108-109. �SLOVAKIA 45 58.5% in 1980. During the same period, the number .of Gypsy children that finished public school rose from 16.6% to 25.6%, while the number enrolled in colleges and universities increased from 39 to 191. Nationwide, literacy rates rose to 90% among Roma adults. On the other hand, Gypsy school dropout rates in Slovakia increased substantially as Roma pupils moved from grade to grade. In 1983-1984, 72.2% of the Slovak students who failed to go into the second grade were Gypsies, and almost a third of the Roma who went to second grade barely had minimal literacy skills, a figure that jumped to 50% for Gypsy 4th graders. Nationwide, many Gypsies entered the school system with a knowledge of only a few hundred Slovak or Czech words, and were often assigned to special instititions (zvlastnf skoly) designed for the mentally retarded. Only a third of the country's Gypsy children finished 8th grade in 19831984, and only 4% went on to university or college. 34 Gypsy employment figures for this period were also a mixture of success and failure. Though 1981 data showed an 87.7% employment rate for male Gypsy workers that was close to the national average of 91 .9% for all adult males, the 54.95% employment rate for Roma female workers was well below the national average of 87.7% for all women. In addition, over three quarters of all Gypsies employed held low paying, non-skilled jobs. The overall impact of the employment, educational, and housing data found Czechoslovakia's Roma on a socio-economic plateau that proved difficult to transcend. According to Irnrich Farkas, the official responsible for Gypsy matters in Slovakia, the government felt that it would be harder to improve the quality " Kostelanc ik, "Gypsies of Czechoslovakia," pp. 313-3 I 5. In I 980, 59% of the Gypsies in Slovakia lived in the lowest classification for housing, Class IV. Kindergarten attendance rates in eastern Slovakia, where 53% of Slovakia's Rom lived in 1980, rose from 10% to 66% between 1970-1980; Ult, "Gypsies in Czechoslovakia," pp. 319-320. �46 SLOVAKIA of Gypsy life "because increasingly left for solution are those socially and culturally backward families." 35 The government tried to put the best light on its assimilation efforts, and publicized some Gypsy success stories. Bratislava Pravda reported that 435 Roma had been elected to predominantly low level positions as deputies of Peoples Committees, and that one Gypsy, Emil Rigo, had briefly been a member of the Politburo in 1968. Officials also used successful Gypsies to counter efforts to acquire nationality status for the Roma. In 1986, Rude Pravo responded to the World Romany Congress' appeal for nationality status for Czechoslovakia's Gypsies partially with a statement by Mirosalv 2.ajda, an assimilated Roma and Party member who told the newspaper that he was quite content with his life. 36 The lack of nationality status for Czechoslovakia's Roma, who were officially referred to as citizens "of Gypsy origin," robbed them of the special rights and financial support afforded officially recognized minorities. It also placed them into a limbo world where they were forced to identify with other ethnic groups. Their plight was compounded by the growing body of prejudice that accompanied their growing numbers and official attention. 37 To many Slovaks and Czechs, Gypsies were the tmavi kluci (dark boys), a term that automatically identified one as a Roma. According to Otto Ulc, post-1968 Czechsolvakia became a society that was "less tolerant, more impatient, and egotistic." Increasingly, he observed, the public saw Gypsies as "beneficiaries of a host of privileges on their path to the less- " Kostelancik, "Gypsies in Czechoslovakia," pp. 3I3-315; Ulc, "Gypsies in Czechoslovakia," pp. 322-323 . 36 Ulc, "Gypsies in Czechoslovakia," pp. 322 n36, 326. 37 Ibid., pp. 323-326. Not all Gypsies suffered from lack of nationality status on the same scale, and there were a number of instances, particularly in Slovakia, where local officials encouraged Rom ethnicity. �SLOVAKIA 47 than-cherished goal of integration." Furthermore, Ulc argued, Slovaks and Czechs became "thoroughly uninhibited about making racial slurs and expressing racist prejudice of the oldfashioned vintage." They saw the Roma as "dirty, lazy, dishonest, primitive, parasitic, and inferior." 38 Government efforts to counter this prejudice met with mixed results, since the press used stories that gave explicit details about instances of unfair treatment of Gypsies with others that detailed Roma crime. Bratislava Pravda, for example, claimed in 1983 that the Gypsies, who made up 4 % of Slovakia's population, accounted for 24 percent of the charges of parasitism, 50 __ percent of robberies, 60 percent of petty thefts, 75 percent of charges for endangering the morals of youth, and 20 percent of all crimes committed.'39 The overall impact of such reports was to create a very unwelcome, suspicious climate for Czechoslovakia's growing Roma population that worsened as the country and its leadership drifted towards the collapse of the system that had dominated the country since 1948.'° As the Velvet Revolution swept Czechoslovakia in 1989, a plethora of political parties and other organizations surfaced. A number of Gypsy parties emerged during this period, including the Party of the Integration of the Romany People in Slovakia and the Party of the Democratic Romany Union. The most important was the Romany Civic Inititative (ROI or Romska obcanska iniciativa), which had close links to Civic Forum (Obcanske Forum), the umbrella political organization for a number of the country's dissident factions . ROI soon had a 31 Ult, "Gypsies in Czechoslovakia," pp. 327-328. " Kalvoda, "Gypsies in Czechoslovakia," p. I06. •• lhid., p. 106. �48 SLOVAKIA membership of over 70,000, and held its first national meeting in Prague in the spring of 1990. One of its first decisions was to vote to erect a monument in Bratislava to the Rom victims of the Holocaust. The ROI congress elected Emil Scuka, a lawyer and playwright, to head the organization.41 Yet the very democracy that gave Slovak and Czech Gypsies the opportunity to form their own political and other organizations also created a new atmosphere for open, virulent expressions of prejudice towards them. Of particular concern to many non-Gypsies was the dramatic growth of the Roma population. In 1988, the government estimated that there were 391 ,000 Rom in Czechoslovakia, a 35.5% increase over 1980 figures. Other sources estimated there were as many as 700,000-800,000 Roma in Czechoslovakia, with 470,000 a more reasonable figure. Some perceived these figures to be a new threat, and the newspaper Express warned in an article on July 2, 1990, "that the Gypsy fertility may mean a ' tragedy', that within a century the country may well have to be renamed the Romska republika. 42 These fears combined with the deep-rooted, traditional prejudices towards the Roma, and prompted some people to depict the-Gypsies as new symbols of everything gone awry in Czechoslo- " Otto Ulc, "Integration of the Gypsies in Czechoslovakia," Ethnic Groups. Vol. 9, No. 2 ( 1991 ), pp. 11 2- 11 3; in 1986, Scuka produced the "musical drama Amaro Drom (Our Road)...only the second play in Romanes ever to be staged in Czechoslovakia." Grattan Puxon, Roma· Europe's Gypsies (London: Minority Rights Group, 1987), p. 11 . " Radio Free Europe/Rad io Liberty, "Ethnic Minorities and Foreigners," Radio Free Europe Research, Vol. 14, No. 39 (22 September 1989), pp. 33, 36-37 ; Ulc, "Integration of the Gypsies in Czechoslovakia," pp. 113-114; Czechoslovakia's population was 15,658,079, in Ju ly 1989, and 15,683,234, a year later, an increase of 25,155. Suda, "Czechoslovakia," p. 319, and Carol Skalnik Leff, "Czechoslovakia," in Richard F. Staar and Margit N. Grigory, eds., Yearbook on International Communist Affairs 1221 (Stanford: Hoover Institution Press, 1991), p. 269. �SLOVAKIA 49 vakia. At the forefront of this new assualt on the Rom were renewed charges of criminality. Dramatic increases in crime had plagued the country since the early 1980s, particularly in Bratislava and Prague. In a society accustomed to traditionally low crime rates, crime reached epidemic proportions by 1990. Slovakia experienced a 17.7% rise in crime between 1988-1989, while the Czech Republic reported a 52% increase during the same pericxi. Much of this increase was attributed to Gypsies, who as early as 1987 had been blamed by television reports for 38% of Bratislava's crimes, and 40% of those committed in eastern Slovakia. Gypsies 18 years old and younger were accused of being part of over 44% of all crimes nationwide in 1988. Clearer heads proved that many of these statistics were exaggerated, and that the Roma were responsible for no more than 7.5-11 % of the crime in the country. Though the more conservative estimates were still out of proportion to the number of Gypsies in Czechoslovakia, they were directly tied to post1989 Gypsy unemployment figures that reached as high as 50% in certain areas. 43 Whatever the true numbers, Czechoslovakia's Roma paid a dear price for the accusations against them. Skinhead attacks, sometimes quietly encouraged by onlookers, mounted dangerously against Gypsies and the 35,000 Vietnamese workers in Czechoslovakia throughout 1990. On April 26, Prime Minister Petr Pithart of the Czech Republic called for "peaceful coexis0 Jan Orbman, "Crime Rate Among the Young," Radio Free Europe Research, Vol. 12, No. 32 (14 August 1987), p. 18; Martina Nevesky, "The Gypsy Problem," Radio Free Europe Research, Vol. 14, No. 31 (4 August 1989), p. 40; Jan Orbman, "Minorities Not a Major Issue Yet," Report on Eastern Europe, Vol. 2, No. 50 (December 13, 1991 ), p. 11 ; Wheaton and Kavan, The Yel vet Revo)utjon, p. 147; Jiti Pehe, "Crime Rises in Czechoslovakia," R.EElRL Research Report, Vol. 1, No. 14 (3 April 1992), p. 58; Kalvoda, "Gypsies of Czechoslovakia," p. 112, claims the Rom were responsible for 15.6% of all crimes in the Czech Republic. �50 SLOVAKIA tence with our fellow citizens of Gypsy origin," while federal Deputy Prime Minister Jan Carnogursky demanded "tougher action against those skinheads who had attacked the Gypsies." On May 3, 1990, ROI urged national leaders and organizations to speak out against racist incidents against Roma and foreigners. Four days later, Charter 77 and the Czechoslovak Helsinki Committee condemned such attacks on the Vietnamese and Gypsies, and said they constitute attacks on all of us. They are attacks on the most basic principles of ethics and humanism, attacks on the state based on Jaw that is being bom , attacks contradicting the ideals of our democratic revolution. The fact that we silently tolerate such attacks makes us accomplices. We call on all citizens to stop being indifferent to the manifestations of violence and intolerance. We appeal to our executive bodies to put a final stop to these attacks. Let us make the people who for years have been working in our country feel that they live in a society in which it is JX)SSible to have their basic human rights protected.44 Vaclav Havel detailed the wrongs done Gypsies in public statements on May 2 and in an address on July 27, 1990, to the First World Romany Festival in Brno. Though admirable, particularly when coupled with the new rights acquired by the Roma over the next year, they did not prevent the racially motivated deaths of 26 Gypsies before the breakup of Czechoslovakia on January 1, 1993.45 Both the federal and individual Czechoslovak republics granted the Roma full minority status, rights, and protections in " Jiri Pehe, "Racial Violence Increasing," Report on Eastern Europe, Vol. I, No. 20 (May I 8, 1990), pp. 15, 18; David Binder, "European Gypsies Issue Call for Human Rights at Meeting," The New York Times, May 5, 1993, p. 6. 5 • Tritt, Czechoslovakia's Endangered Gypsies, pp. 13-14. �SLOVAKIA 51 1990-1991. Over thirty Gypsy cultural organizations arose during this period, anchored by the Union of Romany Writers and numerous newspapers and magazines. Programs in Romany Studies were opened at Charles University in Prague and at the Pedagogical Faculty in Nitra. Unfortunately, these developments were overshadowed by a new set of problems that accompanied the breakup of Czechoslovakia on January 1, 1993. Before the formal separation, Slovakia had an estimated Gypsy population of 400,000, and the Czech lands, 150,000. However, only 81,000 Slovak Gypsies officially identified themselves as Roma in the 1991 census. In anticipation of the breakup, a number of Slovak Rom began to move to the Czech lands because they felt • the political and social atmosphere would be more tolerant, and economic conditions better. The sudden increase in "unemployed Romanies, often unassimilated families from Romany villages in eastern Slovakia," stunned many Czechs, who soon claimed that 90% of the republic's new crime was committed by Slovak Roma. Led by individual community actions throughout the Czech Republic, the new state's Prosecutor-General "proposed to the Czech parliament a draft Law on Extraordinary Measures as a means of dealing with unrest caused by undisciplined groups of migrants." Though condemned by human rights groups and the Romany Democratic Congress, which represented 19 Gypsy groups in the Czech Republic, the law had surprising support from conservatives and local officials. The controversial legislation never passed, while the debate that surrounded it brought to the surface traditionally strong prejudice towards the Roma. 46 These feelings were also expressed in several public opinion surveys conducted before and after the January 1, 1993, breakup " Jin Pehe, "Law on Romanies Causes Uproar in Czech Republic,• REElRL Research Report, Vol. 2, No. 7 (12 February 1993), pp. 18-22; Zoltan Barany, "Grim Realities in Eastern Europe." Transition, Vol. I, No. 4 (29 May 1995), p. 8. �52 SLOVAKIA of Czechoslovakia that showed almost universal hatred and distrust towards Gypsies, particularly among young Slovaks and Czechs. Officials in both countries have also been critical of the Roma. One Czech official claimed in the summer of 1993 that the Gypsies remained "a problem ... because most of them are criminals who are getting rich through thievery and prostitution." Slovak Premier Vladimfr Meciar, who lost his post in midMarch 1994 but later regained it, created an uproar on September 4, 1993, in a speech he made in Spis, where Gypsies made up 13% of the population. Meciar felt it "was necessary to curtail the extended reproduction of the socially unadaptable and mentally backward population by decreasing family allowances," which some observers felt was a reference to the country's Gypsies. Famed Nazi hunter and human rights advocate Simon Wiesenthal said that Meciar "has adopted the thinking and diction of Nazism." Meciar sued the newspaperman who originally wrote about his speech, while the Slovak government threatened to sue "any newspaper, radio or television station which refused to apologize for reporting it." Slovak authorities explained that the media had distorted Meciar's speech and released an official translation of his talk. Part of it read: They [Gypsies] should be perceived as a problem group that is growing in size ...This means that if we do not deal with them now, they will deal with us later.. Another thing we have to consider is extended reproduction of socially inadequate population.,f/ 0 Los Angeles Times Mirror, The Pulse of Europe· A Survey of Political and Socja! Values and Attitudes (Washington: Times Mirror Center for People & The Press, 1992), pp. 184-185; Freedom House and The American Jewish Committee, Democracy Economic Reform and Western Assistance in Czechoslovakia Huni:ary and Poland· A Comparative Public Opinion Survey (New York: Freedom House and The American Jewish Committee, 1991), pp. 63-65; "Iron in the Soul," The Economist, March 12, 1994, pp. 55-56; Jane Perlez, "A New �SLOVAKIA 53 Several months later, Monika Nemcokova, the Press Secretary for the Slovak Embassy in Washington, D.C., wrote The New York Times to complain about other distortions in an article by Henry Kamm, "In Slovak Gypsy Ghetto, Hovels and Plea for Jobs." Kamm's article centered on Gypsies in the Slovak village of Svinia, and their poor living conditions and high unemployment. According to a parish priest in the village of Medzev, the Rom "don't want to work," and were satisfied subsisting on government welfare. The mayor of Medzev said the only solution to Slovakia's Gypsy problem was "to shoot them all," though, after a few moments, he added, "I'm no racist...But some Gypsies you would have to shoot." Ms. Nemcokova said such attitudes were "not based on racial intole. ranee, but on a significant difference in life styles and standards." She added that almost 40% of all crimes in Slovakia were committed by Roma, figures that ranged from 40-50% for all "youth cases in Slovakia." The Press Secretary felt that the Rom stipend of $71 a month was more than adequate to maintain a reasonable lifestyle in Slovakia, though she admitted it was less than half the average monthly salary of a worker. Ms. Nemcokova strongly disagreed with Kamm's assertion that there were 400,000 Roma in Slovakia, and put the figure at 250,000. She noted that the government spent 70 milllion crowns annually to help the Roma, which was "used for improving living standards in Gypsy villages, education and children's summer camps, including 3.6 million crowns for Gypsy periodicals, and 10.7 million crowns for Gypsy cultural activities.''48 Slovak Government Pledges Moderation,• The New York Times, March 17, 1994, p. A6; Peter Maas, "Half a Century after Hitler, Gypsies Face New Fight to Exist," The Washini:ton Post, August 13, 1993, p. A29; "Reported Racist Remarks Makes Slovakians Angry," Greensboro News & Record, Setpember 7, 1993, p. A5; "His Struggle," The Economjst, September 18-24, 1993, p. 56. " Henry Kamm, "In Slovak Gypsy Ghetto, Hovels and Plea for Jobs,• The New �SLOVAKIA 54 The current status of the Roma in Slovakia is quite grim. The Slovak Gypsies have been hit particularly hard by the sluggish economy, and there are reports of Roma unemployment rates as high as 100%, particularly in eastern Slovakia, where most Roma live. The rather topsy turvy political situation and lack of commitment to address the complex problems faced by the country's Roma has stifled any significant government efforts to develop a mature program to raise Gypsy educational, social, and economic standards. The Slovak Government's minority department has only five people on its staff, and there is only one Gypsy expert in the Ministry of Education. Until something more is done to address the sad plight of Slovak Roma, they will remain a community outside of the fabric of Slovak society. 49 The serious social, economic, employment, and educational problems faced by Slovakia's Roma are not unique to this young Republic. Roma suffer from similar difficulties throughout Central and Eastern Europe, where most continental Gypsies live. Most of Slovakia's neighbors are faced with rising Roma birthrates vis vis static native rates, and serious financial problems that hinder the dramatic types of educational and social experiments used earlier to try to draw the Roma more deeply into the fabric of the societies of Central and Eastern Europe. These difficulties, though, should not be used as an excuse to fail to deal with the problems of this growing minority. Hopes that the Roma, in the right circumstances, might move elsewhere, are misguided, since Slovakia's Roma have lived in the region for centuries and have deep roots there. Furthermore, in light of their growing numbers and new political activism, the Roma could, in future, present an interesting political threat to Slovakia's current ruling parties. Moreover, rulers in Slovakia and a York Times, November 28, 1993, p. A4; Monica Nemcokova, "Don't Blame Slovakia for Gypsy Problem," The New York Times, December 15, 1993, p. A14. " Barany, "Grim Realities," p. 8. �SLOVAKIA 55 elsewhere in the region should remember that their treatment of the Roma has become an important litmus test of the depth of their democratic experiments in Western eyes. Any failure to deal positively and creatively with each country's Roma population could have negative implications for any of the states in the region trying to draw closer to the West. � 26 SLOVAKIA The Roma Of Slovakia Since 1939 David M. Crowe One of the most intriguing ethnic groups in Slovakia are the Roma or Gypsies. Traditionally regarded as social outcasts and misfits, the Roma have been a unique part of the Slovak historical landscape. Though there have been Roma in Slovakia since the Middle Ages, it was not until World War II that significant efforts were made to deal with the Slovak Roma. From 1939 until 1945, the Roma, often lumped together with the country's Jews, were subjected to a number of restrictive policies. Within a decade after the end of World War II, attention again was drawn to the Roma in the reconstructed Czechoslovak Republic, but particularly in Slovakia, where most of the country's Gypsies lived. To Czechoslovakia's communist leaders, the low socioeconomic status of the Roma was a national embarassment and underscored at least one failed aspect of the communist experiment. Driven by statistics that illustrated the low social, economic, educational, and cultural status of the Roma, considerable efforts were made through the 1980s to transform this traditionally nomadic people into sedentary, assimilated Slovak and Czech citizens. Though some significant gains were made, Slovak and Czech leaders were unable to stifle the centuries-old prejudice that had haunted Gypsies throughout Central and Eastern Europe. Though large numbers of Slovak Roma fled to the �SLOVAKIA 27 Czech Republic after the 1993 breakup of Czechoslovakia, a large Roma population still resides in Slovakia. The Roma or Gypsies have lived in Slovakia since the Middle Ages. By the 14th century, considerable Gypsy settlements began to appear in the Slovak portions of Hungary, particularly around feudal castles such as Spis (Zips) Castle. Initially, Roma were welcomed by local officials. Slovak peasants regarded these "Egyptians" as religious exiles from the Middle East. However, over time, positive Slovak attitudes towards the Roma began to change, particularly during the 16th century, when the region was plagued by religious wars and the Turkish threat. In Slovak Royal Hungary, for example, some noblemen began forcibly to expel Gypsies or force them to settle on the outskirts of towns and villages. 1 During the 17th century, Gypsies and others fleeing the Thirty Years War (1618 - 1648) entered Slovakia, which adopted new anti-Gypsy regulations to deal with the new Roma presence. Once the Austrian Habsburgs retook much of Hungary at the end of the 17th century, they implemented new regulations that strongly discouraged Roma settlement throughout the Austrian Empire. These harsh policies began to change under Maria Theresa (1740 - 1780). Her policies were designed to halt Gypsy immigration into her empire and force those already there to become sedentary. The Roma now became subject to all imperial taxes and obligations such as the draft. Gypsies were also required to give up their traditional dress and customs, and forbidden to marry other Gypsies. Roma children over five were taken from their parents and placed in the care of non-Gypsy Catholic parents. These policies were continued by Maria Theresa's son, Jopseph II (r. 1780 -1790), but fell into disarray after his death. 2 1 David M. Crowe, A History of the Gypsies of Eastern Europe and Russia (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1994 ), pp. 31-35. ' Ibid., pp. 36-40. �28 SLOVAKIA There are few glimpses of Slovak Rom during the first half of the 19th century, though there is more on them during the second half of this period. In 1856, a Gypsy school, one of the first in Europe, was opened in Nove Zamky. However, it was not until the general Hungarian census of 1880 and the Hungarian Gypsy census of 1893 that the first concrete evidence about the Roma presence in Slovakia surfaced. According to 1893 data, there were 36,231 Roma in Slovakia, most of them settled. Almost half of those employed worked in traditional Gypsy occupations, while an almost equal number were musicians. The census also indicated that a considerable number of Roma were involved in unsavory occupations. Almost 90% of Slovakia's Gypsies were Roman Catholics.3 Total Gypsy population figures declined dramatically in the new post-World War I Czechoslovak census of 1921. It showed only 7,967 Roma in Slovakia and almost none in the Czech lands. Experts reasoned that the low numbers could be caused by exclusive use of "mother tongue" in the census. More accurate 1926 data indicated 62,192 Roma in Slovakia, though gypsiologist Dr. Eva Davidova felt the real numbers were much higher. 4 Efforts were made in Slovakia during this period to open schools for Gypsies and to encourage the development of cultural organizations for them. Some attempts were also inade privately to improve Gypsy health. One of the most famous Gypsy schools in Slovakia at this time was in Uzhorod. Opened in 1925 by Pavel Fodor, it gained an international reputation for its instruction in Slovak. 5 What gains were made by Slovak Roma disappeared with the coming of World War II. After the German dismemberment 3 Ibid., pp. 40-42. • Ibid., pp. 42-44. ' Ibid., pp. 44-47. �SLOVAKIA 29 of Czechoslovak.a in 1939, two separate states emerged - the German- controlled Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia and the German-allied state of Slovakia. Whereas Gypsies in Bohemia and Moravia suffered from harsh Nazi policies throughout the Porajmos or Gypsy Holocaust, the Roma in Slovakia fared much better. 6 Part of the reason for Slovakia's comparatively mild treatment of its Gypsies centered around Germany's desire for Slovakia to be a model satellite state in southeastern Europe. Consequently, the government, the Catholic church, and business enjoyed semi-autonomy. Furthermore, Father Jozef Tiso, the head of state, opposed the complete nazification of his country. In time, Reich officials came to realize that the only way - they could achieve their goals was through political pressure and an intense propaganda campaign. Anything else would hamper Slovakia's contribution to the German war effort. Almost all of Slovakia's Gypsies survived the war because of this. This did not mean, however, that the Slovak government left its Roma population alone. Within months after the creation of Slovakia in the spring of 1939, the Tiso government ordered nomadic Gypsies to return to their legal residences, and made it illegal for them to do any horse trading. On September 25, 1939, Jews were deprived of their Slovak citizenship, while Gypsies who were born in Slovakia and wanted Slovak citizenship had to prove that they lived an orderly way of life; had a steady place of residence and employment; and were honorable citizens as reflected in their education, their moral and political trustworthiness, and their activity in their community, could they be included in the Slovak national community. If they did not fulfill the aforementioned conditions, or if they fulfilled them only ' Ibid. , pp. 47-51. �30 SLOVAKIA partially-if they worked only occasionally, if they spoke the Gypsy language among themselves, if their moral and political trustworthiness was doubtful, etc.--they could not be considered members of the Slovak national community. In other words, wandering Gypsies did not qualify for citizenship. 1 Four months later, Ferdinand Durcansky, Slovakia's Interior Minister, ordered that Gypsies and Jews were to work in special labor units as alternatives to military service, which was later set "at two terms of two months twice annually." Durcansky defined a Gypsy in Law No. 130/1940 of June 18, 1940, as someone who had two Roma parents and lived as a nomad, or a sedentary person who avoided work. Other regulations issued during this period made it illegal for Gypsies to ride public transportation, eat in cafes, or enter public parks. As Germany intensified pressure on the Slovaks to increase their contribution to the war effort, the Tiso government created seasonal labor camps in 1941 where Gypsies often made up over half of the workers. Conditions in the labor units were bad. Inmates suffered increasingly from inadequate clothing and shoes, cold, infestation with lice and bedbugs, hunger, and disease, especially trachoma and typhus. 8 7 Jorg K. Hoensch, "The Slovak Republic, 1939-1945," in Victor S. Mamatey and Radomfr Luza, eds., A History of the Czechoslovak Republic J9 J 8- J 948 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1973), pp. 278-279, 284-286; Jiff Upa, "The Fate of Gypsies in Czechoslovakia under Nazi Domination," in Michael Berenbaum, ed., A Mosaic of Victims· Non-Jews Persecuted and Murdered by the Nazis (New York: New York University Press, 1990), pp. 209-210; Ctibor Necas. Nad osudem ceskych a sI ovenskych Cikam1 v letech I 939- I 945 (Brno: Univerzita J. E. Purkyne, 1981 ), p. 70. • Upa, "Fate of Gypsies in Czechoslovakia," p. 210; Gypsy and Jewish service regulations were included in legislation of January 18, 1940, and February 29, 1940. Necas, Nad osudem, pp. 82-129, devotes a great deal of time to the little �SLOVAKIA 31 Many prisoners practiced self-mutilation to gain their freedom. In 1943, one member of the Slovak Diet, Hut'ka, criticized the conditions of the camps at Bystre nad Topl'ou. He felt the labor camps had been opened "to re-educate the asocial elements, not...to torture people and bring them into an even worse moral degradation." 9 On April 20, 1941, nomadic Gypsies were given eight days to return home. Once there, they were watched by the police and only allowed to leave with special permission. The Roma were also given two weeks to dispose of their horses and wagons . Gypsy houses located near public thoroughfares had to be torn down and reconstructed at a new site determined by officials. A Gypsy representative was to work with the local mayor to ensure that local ordinances were followed. Roma were also not allowed to own dogs. These regulations evidently did not curb all Gypsy nomadism, and officials explained when they opened a new labor camp in Krupina in the summer of 1941, that nomadic Roma were to be put in such camps to force them to live a sedentary life and to learn to do productive labor. These efforts still did not stop Gypsy nomadism, and on June 21, 1943, the government ordered that all Gypsy housing be removed from alongside busy roads. 10 Each Slovak community dealt with its Roma in a different manner. The 500 Gypsies in the village of Smizany were well integrated and none were sent to labor camps. When Hlinka Guards, the Slovak paramilitary group that modeled itself on the Italian "Black Shirts" and the German SA, arrived to take Gypknown history of the Gypsy Labor Units (pracovni utvary) from 1941-1944. He provides detailed Gypsy inmate statistics for the camps at Bystre nad Topl'ou , Dubnica nad Vlihom, llava, and Revuca; Donald Kenrick and Grattan Puxon, ~ Destiny of Europe's Gypsies (New York: Basic Books, I972), p. 136. • Lfpa, "Fate of Gypsies in Czechoslovakia," p. 210. 10 Ibid., p. 211; Necas, Nad osudem, pp. 74-75, 130. �32 SLOVAKIA sies from the village of Letanovce, the mayor only agreed to send two Roma who had reputations as drunks. Both Gypsies returned to Letanovce at the end of the war. 11 This atmosphere changed drastically during the summer of 1944. In June, Slovak Roma were accused of spreading typhoid throughout the country, and were forbidden to ride trains unless they had a special travel permit backed by a physician's certificate that showed them free of typhoid. Gypsies could only use the rail passes for outbound trips and had to get another one if they wanted to return home. The following month, the Interior Ministry informed its regional offices that there were still Roma in some of the country's towns and villages. It ordered local officials to move all Gypsies away from roadsides, and said that if any refused to comply, they would be executed. The decree added that more forced labor camps were being prepared for Slovak Roma. 12 The climate for the Gypsies got considerably worse with the German occupation of Slovakia on September 29, 1944. Spurred by the Slovak National Insurrection of August 29-0ctober 27, 1944, the Germans clamped down harshly on the Slovaks, including the Roma, because they had actively supported the uprising. One Gypsy leader, Tomas Farkas, headed a mixed guerilla band of Roma and Slovaks during the uprising. Farkas' detachment momentarily held up German forces near Tisovec as they moved towards Banska Bystrica, the military center of the rebellion. After Banska Bystrica fell, authorities arrested Farkas' son, and imprisoned him. When Slovak partisans retreated in the 11 Kenrick and Puxon, Destiny of Europe's Gypsies, p. 136; Emflia Horvlithova, Cii:ani na SJovensku (Bratislava: Vydavatel'stvo Slovenskej Akademie Vied, 1964), p. 171. Kenrick and Puxon, Destiny of Europe's Gypsies, p. 137; Horvathova, Ciian.i na SJoyensku, p. 171; the train regulations were issued on June 13, 1944, while others appeared on June 19-21, 1944. Necas, Nad osudem, pp. 130-132. 12 �SLOVAKIA 33 face of the German advance in the fall of 1944, the Gypsies, using hidden weapons, stayed behind to protect their families. After the rebellion's collapse, a German intelligence officer tricked the Roma into revealing details about their weapons cache. Hlinka Guards executed the Gypsy partisans as their families watched in horror. The Germans then killed all Roma women and children and buried their bodies in a lime pit. 13 Similar Gypsy massacres took place in other parts of Slovakia as retribution for their role in the Slovak National Insurrection. On November 14, 1944, 65 Roma were burned to death in two huts in Cierny Balog, while other Gypsies were forced to dig a large grave for their fallen comrades. Hlinka - Guards murdered the entire community of 111 Gypsies in Ilija eight days later, and on November 23 , butchered as many Roma as they could find in Slatina. Only three Gypsies escaped the massacre. A similar tragedy took place at Neresnice, where only two families survived. 14 Atrocities also took place at the labor camp at Dubnica nad Vahom. On September 29, 1944, German authorities in Trencin just south of Dubnica nad Vahom ordered that all male Roma from this region be sent to the labor camp at Dubnica. The Gypsy transfers were halted once the camp became full two weeks later. On November 2, 1944, Dubnica na Vahom was transformed into a concentration center for all Roma. Authorites freed all of the camp's non-Gypsy inmates to make room for the Roma. After a typhus epidemic ravaged a Gypsy camp at Ustie 1 Kenrick and Puxon, Destiny of Europe's Gypsies, pp. 137- 138; Hoensch, "The Slovak Republic," pp. 293-295 ; Anna Josko, "The Slovak Resistance Movement," in Mamatey and Luza, Histocy of the Czechoslovak Republic, pp . 375-380, 382-383. 14 Kenrick and Puxon, Destiny of Europe's Gyspies. pp. 137-138; authorities later found a mass grave at Kremnica, which was occupied by the Germans from November 5, 1944, to January 12, 1945. It contaimed 3,723 bodies, some of them Gypsies. Netas, Nad osudem, pp. 138-141. ' �34 SLOVAKIA nad Oravou in mid-December, authorites shipped its inmates to Dubnica nad Vahom. Before the arrival of the new Roma inmates, there were 729 Roma at Dubnica nad V ahom, 250 of them children. The only recorded atrocity at the camp took place on January 17, 1945, when 16 sick Gypsy prisoners were taken from the camp and told they were being shipped to the hopsital at Trencfn. Instead, they were driven in military trucks to a wooded area, forced into a pit, and executed. The Dubnica nad V ahom camp was closed on the eve of its capture by Soviet forces on April 8, 1945. Despite these tragedies, the Gypsy survival rate in Slovakia was quite high, and estimates are that only a few hundred of Slovakia's 100,000 Rom died in the Porajmos. 15 The liberation of Czechoslovakia in the spring of 1945 found the country traumatized by the human and economic devastation of the war. A massive campaign of expulsions aimed primarily at Germans and Magyars saw I .5 million people move into the former Sudetenland from other parts of Czechoslovakia, including some Gypsies. As the Germans were expelled from Cze- __ choslovakia, many Slovak Gypsies were sent to camps in northern Bohemia and Moravia where they worked as unskilled laborers. Not all Slovak Gypsies remained in the Czech lands, 15 Lfpa, "Fate of the Gypsies in Czechoslovakia," pp. 211 -213; Necas, Nad llS..Ll.d.e.m, pp. 111-112, I 34- 137 ; Kenrick and Puxon, Destiny of Europe's Gypsies, p. 138; Horvathova, Cii:ani na S)ovensku, p. 173 n34; David J. Kostelancik, "The Gypsies of Czechoslovakia: Political and Ideological Considerations in the Development of Policy," Studies in Comparative Communism, Vol. 22, No. 4 (Winter 1984), p. 309; the Gypsies were not Slovakia's only victims after the Slovak National Insurrection. Estimates are that from August 1944 until April 1945, "7,500 soldiers and 2,500 partisans were killed and 3,723 civilians ... were murdered and buried in mass graves; 900 were burned in lime kilns; 30,000 people were de)Xlrted to German concentration camps; 60 communities were completely destroyed by fires and 142 were partially wiped out." Josko, "Slovak Resistance Movement," p. 383. �SLOVAKIA 35 and some returned to Slovakia where they began to buy new homes. In addition, about 6,000 Olach [Olassti] Gypsies continued to live as nomads. Officials hoped the returning Slovak Roma would help solve the regions's severe labor shortage and serve as role models for other Roma. After the strong communist showing in the May 26, 1946, elections, the new Minister of the Interior, the Czech Vaclav Nosek, and others, called for restrictive policies against the Roma, whom Nosek and his supporters called questionable citizens of Czechoslovakia. 16 Efforts by Evzan Erban, the Minister of Labor and Social Welfare, to continue to send Slovak Gypsies to camps in the Czech lands were stopped by the non-communist Minister of Justice, Prokop Drtina in 1947. Nosek convinced Drtina to do a census of the country's Roma population to determine how many lived as nomads. According to the census, there were 84,438 Roma in Slovakia, and 16,752 in the Czech lands. The successful communist coup in early 1948 brought to power a party that a year earlier had pledged that it would do everything possible to integrate the Gypsies into the fabric of Czechoslovakian society, and raise their social, economic, and cultural status. 17 In 1949, the government of Klement Gottwald created a special commission to investigate the "Gypsy question." The 16 Kostelancik, "Gypsies of Czechoslovakia," pp. 309-310; Willy Guy, "Ways of Looking at Roms: The Case of Czechoslovakia," in Farnham Rehfisch, ed., Gypsies Tinkers and Other Travellers (New York: Academic Press, 1975), p. 213; Tom~ Grulich and Tom~ Hai~man, "lnstitucionalnf zajem o cikanske obyvatelstvo v Ceskoslovensku v letech 1945-1958," C:esky Lid, Vol. 73 , No. 2 ( 1986), p. 73. 17 Kostelancik, "Gypsies of Czechoslovakia," pp. 310-3 I I ; Vladimir Srb, "Cikani v Ceskoslovensku Demo2rafje, Vol. Xl , No. 3 (1969), p. 194; Zdenek Suda, The Czechoslovak Socialist Republic (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1969), pp. 32-36; Radomfr Luui, "Czechoslovakia between Democracy and Communism," in Mamatey and Luui, History of the Czechoslovak Republic, pp. 412-415. �36 SLOVAKIA new commission sponsored a detailed study of Czechoslovakia's Gypsies that appeared in 1950 as Zarazovani osob cikanskeho puvodu do trvaleho pracovniho procesu (Position of Individuals of Gypsy Origin in the Work Process). Two years later, this study was partly integrated into another report by the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare, Uprava pomeru osob cikanskeho puvodu (Report About the Life of the Gypsies in Czechoslovakia). This latter study blamed earlier governments and societies for the Roma's low social and economic status, and promised that the new People's Democratic State would resolve the "Gypsy question" if the Roma willingly and quickly become accustomed to conscientious work, they adopt trades, they take part in socialist competition, they become shock-workers, members and functionaries of the Czechoslovak Communist Party and the Revolutionary Trade-Union Movement. 18 However, over the next eight years, Czechoslovak leaders did little to help the Gypsies improve their quality of life. Numerous regional and local decrees touched on health care and housing needs, and emphasized changing the behavior of the Roma. 19 Communist Party propaganda, however, underscored improved Gypsy school attendance, literacy, and new attitudes towards work and integration. By the mid-1950s, this congratulatory tone changed as the reality of the Gypsy's plight and demographic growth became more apparent to the country's leadership. In 1956, authorities began to talk about a national Gypsy crisis, which was linked to their continued nomadism. 18 Kostelancik, "Gypsies of Czechoslovakia," pp. 3 I 0-311; Grulich and Hai~man, "Institucionalnf zajem o cikanske," p. 74. " Kostelancik, "Gypsies of Czechoslovakia," pp. 311, 320; Josef Kalvoda, "The Gypsies of Czechoslovakia," in David M. Crowe and John Kolsti, eds., ~ Gypsies of Eastern Europe (New York: M. E. Sharpe, 1991), p. 93. �SLOVAKIA 37 According to an article in Zemedelske Novjny (Agricultural Newspaper) in 1957, only 40% of the country's Roma were working in industry and agriculture. The Slovak journal Smena (Direction) added that the nomadic Roma lifestyle heightened prejudice towards them, which the journal compared to "discrimination against the Negro in the United States.":n These problems and attitudes, coupled with the size of the Roma population nationwide, which Radio Bratislava estimated in 1958 to be 150,000, prompted the Communist Party to approve a resolution on April 8, 1958, that demanded a new campaign to resolve the "Gypsy question." Similar to new policies throughout the Soviet bloc at that time, the Party called for a mass campaign addressed to both the Gypsies and white -- bigots, for lifting the Gypsies' extraterritorial immunities and punishment of nomadism. 21 Czechoslovakia's Gypsies were now officially divided into three categories - nomads, semi-nomads, and completely sedentary - in anticipation of Law No. 74, of October 17, 1958, "Act on Permanent Settlement of Nomadic People." The new law instructed local officials to work with nomads, whom it defined as an individual who 0 Otto Ulc, "Communist National Minority Policy: The Case of the Gypsies in Czechoslovakia," Soviet Studies, Vol. XX, No. 4 (April 1969), pp. 422-424 ; "Minorites in Eastern Europe," Eastern Europe. Vol. 8, No. 3 (March 1959), pp . 13-14. 21 "M inorities in Eastern Europe," p. 14; Kostelancik, "Gypsies of Czechoslovakia," p. 311, improperly places the date for the passage of Law No. 74 as November 17, 1958; Grulich and Hai§man, "Jnstitucionalnf zajem o cikanske," pp. 77-78; Guy, "Ways of Looking at Roms," pp. 214-215. Guy estimates the number of registered nomads at 20,000-27,000; Ulc, "Gyps ies in Czechoslovakia," pp. 424-426, says officials estimated that the semi-nomadic Rom were the largest group among the Gypsies. ' �38 SLOVAKIA in groups or individually, wanders from place to place, shuns honest work or obtains his livelihood by iniquitious means even though he may be registered in some community as its permanent resident.-n. According to the new law, if anyone continued to live in this manner, he or she could be imprisoned for six months to three years. Two other parts of Law No. 74 gave the Minister of the Interior the right 11 to issue executive orders to this effect, including registration of the nomads. 11 Though the new regulations never mentioned the Roma, they were its only target, particularly the country's 6,000 nomadic Olach Gypsies. Official estimates indicated that there were from 11,000 to 40,000 nomadic Roma in Czechoslovakia at this time. 23 In an effort to avoid charges of racism, officials also upgraded the Gypsies' official status to a "socio-ethnic group." Unfortunately, Czechoslovak authorities did not anticipate the complex economic and social problems that would accompany their efforts to force the complete integration of the nation's Gypsies. Many nomadic Roma found ways to avoid punishment for thsir lifestyle, while local efforts to force settlement through the assignment of precious housing to Gypsies created growing resentment against a group that some came to see as privileged. Many Slovaks and Czechs felt the Roma were a privileged group that had special rights without obligations. The public complained that the Gypsies were measured by different standards and took advantage of their unique position. More importantly, the government's new efforts did little to upgrade the low socio-economic status of the Roma, and perhaps made it worse for the newly settled Gypsies, who, located principally in Slova- 22 23 UII!, "Gypsies in Czechoslovakia," pp. 424-425. Ibid., pp. 425-426. �SLOVAKIA 39 kia, still lived in slums with inadequate plumbing and sanitation facilites. 24 Consequently, in 1965, the Communist Party asked local officials to do a more thorough investigation of the plight of the Roma and develop a long range plan for Gypsy assimilation. The result was Ordinance No. 502 of June 1965, which developed a Gypsy reform progam that centered around fullemployment possibilities for Gypsies able to work full time. These efforts were considered essential to upgrading the standard of living for Roma, and tied to plans to destroy substandard Gypsy settlements and the movement of Roma from Slovakia to other parts of the country. The Academy of Sciences was asked to do a study of Roma life, while the state-controlled media was ord.tred to help counter nationwide prejudice against the Roma. A new government body, the National Council for Questions of the Gypsy Population (NCQGP), which had no Gypsy members, was to serve as the program's watchdog. The NCQGP produced three position papers, but was abolished in 1968. 25 At the center of this new program was the destruction of substandard Gypsy housing and settlements, primarily in Slovakia, and the forced resettlement and employment of their Rom inhabitants. Officials estimated that 67.3% of Slovakia's 153,000 Gypsies lived in extremely substandard housing. The government pin-pointed 1,266 Roma settlements in Slovakia for destruction, and the transfer of 64,096 Gypsies. Officials planned to move the effected Slovak Gypsies to the Czech lands after their settlements were razed. Local governments, aided by national ,. Kostelancik, "Gypsies in Czechoslovakia," p. 426; Kalvoda, "Gypsies of Czechoslovakia." pp. 98-99. 25 Kostelancik, "Gypsies of Czechoslovakia." pp. 312-313; Ult, "Gypsies in Czechoslovakia." pp. 430-431. Of the 56,000 Rom in eastern Slovakia, only 2.2% had an adequate water supply; Guy, "Ways of Looking at Roms," pp. 2 I 922 . �40 SLOVAKIA subsidies, would then be responsible for the Gypsies' housing and employment. The resettlement program was voluntary. Once a Gypsy family was convinced of the wisdom of moving, the government would give the family a special payment, combined with a 25-30% subsidy and low cost government loan, which would be used to purchase a new home in the Czech lands. However, inadequate funding, coupled with growing resentment towards the new Roma presence in the Czech lands, and the unwillingness of some Gypsies to remain there, undercut the success of the program. Between 1965-1968, the government was only able to eliminate a third of the Roma settlements targeted for destruction. 26 As authorities struggled with the mixed results of this new transfer and employment program, Czechoslovakia was turned inside out by the events of the Prague Spring in 1968.Z7 On the eve of the Prague Spring, Czechoslovakia had an official Gypsy population of 223,993, with 164,526 in Slovakia, and 59,467 in the Czech lands. In 1968, the Roma in Slovakia formed their first official organization, the Union of Gypsy-Romanies (UGR or Zvaz Cikanov-Romov; Romani, Romano Jekhetaniben), followed by a similar Czech organization in 1969. Later that year, both groups joined together, but maintained separate Slovak and Czech branches. The UGR received funds from the National Front and had branches throughout Czechoslovakia. Its goals were to improve the socio-economic status of the Roma and enhance the Gypsies' awareness of their own culture and 2 • Ulc, "Gypsies in Czechoslovakia," pp. 432-433 ; Kostelancik, "Gypsies in Czechoslovakia," pp. 312-314; Guy, "Ways of Looking at Roms," pp. 219-220; Hiibschmannova, "Co je tak zvana cikanska otazka," p. 115 n I 9. 27 Otto Ulc, "Czechoslovakia," in Teresa Rakowska-Harmstone, ed., Communism io Eastern Europe, Second Edition (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1984), pp. 121-123; William Shawcross, ~ (New York : Touchstone Books/Simon & Schuster, Inc., 1990), pp. 114-119. �SLOVAKIA 41 traditions. The UGR also wanted to acquire nationality status for the Roma, which triggered an engaging debate between Gypsy and non-Gypsy intellectuals about the entire "Gypsy question." Central to the debate was Jaroslav Sus' 1963 study, Cikanska otazka v CSSR (The Gypsy Question in the CSSR), which described the Rom way of life as [an] undesirable combination of 'nomadism, tribalism ...and blood f euds,' and the Romani language as ... unworthy of preservation. Consequently, Sus felt that "unconditional assimilation [was] ... the only solution for the question." 28 Roma scholar Elena Htibschmannova, long an advcoate of --Gypsy nationality status, led the attack on Sus' ideas. Htibschmannova shifted responsibility for some aspects of the "Gypsy Question" to the shoulders of the government, as did the August 1969 Programme of the Founding Congress of the Czech Gypsy-Rom Association [Union], which felt that "fears of the results of granting rights to the Gypsies as a nationality" lay at the heart of the question. As this debate raged, plans were made to start a Roma journal, and the UGR's membership rolls swelled to 20,000 between 1968 - 1971. Several hundred Gypsy musical and sports groups were formed, and the media began to refer to the country's Roma as "citizens of Gypsy origin." Unfortunately, after the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia on August 21, 1968, the new government of Gustav Husak introduced an era of "normalization" that gradually chipped away at many of the gains achieved by the Roma during the Prague Spring. In April I 973, the government expelled the UGR from the National Front, and outlawed other Gypsy organizations because "they had failed to fulfill their integrative function." 29 21 " Crowe, Gypsies of Eastern Europe and Russia, pp. 58-59. Srb, "Cikani v Ceskoslovensku, ~ p. 194; Kostelancik, "Gypsies of �42 SLOVAKIA What followed was a renewed effort to force Gypsy integration and assimilation, coupled with a new sterialization scheme to reduce Gypsy births.~ One of the darker sides of the new Roma assimilation campaign were efforts to promote the sterilization of Gypsy women. The seed for this idea was planted in a February 29, 1972, Ministry of Health "Decree on Sterilization." Though "designed to safeguard against arbitrary or illinformed sterilization of all Czechoslovak citizens," the decree was used to encourage the sterilization of Romany women in order to reduce the high unhealthy' Romany population and, as a result, a disproportionately high number of Romany women were sterilized, often in violation of the existing safeguards and of their rights to non-discrimination on the basis of ethnicity or sex. 3 ' Czechoslovakia," pp. 3 I 7-318 ; Eva Davidova, "The Gypsies of Czechoslovakia, " Journal of the Gypsy Lore Society. Third Series, Vol. I, Nos. 12 (Jan uary-April), pp. 53-54; Guy, "Ways of Looking at Roms," pp. 220-22 I , 223, n44; Grattan Puxon, "Gypsies: Blacks of East Europe," The Nation. April 17, I 976, pp. 461-462; Hlibschmannova, "Co je tak zvana cikanska otazka," pp . 105, I 12 nl6, I 13- 114, I 16 n23, 117-118 ; Kalvoda, "Gypsies of Czechoslovakia," pp. 101-103 ; Otto Ulc, "Gypsies in Czechoslovakia: A Case of Unfinished Integration," Eastern European Politics and Societies, Vol. 2, No. 2 (Spring 1988), pp. 310-312. 30 Other estimates put the 1970 Roma population at over 300,000. Vladimir Srb, "Demograficky profil ~eskoslovenskych romu," Cesky Lid, Vol. 72 ( 1985), p. 139; Vladimir Srb, "K integraci cikanskeho obyvatelstva v CSSR," Demoi:rafie, Vol. XXI, No. 4 (1979), p. 323; V. Srb and J. Job, "Nektere demograficke, ekonomicke a kultumi charakteristiky romskehe obyvatelstva v CSSR 1970," Demoi:rafie, Vol. XVI, No. 2 (1974), p. 173 ; Kostelancik, "Gypsies of Czechoslovakia," p. 106; Paul S. Shoup, The East European and Soviet Data Handbook (New York: Columbia University Press, 1981), pp. 42, 48; Chris Cook and John Stevenson, The Loni:man Handbook of Modern European History )763-)985 (London: Longman, 1987), pp. 216,218. 31 Rachael Tritt, Jeri Laber, and Lois Whitman, Strui:i:Jini: for Ethnic Identity · Czechoslovakia's Endani:eced Gypsies (New York: Human Rights Watch, 1992), �SLOVAKIA 43 According to a Slovak document released in 1979 by Charter 77, a Czechoslovak dissident group, the Slovak government had already begun a program that used economic incentives to get Gypsy women to be sterilized because of earlier, unsuccessful government efforts "to control the high unhealthy Romany population through family planning and contraception." Local health workers offered some prospective sterilization candidates as much as 5,000 Crowns to undergo the procedure. As pressure intensified to get more Gypsy women to agree to sterilization, some health workers often made unfulfilled offers of as high as 30,000 Crowns. Charter 77 protested this practice in 1979, and claimed that it violated Article No. 259 of the state penal code, which dealt with genocide. But this was not the only - . criticism in Charter 77's 1979 document. On a broader scale, Charter 77 decried government practices designed to stop Gypsy nomadism and force assimilation, and the official denial of Roma ethnic status. According to Charter 77, the collective impact of these programs set into play "a process of social disintegration which has no comparison in the history of the Gypsies. This fact is substantiated by an ever increasing number of Gypsies who are sentenced to loss of freedom." 32 While it difficult to gauge the impact of the 1979 Charter 77 report on the plight of the Roma, population data from the 1980 census spurred further government action. The 1980 census showed a Roma population of 288,440, an increase of 31.3% over 1970 figures. Czechoslovakia's total population only grew by 6%. during the same period. The greatest increase in Gypsy growth rates was in the Czech republic, where the Roma population increased 47% between 1970 - 1980, versus a 25.5% rise in Slovakia. Even these figures, though, are misleading, since pp. 19, 139-144. 2 ' Tritt, Czechoslovakia's Endangered Gypsies, pp. 20, 24, 26-27; Ulc, "Gypsies in Czechoslovakia," pp. 314-315. �44 SLOVAKIA arbitrary counting methods showed a discrepancy between national census figures, and those recorded in local "Gypsy Registers," which indicated that there were 306,246 Roma in Czechoslovakia in 1980. The absolute rise in Gypsy population numbers was less troubling to the government than the national and Rom childbirth rate figures. The overall Czechoslovak childbirth rate was on the decline, and by 1982 was "below the level of biological reproduction." The average Czechoslovak woman bore 2.4 children in the 1970s compared to 6.4 children for a Gypsy woman. 33 These increases were remarkable, particularly in light of continued government efforts to destroy Slovak Gypsy slums and the forced movement of Slovak Roma to Czech portions of the country. Other Gypsies also moved to the Czech lands because of better job opportunities and a higher standard of living. Between 1972-1980, officials destroyed 4,000 Roma dwellings in Slovakia, and moved 4,850 Gypsies elsewhere. Though Gypsy housing standards improved appreciably between during this period, there were still 5.6 persons in thct average Roma apartment or house versus a national average of 3.1 persons per dwelling. By 1980, a little more than 70% of the country's Gypsy population lived in apartments, while 10% still lived in primitive settlements that were to be destroyed by 1990. The number in extremely unfit housing dropped from 80.7% in 1970 to 49% between 1970 and 1980. Another part of the Roma assimilation campaign centered around attempts to force more Gypsy children into the public schools. In 1971, only 10% of the eligible Roma children in Czechoslovakia attended kindergarten, a figure that rose to 33 Srb, "Demograficky profil foskoslovenskych Romu," pp. 139-140. There were 88,507 Gypsies in the Czech Republic in 1980, and 199,853 in Slovakia; Ul~, "Gypsies in Czechoslovakia," pp. 315-316; Kalvoda, "Gypsies of Czechoslovakia," pp. 108-109. �SLOVAKIA 45 58.5% in 1980. During the same period, the number .of Gypsy children that finished public school rose from 16.6% to 25.6%, while the number enrolled in colleges and universities increased from 39 to 191. Nationwide, literacy rates rose to 90% among Roma adults. On the other hand, Gypsy school dropout rates in Slovakia increased substantially as Roma pupils moved from grade to grade. In 1983-1984, 72.2% of the Slovak students who failed to go into the second grade were Gypsies, and almost a third of the Roma who went to second grade barely had minimal literacy skills, a figure that jumped to 50% for Gypsy 4th graders. Nationwide, many Gypsies entered the school system with a knowledge of only a few hundred Slovak or Czech words, and were often assigned to special instititions (zvlastnf skoly) designed for the mentally retarded. Only a third of the country's Gypsy children finished 8th grade in 19831984, and only 4% went on to university or college. 34 Gypsy employment figures for this period were also a mixture of success and failure. Though 1981 data showed an 87.7% employment rate for male Gypsy workers that was close to the national average of 91 .9% for all adult males, the 54.95% employment rate for Roma female workers was well below the national average of 87.7% for all women. In addition, over three quarters of all Gypsies employed held low paying, non-skilled jobs. The overall impact of the employment, educational, and housing data found Czechoslovakia's Roma on a socio-economic plateau that proved difficult to transcend. According to Irnrich Farkas, the official responsible for Gypsy matters in Slovakia, the government felt that it would be harder to improve the quality " Kostelanc ik, "Gypsies of Czechoslovakia," pp. 313-3 I 5. In I 980, 59% of the Gypsies in Slovakia lived in the lowest classification for housing, Class IV. Kindergarten attendance rates in eastern Slovakia, where 53% of Slovakia's Rom lived in 1980, rose from 10% to 66% between 1970-1980; Ult, "Gypsies in Czechoslovakia," pp. 319-320. �46 SLOVAKIA of Gypsy life "because increasingly left for solution are those socially and culturally backward families." 35 The government tried to put the best light on its assimilation efforts, and publicized some Gypsy success stories. Bratislava Pravda reported that 435 Roma had been elected to predominantly low level positions as deputies of Peoples Committees, and that one Gypsy, Emil Rigo, had briefly been a member of the Politburo in 1968. Officials also used successful Gypsies to counter efforts to acquire nationality status for the Roma. In 1986, Rude Pravo responded to the World Romany Congress' appeal for nationality status for Czechoslovakia's Gypsies partially with a statement by Mirosalv 2.ajda, an assimilated Roma and Party member who told the newspaper that he was quite content with his life. 36 The lack of nationality status for Czechoslovakia's Roma, who were officially referred to as citizens "of Gypsy origin," robbed them of the special rights and financial support afforded officially recognized minorities. It also placed them into a limbo world where they were forced to identify with other ethnic groups. Their plight was compounded by the growing body of prejudice that accompanied their growing numbers and official attention. 37 To many Slovaks and Czechs, Gypsies were the tmavi kluci (dark boys), a term that automatically identified one as a Roma. According to Otto Ulc, post-1968 Czechsolvakia became a society that was "less tolerant, more impatient, and egotistic." Increasingly, he observed, the public saw Gypsies as "beneficiaries of a host of privileges on their path to the less- " Kostelancik, "Gypsies in Czechoslovakia," pp. 3I3-315; Ulc, "Gypsies in Czechoslovakia," pp. 322-323 . 36 Ulc, "Gypsies in Czechoslovakia," pp. 322 n36, 326. 37 Ibid., pp. 323-326. Not all Gypsies suffered from lack of nationality status on the same scale, and there were a number of instances, particularly in Slovakia, where local officials encouraged Rom ethnicity. �SLOVAKIA 47 than-cherished goal of integration." Furthermore, Ulc argued, Slovaks and Czechs became "thoroughly uninhibited about making racial slurs and expressing racist prejudice of the oldfashioned vintage." They saw the Roma as "dirty, lazy, dishonest, primitive, parasitic, and inferior." 38 Government efforts to counter this prejudice met with mixed results, since the press used stories that gave explicit details about instances of unfair treatment of Gypsies with others that detailed Roma crime. Bratislava Pravda, for example, claimed in 1983 that the Gypsies, who made up 4 % of Slovakia's population, accounted for 24 percent of the charges of parasitism, 50 __ percent of robberies, 60 percent of petty thefts, 75 percent of charges for endangering the morals of youth, and 20 percent of all crimes committed.'39 The overall impact of such reports was to create a very unwelcome, suspicious climate for Czechoslovakia's growing Roma population that worsened as the country and its leadership drifted towards the collapse of the system that had dominated the country since 1948.'° As the Velvet Revolution swept Czechoslovakia in 1989, a plethora of political parties and other organizations surfaced. A number of Gypsy parties emerged during this period, including the Party of the Integration of the Romany People in Slovakia and the Party of the Democratic Romany Union. The most important was the Romany Civic Inititative (ROI or Romska obcanska iniciativa), which had close links to Civic Forum (Obcanske Forum), the umbrella political organization for a number of the country's dissident factions . ROI soon had a 31 Ult, "Gypsies in Czechoslovakia," pp. 327-328. " Kalvoda, "Gypsies in Czechoslovakia," p. I06. •• lhid., p. 106. �48 SLOVAKIA membership of over 70,000, and held its first national meeting in Prague in the spring of 1990. One of its first decisions was to vote to erect a monument in Bratislava to the Rom victims of the Holocaust. The ROI congress elected Emil Scuka, a lawyer and playwright, to head the organization.41 Yet the very democracy that gave Slovak and Czech Gypsies the opportunity to form their own political and other organizations also created a new atmosphere for open, virulent expressions of prejudice towards them. Of particular concern to many non-Gypsies was the dramatic growth of the Roma population. In 1988, the government estimated that there were 391 ,000 Rom in Czechoslovakia, a 35.5% increase over 1980 figures. Other sources estimated there were as many as 700,000-800,000 Roma in Czechoslovakia, with 470,000 a more reasonable figure. Some perceived these figures to be a new threat, and the newspaper Express warned in an article on July 2, 1990, "that the Gypsy fertility may mean a ' tragedy', that within a century the country may well have to be renamed the Romska republika. 42 These fears combined with the deep-rooted, traditional prejudices towards the Roma, and prompted some people to depict the-Gypsies as new symbols of everything gone awry in Czechoslo- " Otto Ulc, "Integration of the Gypsies in Czechoslovakia," Ethnic Groups. Vol. 9, No. 2 ( 1991 ), pp. 11 2- 11 3; in 1986, Scuka produced the "musical drama Amaro Drom (Our Road)...only the second play in Romanes ever to be staged in Czechoslovakia." Grattan Puxon, Roma· Europe's Gypsies (London: Minority Rights Group, 1987), p. 11 . " Radio Free Europe/Rad io Liberty, "Ethnic Minorities and Foreigners," Radio Free Europe Research, Vol. 14, No. 39 (22 September 1989), pp. 33, 36-37 ; Ulc, "Integration of the Gypsies in Czechoslovakia," pp. 113-114; Czechoslovakia's population was 15,658,079, in Ju ly 1989, and 15,683,234, a year later, an increase of 25,155. Suda, "Czechoslovakia," p. 319, and Carol Skalnik Leff, "Czechoslovakia," in Richard F. Staar and Margit N. Grigory, eds., Yearbook on International Communist Affairs 1221 (Stanford: Hoover Institution Press, 1991), p. 269. �SLOVAKIA 49 vakia. At the forefront of this new assualt on the Rom were renewed charges of criminality. Dramatic increases in crime had plagued the country since the early 1980s, particularly in Bratislava and Prague. In a society accustomed to traditionally low crime rates, crime reached epidemic proportions by 1990. Slovakia experienced a 17.7% rise in crime between 1988-1989, while the Czech Republic reported a 52% increase during the same pericxi. Much of this increase was attributed to Gypsies, who as early as 1987 had been blamed by television reports for 38% of Bratislava's crimes, and 40% of those committed in eastern Slovakia. Gypsies 18 years old and younger were accused of being part of over 44% of all crimes nationwide in 1988. Clearer heads proved that many of these statistics were exaggerated, and that the Roma were responsible for no more than 7.5-11 % of the crime in the country. Though the more conservative estimates were still out of proportion to the number of Gypsies in Czechoslovakia, they were directly tied to post1989 Gypsy unemployment figures that reached as high as 50% in certain areas. 43 Whatever the true numbers, Czechoslovakia's Roma paid a dear price for the accusations against them. Skinhead attacks, sometimes quietly encouraged by onlookers, mounted dangerously against Gypsies and the 35,000 Vietnamese workers in Czechoslovakia throughout 1990. On April 26, Prime Minister Petr Pithart of the Czech Republic called for "peaceful coexis0 Jan Orbman, "Crime Rate Among the Young," Radio Free Europe Research, Vol. 12, No. 32 (14 August 1987), p. 18; Martina Nevesky, "The Gypsy Problem," Radio Free Europe Research, Vol. 14, No. 31 (4 August 1989), p. 40; Jan Orbman, "Minorities Not a Major Issue Yet," Report on Eastern Europe, Vol. 2, No. 50 (December 13, 1991 ), p. 11 ; Wheaton and Kavan, The Yel vet Revo)utjon, p. 147; Jiti Pehe, "Crime Rises in Czechoslovakia," R.EElRL Research Report, Vol. 1, No. 14 (3 April 1992), p. 58; Kalvoda, "Gypsies of Czechoslovakia," p. 112, claims the Rom were responsible for 15.6% of all crimes in the Czech Republic. �50 SLOVAKIA tence with our fellow citizens of Gypsy origin," while federal Deputy Prime Minister Jan Carnogursky demanded "tougher action against those skinheads who had attacked the Gypsies." On May 3, 1990, ROI urged national leaders and organizations to speak out against racist incidents against Roma and foreigners. Four days later, Charter 77 and the Czechoslovak Helsinki Committee condemned such attacks on the Vietnamese and Gypsies, and said they constitute attacks on all of us. They are attacks on the most basic principles of ethics and humanism, attacks on the state based on Jaw that is being bom , attacks contradicting the ideals of our democratic revolution. The fact that we silently tolerate such attacks makes us accomplices. We call on all citizens to stop being indifferent to the manifestations of violence and intolerance. We appeal to our executive bodies to put a final stop to these attacks. Let us make the people who for years have been working in our country feel that they live in a society in which it is JX)SSible to have their basic human rights protected.44 Vaclav Havel detailed the wrongs done Gypsies in public statements on May 2 and in an address on July 27, 1990, to the First World Romany Festival in Brno. Though admirable, particularly when coupled with the new rights acquired by the Roma over the next year, they did not prevent the racially motivated deaths of 26 Gypsies before the breakup of Czechoslovakia on January 1, 1993.45 Both the federal and individual Czechoslovak republics granted the Roma full minority status, rights, and protections in " Jiri Pehe, "Racial Violence Increasing," Report on Eastern Europe, Vol. I, No. 20 (May I 8, 1990), pp. 15, 18; David Binder, "European Gypsies Issue Call for Human Rights at Meeting," The New York Times, May 5, 1993, p. 6. 5 • Tritt, Czechoslovakia's Endangered Gypsies, pp. 13-14. �SLOVAKIA 51 1990-1991. Over thirty Gypsy cultural organizations arose during this period, anchored by the Union of Romany Writers and numerous newspapers and magazines. Programs in Romany Studies were opened at Charles University in Prague and at the Pedagogical Faculty in Nitra. Unfortunately, these developments were overshadowed by a new set of problems that accompanied the breakup of Czechoslovakia on January 1, 1993. Before the formal separation, Slovakia had an estimated Gypsy population of 400,000, and the Czech lands, 150,000. However, only 81,000 Slovak Gypsies officially identified themselves as Roma in the 1991 census. In anticipation of the breakup, a number of Slovak Rom began to move to the Czech lands because they felt • the political and social atmosphere would be more tolerant, and economic conditions better. The sudden increase in "unemployed Romanies, often unassimilated families from Romany villages in eastern Slovakia," stunned many Czechs, who soon claimed that 90% of the republic's new crime was committed by Slovak Roma. Led by individual community actions throughout the Czech Republic, the new state's Prosecutor-General "proposed to the Czech parliament a draft Law on Extraordinary Measures as a means of dealing with unrest caused by undisciplined groups of migrants." Though condemned by human rights groups and the Romany Democratic Congress, which represented 19 Gypsy groups in the Czech Republic, the law had surprising support from conservatives and local officials. The controversial legislation never passed, while the debate that surrounded it brought to the surface traditionally strong prejudice towards the Roma. 46 These feelings were also expressed in several public opinion surveys conducted before and after the January 1, 1993, breakup " Jin Pehe, "Law on Romanies Causes Uproar in Czech Republic,• REElRL Research Report, Vol. 2, No. 7 (12 February 1993), pp. 18-22; Zoltan Barany, "Grim Realities in Eastern Europe." Transition, Vol. I, No. 4 (29 May 1995), p. 8. �52 SLOVAKIA of Czechoslovakia that showed almost universal hatred and distrust towards Gypsies, particularly among young Slovaks and Czechs. Officials in both countries have also been critical of the Roma. One Czech official claimed in the summer of 1993 that the Gypsies remained "a problem ... because most of them are criminals who are getting rich through thievery and prostitution." Slovak Premier Vladimfr Meciar, who lost his post in midMarch 1994 but later regained it, created an uproar on September 4, 1993, in a speech he made in Spis, where Gypsies made up 13% of the population. Meciar felt it "was necessary to curtail the extended reproduction of the socially unadaptable and mentally backward population by decreasing family allowances," which some observers felt was a reference to the country's Gypsies. Famed Nazi hunter and human rights advocate Simon Wiesenthal said that Meciar "has adopted the thinking and diction of Nazism." Meciar sued the newspaperman who originally wrote about his speech, while the Slovak government threatened to sue "any newspaper, radio or television station which refused to apologize for reporting it." Slovak authorities explained that the media had distorted Meciar's speech and released an official translation of his talk. Part of it read: They [Gypsies] should be perceived as a problem group that is growing in size ...This means that if we do not deal with them now, they will deal with us later.. Another thing we have to consider is extended reproduction of socially inadequate population.,f/ 0 Los Angeles Times Mirror, The Pulse of Europe· A Survey of Political and Socja! Values and Attitudes (Washington: Times Mirror Center for People & The Press, 1992), pp. 184-185; Freedom House and The American Jewish Committee, Democracy Economic Reform and Western Assistance in Czechoslovakia Huni:ary and Poland· A Comparative Public Opinion Survey (New York: Freedom House and The American Jewish Committee, 1991), pp. 63-65; "Iron in the Soul," The Economist, March 12, 1994, pp. 55-56; Jane Perlez, "A New �SLOVAKIA 53 Several months later, Monika Nemcokova, the Press Secretary for the Slovak Embassy in Washington, D.C., wrote The New York Times to complain about other distortions in an article by Henry Kamm, "In Slovak Gypsy Ghetto, Hovels and Plea for Jobs." Kamm's article centered on Gypsies in the Slovak village of Svinia, and their poor living conditions and high unemployment. According to a parish priest in the village of Medzev, the Rom "don't want to work," and were satisfied subsisting on government welfare. The mayor of Medzev said the only solution to Slovakia's Gypsy problem was "to shoot them all," though, after a few moments, he added, "I'm no racist...But some Gypsies you would have to shoot." Ms. Nemcokova said such attitudes were "not based on racial intole. ranee, but on a significant difference in life styles and standards." She added that almost 40% of all crimes in Slovakia were committed by Roma, figures that ranged from 40-50% for all "youth cases in Slovakia." The Press Secretary felt that the Rom stipend of $71 a month was more than adequate to maintain a reasonable lifestyle in Slovakia, though she admitted it was less than half the average monthly salary of a worker. Ms. Nemcokova strongly disagreed with Kamm's assertion that there were 400,000 Roma in Slovakia, and put the figure at 250,000. She noted that the government spent 70 milllion crowns annually to help the Roma, which was "used for improving living standards in Gypsy villages, education and children's summer camps, including 3.6 million crowns for Gypsy periodicals, and 10.7 million crowns for Gypsy cultural activities.''48 Slovak Government Pledges Moderation,• The New York Times, March 17, 1994, p. A6; Peter Maas, "Half a Century after Hitler, Gypsies Face New Fight to Exist," The Washini:ton Post, August 13, 1993, p. A29; "Reported Racist Remarks Makes Slovakians Angry," Greensboro News & Record, Setpember 7, 1993, p. A5; "His Struggle," The Economjst, September 18-24, 1993, p. 56. " Henry Kamm, "In Slovak Gypsy Ghetto, Hovels and Plea for Jobs,• The New �SLOVAKIA 54 The current status of the Roma in Slovakia is quite grim. The Slovak Gypsies have been hit particularly hard by the sluggish economy, and there are reports of Roma unemployment rates as high as 100%, particularly in eastern Slovakia, where most Roma live. The rather topsy turvy political situation and lack of commitment to address the complex problems faced by the country's Roma has stifled any significant government efforts to develop a mature program to raise Gypsy educational, social, and economic standards. The Slovak Government's minority department has only five people on its staff, and there is only one Gypsy expert in the Ministry of Education. Until something more is done to address the sad plight of Slovak Roma, they will remain a community outside of the fabric of Slovak society. 49 The serious social, economic, employment, and educational problems faced by Slovakia's Roma are not unique to this young Republic. Roma suffer from similar difficulties throughout Central and Eastern Europe, where most continental Gypsies live. Most of Slovakia's neighbors are faced with rising Roma birthrates vis vis static native rates, and serious financial problems that hinder the dramatic types of educational and social experiments used earlier to try to draw the Roma more deeply into the fabric of the societies of Central and Eastern Europe. These difficulties, though, should not be used as an excuse to fail to deal with the problems of this growing minority. Hopes that the Roma, in the right circumstances, might move elsewhere, are misguided, since Slovakia's Roma have lived in the region for centuries and have deep roots there. Furthermore, in light of their growing numbers and new political activism, the Roma could, in future, present an interesting political threat to Slovakia's current ruling parties. Moreover, rulers in Slovakia and a York Times, November 28, 1993, p. A4; Monica Nemcokova, "Don't Blame Slovakia for Gypsy Problem," The New York Times, December 15, 1993, p. A14. " Barany, "Grim Realities," p. 8. �SLOVAKIA 55 elsewhere in the region should remember that their treatment of the Roma has become an important litmus test of the depth of their democratic experiments in Western eyes. Any failure to deal positively and creatively with each country's Roma population could have negative implications for any of the states in the region trying to draw closer to the West. � 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 1998, Vol. 36 Description An account of the resource Vol. 36 (No. 66-67), 1998. 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 1998 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 The Roma Of Slovakia Since 1939 David M. Crowe One of the most intriguing ethnic groups in Slovakia are the Roma or Gypsies. Traditionally regarded as social outcasts and misfits, the Roma have been a unique part of the Slovak historical landscape. Though there have been Roma in Slovakia since the Middle Ages, it was not until World War II that significant efforts were made to deal with the Slovak Roma. From 1939 until 1945, the Roma, often lumped together with the country's Jews, were subjected to a number of restrictive policies. Within a decade after the end of World War II, attention again was drawn to the Roma in the reconstructed Czechoslovak Republic, but particularly in Slovakia, where most of the country's Gypsies lived. To Czechoslovakia's communist leaders, the low socioeconomic status of the Roma was a national embarassment and underscored at least one failed aspect of the communist experiment. Driven by statistics that illustrated the low social, economic, educational, and cultural status of the Roma, considerable efforts were made through the 1980s to transform this traditionally nomadic people into sedentary, assimilated Slovak and Czech citizens. Though some significant gains were made, Slovak and Czech leaders were unable to stifle the centuries-old prejudice that had haunted Gypsies throughout Central and Eastern Europe. Though large numbers of Slovak Roma fled to the SLOVAKIA 27 Czech Republic after the 1993 breakup of Czechoslovakia, a large Roma population still resides in Slovakia. The Roma or Gypsies have lived in Slovakia since the Middle Ages. By the 14th century, considerable Gypsy settlements began to appear in the Slovak portions of Hungary, particularly around feudal castles such as Spis (Zips) Castle. Initially, Roma were welcomed by local officials. Slovak peasants regarded these "Egyptians" as religious exiles from the Middle East. However, over time, positive Slovak attitudes towards the Roma began to change, particularly during the 16th century, when the region was plagued by religious wars and the Turkish threat. In Slovak Royal Hungary, for example, some noblemen began forcibly to expel Gypsies or force them to settle on the outskirts of towns and villages. 1 During the 17th century, Gypsies and others fleeing the Thirty Years War (1618 - 1648) entered Slovakia, which adopted new anti-Gypsy regulations to deal with the new Roma presence. Once the Austrian Habsburgs retook much of Hungary at the end of the 17th century, they implemented new regulations that strongly discouraged Roma settlement throughout the Austrian Empire. These harsh policies began to change under Maria Theresa (1740 - 1780). Her policies were designed to halt Gypsy immigration into her empire and force those already there to become sedentary. The Roma now became subject to all imperial taxes and obligations such as the draft. Gypsies were also required to give up their traditional dress and customs, and forbidden to marry other Gypsies. Roma children over five were taken from their parents and placed in the care of non-Gypsy Catholic parents. These policies were continued by Maria Theresa's son, Jopseph II (r. 1780 -1790), but fell into disarray after his death. 2 1 David M. Crowe, A History of the Gypsies of Eastern Europe and Russia (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1994 ), pp. 31-35. ' Ibid., pp. 36-40. 28 SLOVAKIA There are few glimpses of Slovak Rom during the first half of the 19th century, though there is more on them during the second half of this period. In 1856, a Gypsy school, one of the first in Europe, was opened in Nove Zamky. However, it was not until the general Hungarian census of 1880 and the Hungarian Gypsy census of 1893 that the first concrete evidence about the Roma presence in Slovakia surfaced. According to 1893 data, there were 36,231 Roma in Slovakia, most of them settled. Almost half of those employed worked in traditional Gypsy occupations, while an almost equal number were musicians. The census also indicated that a considerable number of Roma were involved in unsavory occupations. Almost 90% of Slovakia's Gypsies were Roman Catholics.3 Total Gypsy population figures declined dramatically in the new post-World War I Czechoslovak census of 1921. It showed only 7,967 Roma in Slovakia and almost none in the Czech lands. Experts reasoned that the low numbers could be caused by exclusive use of "mother tongue" in the census. More accurate 1926 data indicated 62,192 Roma in Slovakia, though gypsiologist Dr. Eva Davidova felt the real numbers were much higher. 4 Efforts were made in Slovakia during this period to open schools for Gypsies and to encourage the development of cultural organizations for them. Some attempts were also inade privately to improve Gypsy health. One of the most famous Gypsy schools in Slovakia at this time was in Uzhorod. Opened in 1925 by Pavel Fodor, it gained an international reputation for its instruction in Slovak. 5 What gains were made by Slovak Roma disappeared with the coming of World War II. After the German dismemberment 3 Ibid., pp. 40-42. • Ibid., pp. 42-44. ' Ibid., pp. 44-47. SLOVAKIA 29 of Czechoslovak.a in 1939, two separate states emerged - the German- controlled Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia and the German-allied state of Slovakia. Whereas Gypsies in Bohemia and Moravia suffered from harsh Nazi policies throughout the Porajmos or Gypsy Holocaust, the Roma in Slovakia fared much better. 6 Part of the reason for Slovakia's comparatively mild treatment of its Gypsies centered around Germany's desire for Slovakia to be a model satellite state in southeastern Europe. Consequently, the government, the Catholic church, and business enjoyed semi-autonomy. Furthermore, Father Jozef Tiso, the head of state, opposed the complete nazification of his country. In time, Reich officials came to realize that the only way - they could achieve their goals was through political pressure and an intense propaganda campaign. Anything else would hamper Slovakia's contribution to the German war effort. Almost all of Slovakia's Gypsies survived the war because of this. This did not mean, however, that the Slovak government left its Roma population alone. Within months after the creation of Slovakia in the spring of 1939, the Tiso government ordered nomadic Gypsies to return to their legal residences, and made it illegal for them to do any horse trading. On September 25, 1939, Jews were deprived of their Slovak citizenship, while Gypsies who were born in Slovakia and wanted Slovak citizenship had to prove that they lived an orderly way of life; had a steady place of residence and employment; and were honorable citizens as reflected in their education, their moral and political trustworthiness, and their activity in their community, could they be included in the Slovak national community. If they did not fulfill the aforementioned conditions, or if they fulfilled them only ' Ibid. , pp. 47-51. 30 SLOVAKIA partially-if they worked only occasionally, if they spoke the Gypsy language among themselves, if their moral and political trustworthiness was doubtful, etc.--they could not be considered members of the Slovak national community. In other words, wandering Gypsies did not qualify for citizenship. 1 Four months later, Ferdinand Durcansky, Slovakia's Interior Minister, ordered that Gypsies and Jews were to work in special labor units as alternatives to military service, which was later set "at two terms of two months twice annually." Durcansky defined a Gypsy in Law No. 130/1940 of June 18, 1940, as someone who had two Roma parents and lived as a nomad, or a sedentary person who avoided work. Other regulations issued during this period made it illegal for Gypsies to ride public transportation, eat in cafes, or enter public parks. As Germany intensified pressure on the Slovaks to increase their contribution to the war effort, the Tiso government created seasonal labor camps in 1941 where Gypsies often made up over half of the workers. Conditions in the labor units were bad. Inmates suffered increasingly from inadequate clothing and shoes, cold, infestation with lice and bedbugs, hunger, and disease, especially trachoma and typhus. 8 7 Jorg K. Hoensch, "The Slovak Republic, 1939-1945," in Victor S. Mamatey and Radomfr Luza, eds., A History of the Czechoslovak Republic J9 J 8- J 948 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1973), pp. 278-279, 284-286; Jiff Upa, "The Fate of Gypsies in Czechoslovakia under Nazi Domination," in Michael Berenbaum, ed., A Mosaic of Victims· Non-Jews Persecuted and Murdered by the Nazis (New York: New York University Press, 1990), pp. 209-210; Ctibor Necas. Nad osudem ceskych a sI ovenskych Cikam1 v letech I 939- I 945 (Brno: Univerzita J. E. Purkyne, 1981 ), p. 70. • Upa, "Fate of Gypsies in Czechoslovakia," p. 210; Gypsy and Jewish service regulations were included in legislation of January 18, 1940, and February 29, 1940. Necas, Nad osudem, pp. 82-129, devotes a great deal of time to the little SLOVAKIA 31 Many prisoners practiced self-mutilation to gain their freedom. In 1943, one member of the Slovak Diet, Hut'ka, criticized the conditions of the camps at Bystre nad Topl'ou. He felt the labor camps had been opened "to re-educate the asocial elements, not...to torture people and bring them into an even worse moral degradation." 9 On April 20, 1941, nomadic Gypsies were given eight days to return home. Once there, they were watched by the police and only allowed to leave with special permission. The Roma were also given two weeks to dispose of their horses and wagons . Gypsy houses located near public thoroughfares had to be torn down and reconstructed at a new site determined by officials. A Gypsy representative was to work with the local mayor to ensure that local ordinances were followed. Roma were also not allowed to own dogs. These regulations evidently did not curb all Gypsy nomadism, and officials explained when they opened a new labor camp in Krupina in the summer of 1941, that nomadic Roma were to be put in such camps to force them to live a sedentary life and to learn to do productive labor. These efforts still did not stop Gypsy nomadism, and on June 21, 1943, the government ordered that all Gypsy housing be removed from alongside busy roads. 10 Each Slovak community dealt with its Roma in a different manner. The 500 Gypsies in the village of Smizany were well integrated and none were sent to labor camps. When Hlinka Guards, the Slovak paramilitary group that modeled itself on the Italian "Black Shirts" and the German SA, arrived to take Gypknown history of the Gypsy Labor Units (pracovni utvary) from 1941-1944. He provides detailed Gypsy inmate statistics for the camps at Bystre nad Topl'ou , Dubnica nad Vlihom, llava, and Revuca; Donald Kenrick and Grattan Puxon, ~ Destiny of Europe's Gypsies (New York: Basic Books, I972), p. 136. • Lfpa, "Fate of Gypsies in Czechoslovakia," p. 210. 10 Ibid., p. 211; Necas, Nad osudem, pp. 74-75, 130. 32 SLOVAKIA sies from the village of Letanovce, the mayor only agreed to send two Roma who had reputations as drunks. Both Gypsies returned to Letanovce at the end of the war. 11 This atmosphere changed drastically during the summer of 1944. In June, Slovak Roma were accused of spreading typhoid throughout the country, and were forbidden to ride trains unless they had a special travel permit backed by a physician's certificate that showed them free of typhoid. Gypsies could only use the rail passes for outbound trips and had to get another one if they wanted to return home. The following month, the Interior Ministry informed its regional offices that there were still Roma in some of the country's towns and villages. It ordered local officials to move all Gypsies away from roadsides, and said that if any refused to comply, they would be executed. The decree added that more forced labor camps were being prepared for Slovak Roma. 12 The climate for the Gypsies got considerably worse with the German occupation of Slovakia on September 29, 1944. Spurred by the Slovak National Insurrection of August 29-0ctober 27, 1944, the Germans clamped down harshly on the Slovaks, including the Roma, because they had actively supported the uprising. One Gypsy leader, Tomas Farkas, headed a mixed guerilla band of Roma and Slovaks during the uprising. Farkas' detachment momentarily held up German forces near Tisovec as they moved towards Banska Bystrica, the military center of the rebellion. After Banska Bystrica fell, authorities arrested Farkas' son, and imprisoned him. When Slovak partisans retreated in the 11 Kenrick and Puxon, Destiny of Europe's Gypsies, p. 136; Emflia Horvlithova, Cii:ani na SJovensku (Bratislava: Vydavatel'stvo Slovenskej Akademie Vied, 1964), p. 171. Kenrick and Puxon, Destiny of Europe's Gypsies, p. 137; Horvathova, Ciian.i na SJoyensku, p. 171; the train regulations were issued on June 13, 1944, while others appeared on June 19-21, 1944. Necas, Nad osudem, pp. 130-132. 12 SLOVAKIA 33 face of the German advance in the fall of 1944, the Gypsies, using hidden weapons, stayed behind to protect their families. After the rebellion's collapse, a German intelligence officer tricked the Roma into revealing details about their weapons cache. Hlinka Guards executed the Gypsy partisans as their families watched in horror. The Germans then killed all Roma women and children and buried their bodies in a lime pit. 13 Similar Gypsy massacres took place in other parts of Slovakia as retribution for their role in the Slovak National Insurrection. On November 14, 1944, 65 Roma were burned to death in two huts in Cierny Balog, while other Gypsies were forced to dig a large grave for their fallen comrades. Hlinka - Guards murdered the entire community of 111 Gypsies in Ilija eight days later, and on November 23 , butchered as many Roma as they could find in Slatina. Only three Gypsies escaped the massacre. A similar tragedy took place at Neresnice, where only two families survived. 14 Atrocities also took place at the labor camp at Dubnica nad Vahom. On September 29, 1944, German authorities in Trencin just south of Dubnica nad Vahom ordered that all male Roma from this region be sent to the labor camp at Dubnica. The Gypsy transfers were halted once the camp became full two weeks later. On November 2, 1944, Dubnica na Vahom was transformed into a concentration center for all Roma. Authorites freed all of the camp's non-Gypsy inmates to make room for the Roma. After a typhus epidemic ravaged a Gypsy camp at Ustie 1 Kenrick and Puxon, Destiny of Europe's Gypsies, pp. 137- 138; Hoensch, "The Slovak Republic," pp. 293-295 ; Anna Josko, "The Slovak Resistance Movement," in Mamatey and Luza, Histocy of the Czechoslovak Republic, pp . 375-380, 382-383. 14 Kenrick and Puxon, Destiny of Europe's Gyspies. pp. 137-138; authorities later found a mass grave at Kremnica, which was occupied by the Germans from November 5, 1944, to January 12, 1945. It contaimed 3,723 bodies, some of them Gypsies. Netas, Nad osudem, pp. 138-141. ' 34 SLOVAKIA nad Oravou in mid-December, authorites shipped its inmates to Dubnica nad Vahom. Before the arrival of the new Roma inmates, there were 729 Roma at Dubnica nad V ahom, 250 of them children. The only recorded atrocity at the camp took place on January 17, 1945, when 16 sick Gypsy prisoners were taken from the camp and told they were being shipped to the hopsital at Trencfn. Instead, they were driven in military trucks to a wooded area, forced into a pit, and executed. The Dubnica nad V ahom camp was closed on the eve of its capture by Soviet forces on April 8, 1945. Despite these tragedies, the Gypsy survival rate in Slovakia was quite high, and estimates are that only a few hundred of Slovakia's 100,000 Rom died in the Porajmos. 15 The liberation of Czechoslovakia in the spring of 1945 found the country traumatized by the human and economic devastation of the war. A massive campaign of expulsions aimed primarily at Germans and Magyars saw I .5 million people move into the former Sudetenland from other parts of Czechoslovakia, including some Gypsies. As the Germans were expelled from Cze- __ choslovakia, many Slovak Gypsies were sent to camps in northern Bohemia and Moravia where they worked as unskilled laborers. Not all Slovak Gypsies remained in the Czech lands, 15 Lfpa, "Fate of the Gypsies in Czechoslovakia," pp. 211 -213; Necas, Nad llS..Ll.d.e.m, pp. 111-112, I 34- 137 ; Kenrick and Puxon, Destiny of Europe's Gypsies, p. 138; Horvathova, Cii:ani na S)ovensku, p. 173 n34; David J. Kostelancik, "The Gypsies of Czechoslovakia: Political and Ideological Considerations in the Development of Policy," Studies in Comparative Communism, Vol. 22, No. 4 (Winter 1984), p. 309; the Gypsies were not Slovakia's only victims after the Slovak National Insurrection. Estimates are that from August 1944 until April 1945, "7,500 soldiers and 2,500 partisans were killed and 3,723 civilians ... were murdered and buried in mass graves; 900 were burned in lime kilns; 30,000 people were de)Xlrted to German concentration camps; 60 communities were completely destroyed by fires and 142 were partially wiped out." Josko, "Slovak Resistance Movement," p. 383. SLOVAKIA 35 and some returned to Slovakia where they began to buy new homes. In addition, about 6,000 Olach [Olassti] Gypsies continued to live as nomads. Officials hoped the returning Slovak Roma would help solve the regions's severe labor shortage and serve as role models for other Roma. After the strong communist showing in the May 26, 1946, elections, the new Minister of the Interior, the Czech Vaclav Nosek, and others, called for restrictive policies against the Roma, whom Nosek and his supporters called questionable citizens of Czechoslovakia. 16 Efforts by Evzan Erban, the Minister of Labor and Social Welfare, to continue to send Slovak Gypsies to camps in the Czech lands were stopped by the non-communist Minister of Justice, Prokop Drtina in 1947. Nosek convinced Drtina to do a census of the country's Roma population to determine how many lived as nomads. According to the census, there were 84,438 Roma in Slovakia, and 16,752 in the Czech lands. The successful communist coup in early 1948 brought to power a party that a year earlier had pledged that it would do everything possible to integrate the Gypsies into the fabric of Czechoslovakian society, and raise their social, economic, and cultural status. 17 In 1949, the government of Klement Gottwald created a special commission to investigate the "Gypsy question." The 16 Kostelancik, "Gypsies of Czechoslovakia," pp. 309-310; Willy Guy, "Ways of Looking at Roms: The Case of Czechoslovakia," in Farnham Rehfisch, ed., Gypsies Tinkers and Other Travellers (New York: Academic Press, 1975), p. 213; Tom~ Grulich and Tom~ Hai~man, "lnstitucionalnf zajem o cikanske obyvatelstvo v Ceskoslovensku v letech 1945-1958," C:esky Lid, Vol. 73 , No. 2 ( 1986), p. 73. 17 Kostelancik, "Gypsies of Czechoslovakia," pp. 310-3 I I ; Vladimir Srb, "Cikani v Ceskoslovensku Demo2rafje, Vol. Xl , No. 3 (1969), p. 194; Zdenek Suda, The Czechoslovak Socialist Republic (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1969), pp. 32-36; Radomfr Luui, "Czechoslovakia between Democracy and Communism," in Mamatey and Luui, History of the Czechoslovak Republic, pp. 412-415. 36 SLOVAKIA new commission sponsored a detailed study of Czechoslovakia's Gypsies that appeared in 1950 as Zarazovani osob cikanskeho puvodu do trvaleho pracovniho procesu (Position of Individuals of Gypsy Origin in the Work Process). Two years later, this study was partly integrated into another report by the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare, Uprava pomeru osob cikanskeho puvodu (Report About the Life of the Gypsies in Czechoslovakia). This latter study blamed earlier governments and societies for the Roma's low social and economic status, and promised that the new People's Democratic State would resolve the "Gypsy question" if the Roma willingly and quickly become accustomed to conscientious work, they adopt trades, they take part in socialist competition, they become shock-workers, members and functionaries of the Czechoslovak Communist Party and the Revolutionary Trade-Union Movement. 18 However, over the next eight years, Czechoslovak leaders did little to help the Gypsies improve their quality of life. Numerous regional and local decrees touched on health care and housing needs, and emphasized changing the behavior of the Roma. 19 Communist Party propaganda, however, underscored improved Gypsy school attendance, literacy, and new attitudes towards work and integration. By the mid-1950s, this congratulatory tone changed as the reality of the Gypsy's plight and demographic growth became more apparent to the country's leadership. In 1956, authorities began to talk about a national Gypsy crisis, which was linked to their continued nomadism. 18 Kostelancik, "Gypsies of Czechoslovakia," pp. 3 I 0-311; Grulich and Hai~man, "Institucionalnf zajem o cikanske," p. 74. " Kostelancik, "Gypsies of Czechoslovakia," pp. 311, 320; Josef Kalvoda, "The Gypsies of Czechoslovakia," in David M. Crowe and John Kolsti, eds., ~ Gypsies of Eastern Europe (New York: M. E. Sharpe, 1991), p. 93. SLOVAKIA 37 According to an article in Zemedelske Novjny (Agricultural Newspaper) in 1957, only 40% of the country's Roma were working in industry and agriculture. The Slovak journal Smena (Direction) added that the nomadic Roma lifestyle heightened prejudice towards them, which the journal compared to "discrimination against the Negro in the United States.":n These problems and attitudes, coupled with the size of the Roma population nationwide, which Radio Bratislava estimated in 1958 to be 150,000, prompted the Communist Party to approve a resolution on April 8, 1958, that demanded a new campaign to resolve the "Gypsy question." Similar to new policies throughout the Soviet bloc at that time, the Party called for a mass campaign addressed to both the Gypsies and white -- bigots, for lifting the Gypsies' extraterritorial immunities and punishment of nomadism. 21 Czechoslovakia's Gypsies were now officially divided into three categories - nomads, semi-nomads, and completely sedentary - in anticipation of Law No. 74, of October 17, 1958, "Act on Permanent Settlement of Nomadic People." The new law instructed local officials to work with nomads, whom it defined as an individual who 0 Otto Ulc, "Communist National Minority Policy: The Case of the Gypsies in Czechoslovakia," Soviet Studies, Vol. XX, No. 4 (April 1969), pp. 422-424 ; "Minorites in Eastern Europe," Eastern Europe. Vol. 8, No. 3 (March 1959), pp . 13-14. 21 "M inorities in Eastern Europe," p. 14; Kostelancik, "Gypsies of Czechoslovakia," p. 311, improperly places the date for the passage of Law No. 74 as November 17, 1958; Grulich and Hai§man, "Jnstitucionalnf zajem o cikanske," pp. 77-78; Guy, "Ways of Looking at Roms," pp. 214-215. Guy estimates the number of registered nomads at 20,000-27,000; Ulc, "Gyps ies in Czechoslovakia," pp. 424-426, says officials estimated that the semi-nomadic Rom were the largest group among the Gypsies. ' 38 SLOVAKIA in groups or individually, wanders from place to place, shuns honest work or obtains his livelihood by iniquitious means even though he may be registered in some community as its permanent resident.-n. According to the new law, if anyone continued to live in this manner, he or she could be imprisoned for six months to three years. Two other parts of Law No. 74 gave the Minister of the Interior the right 11 to issue executive orders to this effect, including registration of the nomads. 11 Though the new regulations never mentioned the Roma, they were its only target, particularly the country's 6,000 nomadic Olach Gypsies. Official estimates indicated that there were from 11,000 to 40,000 nomadic Roma in Czechoslovakia at this time. 23 In an effort to avoid charges of racism, officials also upgraded the Gypsies' official status to a "socio-ethnic group." Unfortunately, Czechoslovak authorities did not anticipate the complex economic and social problems that would accompany their efforts to force the complete integration of the nation's Gypsies. Many nomadic Roma found ways to avoid punishment for thsir lifestyle, while local efforts to force settlement through the assignment of precious housing to Gypsies created growing resentment against a group that some came to see as privileged. Many Slovaks and Czechs felt the Roma were a privileged group that had special rights without obligations. The public complained that the Gypsies were measured by different standards and took advantage of their unique position. More importantly, the government's new efforts did little to upgrade the low socio-economic status of the Roma, and perhaps made it worse for the newly settled Gypsies, who, located principally in Slova- 22 23 UII!, "Gypsies in Czechoslovakia," pp. 424-425. Ibid., pp. 425-426. SLOVAKIA 39 kia, still lived in slums with inadequate plumbing and sanitation facilites. 24 Consequently, in 1965, the Communist Party asked local officials to do a more thorough investigation of the plight of the Roma and develop a long range plan for Gypsy assimilation. The result was Ordinance No. 502 of June 1965, which developed a Gypsy reform progam that centered around fullemployment possibilities for Gypsies able to work full time. These efforts were considered essential to upgrading the standard of living for Roma, and tied to plans to destroy substandard Gypsy settlements and the movement of Roma from Slovakia to other parts of the country. The Academy of Sciences was asked to do a study of Roma life, while the state-controlled media was ord.tred to help counter nationwide prejudice against the Roma. A new government body, the National Council for Questions of the Gypsy Population (NCQGP), which had no Gypsy members, was to serve as the program's watchdog. The NCQGP produced three position papers, but was abolished in 1968. 25 At the center of this new program was the destruction of substandard Gypsy housing and settlements, primarily in Slovakia, and the forced resettlement and employment of their Rom inhabitants. Officials estimated that 67.3% of Slovakia's 153,000 Gypsies lived in extremely substandard housing. The government pin-pointed 1,266 Roma settlements in Slovakia for destruction, and the transfer of 64,096 Gypsies. Officials planned to move the effected Slovak Gypsies to the Czech lands after their settlements were razed. Local governments, aided by national ,. Kostelancik, "Gypsies in Czechoslovakia," p. 426; Kalvoda, "Gypsies of Czechoslovakia." pp. 98-99. 25 Kostelancik, "Gypsies of Czechoslovakia." pp. 312-313; Ult, "Gypsies in Czechoslovakia." pp. 430-431. Of the 56,000 Rom in eastern Slovakia, only 2.2% had an adequate water supply; Guy, "Ways of Looking at Roms," pp. 2 I 922 . 40 SLOVAKIA subsidies, would then be responsible for the Gypsies' housing and employment. The resettlement program was voluntary. Once a Gypsy family was convinced of the wisdom of moving, the government would give the family a special payment, combined with a 25-30% subsidy and low cost government loan, which would be used to purchase a new home in the Czech lands. However, inadequate funding, coupled with growing resentment towards the new Roma presence in the Czech lands, and the unwillingness of some Gypsies to remain there, undercut the success of the program. Between 1965-1968, the government was only able to eliminate a third of the Roma settlements targeted for destruction. 26 As authorities struggled with the mixed results of this new transfer and employment program, Czechoslovakia was turned inside out by the events of the Prague Spring in 1968.Z7 On the eve of the Prague Spring, Czechoslovakia had an official Gypsy population of 223,993, with 164,526 in Slovakia, and 59,467 in the Czech lands. In 1968, the Roma in Slovakia formed their first official organization, the Union of Gypsy-Romanies (UGR or Zvaz Cikanov-Romov; Romani, Romano Jekhetaniben), followed by a similar Czech organization in 1969. Later that year, both groups joined together, but maintained separate Slovak and Czech branches. The UGR received funds from the National Front and had branches throughout Czechoslovakia. Its goals were to improve the socio-economic status of the Roma and enhance the Gypsies' awareness of their own culture and 2 • Ulc, "Gypsies in Czechoslovakia," pp. 432-433 ; Kostelancik, "Gypsies in Czechoslovakia," pp. 312-314; Guy, "Ways of Looking at Roms," pp. 219-220; Hiibschmannova, "Co je tak zvana cikanska otazka," p. 115 n I 9. 27 Otto Ulc, "Czechoslovakia," in Teresa Rakowska-Harmstone, ed., Communism io Eastern Europe, Second Edition (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1984), pp. 121-123; William Shawcross, ~ (New York : Touchstone Books/Simon & Schuster, Inc., 1990), pp. 114-119. SLOVAKIA 41 traditions. The UGR also wanted to acquire nationality status for the Roma, which triggered an engaging debate between Gypsy and non-Gypsy intellectuals about the entire "Gypsy question." Central to the debate was Jaroslav Sus' 1963 study, Cikanska otazka v CSSR (The Gypsy Question in the CSSR), which described the Rom way of life as [an] undesirable combination of 'nomadism, tribalism ...and blood f euds,' and the Romani language as ... unworthy of preservation. Consequently, Sus felt that "unconditional assimilation [was] ... the only solution for the question." 28 Roma scholar Elena Htibschmannova, long an advcoate of --Gypsy nationality status, led the attack on Sus' ideas. Htibschmannova shifted responsibility for some aspects of the "Gypsy Question" to the shoulders of the government, as did the August 1969 Programme of the Founding Congress of the Czech Gypsy-Rom Association [Union], which felt that "fears of the results of granting rights to the Gypsies as a nationality" lay at the heart of the question. As this debate raged, plans were made to start a Roma journal, and the UGR's membership rolls swelled to 20,000 between 1968 - 1971. Several hundred Gypsy musical and sports groups were formed, and the media began to refer to the country's Roma as "citizens of Gypsy origin." Unfortunately, after the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia on August 21, 1968, the new government of Gustav Husak introduced an era of "normalization" that gradually chipped away at many of the gains achieved by the Roma during the Prague Spring. In April I 973, the government expelled the UGR from the National Front, and outlawed other Gypsy organizations because "they had failed to fulfill their integrative function." 29 21 " Crowe, Gypsies of Eastern Europe and Russia, pp. 58-59. Srb, "Cikani v Ceskoslovensku, ~ p. 194; Kostelancik, "Gypsies of 42 SLOVAKIA What followed was a renewed effort to force Gypsy integration and assimilation, coupled with a new sterialization scheme to reduce Gypsy births.~ One of the darker sides of the new Roma assimilation campaign were efforts to promote the sterilization of Gypsy women. The seed for this idea was planted in a February 29, 1972, Ministry of Health "Decree on Sterilization." Though "designed to safeguard against arbitrary or illinformed sterilization of all Czechoslovak citizens," the decree was used to encourage the sterilization of Romany women in order to reduce the high unhealthy' Romany population and, as a result, a disproportionately high number of Romany women were sterilized, often in violation of the existing safeguards and of their rights to non-discrimination on the basis of ethnicity or sex. 3 ' Czechoslovakia," pp. 3 I 7-318 ; Eva Davidova, "The Gypsies of Czechoslovakia, " Journal of the Gypsy Lore Society. Third Series, Vol. I, Nos. 12 (Jan uary-April), pp. 53-54; Guy, "Ways of Looking at Roms," pp. 220-22 I , 223, n44; Grattan Puxon, "Gypsies: Blacks of East Europe," The Nation. April 17, I 976, pp. 461-462; Hlibschmannova, "Co je tak zvana cikanska otazka," pp . 105, I 12 nl6, I 13- 114, I 16 n23, 117-118 ; Kalvoda, "Gypsies of Czechoslovakia," pp. 101-103 ; Otto Ulc, "Gypsies in Czechoslovakia: A Case of Unfinished Integration," Eastern European Politics and Societies, Vol. 2, No. 2 (Spring 1988), pp. 310-312. 30 Other estimates put the 1970 Roma population at over 300,000. Vladimir Srb, "Demograficky profil ~eskoslovenskych romu," Cesky Lid, Vol. 72 ( 1985), p. 139; Vladimir Srb, "K integraci cikanskeho obyvatelstva v CSSR," Demoi:rafie, Vol. XXI, No. 4 (1979), p. 323; V. Srb and J. Job, "Nektere demograficke, ekonomicke a kultumi charakteristiky romskehe obyvatelstva v CSSR 1970," Demoi:rafie, Vol. XVI, No. 2 (1974), p. 173 ; Kostelancik, "Gypsies of Czechoslovakia," p. 106; Paul S. Shoup, The East European and Soviet Data Handbook (New York: Columbia University Press, 1981), pp. 42, 48; Chris Cook and John Stevenson, The Loni:man Handbook of Modern European History )763-)985 (London: Longman, 1987), pp. 216,218. 31 Rachael Tritt, Jeri Laber, and Lois Whitman, Strui:i:Jini: for Ethnic Identity · Czechoslovakia's Endani:eced Gypsies (New York: Human Rights Watch, 1992), SLOVAKIA 43 According to a Slovak document released in 1979 by Charter 77, a Czechoslovak dissident group, the Slovak government had already begun a program that used economic incentives to get Gypsy women to be sterilized because of earlier, unsuccessful government efforts "to control the high unhealthy Romany population through family planning and contraception." Local health workers offered some prospective sterilization candidates as much as 5,000 Crowns to undergo the procedure. As pressure intensified to get more Gypsy women to agree to sterilization, some health workers often made unfulfilled offers of as high as 30,000 Crowns. Charter 77 protested this practice in 1979, and claimed that it violated Article No. 259 of the state penal code, which dealt with genocide. But this was not the only - . criticism in Charter 77's 1979 document. On a broader scale, Charter 77 decried government practices designed to stop Gypsy nomadism and force assimilation, and the official denial of Roma ethnic status. According to Charter 77, the collective impact of these programs set into play "a process of social disintegration which has no comparison in the history of the Gypsies. This fact is substantiated by an ever increasing number of Gypsies who are sentenced to loss of freedom." 32 While it difficult to gauge the impact of the 1979 Charter 77 report on the plight of the Roma, population data from the 1980 census spurred further government action. The 1980 census showed a Roma population of 288,440, an increase of 31.3% over 1970 figures. Czechoslovakia's total population only grew by 6%. during the same period. The greatest increase in Gypsy growth rates was in the Czech republic, where the Roma population increased 47% between 1970 - 1980, versus a 25.5% rise in Slovakia. Even these figures, though, are misleading, since pp. 19, 139-144. 2 ' Tritt, Czechoslovakia's Endangered Gypsies, pp. 20, 24, 26-27; Ulc, "Gypsies in Czechoslovakia," pp. 314-315. 44 SLOVAKIA arbitrary counting methods showed a discrepancy between national census figures, and those recorded in local "Gypsy Registers," which indicated that there were 306,246 Roma in Czechoslovakia in 1980. The absolute rise in Gypsy population numbers was less troubling to the government than the national and Rom childbirth rate figures. The overall Czechoslovak childbirth rate was on the decline, and by 1982 was "below the level of biological reproduction." The average Czechoslovak woman bore 2.4 children in the 1970s compared to 6.4 children for a Gypsy woman. 33 These increases were remarkable, particularly in light of continued government efforts to destroy Slovak Gypsy slums and the forced movement of Slovak Roma to Czech portions of the country. Other Gypsies also moved to the Czech lands because of better job opportunities and a higher standard of living. Between 1972-1980, officials destroyed 4,000 Roma dwellings in Slovakia, and moved 4,850 Gypsies elsewhere. Though Gypsy housing standards improved appreciably between during this period, there were still 5.6 persons in thct average Roma apartment or house versus a national average of 3.1 persons per dwelling. By 1980, a little more than 70% of the country's Gypsy population lived in apartments, while 10% still lived in primitive settlements that were to be destroyed by 1990. The number in extremely unfit housing dropped from 80.7% in 1970 to 49% between 1970 and 1980. Another part of the Roma assimilation campaign centered around attempts to force more Gypsy children into the public schools. In 1971, only 10% of the eligible Roma children in Czechoslovakia attended kindergarten, a figure that rose to 33 Srb, "Demograficky profil foskoslovenskych Romu," pp. 139-140. There were 88,507 Gypsies in the Czech Republic in 1980, and 199,853 in Slovakia; Ul~, "Gypsies in Czechoslovakia," pp. 315-316; Kalvoda, "Gypsies of Czechoslovakia," pp. 108-109. SLOVAKIA 45 58.5% in 1980. During the same period, the number .of Gypsy children that finished public school rose from 16.6% to 25.6%, while the number enrolled in colleges and universities increased from 39 to 191. Nationwide, literacy rates rose to 90% among Roma adults. On the other hand, Gypsy school dropout rates in Slovakia increased substantially as Roma pupils moved from grade to grade. In 1983-1984, 72.2% of the Slovak students who failed to go into the second grade were Gypsies, and almost a third of the Roma who went to second grade barely had minimal literacy skills, a figure that jumped to 50% for Gypsy 4th graders. Nationwide, many Gypsies entered the school system with a knowledge of only a few hundred Slovak or Czech words, and were often assigned to special instititions (zvlastnf skoly) designed for the mentally retarded. Only a third of the country's Gypsy children finished 8th grade in 19831984, and only 4% went on to university or college. 34 Gypsy employment figures for this period were also a mixture of success and failure. Though 1981 data showed an 87.7% employment rate for male Gypsy workers that was close to the national average of 91 .9% for all adult males, the 54.95% employment rate for Roma female workers was well below the national average of 87.7% for all women. In addition, over three quarters of all Gypsies employed held low paying, non-skilled jobs. The overall impact of the employment, educational, and housing data found Czechoslovakia's Roma on a socio-economic plateau that proved difficult to transcend. According to Irnrich Farkas, the official responsible for Gypsy matters in Slovakia, the government felt that it would be harder to improve the quality " Kostelanc ik, "Gypsies of Czechoslovakia," pp. 313-3 I 5. In I 980, 59% of the Gypsies in Slovakia lived in the lowest classification for housing, Class IV. Kindergarten attendance rates in eastern Slovakia, where 53% of Slovakia's Rom lived in 1980, rose from 10% to 66% between 1970-1980; Ult, "Gypsies in Czechoslovakia," pp. 319-320. 46 SLOVAKIA of Gypsy life "because increasingly left for solution are those socially and culturally backward families." 35 The government tried to put the best light on its assimilation efforts, and publicized some Gypsy success stories. Bratislava Pravda reported that 435 Roma had been elected to predominantly low level positions as deputies of Peoples Committees, and that one Gypsy, Emil Rigo, had briefly been a member of the Politburo in 1968. Officials also used successful Gypsies to counter efforts to acquire nationality status for the Roma. In 1986, Rude Pravo responded to the World Romany Congress' appeal for nationality status for Czechoslovakia's Gypsies partially with a statement by Mirosalv 2.ajda, an assimilated Roma and Party member who told the newspaper that he was quite content with his life. 36 The lack of nationality status for Czechoslovakia's Roma, who were officially referred to as citizens "of Gypsy origin," robbed them of the special rights and financial support afforded officially recognized minorities. It also placed them into a limbo world where they were forced to identify with other ethnic groups. Their plight was compounded by the growing body of prejudice that accompanied their growing numbers and official attention. 37 To many Slovaks and Czechs, Gypsies were the tmavi kluci (dark boys), a term that automatically identified one as a Roma. According to Otto Ulc, post-1968 Czechsolvakia became a society that was "less tolerant, more impatient, and egotistic." Increasingly, he observed, the public saw Gypsies as "beneficiaries of a host of privileges on their path to the less- " Kostelancik, "Gypsies in Czechoslovakia," pp. 3I3-315; Ulc, "Gypsies in Czechoslovakia," pp. 322-323 . 36 Ulc, "Gypsies in Czechoslovakia," pp. 322 n36, 326. 37 Ibid., pp. 323-326. Not all Gypsies suffered from lack of nationality status on the same scale, and there were a number of instances, particularly in Slovakia, where local officials encouraged Rom ethnicity. SLOVAKIA 47 than-cherished goal of integration." Furthermore, Ulc argued, Slovaks and Czechs became "thoroughly uninhibited about making racial slurs and expressing racist prejudice of the oldfashioned vintage." They saw the Roma as "dirty, lazy, dishonest, primitive, parasitic, and inferior." 38 Government efforts to counter this prejudice met with mixed results, since the press used stories that gave explicit details about instances of unfair treatment of Gypsies with others that detailed Roma crime. Bratislava Pravda, for example, claimed in 1983 that the Gypsies, who made up 4 % of Slovakia's population, accounted for 24 percent of the charges of parasitism, 50 __ percent of robberies, 60 percent of petty thefts, 75 percent of charges for endangering the morals of youth, and 20 percent of all crimes committed.'39 The overall impact of such reports was to create a very unwelcome, suspicious climate for Czechoslovakia's growing Roma population that worsened as the country and its leadership drifted towards the collapse of the system that had dominated the country since 1948.'° As the Velvet Revolution swept Czechoslovakia in 1989, a plethora of political parties and other organizations surfaced. A number of Gypsy parties emerged during this period, including the Party of the Integration of the Romany People in Slovakia and the Party of the Democratic Romany Union. The most important was the Romany Civic Inititative (ROI or Romska obcanska iniciativa), which had close links to Civic Forum (Obcanske Forum), the umbrella political organization for a number of the country's dissident factions . ROI soon had a 31 Ult, "Gypsies in Czechoslovakia," pp. 327-328. " Kalvoda, "Gypsies in Czechoslovakia," p. I06. •• lhid., p. 106. 48 SLOVAKIA membership of over 70,000, and held its first national meeting in Prague in the spring of 1990. One of its first decisions was to vote to erect a monument in Bratislava to the Rom victims of the Holocaust. The ROI congress elected Emil Scuka, a lawyer and playwright, to head the organization.41 Yet the very democracy that gave Slovak and Czech Gypsies the opportunity to form their own political and other organizations also created a new atmosphere for open, virulent expressions of prejudice towards them. Of particular concern to many non-Gypsies was the dramatic growth of the Roma population. In 1988, the government estimated that there were 391 ,000 Rom in Czechoslovakia, a 35.5% increase over 1980 figures. Other sources estimated there were as many as 700,000-800,000 Roma in Czechoslovakia, with 470,000 a more reasonable figure. Some perceived these figures to be a new threat, and the newspaper Express warned in an article on July 2, 1990, "that the Gypsy fertility may mean a ' tragedy', that within a century the country may well have to be renamed the Romska republika. 42 These fears combined with the deep-rooted, traditional prejudices towards the Roma, and prompted some people to depict the-Gypsies as new symbols of everything gone awry in Czechoslo- " Otto Ulc, "Integration of the Gypsies in Czechoslovakia," Ethnic Groups. Vol. 9, No. 2 ( 1991 ), pp. 11 2- 11 3; in 1986, Scuka produced the "musical drama Amaro Drom (Our Road)...only the second play in Romanes ever to be staged in Czechoslovakia." Grattan Puxon, Roma· Europe's Gypsies (London: Minority Rights Group, 1987), p. 11 . " Radio Free Europe/Rad io Liberty, "Ethnic Minorities and Foreigners," Radio Free Europe Research, Vol. 14, No. 39 (22 September 1989), pp. 33, 36-37 ; Ulc, "Integration of the Gypsies in Czechoslovakia," pp. 113-114; Czechoslovakia's population was 15,658,079, in Ju ly 1989, and 15,683,234, a year later, an increase of 25,155. Suda, "Czechoslovakia," p. 319, and Carol Skalnik Leff, "Czechoslovakia," in Richard F. Staar and Margit N. Grigory, eds., Yearbook on International Communist Affairs 1221 (Stanford: Hoover Institution Press, 1991), p. 269. SLOVAKIA 49 vakia. At the forefront of this new assualt on the Rom were renewed charges of criminality. Dramatic increases in crime had plagued the country since the early 1980s, particularly in Bratislava and Prague. In a society accustomed to traditionally low crime rates, crime reached epidemic proportions by 1990. Slovakia experienced a 17.7% rise in crime between 1988-1989, while the Czech Republic reported a 52% increase during the same pericxi. Much of this increase was attributed to Gypsies, who as early as 1987 had been blamed by television reports for 38% of Bratislava's crimes, and 40% of those committed in eastern Slovakia. Gypsies 18 years old and younger were accused of being part of over 44% of all crimes nationwide in 1988. Clearer heads proved that many of these statistics were exaggerated, and that the Roma were responsible for no more than 7.5-11 % of the crime in the country. Though the more conservative estimates were still out of proportion to the number of Gypsies in Czechoslovakia, they were directly tied to post1989 Gypsy unemployment figures that reached as high as 50% in certain areas. 43 Whatever the true numbers, Czechoslovakia's Roma paid a dear price for the accusations against them. Skinhead attacks, sometimes quietly encouraged by onlookers, mounted dangerously against Gypsies and the 35,000 Vietnamese workers in Czechoslovakia throughout 1990. On April 26, Prime Minister Petr Pithart of the Czech Republic called for "peaceful coexis0 Jan Orbman, "Crime Rate Among the Young," Radio Free Europe Research, Vol. 12, No. 32 (14 August 1987), p. 18; Martina Nevesky, "The Gypsy Problem," Radio Free Europe Research, Vol. 14, No. 31 (4 August 1989), p. 40; Jan Orbman, "Minorities Not a Major Issue Yet," Report on Eastern Europe, Vol. 2, No. 50 (December 13, 1991 ), p. 11 ; Wheaton and Kavan, The Yel vet Revo)utjon, p. 147; Jiti Pehe, "Crime Rises in Czechoslovakia," R.EElRL Research Report, Vol. 1, No. 14 (3 April 1992), p. 58; Kalvoda, "Gypsies of Czechoslovakia," p. 112, claims the Rom were responsible for 15.6% of all crimes in the Czech Republic. 50 SLOVAKIA tence with our fellow citizens of Gypsy origin," while federal Deputy Prime Minister Jan Carnogursky demanded "tougher action against those skinheads who had attacked the Gypsies." On May 3, 1990, ROI urged national leaders and organizations to speak out against racist incidents against Roma and foreigners. Four days later, Charter 77 and the Czechoslovak Helsinki Committee condemned such attacks on the Vietnamese and Gypsies, and said they constitute attacks on all of us. They are attacks on the most basic principles of ethics and humanism, attacks on the state based on Jaw that is being bom , attacks contradicting the ideals of our democratic revolution. The fact that we silently tolerate such attacks makes us accomplices. We call on all citizens to stop being indifferent to the manifestations of violence and intolerance. We appeal to our executive bodies to put a final stop to these attacks. Let us make the people who for years have been working in our country feel that they live in a society in which it is JX)SSible to have their basic human rights protected.44 Vaclav Havel detailed the wrongs done Gypsies in public statements on May 2 and in an address on July 27, 1990, to the First World Romany Festival in Brno. Though admirable, particularly when coupled with the new rights acquired by the Roma over the next year, they did not prevent the racially motivated deaths of 26 Gypsies before the breakup of Czechoslovakia on January 1, 1993.45 Both the federal and individual Czechoslovak republics granted the Roma full minority status, rights, and protections in " Jiri Pehe, "Racial Violence Increasing," Report on Eastern Europe, Vol. I, No. 20 (May I 8, 1990), pp. 15, 18; David Binder, "European Gypsies Issue Call for Human Rights at Meeting," The New York Times, May 5, 1993, p. 6. 5 • Tritt, Czechoslovakia's Endangered Gypsies, pp. 13-14. SLOVAKIA 51 1990-1991. Over thirty Gypsy cultural organizations arose during this period, anchored by the Union of Romany Writers and numerous newspapers and magazines. Programs in Romany Studies were opened at Charles University in Prague and at the Pedagogical Faculty in Nitra. Unfortunately, these developments were overshadowed by a new set of problems that accompanied the breakup of Czechoslovakia on January 1, 1993. Before the formal separation, Slovakia had an estimated Gypsy population of 400,000, and the Czech lands, 150,000. However, only 81,000 Slovak Gypsies officially identified themselves as Roma in the 1991 census. In anticipation of the breakup, a number of Slovak Rom began to move to the Czech lands because they felt • the political and social atmosphere would be more tolerant, and economic conditions better. The sudden increase in "unemployed Romanies, often unassimilated families from Romany villages in eastern Slovakia," stunned many Czechs, who soon claimed that 90% of the republic's new crime was committed by Slovak Roma. Led by individual community actions throughout the Czech Republic, the new state's Prosecutor-General "proposed to the Czech parliament a draft Law on Extraordinary Measures as a means of dealing with unrest caused by undisciplined groups of migrants." Though condemned by human rights groups and the Romany Democratic Congress, which represented 19 Gypsy groups in the Czech Republic, the law had surprising support from conservatives and local officials. The controversial legislation never passed, while the debate that surrounded it brought to the surface traditionally strong prejudice towards the Roma. 46 These feelings were also expressed in several public opinion surveys conducted before and after the January 1, 1993, breakup " Jin Pehe, "Law on Romanies Causes Uproar in Czech Republic,• REElRL Research Report, Vol. 2, No. 7 (12 February 1993), pp. 18-22; Zoltan Barany, "Grim Realities in Eastern Europe." Transition, Vol. I, No. 4 (29 May 1995), p. 8. 52 SLOVAKIA of Czechoslovakia that showed almost universal hatred and distrust towards Gypsies, particularly among young Slovaks and Czechs. Officials in both countries have also been critical of the Roma. One Czech official claimed in the summer of 1993 that the Gypsies remained "a problem ... because most of them are criminals who are getting rich through thievery and prostitution." Slovak Premier Vladimfr Meciar, who lost his post in midMarch 1994 but later regained it, created an uproar on September 4, 1993, in a speech he made in Spis, where Gypsies made up 13% of the population. Meciar felt it "was necessary to curtail the extended reproduction of the socially unadaptable and mentally backward population by decreasing family allowances," which some observers felt was a reference to the country's Gypsies. Famed Nazi hunter and human rights advocate Simon Wiesenthal said that Meciar "has adopted the thinking and diction of Nazism." Meciar sued the newspaperman who originally wrote about his speech, while the Slovak government threatened to sue "any newspaper, radio or television station which refused to apologize for reporting it." Slovak authorities explained that the media had distorted Meciar's speech and released an official translation of his talk. Part of it read: They [Gypsies] should be perceived as a problem group that is growing in size ...This means that if we do not deal with them now, they will deal with us later.. Another thing we have to consider is extended reproduction of socially inadequate population.,f/ 0 Los Angeles Times Mirror, The Pulse of Europe· A Survey of Political and Socja! Values and Attitudes (Washington: Times Mirror Center for People & The Press, 1992), pp. 184-185; Freedom House and The American Jewish Committee, Democracy Economic Reform and Western Assistance in Czechoslovakia Huni:ary and Poland· A Comparative Public Opinion Survey (New York: Freedom House and The American Jewish Committee, 1991), pp. 63-65; "Iron in the Soul," The Economist, March 12, 1994, pp. 55-56; Jane Perlez, "A New SLOVAKIA 53 Several months later, Monika Nemcokova, the Press Secretary for the Slovak Embassy in Washington, D.C., wrote The New York Times to complain about other distortions in an article by Henry Kamm, "In Slovak Gypsy Ghetto, Hovels and Plea for Jobs." Kamm's article centered on Gypsies in the Slovak village of Svinia, and their poor living conditions and high unemployment. According to a parish priest in the village of Medzev, the Rom "don't want to work," and were satisfied subsisting on government welfare. The mayor of Medzev said the only solution to Slovakia's Gypsy problem was "to shoot them all," though, after a few moments, he added, "I'm no racist...But some Gypsies you would have to shoot." Ms. Nemcokova said such attitudes were "not based on racial intole. ranee, but on a significant difference in life styles and standards." She added that almost 40% of all crimes in Slovakia were committed by Roma, figures that ranged from 40-50% for all "youth cases in Slovakia." The Press Secretary felt that the Rom stipend of $71 a month was more than adequate to maintain a reasonable lifestyle in Slovakia, though she admitted it was less than half the average monthly salary of a worker. Ms. Nemcokova strongly disagreed with Kamm's assertion that there were 400,000 Roma in Slovakia, and put the figure at 250,000. She noted that the government spent 70 milllion crowns annually to help the Roma, which was "used for improving living standards in Gypsy villages, education and children's summer camps, including 3.6 million crowns for Gypsy periodicals, and 10.7 million crowns for Gypsy cultural activities.''48 Slovak Government Pledges Moderation,• The New York Times, March 17, 1994, p. A6; Peter Maas, "Half a Century after Hitler, Gypsies Face New Fight to Exist," The Washini:ton Post, August 13, 1993, p. A29; "Reported Racist Remarks Makes Slovakians Angry," Greensboro News & Record, Setpember 7, 1993, p. A5; "His Struggle," The Economjst, September 18-24, 1993, p. 56. " Henry Kamm, "In Slovak Gypsy Ghetto, Hovels and Plea for Jobs,• The New SLOVAKIA 54 The current status of the Roma in Slovakia is quite grim. The Slovak Gypsies have been hit particularly hard by the sluggish economy, and there are reports of Roma unemployment rates as high as 100%, particularly in eastern Slovakia, where most Roma live. The rather topsy turvy political situation and lack of commitment to address the complex problems faced by the country's Roma has stifled any significant government efforts to develop a mature program to raise Gypsy educational, social, and economic standards. The Slovak Government's minority department has only five people on its staff, and there is only one Gypsy expert in the Ministry of Education. Until something more is done to address the sad plight of Slovak Roma, they will remain a community outside of the fabric of Slovak society. 49 The serious social, economic, employment, and educational problems faced by Slovakia's Roma are not unique to this young Republic. Roma suffer from similar difficulties throughout Central and Eastern Europe, where most continental Gypsies live. Most of Slovakia's neighbors are faced with rising Roma birthrates vis vis static native rates, and serious financial problems that hinder the dramatic types of educational and social experiments used earlier to try to draw the Roma more deeply into the fabric of the societies of Central and Eastern Europe. These difficulties, though, should not be used as an excuse to fail to deal with the problems of this growing minority. Hopes that the Roma, in the right circumstances, might move elsewhere, are misguided, since Slovakia's Roma have lived in the region for centuries and have deep roots there. Furthermore, in light of their growing numbers and new political activism, the Roma could, in future, present an interesting political threat to Slovakia's current ruling parties. Moreover, rulers in Slovakia and a York Times, November 28, 1993, p. A4; Monica Nemcokova, "Don't Blame Slovakia for Gypsy Problem," The New York Times, December 15, 1993, p. A14. " Barany, "Grim Realities," p. 8. SLOVAKIA 55 elsewhere in the region should remember that their treatment of the Roma has become an important litmus test of the depth of their democratic experiments in Western eyes. Any failure to deal positively and creatively with each country's Roma population could have negative implications for any of the states in the region trying to draw closer to the West.  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Roma of Slovakia Since 1939 Description An account of the resource David M. Crowe Slovakia, Vol. 36 (No. 66-67), 1998 pp. 26-55 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Crowe, David M., 1943- Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1998 LCNAF+dates https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/9e75abd003abc3f364941f32d76f7d27.pdf d90ab220358aea1a179c82526f49d9f1 PDF Text Text 52 SLOVAKIA •RICHARD WEISHAR THE ROOTS OF OOMMUNISM IN THE C-SR I,F ONE TAKES THE TROUBLE to examine events preceding the February, 1948, "coup d'etat" in Czecho-Slovakia, he will soon learn that the ratification of the Communist list of cabinet members by Benes was but the finishing touch to his signatures on two other documents: the Russian-Czech treaty of December 12, 1943, and Kosice Program of April 5, 1945, by means of which Benes and the other "democrats" marked out their post-war aims. Just as in 1919, Benes was again able to dupe the western foreign powers both during and after the second world war. They looked upon his state as the "lighthouse of democracy", which he himself praised as such, and were very much surprised when atop this lighthouse the red flag was hoisted. Had people but taken cognizance of Benes's statements, the awakening would not have been quite so rough. For no matter how little Benes's words from 1919 to 1938 dovetailed with the truth, there is one thing he cannot rightly be accused of. He and his associates never were ambiguous, in dealing with the West which granted them asylum, as to the direction in which they would steer the second Czech republic after an eventual German defeat. His allies, however, felt there was no reason to take serious interest in Benes's written and spoken statements. They were only too glad to find in him a fellow who was far out in front with respect to hating anything German. His hatred, in fact, found only one satisfying outlet: the expulsion of 3½ millions Sudeten Germans from their ancestral homesteads. To execute this deed he needed the agreement of the allies, who simply followed the example of Josef Stalin. The price for Stalin's consent was that "treaty on friendship, cooperation and mutual aid in the post-war period between the USSR and C-SR" of December 12, 1943, in which the country was sold out to Russia. (Stalin was furthermore beholden to Benes for having - as an unconscious tool of Heydrich - handed over to him Marshal �SLOVAKIA 53 Tukachevski.) The late Hubert Ripka, a close associate of Benes, later minister of trade in the second Czech Republic, still later an exile in London, tried at the time to disperse the fears of the less attentive: "I know that in certain circles within the West it is feared that we could become Russian vassals, but the name of Dr. Benes is the best guarantee for the independence of the (>SR" (Central European Observer, 1943, p. 304). And Benes himself appealed as follows to his fellow-countrymen : "Don't let the Germans lead you astray when they speak to you of Bolshevist terror and dictatorship; the Soviet Union desires nothing more than to be our friend. Our State will be a democracy, naturally a people's democracy new style" (Central European Observer, 194'5, p. 194.) One can hardly say that Benes kept his aims secret. He knew at all times how to adapt himself to the mentality of those on whom he was dependent. If h e posed to the western statesmen at the peace conference of St. Germain in 1919 as a representative of a "middle-class government", which would be rejected by the "Marxist Sudeten Germans" , he went overboard in the other direction in 1943 and 1945 in displaying even more Communist zeal than the Czech emigres in Moscow. He states in his Memoirs (p. 126) that he feared he had not gone far enough in his talks with the Czech Communists in Moscow, until Fierlinger reassured him that the conference "had followed a most satisfying course and surpassed all expectations." The result alluded to in the latter statement showed itself in 19415, when Benes convoked the first Czech government in Kosice. The Communists put up two deputy premiers and received the important ministries of interior, education, information and agriculture. A Communist secretary of state was paired with non-partisan foreign minister, Jan Masaryk. In Kosice a "program of the new Czecho-Slovak Government of the National Front of Czech and Slovaks" was proclaimed, which began with the country's Bolshevization. This declaration is replete with expressions of "undying gratitude for the glorious and heroic Red Army, admiration for the unrivalled Soviet art of war," while the west- �54 SLOVAKIA ern allies were mentioned in only one sentence. Partially out of gratitude to the "glorious Soviet Union," Benes ceded the Carpatho-Ukraine - which had been a part of the first republic from 1919 to 1939 - to the Soviet Union, 'although he had always insisted on the pre- Munich boundaries, within which the Carpatho-Ukraine was situated. In the Kosice Program reference is again made to the fact that the country's foreign policy is "determined for all time" by the Moscow treaty of 1943. At the same time it was announced that the republic would maintain "close fraternal relations" with all the Slavic countries (all of which were under Bolshevist control). Even Hungary, looked upon as an arch-enemy during the period of the first Czech republic, was now received into this circle of friendships, meantime having become Bolshevist-dominated! Benes had thus foreseen Prague's entrance into the Cominform. In order to pave the way intellectually for central Muscovite rule, Benes appointed Communist Nejedly as minister of education and Communist Kopecky as minister of information. He gave them - in the Kosice Program - certain guidelines calling for a "revision of the relationship to German culture," which in plain language meant a clean break in a centuries old spiritual tie with the West. This also meant indoctrinating Czech and Slovak youth in the "creation, development, economy, and culture of the USSR" and the "disappearance from school books and youth education programs of anti-Soviet influences." Russian became the top priority foreign language in the schools; and replacing the humanistic education of former years was the requirement of "history of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union." All this took place within the initial stages of Benes's presidency, not under his successor Gottwald. The latter did not need to alter the set-up, because Benes made thorough preparations. Benes's minister of education declared: "Right now (1945) we must choose between Eeast and West. I do not think there is any question as far as the Czech people are concerned. We belong to the great Slavic family of nations led by the mighty Russian nation with the great leader Stalin as its head" ("Unity" June, 2, �SLOVAKIA 55 1945). Those who saw little to rejoice in at the Bolshevization of the country were lulled into submission by the .strains of Pan-Slavism. Hand in glove with a foreign-political adjustment to Russian plans and those of the satellites came a radical domestic political change. All elements of opposition were ,crushed. All parties not belonging to the "National l<ront" - and they were the strongest parties till 19·39 - were forbidden, to say nothing of the dispossession and expulsion of the Sudeten Germans and Magyars. Benes used the "people's courts" to get rid of his opponents, whom he threw into jail as "arch-traitors" and collaborators" or sent to the gallows. All regard for democratic or human rights was tossed to the four winds. "I am a real democrat," said Benes. "I know that in the development of nations and States there are times when violent revolutions are necessary" (-Memoirs, p. 285). This of course meant expelling of the Sudeten Germans (national revolution) which made rapid Bolshevization of the country much easier. From the wealth of these expelled a 'W'und of National Revival" was created and placed under State control. It was not just a question of robbing the Sudeten German population. This act of spoliage was but the first blow at the existing economic order. Benes's economic decrees of 1945 were to bear this out in crystal clarity. They called for certain factories to be dispossessed and nationalized in principle, and for all factories with more than 50 employees as well. By his decrees "on penal protection of national enterprises," "penal protection of the execution of the two-year economic plan," "measures for executing national mobilization of the labor force," the Communist economic system was introduced as early as 1945. Everything that smacked of compulsion, uncommnoly stringent economic penal law, were not just the achievements of the February Revolution, but the work of Benes and his team. The field of agriculture experienced like changes. The property stolen from the Germans was handed over to Communists who had served the government well. Care was taken to create socalled "midget" agricultural enterprises that were not long �56 SLOVAKIA self-supporting and of necessity led to forming of kholkhozes. There was not much left for Gottwald to do. From Benes he had inherited the Moscow political course, education based on a Bolshevist pattern, a "National Front" without opposition, liquidation of basic rights, and a Communist planned economy. All this continued according to plan. The parliamentary elections of 1'946 brought the Communists 38 % of the vote, and Benes appointed Gottwald premier supported ·b y eight other Communist ministers. The wheels were well oiled; the new machine functioned beautifully. The minister of information set about to prohibit all publications stemming from other-than-government parties, one of which had already been dissolved. When Czech-Slovakia began to ogle Marshall Plan funds, Moscow soon let it be known how the Russian-Czech treaty of 1943 was to be interpreted. Gott w a 1 d repeated Benes 's mouthings about C-SR being a "people's democracy", pointed out that this was no longer an "old-fashioned bourgeois republic" but a socialist republic based on a system of nationalized economy. And no doubt - in 1947 - he was right. The Communist minister of the interior armed his police force and cleansed it of "unreliable" elements. The Communists forced the few non-Communist ministers to resign. Benes for the second time put his name on a new list of ministers, 'headed by Klement Gottwald, and received still more Com;munists than had thus far been the case. A month later Masaryk the younger plunged from the third floor of the Czech foreign ministry in Czernin Palace. Benes abdicated in June, 194'8, for the second time within ten years and died shortly thereafter. 1 The so-called "February Putsch" is referred to as the "violent end of freedom-loving Czecho~Slovak democracy." But on February 25, 1948, little more occured than the Communists threw some non-Communists out of the government. The Communists were no longer in need of the further support of their collaborators. (Sudeten Bulletin) � 52 SLOVAKIA •RICHARD WEISHAR THE ROOTS OF OOMMUNISM IN THE C-SR I,F ONE TAKES THE TROUBLE to examine events preceding the February, 1948, "coup d'etat" in Czecho-Slovakia, he will soon learn that the ratification of the Communist list of cabinet members by Benes was but the finishing touch to his signatures on two other documents: the Russian-Czech treaty of December 12, 1943, and Kosice Program of April 5, 1945, by means of which Benes and the other "democrats" marked out their post-war aims. Just as in 1919, Benes was again able to dupe the western foreign powers both during and after the second world war. They looked upon his state as the "lighthouse of democracy", which he himself praised as such, and were very much surprised when atop this lighthouse the red flag was hoisted. Had people but taken cognizance of Benes's statements, the awakening would not have been quite so rough. For no matter how little Benes's words from 1919 to 1938 dovetailed with the truth, there is one thing he cannot rightly be accused of. He and his associates never were ambiguous, in dealing with the West which granted them asylum, as to the direction in which they would steer the second Czech republic after an eventual German defeat. His allies, however, felt there was no reason to take serious interest in Benes's written and spoken statements. They were only too glad to find in him a fellow who was far out in front with respect to hating anything German. His hatred, in fact, found only one satisfying outlet: the expulsion of 3½ millions Sudeten Germans from their ancestral homesteads. To execute this deed he needed the agreement of the allies, who simply followed the example of Josef Stalin. The price for Stalin's consent was that "treaty on friendship, cooperation and mutual aid in the post-war period between the USSR and C-SR" of December 12, 1943, in which the country was sold out to Russia. (Stalin was furthermore beholden to Benes for having - as an unconscious tool of Heydrich - handed over to him Marshal �SLOVAKIA 53 Tukachevski.) The late Hubert Ripka, a close associate of Benes, later minister of trade in the second Czech Republic, still later an exile in London, tried at the time to disperse the fears of the less attentive: "I know that in certain circles within the West it is feared that we could become Russian vassals, but the name of Dr. Benes is the best guarantee for the independence of the (>SR" (Central European Observer, 1943, p. 304). And Benes himself appealed as follows to his fellow-countrymen : "Don't let the Germans lead you astray when they speak to you of Bolshevist terror and dictatorship; the Soviet Union desires nothing more than to be our friend. Our State will be a democracy, naturally a people's democracy new style" (Central European Observer, 194'5, p. 194.) One can hardly say that Benes kept his aims secret. He knew at all times how to adapt himself to the mentality of those on whom he was dependent. If h e posed to the western statesmen at the peace conference of St. Germain in 1919 as a representative of a "middle-class government", which would be rejected by the "Marxist Sudeten Germans" , he went overboard in the other direction in 1943 and 1945 in displaying even more Communist zeal than the Czech emigres in Moscow. He states in his Memoirs (p. 126) that he feared he had not gone far enough in his talks with the Czech Communists in Moscow, until Fierlinger reassured him that the conference "had followed a most satisfying course and surpassed all expectations." The result alluded to in the latter statement showed itself in 19415, when Benes convoked the first Czech government in Kosice. The Communists put up two deputy premiers and received the important ministries of interior, education, information and agriculture. A Communist secretary of state was paired with non-partisan foreign minister, Jan Masaryk. In Kosice a "program of the new Czecho-Slovak Government of the National Front of Czech and Slovaks" was proclaimed, which began with the country's Bolshevization. This declaration is replete with expressions of "undying gratitude for the glorious and heroic Red Army, admiration for the unrivalled Soviet art of war," while the west- �54 SLOVAKIA ern allies were mentioned in only one sentence. Partially out of gratitude to the "glorious Soviet Union," Benes ceded the Carpatho-Ukraine - which had been a part of the first republic from 1919 to 1939 - to the Soviet Union, 'although he had always insisted on the pre- Munich boundaries, within which the Carpatho-Ukraine was situated. In the Kosice Program reference is again made to the fact that the country's foreign policy is "determined for all time" by the Moscow treaty of 1943. At the same time it was announced that the republic would maintain "close fraternal relations" with all the Slavic countries (all of which were under Bolshevist control). Even Hungary, looked upon as an arch-enemy during the period of the first Czech republic, was now received into this circle of friendships, meantime having become Bolshevist-dominated! Benes had thus foreseen Prague's entrance into the Cominform. In order to pave the way intellectually for central Muscovite rule, Benes appointed Communist Nejedly as minister of education and Communist Kopecky as minister of information. He gave them - in the Kosice Program - certain guidelines calling for a "revision of the relationship to German culture," which in plain language meant a clean break in a centuries old spiritual tie with the West. This also meant indoctrinating Czech and Slovak youth in the "creation, development, economy, and culture of the USSR" and the "disappearance from school books and youth education programs of anti-Soviet influences." Russian became the top priority foreign language in the schools; and replacing the humanistic education of former years was the requirement of "history of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union." All this took place within the initial stages of Benes's presidency, not under his successor Gottwald. The latter did not need to alter the set-up, because Benes made thorough preparations. Benes's minister of education declared: "Right now (1945) we must choose between Eeast and West. I do not think there is any question as far as the Czech people are concerned. We belong to the great Slavic family of nations led by the mighty Russian nation with the great leader Stalin as its head" ("Unity" June, 2, �SLOVAKIA 55 1945). Those who saw little to rejoice in at the Bolshevization of the country were lulled into submission by the .strains of Pan-Slavism. Hand in glove with a foreign-political adjustment to Russian plans and those of the satellites came a radical domestic political change. All elements of opposition were ,crushed. All parties not belonging to the "National l<ront" - and they were the strongest parties till 19·39 - were forbidden, to say nothing of the dispossession and expulsion of the Sudeten Germans and Magyars. Benes used the "people's courts" to get rid of his opponents, whom he threw into jail as "arch-traitors" and collaborators" or sent to the gallows. All regard for democratic or human rights was tossed to the four winds. "I am a real democrat," said Benes. "I know that in the development of nations and States there are times when violent revolutions are necessary" (-Memoirs, p. 285). This of course meant expelling of the Sudeten Germans (national revolution) which made rapid Bolshevization of the country much easier. From the wealth of these expelled a 'W'und of National Revival" was created and placed under State control. It was not just a question of robbing the Sudeten German population. This act of spoliage was but the first blow at the existing economic order. Benes's economic decrees of 1945 were to bear this out in crystal clarity. They called for certain factories to be dispossessed and nationalized in principle, and for all factories with more than 50 employees as well. By his decrees "on penal protection of national enterprises," "penal protection of the execution of the two-year economic plan," "measures for executing national mobilization of the labor force," the Communist economic system was introduced as early as 1945. Everything that smacked of compulsion, uncommnoly stringent economic penal law, were not just the achievements of the February Revolution, but the work of Benes and his team. The field of agriculture experienced like changes. The property stolen from the Germans was handed over to Communists who had served the government well. Care was taken to create socalled "midget" agricultural enterprises that were not long �56 SLOVAKIA self-supporting and of necessity led to forming of kholkhozes. There was not much left for Gottwald to do. From Benes he had inherited the Moscow political course, education based on a Bolshevist pattern, a "National Front" without opposition, liquidation of basic rights, and a Communist planned economy. All this continued according to plan. The parliamentary elections of 1'946 brought the Communists 38 % of the vote, and Benes appointed Gottwald premier supported ·b y eight other Communist ministers. The wheels were well oiled; the new machine functioned beautifully. The minister of information set about to prohibit all publications stemming from other-than-government parties, one of which had already been dissolved. When Czech-Slovakia began to ogle Marshall Plan funds, Moscow soon let it be known how the Russian-Czech treaty of 1943 was to be interpreted. Gott w a 1 d repeated Benes 's mouthings about C-SR being a "people's democracy", pointed out that this was no longer an "old-fashioned bourgeois republic" but a socialist republic based on a system of nationalized economy. And no doubt - in 1947 - he was right. The Communist minister of the interior armed his police force and cleansed it of "unreliable" elements. The Communists forced the few non-Communist ministers to resign. Benes for the second time put his name on a new list of ministers, 'headed by Klement Gottwald, and received still more Com;munists than had thus far been the case. A month later Masaryk the younger plunged from the third floor of the Czech foreign ministry in Czernin Palace. Benes abdicated in June, 194'8, for the second time within ten years and died shortly thereafter. 1 The so-called "February Putsch" is referred to as the "violent end of freedom-loving Czecho~Slovak democracy." But on February 25, 1948, little more occured than the Communists threw some non-Communists out of the government. The Communists were no longer in need of the further support of their collaborators. (Sudeten Bulletin) � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 1958, Vol. 8 Description An account of the resource <ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 26), March 1958.</li> <li>Issue 2 (No. 27), June 1958.</li> <li>Issue 3 (No. 28), December 1958.</li> </ul> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Slovak League of America Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1958 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document 52 SLOVAKIA •RICHARD WEISHAR THE ROOTS OF OOMMUNISM IN THE C-SR I,F ONE TAKES THE TROUBLE to examine events preceding the February, 1948, "coup d'etat" in Czecho-Slovakia, he will soon learn that the ratification of the Communist list of cabinet members by Benes was but the finishing touch to his signatures on two other documents: the Russian-Czech treaty of December 12, 1943, and Kosice Program of April 5, 1945, by means of which Benes and the other "democrats" marked out their post-war aims. Just as in 1919, Benes was again able to dupe the western foreign powers both during and after the second world war. They looked upon his state as the "lighthouse of democracy", which he himself praised as such, and were very much surprised when atop this lighthouse the red flag was hoisted. Had people but taken cognizance of Benes's statements, the awakening would not have been quite so rough. For no matter how little Benes's words from 1919 to 1938 dovetailed with the truth, there is one thing he cannot rightly be accused of. He and his associates never were ambiguous, in dealing with the West which granted them asylum, as to the direction in which they would steer the second Czech republic after an eventual German defeat. His allies, however, felt there was no reason to take serious interest in Benes's written and spoken statements. They were only too glad to find in him a fellow who was far out in front with respect to hating anything German. His hatred, in fact, found only one satisfying outlet: the expulsion of 3½ millions Sudeten Germans from their ancestral homesteads. To execute this deed he needed the agreement of the allies, who simply followed the example of Josef Stalin. The price for Stalin's consent was that "treaty on friendship, cooperation and mutual aid in the post-war period between the USSR and C-SR" of December 12, 1943, in which the country was sold out to Russia. (Stalin was furthermore beholden to Benes for having - as an unconscious tool of Heydrich - handed over to him Marshal SLOVAKIA 53 Tukachevski.) The late Hubert Ripka, a close associate of Benes, later minister of trade in the second Czech Republic, still later an exile in London, tried at the time to disperse the fears of the less attentive: "I know that in certain circles within the West it is feared that we could become Russian vassals, but the name of Dr. Benes is the best guarantee for the independence of the (>SR" (Central European Observer, 1943, p. 304). And Benes himself appealed as follows to his fellow-countrymen : "Don't let the Germans lead you astray when they speak to you of Bolshevist terror and dictatorship; the Soviet Union desires nothing more than to be our friend. Our State will be a democracy, naturally a people's democracy new style" (Central European Observer, 194'5, p. 194.) One can hardly say that Benes kept his aims secret. He knew at all times how to adapt himself to the mentality of those on whom he was dependent. If h e posed to the western statesmen at the peace conference of St. Germain in 1919 as a representative of a "middle-class government", which would be rejected by the "Marxist Sudeten Germans" , he went overboard in the other direction in 1943 and 1945 in displaying even more Communist zeal than the Czech emigres in Moscow. He states in his Memoirs (p. 126) that he feared he had not gone far enough in his talks with the Czech Communists in Moscow, until Fierlinger reassured him that the conference "had followed a most satisfying course and surpassed all expectations." The result alluded to in the latter statement showed itself in 19415, when Benes convoked the first Czech government in Kosice. The Communists put up two deputy premiers and received the important ministries of interior, education, information and agriculture. A Communist secretary of state was paired with non-partisan foreign minister, Jan Masaryk. In Kosice a "program of the new Czecho-Slovak Government of the National Front of Czech and Slovaks" was proclaimed, which began with the country's Bolshevization. This declaration is replete with expressions of "undying gratitude for the glorious and heroic Red Army, admiration for the unrivalled Soviet art of war," while the west- 54 SLOVAKIA ern allies were mentioned in only one sentence. Partially out of gratitude to the "glorious Soviet Union," Benes ceded the Carpatho-Ukraine - which had been a part of the first republic from 1919 to 1939 - to the Soviet Union, 'although he had always insisted on the pre- Munich boundaries, within which the Carpatho-Ukraine was situated. In the Kosice Program reference is again made to the fact that the country's foreign policy is "determined for all time" by the Moscow treaty of 1943. At the same time it was announced that the republic would maintain "close fraternal relations" with all the Slavic countries (all of which were under Bolshevist control). Even Hungary, looked upon as an arch-enemy during the period of the first Czech republic, was now received into this circle of friendships, meantime having become Bolshevist-dominated! Benes had thus foreseen Prague's entrance into the Cominform. In order to pave the way intellectually for central Muscovite rule, Benes appointed Communist Nejedly as minister of education and Communist Kopecky as minister of information. He gave them - in the Kosice Program - certain guidelines calling for a "revision of the relationship to German culture," which in plain language meant a clean break in a centuries old spiritual tie with the West. This also meant indoctrinating Czech and Slovak youth in the "creation, development, economy, and culture of the USSR" and the "disappearance from school books and youth education programs of anti-Soviet influences." Russian became the top priority foreign language in the schools; and replacing the humanistic education of former years was the requirement of "history of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union." All this took place within the initial stages of Benes's presidency, not under his successor Gottwald. The latter did not need to alter the set-up, because Benes made thorough preparations. Benes's minister of education declared: "Right now (1945) we must choose between Eeast and West. I do not think there is any question as far as the Czech people are concerned. We belong to the great Slavic family of nations led by the mighty Russian nation with the great leader Stalin as its head" ("Unity" June, 2, SLOVAKIA 55 1945). Those who saw little to rejoice in at the Bolshevization of the country were lulled into submission by the .strains of Pan-Slavism. Hand in glove with a foreign-political adjustment to Russian plans and those of the satellites came a radical domestic political change. All elements of opposition were ,crushed. All parties not belonging to the "National l<ront" - and they were the strongest parties till 19·39 - were forbidden, to say nothing of the dispossession and expulsion of the Sudeten Germans and Magyars. Benes used the "people's courts" to get rid of his opponents, whom he threw into jail as "arch-traitors" and collaborators" or sent to the gallows. All regard for democratic or human rights was tossed to the four winds. "I am a real democrat," said Benes. "I know that in the development of nations and States there are times when violent revolutions are necessary" (-Memoirs, p. 285). This of course meant expelling of the Sudeten Germans (national revolution) which made rapid Bolshevization of the country much easier. From the wealth of these expelled a 'W'und of National Revival" was created and placed under State control. It was not just a question of robbing the Sudeten German population. This act of spoliage was but the first blow at the existing economic order. Benes's economic decrees of 1945 were to bear this out in crystal clarity. They called for certain factories to be dispossessed and nationalized in principle, and for all factories with more than 50 employees as well. By his decrees "on penal protection of national enterprises," "penal protection of the execution of the two-year economic plan," "measures for executing national mobilization of the labor force," the Communist economic system was introduced as early as 1945. Everything that smacked of compulsion, uncommnoly stringent economic penal law, were not just the achievements of the February Revolution, but the work of Benes and his team. The field of agriculture experienced like changes. The property stolen from the Germans was handed over to Communists who had served the government well. Care was taken to create socalled "midget" agricultural enterprises that were not long 56 SLOVAKIA self-supporting and of necessity led to forming of kholkhozes. There was not much left for Gottwald to do. From Benes he had inherited the Moscow political course, education based on a Bolshevist pattern, a "National Front" without opposition, liquidation of basic rights, and a Communist planned economy. All this continued according to plan. The parliamentary elections of 1'946 brought the Communists 38 % of the vote, and Benes appointed Gottwald premier supported ·b y eight other Communist ministers. The wheels were well oiled; the new machine functioned beautifully. The minister of information set about to prohibit all publications stemming from other-than-government parties, one of which had already been dissolved. When Czech-Slovakia began to ogle Marshall Plan funds, Moscow soon let it be known how the Russian-Czech treaty of 1943 was to be interpreted. Gott w a 1 d repeated Benes 's mouthings about C-SR being a "people's democracy", pointed out that this was no longer an "old-fashioned bourgeois republic" but a socialist republic based on a system of nationalized economy. And no doubt - in 1947 - he was right. The Communist minister of the interior armed his police force and cleansed it of "unreliable" elements. The Communists forced the few non-Communist ministers to resign. Benes for the second time put his name on a new list of ministers, 'headed by Klement Gottwald, and received still more Com;munists than had thus far been the case. A month later Masaryk the younger plunged from the third floor of the Czech foreign ministry in Czernin Palace. Benes abdicated in June, 194'8, for the second time within ten years and died shortly thereafter. 1 The so-called "February Putsch" is referred to as the "violent end of freedom-loving Czecho~Slovak democracy." But on February 25, 1948, little more occured than the Communists threw some non-Communists out of the government. The Communists were no longer in need of the further support of their collaborators. (Sudeten Bulletin)  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Roots of Communism in the Č-SR Description An account of the resource Richard Weishar Slovakia, Vol. 8, No. 3 (28), December 1958 pp. 52-56 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Weishar, Richard Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource December 1958 name https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/fbdef89074b2bc4b98bdc86f97c61bc3.pdf cca5aaa530f7aff178cddb1cf114da18 PDF Text Text S LOVAKIA 66 TIIE SECBET FUNDS OF BENE.S' INTELLIGENCE SERVICE The Archives of t he Intelllgence Department of any Foreign Office have never been accessible to any free Citizen, who is the s ource of power in a free state. Not even a M.P., a representative or the people and a law-maker, can see them. Such a department is a secret room in whlch the power-conjurors preserve the secrets of their tricks. Twice in our lieftime this alchemisťs kitchen has been opened to the public. In 1917 the Russian Bolsheviks published the secret documents of the tzarist Foreign Office, and in 1943 lhe Nazis published all the documents relatlng to the secret funds of the Czechoslovakian Foreign Office which, for twenty years, had as its chief medicine-man, the late Edward Benes. In both cases the documenus were publlshed for propaganda reasons by those who had come to power, but the action traine!l a spotlight on the fundamentals of forelgn policy. H e who has once had the opportunlty to see into lhe secret rooms of foreign pollcy must for ever after be an enemy of ~o-called sovereign states and an advocate of a European Federatlon or Nations whlch alone could eliminate the cancer of corruption whose workings are carefuly concealed in the Intelligence Departments of Foreign Offices. Had tbere been 30 million Czecbs, Europe would long ago bave belonged to them, because they are an incredibly diligent people, and one of the most diligent among tbem was thelr Foreign Secretary. Benes had no political conception wbatever, but he was a flrst• class traveler in principles and, had bis means not been so limited, he could have purcbased at least the whole of the democratic world. But, fortunately for the world, tbere were only 8 mlllion Czechs, and Benes had neither t be means nor the Ume to bring hls buslness to a successful conclusion. But what he achieved is truly remarkable. After the Hapsbnrg monarchy had been dismembered and Vienna had become the capital of a small Austria with 7 million inhabitants, tbe Austrian natlonal press, whose previous market had been an Em· pire wi.th 52 million inhabltants, found itself in a difficult flnancial position. Czechoslovakian foreign policy was naturally much concerned with neighboring Austria, and Benes, therefore, througb mediators, bought the Austrian Press concern. VERNA, which published two Viennese dailies, "DER WIENER TAG" and "DIE STUNDE." The member of the Czechoslovaklan Forelgn Office responsible Cor this business was a certain OPLATKA who, in his report (o!ficial uumber 58.194/34) stated: "The morning paper 'Der Wlener T ag' is intended for people of the social democratic party and on various questions was often more radical than the official party presa. 'Die Stunde,' on the other hand, since we took it over, has followed not the social democratlc, but rather the bourgeois democratic line, attempting to realize a collaboration between Social Democrats and Christian Socialista." As we can see, Benes was a well-equipped salesman of prlnci11les, having l\farxist and Cbristian ideals stored in the same drawer or his desk. He coulťl serve any Austrian ac<'orcling to bis taste. But �66 SLQVAKIA whatever the Austrian believed, Mr. Benes was always behind tt. ln view of this, we can understand why, even today, some Austrlan social democrats are firmly convinced that Benes' followers are the only true representatlves ot Czechoslovakian democracy, whlle the editor of "Pravda" (London) is a !asclst. Obvlously, for the editor of "Pravda" was never In a posltion to sell the last cow ot a Slovaklan crofter for taxes he owed to the Czechoslovaklan state, or to invest, from the pockets of Czechoslovakian taxpayers, halt-a-million r•ounds sterling in the di11eminatlon of Marxist and Christian democrat ic ideas in Vlenna. Another country to which Benes turned bis enterprising, diligent Czech spirit was Yugoolavia. The G-Overnment In Yugoslavla had neither tlme nor money to spare for lts own press, slnce it was heavlly engaged In supporting the forelgn, and prlnclpally t he French, press. Therefore, Benes, comandlng much larger funds t han the lmpoverished Yugoslavian Forelgn Secretary, declded to flnance the progovernment press in Yugoslavla. He supported the Belgrade dally '·Politika" and many local papers. When Mr. So.skle, owner of the opposltion daily "Pravda" in Belgrade, had made certaln wbence the pro-government "Politika" received money, he wrote to Benes as follows: Belgrade, Ie 20-XII-1931. A Son Excellence, Monsieur Mlnlstre des Affaires Extrangeres, Eduard Benes, Prague. Excellence: A ľoccasion de ces grands tel.es de Noel je prends la liberté de de vous presenter tous mes mellleurs voeu.x de bonheur pour Vous et Votre chere Patrie. Aussi je Vous prie de voulolr blen me permettre Que je. vous rappelle a Votre gentllle promesse a propos de norte emprunt, pour leguel vous avalt donné Votre parole de Grand Am! que Vous voulez falre tous ce Qu'y est necessaire: qu'on relalse la "Pravda," QUl-en plein relaise et sans aucun exageration, a blen mérite de Votre pays fraternel. Cet emprunt, come j'avals ľhonneur a Vous en donnes des renselgnments precis, sera absolument assure par la hypotheque unlque sur toute la proprlété de la " Pravda" qul est évalue a D1nars 22,000,000 (vlngt deux mllllons dinars) . . ." Mr. Sosklc, In sendlng bis Chrlstmas greetlngs to Benes and hls dear motherland, humbly remarked t hat his paper always favored brotherly Czechoslovakia and that he needed 22 mllllon dlnars, on loan, of course, but on a "security" on which obvlously no one ln Belgrade was wllling to advance money. On the margin of thls le tter Benes noted: " I only sald that there might be a poMibi lity of aome a11i1tanee and already he wrltes t hat I promised him thle loan. Answer hi"' not to come to Prague." But Mr. Sosklc was terrlbly in love wlth Czechoslovakla and came In spite or Benes' refusal, and he flnally imcceeded In gettlng 50,000 �SLOVAKIA 67 Kc trom Benes, an assistance which was continually repeated. In this way the pres:: .~ Yugoslavia was for or against its own Govern,11ent. but always for .Benes. The French press looms large in this business. It needs a strong s tomach to read the reports of the Czechos\ovakian Embassy in France. In thls matter one of the moulders of French public opinton waa Profeaaor Fuscien Dominola. He waa secretary of the "lnatitut d'Etudea Slavea" and received 4,000 fra. a month from the CzechosJovakian Foreign Office, a good aalary In France at that time. But it was never enough for M. Dominois, who bombarded his benefactor ln Prague with demands for more money on the most ridicu\ous pretexr.a. tie ran up debts and, when pressed by hls creditors, asked l'rague to pay them. One such affair was dealt with in a letter trom Professqr Eiserua.nn, a Parlsian friend of Benes, to Mr. Hubert Ripka. Mr. Ripka occupled rather a speclal positlon, for he was entrusted with dellcate affalrs of J3enes ideology. So, In a lett~r written in German, Professor E:isemann - Editor of "Le Monde Slave" - wrote to Ripka about one or Dominois' affairs, about the shamelessness of bis colleague wbo worked not only for Czechoslovakla, but also for Yugoslavia and, in spite of various sources of income, ran up new debts and pressed tbe Czechs to pay them once more. This Ume the sum wa.s 20,000 frs. and the Czechs paid up once agaln. Dominols waa, of courae, not only for the Czechoalovaks and Yugoslavs. but also very much for the Rusalan Bolshevlka. There was nothing surprlsing in that. for Russ ia also is a slavonic country and the Profe:isor, the secretary of the "lo.stltut d'Etudes Slaves," was obviously j„voted to all the alavea who pald hls debts. The British chapter is rather a distingui:1bE,d one. Benes tried to make manifest in Great Britaln the klndnes~ o~ the Slavonlc nature. His ambassador here was Jan Masaryk, that klnd, jolly Slav and g reat dE:mocrat. He tried ~o help everywhere be rould. For instance, he suggested establishing the "Allan Leeper Funt!' to educate the daughter of the deceased Allan Leeper. ln a letter of 12th Feb ruary, 1935 (offlcial No. 1646 kab/35) it stated: "Allan Leeper (a brother or Ŕéx Leep'!r, ass!i;tant secretary to the Press Department of the Fore!gn Off1ce) was the beat, confidential friend (ani! 1 thtnk, schoolmate In Oxford) of Seton Watson . Ourlng the war he belped our ac• tlon by, memoranda wblch, altogether with Professor Seton Watson, he eiá.bora,ted ·'t or ~ Lord Grey and later for BaUour and prepared the cond!tlÓns for a favorable solutlon of the Czechoslovakia queation. He also prepared, with Seton Watson, the material ror a new arrangement in Centra! Europe for the British delegation to the Peace T reaty Conference. Since 1920 he was always at our diapoaal In lnformlng the British Government about Central Europe in our aenie." The Allan Leeper Fund was established. Jan Masaryk never troubled wlth detalled accounts of the small payments he made. Only for larger sums d!d he account and give an explanation. After the Munlch agreement Maaaryk reslgned and hla prace ·was taken by Mr. Lis!cky. He was a dlligent Czech offlélal who thought it bis duty to make a detalled list of all payments nrade by the Czechoslovakian Embassy in London in 1938. Hut lt is ratber a ,,,a.s �68 S LOVA:KIA large list to be published in such a small paper as " P ravda" (Lontlon). Benes' kindness was not conflned to Europe. The Czechoslovaklan Consul General in Sydney, Dr. Svetak, in a letter of 29th December, 1926, informed b is superiors how much he had paid to jou r nallsts trom various Australlan papers for not publishing statements unfavorab le to Masaryk and Benes. Normally journalists are paid for s omething they publish, but Benes also paid for silence. In a report dated 31st December, 1931, the Czec hoslovakian Consul General at Montreal, Mr. Moser, gave an account of the money he had paid for artic les favorable to Czechoslovakla in several Canadlan papers . AII the while, Benes malntained the best connections wlth So· viet Russia and at t he same time generously sup ported Russlan emlgr és and thelr anti-Soviet press. He did not sp end such a vast a mount of the Czechos lovakia n taxpayers' money •·- between a h a lf and a million pounds sterlíng every year - but he managed the spendln g In so economical and practical a way that the who le world became convinced that the best democracy and the greatest contemporary statesman were to b e found in Czechoslovakia. All this would be obvlous and natural to ardent individuallsts who e,onslder democracy from the point of view of their pr!vate interest. Ilut, unfortunat(lly, we are Jiving in this world together with Russian Bolsheviks. They can always do business with democratic indivlduals in the West, but W estern democrats cannot do business with lndlviduals of the Bolshev!k communlty, because there 1s a p enalty of death in Soviet countries for th e crime of turning poli tical prln ciples into pri vate buslness. - (Czech "PRAVDA" •- London - J une 1951) . • • • LETTRICH AND THE USSR. "Without the gigantic sacrlflces of the friendly USSR, especially its Red Ar my, wh!ch sh ed !ts blood on t he territory of the Republlc for six months, we would not have our freedom. The Czechoslovak. llepublic - and included in it free Slovakia - witbout regard to any and a ll d ifferences, never sball forget t hose sacrlfices of tbe Red Army, of tbe Soviet Union and tbe rest of the allied nations, and just as certalnly tbey shall no t forget the sacrlflces of t be Slovak natlonal insurrection. . . . From tbis convlncing experience it follows for u s. for the governmen t, for a ll pol!tlcal parties, and so also fo r the Democr atlc P arty, that our most self-evldent duty is to conslstently and lnexorably make polltics of frlendly understandlng and close cooper ation wlth a ll the vlctorious allied natlons, above all else, however, wlth our great neighbor - the largest Slovanic great power the USSR, and scrupulously avoid everything which eould In any manner hinder our efforts to attain these hlgh ldeals „ If we want to permanently hold on to our hard-earned freedom , an d state lndependence and guard agalnst possible -- future plots, we must de pend on the USSR, wbich fully respects our lndependence and h as no o tber demand on us than that we have a truly democratlc government, \ľhose poliC'y will not be In conrllct wlth Soviet interests, tha.t· we have order, in a word, that Cze<-hoslovakla be a strong and -eon• ~olidated State." - (Dr. J o!leph Lettrlch. ÔAS, 5-16-46). � S LOVAKIA 66 TIIE SECBET FUNDS OF BENE.S' INTELLIGENCE SERVICE The Archives of t he Intelllgence Department of any Foreign Office have never been accessible to any free Citizen, who is the s ource of power in a free state. Not even a M.P., a representative or the people and a law-maker, can see them. Such a department is a secret room in whlch the power-conjurors preserve the secrets of their tricks. Twice in our lieftime this alchemisťs kitchen has been opened to the public. In 1917 the Russian Bolsheviks published the secret documents of the tzarist Foreign Office, and in 1943 lhe Nazis published all the documents relatlng to the secret funds of the Czechoslovakian Foreign Office which, for twenty years, had as its chief medicine-man, the late Edward Benes. In both cases the documenus were publlshed for propaganda reasons by those who had come to power, but the action traine!l a spotlight on the fundamentals of forelgn policy. H e who has once had the opportunlty to see into lhe secret rooms of foreign pollcy must for ever after be an enemy of ~o-called sovereign states and an advocate of a European Federatlon or Nations whlch alone could eliminate the cancer of corruption whose workings are carefuly concealed in the Intelligence Departments of Foreign Offices. Had tbere been 30 million Czecbs, Europe would long ago bave belonged to them, because they are an incredibly diligent people, and one of the most diligent among tbem was thelr Foreign Secretary. Benes had no political conception wbatever, but he was a flrst• class traveler in principles and, had bis means not been so limited, he could have purcbased at least the whole of the democratic world. But, fortunately for the world, tbere were only 8 mlllion Czechs, and Benes had neither t be means nor the Ume to bring hls buslness to a successful conclusion. But what he achieved is truly remarkable. After the Hapsbnrg monarchy had been dismembered and Vienna had become the capital of a small Austria with 7 million inhabitants, tbe Austrian natlonal press, whose previous market had been an Em· pire wi.th 52 million inhabltants, found itself in a difficult flnancial position. Czechoslovakian foreign policy was naturally much concerned with neighboring Austria, and Benes, therefore, througb mediators, bought the Austrian Press concern. VERNA, which published two Viennese dailies, "DER WIENER TAG" and "DIE STUNDE." The member of the Czechoslovaklan Forelgn Office responsible Cor this business was a certain OPLATKA who, in his report (o!ficial uumber 58.194/34) stated: "The morning paper 'Der Wlener T ag' is intended for people of the social democratic party and on various questions was often more radical than the official party presa. 'Die Stunde,' on the other hand, since we took it over, has followed not the social democratlc, but rather the bourgeois democratic line, attempting to realize a collaboration between Social Democrats and Christian Socialista." As we can see, Benes was a well-equipped salesman of prlnci11les, having l\farxist and Cbristian ideals stored in the same drawer or his desk. He coulťl serve any Austrian ac<'orcling to bis taste. But �66 SLQVAKIA whatever the Austrian believed, Mr. Benes was always behind tt. ln view of this, we can understand why, even today, some Austrlan social democrats are firmly convinced that Benes' followers are the only true representatlves ot Czechoslovakian democracy, whlle the editor of "Pravda" (London) is a !asclst. Obvlously, for the editor of "Pravda" was never In a posltion to sell the last cow ot a Slovaklan crofter for taxes he owed to the Czechoslovaklan state, or to invest, from the pockets of Czechoslovakian taxpayers, halt-a-million r•ounds sterling in the di11eminatlon of Marxist and Christian democrat ic ideas in Vlenna. Another country to which Benes turned bis enterprising, diligent Czech spirit was Yugoolavia. The G-Overnment In Yugoslavla had neither tlme nor money to spare for lts own press, slnce it was heavlly engaged In supporting the forelgn, and prlnclpally t he French, press. Therefore, Benes, comandlng much larger funds t han the lmpoverished Yugoslavian Forelgn Secretary, declded to flnance the progovernment press in Yugoslavla. He supported the Belgrade dally '·Politika" and many local papers. When Mr. So.skle, owner of the opposltion daily "Pravda" in Belgrade, had made certaln wbence the pro-government "Politika" received money, he wrote to Benes as follows: Belgrade, Ie 20-XII-1931. A Son Excellence, Monsieur Mlnlstre des Affaires Extrangeres, Eduard Benes, Prague. Excellence: A ľoccasion de ces grands tel.es de Noel je prends la liberté de de vous presenter tous mes mellleurs voeu.x de bonheur pour Vous et Votre chere Patrie. Aussi je Vous prie de voulolr blen me permettre Que je. vous rappelle a Votre gentllle promesse a propos de norte emprunt, pour leguel vous avalt donné Votre parole de Grand Am! que Vous voulez falre tous ce Qu'y est necessaire: qu'on relalse la "Pravda," QUl-en plein relaise et sans aucun exageration, a blen mérite de Votre pays fraternel. Cet emprunt, come j'avals ľhonneur a Vous en donnes des renselgnments precis, sera absolument assure par la hypotheque unlque sur toute la proprlété de la " Pravda" qul est évalue a D1nars 22,000,000 (vlngt deux mllllons dinars) . . ." Mr. Sosklc, In sendlng bis Chrlstmas greetlngs to Benes and hls dear motherland, humbly remarked t hat his paper always favored brotherly Czechoslovakia and that he needed 22 mllllon dlnars, on loan, of course, but on a "security" on which obvlously no one ln Belgrade was wllling to advance money. On the margin of thls le tter Benes noted: " I only sald that there might be a poMibi lity of aome a11i1tanee and already he wrltes t hat I promised him thle loan. Answer hi"' not to come to Prague." But Mr. Sosklc was terrlbly in love wlth Czechoslovakla and came In spite or Benes' refusal, and he flnally imcceeded In gettlng 50,000 �SLOVAKIA 67 Kc trom Benes, an assistance which was continually repeated. In this way the pres:: .~ Yugoslavia was for or against its own Govern,11ent. but always for .Benes. The French press looms large in this business. It needs a strong s tomach to read the reports of the Czechos\ovakian Embassy in France. In thls matter one of the moulders of French public opinton waa Profeaaor Fuscien Dominola. He waa secretary of the "lnatitut d'Etudea Slavea" and received 4,000 fra. a month from the CzechosJovakian Foreign Office, a good aalary In France at that time. But it was never enough for M. Dominois, who bombarded his benefactor ln Prague with demands for more money on the most ridicu\ous pretexr.a. tie ran up debts and, when pressed by hls creditors, asked l'rague to pay them. One such affair was dealt with in a letter trom Professqr Eiserua.nn, a Parlsian friend of Benes, to Mr. Hubert Ripka. Mr. Ripka occupled rather a speclal positlon, for he was entrusted with dellcate affalrs of J3enes ideology. So, In a lett~r written in German, Professor E:isemann - Editor of "Le Monde Slave" - wrote to Ripka about one or Dominois' affairs, about the shamelessness of bis colleague wbo worked not only for Czechoslovakla, but also for Yugoslavia and, in spite of various sources of income, ran up new debts and pressed tbe Czechs to pay them once more. This Ume the sum wa.s 20,000 frs. and the Czechs paid up once agaln. Dominols waa, of courae, not only for the Czechoalovaks and Yugoslavs. but also very much for the Rusalan Bolshevlka. There was nothing surprlsing in that. for Russ ia also is a slavonic country and the Profe:isor, the secretary of the "lo.stltut d'Etudes Slaves," was obviously j„voted to all the alavea who pald hls debts. The British chapter is rather a distingui:1bE,d one. Benes tried to make manifest in Great Britaln the klndnes~ o~ the Slavonlc nature. His ambassador here was Jan Masaryk, that klnd, jolly Slav and g reat dE:mocrat. He tried ~o help everywhere be rould. For instance, he suggested establishing the "Allan Leeper Funt!' to educate the daughter of the deceased Allan Leeper. ln a letter of 12th Feb ruary, 1935 (offlcial No. 1646 kab/35) it stated: "Allan Leeper (a brother or Ŕéx Leep'!r, ass!i;tant secretary to the Press Department of the Fore!gn Off1ce) was the beat, confidential friend (ani! 1 thtnk, schoolmate In Oxford) of Seton Watson . Ourlng the war he belped our ac• tlon by, memoranda wblch, altogether with Professor Seton Watson, he eiá.bora,ted ·'t or ~ Lord Grey and later for BaUour and prepared the cond!tlÓns for a favorable solutlon of the Czechoslovakia queation. He also prepared, with Seton Watson, the material ror a new arrangement in Centra! Europe for the British delegation to the Peace T reaty Conference. Since 1920 he was always at our diapoaal In lnformlng the British Government about Central Europe in our aenie." The Allan Leeper Fund was established. Jan Masaryk never troubled wlth detalled accounts of the small payments he made. Only for larger sums d!d he account and give an explanation. After the Munlch agreement Maaaryk reslgned and hla prace ·was taken by Mr. Lis!cky. He was a dlligent Czech offlélal who thought it bis duty to make a detalled list of all payments nrade by the Czechoslovakian Embassy in London in 1938. Hut lt is ratber a ,,,a.s �68 S LOVA:KIA large list to be published in such a small paper as " P ravda" (Lontlon). Benes' kindness was not conflned to Europe. The Czechoslovaklan Consul General in Sydney, Dr. Svetak, in a letter of 29th December, 1926, informed b is superiors how much he had paid to jou r nallsts trom various Australlan papers for not publishing statements unfavorab le to Masaryk and Benes. Normally journalists are paid for s omething they publish, but Benes also paid for silence. In a report dated 31st December, 1931, the Czec hoslovakian Consul General at Montreal, Mr. Moser, gave an account of the money he had paid for artic les favorable to Czechoslovakla in several Canadlan papers . AII the while, Benes malntained the best connections wlth So· viet Russia and at t he same time generously sup ported Russlan emlgr és and thelr anti-Soviet press. He did not sp end such a vast a mount of the Czechos lovakia n taxpayers' money •·- between a h a lf and a million pounds sterlíng every year - but he managed the spendln g In so economical and practical a way that the who le world became convinced that the best democracy and the greatest contemporary statesman were to b e found in Czechoslovakia. All this would be obvlous and natural to ardent individuallsts who e,onslder democracy from the point of view of their pr!vate interest. Ilut, unfortunat(lly, we are Jiving in this world together with Russian Bolsheviks. They can always do business with democratic indivlduals in the West, but W estern democrats cannot do business with lndlviduals of the Bolshev!k communlty, because there 1s a p enalty of death in Soviet countries for th e crime of turning poli tical prln ciples into pri vate buslness. - (Czech "PRAVDA" •- London - J une 1951) . • • • LETTRICH AND THE USSR. "Without the gigantic sacrlflces of the friendly USSR, especially its Red Ar my, wh!ch sh ed !ts blood on t he territory of the Republlc for six months, we would not have our freedom. The Czechoslovak. llepublic - and included in it free Slovakia - witbout regard to any and a ll d ifferences, never sball forget t hose sacrlfices of tbe Red Army, of tbe Soviet Union and tbe rest of the allied nations, and just as certalnly tbey shall no t forget the sacrlflces of t be Slovak natlonal insurrection. . . . From tbis convlncing experience it follows for u s. for the governmen t, for a ll pol!tlcal parties, and so also fo r the Democr atlc P arty, that our most self-evldent duty is to conslstently and lnexorably make polltics of frlendly understandlng and close cooper ation wlth a ll the vlctorious allied natlons, above all else, however, wlth our great neighbor - the largest Slovanic great power the USSR, and scrupulously avoid everything which eould In any manner hinder our efforts to attain these hlgh ldeals „ If we want to permanently hold on to our hard-earned freedom , an d state lndependence and guard agalnst possible -- future plots, we must de pend on the USSR, wbich fully respects our lndependence and h as no o tber demand on us than that we have a truly democratlc government, \ľhose poliC'y will not be In conrllct wlth Soviet interests, tha.t· we have order, in a word, that Cze<-hoslovakla be a strong and -eon• ~olidated State." - (Dr. J o!leph Lettrlch. ÔAS, 5-16-46). � 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 1952, Vol. 2 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 1952 Description An account of the resource <ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 3), March 1952.</li> <li>Issue 2 (No. 4), August 1952.</li> <li>Issue 3 (No. 5), December 1952.</li> </ul> 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 S LOVAKIA 66 TIIE SECBET FUNDS OF BENE.S' INTELLIGENCE SERVICE The Archives of t he Intelllgence Department of any Foreign Office have never been accessible to any free Citizen, who is the s ource of power in a free state. Not even a M.P., a representative or the people and a law-maker, can see them. Such a department is a secret room in whlch the power-conjurors preserve the secrets of their tricks. Twice in our lieftime this alchemisťs kitchen has been opened to the public. In 1917 the Russian Bolsheviks published the secret documents of the tzarist Foreign Office, and in 1943 lhe Nazis published all the documents relatlng to the secret funds of the Czechoslovakian Foreign Office which, for twenty years, had as its chief medicine-man, the late Edward Benes. In both cases the documenus were publlshed for propaganda reasons by those who had come to power, but the action traine!l a spotlight on the fundamentals of forelgn policy. H e who has once had the opportunlty to see into lhe secret rooms of foreign pollcy must for ever after be an enemy of ~o-called sovereign states and an advocate of a European Federatlon or Nations whlch alone could eliminate the cancer of corruption whose workings are carefuly concealed in the Intelligence Departments of Foreign Offices. Had tbere been 30 million Czecbs, Europe would long ago bave belonged to them, because they are an incredibly diligent people, and one of the most diligent among tbem was thelr Foreign Secretary. Benes had no political conception wbatever, but he was a flrst• class traveler in principles and, had bis means not been so limited, he could have purcbased at least the whole of the democratic world. But, fortunately for the world, tbere were only 8 mlllion Czechs, and Benes had neither t be means nor the Ume to bring hls buslness to a successful conclusion. But what he achieved is truly remarkable. After the Hapsbnrg monarchy had been dismembered and Vienna had become the capital of a small Austria with 7 million inhabitants, tbe Austrian natlonal press, whose previous market had been an Em· pire wi.th 52 million inhabltants, found itself in a difficult flnancial position. Czechoslovakian foreign policy was naturally much concerned with neighboring Austria, and Benes, therefore, througb mediators, bought the Austrian Press concern. VERNA, which published two Viennese dailies, "DER WIENER TAG" and "DIE STUNDE." The member of the Czechoslovaklan Forelgn Office responsible Cor this business was a certain OPLATKA who, in his report (o!ficial uumber 58.194/34) stated: "The morning paper 'Der Wlener T ag' is intended for people of the social democratic party and on various questions was often more radical than the official party presa. 'Die Stunde,' on the other hand, since we took it over, has followed not the social democratlc, but rather the bourgeois democratic line, attempting to realize a collaboration between Social Democrats and Christian Socialista." As we can see, Benes was a well-equipped salesman of prlnci11les, having l\farxist and Cbristian ideals stored in the same drawer or his desk. He coulťl serve any Austrian ac<'orcling to bis taste. But 66 SLQVAKIA whatever the Austrian believed, Mr. Benes was always behind tt. ln view of this, we can understand why, even today, some Austrlan social democrats are firmly convinced that Benes' followers are the only true representatlves ot Czechoslovakian democracy, whlle the editor of "Pravda" (London) is a !asclst. Obvlously, for the editor of "Pravda" was never In a posltion to sell the last cow ot a Slovaklan crofter for taxes he owed to the Czechoslovaklan state, or to invest, from the pockets of Czechoslovakian taxpayers, halt-a-million r•ounds sterling in the di11eminatlon of Marxist and Christian democrat ic ideas in Vlenna. Another country to which Benes turned bis enterprising, diligent Czech spirit was Yugoolavia. The G-Overnment In Yugoslavla had neither tlme nor money to spare for lts own press, slnce it was heavlly engaged In supporting the forelgn, and prlnclpally t he French, press. Therefore, Benes, comandlng much larger funds t han the lmpoverished Yugoslavian Forelgn Secretary, declded to flnance the progovernment press in Yugoslavla. He supported the Belgrade dally '·Politika" and many local papers. When Mr. So.skle, owner of the opposltion daily "Pravda" in Belgrade, had made certaln wbence the pro-government "Politika" received money, he wrote to Benes as follows: Belgrade, Ie 20-XII-1931. A Son Excellence, Monsieur Mlnlstre des Affaires Extrangeres, Eduard Benes, Prague. Excellence: A ľoccasion de ces grands tel.es de Noel je prends la liberté de de vous presenter tous mes mellleurs voeu.x de bonheur pour Vous et Votre chere Patrie. Aussi je Vous prie de voulolr blen me permettre Que je. vous rappelle a Votre gentllle promesse a propos de norte emprunt, pour leguel vous avalt donné Votre parole de Grand Am! que Vous voulez falre tous ce Qu'y est necessaire: qu'on relalse la "Pravda," QUl-en plein relaise et sans aucun exageration, a blen mérite de Votre pays fraternel. Cet emprunt, come j'avals ľhonneur a Vous en donnes des renselgnments precis, sera absolument assure par la hypotheque unlque sur toute la proprlété de la " Pravda" qul est évalue a D1nars 22,000,000 (vlngt deux mllllons dinars) . . ." Mr. Sosklc, In sendlng bis Chrlstmas greetlngs to Benes and hls dear motherland, humbly remarked t hat his paper always favored brotherly Czechoslovakia and that he needed 22 mllllon dlnars, on loan, of course, but on a "security" on which obvlously no one ln Belgrade was wllling to advance money. On the margin of thls le tter Benes noted: " I only sald that there might be a poMibi lity of aome a11i1tanee and already he wrltes t hat I promised him thle loan. Answer hi"' not to come to Prague." But Mr. Sosklc was terrlbly in love wlth Czechoslovakla and came In spite or Benes' refusal, and he flnally imcceeded In gettlng 50,000 SLOVAKIA 67 Kc trom Benes, an assistance which was continually repeated. In this way the pres:: .~ Yugoslavia was for or against its own Govern,11ent. but always for .Benes. The French press looms large in this business. It needs a strong s tomach to read the reports of the Czechos\ovakian Embassy in France. In thls matter one of the moulders of French public opinton waa Profeaaor Fuscien Dominola. He waa secretary of the "lnatitut d'Etudea Slavea" and received 4,000 fra. a month from the CzechosJovakian Foreign Office, a good aalary In France at that time. But it was never enough for M. Dominois, who bombarded his benefactor ln Prague with demands for more money on the most ridicu\ous pretexr.a. tie ran up debts and, when pressed by hls creditors, asked l'rague to pay them. One such affair was dealt with in a letter trom Professqr Eiserua.nn, a Parlsian friend of Benes, to Mr. Hubert Ripka. Mr. Ripka occupled rather a speclal positlon, for he was entrusted with dellcate affalrs of J3enes ideology. So, In a lett~r written in German, Professor E:isemann - Editor of "Le Monde Slave" - wrote to Ripka about one or Dominois' affairs, about the shamelessness of bis colleague wbo worked not only for Czechoslovakla, but also for Yugoslavia and, in spite of various sources of income, ran up new debts and pressed tbe Czechs to pay them once more. This Ume the sum wa.s 20,000 frs. and the Czechs paid up once agaln. Dominols waa, of courae, not only for the Czechoalovaks and Yugoslavs. but also very much for the Rusalan Bolshevlka. There was nothing surprlsing in that. for Russ ia also is a slavonic country and the Profe:isor, the secretary of the "lo.stltut d'Etudes Slaves," was obviously j„voted to all the alavea who pald hls debts. The British chapter is rather a distingui:1bE,d one. Benes tried to make manifest in Great Britaln the klndnes~ o~ the Slavonlc nature. His ambassador here was Jan Masaryk, that klnd, jolly Slav and g reat dE:mocrat. He tried ~o help everywhere be rould. For instance, he suggested establishing the "Allan Leeper Funt!' to educate the daughter of the deceased Allan Leeper. ln a letter of 12th Feb ruary, 1935 (offlcial No. 1646 kab/35) it stated: "Allan Leeper (a brother or Ŕéx Leep'!r, ass!i;tant secretary to the Press Department of the Fore!gn Off1ce) was the beat, confidential friend (ani! 1 thtnk, schoolmate In Oxford) of Seton Watson . Ourlng the war he belped our ac• tlon by, memoranda wblch, altogether with Professor Seton Watson, he eiá.bora,ted ·'t or ~ Lord Grey and later for BaUour and prepared the cond!tlÓns for a favorable solutlon of the Czechoslovakia queation. He also prepared, with Seton Watson, the material ror a new arrangement in Centra! Europe for the British delegation to the Peace T reaty Conference. Since 1920 he was always at our diapoaal In lnformlng the British Government about Central Europe in our aenie." The Allan Leeper Fund was established. Jan Masaryk never troubled wlth detalled accounts of the small payments he made. Only for larger sums d!d he account and give an explanation. After the Munlch agreement Maaaryk reslgned and hla prace ·was taken by Mr. Lis!cky. He was a dlligent Czech offlélal who thought it bis duty to make a detalled list of all payments nrade by the Czechoslovakian Embassy in London in 1938. Hut lt is ratber a ,,,a.s 68 S LOVA:KIA large list to be published in such a small paper as " P ravda" (Lontlon). Benes' kindness was not conflned to Europe. The Czechoslovaklan Consul General in Sydney, Dr. Svetak, in a letter of 29th December, 1926, informed b is superiors how much he had paid to jou r nallsts trom various Australlan papers for not publishing statements unfavorab le to Masaryk and Benes. Normally journalists are paid for s omething they publish, but Benes also paid for silence. In a report dated 31st December, 1931, the Czec hoslovakian Consul General at Montreal, Mr. Moser, gave an account of the money he had paid for artic les favorable to Czechoslovakla in several Canadlan papers . AII the while, Benes malntained the best connections wlth So· viet Russia and at t he same time generously sup ported Russlan emlgr és and thelr anti-Soviet press. He did not sp end such a vast a mount of the Czechos lovakia n taxpayers' money •·- between a h a lf and a million pounds sterlíng every year - but he managed the spendln g In so economical and practical a way that the who le world became convinced that the best democracy and the greatest contemporary statesman were to b e found in Czechoslovakia. All this would be obvlous and natural to ardent individuallsts who e,onslder democracy from the point of view of their pr!vate interest. Ilut, unfortunat(lly, we are Jiving in this world together with Russian Bolsheviks. They can always do business with democratic indivlduals in the West, but W estern democrats cannot do business with lndlviduals of the Bolshev!k communlty, because there 1s a p enalty of death in Soviet countries for th e crime of turning poli tical prln ciples into pri vate buslness. - (Czech "PRAVDA" •- London - J une 1951) . • • • LETTRICH AND THE USSR. "Without the gigantic sacrlflces of the friendly USSR, especially its Red Ar my, wh!ch sh ed !ts blood on t he territory of the Republlc for six months, we would not have our freedom. The Czechoslovak. llepublic - and included in it free Slovakia - witbout regard to any and a ll d ifferences, never sball forget t hose sacrlfices of tbe Red Army, of tbe Soviet Union and tbe rest of the allied nations, and just as certalnly tbey shall no t forget the sacrlflces of t be Slovak natlonal insurrection. . . . From tbis convlncing experience it follows for u s. for the governmen t, for a ll pol!tlcal parties, and so also fo r the Democr atlc P arty, that our most self-evldent duty is to conslstently and lnexorably make polltics of frlendly understandlng and close cooper ation wlth a ll the vlctorious allied natlons, above all else, however, wlth our great neighbor - the largest Slovanic great power the USSR, and scrupulously avoid everything which eould In any manner hinder our efforts to attain these hlgh ldeals „ If we want to permanently hold on to our hard-earned freedom , an d state lndependence and guard agalnst possible -- future plots, we must de pend on the USSR, wbich fully respects our lndependence and h as no o tber demand on us than that we have a truly democratlc government, \ľhose poliC'y will not be In conrllct wlth Soviet interests, tha.t· we have order, in a word, that Cze<-hoslovakla be a strong and -eon• ~olidated State." - (Dr. J o!leph Lettrlch. ÔAS, 5-16-46).  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 The Secret Funds of Benes' Intelligence Service Description An account of the resource Slovakia, Vol. 2, No. 2 (4), August 1952 pp. 55-58 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource August 1952 https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/5ab34595263a54da8afa1489b5229db4.pdf 5e54c1d9fa399b29de74101669df481a PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA 63 THE SIGNIFICA NCE OF SMALL NATIONS Dr. Henrich Bartek Tonrmediate results of the first bloody, world-wide conflict, which ended in 191.8, were such conflicting principles as: the right to se1f-determ ination, national sovereignty , ctrltural self-existen ce, buffer states and spheres of influence. At the sll!me time, small nations with national aSpirations were blamed for igniting catastrophi c, international upheavals when, as a matter ,of fact, they were only pawns in the internation al ,g ame of power 1politics in which the greait nations engage from time to time for world domination. The history of European nations and States during the past century and a half demonstrat es clearly that when small nations make marked social and cultural progress, their desire for political independen ce - a national state of their own - increases, in order to secure their future development as :a free people whose contributio ns are infinitely more valuable to civilization and progress when not handioo.pped by foreign influences and ,p olitical subservienc e. To accuse small countries of harboring imperialisti c schemes is not historically correct, !because both world wars were caused by intense rivalries among the great powers of the world. It is interesting to note that the main arguments against the existence of small nations as independent political states, according to the chief exponents of aggressi~e imperialism of the big ,powers, are their smallness, their inaibility to protect themselves militarily against their stronger neighlbors and to sustain themselves eco111omically. ,F rom the standpoint of historical truth and justice, however, it is always the bigger powers which are at fault when they attempt to subjugate a smaH ,power by brute force. It is significant that no cultural or .social ll!rguments are advanced against :the independen t existence of small nations. '11he truth is that alil small nations are able to hold their own and prove their ability in all fields of human endeavor, if they are not molested by the greater powers. lit is true that there are political, cultural and so- �64 SLOVAKIA cial differences among the several small nations and t:hat their living standards differ, too-, but we find these same differences even in the larger nations and states. Hence, one cannot rightfully determine the right to independen t statehood for SIITlaill. nations merely by such superficial arguments. And who shall say that only the large and mighty nations and states shall possess the right to freedom and independen ce? In the last war, neith·e r France nor Poland were a!ble to defend themselves successfull y - and they a·r e not small nations. If one were to limit the right to statehood on military might, then on:ly those states and nations which could maintain their independen ce against the most powerf.ul nation o.r state would have a "right" to exist. In that case, Europe would pass out of existence. Before World War ill, half the European continent was dominated iby three major powers - Great Britain, Germany and Russia. The other half of Europe was divided into large, middle-size d and small states. That was the true face of the map of Europe; and nothing can change the historic reality that there exists considerabl y more than a score of different nationalitie s on the Continent. In charting the future course of Europe, we must fake into account the national aspirations of these historic ,peoples, who look forward to the historic future as a united people with rights to political freedom and statehood. 'Dhis holds equally true for all nations, the large and the small. The question may arise, hoiWever, whether the recognition of smaU states is for the betterment of mankind and for the emlbellishm ent of European culture, or whether it may turn out to be a detriment to modern civilization . The political and national states which exist as such at present are recognized ; their right to statehood is not questioned. For example, the Norwegian s, Finns, Swiss, Danes, and even the Albanians are officially conceded the right to an independen t political status. After Wocld War I, the Baltic !States of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia were orga:ni~ as independen t, political states as called for by the princuple of nationail self-determ ination. Other nationalities, less fortunate and sulbject to power politics, were �SLOVAKIA 66 forced to aissert their :right to statehood. Thus, the Slovenes, a highly cultured nation with a pop_ulation larger than the Alibanians, failed to organize their own national State .because of geopolitical reasons. And as long as aggressive militarism and imperialism hold sway in European politics, the Slovenes will. not be able to establish their natural right to national independence. In 1918, they chose lo become incorporated in the kingdom of Yugoslavia for reasons of self-preservation and security. Nevertheless, this united southern Slavic monarchy -proved incapable of reJ sistinig German aggression in 1941. lt is not at all certain that the Slovenes, or other small nations, would clamor for complete independence, although this is the ideal of all peoP'les -w ith national traditions and a common language, iif international relations iwere.,. founded on genuine democratic prindples of justice and mutual welfare. There are many similar cases in the history of Eurapea,n nationalities. A typical case is that of Slovalkia which has made 1great strides in its cultural, social, and political life. The :Slovaks, as a progressive and democraticminded people, are an idool representative of all the small nations of central and eastern Europe. Slovakia - a Democratic Nation At the close of the 18th century when feudal Hungary, which h.ad been ruled for centuries by pri'Vileged classes without oonsideratiOIIl of national origin, began to change its tradition of supra-nationalism into a national Magyar statism, the various nationalities, moved by their instinct of self..ip.reservation, naturally resisted the new Magyarization program. Accordingly, the Slova:ks intensified their efforts to promote the study of their own ancient native language and national traditions. Slovruk aristocrats, unfortunately, aJbandoned their nationru traditions and succumbed to the Magyar influence for fear of losing their old prerogatives as members of the nobility. The Slovak common people, however, became the chief exponents of SlOV1a;k nationalism; their dbjectives were national in scope, but they aimed at a higher standard of living and, hence, their aims were social and oultural as well as political. �66 SLOVAKIA This, then, is proof of the existence of truly democratic ideals among iSlova.k classes. 1D uring the 19th .c entury, the Slov.aiks repeatedly attempted to oome to an undeMtanding with the Magyars, but the rulers refused to grant their subjects local selfgovernment within the confines of the kingdom. As a direct consequence of their failure .to secUTe national recognition, the Slovaks resolved on a cultural program which was designed for a 1ong range future with the hope that this ,w ould prepare them for the opportune moment in the_ir history when .they would inevi.taJbly emerge ru, a f,uH-fledged natioo.al state. Obstacles in the way of the cultural development of the 'Slovaks were constantly placed "by state authorities rwho were determined to destroy all vestiges of a national tra., dition ainong the tVarious nationalities in the kingdom except those of the Ma:gyar nation. Inspired by their c-hauvinistic mood, the Magyars, following their union with Austria in 1867, closed a:11 schools, suppressed the Slovak Institute (Matica 'Slovenska), imprisoned leading Slova!ks in s•ocia:l, political, educational and cultural life, and made Ma:gyar the sole official language in Hungary. Despite official proscription of all non-Magyar acti-· vities in Hungary, the struggle for national survival in Slovakia went on for more than a century. And even after 1918 the Slovaks resumed the struggle for their national rights to self-government and self-determination in the first Czecho--Slova'k Republic. In their unending fight for political freedom and national equality, the Sl()lVaJks attained a high degree of! eoonomic self-sufficiency and reached a new high in cultural and social ,p rogress,, scarcely equalled by any small nation in Europe in so short a time and under such unfavorable circumstances. In the first Czecho->Slovak Republic, the Slovaks were forced to defend their national individuality against the officiail attempt of the Czechs to suJbmerge their native Sl-ovaJk origin in an artificial ideological "Czechoslovak" nationality. Moreover, due to. the economic crisis in the joint republic of the Czechs and Slovruks, ten per cent of the latter emigrated to foreign lands to seek a livelihood. �SLOVAKIA 67 At last, the inte:maticmal situation in the fall of 1938 gave the Slova,k,s their long-.awaited opportunity to secure their nati01I1al aiutonomy on October 6, 1938, for which they had hoped in vain for a score of years during the life-time of the first Ozecho-lSlo:vruk Republic and during the thous-· and-yeair-rule o:f the Hungarian 'State. Post-\Munich Cz-ooho-lSlova:kia disintegrated rapidly. The Slov.aJks, lbhrootened ,w ith national extinction by being divided among their neig.hlbors as a protectorate of the German Reich, like Bohemia and Moravia, declared their independence on March 14, 1939, through their autonomous national iparjiament in Bratislava. And when Poland and Hungary recognilzed the ISlova;k ,State, Germany, after annexing Bohemia and Moravia, a1so recognized the newlycreated 8'lovak Republic. Before the outlbreak of hostilities in the autumn of 19319, the 1S lovak Republic became a fuMfledged subject of international la:w. Many nations, including the U .IS.1S.R, not only gave their official recognition to the new democratic state in central Europe and its de jure goveirnrnent, ibut exchanged d1plomatic representatives with the newly-.organi!Zed Slovak national state on the Danulbe in central Europe, henceforth to be known as the Slovak Republic. Neutrality was the national policy of the ,Slo,vak Republic in the second World War. The Slovaks were in graive danger of national destruction, caurght as they were in the midst of the mor.ta;l oombat .b etween the Germans and Russians. Nevertheless, they continued to work for the common welfiare of their new state, so, that the Slovruk RepubJic made unprecedented social, economic, industrial, educational a:nd cultural ,progress. 1Slovaik coUeges were founded, the Slova;k lJIIliversity at Bratislava made great progress, thousands of publications and books were published yearly, literary and scientific wo:i:iks appeared in lailge numlbers, living ·s tandards im• proved considera;bly, ,s ocial and industrial relations reached a new hltgh. So ,s pirited amd pros'Perous wes this new life in their pwn !State that the SlovaJks really maJde history in the short span of six years of self-rule in the 'Slovak Republic. �68 SLOVAKIA All these facts have /been cited merely to show how a small nation, freed from fore:ign domination, and then made sulbject to the Ozechs, at last emerged as a self-governing state, and demonstrated beyond a doubt that even in the worst possible situation, that of war, this small nation was aJble to .govern itself wisely and jusUy, ond become a ,p riosperous country and a worthy member of the family of European nations. The present Ozecho-1SJavak regime is far diffeJ"ent from the first Czecho-iSlovak government that attempted to Ozechi·ze the Slovaks and which refused to grant self-.gov-· ernment to. them. The persistent fight of the Sloivak nation for its_ rights for more than a century and a half has 1brought the 1Sl01Vaks some notewo-rthy gains, namely, a high social and cultural standa.rrd, so that the Czechs today must treat them as equals, not as the Czech politiciruis treated them during the years 19118-•19,38, when they looked down upon the Slovaks as an inferior race. What the future rcla,tions between the Czechs and Slovaks will be uncertain, although there are ,s igns of the rene;wal of another Ozech attempt to force the old "Czechoslovak" ideoJogy upon the SloivaJks who defiantly oppose this political heresy. Whatever may be said of the bitterness of the opposition of the Sloiva'ks in the 'Past, it is certain that this opposition in the future shall .be even greater, because the Slovaks proved their ability to govern themselves. The attempt to fuse the Ozechs and Slovaks into one nation is just as futile as the attempt to make .a united nation out of the Swedes and the Norwegians. Slovakia's e:iGperience has amply illustrated the ca;pabiiJ.ity of ,a small country, without the interference of power interests, to work out her national destiny a,nd reach a high standard of living and attain a high degree of culture. This she was ,a ble to do solely through the persevering efforts of her native sons who were inspired to w<mk in the interests of their country and mankind. That the Slovaiks were newcomers on the world's political st.age did not alter the fact that they accomplished a worthwhile feait, one that merits the admiration of the whole civmzed world, for they created their own national state, a creation at the 1 �SI..JOVAK.IA 69 same time of their innate skill and their social, oulturlrl and biological ,p owers as a. virile nation. This achievement of an entire race assures the tSlovaiks a promising future in the history of central Europe. Nationalistic aspkations among ·t he Slovaks were not a new thing, for they had cherished their naUve historic traditions for centuries /before they blossomed into the full bloom of statehood in the spring of 1939. The dormant creative energies of a people, kept in political :bondage fol" a thousand years, were suddenly released and, behold, the Sloviaks erected a monumental and amazingly beautiful national edifice, known forever in history as. the SlovaJk Republic! The miraculous ·CTeation of the Slovak national movement, namely, the tSlo;vak State, was truly the greatest achievement af the Slovak people in all history. And this sha,U continue to inspire them in all their trials and vicissitudes in the .future, for the glorious memory of this brief moment (}If freedom cannot be obliterated from the minds of a gallant people who dedicated themselves to the cause of democracy at the very daiwn af their naition's history. Does this brief review of historic events in the national Hfe of Slovakia hiave any lesson for us? Perhaips, but at any rate there are some very significant observations to be deri!Ved fl'om this consideration. One of these is that a small nation, building its own national culture, labors under greater handica:ps than a large nation; and it must work more intensely to secure its ,p roper place in the social and cultural life of nations. That is why small nations which eD'joy national independence generally have a high cultural standard ,t hat is borne out by statistics which show that, as a rule, they have ·a much smaller percentage of illiterates than the larger nations. fu a small nation, the conditions are lacking for creaiting widely divergent social classes which a.rise from the formation of huge capitalistic monopolies. For that reason, too, the socia:l or~ der in small nations is far more democratic by its· very nature than thait of large countries, and certainly far less complex. 'Small states are oonstaintly aware of the imperative �SLOVAKIA 70 necessity of maintaining high social and cultural standards and, consequently, the individual citi,z en feels his personal responsilbility more keenly than the average citi'zen of a large country. Every ,p rivate citi~n of a small state knows to •w hat extent his country depends on hi:rn and, hence, seeks to make a personal contribution to his society. In the economic field, a small nation cannot afford to emlbark on a large ex-pansion program that ultimately leads to overproduction. Every parcel of land must be made productive and new scientific methods. must lbe constantly introduced into agriculture. 'I1his system of mtensi;ve farming is vitally necessaxy to th~ international economy of an overpopulated Europe. !Social, 'Political, economic, or cultural experiments may be tried with greater safety ,b y sman nations, rfor large nations cannot exiperiment in these fieJds without endangering the very existence of their entire system ,o f government and nationra1 economy. Moreover, there is less danger for the usurpation of porwer in a smalf state, 1becau.se the goal of a111y particular political trend is eaJSHy detected in its incipient stages. In short, a small country is more easily manaiged, and by its very nature is more democratic than a large state. 'I1here are many added advantages that small states have. Not the least among them is the one that small nations are not confined rwithin the narrow limits of a non-· creatiive and non-progres,s ive traditionalism that hinders progress and shuts the door on new ideas. But for humanity the most significant of all is the fact that the small nations cannot harbor imperialistic aims and, for that reason, they concentrate all their resources and energies on cultural and economic endeavor. T,hi,s alone justifies the existence of small nations whioh have a natural right to be founded and maintained. Small states ca:n well be-· come the greatest boon for civilization. The !bitter ex:periences of two World Wars in quick succession haive clearly shorwn that, sooner or later, the world must recognize as an incontrovertible principle that eve;ry nation has a right to its national existence unde,r its own state ,government. Complete equality of all European na1 �SLOVAK.IA 71 tion.s, which are willing to cooperate for universal and 1per~ manent peace among the nations of the world, rmust be the basic principle of civiililzation and the ideal of every national culture. Until this universal ideal is reali~ed, the small nations must persevere in their struggle to attain or maintain their statehood, as the ca.se may be. The middlesized and great nations of Europe, which have ,repeatedly suffered the ravages of war and have just experienced the worst disaster in all history, ought to support the cause of the small states if they hope to preserve our modern civilization and, ,w hat is more important, save humanity from total exUnction. Today - ten years after the termination of the Great War - the situation in Europe is well nigh hopeless cul~ turally, as it is economically. There is a real danger of losing the priceless 01.cltural heritage that has been the pride of Western ·E urope for centuries. lit is the ,g rave responsi'bility of those in power to work honestly and fear• lessly for the preservaition of the high cultural values oi European cirvilization and, through international cooperation among the natiolllS that oherish this age-old inheritance, inaugurate an era of genuine democracy for the peoples of Euroipe, for this alone can save IDurope from complete ruin and decay. We who cherish our Western heritage still have the will and courage to 1preserve it from destruction and we . have high hopes of restoring it to its former ,p restige under the inspiration of true democracy, but we need the wholehearted support of all democratic for-c es throughout the world. If we unite these forces, we can revive the sparlk of life in the smouldering ruins of Europe and save European culture from spiritual ana'.I1chy and desolation. There is still .time, hut only predous little ,t ime, for time is running out. It is the eleventh hour. If we do not act at once, all will be lost for a long time to come . • • • REOOMMENDED BOOKS: "The Slorvaiks" (Juirchak $3.00; SLOVAK FOR BEGINNERS" (Books I-ill!) $1.50 (the set) ; "Htrdbailr's English-Slovak Dictioniary" $4.00; "SLOVAK LIESSONS" (!Hrdbak) $3.50. � SLOVAKIA 63 THE SIGNIFICA NCE OF SMALL NATIONS Dr. Henrich Bartek Tonrmediate results of the first bloody, world-wide conflict, which ended in 191.8, were such conflicting principles as: the right to se1f-determ ination, national sovereignty , ctrltural self-existen ce, buffer states and spheres of influence. At the sll!me time, small nations with national aSpirations were blamed for igniting catastrophi c, international upheavals when, as a matter ,of fact, they were only pawns in the internation al ,g ame of power 1politics in which the greait nations engage from time to time for world domination. The history of European nations and States during the past century and a half demonstrat es clearly that when small nations make marked social and cultural progress, their desire for political independen ce - a national state of their own - increases, in order to secure their future development as :a free people whose contributio ns are infinitely more valuable to civilization and progress when not handioo.pped by foreign influences and ,p olitical subservienc e. To accuse small countries of harboring imperialisti c schemes is not historically correct, !because both world wars were caused by intense rivalries among the great powers of the world. It is interesting to note that the main arguments against the existence of small nations as independent political states, according to the chief exponents of aggressi~e imperialism of the big ,powers, are their smallness, their inaibility to protect themselves militarily against their stronger neighlbors and to sustain themselves eco111omically. ,F rom the standpoint of historical truth and justice, however, it is always the bigger powers which are at fault when they attempt to subjugate a smaH ,power by brute force. It is significant that no cultural or .social ll!rguments are advanced against :the independen t existence of small nations. '11he truth is that alil small nations are able to hold their own and prove their ability in all fields of human endeavor, if they are not molested by the greater powers. lit is true that there are political, cultural and so- �64 SLOVAKIA cial differences among the several small nations and t:hat their living standards differ, too-, but we find these same differences even in the larger nations and states. Hence, one cannot rightfully determine the right to independen t statehood for SIITlaill. nations merely by such superficial arguments. And who shall say that only the large and mighty nations and states shall possess the right to freedom and independen ce? In the last war, neith·e r France nor Poland were a!ble to defend themselves successfull y - and they a·r e not small nations. If one were to limit the right to statehood on military might, then on:ly those states and nations which could maintain their independen ce against the most powerf.ul nation o.r state would have a "right" to exist. In that case, Europe would pass out of existence. Before World War ill, half the European continent was dominated iby three major powers - Great Britain, Germany and Russia. The other half of Europe was divided into large, middle-size d and small states. That was the true face of the map of Europe; and nothing can change the historic reality that there exists considerabl y more than a score of different nationalitie s on the Continent. In charting the future course of Europe, we must fake into account the national aspirations of these historic ,peoples, who look forward to the historic future as a united people with rights to political freedom and statehood. 'Dhis holds equally true for all nations, the large and the small. The question may arise, hoiWever, whether the recognition of smaU states is for the betterment of mankind and for the emlbellishm ent of European culture, or whether it may turn out to be a detriment to modern civilization . The political and national states which exist as such at present are recognized ; their right to statehood is not questioned. For example, the Norwegian s, Finns, Swiss, Danes, and even the Albanians are officially conceded the right to an independen t political status. After Wocld War I, the Baltic !States of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia were orga:ni~ as independen t, political states as called for by the princuple of nationail self-determ ination. Other nationalities, less fortunate and sulbject to power politics, were �SLOVAKIA 66 forced to aissert their :right to statehood. Thus, the Slovenes, a highly cultured nation with a pop_ulation larger than the Alibanians, failed to organize their own national State .because of geopolitical reasons. And as long as aggressive militarism and imperialism hold sway in European politics, the Slovenes will. not be able to establish their natural right to national independence. In 1918, they chose lo become incorporated in the kingdom of Yugoslavia for reasons of self-preservation and security. Nevertheless, this united southern Slavic monarchy -proved incapable of reJ sistinig German aggression in 1941. lt is not at all certain that the Slovenes, or other small nations, would clamor for complete independence, although this is the ideal of all peoP'les -w ith national traditions and a common language, iif international relations iwere.,. founded on genuine democratic prindples of justice and mutual welfare. There are many similar cases in the history of Eurapea,n nationalities. A typical case is that of Slovalkia which has made 1great strides in its cultural, social, and political life. The :Slovaks, as a progressive and democraticminded people, are an idool representative of all the small nations of central and eastern Europe. Slovakia - a Democratic Nation At the close of the 18th century when feudal Hungary, which h.ad been ruled for centuries by pri'Vileged classes without oonsideratiOIIl of national origin, began to change its tradition of supra-nationalism into a national Magyar statism, the various nationalities, moved by their instinct of self..ip.reservation, naturally resisted the new Magyarization program. Accordingly, the Slova:ks intensified their efforts to promote the study of their own ancient native language and national traditions. Slovruk aristocrats, unfortunately, aJbandoned their nationru traditions and succumbed to the Magyar influence for fear of losing their old prerogatives as members of the nobility. The Slovak common people, however, became the chief exponents of SlOV1a;k nationalism; their dbjectives were national in scope, but they aimed at a higher standard of living and, hence, their aims were social and oultural as well as political. �66 SLOVAKIA This, then, is proof of the existence of truly democratic ideals among iSlova.k classes. 1D uring the 19th .c entury, the Slov.aiks repeatedly attempted to oome to an undeMtanding with the Magyars, but the rulers refused to grant their subjects local selfgovernment within the confines of the kingdom. As a direct consequence of their failure .to secUTe national recognition, the Slovaks resolved on a cultural program which was designed for a 1ong range future with the hope that this ,w ould prepare them for the opportune moment in the_ir history when .they would inevi.taJbly emerge ru, a f,uH-fledged natioo.al state. Obstacles in the way of the cultural development of the 'Slovaks were constantly placed "by state authorities rwho were determined to destroy all vestiges of a national tra., dition ainong the tVarious nationalities in the kingdom except those of the Ma:gyar nation. Inspired by their c-hauvinistic mood, the Magyars, following their union with Austria in 1867, closed a:11 schools, suppressed the Slovak Institute (Matica 'Slovenska), imprisoned leading Slova!ks in s•ocia:l, political, educational and cultural life, and made Ma:gyar the sole official language in Hungary. Despite official proscription of all non-Magyar acti-· vities in Hungary, the struggle for national survival in Slovakia went on for more than a century. And even after 1918 the Slovaks resumed the struggle for their national rights to self-government and self-determination in the first Czecho--Slova'k Republic. In their unending fight for political freedom and national equality, the Sl()lVaJks attained a high degree of! eoonomic self-sufficiency and reached a new high in cultural and social ,p rogress,, scarcely equalled by any small nation in Europe in so short a time and under such unfavorable circumstances. In the first Czecho->Slovak Republic, the Slovaks were forced to defend their national individuality against the officiail attempt of the Czechs to suJbmerge their native Sl-ovaJk origin in an artificial ideological "Czechoslovak" nationality. Moreover, due to. the economic crisis in the joint republic of the Czechs and Slovruks, ten per cent of the latter emigrated to foreign lands to seek a livelihood. �SLOVAKIA 67 At last, the inte:maticmal situation in the fall of 1938 gave the Slova,k,s their long-.awaited opportunity to secure their nati01I1al aiutonomy on October 6, 1938, for which they had hoped in vain for a score of years during the life-time of the first Ozecho-lSlo:vruk Republic and during the thous-· and-yeair-rule o:f the Hungarian 'State. Post-\Munich Cz-ooho-lSlova:kia disintegrated rapidly. The Slov.aJks, lbhrootened ,w ith national extinction by being divided among their neig.hlbors as a protectorate of the German Reich, like Bohemia and Moravia, declared their independence on March 14, 1939, through their autonomous national iparjiament in Bratislava. And when Poland and Hungary recognilzed the ISlova;k ,State, Germany, after annexing Bohemia and Moravia, a1so recognized the newlycreated 8'lovak Republic. Before the outlbreak of hostilities in the autumn of 19319, the 1S lovak Republic became a fuMfledged subject of international la:w. Many nations, including the U .IS.1S.R, not only gave their official recognition to the new democratic state in central Europe and its de jure goveirnrnent, ibut exchanged d1plomatic representatives with the newly-.organi!Zed Slovak national state on the Danulbe in central Europe, henceforth to be known as the Slovak Republic. Neutrality was the national policy of the ,Slo,vak Republic in the second World War. The Slovaks were in graive danger of national destruction, caurght as they were in the midst of the mor.ta;l oombat .b etween the Germans and Russians. Nevertheless, they continued to work for the common welfiare of their new state, so, that the Slovruk RepubJic made unprecedented social, economic, industrial, educational a:nd cultural ,progress. 1Slovaik coUeges were founded, the Slova;k lJIIliversity at Bratislava made great progress, thousands of publications and books were published yearly, literary and scientific wo:i:iks appeared in lailge numlbers, living ·s tandards im• proved considera;bly, ,s ocial and industrial relations reached a new hltgh. So ,s pirited amd pros'Perous wes this new life in their pwn !State that the SlovaJks really maJde history in the short span of six years of self-rule in the 'Slovak Republic. �68 SLOVAKIA All these facts have /been cited merely to show how a small nation, freed from fore:ign domination, and then made sulbject to the Ozechs, at last emerged as a self-governing state, and demonstrated beyond a doubt that even in the worst possible situation, that of war, this small nation was aJble to .govern itself wisely and jusUy, ond become a ,p riosperous country and a worthy member of the family of European nations. The present Ozecho-1SJavak regime is far diffeJ"ent from the first Czecho-iSlovak government that attempted to Ozechi·ze the Slovaks and which refused to grant self-.gov-· ernment to. them. The persistent fight of the Sloivak nation for its_ rights for more than a century and a half has 1brought the 1Sl01Vaks some notewo-rthy gains, namely, a high social and cultural standa.rrd, so that the Czechs today must treat them as equals, not as the Czech politiciruis treated them during the years 19118-•19,38, when they looked down upon the Slovaks as an inferior race. What the future rcla,tions between the Czechs and Slovaks will be uncertain, although there are ,s igns of the rene;wal of another Ozech attempt to force the old "Czechoslovak" ideoJogy upon the SloivaJks who defiantly oppose this political heresy. Whatever may be said of the bitterness of the opposition of the Sloiva'ks in the 'Past, it is certain that this opposition in the future shall .be even greater, because the Slovaks proved their ability to govern themselves. The attempt to fuse the Ozechs and Slovaks into one nation is just as futile as the attempt to make .a united nation out of the Swedes and the Norwegians. Slovakia's e:iGperience has amply illustrated the ca;pabiiJ.ity of ,a small country, without the interference of power interests, to work out her national destiny a,nd reach a high standard of living and attain a high degree of culture. This she was ,a ble to do solely through the persevering efforts of her native sons who were inspired to w<mk in the interests of their country and mankind. That the Slovaiks were newcomers on the world's political st.age did not alter the fact that they accomplished a worthwhile feait, one that merits the admiration of the whole civmzed world, for they created their own national state, a creation at the 1 �SI..JOVAK.IA 69 same time of their innate skill and their social, oulturlrl and biological ,p owers as a. virile nation. This achievement of an entire race assures the tSlovaiks a promising future in the history of central Europe. Nationalistic aspkations among ·t he Slovaks were not a new thing, for they had cherished their naUve historic traditions for centuries /before they blossomed into the full bloom of statehood in the spring of 1939. The dormant creative energies of a people, kept in political :bondage fol" a thousand years, were suddenly released and, behold, the Sloviaks erected a monumental and amazingly beautiful national edifice, known forever in history as. the SlovaJk Republic! The miraculous ·CTeation of the Slovak national movement, namely, the tSlo;vak State, was truly the greatest achievement af the Slovak people in all history. And this sha,U continue to inspire them in all their trials and vicissitudes in the .future, for the glorious memory of this brief moment (}If freedom cannot be obliterated from the minds of a gallant people who dedicated themselves to the cause of democracy at the very daiwn af their naition's history. Does this brief review of historic events in the national Hfe of Slovakia hiave any lesson for us? Perhaips, but at any rate there are some very significant observations to be deri!Ved fl'om this consideration. One of these is that a small nation, building its own national culture, labors under greater handica:ps than a large nation; and it must work more intensely to secure its ,p roper place in the social and cultural life of nations. That is why small nations which eD'joy national independence generally have a high cultural standard ,t hat is borne out by statistics which show that, as a rule, they have ·a much smaller percentage of illiterates than the larger nations. fu a small nation, the conditions are lacking for creaiting widely divergent social classes which a.rise from the formation of huge capitalistic monopolies. For that reason, too, the socia:l or~ der in small nations is far more democratic by its· very nature than thait of large countries, and certainly far less complex. 'Small states are oonstaintly aware of the imperative �SLOVAKIA 70 necessity of maintaining high social and cultural standards and, consequently, the individual citi,z en feels his personal responsilbility more keenly than the average citi'zen of a large country. Every ,p rivate citi~n of a small state knows to •w hat extent his country depends on hi:rn and, hence, seeks to make a personal contribution to his society. In the economic field, a small nation cannot afford to emlbark on a large ex-pansion program that ultimately leads to overproduction. Every parcel of land must be made productive and new scientific methods. must lbe constantly introduced into agriculture. 'I1his system of mtensi;ve farming is vitally necessaxy to th~ international economy of an overpopulated Europe. !Social, 'Political, economic, or cultural experiments may be tried with greater safety ,b y sman nations, rfor large nations cannot exiperiment in these fieJds without endangering the very existence of their entire system ,o f government and nationra1 economy. Moreover, there is less danger for the usurpation of porwer in a smalf state, 1becau.se the goal of a111y particular political trend is eaJSHy detected in its incipient stages. In short, a small country is more easily manaiged, and by its very nature is more democratic than a large state. 'I1here are many added advantages that small states have. Not the least among them is the one that small nations are not confined rwithin the narrow limits of a non-· creatiive and non-progres,s ive traditionalism that hinders progress and shuts the door on new ideas. But for humanity the most significant of all is the fact that the small nations cannot harbor imperialistic aims and, for that reason, they concentrate all their resources and energies on cultural and economic endeavor. T,hi,s alone justifies the existence of small nations whioh have a natural right to be founded and maintained. Small states ca:n well be-· come the greatest boon for civilization. The !bitter ex:periences of two World Wars in quick succession haive clearly shorwn that, sooner or later, the world must recognize as an incontrovertible principle that eve;ry nation has a right to its national existence unde,r its own state ,government. Complete equality of all European na1 �SLOVAK.IA 71 tion.s, which are willing to cooperate for universal and 1per~ manent peace among the nations of the world, rmust be the basic principle of civiililzation and the ideal of every national culture. Until this universal ideal is reali~ed, the small nations must persevere in their struggle to attain or maintain their statehood, as the ca.se may be. The middlesized and great nations of Europe, which have ,repeatedly suffered the ravages of war and have just experienced the worst disaster in all history, ought to support the cause of the small states if they hope to preserve our modern civilization and, ,w hat is more important, save humanity from total exUnction. Today - ten years after the termination of the Great War - the situation in Europe is well nigh hopeless cul~ turally, as it is economically. There is a real danger of losing the priceless 01.cltural heritage that has been the pride of Western ·E urope for centuries. lit is the ,g rave responsi'bility of those in power to work honestly and fear• lessly for the preservaition of the high cultural values oi European cirvilization and, through international cooperation among the natiolllS that oherish this age-old inheritance, inaugurate an era of genuine democracy for the peoples of Euroipe, for this alone can save IDurope from complete ruin and decay. We who cherish our Western heritage still have the will and courage to 1preserve it from destruction and we . have high hopes of restoring it to its former ,p restige under the inspiration of true democracy, but we need the wholehearted support of all democratic for-c es throughout the world. If we unite these forces, we can revive the sparlk of life in the smouldering ruins of Europe and save European culture from spiritual ana'.I1chy and desolation. There is still .time, hut only predous little ,t ime, for time is running out. It is the eleventh hour. If we do not act at once, all will be lost for a long time to come . • • • REOOMMENDED BOOKS: "The Slorvaiks" (Juirchak $3.00; SLOVAK FOR BEGINNERS" (Books I-ill!) $1.50 (the set) ; "Htrdbailr's English-Slovak Dictioniary" $4.00; "SLOVAK LIESSONS" (!Hrdbak) $3.50. � 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 THE SIGNIFICA NCE OF SMALL NATIONS Dr. Henrich Bartek Tonrmediate results of the first bloody, world-wide conflict, which ended in 191.8, were such conflicting principles as: the right to se1f-determ ination, national sovereignty , ctrltural self-existen ce, buffer states and spheres of influence. At the sll!me time, small nations with national aSpirations were blamed for igniting catastrophi c, international upheavals when, as a matter ,of fact, they were only pawns in the internation al ,g ame of power 1politics in which the greait nations engage from time to time for world domination. The history of European nations and States during the past century and a half demonstrat es clearly that when small nations make marked social and cultural progress, their desire for political independen ce - a national state of their own - increases, in order to secure their future development as :a free people whose contributio ns are infinitely more valuable to civilization and progress when not handioo.pped by foreign influences and ,p olitical subservienc e. To accuse small countries of harboring imperialisti c schemes is not historically correct, !because both world wars were caused by intense rivalries among the great powers of the world. It is interesting to note that the main arguments against the existence of small nations as independent political states, according to the chief exponents of aggressi~e imperialism of the big ,powers, are their smallness, their inaibility to protect themselves militarily against their stronger neighlbors and to sustain themselves eco111omically. ,F rom the standpoint of historical truth and justice, however, it is always the bigger powers which are at fault when they attempt to subjugate a smaH ,power by brute force. It is significant that no cultural or .social ll!rguments are advanced against :the independen t existence of small nations. '11he truth is that alil small nations are able to hold their own and prove their ability in all fields of human endeavor, if they are not molested by the greater powers. lit is true that there are political, cultural and so- 64 SLOVAKIA cial differences among the several small nations and t:hat their living standards differ, too-, but we find these same differences even in the larger nations and states. Hence, one cannot rightfully determine the right to independen t statehood for SIITlaill. nations merely by such superficial arguments. And who shall say that only the large and mighty nations and states shall possess the right to freedom and independen ce? In the last war, neith·e r France nor Poland were a!ble to defend themselves successfull y - and they a·r e not small nations. If one were to limit the right to statehood on military might, then on:ly those states and nations which could maintain their independen ce against the most powerf.ul nation o.r state would have a "right" to exist. In that case, Europe would pass out of existence. Before World War ill, half the European continent was dominated iby three major powers - Great Britain, Germany and Russia. The other half of Europe was divided into large, middle-size d and small states. That was the true face of the map of Europe; and nothing can change the historic reality that there exists considerabl y more than a score of different nationalitie s on the Continent. In charting the future course of Europe, we must fake into account the national aspirations of these historic ,peoples, who look forward to the historic future as a united people with rights to political freedom and statehood. 'Dhis holds equally true for all nations, the large and the small. The question may arise, hoiWever, whether the recognition of smaU states is for the betterment of mankind and for the emlbellishm ent of European culture, or whether it may turn out to be a detriment to modern civilization . The political and national states which exist as such at present are recognized ; their right to statehood is not questioned. For example, the Norwegian s, Finns, Swiss, Danes, and even the Albanians are officially conceded the right to an independen t political status. After Wocld War I, the Baltic !States of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia were orga:ni~ as independen t, political states as called for by the princuple of nationail self-determ ination. Other nationalities, less fortunate and sulbject to power politics, were SLOVAKIA 66 forced to aissert their :right to statehood. Thus, the Slovenes, a highly cultured nation with a pop_ulation larger than the Alibanians, failed to organize their own national State .because of geopolitical reasons. And as long as aggressive militarism and imperialism hold sway in European politics, the Slovenes will. not be able to establish their natural right to national independence. In 1918, they chose lo become incorporated in the kingdom of Yugoslavia for reasons of self-preservation and security. Nevertheless, this united southern Slavic monarchy -proved incapable of reJ sistinig German aggression in 1941. lt is not at all certain that the Slovenes, or other small nations, would clamor for complete independence, although this is the ideal of all peoP'les -w ith national traditions and a common language, iif international relations iwere.,. founded on genuine democratic prindples of justice and mutual welfare. There are many similar cases in the history of Eurapea,n nationalities. A typical case is that of Slovalkia which has made 1great strides in its cultural, social, and political life. The :Slovaks, as a progressive and democraticminded people, are an idool representative of all the small nations of central and eastern Europe. Slovakia - a Democratic Nation At the close of the 18th century when feudal Hungary, which h.ad been ruled for centuries by pri'Vileged classes without oonsideratiOIIl of national origin, began to change its tradition of supra-nationalism into a national Magyar statism, the various nationalities, moved by their instinct of self..ip.reservation, naturally resisted the new Magyarization program. Accordingly, the Slova:ks intensified their efforts to promote the study of their own ancient native language and national traditions. Slovruk aristocrats, unfortunately, aJbandoned their nationru traditions and succumbed to the Magyar influence for fear of losing their old prerogatives as members of the nobility. The Slovak common people, however, became the chief exponents of SlOV1a;k nationalism; their dbjectives were national in scope, but they aimed at a higher standard of living and, hence, their aims were social and oultural as well as political. 66 SLOVAKIA This, then, is proof of the existence of truly democratic ideals among iSlova.k classes. 1D uring the 19th .c entury, the Slov.aiks repeatedly attempted to oome to an undeMtanding with the Magyars, but the rulers refused to grant their subjects local selfgovernment within the confines of the kingdom. As a direct consequence of their failure .to secUTe national recognition, the Slovaks resolved on a cultural program which was designed for a 1ong range future with the hope that this ,w ould prepare them for the opportune moment in the_ir history when .they would inevi.taJbly emerge ru, a f,uH-fledged natioo.al state. Obstacles in the way of the cultural development of the 'Slovaks were constantly placed "by state authorities rwho were determined to destroy all vestiges of a national tra., dition ainong the tVarious nationalities in the kingdom except those of the Ma:gyar nation. Inspired by their c-hauvinistic mood, the Magyars, following their union with Austria in 1867, closed a:11 schools, suppressed the Slovak Institute (Matica 'Slovenska), imprisoned leading Slova!ks in s•ocia:l, political, educational and cultural life, and made Ma:gyar the sole official language in Hungary. Despite official proscription of all non-Magyar acti-· vities in Hungary, the struggle for national survival in Slovakia went on for more than a century. And even after 1918 the Slovaks resumed the struggle for their national rights to self-government and self-determination in the first Czecho--Slova'k Republic. In their unending fight for political freedom and national equality, the Sl()lVaJks attained a high degree of! eoonomic self-sufficiency and reached a new high in cultural and social ,p rogress,, scarcely equalled by any small nation in Europe in so short a time and under such unfavorable circumstances. In the first Czecho->Slovak Republic, the Slovaks were forced to defend their national individuality against the officiail attempt of the Czechs to suJbmerge their native Sl-ovaJk origin in an artificial ideological "Czechoslovak" nationality. Moreover, due to. the economic crisis in the joint republic of the Czechs and Slovruks, ten per cent of the latter emigrated to foreign lands to seek a livelihood. SLOVAKIA 67 At last, the inte:maticmal situation in the fall of 1938 gave the Slova,k,s their long-.awaited opportunity to secure their nati01I1al aiutonomy on October 6, 1938, for which they had hoped in vain for a score of years during the life-time of the first Ozecho-lSlo:vruk Republic and during the thous-· and-yeair-rule o:f the Hungarian 'State. Post-\Munich Cz-ooho-lSlova:kia disintegrated rapidly. The Slov.aJks, lbhrootened ,w ith national extinction by being divided among their neig.hlbors as a protectorate of the German Reich, like Bohemia and Moravia, declared their independence on March 14, 1939, through their autonomous national iparjiament in Bratislava. And when Poland and Hungary recognilzed the ISlova;k ,State, Germany, after annexing Bohemia and Moravia, a1so recognized the newlycreated 8'lovak Republic. Before the outlbreak of hostilities in the autumn of 19319, the 1S lovak Republic became a fuMfledged subject of international la:w. Many nations, including the U .IS.1S.R, not only gave their official recognition to the new democratic state in central Europe and its de jure goveirnrnent, ibut exchanged d1plomatic representatives with the newly-.organi!Zed Slovak national state on the Danulbe in central Europe, henceforth to be known as the Slovak Republic. Neutrality was the national policy of the ,Slo,vak Republic in the second World War. The Slovaks were in graive danger of national destruction, caurght as they were in the midst of the mor.ta;l oombat .b etween the Germans and Russians. Nevertheless, they continued to work for the common welfiare of their new state, so, that the Slovruk RepubJic made unprecedented social, economic, industrial, educational a:nd cultural ,progress. 1Slovaik coUeges were founded, the Slova;k lJIIliversity at Bratislava made great progress, thousands of publications and books were published yearly, literary and scientific wo:i:iks appeared in lailge numlbers, living ·s tandards im• proved considera;bly, ,s ocial and industrial relations reached a new hltgh. So ,s pirited amd pros'Perous wes this new life in their pwn !State that the SlovaJks really maJde history in the short span of six years of self-rule in the 'Slovak Republic. 68 SLOVAKIA All these facts have /been cited merely to show how a small nation, freed from fore:ign domination, and then made sulbject to the Ozechs, at last emerged as a self-governing state, and demonstrated beyond a doubt that even in the worst possible situation, that of war, this small nation was aJble to .govern itself wisely and jusUy, ond become a ,p riosperous country and a worthy member of the family of European nations. The present Ozecho-1SJavak regime is far diffeJ"ent from the first Czecho-iSlovak government that attempted to Ozechi·ze the Slovaks and which refused to grant self-.gov-· ernment to. them. The persistent fight of the Sloivak nation for its_ rights for more than a century and a half has 1brought the 1Sl01Vaks some notewo-rthy gains, namely, a high social and cultural standa.rrd, so that the Czechs today must treat them as equals, not as the Czech politiciruis treated them during the years 19118-•19,38, when they looked down upon the Slovaks as an inferior race. What the future rcla,tions between the Czechs and Slovaks will be uncertain, although there are ,s igns of the rene;wal of another Ozech attempt to force the old "Czechoslovak" ideoJogy upon the SloivaJks who defiantly oppose this political heresy. Whatever may be said of the bitterness of the opposition of the Sloiva'ks in the 'Past, it is certain that this opposition in the future shall .be even greater, because the Slovaks proved their ability to govern themselves. The attempt to fuse the Ozechs and Slovaks into one nation is just as futile as the attempt to make .a united nation out of the Swedes and the Norwegians. Slovakia's e:iGperience has amply illustrated the ca;pabiiJ.ity of ,a small country, without the interference of power interests, to work out her national destiny a,nd reach a high standard of living and attain a high degree of culture. This she was ,a ble to do solely through the persevering efforts of her native sons who were inspired to w<mk in the interests of their country and mankind. That the Slovaiks were newcomers on the world's political st.age did not alter the fact that they accomplished a worthwhile feait, one that merits the admiration of the whole civmzed world, for they created their own national state, a creation at the 1 SI..JOVAK.IA 69 same time of their innate skill and their social, oulturlrl and biological ,p owers as a. virile nation. This achievement of an entire race assures the tSlovaiks a promising future in the history of central Europe. Nationalistic aspkations among ·t he Slovaks were not a new thing, for they had cherished their naUve historic traditions for centuries /before they blossomed into the full bloom of statehood in the spring of 1939. The dormant creative energies of a people, kept in political :bondage fol" a thousand years, were suddenly released and, behold, the Sloviaks erected a monumental and amazingly beautiful national edifice, known forever in history as. the SlovaJk Republic! The miraculous ·CTeation of the Slovak national movement, namely, the tSlo;vak State, was truly the greatest achievement af the Slovak people in all history. And this sha,U continue to inspire them in all their trials and vicissitudes in the .future, for the glorious memory of this brief moment (}If freedom cannot be obliterated from the minds of a gallant people who dedicated themselves to the cause of democracy at the very daiwn af their naition's history. Does this brief review of historic events in the national Hfe of Slovakia hiave any lesson for us? Perhaips, but at any rate there are some very significant observations to be deri!Ved fl'om this consideration. One of these is that a small nation, building its own national culture, labors under greater handica:ps than a large nation; and it must work more intensely to secure its ,p roper place in the social and cultural life of nations. That is why small nations which eD'joy national independence generally have a high cultural standard ,t hat is borne out by statistics which show that, as a rule, they have ·a much smaller percentage of illiterates than the larger nations. fu a small nation, the conditions are lacking for creaiting widely divergent social classes which a.rise from the formation of huge capitalistic monopolies. For that reason, too, the socia:l or~ der in small nations is far more democratic by its· very nature than thait of large countries, and certainly far less complex. 'Small states are oonstaintly aware of the imperative SLOVAKIA 70 necessity of maintaining high social and cultural standards and, consequently, the individual citi,z en feels his personal responsilbility more keenly than the average citi'zen of a large country. Every ,p rivate citi~n of a small state knows to •w hat extent his country depends on hi:rn and, hence, seeks to make a personal contribution to his society. In the economic field, a small nation cannot afford to emlbark on a large ex-pansion program that ultimately leads to overproduction. Every parcel of land must be made productive and new scientific methods. must lbe constantly introduced into agriculture. 'I1his system of mtensi;ve farming is vitally necessaxy to th~ international economy of an overpopulated Europe. !Social, 'Political, economic, or cultural experiments may be tried with greater safety ,b y sman nations, rfor large nations cannot exiperiment in these fieJds without endangering the very existence of their entire system ,o f government and nationra1 economy. Moreover, there is less danger for the usurpation of porwer in a smalf state, 1becau.se the goal of a111y particular political trend is eaJSHy detected in its incipient stages. In short, a small country is more easily manaiged, and by its very nature is more democratic than a large state. 'I1here are many added advantages that small states have. Not the least among them is the one that small nations are not confined rwithin the narrow limits of a non-· creatiive and non-progres,s ive traditionalism that hinders progress and shuts the door on new ideas. But for humanity the most significant of all is the fact that the small nations cannot harbor imperialistic aims and, for that reason, they concentrate all their resources and energies on cultural and economic endeavor. T,hi,s alone justifies the existence of small nations whioh have a natural right to be founded and maintained. Small states ca:n well be-· come the greatest boon for civilization. The !bitter ex:periences of two World Wars in quick succession haive clearly shorwn that, sooner or later, the world must recognize as an incontrovertible principle that eve;ry nation has a right to its national existence unde,r its own state ,government. Complete equality of all European na1 SLOVAK.IA 71 tion.s, which are willing to cooperate for universal and 1per~ manent peace among the nations of the world, rmust be the basic principle of civiililzation and the ideal of every national culture. Until this universal ideal is reali~ed, the small nations must persevere in their struggle to attain or maintain their statehood, as the ca.se may be. The middlesized and great nations of Europe, which have ,repeatedly suffered the ravages of war and have just experienced the worst disaster in all history, ought to support the cause of the small states if they hope to preserve our modern civilization and, ,w hat is more important, save humanity from total exUnction. Today - ten years after the termination of the Great War - the situation in Europe is well nigh hopeless cul~ turally, as it is economically. There is a real danger of losing the priceless 01.cltural heritage that has been the pride of Western ·E urope for centuries. lit is the ,g rave responsi'bility of those in power to work honestly and fear• lessly for the preservaition of the high cultural values oi European cirvilization and, through international cooperation among the natiolllS that oherish this age-old inheritance, inaugurate an era of genuine democracy for the peoples of Euroipe, for this alone can save IDurope from complete ruin and decay. We who cherish our Western heritage still have the will and courage to 1preserve it from destruction and we . have high hopes of restoring it to its former ,p restige under the inspiration of true democracy, but we need the wholehearted support of all democratic for-c es throughout the world. If we unite these forces, we can revive the sparlk of life in the smouldering ruins of Europe and save European culture from spiritual ana'.I1chy and desolation. There is still .time, hut only predous little ,t ime, for time is running out. It is the eleventh hour. If we do not act at once, all will be lost for a long time to come . • • • REOOMMENDED BOOKS: "The Slorvaiks" (Juirchak $3.00; SLOVAK FOR BEGINNERS" (Books I-ill!) $1.50 (the set) ; "Htrdbailr's English-Slovak Dictioniary" $4.00; "SLOVAK LIESSONS" (!Hrdbak) $3.50.  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Significance of Small Nations Description An account of the resource Dr. Henrich Bartek Slovakia, Vol. 5, No. 2-3 (15-16), June-September 1955 pp. 63-71 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Bartek, Henrich, 1907-1986 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource June-September 1955 LCNAF https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/8f351efb370a1007cadd2031f7e772b0.pdf 764e880de0cf3d7b93aa2c077163b3f3 PDF Text Text 132 SLOVAKIA William W a g n e r : The Sisters of SS. Cyril and Methodius and the Preservation of Slovak Culture in America The research involved in writing the history of an ethnic teaching community presented me with two problems. First, there are relatively few works completed on American ethnic groups, including the Slovak Americans. Secondly, the past of this particular teaching Community, the Sisters of SS. Cyril and Methodius, has been largely recorded only by the Sisters of that Community. Therefore, my research on the Slovak past ( still predominantly written in the Slovak tongue) and my compiling of the Community's history were very dependent on the writings of the Sisters of the Community. I believe my work is objective, because of the limitation of my knowledge of the Community's religious life, thus removing me from a biased influence. All in all, I attempted to deal with this subject in such a manner as to present an honest view of the history and purpose surrounding the Sisters of SS. Cyril and Methodius. My appreciation is extended to Reverend Mother M. Valeria Romanchek and special thanks are expressed to the Sisters of SS. Cyril and Methodius for their helpful cooperation and endless assistance and guidance throughout the researching of this paper. I dedicate this history to Reverend Mother M. Emerentia Petrasek, former Community historian, upon whose research of the Slovak past and the tracing of the Community's growth I so heavily relied. THE ROOTS OF SLOVAK CULTURE ARE CENTURIES OLD The United States is the most important immigrant receiving country in the world. Between 1850 and 1930 no less than thirty-eight million people settled within our borders. 1 Although early in this immigration period many �SLOVAKIA 133 newcomers strove to sever ties with the old world, a sizeable portion continued to look reverently upon their past. The Slovak American, who journeyed to this country primarily in the later wave of European immigration, were such a group. The Slovaks feared the loss of their native culture to a new growing American culture because their past history consisted of repeated attempts at such assimilation. But also in America the Slovak hoped for the chance and the right to have his own life. The Sisters of SS. Cyril and Methodius are a teaching community dedicated to preserving and promoting this American Slovak culture. Because one-third of all Slovaks live in America,2 the Sisters' preservation of their culture is extremely important to the overall existence of the Slovak people as a national entity. The Slovak people are a small part of the Slavic family found on the European continent. Ethnologists place the Slovaks in the Western Slavic group, which also includes Poles, Czechs and Moravians. Commonly but erroneously the Slovaks are considered only a part of the "Czechoslovak Nation," but during the ten centuries of Slovak history, the Slovaks did not live in a common state with the Czechs until 1918. Little is known of the early Slavs. Ancient Greeks and Romans made contact, but left few records. Early recorded Slovak history tells of struggles with Asiatic tribes, particularly the Avari to whom the Slovaks were subjected for almost a century. The subjection was followed by the influence and reign of the Franks. 3 The early Slovak was pagan and war-like. He had many customs but few laws. He was chiefly agricultural and believed in various superstitions. This type of religion held fast until the ninth century when Prince Pribina, the first direct Slovak ruler of Slavic birth, established the first Slavic Christian church. Pribina's efforts to christianize his people met with little success, largely because he was dependent on Frankish missionaries whose language his people could not understand. 4 In 846 Pribina's court surrendered to Rastislav, a skillful warrior, who succeeded in winning independence from the Franks. Rastislav sought religious as well as political freedom. In the year 863 Prince Rastislav invited the two �134 SLOVAKIA holy brothers, Constantine and Methodius, to come from Constantinople and work among the Slovak people. These Byzantine missionaries found it necessary to invent an alphabet for the Slavs, so that the Holy Scriptures could be given to them in their own tongue. After having the use of the Slavonic tongue in Western Liturgy sanctioned by the Roman Pope, Methodius returned to Slovakia as a bishop. Constantine meanwhile had died in Rome in 869 , after entering a monastery there and assuming the name of Cyril. By means of their translations of the Holy Scriptures Constantine and Methodius laid the foundations of Slavic literature. The introduction of schools went hand in hand with this introduction and spread of Christianity in Slovakia.5 Archbishop Methodius continued his teaching and missionary activity until his death in 885. That period of political independence for Slovakia lasted but a short time. Slovakia was soon incorporated into the State of Hungary, which during medieval times consisted of various nations. During this period known as 'The Thousand Years of Oppression', the Slovaks' civil life declined and thus their national consciousness was under a cloud. The Lutheran Reformation, the Turkish invasion of Hungary in 1526 and the Counter-Reformation led by the Jesuits all had varying effects on Slovak education. But it was not until the suppression of the Jesuit Order in 1773 and the state control of education under Empress Maria Theresa, that the Slovak education was directed by any one source. The State of Hungary considered it its duty to provide for the education of its people, hoping to make the power of the state felt in every phase of life.6 The reigns of Maria Theresa and Joseph II saw an expansion of education and also an attempt at Germanization of the Slovaks. Joseph's attempt at Germanization was significantly challenged in 1847 and replaced by Hungarian Magyarization. Whether Germanization or Magyarization the NonHungarian Nationalities' interests were ignored. In 1867 the 'Austro-Hungarian Compromise' touched off rapid action to create a unitary Hungary by Magyarizing all departments of public life, especially the schools. The aim of this policy was the complete assimilation and �SLOVAKIA 135 conversion of Slovakia into a purely Magyar Province of Hungary. Since language is the chief symbol of nationality, the Slovak language was suppressed. Poor economically and having their national ideals and traditions submerged, the Slovaks began seeking a new way to improve their life. U.S. SHINES WITH HOPE FOR SLOVAK IMMIGRANTS Immigration held the dream of a better life. The heaviest immigration of the Slovaks occurred between 1890 and 1900.7 It must be stressed that the majority of immigrants came to America for economic reasons, few peasants ever left East Europe during this period due to political reasons, though politics did cause many not to return. 8 The first immigrants were usually the fathers of the Slovak families, hoping for quick economic gain, and a subsequent return to their native land and families. But once in America few immigrants returned. They found employment that significantly raised their living standard. Though in a strange, sometimes hostile land, the immigrant recognized the ideals of freedom that he was denied in his homeland. As thoughts of returning to their native land diminished, the pioneering immigrants sent for their families to join them in their adopted country. 9 Once the immigrant families had situated themselves in this new land, they were faced with problems of adjustment. The majority of the Slovak immigrants settled in the industrial East, seeking employment with the mining industries, particularly in Pennsylvania. Since the closing of the American frontier the greatest means of livelihood for new immigrants was in these rising industrial areas.10 As the economic necessity of making a living diminished, the new Americans turned to their social needs. Subsequently as the new settlements became more permanent, these Slovak immigrants turned to their religious needs. They began by building community parishes, while searching for Slovak priests who were few in number in this time of early immigration.11 The churches provided a common bond upon which were built beneficial organizations, such as the organizations of the First Catholic Slovak Union known as Jednota. It was the purpose of these beneficial groups to locate and unite the scattered elements �136 SLOVAKIA of American Slovaks. Unity was usually provided through the weekly Slovak newspapers. EDUCATION AL ASPIRATIONS OF AMERICAN SLOVAKS Upon completion of the drive to build parishes the Slovaks had finished with what they call the Church Age of their settlement in America. 12 Having established themselves within their own community, they were faced with the task of joining the larger American community. Obviously, they needed to learn the English language and familiarize themselves with American customs. It was over this need for education that friction developed. On the one hand the immigrant desired to be accepted in this new environment; yet on the other, he also desired to preserve his own cultural past. The first generation immigrant was taught English usually by his employer and did not have his culture challenged, thus resisting assimilation. 13 It was the education of successive generations that presented the problem of cultural alienation. The apparent choice in education was to enroll their offsprings in public schools in order to help them adjust to this new American Life. But education in the public schools posed severe cultural hazards. The public school taught American subjects with American values. The foreign children were judged by American cultural standards of conduct. In this position the foreign children were caught between their old culture and the new American culture. This had definite results: A limited number abandoned their embarrassing heritage-to accept American standards; a larger number sought to forget their traditional background regarding them as inferior-lead ing to family disruption and disintegration . Finally, the largest group failed to adjust to school and left feeling disregarded, discouraged and inferior .14 The public school encouraged the disintegration of Slovak families. The Slovaks had successfully resisted attempts of assimilation by stronger cultures in the past, but now they faced the task of resisting assimilation in a foreign land. To be assimilated meant the destruction of their culture. The chief means of assimilation was through education, as was attempted in their past history. Though it was largely an unconscious process by which America imposed its own standard of ideals on the new- �SLOVAKIA 137 comers, the public schools were succeeding in imposing a common English culture upon the children of many nationalities. 15 By treating the immigrant as a native the public school disregarded his culture and background. What was needed was a means to hand down a suitable portion of his native culture in order to provide a past, thus avoiding an identity crisis. The public school system could not provide this necessity in full. What was needed was a new system that could teach their children good American citizenship and preserve in them a profitable appreciation of the language, culture and tradition of their forefathers, while still providing a sufficient academic education. Fearing further disintegration of their culture, the Slovaks began searching and discussing alternatives in the development of Slovak America. REV. MATTHEW JANKOLA ASSUMES LEADERSHIP A leader in this search for a solution to the American Slovak's educational needs was Father Matthew Jankola. He spent much time studying his fellow Slovaks in their new surroundings. Early in his life he wrote: "We have a serious problem, the problem of educating our children according to American methods, and for American citizenship, without, however, destroying their cultural character and their cultural traditions." 16 With this attitude Father Jankola formed an Association of Priests in 1903 to consider the question of providing for the Catholic education of Slovak youth. Father Jankola began his studies for the priesthood in his native Slovakia. But under pressure from both the Hungarian civil and ecclesiastical authorities, which frowned apon Slovak devotion to Saints Cyril and Methodius, and the fostering of Slovak nationalism, Father Jankola sought refuge in America. 17 He arrived in 1893, and finished his studies at Saint Bonaventure's Seminary in Allegheny, New York. As a priest Father Jankola dedicated himself to the problem of cultural disintegration of his people, begun in Hungary and now continuing in America. It was on behalf of this couse that Father Jankola directed his early writings. When considering education, Father Jankola looked to its broader meaning of culture, rather than its narrow sense of formal schooling. He felt �138 SLOVAKIA that next to the parish church must be a school, because without Catholic schools the Catholic Church had no future, no assured existence. Father Jankola saw the parish church alone and unaided by a Catholic school as but a "feeble barrier" against the rapid onrush of worldliness and a too sudden Americanization for Slovak youth. Further, to preserve the Slovak national character, the children must be educated in Slovak schools with religious principles. Father Jankola held the schools as helpful for religious training, and necessary also to preserve nationality. In Father Jankola's mind the church directed religion, not language; for the teaching of language, which fosters the national spirit, teachers and schools were needed.18 In this spirit Father Jankola called for the establishment of schools, staffed by Slovak Sisters. His initial contact with the Slovak people on this project was done through the newspapers, such as the weekly Jednota. Many attempts were made · to secure Slavic Sisters, but to no avail. This was a time of heavy immigration causing the demand for Sisters in America to be very great. Confronted with the problem of no available Sisters for his project, Father Jankola suggested the possibility of founding a Religious Community for the education of Slovak youth. The suggestion was received favorably, so Father Jankola sought Slovak candidates to train in an American Sisterhood, which would later branch off into an independent congregation as their numbers grew. A Czech Benedictine Community of Sisters expressed willingness to receive and educate Slovak girls. Father Jankola secured three aspirants who were sent to the Czech Sisters in Chicago. But this project failed when the girls became discontented and wished to return to Pennsylvania. Their return was hard on Father Jankola, but their young age and the great distances they had traveled made him sympathetic. 19 Father Jankola did not abandon his project. Instead, upon further study he came in contact with Mother Mary Cyril at Mount St. Mary's Seminary in Scranton, Penna. After considering Father Jankola's plan for a parochial school system under Slovak Sisters, Mother Mary Cyril agreed to accept the young girls. The girls entered Mount Saint Mary's Seminary in November of 1903, to learn the �SLOVAKIA 139 principles of religious life and live according to its Rules. 20 While preparing the Slovak girls for religious teaching and guidance under Mother Mary Cyril and the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Father Jankola began a fund to further his project. He established "St. Anthony's Treasury" which received donations from parishes, societies and individuals. A TEACHING COMMUNITY OF SLOVAK SISTERS IS BORN On September 11, 1909, the first Slovak girls pronounced their religious vows, 21 marking the birth of the Sisters of Saints Cyril and Methodius, honoring the Saints who gave Slovakia its faith and culture. Father Jankola noted that this was the founding of the first Slovak religious sisterhood that the Slovaks ever had, either in Europe or America. At the birth of this new Order Father Jankola set down four principal reasons for its conception: 1) Educate Slovak children 2) Care for Slovak orphans and aged 3) Preserve Slovak culture 4) Pray for the return of Slav schismatics.22 Father Jankola's first principle has been the primary apostolate of the Sisters of SS. Cyril and Methodius. The parish school has always constituted the particular vocation of the Sisters. The Sisters set themselves the traditional objective of education in a Christian spirit to develop and train to the fullest the powers and capacities of a young student's mind and body. They also strove to inculcate principles of true patriotism and citizenship in order to develop enlightened, conscientious American citizens, imbued with Christian attitudes of justice and charity, peace and order, which they feel are the main components for social living. As Slovak American teachers, they endeavored to preserve some of the traditions and the cultural heritage of the Slovak people among the students of Slovak parentage, and to foster in all students an interest and respect for the varied cultures and attitudes that make up the Brotherhood of Man. 23 Through such recognition and acceptance of foreign natures, characteristics, and personalities built from a different culture, the Sisters sought to achieve cultural democracy. To accept cultural democracy means to accept �140 SLOVAKIA a technique of social adjustment that will make possible the preservation of the best of all cultures. 24 This was the desire of the Sisters of SS. Cyril and Methodius. To accept, as well as to be accepted, is the condition for effective pluralism in a nation. Cultural pluralism in the American educational system has existed because we are a multi-cultural, multi-racial, and multi-lingual nation. It was thought that the public school system would Americanize these foreign elements into the melting pot of uniform American culture. The concept of American culture as a mosaic has been the reason for, and the challenge of, the Sisters of SS. Cyril and Methodius. For six years this newly established Community of Sisters continued under the guidance of the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. It was on August 4, 1915, that the Community had its first elections in which Sister Mary (Mihalik) was elected the first Superior General. During this period the Sisters opened their first school to educate children in the Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, marking the beginning of the educational work of the Community. Before this group could be firmly established Mother Mary died in 1916. Her successor was Mother M. Emmanuel whose greatest achievement involved the establishment of a suitable, permanent Motherhouse.25 MOTHER M. EMMANUEL, SS.C.M. (1916-1922) The Sisters had been temporarily situated in Middletown, Pennsylvania. While in this location, Mother M. Emmanuel sought a permanent Motherhouse. She was informed by Reverend Julius Foin about a large tract of land with an old mansion in Danville. Through Bishop Philip R. McDevitt, Mother M. Emmanuel made contact with a local attorney, Ralph Kisner, and was informed that the 'Castle Grove' property was for sale. The Mansion site proper, containing thirteen acres-forty rooms, eleven bathrooms-finished throughout with hardwood, was a relic of the passing iron industry in Danville. There was also an adjoining farm with one hundred thirty-three acres and numerous outbuildings. This enormous dwelling was perfect for Mother M. Emmanuel's aims, but the price was beyond the Community's ability to pay. Upon inspection of this property, Mother M. Emmanuel found that the Mansion had stood �SLOVAKIA 141 vacant for fourteen years, needing numerous repairs. With this in mind she made a meager offer. The actual owner was in France, causing slow communication. Price remained the hindrance as Mother M. Emmanuel would not raise her offer. In March of 1919, Attorney Kisner informed the Sisters that the owner had agreed to drastically reduce his price to meet the Community's needs. Now that the Community's prayers for a Motherhouse had been answered, only the necessary funds for purchase remained an obstacle. The Sisters had saved about half of the required amount, but had discouraging experiences in acquiring the rest. This was the critical period during World War I, causing excess funds to be scarce.26 After futile appeals to the citizens and banks of the Wilkes-Barre area, a heavily populated Slovak community, Mother M. Emmanuel turned to the Danville National Bank for a loan. This bank considered the risk minimal and granted the loan at low interest. With payment secured, the Sisters concluded the 'Castle Grove' deal in June of 1919, and began preparations for the transfer of the Motherhouse from Middletown to its permanent home in Danville. Throughout the summer months in 1919, the Sisters worked to put the house and grounds in order. Within this new convent the Community prepared for the continuance of religious training for its Sisters and converted one of the two ballrooms into a chapel. Holy Mass was first celebrated on Sunday morning, July 6, 1919. With the approach of Autumn all but the Sisters in training took leave of 'Sacred Heart Villa,' as the grounds had been named, to resume their duties in the parish schools. During the War Years the demand for Sisters in parochial schools became very great. The war and the influenza epidemic strongly limited the work of the Sisters.27 As this situation relaxed in the summer of 1920, Mother M. Emmanuel arranged classes for the Sisters to improve their educational resources. The educational progress of the Community was under the direction of the Sisters from Marywood. This was being continued by Mother M. Emmanuel who sought also to further the Community's material progress. She was engaged in soliciting funds from the homes of Slovaks to pay off the Sister's bank loan. Mother M. Emmanuel promoted thrift within her �142 SLOVAKIA Community because she felt the Community would be more secure in the American culture when free from debt. Mother M. Emmanuel's term expired in 1922. She had directed this young Sisterhood through its pioneering days, giving it shelter, resources and existence through the war years. Mother M. Emmanuel's main contribution was, of course, the establishment of the Motherhouse that was to become the center of Slovak culture in America. MOTHER M. PIUS, SS.C.M. OPENS ST. CYRIL ACADEMY IN 1922 By the choice of the Sisters, Sister M. Pius was elected the third Superior General. Bishop McDevitt, who supervised the election, also commented on the importance of the Sisters' studies because someday the civil authorities would require that every teacher must be certified by the State of Pennsylvania. Certification would be important in having the Community accepted as a competent educational institution in American society. Now that they had an established center, the Sisters could begin to focus their educational mission with greater assurance. The Sisters of SS. Cyril and Methodius had always wished for the establishment of a high school and boarding school for girls. Presently, they were only employed in elementary education. This idea for an institution of higher education for their own children was popular among the Slovaks. In addition to the regularly prescribed American branches, they wanted their offsprings to be taught the mother tongue and trained to appreciate the historical and cultural traditions of their nation. 28 To this wish Mother M. Pius responded. Mother M. Pius expressed a desire to have an official from the Department of Public Instruction in Harrisburg come to Danville to give a lecture on the requirements of the State, regarding the equipment and function of a high school and its accreditation. In August of 1922, Doctor Edward Hoban arrived from Harrisburg and explained such subjects as extension courses, summer school, teacher certificates, teaching of foreign languages, importance of teaching citizenship, the teaching of historical and social studies, and the necessity of physical education. This lecture assured the commencement of preparation for a high school on American terms. �SLOVAKIA 143 The following week an advertisement appeared in the Slovak newspapers stating that the Sisters of SS. Cyril and Methodius had equipped part of their convent at Danville as a boarding school for girls. To conform to American standards the equipment of the high school called for two very important departments -the Library and the Laboratory for the Sciences. Both of these were begun with the opening of the school. Books acquired were those recommended by the Department o! Education. Also a large selection of Catholic and Slovak books supplemented the Community's aim of a multicultural education. In all, nineteen pupils attended the first year of the First Catholic Slovak Girls High School, indicating a desire on the part of the Slovaks to have their children educated in a Slovak, as well as an American atmosphere. Towards the close of the first year in the spring of 1923, a small group of students ventured into the school's first extra-curricular activity. These girls formed a Literary Society in which they compiled a little booklet of essays, stories, and poems. Under Mother M. Pius' encouragement this activity continued, resulting in the first issue of the bi-lingual (Slovak and American) school magazine, Fialky (Violets). The Fialky were thereafter issued semi-annually until 1940 and then annually until 1970, when it ceased publication. During the summer vacation Mother M. Pius encouraged the Sisters toward further studies, hoping to improve their competence as teachers. She was anxious to secure state certification for as many Sisters as could qualify. Now that the Community was engaged in all levels of education, Mother M. Pius wished to secure them within the American educational system through accreditation. The Academy's opening in the second year exposed space problems as enrollment grew. Mother Pius expressed the need for a strong building fund and enacted new collection drives among the Slovak people. The number of students steadily increased into the third and fourth year.• With the fourth year the need for accredition increased as the first graduation approached. The school was informed that the State Representatives would make an official inspection at the school year's end. That June, just a week before graduation, the State �144 SLOVAKIA Inspector arrived and spent a day inspecting the school, interviewing both the staff and the students. The State Representative, Doctor Pentz, found the Slovak students being educated and trained in all that the modern high schools offered, and in their Religion and mother tongue as well. To this he expressed his satisfaction, commenting on the orderly and methodological way in which the different departments were being conducted. 29 After Dr. Pentz reported the Academy as "first class" in both arrangement and curriculum, the school received a telegram, congratulating teachers and students on receiving accreditation from the State. This good news arrived just days before the first graduation, much to the Sisters' delight. While preparations for this first commencement progressed, another great event was in prospect, namely, the Eucharistic Congress in Chicago. This event made a great impact on the first commencement of the First Catholic Slovak Girls High School. Accreditation from the State of Pennsylvania proved the Sisters' ability to provide their students with a fitting education in their new society, but what remained to be seen was whether or not the Sisters could live up to the task of preserving Slovak culture in America. Slovak American culture was to receive a fresh impetus by the Eucharistic Congress held in Chicago. Due to attend the Congress were four bishops from Slovakia. The presence of these Slovak bishops greatly excited the Slovak Americans and especially the Sisters of SS. Cyril and Methodius, since through the influence of Bishop McDevitt arrangements were made to have these four bishops attend the Academy's first graduation. The date of the festivity was June 14, 1926. Under the guidance of Bishop McDevitt, who presided at the First Graduation ceremony, the entire Community and students assembled at the Convent's gate to welcome the visiting bishops. Upon the arrival of the Slovak bishops, who were traveling in European fashion, clad in cassock and purple cincture, the commencement proceeded with prayers, songs, and speeches. The speeches were delivered in Slovak, calling for a continuance of Catholic education. Bishop McDevitt's address underscored the advantages which the �SLOVAKIA 145 Slovak people can derive from a solid Catholic education. He also pointed out that this could be done because the American government stood to protect the religious rights of all American citizens. The theme of religious pluralism in America was carried further by the Senior Bishop from Slovakia in a speech that noted how this American government respects, upholds, and protects the religious liberty of the people who found refuge under her banner. Bishop Marian Blaha further cited the great accomplishments of the American Slovaks. Their ability to provide a Catholic education while preserving their mother tongue greatly impressed him. Then as an old Slovak proverb states, "Every perfect day must end even as the sweetest song" -this first commencement was no exception; it was concluded by a student chorale of inspirational Slovak songs.30 The first graduation was a significant milestone in the history of the Sisters of SS. Cyril and Methodius. It was their first public manifestation of their educational standards and traditions. The graduation exercise presented a new phase in the mission of the Slovak Sisters. Their people realized that Danville would not only house a Convent and an Academy, but would be the center of genuine culture for the Slovaks in America. To attain a status combining a true Americanism with an appreciation of the spirit and traditions of their native land was the Community's desire.31 With this spirit of appreciation, encouraged by the sharp increase of applicants, new thoughts of building were entertained. But unlike before, the Slovak people, organizations and individuals alike, urged this step. These groups advised a general benefit drive for funds, alleging the time was ripe for such a movement since industrial conditions were favorable and the people were willing to donate.32 In the spring of 1927 Mother M. Pius presented a letter of the officers of the First Catholic Slovak Ladies' Union, another element of Slovak-American culture, announcing the drive for a building fund. When Mother M. Pius asked for their contribution, she was immediately promised five thousand dollars. The response elsewhere was the same. The Slovak newspapers pushed the drive and local groups competed in fund raising. This favorable reaction illustrates the Slovak-Americans' desire for an enlarged Slovak cultural center in America. �146 SLOVAKIA With the building fund well under way, Mother M. Pius contracted Architect Bernard Starr of Harrisburg, who in turn sought the assistance of Harry Sternfeld of Philadelphia. A spot for the new building was selected on the Villa Sacred Heart campus, and Mr. Sternfeld sketched a building dominated by a central tower. This initial plan brought eriticism for its "needless extravagance," but Mother M. Pius retained the plan as the answer to the needs of the Community, plus the cultural, educational and religious needs of the Slovak-American people. The Community wasted no time in beginning the new building. Ground was broken on May 23, 1929, in a ceremony which the local Danville Morning News described as an event to go down in Slovak history. 33 The speakers' program included representatives of the church, state, and Slovak national life. As the building progressed, the country entered the depression of the 1930's. By the time the building was completed, economic tension was beginning to be felt everywhere.34 With this in mind, Mother M. Pius avoided any elaborate dedication ceremony. This new building was made to catch the spirit of the past and to intepret it with a contemporaneous point of view in order to make it fit actual conditions.35 Its design was in accord with the ideals of the Sisters of SS. Cyril and Methodius, who hoped to blend the past into a new, usable present. In a more practical manner the new building provided an institution solely devoted to the education of the Slovak people and the preserving of their culture. It was viewed as a national work, one that provided b roader limits and better accommodations which would produce greater results. 36 The local paper saw the building as a monument to the Slovak people of America, and considered it one of the local community's finest aspects.37 The Sisters moved into their new building in September of 1931. The following three years were quiet, filled with earnest activity toward the educational goals of the Community. This period ended with the significant year of 1934, the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Community's existence. In those twenty-five years the Community developed and established itself in a permanent Motherhouse, which in turn had developed the First Catholic Slovak Girls' High �SLOVAKIA 147 School, crowned by the magnificent new building. This had been done under three Superiors General-Mother Mary, Mother M. Emmanuel, Mother M. Pius-all of whom promoted the cultivation of the Slovak language and history, which, with religion, constitute the two outstanding characteristics of the Slovak Academy. Extra-curricular activities, like Fialky and Cyrilika-a society for fostering interest in Slovak journalism-as well as customs established for the practical study of Slovak, such as speaking Slovak all day every Saturday, and the annual observance of Slovak Week, acquired notice and approval. The observance of Slovak tradition gave this Academy a unique position in the field of American education.38 With a high spirit of celebration the Silver Jubilee of the Sisters of SS. Cyril and Methodius commenced. The Jubilee marked still another turning point in the Community's history as it came at the close of Mother M. Pius' long administration. Her work finished laying a firm foundation which became the base for a promising era of new growth. MOTHER M. EMERENTIA, SS.C.M. (1934-1946) In this new period of the Community's history the work of the Academy advanced quietly, with gratifying results in the field of Slovak-American culture. When Mother M. Emerentia was elected Superior General in 1934, she encouraged Slovak interests and cultural projects like formal programs, dramatic productions, Slovak readings, folk song festivals and, above all, research and creative writing on Slovak topics. Mother M. Emerentia was also responsible for the compilation of Slovak language texts and hymnals used widely in Slovak elementary schools and parishes in America. The early years of Mother M. Emerentia's administration coincided with the greatest period of the depression. Though there was no drop in student enrollment, neither was there the marked increase that would have normally been the case.• These drawbacks, however, had advantages. The subdued quiet of the interval was conducive to a greater concentration on school work, both regular and extracurricular. Correspondence with students in Slovakia '' See enrollment figures; Table I. �148 SLOVAKIA was an activity greatly enjoyed by the students of St. Cyril Academy. It was also during these years that the school was favored by a number of distinguished visitors from Slovakia, including a delegation from the Slovak Institute of Arts and Sciences, a group of students from the Slovak unit of Pax Romana, plus numerous distinguished scholars, writers, and statesmen, including the Slovak martyr, Msgr. Joseph Tiso.39 When our country was drawn into war on December 8, 1941, the first care of the Motherhouse was directed toward the Sisters and their pupils in the parish schools. The Community placed its trust in God and His care of our country, and classes went on as usual. However, extracurricular activities were directed toward war needs. Beyond the prayers for peace, the Community and its students turned out quantities of knitted sweaters and helmets. They experienced the value of thrift by rationing food and collected all scraps such as fats, iron and paper. The Sisters also joined in relief efforts for their native land. An extensive relief project for the war sufferers in Slovakia was aided by the Community, which sent abroad numerous packages of relief materials. The motherhouse was a center for this organized relief work. The relief project continued in action even after the war, when Slovakia again was suppressed by a stronger force. Following a remarkably successful and flourishing six-year period of self-rule under the Presidency of Tiso, the Slovak government collapsed when victory came to Russia and the Allies. 40 With this victory Slovakia was overrun by the Communists. Their occupation of the country led to the execution of Msgr. Tiso, plus the silencing of many bishops and priests. The people of Slovakia remained in destitution; hence, the necessity for relief work to continue until the Iron Curtain cut off all communication. 41 The Communist occupation caused more refugees to seek freedom and sanctuary from Slovakia. As thousands came to America, the Sisters of SS. Cyril and Methodius and their students enjoyed fresh contacts with persons of their fatherland. Priests and professional people willingly gave lectures to both the Sisters and the students, chiefly on conditions in Slovakia and on topics of Slovak history. �SLOVAKIA 149 Several high school students from Slovakia enrolled in the Academy, thus enriching the Slovak-American culture. MOTHER M. CRESCENTIA, SS.C.M. (1946-1958) While the Slovak-American tradition was being enriched during these post-war years, a new Superior General was elected, placing renewed importance on the educational aspects of the Academy. Mother M. Crescentia realized that during the earlier years the educational objectives could not be pursued as fully as desired since more urgent activities were at hand. In time, however, conditions improved, so that more and better organized work could be done in the field of teacher education. Mother M. Crescentia took advantage of this situation, arranging for more Sisters to take college courses in a greater variety of fields. With this renewed progress in the Sisters' personal educational ventures, activities in the Academy moved apace. The student enrollment at the Academy, which increased only to a minor extent after the depression, now began rapid growth. This growth of the Academy advanced steadily into the fifties, causing every available space within the Academy to be filled. It necessitated the building of Saint Philomena Hall to be used for students' living and classrooms. Also in the fifties, the Community worked for the founding of Father Jankola. They are Villa Saint Cyril in Highland Park, Illinois, and Maria Joseph Manor in Danville, Pennsylvania. By 1958 the Community had a new Superior General in the person of Mother M. Bernard. MOTHER M. BERNARD, SS.C.M. (1958-1970) The highlight of this decade was the observance of the Community's Golden Jubilee. It was climaxed by the celebration of a Roman-Slavonic Mass on the Villa campus in the presence of five thousand visitors from all parts of the country.42 It was the first Roman rite vernacular Mass ever offered on this continent. The increased enrollment and the large turnout for the Roman-Slavonic Mass indicates the strong support the Academy received from the Slovak-American people in its preserving of Slovak culture. The early sixties were also highlighted by a large celebration honoring another aspect of the Comunity's Slovak heritage. The year 1963 marked the eleven hundredth �150 SLOVAKIA anniversary of the arrival of SS. Cyril and Methodius among the Slovaks. In addition to the Community celebration in America, the Sisters of SS. Cyril and Methodius participated in a week-long observance in Rome, involving numerous Slovak pilgrims, who had assembled there for the dedication of the Slovak Institute of SS. Cyril and Methodius, a seminary for the training of priests for Slovakia. THE JANKOLA LIBRARY The latter sixties and early seventies for St. Cyril Academy had been dominated by two cherished Slovak projects. First was the active cooperation with the Apostolate of the Slovak Institute of SS. Cyril and Methodius in Rome, begun during the 1963 pilgrimage. Second was the professional development of the Jankola Library at the Academy. This Library is a center of Slovak culture and learning for St. Cyril Academy and Slovak America. It is called Jankola Library in honor of the founder of the Community and promoter of Slovak-American culture, Father Matthew Jankola. The Library provides invaluable resources for study and research purposes, as well as literary works to enrich the Slovak spirit. Jankola Library contains over six thousand (6,000) fully catalogued items on its shelves with several hundred more reserved for further processing.43 Beyond just Slovak books this Library also promotes Slovak-American culture with its large collection of Slovak art. Included among its treasures are a large unusual map of Czecho-Slovakia, an artistically costumed mannequin representing the Slovak tradition, and a large, valuable collection of Slovak ceramic art, some embroidery and sizeable pieces of cutglass sent from Slovakia. This Library with its vast assortment of Slovak art is truly a tribute to Slovakia's culture. With Jankola Library as its Slovak center, SS. Cyril Academy still provides an excellent American education. It offers a wide range of courses, including four foreign languages.* Besides educating students for social living in America, the Academy can also train girls for a religious teaching life within its own Community. The Sisters of SS. Cyril and Methodius are presently teaching in parish schools and eight (8) high schools, including a boarding * Source listing of St. Cyril Academy. Table II. �151 SLOVAKIA school for girls. 0 Education of Slovak children continues to be the principal vocation of a Sister of SS. Cyril and Methodius. It is to these children that a Sister dedicates herseJf and hopes to preserve Slovakia's heritage. Today, the St. Cyril Academy is justifiably proud of tts accomplishments during the past fifty ( 50) years. Both the teaching Sisters and their students are fully educated in, and cognizant of, their dual heritage. The traditions and artifacts of Slovak culture have been preserved; while at the same time, each graduate is proud to be an American. St. Cyril Academy continues to revere its Slovak past. The Sisters continue to aid the suppressed people of Slovakia, but now this is done indirectly to the extent possible. It is the desire of the Sisters of the Academy to provide their countrymen with new hope of cultural freedom by showing them the accomplishments that have been possible in America. This Academy is rightly considered the center of Slovak culture in America. "" List of schools staffed by Sisters of SS. Cyril and Methodius. Table III. TABLE I Enrollment figures of St. Cyril Academy, Danville, Pa. Year 1925-26 1926-27 1927-28 1928-29 1929-30 1930-31 1931-32 1932-33 1933-34 1934-35 1935-36 1936-37 1937-38 1938-39 1939-40 1940-41 Total Number of Students 38 39 44 47 42 61 75 69 60 58 52 58 54 50 60 70 Year 1941-42 1942-43 1943-44 1944-45 1945-46 1946-47 1947-48 1948-49 1949-50 1950-51 1951-52 1952-53 1953-54 1954-55 1955-56 1956-57 Total Number of Students 66 55 55 69 91 96 90 107 112 109 123 138 148 153 157 180 Total Number Year of Students 1957-58 1958-59 1959-60 1960-61 1961-62 1962-63 1963-64 1964-65 1965-66 1966-67 1967-68 1968-69 1969-70 1970-71 1971-72 1972-73 181 175 162 182 202 195 202 171 156 178 120 108 104 101 108 106 �SLOVAKIA 152 TABLE II Curriculum of St. Cyril Academy FIRST YEAR Religion I English I Algebra I Intr. Physical Science Physical Education Chorus World Culture I Latin I Spanish I French I Slovak I Foods Art I Art Appreciation Music Appreciation Health Education Piano Interpretive Dance SECOND YEAR Religion II English II Geometry Biology Physical Education Chorus World Culture II Latin II French II Spanish II Slovak II Foods Clothing I Art II Piano Interpretive Dance THIRD YEAR Religion III English III Algebra II Chemistry Physical Education Chorus American Culture I Latin III Spanish III French III Slovak III Foods Advanced Clothing Art III Piano Interpretive Dance Typing I Stenography I �SLOVAKIA 153 FOURTH YEAR Religion IV English IV Business English Math 12 Advanced Biology Physical Education Chorus American Culture II Latin IV Spanish IV French IV Slovak IV Advanced Clothing Art IV Speech Piano Interpretive Dance Typing II Stenography II Bookkeeping Business Law TABLE III SCHOOLS STAFFED BY SIS'llEIBS OF SS. CYRIL AND METHODIUS Berwick, Pa. Bloomsburg, Pa. Binghamton, N. Y. Binghamton, N. Y. Bridgeport, Conn. Bridgeport, Pa. Charleston, S. C. Charleston, S. C. Chicago, Ill. East Vandergrift, Pa. Endicott, N. Y. Gary, Indiana Hazleton, Pa. Jessup, Pa. Lebanon, Pa. Luzerne, Pa. Nanticoke, Pa. New York, N. Y. Olyphant, Pa. Perth Amboy, N. J. Phoenixville, Pa. Pittston, Pa. Plymouth, Pa. Stratford, Conn. Swoyersville, Pa. Torrington, Conn. St. Mary's School St. Columba School SS. Cyril and Methodius School St. Ann's School SS. Cyril and Methodius School Mother of Sorrows School Blessed Sacrament School Nativity School SS. Simon and Jude School Holy Trinity School St. Joseph School Holy Trinity School St. Joseph School St. Michael's School SS. Cyril and Methodius School St. John Nepomucene School St. Joseph School St. John Nepomucene School Holy Ghost School Holy Trinity School Sacred Heart of Jesus School St. John Baptist School St. Stephen School Sacred Name of Jesus School Holy Trinity School Sacred Heart of Jesus School �SLOVAKIA 154 Immaculate Conception School Sacred Heart of Jesus School Holy Trinity School Whiting, Ind. Wilkes-Barre, Pa. Yonkers, N. Y. IDGH SCHOOLS Andrean High School Dunmore Catholic High School Lourdes H. S. Lebanon Catholic H. S. Kingston Catholic Central Catholic Central H. S. Catholic Central (St. Pius X) Blessed Sacrament Academy St. Cyril Academy 1. Gary, Ind. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Dunmore, Pa. Shamokin, Pa. Lebanon, Pa. Kingston, Pa. Charleston, S. C. Pottstown, Pa. Yonkers, N. Y. Danville, Pa. FOOTNOTES 1) David F . Bowers, "Social and Cultural Impact" in For eign Influences in American Life (Princeton, 1944) , p. 1. 2) Emily Balch, Our Slavic Fellow Citizens (New York, 1969), p. 86. 3) The Slovak Nation, Manuscript in Sisters of SS. Cyril and Methodius Community Archives, Danville, Pennsylvania. 4 ) Ibid. 5) Education in Slovakia, Manuscript in SS. C. M Community Archives, composition by M . I. Angelovic, pp. 88. 6) Ibid. 7) Ear liest Immigration, Ms. in SS. C. M. Community Archives. 8 ) Emily Balch, Our Slavic Fellow Citizens, p . 108. 9 ) Earliest Immigration Ms. 10) Francis Brown and Joseph Roucek, "Czechoslovak American" in One America (New York, 1946), p. 147. 11) In 1899, there were eight Slovak priests in America. Earliest Immigration Ms. 12) The Slovaks divide their settlement in America into three Ages: Church Age, School Age, and Institution Age. Ibid. 13) Daniel Tanzone, "The Slovak Experience in Contemporary America" in Slovakia (Middletown, Pa., 1972), p. 129. 14) Francis Brown and Joseph Roucek, Our Racial and National Minorities (New York, 1937), p. 602. 15) Timothy Smith, "New Approaches to the History of Immigration in 20th Century America", in The America Historical Review LXXI, (July 1966), p. 127. �155 SLOVAKIA 16) Contributions of Reverend Matthew Jankola to Slovak Catholic Education in the United States, Ms. in SS. C. M. Community Archives, composition by Sister M. Consuela Gregorovic, p. 14. 17) Ibid. , p. 3. 18 ) Earliest Plans, Ms. in SS. C. M. Community Archives. 19) Ibid . 20) Ibid. 21) The girls wer,e Mary Mihalik, Mary Bartek and Mary Pauly. 22) Father Jankola, Ms., pp. 38-46. 23) Philosophy of Saint Cyril Academy, Ms. 24) Francis Brown and Joseph Roucek, Our America, p. 501. 25) The Educational Activities of the Sisters of SS. Cyril and Methodius in the United States, Ms. in SS. C. M. C-Ommunity Archives, composition by Sister Maria Berchmans Teplicky, p. 4. 26) Danville, Ms. in SS. C. M. Community Archives. 27) Ibid. 28) Educational Expansion, Ms. in SS. C.M. Community Archives. 29) Josephine M. Marcinko, "A Little Historical Sketch" in Fialky (Danville, 1927), p. 23. 30) Edttcational Expansion, Ms. 31) Preparing to Build, Ms. in SS. C. M. Community Archives. 32) Ibid. 33) Morning News, (Danville, May 23, 1929), p. 6. 34 ) Brief History of the Congregation of the Sisters of Saints Cyril and Methodius, Ms. in SS. C. M. Community Archives, composition by Mother M. Emerentia Petrasek, p. 85. 35) Fialky, (Danville, 1931), p. 82. 36) Brief History, Ms., Petrasek, p. 85. 37) Morning News, (Danville, June 8, 1931), p. 4. 38) Brief History, Ms., Petrasek, pp. 88-90. 39 ) Ibid. , p. 108. 40 ) Joseph Pauco, Slovakia, pp. 26-28. 41) Brief History, Ms., Petrasek, p. 125. 42) Sisters of Saints Cyril and Methodius, Jankola Book, (Danville, 1972) , p. 90. 43) SS. C. M., Jankola Book, p. 108. � 132 SLOVAKIA William W a g n e r : The Sisters of SS. Cyril and Methodius and the Preservation of Slovak Culture in America The research involved in writing the history of an ethnic teaching community presented me with two problems. First, there are relatively few works completed on American ethnic groups, including the Slovak Americans. Secondly, the past of this particular teaching Community, the Sisters of SS. Cyril and Methodius, has been largely recorded only by the Sisters of that Community. Therefore, my research on the Slovak past ( still predominantly written in the Slovak tongue) and my compiling of the Community's history were very dependent on the writings of the Sisters of the Community. I believe my work is objective, because of the limitation of my knowledge of the Community's religious life, thus removing me from a biased influence. All in all, I attempted to deal with this subject in such a manner as to present an honest view of the history and purpose surrounding the Sisters of SS. Cyril and Methodius. My appreciation is extended to Reverend Mother M. Valeria Romanchek and special thanks are expressed to the Sisters of SS. Cyril and Methodius for their helpful cooperation and endless assistance and guidance throughout the researching of this paper. I dedicate this history to Reverend Mother M. Emerentia Petrasek, former Community historian, upon whose research of the Slovak past and the tracing of the Community's growth I so heavily relied. THE ROOTS OF SLOVAK CULTURE ARE CENTURIES OLD The United States is the most important immigrant receiving country in the world. Between 1850 and 1930 no less than thirty-eight million people settled within our borders. 1 Although early in this immigration period many �SLOVAKIA 133 newcomers strove to sever ties with the old world, a sizeable portion continued to look reverently upon their past. The Slovak American, who journeyed to this country primarily in the later wave of European immigration, were such a group. The Slovaks feared the loss of their native culture to a new growing American culture because their past history consisted of repeated attempts at such assimilation. But also in America the Slovak hoped for the chance and the right to have his own life. The Sisters of SS. Cyril and Methodius are a teaching community dedicated to preserving and promoting this American Slovak culture. Because one-third of all Slovaks live in America,2 the Sisters' preservation of their culture is extremely important to the overall existence of the Slovak people as a national entity. The Slovak people are a small part of the Slavic family found on the European continent. Ethnologists place the Slovaks in the Western Slavic group, which also includes Poles, Czechs and Moravians. Commonly but erroneously the Slovaks are considered only a part of the "Czechoslovak Nation," but during the ten centuries of Slovak history, the Slovaks did not live in a common state with the Czechs until 1918. Little is known of the early Slavs. Ancient Greeks and Romans made contact, but left few records. Early recorded Slovak history tells of struggles with Asiatic tribes, particularly the Avari to whom the Slovaks were subjected for almost a century. The subjection was followed by the influence and reign of the Franks. 3 The early Slovak was pagan and war-like. He had many customs but few laws. He was chiefly agricultural and believed in various superstitions. This type of religion held fast until the ninth century when Prince Pribina, the first direct Slovak ruler of Slavic birth, established the first Slavic Christian church. Pribina's efforts to christianize his people met with little success, largely because he was dependent on Frankish missionaries whose language his people could not understand. 4 In 846 Pribina's court surrendered to Rastislav, a skillful warrior, who succeeded in winning independence from the Franks. Rastislav sought religious as well as political freedom. In the year 863 Prince Rastislav invited the two �134 SLOVAKIA holy brothers, Constantine and Methodius, to come from Constantinople and work among the Slovak people. These Byzantine missionaries found it necessary to invent an alphabet for the Slavs, so that the Holy Scriptures could be given to them in their own tongue. After having the use of the Slavonic tongue in Western Liturgy sanctioned by the Roman Pope, Methodius returned to Slovakia as a bishop. Constantine meanwhile had died in Rome in 869 , after entering a monastery there and assuming the name of Cyril. By means of their translations of the Holy Scriptures Constantine and Methodius laid the foundations of Slavic literature. The introduction of schools went hand in hand with this introduction and spread of Christianity in Slovakia.5 Archbishop Methodius continued his teaching and missionary activity until his death in 885. That period of political independence for Slovakia lasted but a short time. Slovakia was soon incorporated into the State of Hungary, which during medieval times consisted of various nations. During this period known as 'The Thousand Years of Oppression', the Slovaks' civil life declined and thus their national consciousness was under a cloud. The Lutheran Reformation, the Turkish invasion of Hungary in 1526 and the Counter-Reformation led by the Jesuits all had varying effects on Slovak education. But it was not until the suppression of the Jesuit Order in 1773 and the state control of education under Empress Maria Theresa, that the Slovak education was directed by any one source. The State of Hungary considered it its duty to provide for the education of its people, hoping to make the power of the state felt in every phase of life.6 The reigns of Maria Theresa and Joseph II saw an expansion of education and also an attempt at Germanization of the Slovaks. Joseph's attempt at Germanization was significantly challenged in 1847 and replaced by Hungarian Magyarization. Whether Germanization or Magyarization the NonHungarian Nationalities' interests were ignored. In 1867 the 'Austro-Hungarian Compromise' touched off rapid action to create a unitary Hungary by Magyarizing all departments of public life, especially the schools. The aim of this policy was the complete assimilation and �SLOVAKIA 135 conversion of Slovakia into a purely Magyar Province of Hungary. Since language is the chief symbol of nationality, the Slovak language was suppressed. Poor economically and having their national ideals and traditions submerged, the Slovaks began seeking a new way to improve their life. U.S. SHINES WITH HOPE FOR SLOVAK IMMIGRANTS Immigration held the dream of a better life. The heaviest immigration of the Slovaks occurred between 1890 and 1900.7 It must be stressed that the majority of immigrants came to America for economic reasons, few peasants ever left East Europe during this period due to political reasons, though politics did cause many not to return. 8 The first immigrants were usually the fathers of the Slovak families, hoping for quick economic gain, and a subsequent return to their native land and families. But once in America few immigrants returned. They found employment that significantly raised their living standard. Though in a strange, sometimes hostile land, the immigrant recognized the ideals of freedom that he was denied in his homeland. As thoughts of returning to their native land diminished, the pioneering immigrants sent for their families to join them in their adopted country. 9 Once the immigrant families had situated themselves in this new land, they were faced with problems of adjustment. The majority of the Slovak immigrants settled in the industrial East, seeking employment with the mining industries, particularly in Pennsylvania. Since the closing of the American frontier the greatest means of livelihood for new immigrants was in these rising industrial areas.10 As the economic necessity of making a living diminished, the new Americans turned to their social needs. Subsequently as the new settlements became more permanent, these Slovak immigrants turned to their religious needs. They began by building community parishes, while searching for Slovak priests who were few in number in this time of early immigration.11 The churches provided a common bond upon which were built beneficial organizations, such as the organizations of the First Catholic Slovak Union known as Jednota. It was the purpose of these beneficial groups to locate and unite the scattered elements �136 SLOVAKIA of American Slovaks. Unity was usually provided through the weekly Slovak newspapers. EDUCATION AL ASPIRATIONS OF AMERICAN SLOVAKS Upon completion of the drive to build parishes the Slovaks had finished with what they call the Church Age of their settlement in America. 12 Having established themselves within their own community, they were faced with the task of joining the larger American community. Obviously, they needed to learn the English language and familiarize themselves with American customs. It was over this need for education that friction developed. On the one hand the immigrant desired to be accepted in this new environment; yet on the other, he also desired to preserve his own cultural past. The first generation immigrant was taught English usually by his employer and did not have his culture challenged, thus resisting assimilation. 13 It was the education of successive generations that presented the problem of cultural alienation. The apparent choice in education was to enroll their offsprings in public schools in order to help them adjust to this new American Life. But education in the public schools posed severe cultural hazards. The public school taught American subjects with American values. The foreign children were judged by American cultural standards of conduct. In this position the foreign children were caught between their old culture and the new American culture. This had definite results: A limited number abandoned their embarrassing heritage-to accept American standards; a larger number sought to forget their traditional background regarding them as inferior-lead ing to family disruption and disintegration . Finally, the largest group failed to adjust to school and left feeling disregarded, discouraged and inferior .14 The public school encouraged the disintegration of Slovak families. The Slovaks had successfully resisted attempts of assimilation by stronger cultures in the past, but now they faced the task of resisting assimilation in a foreign land. To be assimilated meant the destruction of their culture. The chief means of assimilation was through education, as was attempted in their past history. Though it was largely an unconscious process by which America imposed its own standard of ideals on the new- �SLOVAKIA 137 comers, the public schools were succeeding in imposing a common English culture upon the children of many nationalities. 15 By treating the immigrant as a native the public school disregarded his culture and background. What was needed was a means to hand down a suitable portion of his native culture in order to provide a past, thus avoiding an identity crisis. The public school system could not provide this necessity in full. What was needed was a new system that could teach their children good American citizenship and preserve in them a profitable appreciation of the language, culture and tradition of their forefathers, while still providing a sufficient academic education. Fearing further disintegration of their culture, the Slovaks began searching and discussing alternatives in the development of Slovak America. REV. MATTHEW JANKOLA ASSUMES LEADERSHIP A leader in this search for a solution to the American Slovak's educational needs was Father Matthew Jankola. He spent much time studying his fellow Slovaks in their new surroundings. Early in his life he wrote: "We have a serious problem, the problem of educating our children according to American methods, and for American citizenship, without, however, destroying their cultural character and their cultural traditions." 16 With this attitude Father Jankola formed an Association of Priests in 1903 to consider the question of providing for the Catholic education of Slovak youth. Father Jankola began his studies for the priesthood in his native Slovakia. But under pressure from both the Hungarian civil and ecclesiastical authorities, which frowned apon Slovak devotion to Saints Cyril and Methodius, and the fostering of Slovak nationalism, Father Jankola sought refuge in America. 17 He arrived in 1893, and finished his studies at Saint Bonaventure's Seminary in Allegheny, New York. As a priest Father Jankola dedicated himself to the problem of cultural disintegration of his people, begun in Hungary and now continuing in America. It was on behalf of this couse that Father Jankola directed his early writings. When considering education, Father Jankola looked to its broader meaning of culture, rather than its narrow sense of formal schooling. He felt �138 SLOVAKIA that next to the parish church must be a school, because without Catholic schools the Catholic Church had no future, no assured existence. Father Jankola saw the parish church alone and unaided by a Catholic school as but a "feeble barrier" against the rapid onrush of worldliness and a too sudden Americanization for Slovak youth. Further, to preserve the Slovak national character, the children must be educated in Slovak schools with religious principles. Father Jankola held the schools as helpful for religious training, and necessary also to preserve nationality. In Father Jankola's mind the church directed religion, not language; for the teaching of language, which fosters the national spirit, teachers and schools were needed.18 In this spirit Father Jankola called for the establishment of schools, staffed by Slovak Sisters. His initial contact with the Slovak people on this project was done through the newspapers, such as the weekly Jednota. Many attempts were made · to secure Slavic Sisters, but to no avail. This was a time of heavy immigration causing the demand for Sisters in America to be very great. Confronted with the problem of no available Sisters for his project, Father Jankola suggested the possibility of founding a Religious Community for the education of Slovak youth. The suggestion was received favorably, so Father Jankola sought Slovak candidates to train in an American Sisterhood, which would later branch off into an independent congregation as their numbers grew. A Czech Benedictine Community of Sisters expressed willingness to receive and educate Slovak girls. Father Jankola secured three aspirants who were sent to the Czech Sisters in Chicago. But this project failed when the girls became discontented and wished to return to Pennsylvania. Their return was hard on Father Jankola, but their young age and the great distances they had traveled made him sympathetic. 19 Father Jankola did not abandon his project. Instead, upon further study he came in contact with Mother Mary Cyril at Mount St. Mary's Seminary in Scranton, Penna. After considering Father Jankola's plan for a parochial school system under Slovak Sisters, Mother Mary Cyril agreed to accept the young girls. The girls entered Mount Saint Mary's Seminary in November of 1903, to learn the �SLOVAKIA 139 principles of religious life and live according to its Rules. 20 While preparing the Slovak girls for religious teaching and guidance under Mother Mary Cyril and the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Father Jankola began a fund to further his project. He established "St. Anthony's Treasury" which received donations from parishes, societies and individuals. A TEACHING COMMUNITY OF SLOVAK SISTERS IS BORN On September 11, 1909, the first Slovak girls pronounced their religious vows, 21 marking the birth of the Sisters of Saints Cyril and Methodius, honoring the Saints who gave Slovakia its faith and culture. Father Jankola noted that this was the founding of the first Slovak religious sisterhood that the Slovaks ever had, either in Europe or America. At the birth of this new Order Father Jankola set down four principal reasons for its conception: 1) Educate Slovak children 2) Care for Slovak orphans and aged 3) Preserve Slovak culture 4) Pray for the return of Slav schismatics.22 Father Jankola's first principle has been the primary apostolate of the Sisters of SS. Cyril and Methodius. The parish school has always constituted the particular vocation of the Sisters. The Sisters set themselves the traditional objective of education in a Christian spirit to develop and train to the fullest the powers and capacities of a young student's mind and body. They also strove to inculcate principles of true patriotism and citizenship in order to develop enlightened, conscientious American citizens, imbued with Christian attitudes of justice and charity, peace and order, which they feel are the main components for social living. As Slovak American teachers, they endeavored to preserve some of the traditions and the cultural heritage of the Slovak people among the students of Slovak parentage, and to foster in all students an interest and respect for the varied cultures and attitudes that make up the Brotherhood of Man. 23 Through such recognition and acceptance of foreign natures, characteristics, and personalities built from a different culture, the Sisters sought to achieve cultural democracy. To accept cultural democracy means to accept �140 SLOVAKIA a technique of social adjustment that will make possible the preservation of the best of all cultures. 24 This was the desire of the Sisters of SS. Cyril and Methodius. To accept, as well as to be accepted, is the condition for effective pluralism in a nation. Cultural pluralism in the American educational system has existed because we are a multi-cultural, multi-racial, and multi-lingual nation. It was thought that the public school system would Americanize these foreign elements into the melting pot of uniform American culture. The concept of American culture as a mosaic has been the reason for, and the challenge of, the Sisters of SS. Cyril and Methodius. For six years this newly established Community of Sisters continued under the guidance of the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. It was on August 4, 1915, that the Community had its first elections in which Sister Mary (Mihalik) was elected the first Superior General. During this period the Sisters opened their first school to educate children in the Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, marking the beginning of the educational work of the Community. Before this group could be firmly established Mother Mary died in 1916. Her successor was Mother M. Emmanuel whose greatest achievement involved the establishment of a suitable, permanent Motherhouse.25 MOTHER M. EMMANUEL, SS.C.M. (1916-1922) The Sisters had been temporarily situated in Middletown, Pennsylvania. While in this location, Mother M. Emmanuel sought a permanent Motherhouse. She was informed by Reverend Julius Foin about a large tract of land with an old mansion in Danville. Through Bishop Philip R. McDevitt, Mother M. Emmanuel made contact with a local attorney, Ralph Kisner, and was informed that the 'Castle Grove' property was for sale. The Mansion site proper, containing thirteen acres-forty rooms, eleven bathrooms-finished throughout with hardwood, was a relic of the passing iron industry in Danville. There was also an adjoining farm with one hundred thirty-three acres and numerous outbuildings. This enormous dwelling was perfect for Mother M. Emmanuel's aims, but the price was beyond the Community's ability to pay. Upon inspection of this property, Mother M. Emmanuel found that the Mansion had stood �SLOVAKIA 141 vacant for fourteen years, needing numerous repairs. With this in mind she made a meager offer. The actual owner was in France, causing slow communication. Price remained the hindrance as Mother M. Emmanuel would not raise her offer. In March of 1919, Attorney Kisner informed the Sisters that the owner had agreed to drastically reduce his price to meet the Community's needs. Now that the Community's prayers for a Motherhouse had been answered, only the necessary funds for purchase remained an obstacle. The Sisters had saved about half of the required amount, but had discouraging experiences in acquiring the rest. This was the critical period during World War I, causing excess funds to be scarce.26 After futile appeals to the citizens and banks of the Wilkes-Barre area, a heavily populated Slovak community, Mother M. Emmanuel turned to the Danville National Bank for a loan. This bank considered the risk minimal and granted the loan at low interest. With payment secured, the Sisters concluded the 'Castle Grove' deal in June of 1919, and began preparations for the transfer of the Motherhouse from Middletown to its permanent home in Danville. Throughout the summer months in 1919, the Sisters worked to put the house and grounds in order. Within this new convent the Community prepared for the continuance of religious training for its Sisters and converted one of the two ballrooms into a chapel. Holy Mass was first celebrated on Sunday morning, July 6, 1919. With the approach of Autumn all but the Sisters in training took leave of 'Sacred Heart Villa,' as the grounds had been named, to resume their duties in the parish schools. During the War Years the demand for Sisters in parochial schools became very great. The war and the influenza epidemic strongly limited the work of the Sisters.27 As this situation relaxed in the summer of 1920, Mother M. Emmanuel arranged classes for the Sisters to improve their educational resources. The educational progress of the Community was under the direction of the Sisters from Marywood. This was being continued by Mother M. Emmanuel who sought also to further the Community's material progress. She was engaged in soliciting funds from the homes of Slovaks to pay off the Sister's bank loan. Mother M. Emmanuel promoted thrift within her �142 SLOVAKIA Community because she felt the Community would be more secure in the American culture when free from debt. Mother M. Emmanuel's term expired in 1922. She had directed this young Sisterhood through its pioneering days, giving it shelter, resources and existence through the war years. Mother M. Emmanuel's main contribution was, of course, the establishment of the Motherhouse that was to become the center of Slovak culture in America. MOTHER M. PIUS, SS.C.M. OPENS ST. CYRIL ACADEMY IN 1922 By the choice of the Sisters, Sister M. Pius was elected the third Superior General. Bishop McDevitt, who supervised the election, also commented on the importance of the Sisters' studies because someday the civil authorities would require that every teacher must be certified by the State of Pennsylvania. Certification would be important in having the Community accepted as a competent educational institution in American society. Now that they had an established center, the Sisters could begin to focus their educational mission with greater assurance. The Sisters of SS. Cyril and Methodius had always wished for the establishment of a high school and boarding school for girls. Presently, they were only employed in elementary education. This idea for an institution of higher education for their own children was popular among the Slovaks. In addition to the regularly prescribed American branches, they wanted their offsprings to be taught the mother tongue and trained to appreciate the historical and cultural traditions of their nation. 28 To this wish Mother M. Pius responded. Mother M. Pius expressed a desire to have an official from the Department of Public Instruction in Harrisburg come to Danville to give a lecture on the requirements of the State, regarding the equipment and function of a high school and its accreditation. In August of 1922, Doctor Edward Hoban arrived from Harrisburg and explained such subjects as extension courses, summer school, teacher certificates, teaching of foreign languages, importance of teaching citizenship, the teaching of historical and social studies, and the necessity of physical education. This lecture assured the commencement of preparation for a high school on American terms. �SLOVAKIA 143 The following week an advertisement appeared in the Slovak newspapers stating that the Sisters of SS. Cyril and Methodius had equipped part of their convent at Danville as a boarding school for girls. To conform to American standards the equipment of the high school called for two very important departments -the Library and the Laboratory for the Sciences. Both of these were begun with the opening of the school. Books acquired were those recommended by the Department o! Education. Also a large selection of Catholic and Slovak books supplemented the Community's aim of a multicultural education. In all, nineteen pupils attended the first year of the First Catholic Slovak Girls High School, indicating a desire on the part of the Slovaks to have their children educated in a Slovak, as well as an American atmosphere. Towards the close of the first year in the spring of 1923, a small group of students ventured into the school's first extra-curricular activity. These girls formed a Literary Society in which they compiled a little booklet of essays, stories, and poems. Under Mother M. Pius' encouragement this activity continued, resulting in the first issue of the bi-lingual (Slovak and American) school magazine, Fialky (Violets). The Fialky were thereafter issued semi-annually until 1940 and then annually until 1970, when it ceased publication. During the summer vacation Mother M. Pius encouraged the Sisters toward further studies, hoping to improve their competence as teachers. She was anxious to secure state certification for as many Sisters as could qualify. Now that the Community was engaged in all levels of education, Mother M. Pius wished to secure them within the American educational system through accreditation. The Academy's opening in the second year exposed space problems as enrollment grew. Mother Pius expressed the need for a strong building fund and enacted new collection drives among the Slovak people. The number of students steadily increased into the third and fourth year.• With the fourth year the need for accredition increased as the first graduation approached. The school was informed that the State Representatives would make an official inspection at the school year's end. That June, just a week before graduation, the State �144 SLOVAKIA Inspector arrived and spent a day inspecting the school, interviewing both the staff and the students. The State Representative, Doctor Pentz, found the Slovak students being educated and trained in all that the modern high schools offered, and in their Religion and mother tongue as well. To this he expressed his satisfaction, commenting on the orderly and methodological way in which the different departments were being conducted. 29 After Dr. Pentz reported the Academy as "first class" in both arrangement and curriculum, the school received a telegram, congratulating teachers and students on receiving accreditation from the State. This good news arrived just days before the first graduation, much to the Sisters' delight. While preparations for this first commencement progressed, another great event was in prospect, namely, the Eucharistic Congress in Chicago. This event made a great impact on the first commencement of the First Catholic Slovak Girls High School. Accreditation from the State of Pennsylvania proved the Sisters' ability to provide their students with a fitting education in their new society, but what remained to be seen was whether or not the Sisters could live up to the task of preserving Slovak culture in America. Slovak American culture was to receive a fresh impetus by the Eucharistic Congress held in Chicago. Due to attend the Congress were four bishops from Slovakia. The presence of these Slovak bishops greatly excited the Slovak Americans and especially the Sisters of SS. Cyril and Methodius, since through the influence of Bishop McDevitt arrangements were made to have these four bishops attend the Academy's first graduation. The date of the festivity was June 14, 1926. Under the guidance of Bishop McDevitt, who presided at the First Graduation ceremony, the entire Community and students assembled at the Convent's gate to welcome the visiting bishops. Upon the arrival of the Slovak bishops, who were traveling in European fashion, clad in cassock and purple cincture, the commencement proceeded with prayers, songs, and speeches. The speeches were delivered in Slovak, calling for a continuance of Catholic education. Bishop McDevitt's address underscored the advantages which the �SLOVAKIA 145 Slovak people can derive from a solid Catholic education. He also pointed out that this could be done because the American government stood to protect the religious rights of all American citizens. The theme of religious pluralism in America was carried further by the Senior Bishop from Slovakia in a speech that noted how this American government respects, upholds, and protects the religious liberty of the people who found refuge under her banner. Bishop Marian Blaha further cited the great accomplishments of the American Slovaks. Their ability to provide a Catholic education while preserving their mother tongue greatly impressed him. Then as an old Slovak proverb states, "Every perfect day must end even as the sweetest song" -this first commencement was no exception; it was concluded by a student chorale of inspirational Slovak songs.30 The first graduation was a significant milestone in the history of the Sisters of SS. Cyril and Methodius. It was their first public manifestation of their educational standards and traditions. The graduation exercise presented a new phase in the mission of the Slovak Sisters. Their people realized that Danville would not only house a Convent and an Academy, but would be the center of genuine culture for the Slovaks in America. To attain a status combining a true Americanism with an appreciation of the spirit and traditions of their native land was the Community's desire.31 With this spirit of appreciation, encouraged by the sharp increase of applicants, new thoughts of building were entertained. But unlike before, the Slovak people, organizations and individuals alike, urged this step. These groups advised a general benefit drive for funds, alleging the time was ripe for such a movement since industrial conditions were favorable and the people were willing to donate.32 In the spring of 1927 Mother M. Pius presented a letter of the officers of the First Catholic Slovak Ladies' Union, another element of Slovak-American culture, announcing the drive for a building fund. When Mother M. Pius asked for their contribution, she was immediately promised five thousand dollars. The response elsewhere was the same. The Slovak newspapers pushed the drive and local groups competed in fund raising. This favorable reaction illustrates the Slovak-Americans' desire for an enlarged Slovak cultural center in America. �146 SLOVAKIA With the building fund well under way, Mother M. Pius contracted Architect Bernard Starr of Harrisburg, who in turn sought the assistance of Harry Sternfeld of Philadelphia. A spot for the new building was selected on the Villa Sacred Heart campus, and Mr. Sternfeld sketched a building dominated by a central tower. This initial plan brought eriticism for its "needless extravagance," but Mother M. Pius retained the plan as the answer to the needs of the Community, plus the cultural, educational and religious needs of the Slovak-American people. The Community wasted no time in beginning the new building. Ground was broken on May 23, 1929, in a ceremony which the local Danville Morning News described as an event to go down in Slovak history. 33 The speakers' program included representatives of the church, state, and Slovak national life. As the building progressed, the country entered the depression of the 1930's. By the time the building was completed, economic tension was beginning to be felt everywhere.34 With this in mind, Mother M. Pius avoided any elaborate dedication ceremony. This new building was made to catch the spirit of the past and to intepret it with a contemporaneous point of view in order to make it fit actual conditions.35 Its design was in accord with the ideals of the Sisters of SS. Cyril and Methodius, who hoped to blend the past into a new, usable present. In a more practical manner the new building provided an institution solely devoted to the education of the Slovak people and the preserving of their culture. It was viewed as a national work, one that provided b roader limits and better accommodations which would produce greater results. 36 The local paper saw the building as a monument to the Slovak people of America, and considered it one of the local community's finest aspects.37 The Sisters moved into their new building in September of 1931. The following three years were quiet, filled with earnest activity toward the educational goals of the Community. This period ended with the significant year of 1934, the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Community's existence. In those twenty-five years the Community developed and established itself in a permanent Motherhouse, which in turn had developed the First Catholic Slovak Girls' High �SLOVAKIA 147 School, crowned by the magnificent new building. This had been done under three Superiors General-Mother Mary, Mother M. Emmanuel, Mother M. Pius-all of whom promoted the cultivation of the Slovak language and history, which, with religion, constitute the two outstanding characteristics of the Slovak Academy. Extra-curricular activities, like Fialky and Cyrilika-a society for fostering interest in Slovak journalism-as well as customs established for the practical study of Slovak, such as speaking Slovak all day every Saturday, and the annual observance of Slovak Week, acquired notice and approval. The observance of Slovak tradition gave this Academy a unique position in the field of American education.38 With a high spirit of celebration the Silver Jubilee of the Sisters of SS. Cyril and Methodius commenced. The Jubilee marked still another turning point in the Community's history as it came at the close of Mother M. Pius' long administration. Her work finished laying a firm foundation which became the base for a promising era of new growth. MOTHER M. EMERENTIA, SS.C.M. (1934-1946) In this new period of the Community's history the work of the Academy advanced quietly, with gratifying results in the field of Slovak-American culture. When Mother M. Emerentia was elected Superior General in 1934, she encouraged Slovak interests and cultural projects like formal programs, dramatic productions, Slovak readings, folk song festivals and, above all, research and creative writing on Slovak topics. Mother M. Emerentia was also responsible for the compilation of Slovak language texts and hymnals used widely in Slovak elementary schools and parishes in America. The early years of Mother M. Emerentia's administration coincided with the greatest period of the depression. Though there was no drop in student enrollment, neither was there the marked increase that would have normally been the case.• These drawbacks, however, had advantages. The subdued quiet of the interval was conducive to a greater concentration on school work, both regular and extracurricular. Correspondence with students in Slovakia '' See enrollment figures; Table I. �148 SLOVAKIA was an activity greatly enjoyed by the students of St. Cyril Academy. It was also during these years that the school was favored by a number of distinguished visitors from Slovakia, including a delegation from the Slovak Institute of Arts and Sciences, a group of students from the Slovak unit of Pax Romana, plus numerous distinguished scholars, writers, and statesmen, including the Slovak martyr, Msgr. Joseph Tiso.39 When our country was drawn into war on December 8, 1941, the first care of the Motherhouse was directed toward the Sisters and their pupils in the parish schools. The Community placed its trust in God and His care of our country, and classes went on as usual. However, extracurricular activities were directed toward war needs. Beyond the prayers for peace, the Community and its students turned out quantities of knitted sweaters and helmets. They experienced the value of thrift by rationing food and collected all scraps such as fats, iron and paper. The Sisters also joined in relief efforts for their native land. An extensive relief project for the war sufferers in Slovakia was aided by the Community, which sent abroad numerous packages of relief materials. The motherhouse was a center for this organized relief work. The relief project continued in action even after the war, when Slovakia again was suppressed by a stronger force. Following a remarkably successful and flourishing six-year period of self-rule under the Presidency of Tiso, the Slovak government collapsed when victory came to Russia and the Allies. 40 With this victory Slovakia was overrun by the Communists. Their occupation of the country led to the execution of Msgr. Tiso, plus the silencing of many bishops and priests. The people of Slovakia remained in destitution; hence, the necessity for relief work to continue until the Iron Curtain cut off all communication. 41 The Communist occupation caused more refugees to seek freedom and sanctuary from Slovakia. As thousands came to America, the Sisters of SS. Cyril and Methodius and their students enjoyed fresh contacts with persons of their fatherland. Priests and professional people willingly gave lectures to both the Sisters and the students, chiefly on conditions in Slovakia and on topics of Slovak history. �SLOVAKIA 149 Several high school students from Slovakia enrolled in the Academy, thus enriching the Slovak-American culture. MOTHER M. CRESCENTIA, SS.C.M. (1946-1958) While the Slovak-American tradition was being enriched during these post-war years, a new Superior General was elected, placing renewed importance on the educational aspects of the Academy. Mother M. Crescentia realized that during the earlier years the educational objectives could not be pursued as fully as desired since more urgent activities were at hand. In time, however, conditions improved, so that more and better organized work could be done in the field of teacher education. Mother M. Crescentia took advantage of this situation, arranging for more Sisters to take college courses in a greater variety of fields. With this renewed progress in the Sisters' personal educational ventures, activities in the Academy moved apace. The student enrollment at the Academy, which increased only to a minor extent after the depression, now began rapid growth. This growth of the Academy advanced steadily into the fifties, causing every available space within the Academy to be filled. It necessitated the building of Saint Philomena Hall to be used for students' living and classrooms. Also in the fifties, the Community worked for the founding of Father Jankola. They are Villa Saint Cyril in Highland Park, Illinois, and Maria Joseph Manor in Danville, Pennsylvania. By 1958 the Community had a new Superior General in the person of Mother M. Bernard. MOTHER M. BERNARD, SS.C.M. (1958-1970) The highlight of this decade was the observance of the Community's Golden Jubilee. It was climaxed by the celebration of a Roman-Slavonic Mass on the Villa campus in the presence of five thousand visitors from all parts of the country.42 It was the first Roman rite vernacular Mass ever offered on this continent. The increased enrollment and the large turnout for the Roman-Slavonic Mass indicates the strong support the Academy received from the Slovak-American people in its preserving of Slovak culture. The early sixties were also highlighted by a large celebration honoring another aspect of the Comunity's Slovak heritage. The year 1963 marked the eleven hundredth �150 SLOVAKIA anniversary of the arrival of SS. Cyril and Methodius among the Slovaks. In addition to the Community celebration in America, the Sisters of SS. Cyril and Methodius participated in a week-long observance in Rome, involving numerous Slovak pilgrims, who had assembled there for the dedication of the Slovak Institute of SS. Cyril and Methodius, a seminary for the training of priests for Slovakia. THE JANKOLA LIBRARY The latter sixties and early seventies for St. Cyril Academy had been dominated by two cherished Slovak projects. First was the active cooperation with the Apostolate of the Slovak Institute of SS. Cyril and Methodius in Rome, begun during the 1963 pilgrimage. Second was the professional development of the Jankola Library at the Academy. This Library is a center of Slovak culture and learning for St. Cyril Academy and Slovak America. It is called Jankola Library in honor of the founder of the Community and promoter of Slovak-American culture, Father Matthew Jankola. The Library provides invaluable resources for study and research purposes, as well as literary works to enrich the Slovak spirit. Jankola Library contains over six thousand (6,000) fully catalogued items on its shelves with several hundred more reserved for further processing.43 Beyond just Slovak books this Library also promotes Slovak-American culture with its large collection of Slovak art. Included among its treasures are a large unusual map of Czecho-Slovakia, an artistically costumed mannequin representing the Slovak tradition, and a large, valuable collection of Slovak ceramic art, some embroidery and sizeable pieces of cutglass sent from Slovakia. This Library with its vast assortment of Slovak art is truly a tribute to Slovakia's culture. With Jankola Library as its Slovak center, SS. Cyril Academy still provides an excellent American education. It offers a wide range of courses, including four foreign languages.* Besides educating students for social living in America, the Academy can also train girls for a religious teaching life within its own Community. The Sisters of SS. Cyril and Methodius are presently teaching in parish schools and eight (8) high schools, including a boarding * Source listing of St. Cyril Academy. Table II. �151 SLOVAKIA school for girls. 0 Education of Slovak children continues to be the principal vocation of a Sister of SS. Cyril and Methodius. It is to these children that a Sister dedicates herseJf and hopes to preserve Slovakia's heritage. Today, the St. Cyril Academy is justifiably proud of tts accomplishments during the past fifty ( 50) years. Both the teaching Sisters and their students are fully educated in, and cognizant of, their dual heritage. The traditions and artifacts of Slovak culture have been preserved; while at the same time, each graduate is proud to be an American. St. Cyril Academy continues to revere its Slovak past. The Sisters continue to aid the suppressed people of Slovakia, but now this is done indirectly to the extent possible. It is the desire of the Sisters of the Academy to provide their countrymen with new hope of cultural freedom by showing them the accomplishments that have been possible in America. This Academy is rightly considered the center of Slovak culture in America. "" List of schools staffed by Sisters of SS. Cyril and Methodius. Table III. TABLE I Enrollment figures of St. Cyril Academy, Danville, Pa. Year 1925-26 1926-27 1927-28 1928-29 1929-30 1930-31 1931-32 1932-33 1933-34 1934-35 1935-36 1936-37 1937-38 1938-39 1939-40 1940-41 Total Number of Students 38 39 44 47 42 61 75 69 60 58 52 58 54 50 60 70 Year 1941-42 1942-43 1943-44 1944-45 1945-46 1946-47 1947-48 1948-49 1949-50 1950-51 1951-52 1952-53 1953-54 1954-55 1955-56 1956-57 Total Number of Students 66 55 55 69 91 96 90 107 112 109 123 138 148 153 157 180 Total Number Year of Students 1957-58 1958-59 1959-60 1960-61 1961-62 1962-63 1963-64 1964-65 1965-66 1966-67 1967-68 1968-69 1969-70 1970-71 1971-72 1972-73 181 175 162 182 202 195 202 171 156 178 120 108 104 101 108 106 �SLOVAKIA 152 TABLE II Curriculum of St. Cyril Academy FIRST YEAR Religion I English I Algebra I Intr. Physical Science Physical Education Chorus World Culture I Latin I Spanish I French I Slovak I Foods Art I Art Appreciation Music Appreciation Health Education Piano Interpretive Dance SECOND YEAR Religion II English II Geometry Biology Physical Education Chorus World Culture II Latin II French II Spanish II Slovak II Foods Clothing I Art II Piano Interpretive Dance THIRD YEAR Religion III English III Algebra II Chemistry Physical Education Chorus American Culture I Latin III Spanish III French III Slovak III Foods Advanced Clothing Art III Piano Interpretive Dance Typing I Stenography I �SLOVAKIA 153 FOURTH YEAR Religion IV English IV Business English Math 12 Advanced Biology Physical Education Chorus American Culture II Latin IV Spanish IV French IV Slovak IV Advanced Clothing Art IV Speech Piano Interpretive Dance Typing II Stenography II Bookkeeping Business Law TABLE III SCHOOLS STAFFED BY SIS'llEIBS OF SS. CYRIL AND METHODIUS Berwick, Pa. Bloomsburg, Pa. Binghamton, N. Y. Binghamton, N. Y. Bridgeport, Conn. Bridgeport, Pa. Charleston, S. C. Charleston, S. C. Chicago, Ill. East Vandergrift, Pa. Endicott, N. Y. Gary, Indiana Hazleton, Pa. Jessup, Pa. Lebanon, Pa. Luzerne, Pa. Nanticoke, Pa. New York, N. Y. Olyphant, Pa. Perth Amboy, N. J. Phoenixville, Pa. Pittston, Pa. Plymouth, Pa. Stratford, Conn. Swoyersville, Pa. Torrington, Conn. St. Mary's School St. Columba School SS. Cyril and Methodius School St. Ann's School SS. Cyril and Methodius School Mother of Sorrows School Blessed Sacrament School Nativity School SS. Simon and Jude School Holy Trinity School St. Joseph School Holy Trinity School St. Joseph School St. Michael's School SS. Cyril and Methodius School St. John Nepomucene School St. Joseph School St. John Nepomucene School Holy Ghost School Holy Trinity School Sacred Heart of Jesus School St. John Baptist School St. Stephen School Sacred Name of Jesus School Holy Trinity School Sacred Heart of Jesus School �SLOVAKIA 154 Immaculate Conception School Sacred Heart of Jesus School Holy Trinity School Whiting, Ind. Wilkes-Barre, Pa. Yonkers, N. Y. IDGH SCHOOLS Andrean High School Dunmore Catholic High School Lourdes H. S. Lebanon Catholic H. S. Kingston Catholic Central Catholic Central H. S. Catholic Central (St. Pius X) Blessed Sacrament Academy St. Cyril Academy 1. Gary, Ind. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Dunmore, Pa. Shamokin, Pa. Lebanon, Pa. Kingston, Pa. Charleston, S. C. Pottstown, Pa. Yonkers, N. Y. Danville, Pa. FOOTNOTES 1) David F . Bowers, "Social and Cultural Impact" in For eign Influences in American Life (Princeton, 1944) , p. 1. 2) Emily Balch, Our Slavic Fellow Citizens (New York, 1969), p. 86. 3) The Slovak Nation, Manuscript in Sisters of SS. Cyril and Methodius Community Archives, Danville, Pennsylvania. 4 ) Ibid. 5) Education in Slovakia, Manuscript in SS. C. M Community Archives, composition by M . I. Angelovic, pp. 88. 6) Ibid. 7) Ear liest Immigration, Ms. in SS. C. M. Community Archives. 8 ) Emily Balch, Our Slavic Fellow Citizens, p . 108. 9 ) Earliest Immigration Ms. 10) Francis Brown and Joseph Roucek, "Czechoslovak American" in One America (New York, 1946), p. 147. 11) In 1899, there were eight Slovak priests in America. Earliest Immigration Ms. 12) The Slovaks divide their settlement in America into three Ages: Church Age, School Age, and Institution Age. Ibid. 13) Daniel Tanzone, "The Slovak Experience in Contemporary America" in Slovakia (Middletown, Pa., 1972), p. 129. 14) Francis Brown and Joseph Roucek, Our Racial and National Minorities (New York, 1937), p. 602. 15) Timothy Smith, "New Approaches to the History of Immigration in 20th Century America", in The America Historical Review LXXI, (July 1966), p. 127. �155 SLOVAKIA 16) Contributions of Reverend Matthew Jankola to Slovak Catholic Education in the United States, Ms. in SS. C. M. Community Archives, composition by Sister M. Consuela Gregorovic, p. 14. 17) Ibid. , p. 3. 18 ) Earliest Plans, Ms. in SS. C. M. Community Archives. 19) Ibid . 20) Ibid. 21) The girls wer,e Mary Mihalik, Mary Bartek and Mary Pauly. 22) Father Jankola, Ms., pp. 38-46. 23) Philosophy of Saint Cyril Academy, Ms. 24) Francis Brown and Joseph Roucek, Our America, p. 501. 25) The Educational Activities of the Sisters of SS. Cyril and Methodius in the United States, Ms. in SS. C. M. C-Ommunity Archives, composition by Sister Maria Berchmans Teplicky, p. 4. 26) Danville, Ms. in SS. C. M. Community Archives. 27) Ibid. 28) Educational Expansion, Ms. in SS. C.M. Community Archives. 29) Josephine M. Marcinko, "A Little Historical Sketch" in Fialky (Danville, 1927), p. 23. 30) Edttcational Expansion, Ms. 31) Preparing to Build, Ms. in SS. C. M. Community Archives. 32) Ibid. 33) Morning News, (Danville, May 23, 1929), p. 6. 34 ) Brief History of the Congregation of the Sisters of Saints Cyril and Methodius, Ms. in SS. C. M. Community Archives, composition by Mother M. Emerentia Petrasek, p. 85. 35) Fialky, (Danville, 1931), p. 82. 36) Brief History, Ms., Petrasek, p. 85. 37) Morning News, (Danville, June 8, 1931), p. 4. 38) Brief History, Ms., Petrasek, pp. 88-90. 39 ) Ibid. , p. 108. 40 ) Joseph Pauco, Slovakia, pp. 26-28. 41) Brief History, Ms., Petrasek, p. 125. 42) Sisters of Saints Cyril and Methodius, Jankola Book, (Danville, 1972) , p. 90. 43) SS. C. M., Jankola Book, p. 108. � 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 1974, Vol. 24 Description An account of the resource Vol. 24 (No. 47), 1974. 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 1974 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 132 SLOVAKIA William W a g n e r : The Sisters of SS. Cyril and Methodius and the Preservation of Slovak Culture in America The research involved in writing the history of an ethnic teaching community presented me with two problems. First, there are relatively few works completed on American ethnic groups, including the Slovak Americans. Secondly, the past of this particular teaching Community, the Sisters of SS. Cyril and Methodius, has been largely recorded only by the Sisters of that Community. Therefore, my research on the Slovak past ( still predominantly written in the Slovak tongue) and my compiling of the Community's history were very dependent on the writings of the Sisters of the Community. I believe my work is objective, because of the limitation of my knowledge of the Community's religious life, thus removing me from a biased influence. All in all, I attempted to deal with this subject in such a manner as to present an honest view of the history and purpose surrounding the Sisters of SS. Cyril and Methodius. My appreciation is extended to Reverend Mother M. Valeria Romanchek and special thanks are expressed to the Sisters of SS. Cyril and Methodius for their helpful cooperation and endless assistance and guidance throughout the researching of this paper. I dedicate this history to Reverend Mother M. Emerentia Petrasek, former Community historian, upon whose research of the Slovak past and the tracing of the Community's growth I so heavily relied. THE ROOTS OF SLOVAK CULTURE ARE CENTURIES OLD The United States is the most important immigrant receiving country in the world. Between 1850 and 1930 no less than thirty-eight million people settled within our borders. 1 Although early in this immigration period many SLOVAKIA 133 newcomers strove to sever ties with the old world, a sizeable portion continued to look reverently upon their past. The Slovak American, who journeyed to this country primarily in the later wave of European immigration, were such a group. The Slovaks feared the loss of their native culture to a new growing American culture because their past history consisted of repeated attempts at such assimilation. But also in America the Slovak hoped for the chance and the right to have his own life. The Sisters of SS. Cyril and Methodius are a teaching community dedicated to preserving and promoting this American Slovak culture. Because one-third of all Slovaks live in America,2 the Sisters' preservation of their culture is extremely important to the overall existence of the Slovak people as a national entity. The Slovak people are a small part of the Slavic family found on the European continent. Ethnologists place the Slovaks in the Western Slavic group, which also includes Poles, Czechs and Moravians. Commonly but erroneously the Slovaks are considered only a part of the "Czechoslovak Nation," but during the ten centuries of Slovak history, the Slovaks did not live in a common state with the Czechs until 1918. Little is known of the early Slavs. Ancient Greeks and Romans made contact, but left few records. Early recorded Slovak history tells of struggles with Asiatic tribes, particularly the Avari to whom the Slovaks were subjected for almost a century. The subjection was followed by the influence and reign of the Franks. 3 The early Slovak was pagan and war-like. He had many customs but few laws. He was chiefly agricultural and believed in various superstitions. This type of religion held fast until the ninth century when Prince Pribina, the first direct Slovak ruler of Slavic birth, established the first Slavic Christian church. Pribina's efforts to christianize his people met with little success, largely because he was dependent on Frankish missionaries whose language his people could not understand. 4 In 846 Pribina's court surrendered to Rastislav, a skillful warrior, who succeeded in winning independence from the Franks. Rastislav sought religious as well as political freedom. In the year 863 Prince Rastislav invited the two 134 SLOVAKIA holy brothers, Constantine and Methodius, to come from Constantinople and work among the Slovak people. These Byzantine missionaries found it necessary to invent an alphabet for the Slavs, so that the Holy Scriptures could be given to them in their own tongue. After having the use of the Slavonic tongue in Western Liturgy sanctioned by the Roman Pope, Methodius returned to Slovakia as a bishop. Constantine meanwhile had died in Rome in 869 , after entering a monastery there and assuming the name of Cyril. By means of their translations of the Holy Scriptures Constantine and Methodius laid the foundations of Slavic literature. The introduction of schools went hand in hand with this introduction and spread of Christianity in Slovakia.5 Archbishop Methodius continued his teaching and missionary activity until his death in 885. That period of political independence for Slovakia lasted but a short time. Slovakia was soon incorporated into the State of Hungary, which during medieval times consisted of various nations. During this period known as 'The Thousand Years of Oppression', the Slovaks' civil life declined and thus their national consciousness was under a cloud. The Lutheran Reformation, the Turkish invasion of Hungary in 1526 and the Counter-Reformation led by the Jesuits all had varying effects on Slovak education. But it was not until the suppression of the Jesuit Order in 1773 and the state control of education under Empress Maria Theresa, that the Slovak education was directed by any one source. The State of Hungary considered it its duty to provide for the education of its people, hoping to make the power of the state felt in every phase of life.6 The reigns of Maria Theresa and Joseph II saw an expansion of education and also an attempt at Germanization of the Slovaks. Joseph's attempt at Germanization was significantly challenged in 1847 and replaced by Hungarian Magyarization. Whether Germanization or Magyarization the NonHungarian Nationalities' interests were ignored. In 1867 the 'Austro-Hungarian Compromise' touched off rapid action to create a unitary Hungary by Magyarizing all departments of public life, especially the schools. The aim of this policy was the complete assimilation and SLOVAKIA 135 conversion of Slovakia into a purely Magyar Province of Hungary. Since language is the chief symbol of nationality, the Slovak language was suppressed. Poor economically and having their national ideals and traditions submerged, the Slovaks began seeking a new way to improve their life. U.S. SHINES WITH HOPE FOR SLOVAK IMMIGRANTS Immigration held the dream of a better life. The heaviest immigration of the Slovaks occurred between 1890 and 1900.7 It must be stressed that the majority of immigrants came to America for economic reasons, few peasants ever left East Europe during this period due to political reasons, though politics did cause many not to return. 8 The first immigrants were usually the fathers of the Slovak families, hoping for quick economic gain, and a subsequent return to their native land and families. But once in America few immigrants returned. They found employment that significantly raised their living standard. Though in a strange, sometimes hostile land, the immigrant recognized the ideals of freedom that he was denied in his homeland. As thoughts of returning to their native land diminished, the pioneering immigrants sent for their families to join them in their adopted country. 9 Once the immigrant families had situated themselves in this new land, they were faced with problems of adjustment. The majority of the Slovak immigrants settled in the industrial East, seeking employment with the mining industries, particularly in Pennsylvania. Since the closing of the American frontier the greatest means of livelihood for new immigrants was in these rising industrial areas.10 As the economic necessity of making a living diminished, the new Americans turned to their social needs. Subsequently as the new settlements became more permanent, these Slovak immigrants turned to their religious needs. They began by building community parishes, while searching for Slovak priests who were few in number in this time of early immigration.11 The churches provided a common bond upon which were built beneficial organizations, such as the organizations of the First Catholic Slovak Union known as Jednota. It was the purpose of these beneficial groups to locate and unite the scattered elements 136 SLOVAKIA of American Slovaks. Unity was usually provided through the weekly Slovak newspapers. EDUCATION AL ASPIRATIONS OF AMERICAN SLOVAKS Upon completion of the drive to build parishes the Slovaks had finished with what they call the Church Age of their settlement in America. 12 Having established themselves within their own community, they were faced with the task of joining the larger American community. Obviously, they needed to learn the English language and familiarize themselves with American customs. It was over this need for education that friction developed. On the one hand the immigrant desired to be accepted in this new environment; yet on the other, he also desired to preserve his own cultural past. The first generation immigrant was taught English usually by his employer and did not have his culture challenged, thus resisting assimilation. 13 It was the education of successive generations that presented the problem of cultural alienation. The apparent choice in education was to enroll their offsprings in public schools in order to help them adjust to this new American Life. But education in the public schools posed severe cultural hazards. The public school taught American subjects with American values. The foreign children were judged by American cultural standards of conduct. In this position the foreign children were caught between their old culture and the new American culture. This had definite results: A limited number abandoned their embarrassing heritage-to accept American standards; a larger number sought to forget their traditional background regarding them as inferior-lead ing to family disruption and disintegration . Finally, the largest group failed to adjust to school and left feeling disregarded, discouraged and inferior .14 The public school encouraged the disintegration of Slovak families. The Slovaks had successfully resisted attempts of assimilation by stronger cultures in the past, but now they faced the task of resisting assimilation in a foreign land. To be assimilated meant the destruction of their culture. The chief means of assimilation was through education, as was attempted in their past history. Though it was largely an unconscious process by which America imposed its own standard of ideals on the new- SLOVAKIA 137 comers, the public schools were succeeding in imposing a common English culture upon the children of many nationalities. 15 By treating the immigrant as a native the public school disregarded his culture and background. What was needed was a means to hand down a suitable portion of his native culture in order to provide a past, thus avoiding an identity crisis. The public school system could not provide this necessity in full. What was needed was a new system that could teach their children good American citizenship and preserve in them a profitable appreciation of the language, culture and tradition of their forefathers, while still providing a sufficient academic education. Fearing further disintegration of their culture, the Slovaks began searching and discussing alternatives in the development of Slovak America. REV. MATTHEW JANKOLA ASSUMES LEADERSHIP A leader in this search for a solution to the American Slovak's educational needs was Father Matthew Jankola. He spent much time studying his fellow Slovaks in their new surroundings. Early in his life he wrote: "We have a serious problem, the problem of educating our children according to American methods, and for American citizenship, without, however, destroying their cultural character and their cultural traditions." 16 With this attitude Father Jankola formed an Association of Priests in 1903 to consider the question of providing for the Catholic education of Slovak youth. Father Jankola began his studies for the priesthood in his native Slovakia. But under pressure from both the Hungarian civil and ecclesiastical authorities, which frowned apon Slovak devotion to Saints Cyril and Methodius, and the fostering of Slovak nationalism, Father Jankola sought refuge in America. 17 He arrived in 1893, and finished his studies at Saint Bonaventure's Seminary in Allegheny, New York. As a priest Father Jankola dedicated himself to the problem of cultural disintegration of his people, begun in Hungary and now continuing in America. It was on behalf of this couse that Father Jankola directed his early writings. When considering education, Father Jankola looked to its broader meaning of culture, rather than its narrow sense of formal schooling. He felt 138 SLOVAKIA that next to the parish church must be a school, because without Catholic schools the Catholic Church had no future, no assured existence. Father Jankola saw the parish church alone and unaided by a Catholic school as but a "feeble barrier" against the rapid onrush of worldliness and a too sudden Americanization for Slovak youth. Further, to preserve the Slovak national character, the children must be educated in Slovak schools with religious principles. Father Jankola held the schools as helpful for religious training, and necessary also to preserve nationality. In Father Jankola's mind the church directed religion, not language; for the teaching of language, which fosters the national spirit, teachers and schools were needed.18 In this spirit Father Jankola called for the establishment of schools, staffed by Slovak Sisters. His initial contact with the Slovak people on this project was done through the newspapers, such as the weekly Jednota. Many attempts were made · to secure Slavic Sisters, but to no avail. This was a time of heavy immigration causing the demand for Sisters in America to be very great. Confronted with the problem of no available Sisters for his project, Father Jankola suggested the possibility of founding a Religious Community for the education of Slovak youth. The suggestion was received favorably, so Father Jankola sought Slovak candidates to train in an American Sisterhood, which would later branch off into an independent congregation as their numbers grew. A Czech Benedictine Community of Sisters expressed willingness to receive and educate Slovak girls. Father Jankola secured three aspirants who were sent to the Czech Sisters in Chicago. But this project failed when the girls became discontented and wished to return to Pennsylvania. Their return was hard on Father Jankola, but their young age and the great distances they had traveled made him sympathetic. 19 Father Jankola did not abandon his project. Instead, upon further study he came in contact with Mother Mary Cyril at Mount St. Mary's Seminary in Scranton, Penna. After considering Father Jankola's plan for a parochial school system under Slovak Sisters, Mother Mary Cyril agreed to accept the young girls. The girls entered Mount Saint Mary's Seminary in November of 1903, to learn the SLOVAKIA 139 principles of religious life and live according to its Rules. 20 While preparing the Slovak girls for religious teaching and guidance under Mother Mary Cyril and the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Father Jankola began a fund to further his project. He established "St. Anthony's Treasury" which received donations from parishes, societies and individuals. A TEACHING COMMUNITY OF SLOVAK SISTERS IS BORN On September 11, 1909, the first Slovak girls pronounced their religious vows, 21 marking the birth of the Sisters of Saints Cyril and Methodius, honoring the Saints who gave Slovakia its faith and culture. Father Jankola noted that this was the founding of the first Slovak religious sisterhood that the Slovaks ever had, either in Europe or America. At the birth of this new Order Father Jankola set down four principal reasons for its conception: 1) Educate Slovak children 2) Care for Slovak orphans and aged 3) Preserve Slovak culture 4) Pray for the return of Slav schismatics.22 Father Jankola's first principle has been the primary apostolate of the Sisters of SS. Cyril and Methodius. The parish school has always constituted the particular vocation of the Sisters. The Sisters set themselves the traditional objective of education in a Christian spirit to develop and train to the fullest the powers and capacities of a young student's mind and body. They also strove to inculcate principles of true patriotism and citizenship in order to develop enlightened, conscientious American citizens, imbued with Christian attitudes of justice and charity, peace and order, which they feel are the main components for social living. As Slovak American teachers, they endeavored to preserve some of the traditions and the cultural heritage of the Slovak people among the students of Slovak parentage, and to foster in all students an interest and respect for the varied cultures and attitudes that make up the Brotherhood of Man. 23 Through such recognition and acceptance of foreign natures, characteristics, and personalities built from a different culture, the Sisters sought to achieve cultural democracy. To accept cultural democracy means to accept 140 SLOVAKIA a technique of social adjustment that will make possible the preservation of the best of all cultures. 24 This was the desire of the Sisters of SS. Cyril and Methodius. To accept, as well as to be accepted, is the condition for effective pluralism in a nation. Cultural pluralism in the American educational system has existed because we are a multi-cultural, multi-racial, and multi-lingual nation. It was thought that the public school system would Americanize these foreign elements into the melting pot of uniform American culture. The concept of American culture as a mosaic has been the reason for, and the challenge of, the Sisters of SS. Cyril and Methodius. For six years this newly established Community of Sisters continued under the guidance of the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. It was on August 4, 1915, that the Community had its first elections in which Sister Mary (Mihalik) was elected the first Superior General. During this period the Sisters opened their first school to educate children in the Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, marking the beginning of the educational work of the Community. Before this group could be firmly established Mother Mary died in 1916. Her successor was Mother M. Emmanuel whose greatest achievement involved the establishment of a suitable, permanent Motherhouse.25 MOTHER M. EMMANUEL, SS.C.M. (1916-1922) The Sisters had been temporarily situated in Middletown, Pennsylvania. While in this location, Mother M. Emmanuel sought a permanent Motherhouse. She was informed by Reverend Julius Foin about a large tract of land with an old mansion in Danville. Through Bishop Philip R. McDevitt, Mother M. Emmanuel made contact with a local attorney, Ralph Kisner, and was informed that the 'Castle Grove' property was for sale. The Mansion site proper, containing thirteen acres-forty rooms, eleven bathrooms-finished throughout with hardwood, was a relic of the passing iron industry in Danville. There was also an adjoining farm with one hundred thirty-three acres and numerous outbuildings. This enormous dwelling was perfect for Mother M. Emmanuel's aims, but the price was beyond the Community's ability to pay. Upon inspection of this property, Mother M. Emmanuel found that the Mansion had stood SLOVAKIA 141 vacant for fourteen years, needing numerous repairs. With this in mind she made a meager offer. The actual owner was in France, causing slow communication. Price remained the hindrance as Mother M. Emmanuel would not raise her offer. In March of 1919, Attorney Kisner informed the Sisters that the owner had agreed to drastically reduce his price to meet the Community's needs. Now that the Community's prayers for a Motherhouse had been answered, only the necessary funds for purchase remained an obstacle. The Sisters had saved about half of the required amount, but had discouraging experiences in acquiring the rest. This was the critical period during World War I, causing excess funds to be scarce.26 After futile appeals to the citizens and banks of the Wilkes-Barre area, a heavily populated Slovak community, Mother M. Emmanuel turned to the Danville National Bank for a loan. This bank considered the risk minimal and granted the loan at low interest. With payment secured, the Sisters concluded the 'Castle Grove' deal in June of 1919, and began preparations for the transfer of the Motherhouse from Middletown to its permanent home in Danville. Throughout the summer months in 1919, the Sisters worked to put the house and grounds in order. Within this new convent the Community prepared for the continuance of religious training for its Sisters and converted one of the two ballrooms into a chapel. Holy Mass was first celebrated on Sunday morning, July 6, 1919. With the approach of Autumn all but the Sisters in training took leave of 'Sacred Heart Villa,' as the grounds had been named, to resume their duties in the parish schools. During the War Years the demand for Sisters in parochial schools became very great. The war and the influenza epidemic strongly limited the work of the Sisters.27 As this situation relaxed in the summer of 1920, Mother M. Emmanuel arranged classes for the Sisters to improve their educational resources. The educational progress of the Community was under the direction of the Sisters from Marywood. This was being continued by Mother M. Emmanuel who sought also to further the Community's material progress. She was engaged in soliciting funds from the homes of Slovaks to pay off the Sister's bank loan. Mother M. Emmanuel promoted thrift within her 142 SLOVAKIA Community because she felt the Community would be more secure in the American culture when free from debt. Mother M. Emmanuel's term expired in 1922. She had directed this young Sisterhood through its pioneering days, giving it shelter, resources and existence through the war years. Mother M. Emmanuel's main contribution was, of course, the establishment of the Motherhouse that was to become the center of Slovak culture in America. MOTHER M. PIUS, SS.C.M. OPENS ST. CYRIL ACADEMY IN 1922 By the choice of the Sisters, Sister M. Pius was elected the third Superior General. Bishop McDevitt, who supervised the election, also commented on the importance of the Sisters' studies because someday the civil authorities would require that every teacher must be certified by the State of Pennsylvania. Certification would be important in having the Community accepted as a competent educational institution in American society. Now that they had an established center, the Sisters could begin to focus their educational mission with greater assurance. The Sisters of SS. Cyril and Methodius had always wished for the establishment of a high school and boarding school for girls. Presently, they were only employed in elementary education. This idea for an institution of higher education for their own children was popular among the Slovaks. In addition to the regularly prescribed American branches, they wanted their offsprings to be taught the mother tongue and trained to appreciate the historical and cultural traditions of their nation. 28 To this wish Mother M. Pius responded. Mother M. Pius expressed a desire to have an official from the Department of Public Instruction in Harrisburg come to Danville to give a lecture on the requirements of the State, regarding the equipment and function of a high school and its accreditation. In August of 1922, Doctor Edward Hoban arrived from Harrisburg and explained such subjects as extension courses, summer school, teacher certificates, teaching of foreign languages, importance of teaching citizenship, the teaching of historical and social studies, and the necessity of physical education. This lecture assured the commencement of preparation for a high school on American terms. SLOVAKIA 143 The following week an advertisement appeared in the Slovak newspapers stating that the Sisters of SS. Cyril and Methodius had equipped part of their convent at Danville as a boarding school for girls. To conform to American standards the equipment of the high school called for two very important departments -the Library and the Laboratory for the Sciences. Both of these were begun with the opening of the school. Books acquired were those recommended by the Department o! Education. Also a large selection of Catholic and Slovak books supplemented the Community's aim of a multicultural education. In all, nineteen pupils attended the first year of the First Catholic Slovak Girls High School, indicating a desire on the part of the Slovaks to have their children educated in a Slovak, as well as an American atmosphere. Towards the close of the first year in the spring of 1923, a small group of students ventured into the school's first extra-curricular activity. These girls formed a Literary Society in which they compiled a little booklet of essays, stories, and poems. Under Mother M. Pius' encouragement this activity continued, resulting in the first issue of the bi-lingual (Slovak and American) school magazine, Fialky (Violets). The Fialky were thereafter issued semi-annually until 1940 and then annually until 1970, when it ceased publication. During the summer vacation Mother M. Pius encouraged the Sisters toward further studies, hoping to improve their competence as teachers. She was anxious to secure state certification for as many Sisters as could qualify. Now that the Community was engaged in all levels of education, Mother M. Pius wished to secure them within the American educational system through accreditation. The Academy's opening in the second year exposed space problems as enrollment grew. Mother Pius expressed the need for a strong building fund and enacted new collection drives among the Slovak people. The number of students steadily increased into the third and fourth year.• With the fourth year the need for accredition increased as the first graduation approached. The school was informed that the State Representatives would make an official inspection at the school year's end. That June, just a week before graduation, the State 144 SLOVAKIA Inspector arrived and spent a day inspecting the school, interviewing both the staff and the students. The State Representative, Doctor Pentz, found the Slovak students being educated and trained in all that the modern high schools offered, and in their Religion and mother tongue as well. To this he expressed his satisfaction, commenting on the orderly and methodological way in which the different departments were being conducted. 29 After Dr. Pentz reported the Academy as "first class" in both arrangement and curriculum, the school received a telegram, congratulating teachers and students on receiving accreditation from the State. This good news arrived just days before the first graduation, much to the Sisters' delight. While preparations for this first commencement progressed, another great event was in prospect, namely, the Eucharistic Congress in Chicago. This event made a great impact on the first commencement of the First Catholic Slovak Girls High School. Accreditation from the State of Pennsylvania proved the Sisters' ability to provide their students with a fitting education in their new society, but what remained to be seen was whether or not the Sisters could live up to the task of preserving Slovak culture in America. Slovak American culture was to receive a fresh impetus by the Eucharistic Congress held in Chicago. Due to attend the Congress were four bishops from Slovakia. The presence of these Slovak bishops greatly excited the Slovak Americans and especially the Sisters of SS. Cyril and Methodius, since through the influence of Bishop McDevitt arrangements were made to have these four bishops attend the Academy's first graduation. The date of the festivity was June 14, 1926. Under the guidance of Bishop McDevitt, who presided at the First Graduation ceremony, the entire Community and students assembled at the Convent's gate to welcome the visiting bishops. Upon the arrival of the Slovak bishops, who were traveling in European fashion, clad in cassock and purple cincture, the commencement proceeded with prayers, songs, and speeches. The speeches were delivered in Slovak, calling for a continuance of Catholic education. Bishop McDevitt's address underscored the advantages which the SLOVAKIA 145 Slovak people can derive from a solid Catholic education. He also pointed out that this could be done because the American government stood to protect the religious rights of all American citizens. The theme of religious pluralism in America was carried further by the Senior Bishop from Slovakia in a speech that noted how this American government respects, upholds, and protects the religious liberty of the people who found refuge under her banner. Bishop Marian Blaha further cited the great accomplishments of the American Slovaks. Their ability to provide a Catholic education while preserving their mother tongue greatly impressed him. Then as an old Slovak proverb states, "Every perfect day must end even as the sweetest song" -this first commencement was no exception; it was concluded by a student chorale of inspirational Slovak songs.30 The first graduation was a significant milestone in the history of the Sisters of SS. Cyril and Methodius. It was their first public manifestation of their educational standards and traditions. The graduation exercise presented a new phase in the mission of the Slovak Sisters. Their people realized that Danville would not only house a Convent and an Academy, but would be the center of genuine culture for the Slovaks in America. To attain a status combining a true Americanism with an appreciation of the spirit and traditions of their native land was the Community's desire.31 With this spirit of appreciation, encouraged by the sharp increase of applicants, new thoughts of building were entertained. But unlike before, the Slovak people, organizations and individuals alike, urged this step. These groups advised a general benefit drive for funds, alleging the time was ripe for such a movement since industrial conditions were favorable and the people were willing to donate.32 In the spring of 1927 Mother M. Pius presented a letter of the officers of the First Catholic Slovak Ladies' Union, another element of Slovak-American culture, announcing the drive for a building fund. When Mother M. Pius asked for their contribution, she was immediately promised five thousand dollars. The response elsewhere was the same. The Slovak newspapers pushed the drive and local groups competed in fund raising. This favorable reaction illustrates the Slovak-Americans' desire for an enlarged Slovak cultural center in America. 146 SLOVAKIA With the building fund well under way, Mother M. Pius contracted Architect Bernard Starr of Harrisburg, who in turn sought the assistance of Harry Sternfeld of Philadelphia. A spot for the new building was selected on the Villa Sacred Heart campus, and Mr. Sternfeld sketched a building dominated by a central tower. This initial plan brought eriticism for its "needless extravagance," but Mother M. Pius retained the plan as the answer to the needs of the Community, plus the cultural, educational and religious needs of the Slovak-American people. The Community wasted no time in beginning the new building. Ground was broken on May 23, 1929, in a ceremony which the local Danville Morning News described as an event to go down in Slovak history. 33 The speakers' program included representatives of the church, state, and Slovak national life. As the building progressed, the country entered the depression of the 1930's. By the time the building was completed, economic tension was beginning to be felt everywhere.34 With this in mind, Mother M. Pius avoided any elaborate dedication ceremony. This new building was made to catch the spirit of the past and to intepret it with a contemporaneous point of view in order to make it fit actual conditions.35 Its design was in accord with the ideals of the Sisters of SS. Cyril and Methodius, who hoped to blend the past into a new, usable present. In a more practical manner the new building provided an institution solely devoted to the education of the Slovak people and the preserving of their culture. It was viewed as a national work, one that provided b roader limits and better accommodations which would produce greater results. 36 The local paper saw the building as a monument to the Slovak people of America, and considered it one of the local community's finest aspects.37 The Sisters moved into their new building in September of 1931. The following three years were quiet, filled with earnest activity toward the educational goals of the Community. This period ended with the significant year of 1934, the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Community's existence. In those twenty-five years the Community developed and established itself in a permanent Motherhouse, which in turn had developed the First Catholic Slovak Girls' High SLOVAKIA 147 School, crowned by the magnificent new building. This had been done under three Superiors General-Mother Mary, Mother M. Emmanuel, Mother M. Pius-all of whom promoted the cultivation of the Slovak language and history, which, with religion, constitute the two outstanding characteristics of the Slovak Academy. Extra-curricular activities, like Fialky and Cyrilika-a society for fostering interest in Slovak journalism-as well as customs established for the practical study of Slovak, such as speaking Slovak all day every Saturday, and the annual observance of Slovak Week, acquired notice and approval. The observance of Slovak tradition gave this Academy a unique position in the field of American education.38 With a high spirit of celebration the Silver Jubilee of the Sisters of SS. Cyril and Methodius commenced. The Jubilee marked still another turning point in the Community's history as it came at the close of Mother M. Pius' long administration. Her work finished laying a firm foundation which became the base for a promising era of new growth. MOTHER M. EMERENTIA, SS.C.M. (1934-1946) In this new period of the Community's history the work of the Academy advanced quietly, with gratifying results in the field of Slovak-American culture. When Mother M. Emerentia was elected Superior General in 1934, she encouraged Slovak interests and cultural projects like formal programs, dramatic productions, Slovak readings, folk song festivals and, above all, research and creative writing on Slovak topics. Mother M. Emerentia was also responsible for the compilation of Slovak language texts and hymnals used widely in Slovak elementary schools and parishes in America. The early years of Mother M. Emerentia's administration coincided with the greatest period of the depression. Though there was no drop in student enrollment, neither was there the marked increase that would have normally been the case.• These drawbacks, however, had advantages. The subdued quiet of the interval was conducive to a greater concentration on school work, both regular and extracurricular. Correspondence with students in Slovakia '' See enrollment figures; Table I. 148 SLOVAKIA was an activity greatly enjoyed by the students of St. Cyril Academy. It was also during these years that the school was favored by a number of distinguished visitors from Slovakia, including a delegation from the Slovak Institute of Arts and Sciences, a group of students from the Slovak unit of Pax Romana, plus numerous distinguished scholars, writers, and statesmen, including the Slovak martyr, Msgr. Joseph Tiso.39 When our country was drawn into war on December 8, 1941, the first care of the Motherhouse was directed toward the Sisters and their pupils in the parish schools. The Community placed its trust in God and His care of our country, and classes went on as usual. However, extracurricular activities were directed toward war needs. Beyond the prayers for peace, the Community and its students turned out quantities of knitted sweaters and helmets. They experienced the value of thrift by rationing food and collected all scraps such as fats, iron and paper. The Sisters also joined in relief efforts for their native land. An extensive relief project for the war sufferers in Slovakia was aided by the Community, which sent abroad numerous packages of relief materials. The motherhouse was a center for this organized relief work. The relief project continued in action even after the war, when Slovakia again was suppressed by a stronger force. Following a remarkably successful and flourishing six-year period of self-rule under the Presidency of Tiso, the Slovak government collapsed when victory came to Russia and the Allies. 40 With this victory Slovakia was overrun by the Communists. Their occupation of the country led to the execution of Msgr. Tiso, plus the silencing of many bishops and priests. The people of Slovakia remained in destitution; hence, the necessity for relief work to continue until the Iron Curtain cut off all communication. 41 The Communist occupation caused more refugees to seek freedom and sanctuary from Slovakia. As thousands came to America, the Sisters of SS. Cyril and Methodius and their students enjoyed fresh contacts with persons of their fatherland. Priests and professional people willingly gave lectures to both the Sisters and the students, chiefly on conditions in Slovakia and on topics of Slovak history. SLOVAKIA 149 Several high school students from Slovakia enrolled in the Academy, thus enriching the Slovak-American culture. MOTHER M. CRESCENTIA, SS.C.M. (1946-1958) While the Slovak-American tradition was being enriched during these post-war years, a new Superior General was elected, placing renewed importance on the educational aspects of the Academy. Mother M. Crescentia realized that during the earlier years the educational objectives could not be pursued as fully as desired since more urgent activities were at hand. In time, however, conditions improved, so that more and better organized work could be done in the field of teacher education. Mother M. Crescentia took advantage of this situation, arranging for more Sisters to take college courses in a greater variety of fields. With this renewed progress in the Sisters' personal educational ventures, activities in the Academy moved apace. The student enrollment at the Academy, which increased only to a minor extent after the depression, now began rapid growth. This growth of the Academy advanced steadily into the fifties, causing every available space within the Academy to be filled. It necessitated the building of Saint Philomena Hall to be used for students' living and classrooms. Also in the fifties, the Community worked for the founding of Father Jankola. They are Villa Saint Cyril in Highland Park, Illinois, and Maria Joseph Manor in Danville, Pennsylvania. By 1958 the Community had a new Superior General in the person of Mother M. Bernard. MOTHER M. BERNARD, SS.C.M. (1958-1970) The highlight of this decade was the observance of the Community's Golden Jubilee. It was climaxed by the celebration of a Roman-Slavonic Mass on the Villa campus in the presence of five thousand visitors from all parts of the country.42 It was the first Roman rite vernacular Mass ever offered on this continent. The increased enrollment and the large turnout for the Roman-Slavonic Mass indicates the strong support the Academy received from the Slovak-American people in its preserving of Slovak culture. The early sixties were also highlighted by a large celebration honoring another aspect of the Comunity's Slovak heritage. The year 1963 marked the eleven hundredth 150 SLOVAKIA anniversary of the arrival of SS. Cyril and Methodius among the Slovaks. In addition to the Community celebration in America, the Sisters of SS. Cyril and Methodius participated in a week-long observance in Rome, involving numerous Slovak pilgrims, who had assembled there for the dedication of the Slovak Institute of SS. Cyril and Methodius, a seminary for the training of priests for Slovakia. THE JANKOLA LIBRARY The latter sixties and early seventies for St. Cyril Academy had been dominated by two cherished Slovak projects. First was the active cooperation with the Apostolate of the Slovak Institute of SS. Cyril and Methodius in Rome, begun during the 1963 pilgrimage. Second was the professional development of the Jankola Library at the Academy. This Library is a center of Slovak culture and learning for St. Cyril Academy and Slovak America. It is called Jankola Library in honor of the founder of the Community and promoter of Slovak-American culture, Father Matthew Jankola. The Library provides invaluable resources for study and research purposes, as well as literary works to enrich the Slovak spirit. Jankola Library contains over six thousand (6,000) fully catalogued items on its shelves with several hundred more reserved for further processing.43 Beyond just Slovak books this Library also promotes Slovak-American culture with its large collection of Slovak art. Included among its treasures are a large unusual map of Czecho-Slovakia, an artistically costumed mannequin representing the Slovak tradition, and a large, valuable collection of Slovak ceramic art, some embroidery and sizeable pieces of cutglass sent from Slovakia. This Library with its vast assortment of Slovak art is truly a tribute to Slovakia's culture. With Jankola Library as its Slovak center, SS. Cyril Academy still provides an excellent American education. It offers a wide range of courses, including four foreign languages.* Besides educating students for social living in America, the Academy can also train girls for a religious teaching life within its own Community. The Sisters of SS. Cyril and Methodius are presently teaching in parish schools and eight (8) high schools, including a boarding * Source listing of St. Cyril Academy. Table II. 151 SLOVAKIA school for girls. 0 Education of Slovak children continues to be the principal vocation of a Sister of SS. Cyril and Methodius. It is to these children that a Sister dedicates herseJf and hopes to preserve Slovakia's heritage. Today, the St. Cyril Academy is justifiably proud of tts accomplishments during the past fifty ( 50) years. Both the teaching Sisters and their students are fully educated in, and cognizant of, their dual heritage. The traditions and artifacts of Slovak culture have been preserved; while at the same time, each graduate is proud to be an American. St. Cyril Academy continues to revere its Slovak past. The Sisters continue to aid the suppressed people of Slovakia, but now this is done indirectly to the extent possible. It is the desire of the Sisters of the Academy to provide their countrymen with new hope of cultural freedom by showing them the accomplishments that have been possible in America. This Academy is rightly considered the center of Slovak culture in America. "" List of schools staffed by Sisters of SS. Cyril and Methodius. Table III. TABLE I Enrollment figures of St. Cyril Academy, Danville, Pa. Year 1925-26 1926-27 1927-28 1928-29 1929-30 1930-31 1931-32 1932-33 1933-34 1934-35 1935-36 1936-37 1937-38 1938-39 1939-40 1940-41 Total Number of Students 38 39 44 47 42 61 75 69 60 58 52 58 54 50 60 70 Year 1941-42 1942-43 1943-44 1944-45 1945-46 1946-47 1947-48 1948-49 1949-50 1950-51 1951-52 1952-53 1953-54 1954-55 1955-56 1956-57 Total Number of Students 66 55 55 69 91 96 90 107 112 109 123 138 148 153 157 180 Total Number Year of Students 1957-58 1958-59 1959-60 1960-61 1961-62 1962-63 1963-64 1964-65 1965-66 1966-67 1967-68 1968-69 1969-70 1970-71 1971-72 1972-73 181 175 162 182 202 195 202 171 156 178 120 108 104 101 108 106 SLOVAKIA 152 TABLE II Curriculum of St. Cyril Academy FIRST YEAR Religion I English I Algebra I Intr. Physical Science Physical Education Chorus World Culture I Latin I Spanish I French I Slovak I Foods Art I Art Appreciation Music Appreciation Health Education Piano Interpretive Dance SECOND YEAR Religion II English II Geometry Biology Physical Education Chorus World Culture II Latin II French II Spanish II Slovak II Foods Clothing I Art II Piano Interpretive Dance THIRD YEAR Religion III English III Algebra II Chemistry Physical Education Chorus American Culture I Latin III Spanish III French III Slovak III Foods Advanced Clothing Art III Piano Interpretive Dance Typing I Stenography I SLOVAKIA 153 FOURTH YEAR Religion IV English IV Business English Math 12 Advanced Biology Physical Education Chorus American Culture II Latin IV Spanish IV French IV Slovak IV Advanced Clothing Art IV Speech Piano Interpretive Dance Typing II Stenography II Bookkeeping Business Law TABLE III SCHOOLS STAFFED BY SIS'llEIBS OF SS. CYRIL AND METHODIUS Berwick, Pa. Bloomsburg, Pa. Binghamton, N. Y. Binghamton, N. Y. Bridgeport, Conn. Bridgeport, Pa. Charleston, S. C. Charleston, S. C. Chicago, Ill. East Vandergrift, Pa. Endicott, N. Y. Gary, Indiana Hazleton, Pa. Jessup, Pa. Lebanon, Pa. Luzerne, Pa. Nanticoke, Pa. New York, N. Y. Olyphant, Pa. Perth Amboy, N. J. Phoenixville, Pa. Pittston, Pa. Plymouth, Pa. Stratford, Conn. Swoyersville, Pa. Torrington, Conn. St. Mary's School St. Columba School SS. Cyril and Methodius School St. Ann's School SS. Cyril and Methodius School Mother of Sorrows School Blessed Sacrament School Nativity School SS. Simon and Jude School Holy Trinity School St. Joseph School Holy Trinity School St. Joseph School St. Michael's School SS. Cyril and Methodius School St. John Nepomucene School St. Joseph School St. John Nepomucene School Holy Ghost School Holy Trinity School Sacred Heart of Jesus School St. John Baptist School St. Stephen School Sacred Name of Jesus School Holy Trinity School Sacred Heart of Jesus School SLOVAKIA 154 Immaculate Conception School Sacred Heart of Jesus School Holy Trinity School Whiting, Ind. Wilkes-Barre, Pa. Yonkers, N. Y. IDGH SCHOOLS Andrean High School Dunmore Catholic High School Lourdes H. S. Lebanon Catholic H. S. Kingston Catholic Central Catholic Central H. S. Catholic Central (St. Pius X) Blessed Sacrament Academy St. Cyril Academy 1. Gary, Ind. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Dunmore, Pa. Shamokin, Pa. Lebanon, Pa. Kingston, Pa. Charleston, S. C. Pottstown, Pa. Yonkers, N. Y. Danville, Pa. FOOTNOTES 1) David F . Bowers, "Social and Cultural Impact" in For eign Influences in American Life (Princeton, 1944) , p. 1. 2) Emily Balch, Our Slavic Fellow Citizens (New York, 1969), p. 86. 3) The Slovak Nation, Manuscript in Sisters of SS. Cyril and Methodius Community Archives, Danville, Pennsylvania. 4 ) Ibid. 5) Education in Slovakia, Manuscript in SS. C. M Community Archives, composition by M . I. Angelovic, pp. 88. 6) Ibid. 7) Ear liest Immigration, Ms. in SS. C. M. Community Archives. 8 ) Emily Balch, Our Slavic Fellow Citizens, p . 108. 9 ) Earliest Immigration Ms. 10) Francis Brown and Joseph Roucek, "Czechoslovak American" in One America (New York, 1946), p. 147. 11) In 1899, there were eight Slovak priests in America. Earliest Immigration Ms. 12) The Slovaks divide their settlement in America into three Ages: Church Age, School Age, and Institution Age. Ibid. 13) Daniel Tanzone, "The Slovak Experience in Contemporary America" in Slovakia (Middletown, Pa., 1972), p. 129. 14) Francis Brown and Joseph Roucek, Our Racial and National Minorities (New York, 1937), p. 602. 15) Timothy Smith, "New Approaches to the History of Immigration in 20th Century America", in The America Historical Review LXXI, (July 1966), p. 127. 155 SLOVAKIA 16) Contributions of Reverend Matthew Jankola to Slovak Catholic Education in the United States, Ms. in SS. C. M. Community Archives, composition by Sister M. Consuela Gregorovic, p. 14. 17) Ibid. , p. 3. 18 ) Earliest Plans, Ms. in SS. C. M. Community Archives. 19) Ibid . 20) Ibid. 21) The girls wer,e Mary Mihalik, Mary Bartek and Mary Pauly. 22) Father Jankola, Ms., pp. 38-46. 23) Philosophy of Saint Cyril Academy, Ms. 24) Francis Brown and Joseph Roucek, Our America, p. 501. 25) The Educational Activities of the Sisters of SS. Cyril and Methodius in the United States, Ms. in SS. C. M. C-Ommunity Archives, composition by Sister Maria Berchmans Teplicky, p. 4. 26) Danville, Ms. in SS. C. M. Community Archives. 27) Ibid. 28) Educational Expansion, Ms. in SS. C.M. Community Archives. 29) Josephine M. Marcinko, "A Little Historical Sketch" in Fialky (Danville, 1927), p. 23. 30) Edttcational Expansion, Ms. 31) Preparing to Build, Ms. in SS. C. M. Community Archives. 32) Ibid. 33) Morning News, (Danville, May 23, 1929), p. 6. 34 ) Brief History of the Congregation of the Sisters of Saints Cyril and Methodius, Ms. in SS. C. M. Community Archives, composition by Mother M. Emerentia Petrasek, p. 85. 35) Fialky, (Danville, 1931), p. 82. 36) Brief History, Ms., Petrasek, p. 85. 37) Morning News, (Danville, June 8, 1931), p. 4. 38) Brief History, Ms., Petrasek, pp. 88-90. 39 ) Ibid. , p. 108. 40 ) Joseph Pauco, Slovakia, pp. 26-28. 41) Brief History, Ms., Petrasek, p. 125. 42) Sisters of Saints Cyril and Methodius, Jankola Book, (Danville, 1972) , p. 90. 43) SS. C. M., Jankola Book, p. 108.  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Sisters of SS. Cyril and Methodius and the Preservation of Slovak Culture in America Description An account of the resource William Wagner Slovakia, Vol. 24 (No. 47), 1974 pp. 132-155 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Wagner, William Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1974 name https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/556f66aa5a56254d37021922fbe960aa.pdf e1ced8063ac13be2ba366e5222b17c0a PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA-2017 61 THE SLOVAK ARMY ON THE EASTERN FRONT DURING WORLD WAR II Jan Rychlik Attempts to build separate Slovak military units under the command of Slovak officers within the framework of the Czecho-S lovak Armed Forces already existed in the period of autonomy (6 October 1938 to 14 March 1939). The government in Prague refused such demands but despite that many conscripts and officers of Slovak nationality were allowed to serve in Slovakia, which later enabled the relatively rapid creation of Slovak army units. The ruling Hlinka Slovak People ' s Party (Hlinkova slovenska l'udova strana - HSCS) already in this period had a party militia called the Hlinka Guard (Hlinkova garda - HG). The HG-men (gardisti) belonged to radical separatists within the HSCS. Many of them were admirers of German National Socialism and later became known for their terrorist acts against Czechs, Jews and opponents of the regime. Units of the newly-established Slovak army and volunteers of the HG took part in the defence of the eastern border against the Hungarian invasion of Eastern Slovakia (23- 31 March 1939) known as the "little war" . However, regular army officers considered the HG as dangerous fanatics with poor fighting abilities and opposed their inclusion in the armed forces. Also, President Josef Tiso did not like them because of their radicalism . The newly-established Slovak Army was at the beginning only a smaller version of the Czechoslovak Army of the first Republic ( 19 I 8-1938), which the Germans dissolved. The departure from the Czechoslovak model (new ranks, new emblems and symbols etc.) was a relatively lengthy process. At the beginning the army used the old Czechoslovak uniforms and was equipped mainly with Czechoslovak weapons and machinery, which was later partly replaced by German ones. Like the Czechoslovak Army, it was based on the conscript system and made compulsory for all able-bodied men, usually two years. Reservists cou ld be summoned for military training in �62 SLOVAKIA-2017 case of emergency. 1 However, the Slovak army initially lacked officers. In August of 1938 there were only 435 officers of Slovak nationality in the Czechoslovak army, which represented 3.4% of the officer corps. 2 Some officers of Czech nationality, mainly those with Slovak wives, were allowed to continue their service in the Slovak army, as well as some ethnic Germans . New officers were recruited from the reserve-officers of the former Czechoslovak anny, who were mainly teachers. Some of them were in fact mobilized against their will. A Slovak military academy was opened in Banska Bystrica, and military schools in Bratislava and Nitra. In July of 1939 the Slovak army consisted of 29,683 men ; in February 1940 33, 41 (including 1,0 IO officers); and in June of I 94 I 33,676 men, including 1,347 officers, 42 of them Czechs. 3 Jews, according the government decree of 2 1 June 1939, served in military labour units and the same applied to Roma (Gypsies). Ethnic Germans living in Slovakia, who were Slovak citizens, served first in the Slovak army in special units but later they were allowed to fulfil their military service in the German army and the SS-corps. In 1944 their service in the SS-corps became mandatory. There were people of different political opinions in the officer corps of the Slovak army. Certainly, there were officers devoted to independent Slovakia and even to the close cooperation of Slovakia with Germany, like Colonel (later General) Jozef Turanec, Colonel Rudolf Pilfousek or Lieutenant-Colonel Michal Loksik4 . Generally speaking, however, the Slovak officers were usually not adherents of the HSCS regime and very often were even hostile or at least indifferent to the idea of independent Slovakia. Some Slovak officers even joined the resistance movement. The Czech underground organization National Defence (Obrana naroda - ON), which specialized in sabotage and military intelligence, and was based in the Protectorate, also operated in Slovakia and some officers of the Slovak army were members. The reason for such behaviour was rather simple: 1 Frantisek Csefa lvay et al. , Vojenske dejiny Slovenska [Military Hi story of Slovakia] V. 1939- 1945. Brati slava: Magnet Press, 2008, 16-24. 2 Ibid ., 14. 3 Ibi d. , p. 22-3 . 4 Frantisek Csefalvay et al., Vojenske osobnosri dejin Slovenska 1939-/945 [Military Personalities in the History of Slovakia 1939- 1945). Brati slava: Vojensky histori cky ustav, 2013 , 153-4, 197-8, 250-5 1. �SLOVAKIA-2017 63 former Czechoslovak officers, who graduated from the Czechoslovak military schools (most notably at the Military Academy in Hranice), were educated in a pro-Czechoslovak and pro-democratic spirit. Czechoslovak counter-intelligence screened every candidate applying to study at the Military Academy. Members of Communist and various separatist parties or even sympathisers of Communism or separatist movements were not accepted. The same restrictions applied in the school for reserve officers who were recruited from conscripts with higher education. In addition, the professional officers before 1938 were often stationed in the Czech Lands and their wives were often Czechs. 5 They were integrated into the Czech secular milieu and the clerical character of the Slovak Republic was strange to them. Some former Czechoslovak officers of Slovak nationality were originally also Legionaries, that is, volunteers who had fought for an independent Czechoslovakia on the side of the Allies, especially in Russia during World War I. 6 The ex-Legionaries formed the elite of the inter-war Czechoslovak army. It is true that even among the Legionaries it was possible to find supporters of the l'udak regime (like General Ferdinand Catlos), but in principle, former Legionaries were rather hostile to it. Some even deserted from the Slovak army and offered their services to the Czechoslovak government-in-exile represented by Edvard Benes and joined the Czechoslovak Army abroad. This was the case of General Rudolf Viest, the only general of Slovak nationality, who escaped to Paris and became commander of the Czechoslovak Army in France. This army fought the advancing Germans during the spring campaign on the western front in May and June of 1940 and after the defeat of France was evacuated to Great Britain. From 14 March 1939 Slovakia was an independent state with its own army and foreign representation . Slovak sovereignty was, how5 Pavel Micianik, Slovenskci armada v t'ai eni proti Sovietskemu zviizu ( /941-1944) . 1. V opercicii Barbarossa. [The Slovak Army in the Campaign aga inst the Soviet Uni on. I 941-1944. Part I. In Operation Barbarossa) (hereafter cited as Micianik, I.), Banska Bystrica: Dali-BB, 2007, 30-31. 6 The Czechoslovak Legions were formed during WW I from prisoners of war of the Austro-Hunga ri an army of Czech and S lovak nationality and also the Czech and Slovak vo lunteers li ving in Entente states (mainly Russia , France) or neutral states (mainl y the USA up to 191 7). The Legions were formed in Russia, Italy and France. They fought against Germany and A ustri a-Hunga ry. The Legions in Russia also later fought aga inst the Red Army in th e Ru ssian C ivi l war. �64 SLOVAKIA-2017 ever, severely limited by special relations with Germany. According the "Treaty of Protection" (in German: Schutzvertrag), signed preliminarily in Vienna on 18 March and definitively in Berlin on 23 March 1939, Germany obtained the right to build freely , and according to her own needs, military bases in the so-called "Zone of Protection" (Schutzzone) which was situated in Western Slovakia between the White Carpathians and the border of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. Slovakia was also obliged to conduct her foreign and 7 defence policies according the interests of Germany. A secret protocol to the Schutzvertrag subordinated the Slovak economy to German needs. 8 The Treaty of Protection in fact meant that Slovakia could be forced to participate in war alongside Germany, if the German government so desired. On 2 1 August the German Auswdrtigesamt (Foreign Office) prepared a Note verbale informing the Slovak Government that German armed forces would enter Slovakia to protect her from the danger of a Polish attack.9 The content of the note (approved by Adolf Hitler) was first unofficially presented to the Slovak government by German Minister to Bratislava Hans Bernard on 24 August 1939 . 10 The Slovak government was also asked to take part in the military operations against Poland (the government was assured that the Slovak army would not be used outside of Slovak territory, 11 but this promise was broken). In exchange, Germany promised to guarantee the Slovak-Hungarian border. If Poland was defeated, Slovakia would regain the territories lost in the fall of 1938, and eventually those lost to Poland in 1920. 12 After some hesitation the Slovak government accepted the German demands. After that the German request was presented again officially on 27 August 13 and the Slovak government consented the next day. Mobilization started already on 26 August. Gradually 117,000 reservists were 7 Eduard Ni zi'i ansky et al. , Slovensko-nemecke vzt'ahy 1938-1 94 1 v dokumentech/Slovakisch-deutsche Beziehungen in Dokumenten 1938-/ 94 1 [Slovak-German Relations 193 8-1941 in Documents] I. (hierafter cited as SDBD I.] , Presov: Universum , 2009, doc. 96, pp. 305-06. 8 Ibid ., 307-08. 9 SBDB I. , doc. 202, pp. 576-7 . 10 Ibid, doc . 209, pp. 589-90. 11 Ibid., doc. 205 , p. 583. 12 Ibid., doc. 210, pp. 590-1 . 13 Ibid., doc. 216, pp. 604-5 , p. 610. �SLOVAKIA-2017 65 called up, of whom about 51,000 were assigned to the field army "Bernolak," under the command of General Ferdinand Catlos. While the main military operations were carried out by the Wehrmacht, which launched its attack on Poland also from Slovak soil, three Slovak divisions between 3- 5 September crossed the border and occupied a small piece of territory on the Polish side of the Tatra Mountains. On 17 September Poland was attacked from the east by the Red army, and was defeated and the Slovak army returned to Slovakia. It should be noted that Slovakia never formally declared war on Poland. The Slovak government presented the war against Poland as a struggle for the liberation of the territories which were annexed by Poland in 1920, 1924 and in 1938 (Upper Orava, Upper Spis and part of Javorina in the High Tatra Mountains). Germany indeed returned 14 these territories to Slovakia on 21 November 1939. The reclaimed territories were partly inhabited by ethnic Slovaks and so the war had some justification. Pro-German elements in HSCS, and especially the HG, welcomed the defeat of Poland . Generally speaking, however, the war was not very popular among Slovaks because many of them considered the Poles Slavs, like the Slovaks, and in addition to speaking a similar language, their kinsmen and brothers. The war was extremely unpopular among Slovak Lutherans in the western part of the country. After the defeat of Poland, Germany no longer required Slovak participation in German operations and the Slovak army did not take part in the war in the West. In June of 1940 France was defeated. Berlin, having now "free hands," decided to purge the Slovak government of "unreliable elements" and to strengthen the influence of the Germanophiles. On July 27, Hitler summoned President Tiso to Salzburg and forced him to fire Minister of Foreign Affairs Ferdinand Durcansky, who in the Spring had tried to negotiate with the British behind Germany's back. The new Minister of Foreign Affairs became the Germanophile Vojtech Tuka, who since 26 October 1939 had already been the Prime Minister. Another Germanphile, Alexander Mach, was appointed Minister of the Interior. The new government was definitivel y and exclusively oriented towards Germany. On 24 November 1940 Slovakia, together with Hungary and Romania, 1 ~ SDBD, I., doc. 25 1, pp. 683 -4. �66 SLOVAKIA-2017 joined the Tripartite Pact (Berlin-Rome-Tokyo). 15 In April of 1941 Slovakia did not participate in the campaign against Yugoslavia and Greece. On the other hand, when the war stared on 6 April, Bratislava severed diplomatic relations with Belgrade and on 10 April expressed a willingness to recognize the Independent State of Croatia. On 21 June 1941 the Chief of the German General Staff, General Franz Halder, visited Bratislava incognito. He informed the head of the German military mission, General Paul von Otto, that Hitler expected the participation of the Slovak army in the war against the Soviet Union. 16. The war started the next day. The German Minister to Bratislava, Hans Eluard Ludin, visited Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Vojtech Tuka and informed him about the German request for Slovak participation. Tuka agreed and offered (through Slovak Minister to Berlin Matus Cernak) military assistance to the German Foreign Office. 17 On the same afternoon diplomatic relations between the USSR and Slovakia were broken off 8 and Defence Minister Ferdinand Catlos summoned the reservists for "extraordinary military training. " Only on 24 June did the government approve Slovak participation in the war, which was officially announced on the radio. The Slovak Diet, which according the Constitution was the only body that could declare war, was not informed of the government's declaration . So, from the forma l point of view, the whole action was unconstitutional. It is worth mentioning that on 13 December 1941 , the Slovak government also formally declared war on Great Britain and the United States. 19 Again, the declaration of war was not presented to the Diet. Because the USA and Great Britain did not recognize Slovakia as an independent state, they ignored the declaration. No direct fighting took place between the Slovak army and the western allies, but both countries treated Slovakia as 15 SDBD, I. , doc. 359, pp. 270-2. SDBD, I. doc. 400, p. 1092. 17 Eduard Nizi\ansky et al. , Slovensko-nemecke vzt'ahy 194 1-1945 v dokumentech/Slovakisch-deutsche Beziehungen in Dokumenten 1941-1945 [Slovak-German Relati ons 1941 - 1945 in documents] II. (hierafter cited as SDBD 11.), Presov: Universum , 20 11 , doc.1,p.95 . 18 Ibid, doc. 3, p. 98 . 19 SDBS II. , doc. 34, p. 184. The declaration was announ ced in th e daily Slovenskci politika on 13 December 1941. 16 �SLOVAKIA-2017 67 enemy territory. Slovakia, including Bratislava, was repeatedly bombed in 1944. Accord ing to the unpublished memoirs of Ferdinand Catlos, at first onl y ministers Tuka and Mach advocated immediate participation in the war, whi le other ministers and President Tiso had some doubts . But after some hesitation all agreed. 20 Despite the fact that it was Gennany who reque sted military ass istance from Slovakia, it should be noted that the Slovak government had no objections. The government saw participation in the war against the Soviet Union as a good opportunity to show to Berlin that Slovakia was a better frie nd than Hungary, which also took part in the military campaign. Tuka and Tiso wanted to contribute more and faster. They believed that it in future it might be possible, with German help, to rev ise the Vienna Arbitration Award of 2 November 193 8, which deprived Slovakia of part of her southern territory in favour of Hungary. The openl y anti-communist policy and rhetoric of the l'udak regime also played a role. 2 1 Mobilization of the reservists lasted until 5 July. A total of 68,0 18 reservists were ca ll ed to arms, of whom 56,8 58 were registered . The total number of Slovak soldiers reached 90,533 . General Ferd inand Catlos formed in Eastern Slovakia an Anny Group (in Slovak : armadna skupina - AS) which consisted of two divisions nd (the I st Division commanded by Colone l Jozef Turanec and the 2 Divi sion com manded by Co lonel Augustin Malar). From a part of the 2nd Division and sma ll er units of specialized weapons (two artillery regiments, tank units, automob ile unit etc.), Catlos formed the so-called Mobile Group (in Slovak: rychla skupina , i.e. , the fast or rapid group) under the command of Colonel Rudolf Pilfousek, an officer who claimed to be an ethnic German, but according hi s name was probably partly Czech. The Mobile Group was the only almost full y motorized Slovak military unit and it was expected to move quickly with the advancing German army. The Slovak forces were first situated in northeast Slovakia, near the border of occupied Poland (the Genera l Governorate). Slovakia did not border on the Sovi20 Archiv literatt'.try a um eni a Slovenskej narodnej kn iznice (ALU SNK) [Archives of the Li terature and Arts of the Slovak National Library] in Martin, mem oirs of Ferdinand Catlos, sig. 129 E2, pp. 65 -66. 21 I.:ubomir Liptak, Slovensko v 20. storoci [Slovakia in the 20th Century]. 2nd ed., Bratislava: Kalli gram, 1998, 189. �68 SLOVAKIA-2017 et Union but Soviet territory was very close to the place of assembly. After the beginning of the war, the Slovak forces crossed the border and assembled in the General Govemorate near Brzoz6w, a village west of the River San, from 28 September 1939 the border between Germany and Soviet Union. The Slovak division s and the Mobile Group were included in the forces of the German Army Group South (commander: Field Marchal Gerd von Rundstedt). Within this Army group the Mobile Group was first subordinated to the command of the I ih German army (Commander: General Carl Heinrich von Stiilpnagel), which was part of the Army Group South. One of the goals of the I ih Army was to cross the San River and to break through the so-called Molotov defence line, 22 i.e. the chain of light bunkers built on the new Soviet western border (established after the defeat of Poland). The Mobile Group crossed the San on 25 June and continued to attack Sambor. On I July the Soviet army started to retreat to the so-called Stalin line, the chain of fortre sses built on the old (pre-17 September 1939) Soviet-Polish border. This allowed the advancing German I ih Army to continue to attack the region of Lvov (in Polish Lw6w, in Ukrainian Lviv) and the mobile group was ordered to mop up the territory South of Lvov. On 2 July, without firing a shot, the mobile group captured Stryj (a town about 60 km south ofLvov), which the Red Arm y decided not to defend. 23 On 7 July the Mobile Group, which was temporally subordinated again directly to General Catlos, was reorganized into the Mobile Brigade (195 officers, 52 sergeants and 4,655 soldiers, a company of 43 tanks - two squads , one battalion of armoured vehicles and th trucks, the I I Artillery Regiment, one squad of machine-guns, a scouting squad) and the next day started to move Eastward alongside the main axis Sambor - Temopol - Vinnyca. On 19 July the I 7th the th German Army broke the Stalin line and the 49 Mountain Army Corps occupied Vinnyca, led by Major-General Ludwig von Kubler. The German command believed that now was the time to di sperse the Red Army. Kubler ordered Pilfousek on 19 July to move the Mobile Brigade to Vinnyca, which was reached on 2 1 July. Pilfousek was then ordered to take Lypovec, a small town about 50 km East of Vinnyca on the main road to Bila Cerkva and Kiev . The attack start22 23 Micianik, I. , pp. Micianik, I. pp. 62-83. �SLOVAKIA-2017 69 ed on 22 July. Pilfousek had less than 5,000 men, 43 tanks and part th of the 11 Artillery Regiment with 123 cannons. The tanks did not have enough fuel and ammunition and had to halt the attack in the vi llage Scaslyva, west of the town. Pilfousek then made a fatal error when he ordered the infantry to continue the attack. Slovak so ldiers reached the center of the town but they were stopped by a counterattack by a division of the lih Soviet Army, which sent 15,000 men to reconquer the lost positions. The Slovaks were unable to hold the city without tanks but were saved due to the support of the 11 h Artillery Regiment, which held back the attacking Soviets. Only the arri va l of fresh German forces saved the Mobile Brigade from total defeat. A total of 75 Slovak soldiers died, 167 were wounded and 19 were taken prisoner. The Mobile Brigade lost four tanks, one armored car and tens of trucks. The next day, on 23 July, Lypovec was th occupied by the German 295 Infantry Division of Lieutenant24 General Karl Glimbel. The Mobile Group had in fact been defeated and General Ferdinand Catlos ordered most of the armored vehicles to return to Slovakia. Most of the soldiers remained in the Vinnyca region, while only a small Slovak unit of the Mobile Group, supported by the 11 th Artilth lery Regiment, continued the attack with the German 295 Infantry Di vision and on 30 July reached Granovo, West of the Dnepr (Dnipro) River. After that even these soldiers were sent back to Vinnyca. Slovak official propaganda presented the defeat at Lypovec as a "great victory" and also as a "symbol of Slovak-German friendship in arms." In 1942 a granite monument was erected at the battlefield and a military cemetery was located there. The monument stands to this day. About 600 Slovak soldiers, who died in the fighting in the Soviet Union (not only at Lypovec), are buried here. The First and Second Slovak Infantry Divisions, forming the Slovak army group (Armadna skupina - AS) were created partly from reservists who were mobilized at the end of June. The infantry divisions were concentrated in northeast Slovakia, near Medzilaborce, and later moved to the region of Sanok and Chyrov (in Polish: Chyr6w, in Ukrainian Chyriv, 16 km to the east from the UkrainianPolish border), where the command of the AS was temporally situated . The troops moved slowl y because they usually had to walk. They 24 Ibid ., pp. 12 1-37. �70 SLOVAKIA-2017 were used in July mainly to mop up the regions of eastern Galicia (South of the line Rava Ruska - Ternopol) of the dispersed units of the Soviet army as a part of the hinterland forces of the German Army Group South. 25 The Mobile Division After the defeat of the Mobile Brigade at Lypovec General Catlos decided to reorganize the Slovak armed forces. On 25 July 1941 two new divisions were formed : the Mobile Division (in Slovak: rychla divizia - RD), which was in fact a strengthened Mobile Brigade and the Security Division (in Slovak: Zaist'ovacia divizia ZD) which was to serve as a security and guard service on occupied Soviet territories in Ukraine. Their main region of operations was around Zitomir (Zhitomir, ukr. Zytomyr), a town about 130 km west of Kiev. While at the beginning of war the Slovak government wanted to show that Slovakia's participation in comparison to its population was high, now the situation changed. Most of the reservists, mobilized at the end of June and beginning of July to the Army Group (I st and 2 nd Infantry Division), were sent home. In the autumn of 1941 the number of soldiers was reduced to only about one-third of that in July 1941. The RD and the ZD were now formed mainly from professional soldiers and conscripts. The reservists formed about 17% of the total. They were mainly specialists of various types and drivers. On 10 September 8,862 men served in the ZD, 26 while the Mobile Division had 8,451 men on 20 August (including 30 I officers). 27 Despite its name, the Mobile Divison commanded by Colonel Jozef Turanec, was not fully motorized. The motorized section took part in the battle of Kiev at the end of August I 941. After the fall of Kiev (20 September 1941) the Mobile Division moved to the South st and was part of the 1 Tanlc Army Group of Colonel-General Ewald von Kleist, which moved in the direction of the Don River. It fought 25 Ibid, pp. 142-53 . Micianik, I. , p. 245. See also: P. Micianik, Slovenska armada v t'ai eni proti So vietskemu zviizu (1941 -1944). II. Zaist'ovacia divizia a ieleznicni pionieri. [Security Division and Ra ilway Pioneers]. (hereafter cited as Micianik, 11. ) Banska Bystrica : Dal-BB, 2008, p. 37. 27 Micianik, I. , p. 191. 26 �SLOVAKIA-2017 71 successfully in the Donbas Area. At the end of October the Mobile Division reached Rostov-on-the Don and the Azov Sea. At that time the Mobile Division had 287 officers, 386 sergeants and 7,081 men. The Slovak units were situated between Rostov and the mouth of the Don. Slovak soldiers were not prepared for the winter, which started in the middle of November. 28 On 27 November 1941 Colonel Turanec was replaced by Colonel Augustin Malar. After his arrival, he recognized the decline in morale and discipline and fighting ability among his soldiers. Malar wanted to move the division back to Slovakia but the German High Command refused because of the start of a Soviet counter-offensive at the end of November. Field Marshal von Rundstedt, the Commander of Army Group South, decided to retreat. On 28 November the Soviet army reconquered Rostov. Hitler recalled Rundstedt and substituted him with Field Marshal Walter von Reichenau, but Reichenau did not change the order and continued the retreat behind the River Mius. Here the Slovak RD was ordered to defend positions near the town of Golodajevka on the bank of the River Mius. The Soviet counteroffensive was then successfully stopped. As a result, Colonel Malar was promoted to the rank of General and later awarded the German Iron Cross. By the end of 1941 the RD had suffered 84 deaths, 3 78 wounded or frozen, 26 missing and 11 captured. 29 Between January and the beginning of March 1942 the Red Army launched its winter offensive at the Mius River.30 At the beginning of March the snow started to melt and the Mius overflowed. The flood stopped the Soviet offensive and within the next six weeks the front where the RD was stationed was relatively quiet but still between 1 January and the end of April the RD lost 143 men ( 124 killed, 12 missing and 7 captured). 31 On 25 April 1942 Jozef Turanec, promoted to the rank of General on 1 January, again took command of the RD. The Mobile division took part first in the battle of Charkov (Charkiv, Kharkiv) in the 28 P. Micianik, Slovenskci armada v t'aieni pro ti Sovietskemu zvdzu (1941-1944). !If. Rychla divizia [The Slovak Army in the Attack upon the Soviet Union ( 1941-1944). Ill. The Mobile Divison] (hereafter cited as Micianik, 111. ), Banska Bystrica: Dal88, 2009, 35 . 29 F. Csefalvay et al. , op. cit. , pp. 80-7 , 30 Micianik, Ill. , pp. 37-46. 31 F. Csefalvay et. al. , op. cit., p. 93. �72 SLOVAKIA-2017 spring and then in the summer offensive in Southern Russia, which started on 28 June 1942. At the end of July the RD participated in the reconquest of Rostov (for this operation Jozef Turanec was awarded the German Iron Cross). 32 Because the Soviet army retreated east of the Don, Hitler mistakenly thought that it was already defeated and divided his forces into two groups: the "A" Army group was to destroy the Soviet forces between the rivers Don and Kuban , and after that to continue the attack along the axis Nal'cik - Vladikavkaz Groznyj - Machackala (at the coast of the Caspian Sea) . After reaching Machackala, the army was to continue along the sea coast to the Oil fields around Baku. The "B" group was to hold the line on the Central Don and simultaneously continue the attack on Stalingrad (now Volgograd), on the Volga River. The Mobile Division was included in the "A" group commanded by Colonel-General Paul Ludwig Ewald von Kleist. While small units of the RD remained in Rostov, the main forces crossed the Don on 31 July and pursued the retreating Red Army across the Kuban Steppe. On 4 August the RD reached the Kuban River at Kropotkin (a town about 230 km east of Rostov) , crossed the river and continued to the rivers Laba and Psis (left inflows of the River Kuban). Here the RD reached the foot of the Caucasus Mountains, with their dense forests and small wild rivers and creeks. The roads were in very bad shape and narrow, and the retreating Red Army blew up the bridges. The tanks could not continue, and most of the armored cars and half-tracks were damaged and unable to continue. The troops of the RD, moving slowly and dispersed, were easy targets for small units of Russian partisans and raids by the Soviet Air Force. On 17 August Turanec received orders to move to the south and secure the territory around the town of Gorjacij Kljuc, with an important railway station on the main railway Rostov - Krasnodar. 33 The RD was again subordinated to the German I 7 th Army, which had orders to attack Novorossijsk and Tuapse on the Black Sea and to continue along the coast to the Turkish border. This attempt failed due to fierce Soviet resistance, and the RD was also stopped before Tuapse. 34 At the end of September Hitler ordered a new attack. The RD was included under the command of 32 33 34 P. Mi cianik, op. cit, pp. 11 8-24. Mi cianik, III. , pp. 146-70 . Ibid ., pp. 21 7-1 8. �SLOVAKIA-2017 73 Colonel Stefan Jurech, who replaced Jozef Turanec on 23 September. The attack of the RD started on 14 October but again failed. From 22 October the RD defended the right bank of the Psekups River. The Slovaks were under constant attack by the Soviet Air Force. ln August and September they lost 83 dead, 470 wounded, 10 missing and 3 captured; in November 19 dead and 97 wounded. 35 On 19 November 1942, the Red Army launched Operation Uranus, a two-pronged attack targeting the weaker Romanian and Hungarian forces protecting the German 6th Army's flanks. The Axis forces on the flanks were overrun and the 6th Army was cut off and surrounded in the Stalingrad area. Adolf Hitler ordered the army to stay in Stalingrad and make no attempt to break out; instead, attempts were made to supply the army by air and to break the encirclement from the outside. Heavy fighting continued for another two months. By the beginning of February 1943, the Axis forces in Stalingrad had exhausted their food and ammunition. The remnants of the 6th Army surrendered. th By Christmas of 1942 it became clear that the German 6 Army in Stalingrad was in big trouble and that the Soviets would soon launch an offensive against the German and Slovak armies in the th Caucasus. After completing the encirclement of the 6 Army, the Soviets moved to the west and reached a position 60 km east of Rostov. Colonel-General Erwald von Kleist, who replaced von Reichenau on 21 November, on 3 l December 1942 ordered an immediate retreat from Caucasus to Rostov. On 16 January 1943, the Soviet counteroffensive on the Caucasus front began. Due to this offensive, part of the Mobile Division was encircled in the village of Pencenskaja. Already during the Autumn of 1942, the Slovak soldiers were bombarded by propaganda leaflets. In them, Slovak soldiers who had deserted from the RD and also Slovak Communists wlio fled to the USSR after 1939, urged their fellow-soldiers not to fight the Russians but to surrender and cross-over to the Soviet side. This propaganda now increased. Colonel Stefan Jurech, promoted to the rank of General on I January 1943, in this new situation had no intention to st continue fighting . He secretly sent 1 Lieutenant Gustav Donoval to th the staff of the Soviet 60 Guard Rifle Army to negotiate a surrender. On 22 January 1943, the staff signed with Donoval an agreement 35 F. Csefal vay, op. cit. pp. 95-6. �74 SLOVAKIA-2017 by which the whole Mobile Division was to cross over to the Russians on 24 January. 36 This did not happen, however, because the German army broke the encirclement of Pencenskaja and the Slovaks retreated with the Germans. The Mobile Division then moved to the Kuban region from whence it was transported partly by boats and partly by air-lift to the Crimea and Perekop. During the Caucasus operations the RD lost 108 dead, 207 wounded and 157 were missing 37 and captured . During 1943 the Mobile Division lost its ability to fight due to low morale and defections. Many soldiers in Crimea established friendly relations with the locals, especially with women. Because the RD lost almost all its tanks and armored vehicles in the Caucast sus, it was reorganized as the 1 Infantry Division on 1 August 1943. At night from 29 to 30 October 1943, members of the division were suddenly attacked by the Red Army at Melitopol. The soldiers decided to surrender: 2300 soldiers and 45 officers were taken prisoner. st The German high command lost confidence in the I Division and argued that it should be used only as a labor unit. General Ferdinand Catlos agreed. On 4 May 1944 the 1st Division was transformed into the 1st Technical Division, which was moved to Romania and later to Hungary. The rest of the division was captured in March of 1945 by the Red Army. During 1941-1943, The Mobile Division suffered at least 600 dead, 2,400 wounded, 398 missing, and 88 captured. Only 42 men deserted to the Red Army. From the military point of view, it belonged to the elite of the Slovak army and even the German high command was satisfied with it. The Security Division The Security Division was stationed in the region of Northern Ukraine and Southern White Russia (Belarus) where it was to protect roads and railways, especially the line Pinsk - Gome), against attacks by partisan groups of different political affiliation. At the end of 1941 the only guerrilla fighters were those of Ukrainian nationalists, later known as the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), and the rest 36 37 Micianik, Ill., pp. 305-6 F. Csefal vay, Voj enske dejiny Slovenska, op. cit., p. 13 2. �SLOVAKIA-2017 75 were dispersed units of the Red Army. Ukrainian nationalists fought against the Red Army, because their goal was to establish an independent Ukraine. When the German authorities rejected this idea, the UP A started to fight against the Germans as well. Generally speaking, the Slovak units did not have much contact with the UPA underground units because their main bases were situated in the western part of Ukraine. At the end of 1942 and mainly in 1943 Soviet partisans appeared nd in the area. The attitude of the officers and soldiers of the Slovak 2 Division towards the partisans was rather complicated. Regiments, battalions and even companies were stationed in different places in an area almost as big as Slovakia. Very often the squads of one battalion were situated along the railway lines many miles each from another. It was practically impossible to protect the railways under such circumstances. It is difficult to define the relations between the Slovaks, the local civilian population and the partisans. On the one hand, the units of the 102" Regiment took part in the "pacification" actions against the Red partisans. Special battalions of the regiment destroyed several villages in which the civilians supported the partisans. Some squads even executed the partisans and civilian suspects. "Punishable expeditions" were especially active under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Michal Loksik, the commander of the regit ment. 38 Quite different was the situation in the 101 s Regiment. Here most of the officers looked the other way when their soldiers established friendly relations with both the partisans and the local population. Some commanders of dislocated squads and even battalions concluded an unofficial armistice with the Red partisans. Captain Jan Nalepka, chief of staff of the l O1st Regiment, established contacts with partisan leader General Saburov. When his activity was disclosed, he and two other officers deserted on 15 May 1943 to partisans near the village of Remezy. 39 On the Soviet side Nalepka orgast nized the I Czechoslovak Partisan Unit. This troop, under the command of Jan Nalepka, took part in the attack against the town of Ov- 38 F. Csefalvay et al. , Vojenske osobnosti dejin Slovenska, pp. 153-4. Loksik, who was born in Vienna in 1897, later claimed to be an ethnic German and joined the Waffen-SS . After the war he escaped from Slovakia and his further fate is unknown. 39 Micianik, II ., p. 213. �76 SLOVAKIA-2017 rue. Nalepka died in this raid on 16 November 1943 and was posthumously awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union. 40 Despite the fact that Slovak desertions to the partisans were not very numerous - altogether only about 400 soldiers crossed over 41 they had military consequences: the German command started to consider the ZD unreliable and unable ( or unwilling) to fight against the partisans and decided to remove it from the UkrainianBelorussian borderland to Minsk and its surroundings. The transfer was completed in July of 1943 . On I August 1943 the ZD was transnd formed into the 2 Infantry Division, first under the command of Colonel Pilfousek, and later Colonel Karol Peknik. Soon it became clear that the division could not be effectively used against the partisans because most of the officers (including Colonel Peknik) and soldiers had lost confidence in a German victory. The German command did not agree with its return to Slovakia. Instead, it agreed to nd transform it into a labour unit named the 2 Technical Brigade (later nd the 2 Technical Division). At the end of October it numbered 3,413 and it was sent to Italy under the command of Colonel Jan Krnac. The Attitude of the Soldiers Towards the War Slovaks as a nation had no personal experience with Russia or the Soviet Union. Slovakia never coveted Russian or (later) Soviet territory and, except for the Russian " White" emigres, who came after 1918, there were no Russians in Slovakia. During World War I many Slovaks fought as soldiers in the Austro-Hungarian Army on the Eastern (Russian) front; the war not popular among Czechs and Slovaks and many deserted to the Russians and later formed the Czechoslovak Legions that fought against Austria-Hungary and for Czechoslovakia's independence. In Slovakia, traditional pro-Russian sympathies dated back to the 19 th century based on their common Slavic origin and language proximity. Unlike in Poland, Hungary or Romania, Russians were always seen as friends, not as enemies in Slovakia. Despite its communist regime, inter-war Czechoslovakia, ° 4 F: Csefalvay, Voj enske osobnosti, p. 176. In 2004 Jan Nalepka was promoted by the Slovak government to the rank of Brigadier-General in Memoriam. 41 Martin Lacko, Dezercie a zajatia prislusn ikov zaist'ovacej divizie v ZSSR v rokoch 1942-1 943. [Desertions and Captures of the Security Division Members in the USSR 1941-1943], Bratislava: UPN , 2007, 63 . �SLOVAKIA-2017 77 like France, in 1935 signed a treaty of alliance with the USSR. The Communist Party of Czechoslovakia acted legally until its dissolution in the autumn of 1938 and was quite strong and influential in Slovakia. Many Slovak soldiers before the war were members or sympathizers. They were very often ready to accept the picture of the USSR as heaven on earth. For all these reasons the war was not popular among Slovaks. On the other hand, it should be said that most of the mobilized Slovak soldiers faithfully served in the Slovak army, although without any enthusiasm, until the end of the campaign in 1944. From a strictly professional point of view, Slovak soldiers were neither better nor worse than other soldiers fighting on the eastern front in the years 1941-1944 Justification of the war against the Soviet Union was a big problem for Slovak propaganda. While the "small war" against Hungary in March 1939 was popular, because the army was defending Slovak territory, and the war against Poland could be at least justified as a fi ght for the return of territories annexed by Poland, there was no good reason for the fight against the USSR. Relations between Slovakia and the USSR were initially good, despite the openly anticommunist stand of the Slovak government. Slovakia did not have a common border with the Soviet Union and, therefore, there were no border disputes. The Slovaks saw no reason why they should fight against Ukrainians and Russians, Slavonic people like them , for the interest of Germany. Officially, the war was directed against "JudeoBolshevism," not against Russia or the Russian nation. On 26 June 1941 Minister Ferdinand Catlos openly declared: "This is not a struggle against the Russian nation or against Slavdom ... The struggle is for a new Europe where the Russian nation will find a better future. " Catlos also recalled the anti-Bolshevik struggle of the Czechoslovak Legions during the Civil war in Russia. 42 After crossing the San River, the Slovak soldiers found themselves on former Eastern Polish territory annexed by the Soviet Union in the autumn of 1939. Except for the Communists, the locals did not consider the USSR as their motherland and had no intention of defending it. The Ukrainian population hated Soviet rule and often welcomed German troops as liberators. Slovaks were welcomed even 42 Dagmar Cerna-Lantayova, Pohl'ady na vychod [The Outlooks to th e East] , Bratislava: Veda, 2002, I 86. �78 SLOVAKIA-2017 more cordially due to the language proximity; they were partly able communicate with the locals. The Slovak soldiers here also faced Soviet reality: unbelievable poverty, terrible roads, churches turned into warehouses or clubs (or simply destroyed). They also faced the evidence of massive terror when they found hundreds of dead bodies in the yards and cells of prisons in the towns near the border. These were the bodies of political prisoners who were executed by Soviet security forces before the retreat of the Red Army4 3 (the total number of those executed is today estimated to be around 15 ,000). All these facts improved the morale of the Slovak soldiers who could feel as liberators bringing freedom and a better life to the Ukrainian people. This did not last for long, however. Very soon the Slovak soldiers were confronted with the atrocities committed by advancing German forces against the Ukrainian and Russian civilians, and especially by the"Einsatzgruppen," which behind the front lines massively murdered Jews. In central and eastern Ukraine the local population did not welcome the Germans as liberators but fought against them. Morale and fighting ability fell mainly during the retreat in the Caucasus in the severe winter of 1942-1943 . By 1943 it became clear that Germany would not win the war and that Slovaks had no reason to participate in it. Similar developments met the Security Division in Ukraine and Belarus in 1943 . The Slovak government also gradually lost its enthusiasm for the war. By 1943 it became clear that the war would last for a long time and might exhaust Slovak human and economic reserves . Because Hungary also took part in the war, it was hi ghly unlikely that Germany would pressure Budapest to return to Slovakia the annexed territory of southern Slovakia. In this situation, the Minister of Defence decided to limit Slovak participation in the war to a bare minimum . The number of soldiers in both divisions on the Soviet front constantly shrank. From the end of 1941 only those Slovak so ldiers serving their basic military service, plus some specialists, were to be sent to the front and these, after finishing their two years of service, were to be replaced by newcomers. This practice was only partly enforced, 43 Martin Lacko (ed.), Dotyky s bolsevizmom. Dokumenty spravodaj srva slo venskej armcidy 1940-1941 [Contacts with Boshevism. Documents of th e Inteligence Service of the Slovak Army I 940-194 I] , Brati slava : Ustav pamati naroda, 2009, doc. 22 , pp. 124-5 , doc. 28, p. 15 1, doc. 3 1, pp. 155-6, doc. 38, pp. 188-98. �SLOVAKIA-2017 79 however: and some soldiers were not relieved because no newcomers arrived. Political Consequences of the War against the USSR The Soviet Union - unlike Great Britain44 and the USA - fully recognized Slovakia as an independent state on 16 September 1939.45 Slovak participation in the war against the USSR had its political consequences. On 8 July 1941 Soviet Ambassador to London Ivan Majskij announced to Czechoslovak-in-exile President Edvard Benes, that restitution of Czechoslovakia was one of the war aims of the USSR and that the Soviet government decided to recognize the Czechoslovak government de Jure as the legal government of the Czechoslovak Republic.46 On 18 July 1941 the Czechoslovak-Soviet Treaty of 16 May 1935 was renewed and the Soviet Union agreed with the formation of a Czechoslovak Anny in the Soviet Union. 47 The nucleus of this army was the Czechoslovak Legion established in Poland in the summer 1939, whose members were captured by the Soviets after the defeat of Poland. There were also escapees from Czechoslovakia who illegally crossed the border to the Soviet Union (such people were usuall y imprisoned by the Soviet infamous secret police NKVD and sent to labour camps for a minimum two years) . Later, some Slovak soldiers who were taken prisoner on the Russian front or who voluntarily crossed over to the Red Army, joined the Czechoslovak Army in the Soviet Union. In 1945 the Soviet army entered Slovakia and in May Czechoslovakia was restored. 44 Great Britain and France recognized Slovakia only ' de facto .' When Slovakia took part in the German invasion of Poland , they recalled their consuls from Bratislava. 45 Dokumenty vnesnej politiki SSSR [Documents on Soviet Foreign Policy), vol. 22, fart. I, Moskva [Moscow], 1992, doc. 585, p. 82. 6 • Dokumenty a materialy k dejinam ceskoslovensko-sovetskych vztahu [Documents and Materials on the History of Czechoslovak-Soviet Relations] , vol. 4, part. I, Praha: Academia, 1980, doc. 76, p. 136. 47 Libuse Otahalova - Milada Cervenkova (eds.) : Dokumenty z historie ceskoslovenske politiky I 939-1943 [Documents on the History of Czechoslovak Policy) , Vol. I. , Prague: Academia, 1966, Vol. I, doc. 204, pp. 248-9. On the same day ( 18 July 1941 ) the Czechoslovak gove rnm ent-in-exile was also recognized by Great Britain see ibid. , doc. 203 , pp. 247-8. �80 SLOVAKIA-2017 After the war, Slovak participation in the war against the Soviet was considered by Czechoslovak authorities as one of the biggest crimes of the "l'udak"war-time regime . It goes without saying that the communist regime, which lasted in Czechoslovakia for 41 years ( 1948-1989) had no use for it. Slovak emigres, i.e. prominent personalities of the Slovak State who managed to escape to the West, mainly to the USA and Canada, during the first part of the Cold war sometimes tried to present the war as Slovakia's fight against Communism .48 Later, in the l 960's, this explanation was abandoned and Slovak participation was explained rather as a result of German pressure. 49 Today, in the democratic independent Slovakia, mo st of Slovak historians consider participation in the Second World War on the side of Germany as a mistake and not something of which the Slovaks should be proud. so 48 Jozef Pauco, S/owici a komunizmus [Slovaks and Communi sm] , Middletown Pa.: Jednota Press, 1957, pp. I 07- 11 ; Andrej Cincura, " Duch slovenskej armady" [The Spirit of the Slovak Army] , in Mikulas Sprinc (ed.), S/ovenska repub/ika 1939-1949 [The Slovak Republic, 1939-1949], Scranton, Pa.: Obrana Press, 1949, pp. 130-32. 49 Milan Stanislav Durica, "S lovaki a During World War II" in Joseph M. Kirchbaum , Slovakia in the 19th and 20th Centuries. Toronto: Slovak World Congress, 1973, 183. 50 Julius Bartl , "M. S. Durica: Dejiny Slovenska a Slowikov" (A review article), in Historicky casopis, 45, 1997, No I, p. 120; Dagmar Ciem a-Lantayova, Poh/'ady na vychod, op. cit. , pp. 185-7, F. Csefalvay, Vojenske dejiny Slovenska, vo l. V. , op. cit., pp. 258-9; Valerian Bystri cky - Dusan Kovac - Jan Pesek a kol., K/'iicove prob/emy modernych s/ovenskych dejin 1848-1 992 (The Bas ic Problems of Modem Slovak Histo ry 1848- 1992], Bratislava: Veda, 20 12, pp. 225-6 ; Martin Lacko, Slovenska repub/ika 1939-45. Bratislava: UPN -Perfekt, 2008, pp. 93-5 ; I..:ubo mir Liptak, 2217 dni. S/ovensko v case druhej svetovej vojny (2217 Days . Slovaki a during WW 11] , Bratislava: Ka lligram , 20 11 , pp. 318-20; Katarin a Hradska - Ivan Kamenec et. al. , S/ovensko v 20. storoci. I V. S/ovenska Repub/ika 1939- 1945 [Slovakia in the 20 th Centu ry. IV . The Slovak Republic 1939- I 945] , Bratislava: Veda, 20 15, p. 331. � SLOVAKIA-2017 61 THE SLOVAK ARMY ON THE EASTERN FRONT DURING WORLD WAR II Jan Rychlik Attempts to build separate Slovak military units under the command of Slovak officers within the framework of the Czecho-S lovak Armed Forces already existed in the period of autonomy (6 October 1938 to 14 March 1939). The government in Prague refused such demands but despite that many conscripts and officers of Slovak nationality were allowed to serve in Slovakia, which later enabled the relatively rapid creation of Slovak army units. The ruling Hlinka Slovak People ' s Party (Hlinkova slovenska l'udova strana - HSCS) already in this period had a party militia called the Hlinka Guard (Hlinkova garda - HG). The HG-men (gardisti) belonged to radical separatists within the HSCS. Many of them were admirers of German National Socialism and later became known for their terrorist acts against Czechs, Jews and opponents of the regime. Units of the newly-established Slovak army and volunteers of the HG took part in the defence of the eastern border against the Hungarian invasion of Eastern Slovakia (23- 31 March 1939) known as the "little war" . However, regular army officers considered the HG as dangerous fanatics with poor fighting abilities and opposed their inclusion in the armed forces. Also, President Josef Tiso did not like them because of their radicalism . The newly-established Slovak Army was at the beginning only a smaller version of the Czechoslovak Army of the first Republic ( 19 I 8-1938), which the Germans dissolved. The departure from the Czechoslovak model (new ranks, new emblems and symbols etc.) was a relatively lengthy process. At the beginning the army used the old Czechoslovak uniforms and was equipped mainly with Czechoslovak weapons and machinery, which was later partly replaced by German ones. Like the Czechoslovak Army, it was based on the conscript system and made compulsory for all able-bodied men, usually two years. Reservists cou ld be summoned for military training in �62 SLOVAKIA-2017 case of emergency. 1 However, the Slovak army initially lacked officers. In August of 1938 there were only 435 officers of Slovak nationality in the Czechoslovak army, which represented 3.4% of the officer corps. 2 Some officers of Czech nationality, mainly those with Slovak wives, were allowed to continue their service in the Slovak army, as well as some ethnic Germans . New officers were recruited from the reserve-officers of the former Czechoslovak anny, who were mainly teachers. Some of them were in fact mobilized against their will. A Slovak military academy was opened in Banska Bystrica, and military schools in Bratislava and Nitra. In July of 1939 the Slovak army consisted of 29,683 men ; in February 1940 33, 41 (including 1,0 IO officers); and in June of I 94 I 33,676 men, including 1,347 officers, 42 of them Czechs. 3 Jews, according the government decree of 2 1 June 1939, served in military labour units and the same applied to Roma (Gypsies). Ethnic Germans living in Slovakia, who were Slovak citizens, served first in the Slovak army in special units but later they were allowed to fulfil their military service in the German army and the SS-corps. In 1944 their service in the SS-corps became mandatory. There were people of different political opinions in the officer corps of the Slovak army. Certainly, there were officers devoted to independent Slovakia and even to the close cooperation of Slovakia with Germany, like Colonel (later General) Jozef Turanec, Colonel Rudolf Pilfousek or Lieutenant-Colonel Michal Loksik4 . Generally speaking, however, the Slovak officers were usually not adherents of the HSCS regime and very often were even hostile or at least indifferent to the idea of independent Slovakia. Some Slovak officers even joined the resistance movement. The Czech underground organization National Defence (Obrana naroda - ON), which specialized in sabotage and military intelligence, and was based in the Protectorate, also operated in Slovakia and some officers of the Slovak army were members. The reason for such behaviour was rather simple: 1 Frantisek Csefa lvay et al. , Vojenske dejiny Slovenska [Military Hi story of Slovakia] V. 1939- 1945. Brati slava: Magnet Press, 2008, 16-24. 2 Ibid ., 14. 3 Ibi d. , p. 22-3 . 4 Frantisek Csefalvay et al., Vojenske osobnosri dejin Slovenska 1939-/945 [Military Personalities in the History of Slovakia 1939- 1945). Brati slava: Vojensky histori cky ustav, 2013 , 153-4, 197-8, 250-5 1. �SLOVAKIA-2017 63 former Czechoslovak officers, who graduated from the Czechoslovak military schools (most notably at the Military Academy in Hranice), were educated in a pro-Czechoslovak and pro-democratic spirit. Czechoslovak counter-intelligence screened every candidate applying to study at the Military Academy. Members of Communist and various separatist parties or even sympathisers of Communism or separatist movements were not accepted. The same restrictions applied in the school for reserve officers who were recruited from conscripts with higher education. In addition, the professional officers before 1938 were often stationed in the Czech Lands and their wives were often Czechs. 5 They were integrated into the Czech secular milieu and the clerical character of the Slovak Republic was strange to them. Some former Czechoslovak officers of Slovak nationality were originally also Legionaries, that is, volunteers who had fought for an independent Czechoslovakia on the side of the Allies, especially in Russia during World War I. 6 The ex-Legionaries formed the elite of the inter-war Czechoslovak army. It is true that even among the Legionaries it was possible to find supporters of the l'udak regime (like General Ferdinand Catlos), but in principle, former Legionaries were rather hostile to it. Some even deserted from the Slovak army and offered their services to the Czechoslovak government-in-exile represented by Edvard Benes and joined the Czechoslovak Army abroad. This was the case of General Rudolf Viest, the only general of Slovak nationality, who escaped to Paris and became commander of the Czechoslovak Army in France. This army fought the advancing Germans during the spring campaign on the western front in May and June of 1940 and after the defeat of France was evacuated to Great Britain. From 14 March 1939 Slovakia was an independent state with its own army and foreign representation . Slovak sovereignty was, how5 Pavel Micianik, Slovenskci armada v t'ai eni proti Sovietskemu zviizu ( /941-1944) . 1. V opercicii Barbarossa. [The Slovak Army in the Campaign aga inst the Soviet Uni on. I 941-1944. Part I. In Operation Barbarossa) (hereafter cited as Micianik, I.), Banska Bystrica: Dali-BB, 2007, 30-31. 6 The Czechoslovak Legions were formed during WW I from prisoners of war of the Austro-Hunga ri an army of Czech and S lovak nationality and also the Czech and Slovak vo lunteers li ving in Entente states (mainly Russia , France) or neutral states (mainl y the USA up to 191 7). The Legions were formed in Russia, Italy and France. They fought against Germany and A ustri a-Hunga ry. The Legions in Russia also later fought aga inst the Red Army in th e Ru ssian C ivi l war. �64 SLOVAKIA-2017 ever, severely limited by special relations with Germany. According the "Treaty of Protection" (in German: Schutzvertrag), signed preliminarily in Vienna on 18 March and definitively in Berlin on 23 March 1939, Germany obtained the right to build freely , and according to her own needs, military bases in the so-called "Zone of Protection" (Schutzzone) which was situated in Western Slovakia between the White Carpathians and the border of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. Slovakia was also obliged to conduct her foreign and 7 defence policies according the interests of Germany. A secret protocol to the Schutzvertrag subordinated the Slovak economy to German needs. 8 The Treaty of Protection in fact meant that Slovakia could be forced to participate in war alongside Germany, if the German government so desired. On 2 1 August the German Auswdrtigesamt (Foreign Office) prepared a Note verbale informing the Slovak Government that German armed forces would enter Slovakia to protect her from the danger of a Polish attack.9 The content of the note (approved by Adolf Hitler) was first unofficially presented to the Slovak government by German Minister to Bratislava Hans Bernard on 24 August 1939 . 10 The Slovak government was also asked to take part in the military operations against Poland (the government was assured that the Slovak army would not be used outside of Slovak territory, 11 but this promise was broken). In exchange, Germany promised to guarantee the Slovak-Hungarian border. If Poland was defeated, Slovakia would regain the territories lost in the fall of 1938, and eventually those lost to Poland in 1920. 12 After some hesitation the Slovak government accepted the German demands. After that the German request was presented again officially on 27 August 13 and the Slovak government consented the next day. Mobilization started already on 26 August. Gradually 117,000 reservists were 7 Eduard Ni zi'i ansky et al. , Slovensko-nemecke vzt'ahy 1938-1 94 1 v dokumentech/Slovakisch-deutsche Beziehungen in Dokumenten 1938-/ 94 1 [Slovak-German Relations 193 8-1941 in Documents] I. (hierafter cited as SDBD I.] , Presov: Universum , 2009, doc. 96, pp. 305-06. 8 Ibid ., 307-08. 9 SBDB I. , doc. 202, pp. 576-7 . 10 Ibid, doc . 209, pp. 589-90. 11 Ibid., doc. 205 , p. 583. 12 Ibid., doc. 210, pp. 590-1 . 13 Ibid., doc. 216, pp. 604-5 , p. 610. �SLOVAKIA-2017 65 called up, of whom about 51,000 were assigned to the field army "Bernolak," under the command of General Ferdinand Catlos. While the main military operations were carried out by the Wehrmacht, which launched its attack on Poland also from Slovak soil, three Slovak divisions between 3- 5 September crossed the border and occupied a small piece of territory on the Polish side of the Tatra Mountains. On 17 September Poland was attacked from the east by the Red army, and was defeated and the Slovak army returned to Slovakia. It should be noted that Slovakia never formally declared war on Poland. The Slovak government presented the war against Poland as a struggle for the liberation of the territories which were annexed by Poland in 1920, 1924 and in 1938 (Upper Orava, Upper Spis and part of Javorina in the High Tatra Mountains). Germany indeed returned 14 these territories to Slovakia on 21 November 1939. The reclaimed territories were partly inhabited by ethnic Slovaks and so the war had some justification. Pro-German elements in HSCS, and especially the HG, welcomed the defeat of Poland . Generally speaking, however, the war was not very popular among Slovaks because many of them considered the Poles Slavs, like the Slovaks, and in addition to speaking a similar language, their kinsmen and brothers. The war was extremely unpopular among Slovak Lutherans in the western part of the country. After the defeat of Poland, Germany no longer required Slovak participation in German operations and the Slovak army did not take part in the war in the West. In June of 1940 France was defeated. Berlin, having now "free hands," decided to purge the Slovak government of "unreliable elements" and to strengthen the influence of the Germanophiles. On July 27, Hitler summoned President Tiso to Salzburg and forced him to fire Minister of Foreign Affairs Ferdinand Durcansky, who in the Spring had tried to negotiate with the British behind Germany's back. The new Minister of Foreign Affairs became the Germanophile Vojtech Tuka, who since 26 October 1939 had already been the Prime Minister. Another Germanphile, Alexander Mach, was appointed Minister of the Interior. The new government was definitivel y and exclusively oriented towards Germany. On 24 November 1940 Slovakia, together with Hungary and Romania, 1 ~ SDBD, I., doc. 25 1, pp. 683 -4. �66 SLOVAKIA-2017 joined the Tripartite Pact (Berlin-Rome-Tokyo). 15 In April of 1941 Slovakia did not participate in the campaign against Yugoslavia and Greece. On the other hand, when the war stared on 6 April, Bratislava severed diplomatic relations with Belgrade and on 10 April expressed a willingness to recognize the Independent State of Croatia. On 21 June 1941 the Chief of the German General Staff, General Franz Halder, visited Bratislava incognito. He informed the head of the German military mission, General Paul von Otto, that Hitler expected the participation of the Slovak army in the war against the Soviet Union. 16. The war started the next day. The German Minister to Bratislava, Hans Eluard Ludin, visited Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Vojtech Tuka and informed him about the German request for Slovak participation. Tuka agreed and offered (through Slovak Minister to Berlin Matus Cernak) military assistance to the German Foreign Office. 17 On the same afternoon diplomatic relations between the USSR and Slovakia were broken off 8 and Defence Minister Ferdinand Catlos summoned the reservists for "extraordinary military training. " Only on 24 June did the government approve Slovak participation in the war, which was officially announced on the radio. The Slovak Diet, which according the Constitution was the only body that could declare war, was not informed of the government's declaration . So, from the forma l point of view, the whole action was unconstitutional. It is worth mentioning that on 13 December 1941 , the Slovak government also formally declared war on Great Britain and the United States. 19 Again, the declaration of war was not presented to the Diet. Because the USA and Great Britain did not recognize Slovakia as an independent state, they ignored the declaration. No direct fighting took place between the Slovak army and the western allies, but both countries treated Slovakia as 15 SDBD, I. , doc. 359, pp. 270-2. SDBD, I. doc. 400, p. 1092. 17 Eduard Nizi\ansky et al. , Slovensko-nemecke vzt'ahy 194 1-1945 v dokumentech/Slovakisch-deutsche Beziehungen in Dokumenten 1941-1945 [Slovak-German Relati ons 1941 - 1945 in documents] II. (hierafter cited as SDBD 11.), Presov: Universum , 20 11 , doc.1,p.95 . 18 Ibid, doc. 3, p. 98 . 19 SDBS II. , doc. 34, p. 184. The declaration was announ ced in th e daily Slovenskci politika on 13 December 1941. 16 �SLOVAKIA-2017 67 enemy territory. Slovakia, including Bratislava, was repeatedly bombed in 1944. Accord ing to the unpublished memoirs of Ferdinand Catlos, at first onl y ministers Tuka and Mach advocated immediate participation in the war, whi le other ministers and President Tiso had some doubts . But after some hesitation all agreed. 20 Despite the fact that it was Gennany who reque sted military ass istance from Slovakia, it should be noted that the Slovak government had no objections. The government saw participation in the war against the Soviet Union as a good opportunity to show to Berlin that Slovakia was a better frie nd than Hungary, which also took part in the military campaign. Tuka and Tiso wanted to contribute more and faster. They believed that it in future it might be possible, with German help, to rev ise the Vienna Arbitration Award of 2 November 193 8, which deprived Slovakia of part of her southern territory in favour of Hungary. The openl y anti-communist policy and rhetoric of the l'udak regime also played a role. 2 1 Mobilization of the reservists lasted until 5 July. A total of 68,0 18 reservists were ca ll ed to arms, of whom 56,8 58 were registered . The total number of Slovak soldiers reached 90,533 . General Ferd inand Catlos formed in Eastern Slovakia an Anny Group (in Slovak : armadna skupina - AS) which consisted of two divisions nd (the I st Division commanded by Colone l Jozef Turanec and the 2 Divi sion com manded by Co lonel Augustin Malar). From a part of the 2nd Division and sma ll er units of specialized weapons (two artillery regiments, tank units, automob ile unit etc.), Catlos formed the so-called Mobile Group (in Slovak: rychla skupina , i.e. , the fast or rapid group) under the command of Colonel Rudolf Pilfousek, an officer who claimed to be an ethnic German, but according hi s name was probably partly Czech. The Mobile Group was the only almost full y motorized Slovak military unit and it was expected to move quickly with the advancing German army. The Slovak forces were first situated in northeast Slovakia, near the border of occupied Poland (the Genera l Governorate). Slovakia did not border on the Sovi20 Archiv literatt'.try a um eni a Slovenskej narodnej kn iznice (ALU SNK) [Archives of the Li terature and Arts of the Slovak National Library] in Martin, mem oirs of Ferdinand Catlos, sig. 129 E2, pp. 65 -66. 21 I.:ubomir Liptak, Slovensko v 20. storoci [Slovakia in the 20th Century]. 2nd ed., Bratislava: Kalli gram, 1998, 189. �68 SLOVAKIA-2017 et Union but Soviet territory was very close to the place of assembly. After the beginning of the war, the Slovak forces crossed the border and assembled in the General Govemorate near Brzoz6w, a village west of the River San, from 28 September 1939 the border between Germany and Soviet Union. The Slovak division s and the Mobile Group were included in the forces of the German Army Group South (commander: Field Marchal Gerd von Rundstedt). Within this Army group the Mobile Group was first subordinated to the command of the I ih German army (Commander: General Carl Heinrich von Stiilpnagel), which was part of the Army Group South. One of the goals of the I ih Army was to cross the San River and to break through the so-called Molotov defence line, 22 i.e. the chain of light bunkers built on the new Soviet western border (established after the defeat of Poland). The Mobile Group crossed the San on 25 June and continued to attack Sambor. On I July the Soviet army started to retreat to the so-called Stalin line, the chain of fortre sses built on the old (pre-17 September 1939) Soviet-Polish border. This allowed the advancing German I ih Army to continue to attack the region of Lvov (in Polish Lw6w, in Ukrainian Lviv) and the mobile group was ordered to mop up the territory South of Lvov. On 2 July, without firing a shot, the mobile group captured Stryj (a town about 60 km south ofLvov), which the Red Arm y decided not to defend. 23 On 7 July the Mobile Group, which was temporally subordinated again directly to General Catlos, was reorganized into the Mobile Brigade (195 officers, 52 sergeants and 4,655 soldiers, a company of 43 tanks - two squads , one battalion of armoured vehicles and th trucks, the I I Artillery Regiment, one squad of machine-guns, a scouting squad) and the next day started to move Eastward alongside the main axis Sambor - Temopol - Vinnyca. On 19 July the I 7th the th German Army broke the Stalin line and the 49 Mountain Army Corps occupied Vinnyca, led by Major-General Ludwig von Kubler. The German command believed that now was the time to di sperse the Red Army. Kubler ordered Pilfousek on 19 July to move the Mobile Brigade to Vinnyca, which was reached on 2 1 July. Pilfousek was then ordered to take Lypovec, a small town about 50 km East of Vinnyca on the main road to Bila Cerkva and Kiev . The attack start22 23 Micianik, I. , pp. Micianik, I. pp. 62-83. �SLOVAKIA-2017 69 ed on 22 July. Pilfousek had less than 5,000 men, 43 tanks and part th of the 11 Artillery Regiment with 123 cannons. The tanks did not have enough fuel and ammunition and had to halt the attack in the vi llage Scaslyva, west of the town. Pilfousek then made a fatal error when he ordered the infantry to continue the attack. Slovak so ldiers reached the center of the town but they were stopped by a counterattack by a division of the lih Soviet Army, which sent 15,000 men to reconquer the lost positions. The Slovaks were unable to hold the city without tanks but were saved due to the support of the 11 h Artillery Regiment, which held back the attacking Soviets. Only the arri va l of fresh German forces saved the Mobile Brigade from total defeat. A total of 75 Slovak soldiers died, 167 were wounded and 19 were taken prisoner. The Mobile Brigade lost four tanks, one armored car and tens of trucks. The next day, on 23 July, Lypovec was th occupied by the German 295 Infantry Division of Lieutenant24 General Karl Glimbel. The Mobile Group had in fact been defeated and General Ferdinand Catlos ordered most of the armored vehicles to return to Slovakia. Most of the soldiers remained in the Vinnyca region, while only a small Slovak unit of the Mobile Group, supported by the 11 th Artilth lery Regiment, continued the attack with the German 295 Infantry Di vision and on 30 July reached Granovo, West of the Dnepr (Dnipro) River. After that even these soldiers were sent back to Vinnyca. Slovak official propaganda presented the defeat at Lypovec as a "great victory" and also as a "symbol of Slovak-German friendship in arms." In 1942 a granite monument was erected at the battlefield and a military cemetery was located there. The monument stands to this day. About 600 Slovak soldiers, who died in the fighting in the Soviet Union (not only at Lypovec), are buried here. The First and Second Slovak Infantry Divisions, forming the Slovak army group (Armadna skupina - AS) were created partly from reservists who were mobilized at the end of June. The infantry divisions were concentrated in northeast Slovakia, near Medzilaborce, and later moved to the region of Sanok and Chyrov (in Polish: Chyr6w, in Ukrainian Chyriv, 16 km to the east from the UkrainianPolish border), where the command of the AS was temporally situated . The troops moved slowl y because they usually had to walk. They 24 Ibid ., pp. 12 1-37. �70 SLOVAKIA-2017 were used in July mainly to mop up the regions of eastern Galicia (South of the line Rava Ruska - Ternopol) of the dispersed units of the Soviet army as a part of the hinterland forces of the German Army Group South. 25 The Mobile Division After the defeat of the Mobile Brigade at Lypovec General Catlos decided to reorganize the Slovak armed forces. On 25 July 1941 two new divisions were formed : the Mobile Division (in Slovak: rychla divizia - RD), which was in fact a strengthened Mobile Brigade and the Security Division (in Slovak: Zaist'ovacia divizia ZD) which was to serve as a security and guard service on occupied Soviet territories in Ukraine. Their main region of operations was around Zitomir (Zhitomir, ukr. Zytomyr), a town about 130 km west of Kiev. While at the beginning of war the Slovak government wanted to show that Slovakia's participation in comparison to its population was high, now the situation changed. Most of the reservists, mobilized at the end of June and beginning of July to the Army Group (I st and 2 nd Infantry Division), were sent home. In the autumn of 1941 the number of soldiers was reduced to only about one-third of that in July 1941. The RD and the ZD were now formed mainly from professional soldiers and conscripts. The reservists formed about 17% of the total. They were mainly specialists of various types and drivers. On 10 September 8,862 men served in the ZD, 26 while the Mobile Division had 8,451 men on 20 August (including 30 I officers). 27 Despite its name, the Mobile Divison commanded by Colonel Jozef Turanec, was not fully motorized. The motorized section took part in the battle of Kiev at the end of August I 941. After the fall of Kiev (20 September 1941) the Mobile Division moved to the South st and was part of the 1 Tanlc Army Group of Colonel-General Ewald von Kleist, which moved in the direction of the Don River. It fought 25 Ibid, pp. 142-53 . Micianik, I. , p. 245. See also: P. Micianik, Slovenska armada v t'ai eni proti So vietskemu zviizu (1941 -1944). II. Zaist'ovacia divizia a ieleznicni pionieri. [Security Division and Ra ilway Pioneers]. (hereafter cited as Micianik, 11. ) Banska Bystrica : Dal-BB, 2008, p. 37. 27 Micianik, I. , p. 191. 26 �SLOVAKIA-2017 71 successfully in the Donbas Area. At the end of October the Mobile Division reached Rostov-on-the Don and the Azov Sea. At that time the Mobile Division had 287 officers, 386 sergeants and 7,081 men. The Slovak units were situated between Rostov and the mouth of the Don. Slovak soldiers were not prepared for the winter, which started in the middle of November. 28 On 27 November 1941 Colonel Turanec was replaced by Colonel Augustin Malar. After his arrival, he recognized the decline in morale and discipline and fighting ability among his soldiers. Malar wanted to move the division back to Slovakia but the German High Command refused because of the start of a Soviet counter-offensive at the end of November. Field Marshal von Rundstedt, the Commander of Army Group South, decided to retreat. On 28 November the Soviet army reconquered Rostov. Hitler recalled Rundstedt and substituted him with Field Marshal Walter von Reichenau, but Reichenau did not change the order and continued the retreat behind the River Mius. Here the Slovak RD was ordered to defend positions near the town of Golodajevka on the bank of the River Mius. The Soviet counteroffensive was then successfully stopped. As a result, Colonel Malar was promoted to the rank of General and later awarded the German Iron Cross. By the end of 1941 the RD had suffered 84 deaths, 3 78 wounded or frozen, 26 missing and 11 captured. 29 Between January and the beginning of March 1942 the Red Army launched its winter offensive at the Mius River.30 At the beginning of March the snow started to melt and the Mius overflowed. The flood stopped the Soviet offensive and within the next six weeks the front where the RD was stationed was relatively quiet but still between 1 January and the end of April the RD lost 143 men ( 124 killed, 12 missing and 7 captured). 31 On 25 April 1942 Jozef Turanec, promoted to the rank of General on 1 January, again took command of the RD. The Mobile division took part first in the battle of Charkov (Charkiv, Kharkiv) in the 28 P. Micianik, Slovenskci armada v t'aieni pro ti Sovietskemu zvdzu (1941-1944). !If. Rychla divizia [The Slovak Army in the Attack upon the Soviet Union ( 1941-1944). Ill. The Mobile Divison] (hereafter cited as Micianik, 111. ), Banska Bystrica: Dal88, 2009, 35 . 29 F. Csefalvay et al. , op. cit. , pp. 80-7 , 30 Micianik, Ill. , pp. 37-46. 31 F. Csefalvay et. al. , op. cit., p. 93. �72 SLOVAKIA-2017 spring and then in the summer offensive in Southern Russia, which started on 28 June 1942. At the end of July the RD participated in the reconquest of Rostov (for this operation Jozef Turanec was awarded the German Iron Cross). 32 Because the Soviet army retreated east of the Don, Hitler mistakenly thought that it was already defeated and divided his forces into two groups: the "A" Army group was to destroy the Soviet forces between the rivers Don and Kuban , and after that to continue the attack along the axis Nal'cik - Vladikavkaz Groznyj - Machackala (at the coast of the Caspian Sea) . After reaching Machackala, the army was to continue along the sea coast to the Oil fields around Baku. The "B" group was to hold the line on the Central Don and simultaneously continue the attack on Stalingrad (now Volgograd), on the Volga River. The Mobile Division was included in the "A" group commanded by Colonel-General Paul Ludwig Ewald von Kleist. While small units of the RD remained in Rostov, the main forces crossed the Don on 31 July and pursued the retreating Red Army across the Kuban Steppe. On 4 August the RD reached the Kuban River at Kropotkin (a town about 230 km east of Rostov) , crossed the river and continued to the rivers Laba and Psis (left inflows of the River Kuban). Here the RD reached the foot of the Caucasus Mountains, with their dense forests and small wild rivers and creeks. The roads were in very bad shape and narrow, and the retreating Red Army blew up the bridges. The tanks could not continue, and most of the armored cars and half-tracks were damaged and unable to continue. The troops of the RD, moving slowly and dispersed, were easy targets for small units of Russian partisans and raids by the Soviet Air Force. On 17 August Turanec received orders to move to the south and secure the territory around the town of Gorjacij Kljuc, with an important railway station on the main railway Rostov - Krasnodar. 33 The RD was again subordinated to the German I 7 th Army, which had orders to attack Novorossijsk and Tuapse on the Black Sea and to continue along the coast to the Turkish border. This attempt failed due to fierce Soviet resistance, and the RD was also stopped before Tuapse. 34 At the end of September Hitler ordered a new attack. The RD was included under the command of 32 33 34 P. Mi cianik, op. cit, pp. 11 8-24. Mi cianik, III. , pp. 146-70 . Ibid ., pp. 21 7-1 8. �SLOVAKIA-2017 73 Colonel Stefan Jurech, who replaced Jozef Turanec on 23 September. The attack of the RD started on 14 October but again failed. From 22 October the RD defended the right bank of the Psekups River. The Slovaks were under constant attack by the Soviet Air Force. ln August and September they lost 83 dead, 470 wounded, 10 missing and 3 captured; in November 19 dead and 97 wounded. 35 On 19 November 1942, the Red Army launched Operation Uranus, a two-pronged attack targeting the weaker Romanian and Hungarian forces protecting the German 6th Army's flanks. The Axis forces on the flanks were overrun and the 6th Army was cut off and surrounded in the Stalingrad area. Adolf Hitler ordered the army to stay in Stalingrad and make no attempt to break out; instead, attempts were made to supply the army by air and to break the encirclement from the outside. Heavy fighting continued for another two months. By the beginning of February 1943, the Axis forces in Stalingrad had exhausted their food and ammunition. The remnants of the 6th Army surrendered. th By Christmas of 1942 it became clear that the German 6 Army in Stalingrad was in big trouble and that the Soviets would soon launch an offensive against the German and Slovak armies in the th Caucasus. After completing the encirclement of the 6 Army, the Soviets moved to the west and reached a position 60 km east of Rostov. Colonel-General Erwald von Kleist, who replaced von Reichenau on 21 November, on 3 l December 1942 ordered an immediate retreat from Caucasus to Rostov. On 16 January 1943, the Soviet counteroffensive on the Caucasus front began. Due to this offensive, part of the Mobile Division was encircled in the village of Pencenskaja. Already during the Autumn of 1942, the Slovak soldiers were bombarded by propaganda leaflets. In them, Slovak soldiers who had deserted from the RD and also Slovak Communists wlio fled to the USSR after 1939, urged their fellow-soldiers not to fight the Russians but to surrender and cross-over to the Soviet side. This propaganda now increased. Colonel Stefan Jurech, promoted to the rank of General on I January 1943, in this new situation had no intention to st continue fighting . He secretly sent 1 Lieutenant Gustav Donoval to th the staff of the Soviet 60 Guard Rifle Army to negotiate a surrender. On 22 January 1943, the staff signed with Donoval an agreement 35 F. Csefal vay, op. cit. pp. 95-6. �74 SLOVAKIA-2017 by which the whole Mobile Division was to cross over to the Russians on 24 January. 36 This did not happen, however, because the German army broke the encirclement of Pencenskaja and the Slovaks retreated with the Germans. The Mobile Division then moved to the Kuban region from whence it was transported partly by boats and partly by air-lift to the Crimea and Perekop. During the Caucasus operations the RD lost 108 dead, 207 wounded and 157 were missing 37 and captured . During 1943 the Mobile Division lost its ability to fight due to low morale and defections. Many soldiers in Crimea established friendly relations with the locals, especially with women. Because the RD lost almost all its tanks and armored vehicles in the Caucast sus, it was reorganized as the 1 Infantry Division on 1 August 1943. At night from 29 to 30 October 1943, members of the division were suddenly attacked by the Red Army at Melitopol. The soldiers decided to surrender: 2300 soldiers and 45 officers were taken prisoner. st The German high command lost confidence in the I Division and argued that it should be used only as a labor unit. General Ferdinand Catlos agreed. On 4 May 1944 the 1st Division was transformed into the 1st Technical Division, which was moved to Romania and later to Hungary. The rest of the division was captured in March of 1945 by the Red Army. During 1941-1943, The Mobile Division suffered at least 600 dead, 2,400 wounded, 398 missing, and 88 captured. Only 42 men deserted to the Red Army. From the military point of view, it belonged to the elite of the Slovak army and even the German high command was satisfied with it. The Security Division The Security Division was stationed in the region of Northern Ukraine and Southern White Russia (Belarus) where it was to protect roads and railways, especially the line Pinsk - Gome), against attacks by partisan groups of different political affiliation. At the end of 1941 the only guerrilla fighters were those of Ukrainian nationalists, later known as the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), and the rest 36 37 Micianik, Ill., pp. 305-6 F. Csefal vay, Voj enske dejiny Slovenska, op. cit., p. 13 2. �SLOVAKIA-2017 75 were dispersed units of the Red Army. Ukrainian nationalists fought against the Red Army, because their goal was to establish an independent Ukraine. When the German authorities rejected this idea, the UP A started to fight against the Germans as well. Generally speaking, the Slovak units did not have much contact with the UPA underground units because their main bases were situated in the western part of Ukraine. At the end of 1942 and mainly in 1943 Soviet partisans appeared nd in the area. The attitude of the officers and soldiers of the Slovak 2 Division towards the partisans was rather complicated. Regiments, battalions and even companies were stationed in different places in an area almost as big as Slovakia. Very often the squads of one battalion were situated along the railway lines many miles each from another. It was practically impossible to protect the railways under such circumstances. It is difficult to define the relations between the Slovaks, the local civilian population and the partisans. On the one hand, the units of the 102" Regiment took part in the "pacification" actions against the Red partisans. Special battalions of the regiment destroyed several villages in which the civilians supported the partisans. Some squads even executed the partisans and civilian suspects. "Punishable expeditions" were especially active under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Michal Loksik, the commander of the regit ment. 38 Quite different was the situation in the 101 s Regiment. Here most of the officers looked the other way when their soldiers established friendly relations with both the partisans and the local population. Some commanders of dislocated squads and even battalions concluded an unofficial armistice with the Red partisans. Captain Jan Nalepka, chief of staff of the l O1st Regiment, established contacts with partisan leader General Saburov. When his activity was disclosed, he and two other officers deserted on 15 May 1943 to partisans near the village of Remezy. 39 On the Soviet side Nalepka orgast nized the I Czechoslovak Partisan Unit. This troop, under the command of Jan Nalepka, took part in the attack against the town of Ov- 38 F. Csefalvay et al. , Vojenske osobnosti dejin Slovenska, pp. 153-4. Loksik, who was born in Vienna in 1897, later claimed to be an ethnic German and joined the Waffen-SS . After the war he escaped from Slovakia and his further fate is unknown. 39 Micianik, II ., p. 213. �76 SLOVAKIA-2017 rue. Nalepka died in this raid on 16 November 1943 and was posthumously awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union. 40 Despite the fact that Slovak desertions to the partisans were not very numerous - altogether only about 400 soldiers crossed over 41 they had military consequences: the German command started to consider the ZD unreliable and unable ( or unwilling) to fight against the partisans and decided to remove it from the UkrainianBelorussian borderland to Minsk and its surroundings. The transfer was completed in July of 1943 . On I August 1943 the ZD was transnd formed into the 2 Infantry Division, first under the command of Colonel Pilfousek, and later Colonel Karol Peknik. Soon it became clear that the division could not be effectively used against the partisans because most of the officers (including Colonel Peknik) and soldiers had lost confidence in a German victory. The German command did not agree with its return to Slovakia. Instead, it agreed to nd transform it into a labour unit named the 2 Technical Brigade (later nd the 2 Technical Division). At the end of October it numbered 3,413 and it was sent to Italy under the command of Colonel Jan Krnac. The Attitude of the Soldiers Towards the War Slovaks as a nation had no personal experience with Russia or the Soviet Union. Slovakia never coveted Russian or (later) Soviet territory and, except for the Russian " White" emigres, who came after 1918, there were no Russians in Slovakia. During World War I many Slovaks fought as soldiers in the Austro-Hungarian Army on the Eastern (Russian) front; the war not popular among Czechs and Slovaks and many deserted to the Russians and later formed the Czechoslovak Legions that fought against Austria-Hungary and for Czechoslovakia's independence. In Slovakia, traditional pro-Russian sympathies dated back to the 19 th century based on their common Slavic origin and language proximity. Unlike in Poland, Hungary or Romania, Russians were always seen as friends, not as enemies in Slovakia. Despite its communist regime, inter-war Czechoslovakia, ° 4 F: Csefalvay, Voj enske osobnosti, p. 176. In 2004 Jan Nalepka was promoted by the Slovak government to the rank of Brigadier-General in Memoriam. 41 Martin Lacko, Dezercie a zajatia prislusn ikov zaist'ovacej divizie v ZSSR v rokoch 1942-1 943. [Desertions and Captures of the Security Division Members in the USSR 1941-1943], Bratislava: UPN , 2007, 63 . �SLOVAKIA-2017 77 like France, in 1935 signed a treaty of alliance with the USSR. The Communist Party of Czechoslovakia acted legally until its dissolution in the autumn of 1938 and was quite strong and influential in Slovakia. Many Slovak soldiers before the war were members or sympathizers. They were very often ready to accept the picture of the USSR as heaven on earth. For all these reasons the war was not popular among Slovaks. On the other hand, it should be said that most of the mobilized Slovak soldiers faithfully served in the Slovak army, although without any enthusiasm, until the end of the campaign in 1944. From a strictly professional point of view, Slovak soldiers were neither better nor worse than other soldiers fighting on the eastern front in the years 1941-1944 Justification of the war against the Soviet Union was a big problem for Slovak propaganda. While the "small war" against Hungary in March 1939 was popular, because the army was defending Slovak territory, and the war against Poland could be at least justified as a fi ght for the return of territories annexed by Poland, there was no good reason for the fight against the USSR. Relations between Slovakia and the USSR were initially good, despite the openly anticommunist stand of the Slovak government. Slovakia did not have a common border with the Soviet Union and, therefore, there were no border disputes. The Slovaks saw no reason why they should fight against Ukrainians and Russians, Slavonic people like them , for the interest of Germany. Officially, the war was directed against "JudeoBolshevism," not against Russia or the Russian nation. On 26 June 1941 Minister Ferdinand Catlos openly declared: "This is not a struggle against the Russian nation or against Slavdom ... The struggle is for a new Europe where the Russian nation will find a better future. " Catlos also recalled the anti-Bolshevik struggle of the Czechoslovak Legions during the Civil war in Russia. 42 After crossing the San River, the Slovak soldiers found themselves on former Eastern Polish territory annexed by the Soviet Union in the autumn of 1939. Except for the Communists, the locals did not consider the USSR as their motherland and had no intention of defending it. The Ukrainian population hated Soviet rule and often welcomed German troops as liberators. Slovaks were welcomed even 42 Dagmar Cerna-Lantayova, Pohl'ady na vychod [The Outlooks to th e East] , Bratislava: Veda, 2002, I 86. �78 SLOVAKIA-2017 more cordially due to the language proximity; they were partly able communicate with the locals. The Slovak soldiers here also faced Soviet reality: unbelievable poverty, terrible roads, churches turned into warehouses or clubs (or simply destroyed). They also faced the evidence of massive terror when they found hundreds of dead bodies in the yards and cells of prisons in the towns near the border. These were the bodies of political prisoners who were executed by Soviet security forces before the retreat of the Red Army4 3 (the total number of those executed is today estimated to be around 15 ,000). All these facts improved the morale of the Slovak soldiers who could feel as liberators bringing freedom and a better life to the Ukrainian people. This did not last for long, however. Very soon the Slovak soldiers were confronted with the atrocities committed by advancing German forces against the Ukrainian and Russian civilians, and especially by the"Einsatzgruppen," which behind the front lines massively murdered Jews. In central and eastern Ukraine the local population did not welcome the Germans as liberators but fought against them. Morale and fighting ability fell mainly during the retreat in the Caucasus in the severe winter of 1942-1943 . By 1943 it became clear that Germany would not win the war and that Slovaks had no reason to participate in it. Similar developments met the Security Division in Ukraine and Belarus in 1943 . The Slovak government also gradually lost its enthusiasm for the war. By 1943 it became clear that the war would last for a long time and might exhaust Slovak human and economic reserves . Because Hungary also took part in the war, it was hi ghly unlikely that Germany would pressure Budapest to return to Slovakia the annexed territory of southern Slovakia. In this situation, the Minister of Defence decided to limit Slovak participation in the war to a bare minimum . The number of soldiers in both divisions on the Soviet front constantly shrank. From the end of 1941 only those Slovak so ldiers serving their basic military service, plus some specialists, were to be sent to the front and these, after finishing their two years of service, were to be replaced by newcomers. This practice was only partly enforced, 43 Martin Lacko (ed.), Dotyky s bolsevizmom. Dokumenty spravodaj srva slo venskej armcidy 1940-1941 [Contacts with Boshevism. Documents of th e Inteligence Service of the Slovak Army I 940-194 I] , Brati slava : Ustav pamati naroda, 2009, doc. 22 , pp. 124-5 , doc. 28, p. 15 1, doc. 3 1, pp. 155-6, doc. 38, pp. 188-98. �SLOVAKIA-2017 79 however: and some soldiers were not relieved because no newcomers arrived. Political Consequences of the War against the USSR The Soviet Union - unlike Great Britain44 and the USA - fully recognized Slovakia as an independent state on 16 September 1939.45 Slovak participation in the war against the USSR had its political consequences. On 8 July 1941 Soviet Ambassador to London Ivan Majskij announced to Czechoslovak-in-exile President Edvard Benes, that restitution of Czechoslovakia was one of the war aims of the USSR and that the Soviet government decided to recognize the Czechoslovak government de Jure as the legal government of the Czechoslovak Republic.46 On 18 July 1941 the Czechoslovak-Soviet Treaty of 16 May 1935 was renewed and the Soviet Union agreed with the formation of a Czechoslovak Anny in the Soviet Union. 47 The nucleus of this army was the Czechoslovak Legion established in Poland in the summer 1939, whose members were captured by the Soviets after the defeat of Poland. There were also escapees from Czechoslovakia who illegally crossed the border to the Soviet Union (such people were usuall y imprisoned by the Soviet infamous secret police NKVD and sent to labour camps for a minimum two years) . Later, some Slovak soldiers who were taken prisoner on the Russian front or who voluntarily crossed over to the Red Army, joined the Czechoslovak Army in the Soviet Union. In 1945 the Soviet army entered Slovakia and in May Czechoslovakia was restored. 44 Great Britain and France recognized Slovakia only ' de facto .' When Slovakia took part in the German invasion of Poland , they recalled their consuls from Bratislava. 45 Dokumenty vnesnej politiki SSSR [Documents on Soviet Foreign Policy), vol. 22, fart. I, Moskva [Moscow], 1992, doc. 585, p. 82. 6 • Dokumenty a materialy k dejinam ceskoslovensko-sovetskych vztahu [Documents and Materials on the History of Czechoslovak-Soviet Relations] , vol. 4, part. I, Praha: Academia, 1980, doc. 76, p. 136. 47 Libuse Otahalova - Milada Cervenkova (eds.) : Dokumenty z historie ceskoslovenske politiky I 939-1943 [Documents on the History of Czechoslovak Policy) , Vol. I. , Prague: Academia, 1966, Vol. I, doc. 204, pp. 248-9. On the same day ( 18 July 1941 ) the Czechoslovak gove rnm ent-in-exile was also recognized by Great Britain see ibid. , doc. 203 , pp. 247-8. �80 SLOVAKIA-2017 After the war, Slovak participation in the war against the Soviet was considered by Czechoslovak authorities as one of the biggest crimes of the "l'udak"war-time regime . It goes without saying that the communist regime, which lasted in Czechoslovakia for 41 years ( 1948-1989) had no use for it. Slovak emigres, i.e. prominent personalities of the Slovak State who managed to escape to the West, mainly to the USA and Canada, during the first part of the Cold war sometimes tried to present the war as Slovakia's fight against Communism .48 Later, in the l 960's, this explanation was abandoned and Slovak participation was explained rather as a result of German pressure. 49 Today, in the democratic independent Slovakia, mo st of Slovak historians consider participation in the Second World War on the side of Germany as a mistake and not something of which the Slovaks should be proud. so 48 Jozef Pauco, S/owici a komunizmus [Slovaks and Communi sm] , Middletown Pa.: Jednota Press, 1957, pp. I 07- 11 ; Andrej Cincura, " Duch slovenskej armady" [The Spirit of the Slovak Army] , in Mikulas Sprinc (ed.), S/ovenska repub/ika 1939-1949 [The Slovak Republic, 1939-1949], Scranton, Pa.: Obrana Press, 1949, pp. 130-32. 49 Milan Stanislav Durica, "S lovaki a During World War II" in Joseph M. Kirchbaum , Slovakia in the 19th and 20th Centuries. Toronto: Slovak World Congress, 1973, 183. 50 Julius Bartl , "M. S. Durica: Dejiny Slovenska a Slowikov" (A review article), in Historicky casopis, 45, 1997, No I, p. 120; Dagmar Ciem a-Lantayova, Poh/'ady na vychod, op. cit. , pp. 185-7, F. Csefalvay, Vojenske dejiny Slovenska, vo l. V. , op. cit., pp. 258-9; Valerian Bystri cky - Dusan Kovac - Jan Pesek a kol., K/'iicove prob/emy modernych s/ovenskych dejin 1848-1 992 (The Bas ic Problems of Modem Slovak Histo ry 1848- 1992], Bratislava: Veda, 20 12, pp. 225-6 ; Martin Lacko, Slovenska repub/ika 1939-45. Bratislava: UPN -Perfekt, 2008, pp. 93-5 ; I..:ubo mir Liptak, 2217 dni. S/ovensko v case druhej svetovej vojny (2217 Days . Slovaki a during WW 11] , Bratislava: Ka lligram , 20 11 , pp. 318-20; Katarin a Hradska - Ivan Kamenec et. al. , S/ovensko v 20. storoci. I V. S/ovenska Repub/ika 1939- 1945 [Slovakia in the 20 th Centu ry. IV . The Slovak Republic 1939- I 945] , Bratislava: Veda, 20 15, p. 331. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 2017, Vol. 43 Description An account of the resource Vol. 43 (No. 80-81), 2017. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Slovak League of America Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2017 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document SLOVAKIA-2017 61 THE SLOVAK ARMY ON THE EASTERN FRONT DURING WORLD WAR II Jan Rychlik Attempts to build separate Slovak military units under the command of Slovak officers within the framework of the Czecho-S lovak Armed Forces already existed in the period of autonomy (6 October 1938 to 14 March 1939). The government in Prague refused such demands but despite that many conscripts and officers of Slovak nationality were allowed to serve in Slovakia, which later enabled the relatively rapid creation of Slovak army units. The ruling Hlinka Slovak People ' s Party (Hlinkova slovenska l'udova strana - HSCS) already in this period had a party militia called the Hlinka Guard (Hlinkova garda - HG). The HG-men (gardisti) belonged to radical separatists within the HSCS. Many of them were admirers of German National Socialism and later became known for their terrorist acts against Czechs, Jews and opponents of the regime. Units of the newly-established Slovak army and volunteers of the HG took part in the defence of the eastern border against the Hungarian invasion of Eastern Slovakia (23- 31 March 1939) known as the "little war" . However, regular army officers considered the HG as dangerous fanatics with poor fighting abilities and opposed their inclusion in the armed forces. Also, President Josef Tiso did not like them because of their radicalism . The newly-established Slovak Army was at the beginning only a smaller version of the Czechoslovak Army of the first Republic ( 19 I 8-1938), which the Germans dissolved. The departure from the Czechoslovak model (new ranks, new emblems and symbols etc.) was a relatively lengthy process. At the beginning the army used the old Czechoslovak uniforms and was equipped mainly with Czechoslovak weapons and machinery, which was later partly replaced by German ones. Like the Czechoslovak Army, it was based on the conscript system and made compulsory for all able-bodied men, usually two years. Reservists cou ld be summoned for military training in 62 SLOVAKIA-2017 case of emergency. 1 However, the Slovak army initially lacked officers. In August of 1938 there were only 435 officers of Slovak nationality in the Czechoslovak army, which represented 3.4% of the officer corps. 2 Some officers of Czech nationality, mainly those with Slovak wives, were allowed to continue their service in the Slovak army, as well as some ethnic Germans . New officers were recruited from the reserve-officers of the former Czechoslovak anny, who were mainly teachers. Some of them were in fact mobilized against their will. A Slovak military academy was opened in Banska Bystrica, and military schools in Bratislava and Nitra. In July of 1939 the Slovak army consisted of 29,683 men ; in February 1940 33, 41 (including 1,0 IO officers); and in June of I 94 I 33,676 men, including 1,347 officers, 42 of them Czechs. 3 Jews, according the government decree of 2 1 June 1939, served in military labour units and the same applied to Roma (Gypsies). Ethnic Germans living in Slovakia, who were Slovak citizens, served first in the Slovak army in special units but later they were allowed to fulfil their military service in the German army and the SS-corps. In 1944 their service in the SS-corps became mandatory. There were people of different political opinions in the officer corps of the Slovak army. Certainly, there were officers devoted to independent Slovakia and even to the close cooperation of Slovakia with Germany, like Colonel (later General) Jozef Turanec, Colonel Rudolf Pilfousek or Lieutenant-Colonel Michal Loksik4 . Generally speaking, however, the Slovak officers were usually not adherents of the HSCS regime and very often were even hostile or at least indifferent to the idea of independent Slovakia. Some Slovak officers even joined the resistance movement. The Czech underground organization National Defence (Obrana naroda - ON), which specialized in sabotage and military intelligence, and was based in the Protectorate, also operated in Slovakia and some officers of the Slovak army were members. The reason for such behaviour was rather simple: 1 Frantisek Csefa lvay et al. , Vojenske dejiny Slovenska [Military Hi story of Slovakia] V. 1939- 1945. Brati slava: Magnet Press, 2008, 16-24. 2 Ibid ., 14. 3 Ibi d. , p. 22-3 . 4 Frantisek Csefalvay et al., Vojenske osobnosri dejin Slovenska 1939-/945 [Military Personalities in the History of Slovakia 1939- 1945). Brati slava: Vojensky histori cky ustav, 2013 , 153-4, 197-8, 250-5 1. SLOVAKIA-2017 63 former Czechoslovak officers, who graduated from the Czechoslovak military schools (most notably at the Military Academy in Hranice), were educated in a pro-Czechoslovak and pro-democratic spirit. Czechoslovak counter-intelligence screened every candidate applying to study at the Military Academy. Members of Communist and various separatist parties or even sympathisers of Communism or separatist movements were not accepted. The same restrictions applied in the school for reserve officers who were recruited from conscripts with higher education. In addition, the professional officers before 1938 were often stationed in the Czech Lands and their wives were often Czechs. 5 They were integrated into the Czech secular milieu and the clerical character of the Slovak Republic was strange to them. Some former Czechoslovak officers of Slovak nationality were originally also Legionaries, that is, volunteers who had fought for an independent Czechoslovakia on the side of the Allies, especially in Russia during World War I. 6 The ex-Legionaries formed the elite of the inter-war Czechoslovak army. It is true that even among the Legionaries it was possible to find supporters of the l'udak regime (like General Ferdinand Catlos), but in principle, former Legionaries were rather hostile to it. Some even deserted from the Slovak army and offered their services to the Czechoslovak government-in-exile represented by Edvard Benes and joined the Czechoslovak Army abroad. This was the case of General Rudolf Viest, the only general of Slovak nationality, who escaped to Paris and became commander of the Czechoslovak Army in France. This army fought the advancing Germans during the spring campaign on the western front in May and June of 1940 and after the defeat of France was evacuated to Great Britain. From 14 March 1939 Slovakia was an independent state with its own army and foreign representation . Slovak sovereignty was, how5 Pavel Micianik, Slovenskci armada v t'ai eni proti Sovietskemu zviizu ( /941-1944) . 1. V opercicii Barbarossa. [The Slovak Army in the Campaign aga inst the Soviet Uni on. I 941-1944. Part I. In Operation Barbarossa) (hereafter cited as Micianik, I.), Banska Bystrica: Dali-BB, 2007, 30-31. 6 The Czechoslovak Legions were formed during WW I from prisoners of war of the Austro-Hunga ri an army of Czech and S lovak nationality and also the Czech and Slovak vo lunteers li ving in Entente states (mainly Russia , France) or neutral states (mainl y the USA up to 191 7). The Legions were formed in Russia, Italy and France. They fought against Germany and A ustri a-Hunga ry. The Legions in Russia also later fought aga inst the Red Army in th e Ru ssian C ivi l war. 64 SLOVAKIA-2017 ever, severely limited by special relations with Germany. According the "Treaty of Protection" (in German: Schutzvertrag), signed preliminarily in Vienna on 18 March and definitively in Berlin on 23 March 1939, Germany obtained the right to build freely , and according to her own needs, military bases in the so-called "Zone of Protection" (Schutzzone) which was situated in Western Slovakia between the White Carpathians and the border of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. Slovakia was also obliged to conduct her foreign and 7 defence policies according the interests of Germany. A secret protocol to the Schutzvertrag subordinated the Slovak economy to German needs. 8 The Treaty of Protection in fact meant that Slovakia could be forced to participate in war alongside Germany, if the German government so desired. On 2 1 August the German Auswdrtigesamt (Foreign Office) prepared a Note verbale informing the Slovak Government that German armed forces would enter Slovakia to protect her from the danger of a Polish attack.9 The content of the note (approved by Adolf Hitler) was first unofficially presented to the Slovak government by German Minister to Bratislava Hans Bernard on 24 August 1939 . 10 The Slovak government was also asked to take part in the military operations against Poland (the government was assured that the Slovak army would not be used outside of Slovak territory, 11 but this promise was broken). In exchange, Germany promised to guarantee the Slovak-Hungarian border. If Poland was defeated, Slovakia would regain the territories lost in the fall of 1938, and eventually those lost to Poland in 1920. 12 After some hesitation the Slovak government accepted the German demands. After that the German request was presented again officially on 27 August 13 and the Slovak government consented the next day. Mobilization started already on 26 August. Gradually 117,000 reservists were 7 Eduard Ni zi'i ansky et al. , Slovensko-nemecke vzt'ahy 1938-1 94 1 v dokumentech/Slovakisch-deutsche Beziehungen in Dokumenten 1938-/ 94 1 [Slovak-German Relations 193 8-1941 in Documents] I. (hierafter cited as SDBD I.] , Presov: Universum , 2009, doc. 96, pp. 305-06. 8 Ibid ., 307-08. 9 SBDB I. , doc. 202, pp. 576-7 . 10 Ibid, doc . 209, pp. 589-90. 11 Ibid., doc. 205 , p. 583. 12 Ibid., doc. 210, pp. 590-1 . 13 Ibid., doc. 216, pp. 604-5 , p. 610. SLOVAKIA-2017 65 called up, of whom about 51,000 were assigned to the field army "Bernolak," under the command of General Ferdinand Catlos. While the main military operations were carried out by the Wehrmacht, which launched its attack on Poland also from Slovak soil, three Slovak divisions between 3- 5 September crossed the border and occupied a small piece of territory on the Polish side of the Tatra Mountains. On 17 September Poland was attacked from the east by the Red army, and was defeated and the Slovak army returned to Slovakia. It should be noted that Slovakia never formally declared war on Poland. The Slovak government presented the war against Poland as a struggle for the liberation of the territories which were annexed by Poland in 1920, 1924 and in 1938 (Upper Orava, Upper Spis and part of Javorina in the High Tatra Mountains). Germany indeed returned 14 these territories to Slovakia on 21 November 1939. The reclaimed territories were partly inhabited by ethnic Slovaks and so the war had some justification. Pro-German elements in HSCS, and especially the HG, welcomed the defeat of Poland . Generally speaking, however, the war was not very popular among Slovaks because many of them considered the Poles Slavs, like the Slovaks, and in addition to speaking a similar language, their kinsmen and brothers. The war was extremely unpopular among Slovak Lutherans in the western part of the country. After the defeat of Poland, Germany no longer required Slovak participation in German operations and the Slovak army did not take part in the war in the West. In June of 1940 France was defeated. Berlin, having now "free hands," decided to purge the Slovak government of "unreliable elements" and to strengthen the influence of the Germanophiles. On July 27, Hitler summoned President Tiso to Salzburg and forced him to fire Minister of Foreign Affairs Ferdinand Durcansky, who in the Spring had tried to negotiate with the British behind Germany's back. The new Minister of Foreign Affairs became the Germanophile Vojtech Tuka, who since 26 October 1939 had already been the Prime Minister. Another Germanphile, Alexander Mach, was appointed Minister of the Interior. The new government was definitivel y and exclusively oriented towards Germany. On 24 November 1940 Slovakia, together with Hungary and Romania, 1 ~ SDBD, I., doc. 25 1, pp. 683 -4. 66 SLOVAKIA-2017 joined the Tripartite Pact (Berlin-Rome-Tokyo). 15 In April of 1941 Slovakia did not participate in the campaign against Yugoslavia and Greece. On the other hand, when the war stared on 6 April, Bratislava severed diplomatic relations with Belgrade and on 10 April expressed a willingness to recognize the Independent State of Croatia. On 21 June 1941 the Chief of the German General Staff, General Franz Halder, visited Bratislava incognito. He informed the head of the German military mission, General Paul von Otto, that Hitler expected the participation of the Slovak army in the war against the Soviet Union. 16. The war started the next day. The German Minister to Bratislava, Hans Eluard Ludin, visited Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Vojtech Tuka and informed him about the German request for Slovak participation. Tuka agreed and offered (through Slovak Minister to Berlin Matus Cernak) military assistance to the German Foreign Office. 17 On the same afternoon diplomatic relations between the USSR and Slovakia were broken off 8 and Defence Minister Ferdinand Catlos summoned the reservists for "extraordinary military training. " Only on 24 June did the government approve Slovak participation in the war, which was officially announced on the radio. The Slovak Diet, which according the Constitution was the only body that could declare war, was not informed of the government's declaration . So, from the forma l point of view, the whole action was unconstitutional. It is worth mentioning that on 13 December 1941 , the Slovak government also formally declared war on Great Britain and the United States. 19 Again, the declaration of war was not presented to the Diet. Because the USA and Great Britain did not recognize Slovakia as an independent state, they ignored the declaration. No direct fighting took place between the Slovak army and the western allies, but both countries treated Slovakia as 15 SDBD, I. , doc. 359, pp. 270-2. SDBD, I. doc. 400, p. 1092. 17 Eduard Nizi\ansky et al. , Slovensko-nemecke vzt'ahy 194 1-1945 v dokumentech/Slovakisch-deutsche Beziehungen in Dokumenten 1941-1945 [Slovak-German Relati ons 1941 - 1945 in documents] II. (hierafter cited as SDBD 11.), Presov: Universum , 20 11 , doc.1,p.95 . 18 Ibid, doc. 3, p. 98 . 19 SDBS II. , doc. 34, p. 184. The declaration was announ ced in th e daily Slovenskci politika on 13 December 1941. 16 SLOVAKIA-2017 67 enemy territory. Slovakia, including Bratislava, was repeatedly bombed in 1944. Accord ing to the unpublished memoirs of Ferdinand Catlos, at first onl y ministers Tuka and Mach advocated immediate participation in the war, whi le other ministers and President Tiso had some doubts . But after some hesitation all agreed. 20 Despite the fact that it was Gennany who reque sted military ass istance from Slovakia, it should be noted that the Slovak government had no objections. The government saw participation in the war against the Soviet Union as a good opportunity to show to Berlin that Slovakia was a better frie nd than Hungary, which also took part in the military campaign. Tuka and Tiso wanted to contribute more and faster. They believed that it in future it might be possible, with German help, to rev ise the Vienna Arbitration Award of 2 November 193 8, which deprived Slovakia of part of her southern territory in favour of Hungary. The openl y anti-communist policy and rhetoric of the l'udak regime also played a role. 2 1 Mobilization of the reservists lasted until 5 July. A total of 68,0 18 reservists were ca ll ed to arms, of whom 56,8 58 were registered . The total number of Slovak soldiers reached 90,533 . General Ferd inand Catlos formed in Eastern Slovakia an Anny Group (in Slovak : armadna skupina - AS) which consisted of two divisions nd (the I st Division commanded by Colone l Jozef Turanec and the 2 Divi sion com manded by Co lonel Augustin Malar). From a part of the 2nd Division and sma ll er units of specialized weapons (two artillery regiments, tank units, automob ile unit etc.), Catlos formed the so-called Mobile Group (in Slovak: rychla skupina , i.e. , the fast or rapid group) under the command of Colonel Rudolf Pilfousek, an officer who claimed to be an ethnic German, but according hi s name was probably partly Czech. The Mobile Group was the only almost full y motorized Slovak military unit and it was expected to move quickly with the advancing German army. The Slovak forces were first situated in northeast Slovakia, near the border of occupied Poland (the Genera l Governorate). Slovakia did not border on the Sovi20 Archiv literatt'.try a um eni a Slovenskej narodnej kn iznice (ALU SNK) [Archives of the Li terature and Arts of the Slovak National Library] in Martin, mem oirs of Ferdinand Catlos, sig. 129 E2, pp. 65 -66. 21 I.:ubomir Liptak, Slovensko v 20. storoci [Slovakia in the 20th Century]. 2nd ed., Bratislava: Kalli gram, 1998, 189. 68 SLOVAKIA-2017 et Union but Soviet territory was very close to the place of assembly. After the beginning of the war, the Slovak forces crossed the border and assembled in the General Govemorate near Brzoz6w, a village west of the River San, from 28 September 1939 the border between Germany and Soviet Union. The Slovak division s and the Mobile Group were included in the forces of the German Army Group South (commander: Field Marchal Gerd von Rundstedt). Within this Army group the Mobile Group was first subordinated to the command of the I ih German army (Commander: General Carl Heinrich von Stiilpnagel), which was part of the Army Group South. One of the goals of the I ih Army was to cross the San River and to break through the so-called Molotov defence line, 22 i.e. the chain of light bunkers built on the new Soviet western border (established after the defeat of Poland). The Mobile Group crossed the San on 25 June and continued to attack Sambor. On I July the Soviet army started to retreat to the so-called Stalin line, the chain of fortre sses built on the old (pre-17 September 1939) Soviet-Polish border. This allowed the advancing German I ih Army to continue to attack the region of Lvov (in Polish Lw6w, in Ukrainian Lviv) and the mobile group was ordered to mop up the territory South of Lvov. On 2 July, without firing a shot, the mobile group captured Stryj (a town about 60 km south ofLvov), which the Red Arm y decided not to defend. 23 On 7 July the Mobile Group, which was temporally subordinated again directly to General Catlos, was reorganized into the Mobile Brigade (195 officers, 52 sergeants and 4,655 soldiers, a company of 43 tanks - two squads , one battalion of armoured vehicles and th trucks, the I I Artillery Regiment, one squad of machine-guns, a scouting squad) and the next day started to move Eastward alongside the main axis Sambor - Temopol - Vinnyca. On 19 July the I 7th the th German Army broke the Stalin line and the 49 Mountain Army Corps occupied Vinnyca, led by Major-General Ludwig von Kubler. The German command believed that now was the time to di sperse the Red Army. Kubler ordered Pilfousek on 19 July to move the Mobile Brigade to Vinnyca, which was reached on 2 1 July. Pilfousek was then ordered to take Lypovec, a small town about 50 km East of Vinnyca on the main road to Bila Cerkva and Kiev . The attack start22 23 Micianik, I. , pp. Micianik, I. pp. 62-83. SLOVAKIA-2017 69 ed on 22 July. Pilfousek had less than 5,000 men, 43 tanks and part th of the 11 Artillery Regiment with 123 cannons. The tanks did not have enough fuel and ammunition and had to halt the attack in the vi llage Scaslyva, west of the town. Pilfousek then made a fatal error when he ordered the infantry to continue the attack. Slovak so ldiers reached the center of the town but they were stopped by a counterattack by a division of the lih Soviet Army, which sent 15,000 men to reconquer the lost positions. The Slovaks were unable to hold the city without tanks but were saved due to the support of the 11 h Artillery Regiment, which held back the attacking Soviets. Only the arri va l of fresh German forces saved the Mobile Brigade from total defeat. A total of 75 Slovak soldiers died, 167 were wounded and 19 were taken prisoner. The Mobile Brigade lost four tanks, one armored car and tens of trucks. The next day, on 23 July, Lypovec was th occupied by the German 295 Infantry Division of Lieutenant24 General Karl Glimbel. The Mobile Group had in fact been defeated and General Ferdinand Catlos ordered most of the armored vehicles to return to Slovakia. Most of the soldiers remained in the Vinnyca region, while only a small Slovak unit of the Mobile Group, supported by the 11 th Artilth lery Regiment, continued the attack with the German 295 Infantry Di vision and on 30 July reached Granovo, West of the Dnepr (Dnipro) River. After that even these soldiers were sent back to Vinnyca. Slovak official propaganda presented the defeat at Lypovec as a "great victory" and also as a "symbol of Slovak-German friendship in arms." In 1942 a granite monument was erected at the battlefield and a military cemetery was located there. The monument stands to this day. About 600 Slovak soldiers, who died in the fighting in the Soviet Union (not only at Lypovec), are buried here. The First and Second Slovak Infantry Divisions, forming the Slovak army group (Armadna skupina - AS) were created partly from reservists who were mobilized at the end of June. The infantry divisions were concentrated in northeast Slovakia, near Medzilaborce, and later moved to the region of Sanok and Chyrov (in Polish: Chyr6w, in Ukrainian Chyriv, 16 km to the east from the UkrainianPolish border), where the command of the AS was temporally situated . The troops moved slowl y because they usually had to walk. They 24 Ibid ., pp. 12 1-37. 70 SLOVAKIA-2017 were used in July mainly to mop up the regions of eastern Galicia (South of the line Rava Ruska - Ternopol) of the dispersed units of the Soviet army as a part of the hinterland forces of the German Army Group South. 25 The Mobile Division After the defeat of the Mobile Brigade at Lypovec General Catlos decided to reorganize the Slovak armed forces. On 25 July 1941 two new divisions were formed : the Mobile Division (in Slovak: rychla divizia - RD), which was in fact a strengthened Mobile Brigade and the Security Division (in Slovak: Zaist'ovacia divizia ZD) which was to serve as a security and guard service on occupied Soviet territories in Ukraine. Their main region of operations was around Zitomir (Zhitomir, ukr. Zytomyr), a town about 130 km west of Kiev. While at the beginning of war the Slovak government wanted to show that Slovakia's participation in comparison to its population was high, now the situation changed. Most of the reservists, mobilized at the end of June and beginning of July to the Army Group (I st and 2 nd Infantry Division), were sent home. In the autumn of 1941 the number of soldiers was reduced to only about one-third of that in July 1941. The RD and the ZD were now formed mainly from professional soldiers and conscripts. The reservists formed about 17% of the total. They were mainly specialists of various types and drivers. On 10 September 8,862 men served in the ZD, 26 while the Mobile Division had 8,451 men on 20 August (including 30 I officers). 27 Despite its name, the Mobile Divison commanded by Colonel Jozef Turanec, was not fully motorized. The motorized section took part in the battle of Kiev at the end of August I 941. After the fall of Kiev (20 September 1941) the Mobile Division moved to the South st and was part of the 1 Tanlc Army Group of Colonel-General Ewald von Kleist, which moved in the direction of the Don River. It fought 25 Ibid, pp. 142-53 . Micianik, I. , p. 245. See also: P. Micianik, Slovenska armada v t'ai eni proti So vietskemu zviizu (1941 -1944). II. Zaist'ovacia divizia a ieleznicni pionieri. [Security Division and Ra ilway Pioneers]. (hereafter cited as Micianik, 11. ) Banska Bystrica : Dal-BB, 2008, p. 37. 27 Micianik, I. , p. 191. 26 SLOVAKIA-2017 71 successfully in the Donbas Area. At the end of October the Mobile Division reached Rostov-on-the Don and the Azov Sea. At that time the Mobile Division had 287 officers, 386 sergeants and 7,081 men. The Slovak units were situated between Rostov and the mouth of the Don. Slovak soldiers were not prepared for the winter, which started in the middle of November. 28 On 27 November 1941 Colonel Turanec was replaced by Colonel Augustin Malar. After his arrival, he recognized the decline in morale and discipline and fighting ability among his soldiers. Malar wanted to move the division back to Slovakia but the German High Command refused because of the start of a Soviet counter-offensive at the end of November. Field Marshal von Rundstedt, the Commander of Army Group South, decided to retreat. On 28 November the Soviet army reconquered Rostov. Hitler recalled Rundstedt and substituted him with Field Marshal Walter von Reichenau, but Reichenau did not change the order and continued the retreat behind the River Mius. Here the Slovak RD was ordered to defend positions near the town of Golodajevka on the bank of the River Mius. The Soviet counteroffensive was then successfully stopped. As a result, Colonel Malar was promoted to the rank of General and later awarded the German Iron Cross. By the end of 1941 the RD had suffered 84 deaths, 3 78 wounded or frozen, 26 missing and 11 captured. 29 Between January and the beginning of March 1942 the Red Army launched its winter offensive at the Mius River.30 At the beginning of March the snow started to melt and the Mius overflowed. The flood stopped the Soviet offensive and within the next six weeks the front where the RD was stationed was relatively quiet but still between 1 January and the end of April the RD lost 143 men ( 124 killed, 12 missing and 7 captured). 31 On 25 April 1942 Jozef Turanec, promoted to the rank of General on 1 January, again took command of the RD. The Mobile division took part first in the battle of Charkov (Charkiv, Kharkiv) in the 28 P. Micianik, Slovenskci armada v t'aieni pro ti Sovietskemu zvdzu (1941-1944). !If. Rychla divizia [The Slovak Army in the Attack upon the Soviet Union ( 1941-1944). Ill. The Mobile Divison] (hereafter cited as Micianik, 111. ), Banska Bystrica: Dal88, 2009, 35 . 29 F. Csefalvay et al. , op. cit. , pp. 80-7 , 30 Micianik, Ill. , pp. 37-46. 31 F. Csefalvay et. al. , op. cit., p. 93. 72 SLOVAKIA-2017 spring and then in the summer offensive in Southern Russia, which started on 28 June 1942. At the end of July the RD participated in the reconquest of Rostov (for this operation Jozef Turanec was awarded the German Iron Cross). 32 Because the Soviet army retreated east of the Don, Hitler mistakenly thought that it was already defeated and divided his forces into two groups: the "A" Army group was to destroy the Soviet forces between the rivers Don and Kuban , and after that to continue the attack along the axis Nal'cik - Vladikavkaz Groznyj - Machackala (at the coast of the Caspian Sea) . After reaching Machackala, the army was to continue along the sea coast to the Oil fields around Baku. The "B" group was to hold the line on the Central Don and simultaneously continue the attack on Stalingrad (now Volgograd), on the Volga River. The Mobile Division was included in the "A" group commanded by Colonel-General Paul Ludwig Ewald von Kleist. While small units of the RD remained in Rostov, the main forces crossed the Don on 31 July and pursued the retreating Red Army across the Kuban Steppe. On 4 August the RD reached the Kuban River at Kropotkin (a town about 230 km east of Rostov) , crossed the river and continued to the rivers Laba and Psis (left inflows of the River Kuban). Here the RD reached the foot of the Caucasus Mountains, with their dense forests and small wild rivers and creeks. The roads were in very bad shape and narrow, and the retreating Red Army blew up the bridges. The tanks could not continue, and most of the armored cars and half-tracks were damaged and unable to continue. The troops of the RD, moving slowly and dispersed, were easy targets for small units of Russian partisans and raids by the Soviet Air Force. On 17 August Turanec received orders to move to the south and secure the territory around the town of Gorjacij Kljuc, with an important railway station on the main railway Rostov - Krasnodar. 33 The RD was again subordinated to the German I 7 th Army, which had orders to attack Novorossijsk and Tuapse on the Black Sea and to continue along the coast to the Turkish border. This attempt failed due to fierce Soviet resistance, and the RD was also stopped before Tuapse. 34 At the end of September Hitler ordered a new attack. The RD was included under the command of 32 33 34 P. Mi cianik, op. cit, pp. 11 8-24. Mi cianik, III. , pp. 146-70 . Ibid ., pp. 21 7-1 8. SLOVAKIA-2017 73 Colonel Stefan Jurech, who replaced Jozef Turanec on 23 September. The attack of the RD started on 14 October but again failed. From 22 October the RD defended the right bank of the Psekups River. The Slovaks were under constant attack by the Soviet Air Force. ln August and September they lost 83 dead, 470 wounded, 10 missing and 3 captured; in November 19 dead and 97 wounded. 35 On 19 November 1942, the Red Army launched Operation Uranus, a two-pronged attack targeting the weaker Romanian and Hungarian forces protecting the German 6th Army's flanks. The Axis forces on the flanks were overrun and the 6th Army was cut off and surrounded in the Stalingrad area. Adolf Hitler ordered the army to stay in Stalingrad and make no attempt to break out; instead, attempts were made to supply the army by air and to break the encirclement from the outside. Heavy fighting continued for another two months. By the beginning of February 1943, the Axis forces in Stalingrad had exhausted their food and ammunition. The remnants of the 6th Army surrendered. th By Christmas of 1942 it became clear that the German 6 Army in Stalingrad was in big trouble and that the Soviets would soon launch an offensive against the German and Slovak armies in the th Caucasus. After completing the encirclement of the 6 Army, the Soviets moved to the west and reached a position 60 km east of Rostov. Colonel-General Erwald von Kleist, who replaced von Reichenau on 21 November, on 3 l December 1942 ordered an immediate retreat from Caucasus to Rostov. On 16 January 1943, the Soviet counteroffensive on the Caucasus front began. Due to this offensive, part of the Mobile Division was encircled in the village of Pencenskaja. Already during the Autumn of 1942, the Slovak soldiers were bombarded by propaganda leaflets. In them, Slovak soldiers who had deserted from the RD and also Slovak Communists wlio fled to the USSR after 1939, urged their fellow-soldiers not to fight the Russians but to surrender and cross-over to the Soviet side. This propaganda now increased. Colonel Stefan Jurech, promoted to the rank of General on I January 1943, in this new situation had no intention to st continue fighting . He secretly sent 1 Lieutenant Gustav Donoval to th the staff of the Soviet 60 Guard Rifle Army to negotiate a surrender. On 22 January 1943, the staff signed with Donoval an agreement 35 F. Csefal vay, op. cit. pp. 95-6. 74 SLOVAKIA-2017 by which the whole Mobile Division was to cross over to the Russians on 24 January. 36 This did not happen, however, because the German army broke the encirclement of Pencenskaja and the Slovaks retreated with the Germans. The Mobile Division then moved to the Kuban region from whence it was transported partly by boats and partly by air-lift to the Crimea and Perekop. During the Caucasus operations the RD lost 108 dead, 207 wounded and 157 were missing 37 and captured . During 1943 the Mobile Division lost its ability to fight due to low morale and defections. Many soldiers in Crimea established friendly relations with the locals, especially with women. Because the RD lost almost all its tanks and armored vehicles in the Caucast sus, it was reorganized as the 1 Infantry Division on 1 August 1943. At night from 29 to 30 October 1943, members of the division were suddenly attacked by the Red Army at Melitopol. The soldiers decided to surrender: 2300 soldiers and 45 officers were taken prisoner. st The German high command lost confidence in the I Division and argued that it should be used only as a labor unit. General Ferdinand Catlos agreed. On 4 May 1944 the 1st Division was transformed into the 1st Technical Division, which was moved to Romania and later to Hungary. The rest of the division was captured in March of 1945 by the Red Army. During 1941-1943, The Mobile Division suffered at least 600 dead, 2,400 wounded, 398 missing, and 88 captured. Only 42 men deserted to the Red Army. From the military point of view, it belonged to the elite of the Slovak army and even the German high command was satisfied with it. The Security Division The Security Division was stationed in the region of Northern Ukraine and Southern White Russia (Belarus) where it was to protect roads and railways, especially the line Pinsk - Gome), against attacks by partisan groups of different political affiliation. At the end of 1941 the only guerrilla fighters were those of Ukrainian nationalists, later known as the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), and the rest 36 37 Micianik, Ill., pp. 305-6 F. Csefal vay, Voj enske dejiny Slovenska, op. cit., p. 13 2. SLOVAKIA-2017 75 were dispersed units of the Red Army. Ukrainian nationalists fought against the Red Army, because their goal was to establish an independent Ukraine. When the German authorities rejected this idea, the UP A started to fight against the Germans as well. Generally speaking, the Slovak units did not have much contact with the UPA underground units because their main bases were situated in the western part of Ukraine. At the end of 1942 and mainly in 1943 Soviet partisans appeared nd in the area. The attitude of the officers and soldiers of the Slovak 2 Division towards the partisans was rather complicated. Regiments, battalions and even companies were stationed in different places in an area almost as big as Slovakia. Very often the squads of one battalion were situated along the railway lines many miles each from another. It was practically impossible to protect the railways under such circumstances. It is difficult to define the relations between the Slovaks, the local civilian population and the partisans. On the one hand, the units of the 102" Regiment took part in the "pacification" actions against the Red partisans. Special battalions of the regiment destroyed several villages in which the civilians supported the partisans. Some squads even executed the partisans and civilian suspects. "Punishable expeditions" were especially active under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Michal Loksik, the commander of the regit ment. 38 Quite different was the situation in the 101 s Regiment. Here most of the officers looked the other way when their soldiers established friendly relations with both the partisans and the local population. Some commanders of dislocated squads and even battalions concluded an unofficial armistice with the Red partisans. Captain Jan Nalepka, chief of staff of the l O1st Regiment, established contacts with partisan leader General Saburov. When his activity was disclosed, he and two other officers deserted on 15 May 1943 to partisans near the village of Remezy. 39 On the Soviet side Nalepka orgast nized the I Czechoslovak Partisan Unit. This troop, under the command of Jan Nalepka, took part in the attack against the town of Ov- 38 F. Csefalvay et al. , Vojenske osobnosti dejin Slovenska, pp. 153-4. Loksik, who was born in Vienna in 1897, later claimed to be an ethnic German and joined the Waffen-SS . After the war he escaped from Slovakia and his further fate is unknown. 39 Micianik, II ., p. 213. 76 SLOVAKIA-2017 rue. Nalepka died in this raid on 16 November 1943 and was posthumously awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union. 40 Despite the fact that Slovak desertions to the partisans were not very numerous - altogether only about 400 soldiers crossed over 41 they had military consequences: the German command started to consider the ZD unreliable and unable ( or unwilling) to fight against the partisans and decided to remove it from the UkrainianBelorussian borderland to Minsk and its surroundings. The transfer was completed in July of 1943 . On I August 1943 the ZD was transnd formed into the 2 Infantry Division, first under the command of Colonel Pilfousek, and later Colonel Karol Peknik. Soon it became clear that the division could not be effectively used against the partisans because most of the officers (including Colonel Peknik) and soldiers had lost confidence in a German victory. The German command did not agree with its return to Slovakia. Instead, it agreed to nd transform it into a labour unit named the 2 Technical Brigade (later nd the 2 Technical Division). At the end of October it numbered 3,413 and it was sent to Italy under the command of Colonel Jan Krnac. The Attitude of the Soldiers Towards the War Slovaks as a nation had no personal experience with Russia or the Soviet Union. Slovakia never coveted Russian or (later) Soviet territory and, except for the Russian " White" emigres, who came after 1918, there were no Russians in Slovakia. During World War I many Slovaks fought as soldiers in the Austro-Hungarian Army on the Eastern (Russian) front; the war not popular among Czechs and Slovaks and many deserted to the Russians and later formed the Czechoslovak Legions that fought against Austria-Hungary and for Czechoslovakia's independence. In Slovakia, traditional pro-Russian sympathies dated back to the 19 th century based on their common Slavic origin and language proximity. Unlike in Poland, Hungary or Romania, Russians were always seen as friends, not as enemies in Slovakia. Despite its communist regime, inter-war Czechoslovakia, ° 4 F: Csefalvay, Voj enske osobnosti, p. 176. In 2004 Jan Nalepka was promoted by the Slovak government to the rank of Brigadier-General in Memoriam. 41 Martin Lacko, Dezercie a zajatia prislusn ikov zaist'ovacej divizie v ZSSR v rokoch 1942-1 943. [Desertions and Captures of the Security Division Members in the USSR 1941-1943], Bratislava: UPN , 2007, 63 . SLOVAKIA-2017 77 like France, in 1935 signed a treaty of alliance with the USSR. The Communist Party of Czechoslovakia acted legally until its dissolution in the autumn of 1938 and was quite strong and influential in Slovakia. Many Slovak soldiers before the war were members or sympathizers. They were very often ready to accept the picture of the USSR as heaven on earth. For all these reasons the war was not popular among Slovaks. On the other hand, it should be said that most of the mobilized Slovak soldiers faithfully served in the Slovak army, although without any enthusiasm, until the end of the campaign in 1944. From a strictly professional point of view, Slovak soldiers were neither better nor worse than other soldiers fighting on the eastern front in the years 1941-1944 Justification of the war against the Soviet Union was a big problem for Slovak propaganda. While the "small war" against Hungary in March 1939 was popular, because the army was defending Slovak territory, and the war against Poland could be at least justified as a fi ght for the return of territories annexed by Poland, there was no good reason for the fight against the USSR. Relations between Slovakia and the USSR were initially good, despite the openly anticommunist stand of the Slovak government. Slovakia did not have a common border with the Soviet Union and, therefore, there were no border disputes. The Slovaks saw no reason why they should fight against Ukrainians and Russians, Slavonic people like them , for the interest of Germany. Officially, the war was directed against "JudeoBolshevism," not against Russia or the Russian nation. On 26 June 1941 Minister Ferdinand Catlos openly declared: "This is not a struggle against the Russian nation or against Slavdom ... The struggle is for a new Europe where the Russian nation will find a better future. " Catlos also recalled the anti-Bolshevik struggle of the Czechoslovak Legions during the Civil war in Russia. 42 After crossing the San River, the Slovak soldiers found themselves on former Eastern Polish territory annexed by the Soviet Union in the autumn of 1939. Except for the Communists, the locals did not consider the USSR as their motherland and had no intention of defending it. The Ukrainian population hated Soviet rule and often welcomed German troops as liberators. Slovaks were welcomed even 42 Dagmar Cerna-Lantayova, Pohl'ady na vychod [The Outlooks to th e East] , Bratislava: Veda, 2002, I 86. 78 SLOVAKIA-2017 more cordially due to the language proximity; they were partly able communicate with the locals. The Slovak soldiers here also faced Soviet reality: unbelievable poverty, terrible roads, churches turned into warehouses or clubs (or simply destroyed). They also faced the evidence of massive terror when they found hundreds of dead bodies in the yards and cells of prisons in the towns near the border. These were the bodies of political prisoners who were executed by Soviet security forces before the retreat of the Red Army4 3 (the total number of those executed is today estimated to be around 15 ,000). All these facts improved the morale of the Slovak soldiers who could feel as liberators bringing freedom and a better life to the Ukrainian people. This did not last for long, however. Very soon the Slovak soldiers were confronted with the atrocities committed by advancing German forces against the Ukrainian and Russian civilians, and especially by the"Einsatzgruppen," which behind the front lines massively murdered Jews. In central and eastern Ukraine the local population did not welcome the Germans as liberators but fought against them. Morale and fighting ability fell mainly during the retreat in the Caucasus in the severe winter of 1942-1943 . By 1943 it became clear that Germany would not win the war and that Slovaks had no reason to participate in it. Similar developments met the Security Division in Ukraine and Belarus in 1943 . The Slovak government also gradually lost its enthusiasm for the war. By 1943 it became clear that the war would last for a long time and might exhaust Slovak human and economic reserves . Because Hungary also took part in the war, it was hi ghly unlikely that Germany would pressure Budapest to return to Slovakia the annexed territory of southern Slovakia. In this situation, the Minister of Defence decided to limit Slovak participation in the war to a bare minimum . The number of soldiers in both divisions on the Soviet front constantly shrank. From the end of 1941 only those Slovak so ldiers serving their basic military service, plus some specialists, were to be sent to the front and these, after finishing their two years of service, were to be replaced by newcomers. This practice was only partly enforced, 43 Martin Lacko (ed.), Dotyky s bolsevizmom. Dokumenty spravodaj srva slo venskej armcidy 1940-1941 [Contacts with Boshevism. Documents of th e Inteligence Service of the Slovak Army I 940-194 I] , Brati slava : Ustav pamati naroda, 2009, doc. 22 , pp. 124-5 , doc. 28, p. 15 1, doc. 3 1, pp. 155-6, doc. 38, pp. 188-98. SLOVAKIA-2017 79 however: and some soldiers were not relieved because no newcomers arrived. Political Consequences of the War against the USSR The Soviet Union - unlike Great Britain44 and the USA - fully recognized Slovakia as an independent state on 16 September 1939.45 Slovak participation in the war against the USSR had its political consequences. On 8 July 1941 Soviet Ambassador to London Ivan Majskij announced to Czechoslovak-in-exile President Edvard Benes, that restitution of Czechoslovakia was one of the war aims of the USSR and that the Soviet government decided to recognize the Czechoslovak government de Jure as the legal government of the Czechoslovak Republic.46 On 18 July 1941 the Czechoslovak-Soviet Treaty of 16 May 1935 was renewed and the Soviet Union agreed with the formation of a Czechoslovak Anny in the Soviet Union. 47 The nucleus of this army was the Czechoslovak Legion established in Poland in the summer 1939, whose members were captured by the Soviets after the defeat of Poland. There were also escapees from Czechoslovakia who illegally crossed the border to the Soviet Union (such people were usuall y imprisoned by the Soviet infamous secret police NKVD and sent to labour camps for a minimum two years) . Later, some Slovak soldiers who were taken prisoner on the Russian front or who voluntarily crossed over to the Red Army, joined the Czechoslovak Army in the Soviet Union. In 1945 the Soviet army entered Slovakia and in May Czechoslovakia was restored. 44 Great Britain and France recognized Slovakia only ' de facto .' When Slovakia took part in the German invasion of Poland , they recalled their consuls from Bratislava. 45 Dokumenty vnesnej politiki SSSR [Documents on Soviet Foreign Policy), vol. 22, fart. I, Moskva [Moscow], 1992, doc. 585, p. 82. 6 • Dokumenty a materialy k dejinam ceskoslovensko-sovetskych vztahu [Documents and Materials on the History of Czechoslovak-Soviet Relations] , vol. 4, part. I, Praha: Academia, 1980, doc. 76, p. 136. 47 Libuse Otahalova - Milada Cervenkova (eds.) : Dokumenty z historie ceskoslovenske politiky I 939-1943 [Documents on the History of Czechoslovak Policy) , Vol. I. , Prague: Academia, 1966, Vol. I, doc. 204, pp. 248-9. On the same day ( 18 July 1941 ) the Czechoslovak gove rnm ent-in-exile was also recognized by Great Britain see ibid. , doc. 203 , pp. 247-8. 80 SLOVAKIA-2017 After the war, Slovak participation in the war against the Soviet was considered by Czechoslovak authorities as one of the biggest crimes of the "l'udak"war-time regime . It goes without saying that the communist regime, which lasted in Czechoslovakia for 41 years ( 1948-1989) had no use for it. Slovak emigres, i.e. prominent personalities of the Slovak State who managed to escape to the West, mainly to the USA and Canada, during the first part of the Cold war sometimes tried to present the war as Slovakia's fight against Communism .48 Later, in the l 960's, this explanation was abandoned and Slovak participation was explained rather as a result of German pressure. 49 Today, in the democratic independent Slovakia, mo st of Slovak historians consider participation in the Second World War on the side of Germany as a mistake and not something of which the Slovaks should be proud. so 48 Jozef Pauco, S/owici a komunizmus [Slovaks and Communi sm] , Middletown Pa.: Jednota Press, 1957, pp. I 07- 11 ; Andrej Cincura, " Duch slovenskej armady" [The Spirit of the Slovak Army] , in Mikulas Sprinc (ed.), S/ovenska repub/ika 1939-1949 [The Slovak Republic, 1939-1949], Scranton, Pa.: Obrana Press, 1949, pp. 130-32. 49 Milan Stanislav Durica, "S lovaki a During World War II" in Joseph M. Kirchbaum , Slovakia in the 19th and 20th Centuries. Toronto: Slovak World Congress, 1973, 183. 50 Julius Bartl , "M. S. Durica: Dejiny Slovenska a Slowikov" (A review article), in Historicky casopis, 45, 1997, No I, p. 120; Dagmar Ciem a-Lantayova, Poh/'ady na vychod, op. cit. , pp. 185-7, F. Csefalvay, Vojenske dejiny Slovenska, vo l. V. , op. cit., pp. 258-9; Valerian Bystri cky - Dusan Kovac - Jan Pesek a kol., K/'iicove prob/emy modernych s/ovenskych dejin 1848-1 992 (The Bas ic Problems of Modem Slovak Histo ry 1848- 1992], Bratislava: Veda, 20 12, pp. 225-6 ; Martin Lacko, Slovenska repub/ika 1939-45. Bratislava: UPN -Perfekt, 2008, pp. 93-5 ; I..:ubo mir Liptak, 2217 dni. S/ovensko v case druhej svetovej vojny (2217 Days . Slovaki a during WW 11] , Bratislava: Ka lligram , 20 11 , pp. 318-20; Katarin a Hradska - Ivan Kamenec et. al. , S/ovensko v 20. storoci. I V. S/ovenska Repub/ika 1939- 1945 [Slovakia in the 20 th Centu ry. IV . The Slovak Republic 1939- I 945] , Bratislava: Veda, 20 15, p. 331.  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Slovak Army on the Eastern Front During World War II Description An account of the resource Jan Rychlík Slovakia, Vol. 43 (No. 80-81), 2017 pp. 61-80 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rychlík, Jan Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2017 LCNAF https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/75a909bdd8b0fc868aebe25cba299cc4.pdf 3e17d0710ca1e65e2a73b94d244da73e PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA 169 Kirschbaum, Joseph M., "Twenty Years of Czech and Communist Rule in Slovakia," SLovakia, 1965. Levine, Isaac D., Intervention, 1969, Van Rees Press. Oddo, Gilbert L., Slovakia and its People, 1960, Robert Speller and Sons. Pauco, Joseph (ed.), Slovakia, 1966, 1968, 1969, Slovak League of America. Roberts, Adam and Windsor, Philip, Czechoslovakia 1968, 1969, Columbia University Press. Schwartz, Harry, Prague's 200 Days, 1969, Frederick A. Praeger, Inc. Zubek, T. J ., O.F.M., Church of Silence in Slovakia, 1969, J. J . Lach. MAGAZINES Newsweek, Prague Defies the Kremlin, July 29, 1968. Reader's Digest, The Rape of Czechoslovakia, November, 1968. Time, Self-Determination for Czechoslovakia, April 5, 1968; Czechoslovakia-Approaching Total Eclipse, April 6, 1970; Alexander Dubcek's AU Too Human Face, May 18, 1970. PAMPHLETS AND PAPERS Committee on Un-American Activities, Soviet Total War, 1956. Embassy of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, Background Notes Department of State, Socialist Republic Background Notes. New York Times, February 10, 1970, Students in Prague Now Know Their Beautiful Dream is Over, by Alvin Shuster. Hrobak, Philip A., Who Betrayed Slovakia to the Reds. THE SLOVAK ARTS IN PERSPECTIVE Marlene B a rt o s It is \from the vantage point of a multi-ethnic democracy such as the United States that Slovak cultural history can best be placed in true perspective. This paper is an attempt to do so. Because Slovak cultural history has so many ramifications that reach deeply in the histories of neighboring nations, this presentation considers only the theatrical and musical arts, and then only in historical delineation. Analyses and evaluations must remain for the future. The earliest recorded report of a theatrical presentation in Slovakia is the performance of a Christmas play in Bratislava in 1439. By the mid-1500's, plays seem to have been regularly presented. The year 1544 to 1545, for example, records the performances of two plays in German; the one entitled Judith, the other, The Five Wise and Unwise Maidens. Similar reports record activity in Bardejov and Kremnica. (Dejiny slovenskej literatury, 1960. History of Slovak Literature.) �170 SLOVAKIA The 17th century marked dramatic development in Latin at Slovak Jesuit schools, with performances of Seneca, Sophocles, Plautus, and Terentius, among others. These plays were also translated into Slovak, Magyar, and German, and presented in the vernacular. The Piarist Fathers were also active, although their productions did not match the splendor of Jesuit productions in polish or costuming. Jesuit presentations were costumed from Vienna and not infrequently from Venice. Piarist productions, however, were more liberal in content, dealing more with worldly issues, and thus contributed notably to Slovak drama. Original plays in Latin were presented at Slovak Protestant institutions. Isaac Caban (1638-1707), rector at Brezno and later professor at the Presov and Levoca lyceums, wrote a cycle of five Latin plays titled Labarum Triumphale Victrici Palladi Fragariae Solenne (Triumphant Standard of Presov's Victorious Minerva). The cycle was presented in 1665 on five successive days and repeated several times by popular demand. Other original Latin plays by other professors-divines soon appeared. One such play, titled Eleazar Constans, was about a man who was steadfast in his faith. It was presented in Bardejov, in 1668, by students on the anniversary of the founding of their school. This was followed, in 1669, by Papinianus Tetragonus , which met with tremendous success. The nature of the play itself reflected the universal European trend of that time. The protagonist was Papinianus Ictus, a Roman jurist who lived from 140 to 212, "a man brave, steadfast, and honorable." He was executed by Roman Emperor Caracalla because he would not condone the Emperor's fratricide. Papinianus was translated into the prevalent vernaculars-Slovak, German, Magyar-and continued in popularity. A most interesting study for a thesis would be a comparison of the play to the tragedies of Shakespeare, who had been dead only fifty years at that time. Titus Andronicus? Julius Ceasar? Timon of Athens? Anthony and Cleopatra? Coriolanus? Shakespeare drew heavily upon Plutarch's Parallel Lives for the factual bases of his tragedies. Plutarch had �SLOVAKIA 171 already been translated into English and had a profound influence upon English literature; Plutarch was integral to the classical scholarship of Slovakia; Plutarch was the cultural denominator common to England and Slovakia and could therefore serve as the prime basis for a comparative study. Thanks to the well-organized records keeping of the religious orders, much information is available to us about theatrical presentations. From 1601 to 1773, the Jesuits staged over 10,000 plays in Hungary, most of them in Slovakia. The themes of the plays dealt with the bible and with oriental and classical history. Slovak was used for the first time in Bratislava in 1628 as the language of a play entitled About the Sacrament of the Altar. Performances were held every evening during the Lenten season, and the response was so great that more than a thousand tickets were sold every day. An original play entitled Apollo Returned Heaven, by Rector Paul ~uhaj, was performed in Slovak at Levoca, Spisska Kapitula, and Skalica. With the growth of a middle class by the early 1700's came a burgeoning interest in the theater, reaching from the nobility, through the middle-class and the working-class, to the peasantry. The center of this activity in Slovakia was Bratislava, which was also the seat of the Hungarian Parliament. Only a short drive by horse-coach from Vienna, Bratislava teemed with the nobility of the Austrian Imperial Court and consequently that of Hungary and visitors from the other monarchies of Europe. They brought to Bratislava theatrical companies from Austria, Poland, Italy, and Germany. Private theaters became the fashion among such noble families as the Erdody, Eszterhazy, and Zichy, which maintained residences in Bratislava. The permanent theater in Bratislava, from 1741 on, was at Rybarska Brana (Fisherman's Gate). A small summer theater was established in 1760. To the sorrow of Slovak culture, the situation among talented performers of that time still exists today. Persons of outstanding talent would move on to the larger cities of Europe-Budapest, Vienna, Munich, Prague-and asswne a culture that was alien, if not politically hostile, to their Slovak background. Although �172 SLOVAKIA their talents were genetically rooted in Slovakia, the theatrical dynasties they frequently founded were completely alienated, both culturally and politically. The Czech theater was enriched by two Slovaks, Paul Kyrmezer of Banska stiavnica, and George Tesak of Mosovce. Both were refugees from the ravages of the Turks, who held strategic fortresses in Slovakia at that time. Kyrmezer was for a time pastor and school director of various churches in Moravia, being dean in Uherske Hradiste from 1576 until his death in 1589. He wrote several plays and dramas in Old Slovak. George Tesak, who died in Prague in 1617, wrote many plays incorporating music and song, which are considered early forms of the operetta. Both Kyrmezer and Tesak are respected by the Czechs as pioneers in Czech theatrical arts. Adaptations of their works were performed as late as 1938 in Prague, Brno, Olomouc, and other Czech and Moravian centers with great success. The theatrical arts moved ahead quickly in full force in Bratislava, Budapest, and Vienna, which, of course, was reflected in smaller, provincial communities. Music, at this time, became compulsory in all intermediate and higher schools. All professional theaters began to present operas and operettas. Music became an indispensible factor in social and cultural life. Artists-actors, singers, musicians, composers, conductors, and directors-were subsidized by the state and community. Indeed, if one did not attend at least two performances a week, one was almost a social outcast. Many Slovak young men, even from the villages, who came to the big cities to study medicine, pharmacy, law, or philosophy, began to devote themselves to music. They ultimately gave up their original ambitions and enrolled in conservatories of music, undoubtedly causing their parents considerable grief. In this sense they were not unlike our modern youth. · Matthew Kamensky, born in sopron in 1734, composed the first op~ra in Polish, Nedza Uszczesliwiona (Poverty Made Fortunate). He died in Warsaw in 1821 as the popular composer Ka:mi~nski. [Jan Fisher, Dejin,y hudby (History �SLOVAKIA 173 of Music), Spolok sv. Vojtecha (Society of St. Adalbert), Trnava, 1933 ) . Slovakia's central location made the country an important crossing point in the musical lives of surrounding countries. Slovakia was close to the Austrian music of Vienna. But there were also strong Magyar influences. Purely from a Slovak and Slavonic standpoint, the Abbey at Budec was the guardian of liturgical music. The abbey fostered the Cyrilo-Methodian Liturgy and produced many outstanding musicians, composers, and teachers. Bratislava is less than 20 miles, across the Danube, from Rohrau in Austria, where Josef Haydn was born. As a composer of world renown, Haydn contributed outstandingly to the development of the symphony. And as such, he was a teacher of the German genius Ludwig van Beethoven, who raised the symphonic form to its greatest development. Both masters knew Bratislava. Beethoven was only 22 years old when he made Vienna his home in 1792. By 1796 he had already personally endeared himself to Bratislava audiences, although his First Symphony was received with mixed reactions, as elsewhere, when it was first performed in 1800. There is a legend that his Moonlight Sonata was inspired by his love for an innkeeper's daughter in the Slovak spa of Piest'any. Beethoven's fame and popularity brought him many requests for his patronage. One such request, which was fulfilled, came from a young student of music, Jozef Koritansky, who went on to Vienna to become one of the most outstanding of opera stars in Europe. The great Franz Schubert also knew Slovakia. As music teacher to a branch of the Eszterhazy family, he lived in the palace at Zeliezovce. Here he composed his famous Ave Maria, supposedly to express his love for one of the Eszterhazy daughters, which is allegedly why the hymn was banned from churches in some parts of Europe. He, too, was a frequent visitor to Bratislava, where he is known to have had many friends . .Vienna as a cultural magnet, and because of its geographical proximity, drew countless numbers of Slovaks over the centuries. Some went specifically to further their studies. Others went merely to seek their fortunes. At the �174 SLOVAKIA outbreak of World War I, there were innumerable thousands of Slovaks in Vienna. Budapest is an interesting example of Magyar acculturation of Slovaks. The first Magyar opera was composed in 1823 by a Slovak, Jozef Chudy, born in Bratislava. The world-famous composer Ernest Dohnany, was born in Banska Bystrica in 1877. The primadona of the Royal Magyar Theater, Maria Sarvasova, was born in Zvolen in 1894. The leading actress Ilona Bednar was born in Banska stiavnica. Prima ballerina Anna suhaj was a Slovak. The leading actors Jan Sklenar, Tomas Jakub, Pavol Rezar, and Jozef Sedlak, as well as the singers Zoltan Kianicka, Andrej Dvoran, and Jan Mastny, all considered Magyar, had Slovak backgrounds. (Dejiny hudby, Trnava, 1933; Javisko, Turc. Sv. Martin, 1940) As Magyar chauvinism grew in intensity, the Slovak theater in the Slovak highlands suffered, from harassment to direct suppression. Slovak audiences, particularly in the villages, delighted in plays that satirized the Magyarization of the small-town Slovak gentry. Since Magyarization was the planned program of the Budapest government, such plays were considered subversive. Suppression stimulated the growth of the Slovak folk theater, and groups of devoted amateurs sustained the Slovak character through long years of political and cultural oppression. The amateur theater became so ingrained a tradition, that it was brought to the United States by early immigrants, where, with the ubiquitous, multi-functional Slovak choir, it became the fund raiser for most of the Slovak churches, schools, and societies. It would be a long list if one were to enumerate the artists who gained fame on the stages of Budapest and Vienna and whose talents stemmed from the highland villages of Slovakia. It would be an extremely short list to enumerate those artists whose Slovak identity was not obliterated by the cultures of their new environments. There are notable examples, however, of artists who should be mentioned because they emerged as Slovaks through the forces that brought about the fall of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy and brought into being new states, among them Czecho-Slovakia. �SLOVAKIA 175 It was in 1916, a year before the United States entered World War I and when the Austro-Hungarian Empire was already tottering, that a Slovak artist of high professional caliber appeared on the American stage as a Slovak, perhaps for the first time in history. It was Anica Fabry, primadona of the Royal Opera at Budapest. She presented several concerts in New York City, which were favorably reviewed by such newspapers as The New York Times, The Herald Tribune, and the Journal American, among others. Noteworthy is the fact that in the programs of songs Miss Fabry sang were those of a young Slovak composer, Mikulas Schneider-Trnavsky. Following upon the end of the war and the emergence of the states in Central and East Central Europe, the world was able to know the young, talented Slovaks building careers on the stages of Budapest and Vienna. The handsome young Slovak actor-singer Frantisek Kristof Vesely was brought from Vienna to Prague, where he became a leading star in films. From Budapest there returned such outstanding artists as Andrej Bagar, Hana Melickova, and Jozef Kelo. Bratislava was nationalistically awakening in quick tempo. But it soon appeared that the Czechs wanted the National Theater at Bratislava to be a bridge for politicizing and for influencing a pan-Czech Slovak development. This led to an internal struggle that lasted for years, during which Slovaks were gradually beginning to supplant Czechs m thA Slovak National Theater, particular as authors and playwriters.Outstanding foreign plays were being translated into Slovak and presented on the stage. Many Slovaks, however, were applying their talents to the Czech stage, as actors, singers, directors, and ballet performers. They were exceptionally well paid for their talents, it should be said, to prevent them from complementing the Slovak theaters at Bratislava and Kosice, which were, through their high professional standards, too dangerously competitive for the Czech theater at Prague and Brno. The year 1938 decided in favor of the Slovaks. The theater in Bratislava was already on a high professional level. The still relatively young, 39-year-old idol, Frantisek �176 SLOVAKIA Kristof Vesely, came home to Bratislava from Prague. Opera star Belo Turba Nitrancan returned from Brno. New strength arrived through the return of young Slovaks who had been studying abroad. All enriched the Slovak stage. Into this resurging theatrical environment entered the ambitious and talented young Slovak, Gejza Dusik, who in the course of a few years wrote dozens of operettas, Turecky tabak (Turkish Tobacco), Modra ruza (Blue Rose), Pozar na vlak (Watch Out for the Train), Pod cudzou vlajkou (Under a Foreign Flag), to name the most popular. These were received with so great and wide acclaim that they were almost immediately translated into neighboring languages - German, Magyar, Croat, Bulgar, and others. Theaters were filled to standing-room-on ly whenever Dusik's operettas were performed. The names Mayzes, Cikker, and Suchan are known world-wide as contemporary composers of classical music, symphonic and operatic. Their works are in the repertoire of every major, internationally known symphony orchestra and opera company. Mayzes' Janosik Suite musically recreates the legends of the popular Slovak hero-outlaw, who "took from the rich and gave to the poor." Cikker's operas are regularly performed in Germany and England, particularly one based on Dicken's Christmas Carol. Suchon's opera Krutnava (Vortex), in purely Slovak setting and theme, begins in tragedy and ends in happiness, contrary to traditional operatic structure. Nevertheless, Krutnava has established itself even in Italy, the birthplace and home of opera. As already stated, this presentation considers Slovak theatrical and musical arts only in historical delineation. Although the years 1938 to 1945 constitute, in a sense, Slovak cultural risorgimento, those years and the years following up to our time are still within the current historical perspective. As such, they do not lend themselves even to a superficial evaluation that can be objective. Such evaluation is for the future. What may be said today about this period of Slovak risorgimento is that Bratislava surpassed Vienna in the state of the arts. What must be asked today is, "Quo vadis, Bratislava?" ( Second place - College) � SLOVAKIA 169 Kirschbaum, Joseph M., "Twenty Years of Czech and Communist Rule in Slovakia," SLovakia, 1965. Levine, Isaac D., Intervention, 1969, Van Rees Press. Oddo, Gilbert L., Slovakia and its People, 1960, Robert Speller and Sons. Pauco, Joseph (ed.), Slovakia, 1966, 1968, 1969, Slovak League of America. Roberts, Adam and Windsor, Philip, Czechoslovakia 1968, 1969, Columbia University Press. Schwartz, Harry, Prague's 200 Days, 1969, Frederick A. Praeger, Inc. Zubek, T. J ., O.F.M., Church of Silence in Slovakia, 1969, J. J . Lach. MAGAZINES Newsweek, Prague Defies the Kremlin, July 29, 1968. Reader's Digest, The Rape of Czechoslovakia, November, 1968. Time, Self-Determination for Czechoslovakia, April 5, 1968; Czechoslovakia-Approaching Total Eclipse, April 6, 1970; Alexander Dubcek's AU Too Human Face, May 18, 1970. PAMPHLETS AND PAPERS Committee on Un-American Activities, Soviet Total War, 1956. Embassy of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, Background Notes Department of State, Socialist Republic Background Notes. New York Times, February 10, 1970, Students in Prague Now Know Their Beautiful Dream is Over, by Alvin Shuster. Hrobak, Philip A., Who Betrayed Slovakia to the Reds. THE SLOVAK ARTS IN PERSPECTIVE Marlene B a rt o s It is \from the vantage point of a multi-ethnic democracy such as the United States that Slovak cultural history can best be placed in true perspective. This paper is an attempt to do so. Because Slovak cultural history has so many ramifications that reach deeply in the histories of neighboring nations, this presentation considers only the theatrical and musical arts, and then only in historical delineation. Analyses and evaluations must remain for the future. The earliest recorded report of a theatrical presentation in Slovakia is the performance of a Christmas play in Bratislava in 1439. By the mid-1500's, plays seem to have been regularly presented. The year 1544 to 1545, for example, records the performances of two plays in German; the one entitled Judith, the other, The Five Wise and Unwise Maidens. Similar reports record activity in Bardejov and Kremnica. (Dejiny slovenskej literatury, 1960. History of Slovak Literature.) �170 SLOVAKIA The 17th century marked dramatic development in Latin at Slovak Jesuit schools, with performances of Seneca, Sophocles, Plautus, and Terentius, among others. These plays were also translated into Slovak, Magyar, and German, and presented in the vernacular. The Piarist Fathers were also active, although their productions did not match the splendor of Jesuit productions in polish or costuming. Jesuit presentations were costumed from Vienna and not infrequently from Venice. Piarist productions, however, were more liberal in content, dealing more with worldly issues, and thus contributed notably to Slovak drama. Original plays in Latin were presented at Slovak Protestant institutions. Isaac Caban (1638-1707), rector at Brezno and later professor at the Presov and Levoca lyceums, wrote a cycle of five Latin plays titled Labarum Triumphale Victrici Palladi Fragariae Solenne (Triumphant Standard of Presov's Victorious Minerva). The cycle was presented in 1665 on five successive days and repeated several times by popular demand. Other original Latin plays by other professors-divines soon appeared. One such play, titled Eleazar Constans, was about a man who was steadfast in his faith. It was presented in Bardejov, in 1668, by students on the anniversary of the founding of their school. This was followed, in 1669, by Papinianus Tetragonus , which met with tremendous success. The nature of the play itself reflected the universal European trend of that time. The protagonist was Papinianus Ictus, a Roman jurist who lived from 140 to 212, "a man brave, steadfast, and honorable." He was executed by Roman Emperor Caracalla because he would not condone the Emperor's fratricide. Papinianus was translated into the prevalent vernaculars-Slovak, German, Magyar-and continued in popularity. A most interesting study for a thesis would be a comparison of the play to the tragedies of Shakespeare, who had been dead only fifty years at that time. Titus Andronicus? Julius Ceasar? Timon of Athens? Anthony and Cleopatra? Coriolanus? Shakespeare drew heavily upon Plutarch's Parallel Lives for the factual bases of his tragedies. Plutarch had �SLOVAKIA 171 already been translated into English and had a profound influence upon English literature; Plutarch was integral to the classical scholarship of Slovakia; Plutarch was the cultural denominator common to England and Slovakia and could therefore serve as the prime basis for a comparative study. Thanks to the well-organized records keeping of the religious orders, much information is available to us about theatrical presentations. From 1601 to 1773, the Jesuits staged over 10,000 plays in Hungary, most of them in Slovakia. The themes of the plays dealt with the bible and with oriental and classical history. Slovak was used for the first time in Bratislava in 1628 as the language of a play entitled About the Sacrament of the Altar. Performances were held every evening during the Lenten season, and the response was so great that more than a thousand tickets were sold every day. An original play entitled Apollo Returned Heaven, by Rector Paul ~uhaj, was performed in Slovak at Levoca, Spisska Kapitula, and Skalica. With the growth of a middle class by the early 1700's came a burgeoning interest in the theater, reaching from the nobility, through the middle-class and the working-class, to the peasantry. The center of this activity in Slovakia was Bratislava, which was also the seat of the Hungarian Parliament. Only a short drive by horse-coach from Vienna, Bratislava teemed with the nobility of the Austrian Imperial Court and consequently that of Hungary and visitors from the other monarchies of Europe. They brought to Bratislava theatrical companies from Austria, Poland, Italy, and Germany. Private theaters became the fashion among such noble families as the Erdody, Eszterhazy, and Zichy, which maintained residences in Bratislava. The permanent theater in Bratislava, from 1741 on, was at Rybarska Brana (Fisherman's Gate). A small summer theater was established in 1760. To the sorrow of Slovak culture, the situation among talented performers of that time still exists today. Persons of outstanding talent would move on to the larger cities of Europe-Budapest, Vienna, Munich, Prague-and asswne a culture that was alien, if not politically hostile, to their Slovak background. Although �172 SLOVAKIA their talents were genetically rooted in Slovakia, the theatrical dynasties they frequently founded were completely alienated, both culturally and politically. The Czech theater was enriched by two Slovaks, Paul Kyrmezer of Banska stiavnica, and George Tesak of Mosovce. Both were refugees from the ravages of the Turks, who held strategic fortresses in Slovakia at that time. Kyrmezer was for a time pastor and school director of various churches in Moravia, being dean in Uherske Hradiste from 1576 until his death in 1589. He wrote several plays and dramas in Old Slovak. George Tesak, who died in Prague in 1617, wrote many plays incorporating music and song, which are considered early forms of the operetta. Both Kyrmezer and Tesak are respected by the Czechs as pioneers in Czech theatrical arts. Adaptations of their works were performed as late as 1938 in Prague, Brno, Olomouc, and other Czech and Moravian centers with great success. The theatrical arts moved ahead quickly in full force in Bratislava, Budapest, and Vienna, which, of course, was reflected in smaller, provincial communities. Music, at this time, became compulsory in all intermediate and higher schools. All professional theaters began to present operas and operettas. Music became an indispensible factor in social and cultural life. Artists-actors, singers, musicians, composers, conductors, and directors-were subsidized by the state and community. Indeed, if one did not attend at least two performances a week, one was almost a social outcast. Many Slovak young men, even from the villages, who came to the big cities to study medicine, pharmacy, law, or philosophy, began to devote themselves to music. They ultimately gave up their original ambitions and enrolled in conservatories of music, undoubtedly causing their parents considerable grief. In this sense they were not unlike our modern youth. · Matthew Kamensky, born in sopron in 1734, composed the first op~ra in Polish, Nedza Uszczesliwiona (Poverty Made Fortunate). He died in Warsaw in 1821 as the popular composer Ka:mi~nski. [Jan Fisher, Dejin,y hudby (History �SLOVAKIA 173 of Music), Spolok sv. Vojtecha (Society of St. Adalbert), Trnava, 1933 ) . Slovakia's central location made the country an important crossing point in the musical lives of surrounding countries. Slovakia was close to the Austrian music of Vienna. But there were also strong Magyar influences. Purely from a Slovak and Slavonic standpoint, the Abbey at Budec was the guardian of liturgical music. The abbey fostered the Cyrilo-Methodian Liturgy and produced many outstanding musicians, composers, and teachers. Bratislava is less than 20 miles, across the Danube, from Rohrau in Austria, where Josef Haydn was born. As a composer of world renown, Haydn contributed outstandingly to the development of the symphony. And as such, he was a teacher of the German genius Ludwig van Beethoven, who raised the symphonic form to its greatest development. Both masters knew Bratislava. Beethoven was only 22 years old when he made Vienna his home in 1792. By 1796 he had already personally endeared himself to Bratislava audiences, although his First Symphony was received with mixed reactions, as elsewhere, when it was first performed in 1800. There is a legend that his Moonlight Sonata was inspired by his love for an innkeeper's daughter in the Slovak spa of Piest'any. Beethoven's fame and popularity brought him many requests for his patronage. One such request, which was fulfilled, came from a young student of music, Jozef Koritansky, who went on to Vienna to become one of the most outstanding of opera stars in Europe. The great Franz Schubert also knew Slovakia. As music teacher to a branch of the Eszterhazy family, he lived in the palace at Zeliezovce. Here he composed his famous Ave Maria, supposedly to express his love for one of the Eszterhazy daughters, which is allegedly why the hymn was banned from churches in some parts of Europe. He, too, was a frequent visitor to Bratislava, where he is known to have had many friends . .Vienna as a cultural magnet, and because of its geographical proximity, drew countless numbers of Slovaks over the centuries. Some went specifically to further their studies. Others went merely to seek their fortunes. At the �174 SLOVAKIA outbreak of World War I, there were innumerable thousands of Slovaks in Vienna. Budapest is an interesting example of Magyar acculturation of Slovaks. The first Magyar opera was composed in 1823 by a Slovak, Jozef Chudy, born in Bratislava. The world-famous composer Ernest Dohnany, was born in Banska Bystrica in 1877. The primadona of the Royal Magyar Theater, Maria Sarvasova, was born in Zvolen in 1894. The leading actress Ilona Bednar was born in Banska stiavnica. Prima ballerina Anna suhaj was a Slovak. The leading actors Jan Sklenar, Tomas Jakub, Pavol Rezar, and Jozef Sedlak, as well as the singers Zoltan Kianicka, Andrej Dvoran, and Jan Mastny, all considered Magyar, had Slovak backgrounds. (Dejiny hudby, Trnava, 1933; Javisko, Turc. Sv. Martin, 1940) As Magyar chauvinism grew in intensity, the Slovak theater in the Slovak highlands suffered, from harassment to direct suppression. Slovak audiences, particularly in the villages, delighted in plays that satirized the Magyarization of the small-town Slovak gentry. Since Magyarization was the planned program of the Budapest government, such plays were considered subversive. Suppression stimulated the growth of the Slovak folk theater, and groups of devoted amateurs sustained the Slovak character through long years of political and cultural oppression. The amateur theater became so ingrained a tradition, that it was brought to the United States by early immigrants, where, with the ubiquitous, multi-functional Slovak choir, it became the fund raiser for most of the Slovak churches, schools, and societies. It would be a long list if one were to enumerate the artists who gained fame on the stages of Budapest and Vienna and whose talents stemmed from the highland villages of Slovakia. It would be an extremely short list to enumerate those artists whose Slovak identity was not obliterated by the cultures of their new environments. There are notable examples, however, of artists who should be mentioned because they emerged as Slovaks through the forces that brought about the fall of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy and brought into being new states, among them Czecho-Slovakia. �SLOVAKIA 175 It was in 1916, a year before the United States entered World War I and when the Austro-Hungarian Empire was already tottering, that a Slovak artist of high professional caliber appeared on the American stage as a Slovak, perhaps for the first time in history. It was Anica Fabry, primadona of the Royal Opera at Budapest. She presented several concerts in New York City, which were favorably reviewed by such newspapers as The New York Times, The Herald Tribune, and the Journal American, among others. Noteworthy is the fact that in the programs of songs Miss Fabry sang were those of a young Slovak composer, Mikulas Schneider-Trnavsky. Following upon the end of the war and the emergence of the states in Central and East Central Europe, the world was able to know the young, talented Slovaks building careers on the stages of Budapest and Vienna. The handsome young Slovak actor-singer Frantisek Kristof Vesely was brought from Vienna to Prague, where he became a leading star in films. From Budapest there returned such outstanding artists as Andrej Bagar, Hana Melickova, and Jozef Kelo. Bratislava was nationalistically awakening in quick tempo. But it soon appeared that the Czechs wanted the National Theater at Bratislava to be a bridge for politicizing and for influencing a pan-Czech Slovak development. This led to an internal struggle that lasted for years, during which Slovaks were gradually beginning to supplant Czechs m thA Slovak National Theater, particular as authors and playwriters.Outstanding foreign plays were being translated into Slovak and presented on the stage. Many Slovaks, however, were applying their talents to the Czech stage, as actors, singers, directors, and ballet performers. They were exceptionally well paid for their talents, it should be said, to prevent them from complementing the Slovak theaters at Bratislava and Kosice, which were, through their high professional standards, too dangerously competitive for the Czech theater at Prague and Brno. The year 1938 decided in favor of the Slovaks. The theater in Bratislava was already on a high professional level. The still relatively young, 39-year-old idol, Frantisek �176 SLOVAKIA Kristof Vesely, came home to Bratislava from Prague. Opera star Belo Turba Nitrancan returned from Brno. New strength arrived through the return of young Slovaks who had been studying abroad. All enriched the Slovak stage. Into this resurging theatrical environment entered the ambitious and talented young Slovak, Gejza Dusik, who in the course of a few years wrote dozens of operettas, Turecky tabak (Turkish Tobacco), Modra ruza (Blue Rose), Pozar na vlak (Watch Out for the Train), Pod cudzou vlajkou (Under a Foreign Flag), to name the most popular. These were received with so great and wide acclaim that they were almost immediately translated into neighboring languages - German, Magyar, Croat, Bulgar, and others. Theaters were filled to standing-room-on ly whenever Dusik's operettas were performed. The names Mayzes, Cikker, and Suchan are known world-wide as contemporary composers of classical music, symphonic and operatic. Their works are in the repertoire of every major, internationally known symphony orchestra and opera company. Mayzes' Janosik Suite musically recreates the legends of the popular Slovak hero-outlaw, who "took from the rich and gave to the poor." Cikker's operas are regularly performed in Germany and England, particularly one based on Dicken's Christmas Carol. Suchon's opera Krutnava (Vortex), in purely Slovak setting and theme, begins in tragedy and ends in happiness, contrary to traditional operatic structure. Nevertheless, Krutnava has established itself even in Italy, the birthplace and home of opera. As already stated, this presentation considers Slovak theatrical and musical arts only in historical delineation. Although the years 1938 to 1945 constitute, in a sense, Slovak cultural risorgimento, those years and the years following up to our time are still within the current historical perspective. As such, they do not lend themselves even to a superficial evaluation that can be objective. Such evaluation is for the future. What may be said today about this period of Slovak risorgimento is that Bratislava surpassed Vienna in the state of the arts. What must be asked today is, "Quo vadis, Bratislava?" ( Second place - College) � 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 1974, Vol. 24 Description An account of the resource Vol. 24 (No. 47), 1974. 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 1974 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 169 Kirschbaum, Joseph M., "Twenty Years of Czech and Communist Rule in Slovakia," SLovakia, 1965. Levine, Isaac D., Intervention, 1969, Van Rees Press. Oddo, Gilbert L., Slovakia and its People, 1960, Robert Speller and Sons. Pauco, Joseph (ed.), Slovakia, 1966, 1968, 1969, Slovak League of America. Roberts, Adam and Windsor, Philip, Czechoslovakia 1968, 1969, Columbia University Press. Schwartz, Harry, Prague's 200 Days, 1969, Frederick A. Praeger, Inc. Zubek, T. J ., O.F.M., Church of Silence in Slovakia, 1969, J. J . Lach. MAGAZINES Newsweek, Prague Defies the Kremlin, July 29, 1968. Reader's Digest, The Rape of Czechoslovakia, November, 1968. Time, Self-Determination for Czechoslovakia, April 5, 1968; Czechoslovakia-Approaching Total Eclipse, April 6, 1970; Alexander Dubcek's AU Too Human Face, May 18, 1970. PAMPHLETS AND PAPERS Committee on Un-American Activities, Soviet Total War, 1956. Embassy of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, Background Notes Department of State, Socialist Republic Background Notes. New York Times, February 10, 1970, Students in Prague Now Know Their Beautiful Dream is Over, by Alvin Shuster. Hrobak, Philip A., Who Betrayed Slovakia to the Reds. THE SLOVAK ARTS IN PERSPECTIVE Marlene B a rt o s It is \from the vantage point of a multi-ethnic democracy such as the United States that Slovak cultural history can best be placed in true perspective. This paper is an attempt to do so. Because Slovak cultural history has so many ramifications that reach deeply in the histories of neighboring nations, this presentation considers only the theatrical and musical arts, and then only in historical delineation. Analyses and evaluations must remain for the future. The earliest recorded report of a theatrical presentation in Slovakia is the performance of a Christmas play in Bratislava in 1439. By the mid-1500's, plays seem to have been regularly presented. The year 1544 to 1545, for example, records the performances of two plays in German; the one entitled Judith, the other, The Five Wise and Unwise Maidens. Similar reports record activity in Bardejov and Kremnica. (Dejiny slovenskej literatury, 1960. History of Slovak Literature.) 170 SLOVAKIA The 17th century marked dramatic development in Latin at Slovak Jesuit schools, with performances of Seneca, Sophocles, Plautus, and Terentius, among others. These plays were also translated into Slovak, Magyar, and German, and presented in the vernacular. The Piarist Fathers were also active, although their productions did not match the splendor of Jesuit productions in polish or costuming. Jesuit presentations were costumed from Vienna and not infrequently from Venice. Piarist productions, however, were more liberal in content, dealing more with worldly issues, and thus contributed notably to Slovak drama. Original plays in Latin were presented at Slovak Protestant institutions. Isaac Caban (1638-1707), rector at Brezno and later professor at the Presov and Levoca lyceums, wrote a cycle of five Latin plays titled Labarum Triumphale Victrici Palladi Fragariae Solenne (Triumphant Standard of Presov's Victorious Minerva). The cycle was presented in 1665 on five successive days and repeated several times by popular demand. Other original Latin plays by other professors-divines soon appeared. One such play, titled Eleazar Constans, was about a man who was steadfast in his faith. It was presented in Bardejov, in 1668, by students on the anniversary of the founding of their school. This was followed, in 1669, by Papinianus Tetragonus , which met with tremendous success. The nature of the play itself reflected the universal European trend of that time. The protagonist was Papinianus Ictus, a Roman jurist who lived from 140 to 212, "a man brave, steadfast, and honorable." He was executed by Roman Emperor Caracalla because he would not condone the Emperor's fratricide. Papinianus was translated into the prevalent vernaculars-Slovak, German, Magyar-and continued in popularity. A most interesting study for a thesis would be a comparison of the play to the tragedies of Shakespeare, who had been dead only fifty years at that time. Titus Andronicus? Julius Ceasar? Timon of Athens? Anthony and Cleopatra? Coriolanus? Shakespeare drew heavily upon Plutarch's Parallel Lives for the factual bases of his tragedies. Plutarch had SLOVAKIA 171 already been translated into English and had a profound influence upon English literature; Plutarch was integral to the classical scholarship of Slovakia; Plutarch was the cultural denominator common to England and Slovakia and could therefore serve as the prime basis for a comparative study. Thanks to the well-organized records keeping of the religious orders, much information is available to us about theatrical presentations. From 1601 to 1773, the Jesuits staged over 10,000 plays in Hungary, most of them in Slovakia. The themes of the plays dealt with the bible and with oriental and classical history. Slovak was used for the first time in Bratislava in 1628 as the language of a play entitled About the Sacrament of the Altar. Performances were held every evening during the Lenten season, and the response was so great that more than a thousand tickets were sold every day. An original play entitled Apollo Returned Heaven, by Rector Paul ~uhaj, was performed in Slovak at Levoca, Spisska Kapitula, and Skalica. With the growth of a middle class by the early 1700's came a burgeoning interest in the theater, reaching from the nobility, through the middle-class and the working-class, to the peasantry. The center of this activity in Slovakia was Bratislava, which was also the seat of the Hungarian Parliament. Only a short drive by horse-coach from Vienna, Bratislava teemed with the nobility of the Austrian Imperial Court and consequently that of Hungary and visitors from the other monarchies of Europe. They brought to Bratislava theatrical companies from Austria, Poland, Italy, and Germany. Private theaters became the fashion among such noble families as the Erdody, Eszterhazy, and Zichy, which maintained residences in Bratislava. The permanent theater in Bratislava, from 1741 on, was at Rybarska Brana (Fisherman's Gate). A small summer theater was established in 1760. To the sorrow of Slovak culture, the situation among talented performers of that time still exists today. Persons of outstanding talent would move on to the larger cities of Europe-Budapest, Vienna, Munich, Prague-and asswne a culture that was alien, if not politically hostile, to their Slovak background. Although 172 SLOVAKIA their talents were genetically rooted in Slovakia, the theatrical dynasties they frequently founded were completely alienated, both culturally and politically. The Czech theater was enriched by two Slovaks, Paul Kyrmezer of Banska stiavnica, and George Tesak of Mosovce. Both were refugees from the ravages of the Turks, who held strategic fortresses in Slovakia at that time. Kyrmezer was for a time pastor and school director of various churches in Moravia, being dean in Uherske Hradiste from 1576 until his death in 1589. He wrote several plays and dramas in Old Slovak. George Tesak, who died in Prague in 1617, wrote many plays incorporating music and song, which are considered early forms of the operetta. Both Kyrmezer and Tesak are respected by the Czechs as pioneers in Czech theatrical arts. Adaptations of their works were performed as late as 1938 in Prague, Brno, Olomouc, and other Czech and Moravian centers with great success. The theatrical arts moved ahead quickly in full force in Bratislava, Budapest, and Vienna, which, of course, was reflected in smaller, provincial communities. Music, at this time, became compulsory in all intermediate and higher schools. All professional theaters began to present operas and operettas. Music became an indispensible factor in social and cultural life. Artists-actors, singers, musicians, composers, conductors, and directors-were subsidized by the state and community. Indeed, if one did not attend at least two performances a week, one was almost a social outcast. Many Slovak young men, even from the villages, who came to the big cities to study medicine, pharmacy, law, or philosophy, began to devote themselves to music. They ultimately gave up their original ambitions and enrolled in conservatories of music, undoubtedly causing their parents considerable grief. In this sense they were not unlike our modern youth. · Matthew Kamensky, born in sopron in 1734, composed the first op~ra in Polish, Nedza Uszczesliwiona (Poverty Made Fortunate). He died in Warsaw in 1821 as the popular composer Ka:mi~nski. [Jan Fisher, Dejin,y hudby (History SLOVAKIA 173 of Music), Spolok sv. Vojtecha (Society of St. Adalbert), Trnava, 1933 ) . Slovakia's central location made the country an important crossing point in the musical lives of surrounding countries. Slovakia was close to the Austrian music of Vienna. But there were also strong Magyar influences. Purely from a Slovak and Slavonic standpoint, the Abbey at Budec was the guardian of liturgical music. The abbey fostered the Cyrilo-Methodian Liturgy and produced many outstanding musicians, composers, and teachers. Bratislava is less than 20 miles, across the Danube, from Rohrau in Austria, where Josef Haydn was born. As a composer of world renown, Haydn contributed outstandingly to the development of the symphony. And as such, he was a teacher of the German genius Ludwig van Beethoven, who raised the symphonic form to its greatest development. Both masters knew Bratislava. Beethoven was only 22 years old when he made Vienna his home in 1792. By 1796 he had already personally endeared himself to Bratislava audiences, although his First Symphony was received with mixed reactions, as elsewhere, when it was first performed in 1800. There is a legend that his Moonlight Sonata was inspired by his love for an innkeeper's daughter in the Slovak spa of Piest'any. Beethoven's fame and popularity brought him many requests for his patronage. One such request, which was fulfilled, came from a young student of music, Jozef Koritansky, who went on to Vienna to become one of the most outstanding of opera stars in Europe. The great Franz Schubert also knew Slovakia. As music teacher to a branch of the Eszterhazy family, he lived in the palace at Zeliezovce. Here he composed his famous Ave Maria, supposedly to express his love for one of the Eszterhazy daughters, which is allegedly why the hymn was banned from churches in some parts of Europe. He, too, was a frequent visitor to Bratislava, where he is known to have had many friends . .Vienna as a cultural magnet, and because of its geographical proximity, drew countless numbers of Slovaks over the centuries. Some went specifically to further their studies. Others went merely to seek their fortunes. At the 174 SLOVAKIA outbreak of World War I, there were innumerable thousands of Slovaks in Vienna. Budapest is an interesting example of Magyar acculturation of Slovaks. The first Magyar opera was composed in 1823 by a Slovak, Jozef Chudy, born in Bratislava. The world-famous composer Ernest Dohnany, was born in Banska Bystrica in 1877. The primadona of the Royal Magyar Theater, Maria Sarvasova, was born in Zvolen in 1894. The leading actress Ilona Bednar was born in Banska stiavnica. Prima ballerina Anna suhaj was a Slovak. The leading actors Jan Sklenar, Tomas Jakub, Pavol Rezar, and Jozef Sedlak, as well as the singers Zoltan Kianicka, Andrej Dvoran, and Jan Mastny, all considered Magyar, had Slovak backgrounds. (Dejiny hudby, Trnava, 1933; Javisko, Turc. Sv. Martin, 1940) As Magyar chauvinism grew in intensity, the Slovak theater in the Slovak highlands suffered, from harassment to direct suppression. Slovak audiences, particularly in the villages, delighted in plays that satirized the Magyarization of the small-town Slovak gentry. Since Magyarization was the planned program of the Budapest government, such plays were considered subversive. Suppression stimulated the growth of the Slovak folk theater, and groups of devoted amateurs sustained the Slovak character through long years of political and cultural oppression. The amateur theater became so ingrained a tradition, that it was brought to the United States by early immigrants, where, with the ubiquitous, multi-functional Slovak choir, it became the fund raiser for most of the Slovak churches, schools, and societies. It would be a long list if one were to enumerate the artists who gained fame on the stages of Budapest and Vienna and whose talents stemmed from the highland villages of Slovakia. It would be an extremely short list to enumerate those artists whose Slovak identity was not obliterated by the cultures of their new environments. There are notable examples, however, of artists who should be mentioned because they emerged as Slovaks through the forces that brought about the fall of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy and brought into being new states, among them Czecho-Slovakia. SLOVAKIA 175 It was in 1916, a year before the United States entered World War I and when the Austro-Hungarian Empire was already tottering, that a Slovak artist of high professional caliber appeared on the American stage as a Slovak, perhaps for the first time in history. It was Anica Fabry, primadona of the Royal Opera at Budapest. She presented several concerts in New York City, which were favorably reviewed by such newspapers as The New York Times, The Herald Tribune, and the Journal American, among others. Noteworthy is the fact that in the programs of songs Miss Fabry sang were those of a young Slovak composer, Mikulas Schneider-Trnavsky. Following upon the end of the war and the emergence of the states in Central and East Central Europe, the world was able to know the young, talented Slovaks building careers on the stages of Budapest and Vienna. The handsome young Slovak actor-singer Frantisek Kristof Vesely was brought from Vienna to Prague, where he became a leading star in films. From Budapest there returned such outstanding artists as Andrej Bagar, Hana Melickova, and Jozef Kelo. Bratislava was nationalistically awakening in quick tempo. But it soon appeared that the Czechs wanted the National Theater at Bratislava to be a bridge for politicizing and for influencing a pan-Czech Slovak development. This led to an internal struggle that lasted for years, during which Slovaks were gradually beginning to supplant Czechs m thA Slovak National Theater, particular as authors and playwriters.Outstanding foreign plays were being translated into Slovak and presented on the stage. Many Slovaks, however, were applying their talents to the Czech stage, as actors, singers, directors, and ballet performers. They were exceptionally well paid for their talents, it should be said, to prevent them from complementing the Slovak theaters at Bratislava and Kosice, which were, through their high professional standards, too dangerously competitive for the Czech theater at Prague and Brno. The year 1938 decided in favor of the Slovaks. The theater in Bratislava was already on a high professional level. The still relatively young, 39-year-old idol, Frantisek 176 SLOVAKIA Kristof Vesely, came home to Bratislava from Prague. Opera star Belo Turba Nitrancan returned from Brno. New strength arrived through the return of young Slovaks who had been studying abroad. All enriched the Slovak stage. Into this resurging theatrical environment entered the ambitious and talented young Slovak, Gejza Dusik, who in the course of a few years wrote dozens of operettas, Turecky tabak (Turkish Tobacco), Modra ruza (Blue Rose), Pozar na vlak (Watch Out for the Train), Pod cudzou vlajkou (Under a Foreign Flag), to name the most popular. These were received with so great and wide acclaim that they were almost immediately translated into neighboring languages - German, Magyar, Croat, Bulgar, and others. Theaters were filled to standing-room-on ly whenever Dusik's operettas were performed. The names Mayzes, Cikker, and Suchan are known world-wide as contemporary composers of classical music, symphonic and operatic. Their works are in the repertoire of every major, internationally known symphony orchestra and opera company. Mayzes' Janosik Suite musically recreates the legends of the popular Slovak hero-outlaw, who "took from the rich and gave to the poor." Cikker's operas are regularly performed in Germany and England, particularly one based on Dicken's Christmas Carol. Suchon's opera Krutnava (Vortex), in purely Slovak setting and theme, begins in tragedy and ends in happiness, contrary to traditional operatic structure. Nevertheless, Krutnava has established itself even in Italy, the birthplace and home of opera. As already stated, this presentation considers Slovak theatrical and musical arts only in historical delineation. Although the years 1938 to 1945 constitute, in a sense, Slovak cultural risorgimento, those years and the years following up to our time are still within the current historical perspective. As such, they do not lend themselves even to a superficial evaluation that can be objective. Such evaluation is for the future. What may be said today about this period of Slovak risorgimento is that Bratislava surpassed Vienna in the state of the arts. What must be asked today is, "Quo vadis, Bratislava?" ( Second place - College)  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Slovak Arts in Perspective Description An account of the resource Marlene Bartos Slovakia, Vol. 24 (No. 47), 1974 pp. 169-176 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Bartos, Marlene Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1974 name https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/d377e2402045defeb8c0365217471579.pdf 07ff1183ac8e8c98dd57469c932c6c68 PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA 33 THE SWVAK ASSEMBLY AND GOVERNMENT ľt !s very interesting to follow the developement of the Slovak national idea trom the oldest limes to the pre.sent. As one of the oldest expressions of Slovak nationalism, made in wr~ting, we must regard the foreword to the Catholic hymnal "Canthus Cathollci," pubJished in 1655, in whlch the author, the learned Jesuit Szôlôsi, with words of wonderment and love, calls the aittention of his readers to the first Slovak State, to Svätopluk and to Saints Cyril and Methodius. And since Szôlôsi's time, Slovak patriots have frequenrtly returned to this theme: Magin in 1728; George Papánek in 1780, in his history of Slovak ľtllers; George Sklenár In 1784, In his history of Great Moravia; in the "S'taré Noviny" (Old Newl',) in 1786. The period 1787-1792 is climaxed with the publlcation of the firs,t Slovak Grammar, the organization of the "Learned Guild" (Učené tovarišstvo), and the publication of Fándly's book, in which the author speaks warmly to the Slovaks and calls their a,ttention to the flrst Slov,ak State. In 1793 Fándly again publishes the history of Great Moravia, and in 1833 John Hollý publishes his famed epic "Svätopluk." This perlod, lasting over 130 years, is marked in learned books wlth a constant return to the theme of ťhe first Slovak State. At the end of this epoch, three years after Hollý's "Svätopluk" was published, on the Devin ramparts the young friends of Louis Štúr spoke from the rulns of Svä,topluk's stronghold, repeating everything that had t o that time appeared only in books. This is the •border line. With the book of a young follower of Štúr, Benjamiu Pravoslav Červenák, titled "Zrcadlo Slovenska" (Mirror of Slovakla), which Hurban publlshed in 1844, ends ,this epoch of returning to the past without a single chapter about what we want in the present and the future. We could s.ay, then, that Slovak patriots kept the flames of their nationalism burning for 150 years by returning to the past. However, they did not state clearly just how they pictured Slovak life of the future. In 1845, when Štúr began pu,biishing the first Slovak polltlcal newspaper, a change was gradually taking place in the thinking of the people. Slovaks began to talk about what should be done to preserve the Slovak nation, to increase 1-ts spiritual and material welf,are. They talked about concrete Slovak demands. In 1842, Dr. Paul Jozeffy placed a petition before the emperor, requesting that t he Slovak lan.guage be .the medium of teachlng !n Slovakla, of preaching in tbe cburches, and that cJrnrch records (vltal staitlstlcs) be kept in Slovak. Jozeffy's demands concerned only the linguistic questlon. But in 1848, the Slovaks went much farther. They proclaimed themselves independent from the Magyars. Mil'hael Milan Hodža, Loufs Štúr and Joseph Miloslav Hurban proclalmed the first Slovak Government, the Slovak National Council as the "supreme Slovak authorlty issulng out of the bosom of the natlon." That same year, In the historic demands known as the Nitra and Liptovský Svätý Mikuláš rlemands, the Slovaks pleaded ardently tor ~utonomy of the Slovak terrltory, whose laws would be passed by a Slovak parllament. �34 SLOVAKIA . Furthermor e, they demanded: Slovak schools, Slovak cour ts, Slovak as the offlclal language In SlovakJa, and teachlng In Slovak a t the Unlverslty. In every Slovak demand, trom May 10, 1848, and In every Slovak program the demand for a S lovak Parllament w,as predomlnan t. It had deep roots. To Brezová and Liptovský Svätý M.lkulä§ not even a hundred people came to the rally In 1848 to demand a Slovak parllament . In 1861, about 6000 Slovaks oam e together to demand a Natlonal Assembly for SlovakJa. The Plttsburgh manifesta:t lon of May 30, 1918, w as attend ed by some 30,000 people. But In 1938, on P ent.ecost Day (June 6th ), about 120,000 Slovaks gathered In Bratislava at a hlstorlc rally to commemor ate lhe twentleth annlversary of th e Plttsbugh P act . It was he re that lhe Slovak natlon saw the hlstorlc document whlch was proposed ,and slgned by T. G. Masazyk In 1918. The Plttsburgh Pact, whlch In fact guaranteed autonomy t o the Slovaks, was brought to Slovakla by a delega tlon of lhe Slovak League of Amerlca. T hese m anlfestation s show just how the concept of self-admlnistratlon in Slovakia grew In depth In the wlde masses of the naitlon. In 1848 lt wa.<i supported by a small group of Slovak hrtellectual s, but In 1938, in Bratislava, pract!cally the entlre Slovak natlon was back of it. In a contldenlla l report (T. 1370/33) to Pres.Ident M,asaryk , Dr. Schnleszl wrote: "Today a ll of S lovakla 1, for autonomy. Several pre.revolu. tlonary Slovak, are completely lnsignlflcan t for the splrltual life of the people. Moreover, if some were not bound by thelr paat, and other, by the ir public statu,, they, t oo, would be on the other • Ide o penly." The Slovak newspapen nan in Amerlca, Adalbert Tholt,Vel'koštlavnlcký, was not faml11ar w!th the correspondence of old Slovak leaders, and yet he evaluated the polltical demands of the Slovaks quite correctly. He stated that they were demands not only for a narrow autonomy, but lhat thelr content actually called for the Jndependence of Slovakia. It 1s interestlng t hat Tholt came to this concluslon even though he was not acqua!nted wlth the signlflcant quota. tion trom Šttlr's book "Slovanstv o a svet budtlcnostl " (Slavdom and the WOTld of lhe Future), which read: "So that we could occupy and take ove r the place whlch belong1 to u1 accordlng to our atrength a nd capabllltles , we must once and for a ll t lme f ree ourselvea from the unbearable y oke of foreignera a nd gain for ouraelvea state INDEPEND ENCE, bec auae a natlon that i• enslaved has ltl hand, t led and mu,t perlsh sooner or lat er." What crystal-clea x words! And Šttlr said them openly and fearlessly after the sad experlence s of 1848-49. Šttlr states clearly that the penalty awa!Ung the nat!on whlch wlll not flght for its state in dependence is death. After the natlonal rally of 1861, the flght at home in Slovakla weakened; there was not a slngle publ!c expression or demand voted on manlfestati onally which could compare to the demands of 1848 and 1861: In whlch .a demand was volced for a Slovak governmen t, or a Slovak parl!ament. In Slovakla a bard flght was fou ght t o preserve �SLOVAKIA 86 S lovak schools. But the flght for the inherent rlghts of the Slovak natlon was carrled over lnto America. The questlon was taken up by the Slovak press and became the subject of several hundred public manlfestatlons. Flnally lt matured wlth the "Memorandum of ťhe Slovak League," whlch to a certaln extent repeated the demands voiced In 1848 and 1861: autonomy for Slovakla, a separate Slovak Assembly or Dlet, Slovaklzatlon of the schools, Slovak courts, and the use of Slovak In public llfe. After thls foll<JW the agreements wlth representatives of the Czech natlon. The Cleveland ~reement, In 1915, In wlllch the Czechs agree to a federatlve form of the hopeful Czecho-Slovak Republlc, and then the memorable Plttsburgh Pact of May 30, 1918, in whlch again ls renewed the promlse that the Slovaks shall have thelr own Slov,ak admlnlstration, thelr own Slovak schools and courts, and, above all else, thelr own Slovak parliament or state leglslature. Even though Thomas Garrigue Masaryk underslgned thls agreement on May 30, 1918, and then agaln on the second day following bis electlon as Presldent of Czecho-Slovakia, he later dlsavowed it, declarlng it a falsehood and a mere scrap of paper. That ls how the Czechs kept thelr promlses. If we call the perlod from 1655 to 1845 as the perlod which turned to the past, then we can call 1:he perlod from 1845 to to 1918 a.s the perlod present!ng the program of the !uture. And thls 1s followed by a perlod of actlve fightlng for the recognltlon of prom!ses and agreements. A short artlcle does not allow us to take up in mlnute de• tal! every parliamentary expresslon, every motlon or proposal for autonomy, every public manlfestatlon; and every remlnder that promlses made durlng the war be kept and fulfilled. It remalns a sad reality, but the hlstorlcal truth nevertheless, that the Czechs dld not live up to thelr promlses any more after 1918, than they d1d after 1945. Tlle fate of every agreement wlth the Czechs was the same: ,all agreements wlth the Slova.ks were repudiated by the Czechs. The Czechs were w11llng to make concesslons only when they needed the Slovaks; later, they repudlated every agreement. Practlcally all Czech.s were the same In thls regard: T. G. Masaryk, the so-called reallst and humanlst; Ediward Beneií, t he so-called "democrat and statesman," and Monslgnor John Šrámek, the Cathollc prlest; Czech agrarlans, democrats, soclallsts, communlsts and fasclsts; Czech Cathollcs, Lutherans, Jews, Ta:bor· ltes, Husaltes, members of the "Czechoslovak Natlonal Church," Unl• tarlans and Baptista: all repudiated the promlses made to Slova.ks, all repudlated the lnberent and God-glven rlght of the Slovak natlon to freedom and state lndependence. No llttle wonder, then, t,bat the SlovalG cry out today: Don't belleve the Czech.s - no more agreements wlth the Czechs! Joseph P~kar, the Czech hlstorlan repudlated by Masaryk and Beneli, declared In hls Ume that the Slovak demands were moderate. Was lt not a terrible tragedy that these moderate and rlghtful demands were not reallzed in the Czeoho Slovak Republic? For twenty long year-s the Slovaks fouglrt not only for thelr own parllament, but also for t.he Slovaklzat!on of tbelr schools, especlally for addttlonal hlgher lnstltutlons of loo.rnlng. Many of the demands of 1848 and 0 �36 SLOVAKIA 1861 were still timely even ln 1938; and the demand for a Slovak parllament W&S the most imporllant. The Czechs, supported by Slovak Czechoslovaks (Slovaks ln the serVice of the Czechs: renegades), proclaimed that there was nothing more dangerous for the Slovaks than a Slovak parliament. V,avro Šro,b ár, one of the foremost "Czechoslovaks," wrote a letter to Americans of Slovak descent to "prove" that point. Of course, to do so he had to give incorrect or falsified statistios; ln fact, he outdid the Magyars in -that respect. šrobár used the false figures, 1 epresenting the various nationa.lities of the populatlon of Slovakia, to show that in a Slovak parliament the Slovaks themselves would be a minority, which the non-Slovak population - the Magyars, Jews and Germans - could outvote at any Ume. But he was not very convincing. During varlous negotiations wlth a P.r-ague Government, the Czech ministers promised: We shall glve you everything, but not a Slovak parliament. And -the Slovaks answered adamantly: We want nothing except a Slovak parliament, because with it we shall rea.lize al! the rest of our demands. Czech policy was incredibly short-sighted. Czech politicians and ministers would debate day.s on end In the Ministerlal Council to send Czech maLl-carriers and janitors to Slovakia to "help out" the Slovaks. .ánd they usually did even agalnst the will of the Slovak pul)lic and its representatlves In Government. Thls only convinced the Slovaks all ťhe more thai w:ithout thelr own State Legislature or Parliament, they would actually be only a subordinate colony of the Czech nation. Tbe more Prague opposed the Idea of a Slovak parliamen t, however, the more the Slovaks demanded lt. Th·a t was the situa:tlon up to October 6, 1938. Czech diplomacy and democracy created such a situation that the Czecho-Slovak Repul)ll<: collapsed wlth the first blow. Not a single shot was fired in its defense. In the annals of hlstory there is probably not a single case where a political state disappeared with less ado about it. In the fall of 1938 lt was c.Jear even to those In power in Prague that the Slovak demands of 1915-1918 must be fulfilled. Even Beneš bimself - who told the delegation of the Slovak League of Amerlca In 1938 that be was in principle agalnst t he Pittsburgh Pact only because of the one word "parllament" - began to see the llght. On October 4, 1938, that very same Beneš wrote a letter to Dr. Joseph Tiso - a letter overflowing wlth reverence and k!ndly feellng - in which we flnd: "The question of a parllament, designated by Mr. President in principle and onJy in the maln outlines and In proposltlons, requlres precise defln!tion and preclse legal formulatlon. The new Government, in agreement wlth the Slovaks, shall have to conclude the rest of this work as speedily as posslble." Beneš wrote the letter and correcled it tbree times, as was a.scertained In the archlves, but lt was slgned by. Dr. Schleszl. On October 4, Beneš had lt mailed, but that very day requested lt returned to hlm, because, under pressure from the generals, he declded to reslgn the Presldency of the Republic. But what dld Beneš have io propose about a Slovak parliament? Only thls: " It ls agreed that future acts of admlnistratlve reforms, if it shall be based on the county system, shall preserve the unlty �SLOVAKIA 37 of SloV'aJtia as a !and and that a union of the counties be reallzed withln the fmmework of the territorial parliament of Slovakia." True, thls proposition could not be seriously considered, because Beneš resigned his office and fled the country. The Pra~e ParHament fLnally voted the autonomy of Slovakia wit hout Beneš on 0 ctober 6, 1938. In December the first Slovak parliament•ary eJections were held, and In January, 1939, sixty-three deputies were seated in the flrst legislative ,assembly of Slovakia. Dr. Martin Sokol became t he first president of the Slovak Parliament. The dream of Slovak ,generatlons was at long last realized. The Slovak ParJiament, just as every ,human work, had lts shortcomings. But we must judge every mlstake in the light of the times in which it happened. The Slovak Legislature began to function in extraordinarily difficult tlmes, when the worud situation was extraordinarily tense and confusion reigned In Slov·a kia. Almost simultaneously with the Parliament, Slovak rule passed !nto the hands of the Slovak Government in 0ctober, 1938. State executive and leglslative power in Slovakia passed into Slovak hands. But the Ozechs were not satisfied wit h this status of affairs. It was difficult for th em to suffer the thought that the Slovaks would now decide about Slovak matters w-ithout Prague. They began to hinder development. 'I'he.y especially wanted to prove that their progno.stiootions about the Czeťhs ha-ving to pay for the Slovaks were true. The financial policy pursued was suoh that it forebo<le the prediction of Kramár, that 1s, that if the Slovaks gained autonomy, they wouid not be aJble to pay their state employees even three months. They refused to give money for Slovak !mports from the common fund, even though t he Slovaks contributed to it, because now, they said, Slovakia is no longer a money--creating part of the ·state. Events were climaxed wHh a new occupation of Slovakia and the unseatlng of fäe first Slovak Government in Marcl:t, 1939. When this happened, the recently executed Vladlmir Clementis, in London at that tilne, wrote: " . . . The unseatlng of Tlso's Government by Prague (better said: by Hácha, Beran and Chvalkovský - at the direction of Berlin) was negoti'ated polit!cally In a very bung,Jed manner, nay in a si-niiully awkward manner" ( Hnev Svätý, London, 1944, pg. 21). The result of this lntervention was tha.t Slovakia tore herself compl etely from the Czech lands, and the Parliament of Slove.kla by unan!mous vote, proclaimed the lndependence of the Slovak State on Maroh 14, 1939. Thus, Štúr',s wish of 1850 was realized in 1939. ,Shortly after the Parliament and government of autonomous Slovak!a oame into being, the enti-re apparatus of government legislat!ve and executive power - oame lnto Slovak hands. And just aibout that time we w!tnes.sed an interesting phenomenon. From 1940, after the events of the so-calle d '\Salzburg In,tervention," we noted a e hange in the relatlons between the Parllament Md the Government - which caused a serious tension and often threatened to explo<le lnto a sharp public conWct and wreck the whole structure of the State. Vojtech Tuka wanted to remodel Slovakia completely after the German model ; he was for NaUonal Soc!alism. 0f course, he ex- �38 SLOVAKIA pected to become the flrst cltlzen of the remodeled State. Tuka and bis followers began to lntrigue agalnst the Parllament, and the stM1ggle cllmaxed with Tuka's demand that Parliament vote Tuka fulJ authority, and that even In Constltut1onal mattera. In a word, Tuka wa.nted dlctatorlal powers. Accordlng to Tuka, the PaTllament was supposed to be only a representative body, whlch he would convoke once a year to hear some proclamatlon of hfs and then would solemnly and unanlmously approve everythlng he proposed. Tuka wanted a "rubber stamp" parllament whlch would say "so be lt" to everyth!ng he recommended, then go home and ref.raln from meddllng In the politlcs of the State. Charles Mmgaš, Chlef of Propaganda, speaklng In the name of the "leadershlp," deolared that only one or two persons of the "lea.dership" would be -a.ble to play polltics and, of course, he reckoned tha.t •he would be one of them. Accordlng to these promoters of Natlonal Soclallsm, lt w,as necessary to Temove two personalltlee from government: Dr. J oseph Tlso and Dr. Martin Sokol. President Tlso delegated Dr. Sokol to dellbemt e about these questlons. To the great surprlse of Dr. Tuka hlmself, Dr. Sokol declared that he fully agreed wlth Tuka's proposal that the Natlonal-Soclallstlc system should prevall in Slovakla. .And now, sald Dr. Sokol, slnce th1ngs are done In thls manner In the Reich - and here Sokol enumerated how varlous matters were transacted in Germany - we &hall do likewlse in Slovakla. In the fkst place, of course, cont:lnued Dr. Sokol, we know that In the Relch aJl State power rests In the hands of the head of the State - and that head 1s the Presldent. Dr. Tuka, lmmedlately realizlng that he was dlsarmed and In a bllnd alley, revoked hls proposal for a Natlonal Socla\lst!c Slevakla. He was fully 11.ware that under the ciTcumstances lt could happen that he would drop out of government completely, lf h1s proposal was adopted. But peace dld not ensue between Tuka, Mach and the ParHament. The deputles, who once sat in the Prague Parll,ament, often declared that the Prague Parllament could never have allowed such Independent action against the Government as the Bratislava Parl!amen.t dld durlng its mhole exlstence. lit often hapl)ened that the Government sent to Parllament a draft of a 1Mv for consideratlon and pas&age. When Parllament was thro~h with lt, the law approved was In most cases not based on the orlglnal dra~t. but was the opposJ te In lts effec,ts from what Tuka and Mach had lntended lt to be. There was no opposltlon ,to speak of In Parllament, but there was plenty of lt ag,alnst the Government. Thls had not onJy lts good, but bad polnts as well. Undoubtedly, lf -tlmes were normal, Tuka's government never would have held together. Tuka and Mach, who represented one tendency In the Government, had practlcally no support In Parllament. Later on, however, even the other mlnlsters could not have galned t-he majority, because, just as 'Iluka and Mach were reproached for belng too radlcal and subordlnated to the Germans. they, on the other hand, were reproached for belng too colorless. Aga.In it 1s true, that we could talk about the polltlcs or Dr. Tuka and Mach, but hardly that of Dr. Pruf.!nský, Frltz, St-a.no and Medrlcký. The latter were completely lnfluenced by "Czechoslovak" c lrcles. �SLOVAKIA 39 -Relatlons between the Government were not ldyllic. Tuka's !lret attempt to dlssolve Parllament ended lnglorlousJy. But he and hli! foJlowers dld not glve up easlly. When Tuka categorlcally demanded that he wanted a new Government formed, whlch would include only M-ach and Catioš !rom the exlstlng Government, he agaln wae de!eated. Tuka then demanded the Presldent to appoint Ciiarles Murga§ as Minister of Educatlon, John Farka§ as Finance Minister, and a new man to head the Minlstry of Justice. Tlso, however, remalned adamant; he repudlated Tuka's demands. Tlso inslsted en keeplng the iBame Government he had a!ter the Sal11Jburg events of July, 1940. After many rebuffs and bitter dlsappolntments, Tuka's spľrlt and energy began to wane. He was an old, slck man, obsessed with the thought that he should have been the !lrst man in the !and, because he had, he thought, suffered for the cause more than any one el.se. Hls aggre.sslveness gone, Tuk.a In later years was a minister in name only; he was seldom seen in hls offlce and was not In a posltion to make decislons. There was no change In government personnel until after Catloš's !llght to the putschJsts at the end of August, 1944. Catloš wa.s replaced by Stephen Haäšik; Tuka by Dr. Stephen Tlso, who also took over Frltz's post (Justlce and Forelgn Affalrs); Stano was replaced by Ing. Lednár, and .Sivák by Dr. Aladar Kočiš. Some people dld not flnd it difflcult to crltlclze the actlvlty of lndlvidual mlnlsters. When converslng wlth such bitter crltlcs, I cften asked the questlon: And what would you have done under the same clrcumstances? After a momenťs thought, the crltlcs usually an,swered that they probably would have done the same thlng, because there w-as a war on, German pressure dld exist, the sltuatlon was extraordlnary and, hence, strongly lntluenced everythlng the Government dld. Nevertheless, it remalns lnd1sputably true that as long as the Slovak Parllament and the Slovak Government ruled In Slovakia, the llvlng Standard of the Slovak people was hlgher than that of -a.ny nelghborlng country. Let people say w.hat they wlll about Sivák, the !act remalus that wblle he was Minister of Educatlon, more secondary schools arose tban ever before, more Slovak professors were appolnted to the unlversltles, and at least three tlmes as many students studled during the war than before or after ft. W e may crlt!clze T uka's act!ons, but the fact remalns that he did not seek reprlsals agalnst the false wltnesses, brlbed by Prague as -the Prague archlves dlsolosed, who helped to convlot bim to 15 years In prlson durlng the flrst CzechoSlovak Republlc. During the admlnlstratlon of Jullus Stano, more rallroad tracks, roads and buildings were bullt than ever before. The fact remalns that whlle Frltz was Minister of Justlce, and even after he was replaced, there was not a slngle offlclal executlon in Slovakia. Wben Medrický was in charge of Slovak economy, there was no ratlonlng of food and clothJng. And when Pružlnský was Mlnlster of Flnance, deposlts soared t o unbeard of belghts and the Slovak Koruna (Crown), one of the most prized means of exchange In the wbole of Europe, enjoyed the legend or the Tatra dollar. EvEm Catloš hlmself pursued a po llcy wbereby Slovakla contrlbuted as llttle as posslble to the tax of blood. �40 SLOVAKIA Alexander Mach mlght be blamed for almost anythlng and everytblng, but perhap.s no one man stood up so fearlessly against the German propaganda concerning the Germanlsm of the Habans, agalnst 1,he founcllng of German schools for Czecbs who s uddenly discovered tbat tbey had some German blood coursing In tbeir velns. And lt remains a fact that tbe Communlsts, even though their Party wias outlawed, suffered less in &Jovakla than elsewhere. It may sound strange, but it is true nevertheless, that Mach - thls most Germanophile Minister of the Interior - used to sit at a whlte table with Communist inte11ectuals, converse with them, ententain them, and, above all else, protect them. During the existence of the Slovak State, neither the Presldent nor the Mlnisters of State had to fear going among the people without a retinue of armed guards. The President never wanted a motorlzed police escort, in fact, could not even use one going to the altar, the pulpit, the baptlsmal font, or into the confesslonal. President Tiso was truly loved and esteemed by all the people of Slovakia. If his politicaJ enemies b e excepted, and tbey were only few in number, tben we must say t hat even they respected him. What a difference between Tiso and Beneš ! T,iso needed no protection wben he went out among tbe people, but Beneš and bis Communis.t-dominated regime had to have an army around tbem when they entered Slovakia after tbe war. About the Slovak Parllament we migbt say what the followers of Gbandi were wont to say: "Even the worst Indian Government 1s better for I ndia than the best Engllsh Government, because tbe English Government bas no business in India." Similarly, the Slovaks can express tbemselves about every Czech government. The past has shown definitely that a Czecho-Slovak government is in reality always a Czech government, regardless of whether it follows a rightls.t or Communist tendency. A Czec h-Slovak parliament always was and always will be a Czech parJ.iament, even lf lt contains several Slovak members. A nation whlcb bas matured does not want to be regulated or directed by laws t hat are promulgated by an alien parliament and then enforced by an alien government. That is so especially witb a nation wbicb has had lts own parliament and its own government. The Slovak nation had its own parliament and its own government from 1938- 1945, And tbe Slovaks stm wanted to rule themselves, thelr Slovak Republlc, after the war ended in 1945, but thelr will ,v,as violated, They were violently forced back into the political state which had explolted them for thirty years. Slovak ministers, as peopl e, could have a nd undoubtedly did have their faults, but one tbing cannot be denied tbem, the one lndlsputal>Je fact tbat tbey worked for the welfare of the entire Slovak nation as best they could under given circumstances, and the Slovak people never fared better under any otber government - before or slnce that time. In a word, tbe Slovak ministers governed well. Not one of tbem became wealthy through polltlcs; and they lived more modestily, more democratically than the present rulers of Slovakia, they cost the people less than tbe present commissloners. Tbe .same can be sald for the parUament. Tbe work of tbe Slovak Parliament undoubtedly had lts shortcomlngs. Circumstances and �SLOVAKIA events often tled the hands of the deputies, but we need not fear the criticism whlch history shall r&eord about the Slovak Parliament. After the war many deputies were tortured and some were k!lled. Most of them recelved an average of ten years in prison. It is good always to remember this, when some Czech In the world says that the Slovaks never had it so good as they had it under the Czechs before 1939 or after 1945. The fact remains that the Czechs in Prague oppressed and exploited the Slovaks before 1939 and, af,ter 1945 avenged -themselves by murdering Dr. Tiso and others, jaillng, persecuting and dispossessing thousands of others, and exlling tens of thousands of Slovaks to Siberla and other regions of the Soviet Union and its satellites. The Slovaks at home and everywhere in exile know tha.t they dld not sell out the Czech people to Moscow, but that Dr. Edward Beneš and hls followers sold out not only the Slovak nation, but the Czech peoI11e as we11, to the tyranny of ,t he hammer and sickJe. • • • WHO SAID IT? BENEŠ IN RETROSPECT: - "In an interview published In a London Sunday paper, REYNOLDS NEWS, on February 20, Presldent Beneš of Czechoslovakia, emphatically declared that he does not fear Russla's return to imperlalism under the pretext of a so-called Al!• Slav policy. The alliance and harmonious collaboratlon of the USSR, Poland, and Czechoslovakia would deter Germany from provoking another world war. Such an agreement may, therefore, have a far• reaching slgnificance for the future peace of Europe as a whole. To the question as to whether the pact will not make Czechoslovakia too dependent on the Soviet Union, President Beneš r eplied that the pact represents the fundamental strengthening of Czechoslovakia's security a nd consolidates her independence. Friendshlp wlth Soviet Russla means a mutual collaboration. The Czechoslovakian people, as the most mature people politically in Europe, would never accept vassalage under any nation." - (News Flashes From Czechoslovakia, Chicago, Ill., March 20, 1944). • • • DR. HUBERT RIPKA:-'IMany siliy rumors and guesses ,have arlsen concerning a quarrel with the Soviet Union about Carpathian-Russia. Many conJectures have been made about our Governmental delegate, NE!mec. T hese are all nonsensical speculations ! The Soviet and Czechoslovak Governments are firmly resolved to proceed in all matters, now and in the future, strlctly accordlng to the Treaty. Governmental dele• gate NE!mec, wlth hls political advisors and the representatlves of the Slovak Natlonal Council, ls already in llberated eastern Slovakia and in a few days wlll start worklng in Košice, to organize a new free Ufe in llberated parts of Slovakla, accordlng to the government on relatlons between the Government delegate and the Slovak Natlonal Councll. President Beneš wlll also come soon to the llberated country, where, under hls leadershlp, a new Government authority wlll be created, based on the wlll of the llberated peoples. Be calm and falth· ful. Liberatlon 1s in slght." - (London Broadcast, January 29, 1945). � SLOVAKIA 33 THE SWVAK ASSEMBLY AND GOVERNMENT ľt !s very interesting to follow the developement of the Slovak national idea trom the oldest limes to the pre.sent. As one of the oldest expressions of Slovak nationalism, made in wr~ting, we must regard the foreword to the Catholic hymnal "Canthus Cathollci," pubJished in 1655, in whlch the author, the learned Jesuit Szôlôsi, with words of wonderment and love, calls the aittention of his readers to the first Slovak State, to Svätopluk and to Saints Cyril and Methodius. And since Szôlôsi's time, Slovak patriots have frequenrtly returned to this theme: Magin in 1728; George Papánek in 1780, in his history of Slovak ľtllers; George Sklenár In 1784, In his history of Great Moravia; in the "S'taré Noviny" (Old Newl',) in 1786. The period 1787-1792 is climaxed with the publlcation of the firs,t Slovak Grammar, the organization of the "Learned Guild" (Učené tovarišstvo), and the publication of Fándly's book, in which the author speaks warmly to the Slovaks and calls their a,ttention to the flrst Slov,ak State. In 1793 Fándly again publishes the history of Great Moravia, and in 1833 John Hollý publishes his famed epic "Svätopluk." This perlod, lasting over 130 years, is marked in learned books wlth a constant return to the theme of ťhe first Slovak State. At the end of this epoch, three years after Hollý's "Svätopluk" was published, on the Devin ramparts the young friends of Louis Štúr spoke from the rulns of Svä,topluk's stronghold, repeating everything that had t o that time appeared only in books. This is the •border line. With the book of a young follower of Štúr, Benjamiu Pravoslav Červenák, titled "Zrcadlo Slovenska" (Mirror of Slovakla), which Hurban publlshed in 1844, ends ,this epoch of returning to the past without a single chapter about what we want in the present and the future. We could s.ay, then, that Slovak patriots kept the flames of their nationalism burning for 150 years by returning to the past. However, they did not state clearly just how they pictured Slovak life of the future. In 1845, when Štúr began pu,biishing the first Slovak polltlcal newspaper, a change was gradually taking place in the thinking of the people. Slovaks began to talk about what should be done to preserve the Slovak nation, to increase 1-ts spiritual and material welf,are. They talked about concrete Slovak demands. In 1842, Dr. Paul Jozeffy placed a petition before the emperor, requesting that t he Slovak lan.guage be .the medium of teachlng !n Slovakla, of preaching in tbe cburches, and that cJrnrch records (vltal staitlstlcs) be kept in Slovak. Jozeffy's demands concerned only the linguistic questlon. But in 1848, the Slovaks went much farther. They proclaimed themselves independent from the Magyars. Mil'hael Milan Hodža, Loufs Štúr and Joseph Miloslav Hurban proclalmed the first Slovak Government, the Slovak National Council as the "supreme Slovak authorlty issulng out of the bosom of the natlon." That same year, In the historic demands known as the Nitra and Liptovský Svätý Mikuláš rlemands, the Slovaks pleaded ardently tor ~utonomy of the Slovak terrltory, whose laws would be passed by a Slovak parllament. �34 SLOVAKIA . Furthermor e, they demanded: Slovak schools, Slovak cour ts, Slovak as the offlclal language In SlovakJa, and teachlng In Slovak a t the Unlverslty. In every Slovak demand, trom May 10, 1848, and In every Slovak program the demand for a S lovak Parllament w,as predomlnan t. It had deep roots. To Brezová and Liptovský Svätý M.lkulä§ not even a hundred people came to the rally In 1848 to demand a Slovak parllament . In 1861, about 6000 Slovaks oam e together to demand a Natlonal Assembly for SlovakJa. The Plttsburgh manifesta:t lon of May 30, 1918, w as attend ed by some 30,000 people. But In 1938, on P ent.ecost Day (June 6th ), about 120,000 Slovaks gathered In Bratislava at a hlstorlc rally to commemor ate lhe twentleth annlversary of th e Plttsbugh P act . It was he re that lhe Slovak natlon saw the hlstorlc document whlch was proposed ,and slgned by T. G. Masazyk In 1918. The Plttsburgh Pact, whlch In fact guaranteed autonomy t o the Slovaks, was brought to Slovakla by a delega tlon of lhe Slovak League of Amerlca. T hese m anlfestation s show just how the concept of self-admlnistratlon in Slovakia grew In depth In the wlde masses of the naitlon. In 1848 lt wa.<i supported by a small group of Slovak hrtellectual s, but In 1938, in Bratislava, pract!cally the entlre Slovak natlon was back of it. In a contldenlla l report (T. 1370/33) to Pres.Ident M,asaryk , Dr. Schnleszl wrote: "Today a ll of S lovakla 1, for autonomy. Several pre.revolu. tlonary Slovak, are completely lnsignlflcan t for the splrltual life of the people. Moreover, if some were not bound by thelr paat, and other, by the ir public statu,, they, t oo, would be on the other • Ide o penly." The Slovak newspapen nan in Amerlca, Adalbert Tholt,Vel'koštlavnlcký, was not faml11ar w!th the correspondence of old Slovak leaders, and yet he evaluated the polltical demands of the Slovaks quite correctly. He stated that they were demands not only for a narrow autonomy, but lhat thelr content actually called for the Jndependence of Slovakia. It 1s interestlng t hat Tholt came to this concluslon even though he was not acqua!nted wlth the signlflcant quota. tion trom Šttlr's book "Slovanstv o a svet budtlcnostl " (Slavdom and the WOTld of lhe Future), which read: "So that we could occupy and take ove r the place whlch belong1 to u1 accordlng to our atrength a nd capabllltles , we must once and for a ll t lme f ree ourselvea from the unbearable y oke of foreignera a nd gain for ouraelvea state INDEPEND ENCE, bec auae a natlon that i• enslaved has ltl hand, t led and mu,t perlsh sooner or lat er." What crystal-clea x words! And Šttlr said them openly and fearlessly after the sad experlence s of 1848-49. Šttlr states clearly that the penalty awa!Ung the nat!on whlch wlll not flght for its state in dependence is death. After the natlonal rally of 1861, the flght at home in Slovakla weakened; there was not a slngle publ!c expression or demand voted on manlfestati onally which could compare to the demands of 1848 and 1861: In whlch .a demand was volced for a Slovak governmen t, or a Slovak parl!ament. In Slovakla a bard flght was fou ght t o preserve �SLOVAKIA 86 S lovak schools. But the flght for the inherent rlghts of the Slovak natlon was carrled over lnto America. The questlon was taken up by the Slovak press and became the subject of several hundred public manlfestatlons. Flnally lt matured wlth the "Memorandum of ťhe Slovak League," whlch to a certaln extent repeated the demands voiced In 1848 and 1861: autonomy for Slovakla, a separate Slovak Assembly or Dlet, Slovaklzatlon of the schools, Slovak courts, and the use of Slovak In public llfe. After thls foll<JW the agreements wlth representatives of the Czech natlon. The Cleveland ~reement, In 1915, In wlllch the Czechs agree to a federatlve form of the hopeful Czecho-Slovak Republlc, and then the memorable Plttsburgh Pact of May 30, 1918, in whlch again ls renewed the promlse that the Slovaks shall have thelr own Slov,ak admlnlstration, thelr own Slovak schools and courts, and, above all else, thelr own Slovak parliament or state leglslature. Even though Thomas Garrigue Masaryk underslgned thls agreement on May 30, 1918, and then agaln on the second day following bis electlon as Presldent of Czecho-Slovakia, he later dlsavowed it, declarlng it a falsehood and a mere scrap of paper. That ls how the Czechs kept thelr promlses. If we call the perlod from 1655 to 1845 as the perlod which turned to the past, then we can call 1:he perlod from 1845 to to 1918 a.s the perlod present!ng the program of the !uture. And thls 1s followed by a perlod of actlve fightlng for the recognltlon of prom!ses and agreements. A short artlcle does not allow us to take up in mlnute de• tal! every parliamentary expresslon, every motlon or proposal for autonomy, every public manlfestatlon; and every remlnder that promlses made durlng the war be kept and fulfilled. It remalns a sad reality, but the hlstorlcal truth nevertheless, that the Czechs dld not live up to thelr promlses any more after 1918, than they d1d after 1945. Tlle fate of every agreement wlth the Czechs was the same: ,all agreements wlth the Slova.ks were repudiated by the Czechs. The Czechs were w11llng to make concesslons only when they needed the Slovaks; later, they repudlated every agreement. Practlcally all Czech.s were the same In thls regard: T. G. Masaryk, the so-called reallst and humanlst; Ediward Beneií, t he so-called "democrat and statesman," and Monslgnor John Šrámek, the Cathollc prlest; Czech agrarlans, democrats, soclallsts, communlsts and fasclsts; Czech Cathollcs, Lutherans, Jews, Ta:bor· ltes, Husaltes, members of the "Czechoslovak Natlonal Church," Unl• tarlans and Baptista: all repudiated the promlses made to Slova.ks, all repudlated the lnberent and God-glven rlght of the Slovak natlon to freedom and state lndependence. No llttle wonder, then, t,bat the SlovalG cry out today: Don't belleve the Czech.s - no more agreements wlth the Czechs! Joseph P~kar, the Czech hlstorlan repudlated by Masaryk and Beneli, declared In hls Ume that the Slovak demands were moderate. Was lt not a terrible tragedy that these moderate and rlghtful demands were not reallzed in the Czeoho Slovak Republic? For twenty long year-s the Slovaks fouglrt not only for thelr own parllament, but also for t.he Slovaklzat!on of tbelr schools, especlally for addttlonal hlgher lnstltutlons of loo.rnlng. Many of the demands of 1848 and 0 �36 SLOVAKIA 1861 were still timely even ln 1938; and the demand for a Slovak parllament W&S the most imporllant. The Czechs, supported by Slovak Czechoslovaks (Slovaks ln the serVice of the Czechs: renegades), proclaimed that there was nothing more dangerous for the Slovaks than a Slovak parliament. V,avro Šro,b ár, one of the foremost "Czechoslovaks," wrote a letter to Americans of Slovak descent to "prove" that point. Of course, to do so he had to give incorrect or falsified statistios; ln fact, he outdid the Magyars in -that respect. šrobár used the false figures, 1 epresenting the various nationa.lities of the populatlon of Slovakia, to show that in a Slovak parliament the Slovaks themselves would be a minority, which the non-Slovak population - the Magyars, Jews and Germans - could outvote at any Ume. But he was not very convincing. During varlous negotiations wlth a P.r-ague Government, the Czech ministers promised: We shall glve you everything, but not a Slovak parliament. And -the Slovaks answered adamantly: We want nothing except a Slovak parliament, because with it we shall rea.lize al! the rest of our demands. Czech policy was incredibly short-sighted. Czech politicians and ministers would debate day.s on end In the Ministerlal Council to send Czech maLl-carriers and janitors to Slovakia to "help out" the Slovaks. .ánd they usually did even agalnst the will of the Slovak pul)lic and its representatlves In Government. Thls only convinced the Slovaks all ťhe more thai w:ithout thelr own State Legislature or Parliament, they would actually be only a subordinate colony of the Czech nation. Tbe more Prague opposed the Idea of a Slovak parliamen t, however, the more the Slovaks demanded lt. Th·a t was the situa:tlon up to October 6, 1938. Czech diplomacy and democracy created such a situation that the Czecho-Slovak Repul)ll<: collapsed wlth the first blow. Not a single shot was fired in its defense. In the annals of hlstory there is probably not a single case where a political state disappeared with less ado about it. In the fall of 1938 lt was c.Jear even to those In power in Prague that the Slovak demands of 1915-1918 must be fulfilled. Even Beneš bimself - who told the delegation of the Slovak League of Amerlca In 1938 that be was in principle agalnst t he Pittsburgh Pact only because of the one word "parllament" - began to see the llght. On October 4, 1938, that very same Beneš wrote a letter to Dr. Joseph Tiso - a letter overflowing wlth reverence and k!ndly feellng - in which we flnd: "The question of a parllament, designated by Mr. President in principle and onJy in the maln outlines and In proposltlons, requlres precise defln!tion and preclse legal formulatlon. The new Government, in agreement wlth the Slovaks, shall have to conclude the rest of this work as speedily as posslble." Beneš wrote the letter and correcled it tbree times, as was a.scertained In the archlves, but lt was slgned by. Dr. Schleszl. On October 4, Beneš had lt mailed, but that very day requested lt returned to hlm, because, under pressure from the generals, he declded to reslgn the Presldency of the Republic. But what dld Beneš have io propose about a Slovak parliament? Only thls: " It ls agreed that future acts of admlnistratlve reforms, if it shall be based on the county system, shall preserve the unlty �SLOVAKIA 37 of SloV'aJtia as a !and and that a union of the counties be reallzed withln the fmmework of the territorial parliament of Slovakia." True, thls proposition could not be seriously considered, because Beneš resigned his office and fled the country. The Pra~e ParHament fLnally voted the autonomy of Slovakia wit hout Beneš on 0 ctober 6, 1938. In December the first Slovak parliament•ary eJections were held, and In January, 1939, sixty-three deputies were seated in the flrst legislative ,assembly of Slovakia. Dr. Martin Sokol became t he first president of the Slovak Parliament. The dream of Slovak ,generatlons was at long last realized. The Slovak ParJiament, just as every ,human work, had lts shortcomings. But we must judge every mlstake in the light of the times in which it happened. The Slovak Legislature began to function in extraordinarily difficult tlmes, when the worud situation was extraordinarily tense and confusion reigned In Slov·a kia. Almost simultaneously with the Parliament, Slovak rule passed !nto the hands of the Slovak Government in 0ctober, 1938. State executive and leglslative power in Slovakia passed into Slovak hands. But the Ozechs were not satisfied wit h this status of affairs. It was difficult for th em to suffer the thought that the Slovaks would now decide about Slovak matters w-ithout Prague. They began to hinder development. 'I'he.y especially wanted to prove that their progno.stiootions about the Czeťhs ha-ving to pay for the Slovaks were true. The financial policy pursued was suoh that it forebo<le the prediction of Kramár, that 1s, that if the Slovaks gained autonomy, they wouid not be aJble to pay their state employees even three months. They refused to give money for Slovak !mports from the common fund, even though t he Slovaks contributed to it, because now, they said, Slovakia is no longer a money--creating part of the ·state. Events were climaxed wHh a new occupation of Slovakia and the unseatlng of fäe first Slovak Government in Marcl:t, 1939. When this happened, the recently executed Vladlmir Clementis, in London at that tilne, wrote: " . . . The unseatlng of Tlso's Government by Prague (better said: by Hácha, Beran and Chvalkovský - at the direction of Berlin) was negoti'ated polit!cally In a very bung,Jed manner, nay in a si-niiully awkward manner" ( Hnev Svätý, London, 1944, pg. 21). The result of this lntervention was tha.t Slovakia tore herself compl etely from the Czech lands, and the Parliament of Slove.kla by unan!mous vote, proclaimed the lndependence of the Slovak State on Maroh 14, 1939. Thus, Štúr',s wish of 1850 was realized in 1939. ,Shortly after the Parliament and government of autonomous Slovak!a oame into being, the enti-re apparatus of government legislat!ve and executive power - oame lnto Slovak hands. And just aibout that time we w!tnes.sed an interesting phenomenon. From 1940, after the events of the so-calle d '\Salzburg In,tervention," we noted a e hange in the relatlons between the Parllament Md the Government - which caused a serious tension and often threatened to explo<le lnto a sharp public conWct and wreck the whole structure of the State. Vojtech Tuka wanted to remodel Slovakia completely after the German model ; he was for NaUonal Soc!alism. 0f course, he ex- �38 SLOVAKIA pected to become the flrst cltlzen of the remodeled State. Tuka and bis followers began to lntrigue agalnst the Parllament, and the stM1ggle cllmaxed with Tuka's demand that Parliament vote Tuka fulJ authority, and that even In Constltut1onal mattera. In a word, Tuka wa.nted dlctatorlal powers. Accordlng to Tuka, the PaTllament was supposed to be only a representative body, whlch he would convoke once a year to hear some proclamatlon of hfs and then would solemnly and unanlmously approve everythlng he proposed. Tuka wanted a "rubber stamp" parllament whlch would say "so be lt" to everyth!ng he recommended, then go home and ref.raln from meddllng In the politlcs of the State. Charles Mmgaš, Chlef of Propaganda, speaklng In the name of the "leadershlp," deolared that only one or two persons of the "lea.dership" would be -a.ble to play polltics and, of course, he reckoned tha.t •he would be one of them. Accordlng to these promoters of Natlonal Soclallsm, lt w,as necessary to Temove two personalltlee from government: Dr. J oseph Tlso and Dr. Martin Sokol. President Tlso delegated Dr. Sokol to dellbemt e about these questlons. To the great surprlse of Dr. Tuka hlmself, Dr. Sokol declared that he fully agreed wlth Tuka's proposal that the Natlonal-Soclallstlc system should prevall in Slovakla. .And now, sald Dr. Sokol, slnce th1ngs are done In thls manner In the Reich - and here Sokol enumerated how varlous matters were transacted in Germany - we &hall do likewlse in Slovakla. In the fkst place, of course, cont:lnued Dr. Sokol, we know that In the Relch aJl State power rests In the hands of the head of the State - and that head 1s the Presldent. Dr. Tuka, lmmedlately realizlng that he was dlsarmed and In a bllnd alley, revoked hls proposal for a Natlonal Socla\lst!c Slevakla. He was fully 11.ware that under the ciTcumstances lt could happen that he would drop out of government completely, lf h1s proposal was adopted. But peace dld not ensue between Tuka, Mach and the ParHament. The deputles, who once sat in the Prague Parll,ament, often declared that the Prague Parllament could never have allowed such Independent action against the Government as the Bratislava Parl!amen.t dld durlng its mhole exlstence. lit often hapl)ened that the Government sent to Parllament a draft of a 1Mv for consideratlon and pas&age. When Parllament was thro~h with lt, the law approved was In most cases not based on the orlglnal dra~t. but was the opposJ te In lts effec,ts from what Tuka and Mach had lntended lt to be. There was no opposltlon ,to speak of In Parllament, but there was plenty of lt ag,alnst the Government. Thls had not onJy lts good, but bad polnts as well. Undoubtedly, lf -tlmes were normal, Tuka's government never would have held together. Tuka and Mach, who represented one tendency In the Government, had practlcally no support In Parllament. Later on, however, even the other mlnlsters could not have galned t-he majority, because, just as 'Iluka and Mach were reproached for belng too radlcal and subordlnated to the Germans. they, on the other hand, were reproached for belng too colorless. Aga.In it 1s true, that we could talk about the polltlcs or Dr. Tuka and Mach, but hardly that of Dr. Pruf.!nský, Frltz, St-a.no and Medrlcký. The latter were completely lnfluenced by "Czechoslovak" c lrcles. �SLOVAKIA 39 -Relatlons between the Government were not ldyllic. Tuka's !lret attempt to dlssolve Parllament ended lnglorlousJy. But he and hli! foJlowers dld not glve up easlly. When Tuka categorlcally demanded that he wanted a new Government formed, whlch would include only M-ach and Catioš !rom the exlstlng Government, he agaln wae de!eated. Tuka then demanded the Presldent to appoint Ciiarles Murga§ as Minister of Educatlon, John Farka§ as Finance Minister, and a new man to head the Minlstry of Justice. Tlso, however, remalned adamant; he repudlated Tuka's demands. Tlso inslsted en keeplng the iBame Government he had a!ter the Sal11Jburg events of July, 1940. After many rebuffs and bitter dlsappolntments, Tuka's spľrlt and energy began to wane. He was an old, slck man, obsessed with the thought that he should have been the !lrst man in the !and, because he had, he thought, suffered for the cause more than any one el.se. Hls aggre.sslveness gone, Tuk.a In later years was a minister in name only; he was seldom seen in hls offlce and was not In a posltion to make decislons. There was no change In government personnel until after Catloš's !llght to the putschJsts at the end of August, 1944. Catloš wa.s replaced by Stephen Haäšik; Tuka by Dr. Stephen Tlso, who also took over Frltz's post (Justlce and Forelgn Affalrs); Stano was replaced by Ing. Lednár, and .Sivák by Dr. Aladar Kočiš. Some people dld not flnd it difflcult to crltlclze the actlvlty of lndlvidual mlnlsters. When converslng wlth such bitter crltlcs, I cften asked the questlon: And what would you have done under the same clrcumstances? After a momenťs thought, the crltlcs usually an,swered that they probably would have done the same thlng, because there w-as a war on, German pressure dld exist, the sltuatlon was extraordlnary and, hence, strongly lntluenced everythlng the Government dld. Nevertheless, it remalns lnd1sputably true that as long as the Slovak Parllament and the Slovak Government ruled In Slovakia, the llvlng Standard of the Slovak people was hlgher than that of -a.ny nelghborlng country. Let people say w.hat they wlll about Sivák, the !act remalus that wblle he was Minister of Educatlon, more secondary schools arose tban ever before, more Slovak professors were appolnted to the unlversltles, and at least three tlmes as many students studled during the war than before or after ft. W e may crlt!clze T uka's act!ons, but the fact remalns that he did not seek reprlsals agalnst the false wltnesses, brlbed by Prague as -the Prague archlves dlsolosed, who helped to convlot bim to 15 years In prlson durlng the flrst CzechoSlovak Republlc. During the admlnlstratlon of Jullus Stano, more rallroad tracks, roads and buildings were bullt than ever before. The fact remalns that whlle Frltz was Minister of Justlce, and even after he was replaced, there was not a slngle offlclal executlon in Slovakia. Wben Medrický was in charge of Slovak economy, there was no ratlonlng of food and clothJng. And when Pružlnský was Mlnlster of Flnance, deposlts soared t o unbeard of belghts and the Slovak Koruna (Crown), one of the most prized means of exchange In the wbole of Europe, enjoyed the legend or the Tatra dollar. EvEm Catloš hlmself pursued a po llcy wbereby Slovakla contrlbuted as llttle as posslble to the tax of blood. �40 SLOVAKIA Alexander Mach mlght be blamed for almost anythlng and everytblng, but perhap.s no one man stood up so fearlessly against the German propaganda concerning the Germanlsm of the Habans, agalnst 1,he founcllng of German schools for Czecbs who s uddenly discovered tbat tbey had some German blood coursing In tbeir velns. And lt remains a fact that tbe Communlsts, even though their Party wias outlawed, suffered less in &Jovakla than elsewhere. It may sound strange, but it is true nevertheless, that Mach - thls most Germanophile Minister of the Interior - used to sit at a whlte table with Communist inte11ectuals, converse with them, ententain them, and, above all else, protect them. During the existence of the Slovak State, neither the Presldent nor the Mlnisters of State had to fear going among the people without a retinue of armed guards. The President never wanted a motorlzed police escort, in fact, could not even use one going to the altar, the pulpit, the baptlsmal font, or into the confesslonal. President Tiso was truly loved and esteemed by all the people of Slovakia. If his politicaJ enemies b e excepted, and tbey were only few in number, tben we must say t hat even they respected him. What a difference between Tiso and Beneš ! T,iso needed no protection wben he went out among tbe people, but Beneš and bis Communis.t-dominated regime had to have an army around tbem when they entered Slovakia after tbe war. About the Slovak Parllament we migbt say what the followers of Gbandi were wont to say: "Even the worst Indian Government 1s better for I ndia than the best Engllsh Government, because tbe English Government bas no business in India." Similarly, the Slovaks can express tbemselves about every Czech government. The past has shown definitely that a Czecho-Slovak government is in reality always a Czech government, regardless of whether it follows a rightls.t or Communist tendency. A Czec h-Slovak parliament always was and always will be a Czech parJ.iament, even lf lt contains several Slovak members. A nation whlcb bas matured does not want to be regulated or directed by laws t hat are promulgated by an alien parliament and then enforced by an alien government. That is so especially witb a nation wbicb has had lts own parliament and its own government. The Slovak nation had its own parliament and its own government from 1938- 1945, And tbe Slovaks stm wanted to rule themselves, thelr Slovak Republlc, after the war ended in 1945, but thelr will ,v,as violated, They were violently forced back into the political state which had explolted them for thirty years. Slovak ministers, as peopl e, could have a nd undoubtedly did have their faults, but one tbing cannot be denied tbem, the one lndlsputal>Je fact tbat tbey worked for the welfare of the entire Slovak nation as best they could under given circumstances, and the Slovak people never fared better under any otber government - before or slnce that time. In a word, tbe Slovak ministers governed well. Not one of tbem became wealthy through polltlcs; and they lived more modestily, more democratically than the present rulers of Slovakia, they cost the people less than tbe present commissloners. Tbe .same can be sald for the parUament. Tbe work of tbe Slovak Parliament undoubtedly had lts shortcomlngs. Circumstances and �SLOVAKIA events often tled the hands of the deputies, but we need not fear the criticism whlch history shall r&eord about the Slovak Parliament. After the war many deputies were tortured and some were k!lled. Most of them recelved an average of ten years in prison. It is good always to remember this, when some Czech In the world says that the Slovaks never had it so good as they had it under the Czechs before 1939 or after 1945. The fact remains that the Czechs in Prague oppressed and exploited the Slovaks before 1939 and, af,ter 1945 avenged -themselves by murdering Dr. Tiso and others, jaillng, persecuting and dispossessing thousands of others, and exlling tens of thousands of Slovaks to Siberla and other regions of the Soviet Union and its satellites. The Slovaks at home and everywhere in exile know tha.t they dld not sell out the Czech people to Moscow, but that Dr. Edward Beneš and hls followers sold out not only the Slovak nation, but the Czech peoI11e as we11, to the tyranny of ,t he hammer and sickJe. • • • WHO SAID IT? BENEŠ IN RETROSPECT: - "In an interview published In a London Sunday paper, REYNOLDS NEWS, on February 20, Presldent Beneš of Czechoslovakia, emphatically declared that he does not fear Russla's return to imperlalism under the pretext of a so-called Al!• Slav policy. The alliance and harmonious collaboratlon of the USSR, Poland, and Czechoslovakia would deter Germany from provoking another world war. Such an agreement may, therefore, have a far• reaching slgnificance for the future peace of Europe as a whole. To the question as to whether the pact will not make Czechoslovakia too dependent on the Soviet Union, President Beneš r eplied that the pact represents the fundamental strengthening of Czechoslovakia's security a nd consolidates her independence. Friendshlp wlth Soviet Russla means a mutual collaboration. The Czechoslovakian people, as the most mature people politically in Europe, would never accept vassalage under any nation." - (News Flashes From Czechoslovakia, Chicago, Ill., March 20, 1944). • • • DR. HUBERT RIPKA:-'IMany siliy rumors and guesses ,have arlsen concerning a quarrel with the Soviet Union about Carpathian-Russia. Many conJectures have been made about our Governmental delegate, NE!mec. T hese are all nonsensical speculations ! The Soviet and Czechoslovak Governments are firmly resolved to proceed in all matters, now and in the future, strlctly accordlng to the Treaty. Governmental dele• gate NE!mec, wlth hls political advisors and the representatlves of the Slovak Natlonal Council, ls already in llberated eastern Slovakia and in a few days wlll start worklng in Košice, to organize a new free Ufe in llberated parts of Slovakla, accordlng to the government on relatlons between the Government delegate and the Slovak Natlonal Councll. President Beneš wlll also come soon to the llberated country, where, under hls leadershlp, a new Government authority wlll be created, based on the wlll of the llberated peoples. Be calm and falth· ful. Liberatlon 1s in slght." - (London Broadcast, January 29, 1945). � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 1952, Vol. 2 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 1952 Description An account of the resource <ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 3), March 1952.</li> <li>Issue 2 (No. 4), August 1952.</li> <li>Issue 3 (No. 5), December 1952.</li> </ul> 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 33 THE SWVAK ASSEMBLY AND GOVERNMENT ľt !s very interesting to follow the developement of the Slovak national idea trom the oldest limes to the pre.sent. As one of the oldest expressions of Slovak nationalism, made in wr~ting, we must regard the foreword to the Catholic hymnal "Canthus Cathollci," pubJished in 1655, in whlch the author, the learned Jesuit Szôlôsi, with words of wonderment and love, calls the aittention of his readers to the first Slovak State, to Svätopluk and to Saints Cyril and Methodius. And since Szôlôsi's time, Slovak patriots have frequenrtly returned to this theme: Magin in 1728; George Papánek in 1780, in his history of Slovak ľtllers; George Sklenár In 1784, In his history of Great Moravia; in the "S'taré Noviny" (Old Newl',) in 1786. The period 1787-1792 is climaxed with the publlcation of the firs,t Slovak Grammar, the organization of the "Learned Guild" (Učené tovarišstvo), and the publication of Fándly's book, in which the author speaks warmly to the Slovaks and calls their a,ttention to the flrst Slov,ak State. In 1793 Fándly again publishes the history of Great Moravia, and in 1833 John Hollý publishes his famed epic "Svätopluk." This perlod, lasting over 130 years, is marked in learned books wlth a constant return to the theme of ťhe first Slovak State. At the end of this epoch, three years after Hollý's "Svätopluk" was published, on the Devin ramparts the young friends of Louis Štúr spoke from the rulns of Svä,topluk's stronghold, repeating everything that had t o that time appeared only in books. This is the •border line. With the book of a young follower of Štúr, Benjamiu Pravoslav Červenák, titled "Zrcadlo Slovenska" (Mirror of Slovakla), which Hurban publlshed in 1844, ends ,this epoch of returning to the past without a single chapter about what we want in the present and the future. We could s.ay, then, that Slovak patriots kept the flames of their nationalism burning for 150 years by returning to the past. However, they did not state clearly just how they pictured Slovak life of the future. In 1845, when Štúr began pu,biishing the first Slovak polltlcal newspaper, a change was gradually taking place in the thinking of the people. Slovaks began to talk about what should be done to preserve the Slovak nation, to increase 1-ts spiritual and material welf,are. They talked about concrete Slovak demands. In 1842, Dr. Paul Jozeffy placed a petition before the emperor, requesting that t he Slovak lan.guage be .the medium of teachlng !n Slovakla, of preaching in tbe cburches, and that cJrnrch records (vltal staitlstlcs) be kept in Slovak. Jozeffy's demands concerned only the linguistic questlon. But in 1848, the Slovaks went much farther. They proclaimed themselves independent from the Magyars. Mil'hael Milan Hodža, Loufs Štúr and Joseph Miloslav Hurban proclalmed the first Slovak Government, the Slovak National Council as the "supreme Slovak authorlty issulng out of the bosom of the natlon." That same year, In the historic demands known as the Nitra and Liptovský Svätý Mikuláš rlemands, the Slovaks pleaded ardently tor ~utonomy of the Slovak terrltory, whose laws would be passed by a Slovak parllament. 34 SLOVAKIA . Furthermor e, they demanded: Slovak schools, Slovak cour ts, Slovak as the offlclal language In SlovakJa, and teachlng In Slovak a t the Unlverslty. In every Slovak demand, trom May 10, 1848, and In every Slovak program the demand for a S lovak Parllament w,as predomlnan t. It had deep roots. To Brezová and Liptovský Svätý M.lkulä§ not even a hundred people came to the rally In 1848 to demand a Slovak parllament . In 1861, about 6000 Slovaks oam e together to demand a Natlonal Assembly for SlovakJa. The Plttsburgh manifesta:t lon of May 30, 1918, w as attend ed by some 30,000 people. But In 1938, on P ent.ecost Day (June 6th ), about 120,000 Slovaks gathered In Bratislava at a hlstorlc rally to commemor ate lhe twentleth annlversary of th e Plttsbugh P act . It was he re that lhe Slovak natlon saw the hlstorlc document whlch was proposed ,and slgned by T. G. Masazyk In 1918. The Plttsburgh Pact, whlch In fact guaranteed autonomy t o the Slovaks, was brought to Slovakla by a delega tlon of lhe Slovak League of Amerlca. T hese m anlfestation s show just how the concept of self-admlnistratlon in Slovakia grew In depth In the wlde masses of the naitlon. In 1848 lt wa.<i supported by a small group of Slovak hrtellectual s, but In 1938, in Bratislava, pract!cally the entlre Slovak natlon was back of it. In a contldenlla l report (T. 1370/33) to Pres.Ident M,asaryk , Dr. Schnleszl wrote: "Today a ll of S lovakla 1, for autonomy. Several pre.revolu. tlonary Slovak, are completely lnsignlflcan t for the splrltual life of the people. Moreover, if some were not bound by thelr paat, and other, by the ir public statu,, they, t oo, would be on the other • Ide o penly." The Slovak newspapen nan in Amerlca, Adalbert Tholt,Vel'koštlavnlcký, was not faml11ar w!th the correspondence of old Slovak leaders, and yet he evaluated the polltical demands of the Slovaks quite correctly. He stated that they were demands not only for a narrow autonomy, but lhat thelr content actually called for the Jndependence of Slovakia. It 1s interestlng t hat Tholt came to this concluslon even though he was not acqua!nted wlth the signlflcant quota. tion trom Šttlr's book "Slovanstv o a svet budtlcnostl " (Slavdom and the WOTld of lhe Future), which read: "So that we could occupy and take ove r the place whlch belong1 to u1 accordlng to our atrength a nd capabllltles , we must once and for a ll t lme f ree ourselvea from the unbearable y oke of foreignera a nd gain for ouraelvea state INDEPEND ENCE, bec auae a natlon that i• enslaved has ltl hand, t led and mu,t perlsh sooner or lat er." What crystal-clea x words! And Šttlr said them openly and fearlessly after the sad experlence s of 1848-49. Šttlr states clearly that the penalty awa!Ung the nat!on whlch wlll not flght for its state in dependence is death. After the natlonal rally of 1861, the flght at home in Slovakla weakened; there was not a slngle publ!c expression or demand voted on manlfestati onally which could compare to the demands of 1848 and 1861: In whlch .a demand was volced for a Slovak governmen t, or a Slovak parl!ament. In Slovakla a bard flght was fou ght t o preserve SLOVAKIA 86 S lovak schools. But the flght for the inherent rlghts of the Slovak natlon was carrled over lnto America. The questlon was taken up by the Slovak press and became the subject of several hundred public manlfestatlons. Flnally lt matured wlth the "Memorandum of ťhe Slovak League," whlch to a certaln extent repeated the demands voiced In 1848 and 1861: autonomy for Slovakla, a separate Slovak Assembly or Dlet, Slovaklzatlon of the schools, Slovak courts, and the use of Slovak In public llfe. After thls foll<JW the agreements wlth representatives of the Czech natlon. The Cleveland ~reement, In 1915, In wlllch the Czechs agree to a federatlve form of the hopeful Czecho-Slovak Republlc, and then the memorable Plttsburgh Pact of May 30, 1918, in whlch again ls renewed the promlse that the Slovaks shall have thelr own Slov,ak admlnlstration, thelr own Slovak schools and courts, and, above all else, thelr own Slovak parliament or state leglslature. Even though Thomas Garrigue Masaryk underslgned thls agreement on May 30, 1918, and then agaln on the second day following bis electlon as Presldent of Czecho-Slovakia, he later dlsavowed it, declarlng it a falsehood and a mere scrap of paper. That ls how the Czechs kept thelr promlses. If we call the perlod from 1655 to 1845 as the perlod which turned to the past, then we can call 1:he perlod from 1845 to to 1918 a.s the perlod present!ng the program of the !uture. And thls 1s followed by a perlod of actlve fightlng for the recognltlon of prom!ses and agreements. A short artlcle does not allow us to take up in mlnute de• tal! every parliamentary expresslon, every motlon or proposal for autonomy, every public manlfestatlon; and every remlnder that promlses made durlng the war be kept and fulfilled. It remalns a sad reality, but the hlstorlcal truth nevertheless, that the Czechs dld not live up to thelr promlses any more after 1918, than they d1d after 1945. Tlle fate of every agreement wlth the Czechs was the same: ,all agreements wlth the Slova.ks were repudiated by the Czechs. The Czechs were w11llng to make concesslons only when they needed the Slovaks; later, they repudlated every agreement. Practlcally all Czech.s were the same In thls regard: T. G. Masaryk, the so-called reallst and humanlst; Ediward Beneií, t he so-called "democrat and statesman," and Monslgnor John Šrámek, the Cathollc prlest; Czech agrarlans, democrats, soclallsts, communlsts and fasclsts; Czech Cathollcs, Lutherans, Jews, Ta:bor· ltes, Husaltes, members of the "Czechoslovak Natlonal Church," Unl• tarlans and Baptista: all repudiated the promlses made to Slova.ks, all repudlated the lnberent and God-glven rlght of the Slovak natlon to freedom and state lndependence. No llttle wonder, then, t,bat the SlovalG cry out today: Don't belleve the Czech.s - no more agreements wlth the Czechs! Joseph P~kar, the Czech hlstorlan repudlated by Masaryk and Beneli, declared In hls Ume that the Slovak demands were moderate. Was lt not a terrible tragedy that these moderate and rlghtful demands were not reallzed in the Czeoho Slovak Republic? For twenty long year-s the Slovaks fouglrt not only for thelr own parllament, but also for t.he Slovaklzat!on of tbelr schools, especlally for addttlonal hlgher lnstltutlons of loo.rnlng. Many of the demands of 1848 and 0 36 SLOVAKIA 1861 were still timely even ln 1938; and the demand for a Slovak parllament W&S the most imporllant. The Czechs, supported by Slovak Czechoslovaks (Slovaks ln the serVice of the Czechs: renegades), proclaimed that there was nothing more dangerous for the Slovaks than a Slovak parliament. V,avro Šro,b ár, one of the foremost "Czechoslovaks," wrote a letter to Americans of Slovak descent to "prove" that point. Of course, to do so he had to give incorrect or falsified statistios; ln fact, he outdid the Magyars in -that respect. šrobár used the false figures, 1 epresenting the various nationa.lities of the populatlon of Slovakia, to show that in a Slovak parliament the Slovaks themselves would be a minority, which the non-Slovak population - the Magyars, Jews and Germans - could outvote at any Ume. But he was not very convincing. During varlous negotiations wlth a P.r-ague Government, the Czech ministers promised: We shall glve you everything, but not a Slovak parliament. And -the Slovaks answered adamantly: We want nothing except a Slovak parliament, because with it we shall rea.lize al! the rest of our demands. Czech policy was incredibly short-sighted. Czech politicians and ministers would debate day.s on end In the Ministerlal Council to send Czech maLl-carriers and janitors to Slovakia to "help out" the Slovaks. .ánd they usually did even agalnst the will of the Slovak pul)lic and its representatlves In Government. Thls only convinced the Slovaks all ťhe more thai w:ithout thelr own State Legislature or Parliament, they would actually be only a subordinate colony of the Czech nation. Tbe more Prague opposed the Idea of a Slovak parliamen t, however, the more the Slovaks demanded lt. Th·a t was the situa:tlon up to October 6, 1938. Czech diplomacy and democracy created such a situation that the Czecho-Slovak Repul)ll<: collapsed wlth the first blow. Not a single shot was fired in its defense. In the annals of hlstory there is probably not a single case where a political state disappeared with less ado about it. In the fall of 1938 lt was c.Jear even to those In power in Prague that the Slovak demands of 1915-1918 must be fulfilled. Even Beneš bimself - who told the delegation of the Slovak League of Amerlca In 1938 that be was in principle agalnst t he Pittsburgh Pact only because of the one word "parllament" - began to see the llght. On October 4, 1938, that very same Beneš wrote a letter to Dr. Joseph Tiso - a letter overflowing wlth reverence and k!ndly feellng - in which we flnd: "The question of a parllament, designated by Mr. President in principle and onJy in the maln outlines and In proposltlons, requlres precise defln!tion and preclse legal formulatlon. The new Government, in agreement wlth the Slovaks, shall have to conclude the rest of this work as speedily as posslble." Beneš wrote the letter and correcled it tbree times, as was a.scertained In the archlves, but lt was slgned by. Dr. Schleszl. On October 4, Beneš had lt mailed, but that very day requested lt returned to hlm, because, under pressure from the generals, he declded to reslgn the Presldency of the Republic. But what dld Beneš have io propose about a Slovak parliament? Only thls: " It ls agreed that future acts of admlnistratlve reforms, if it shall be based on the county system, shall preserve the unlty SLOVAKIA 37 of SloV'aJtia as a !and and that a union of the counties be reallzed withln the fmmework of the territorial parliament of Slovakia." True, thls proposition could not be seriously considered, because Beneš resigned his office and fled the country. The Pra~e ParHament fLnally voted the autonomy of Slovakia wit hout Beneš on 0 ctober 6, 1938. In December the first Slovak parliament•ary eJections were held, and In January, 1939, sixty-three deputies were seated in the flrst legislative ,assembly of Slovakia. Dr. Martin Sokol became t he first president of the Slovak Parliament. The dream of Slovak ,generatlons was at long last realized. The Slovak ParJiament, just as every ,human work, had lts shortcomings. But we must judge every mlstake in the light of the times in which it happened. The Slovak Legislature began to function in extraordinarily difficult tlmes, when the worud situation was extraordinarily tense and confusion reigned In Slov·a kia. Almost simultaneously with the Parliament, Slovak rule passed !nto the hands of the Slovak Government in 0ctober, 1938. State executive and leglslative power in Slovakia passed into Slovak hands. But the Ozechs were not satisfied wit h this status of affairs. It was difficult for th em to suffer the thought that the Slovaks would now decide about Slovak matters w-ithout Prague. They began to hinder development. 'I'he.y especially wanted to prove that their progno.stiootions about the Czeťhs ha-ving to pay for the Slovaks were true. The financial policy pursued was suoh that it forebo<le the prediction of Kramár, that 1s, that if the Slovaks gained autonomy, they wouid not be aJble to pay their state employees even three months. They refused to give money for Slovak !mports from the common fund, even though t he Slovaks contributed to it, because now, they said, Slovakia is no longer a money--creating part of the ·state. Events were climaxed wHh a new occupation of Slovakia and the unseatlng of fäe first Slovak Government in Marcl:t, 1939. When this happened, the recently executed Vladlmir Clementis, in London at that tilne, wrote: " . . . The unseatlng of Tlso's Government by Prague (better said: by Hácha, Beran and Chvalkovský - at the direction of Berlin) was negoti'ated polit!cally In a very bung,Jed manner, nay in a si-niiully awkward manner" ( Hnev Svätý, London, 1944, pg. 21). The result of this lntervention was tha.t Slovakia tore herself compl etely from the Czech lands, and the Parliament of Slove.kla by unan!mous vote, proclaimed the lndependence of the Slovak State on Maroh 14, 1939. Thus, Štúr',s wish of 1850 was realized in 1939. ,Shortly after the Parliament and government of autonomous Slovak!a oame into being, the enti-re apparatus of government legislat!ve and executive power - oame lnto Slovak hands. And just aibout that time we w!tnes.sed an interesting phenomenon. From 1940, after the events of the so-calle d '\Salzburg In,tervention," we noted a e hange in the relatlons between the Parllament Md the Government - which caused a serious tension and often threatened to explo<le lnto a sharp public conWct and wreck the whole structure of the State. Vojtech Tuka wanted to remodel Slovakia completely after the German model ; he was for NaUonal Soc!alism. 0f course, he ex- 38 SLOVAKIA pected to become the flrst cltlzen of the remodeled State. Tuka and bis followers began to lntrigue agalnst the Parllament, and the stM1ggle cllmaxed with Tuka's demand that Parliament vote Tuka fulJ authority, and that even In Constltut1onal mattera. In a word, Tuka wa.nted dlctatorlal powers. Accordlng to Tuka, the PaTllament was supposed to be only a representative body, whlch he would convoke once a year to hear some proclamatlon of hfs and then would solemnly and unanlmously approve everythlng he proposed. Tuka wanted a "rubber stamp" parllament whlch would say "so be lt" to everyth!ng he recommended, then go home and ref.raln from meddllng In the politlcs of the State. Charles Mmgaš, Chlef of Propaganda, speaklng In the name of the "leadershlp," deolared that only one or two persons of the "lea.dership" would be -a.ble to play polltics and, of course, he reckoned tha.t •he would be one of them. Accordlng to these promoters of Natlonal Soclallsm, lt w,as necessary to Temove two personalltlee from government: Dr. J oseph Tlso and Dr. Martin Sokol. President Tlso delegated Dr. Sokol to dellbemt e about these questlons. To the great surprlse of Dr. Tuka hlmself, Dr. Sokol declared that he fully agreed wlth Tuka's proposal that the Natlonal-Soclallstlc system should prevall in Slovakla. .And now, sald Dr. Sokol, slnce th1ngs are done In thls manner In the Reich - and here Sokol enumerated how varlous matters were transacted in Germany - we &hall do likewlse in Slovakla. In the fkst place, of course, cont:lnued Dr. Sokol, we know that In the Relch aJl State power rests In the hands of the head of the State - and that head 1s the Presldent. Dr. Tuka, lmmedlately realizlng that he was dlsarmed and In a bllnd alley, revoked hls proposal for a Natlonal Socla\lst!c Slevakla. He was fully 11.ware that under the ciTcumstances lt could happen that he would drop out of government completely, lf h1s proposal was adopted. But peace dld not ensue between Tuka, Mach and the ParHament. The deputles, who once sat in the Prague Parll,ament, often declared that the Prague Parllament could never have allowed such Independent action against the Government as the Bratislava Parl!amen.t dld durlng its mhole exlstence. lit often hapl)ened that the Government sent to Parllament a draft of a 1Mv for consideratlon and pas&age. When Parllament was thro~h with lt, the law approved was In most cases not based on the orlglnal dra~t. but was the opposJ te In lts effec,ts from what Tuka and Mach had lntended lt to be. There was no opposltlon ,to speak of In Parllament, but there was plenty of lt ag,alnst the Government. Thls had not onJy lts good, but bad polnts as well. Undoubtedly, lf -tlmes were normal, Tuka's government never would have held together. Tuka and Mach, who represented one tendency In the Government, had practlcally no support In Parllament. Later on, however, even the other mlnlsters could not have galned t-he majority, because, just as 'Iluka and Mach were reproached for belng too radlcal and subordlnated to the Germans. they, on the other hand, were reproached for belng too colorless. Aga.In it 1s true, that we could talk about the polltlcs or Dr. Tuka and Mach, but hardly that of Dr. Pruf.!nský, Frltz, St-a.no and Medrlcký. The latter were completely lnfluenced by "Czechoslovak" c lrcles. SLOVAKIA 39 -Relatlons between the Government were not ldyllic. Tuka's !lret attempt to dlssolve Parllament ended lnglorlousJy. But he and hli! foJlowers dld not glve up easlly. When Tuka categorlcally demanded that he wanted a new Government formed, whlch would include only M-ach and Catioš !rom the exlstlng Government, he agaln wae de!eated. Tuka then demanded the Presldent to appoint Ciiarles Murga§ as Minister of Educatlon, John Farka§ as Finance Minister, and a new man to head the Minlstry of Justice. Tlso, however, remalned adamant; he repudlated Tuka's demands. Tlso inslsted en keeplng the iBame Government he had a!ter the Sal11Jburg events of July, 1940. After many rebuffs and bitter dlsappolntments, Tuka's spľrlt and energy began to wane. He was an old, slck man, obsessed with the thought that he should have been the !lrst man in the !and, because he had, he thought, suffered for the cause more than any one el.se. Hls aggre.sslveness gone, Tuk.a In later years was a minister in name only; he was seldom seen in hls offlce and was not In a posltion to make decislons. There was no change In government personnel until after Catloš's !llght to the putschJsts at the end of August, 1944. Catloš wa.s replaced by Stephen Haäšik; Tuka by Dr. Stephen Tlso, who also took over Frltz's post (Justlce and Forelgn Affalrs); Stano was replaced by Ing. Lednár, and .Sivák by Dr. Aladar Kočiš. Some people dld not flnd it difflcult to crltlclze the actlvlty of lndlvidual mlnlsters. When converslng wlth such bitter crltlcs, I cften asked the questlon: And what would you have done under the same clrcumstances? After a momenťs thought, the crltlcs usually an,swered that they probably would have done the same thlng, because there w-as a war on, German pressure dld exist, the sltuatlon was extraordlnary and, hence, strongly lntluenced everythlng the Government dld. Nevertheless, it remalns lnd1sputably true that as long as the Slovak Parllament and the Slovak Government ruled In Slovakia, the llvlng Standard of the Slovak people was hlgher than that of -a.ny nelghborlng country. Let people say w.hat they wlll about Sivák, the !act remalus that wblle he was Minister of Educatlon, more secondary schools arose tban ever before, more Slovak professors were appolnted to the unlversltles, and at least three tlmes as many students studled during the war than before or after ft. W e may crlt!clze T uka's act!ons, but the fact remalns that he did not seek reprlsals agalnst the false wltnesses, brlbed by Prague as -the Prague archlves dlsolosed, who helped to convlot bim to 15 years In prlson durlng the flrst CzechoSlovak Republlc. During the admlnlstratlon of Jullus Stano, more rallroad tracks, roads and buildings were bullt than ever before. The fact remalns that whlle Frltz was Minister of Justlce, and even after he was replaced, there was not a slngle offlclal executlon in Slovakia. Wben Medrický was in charge of Slovak economy, there was no ratlonlng of food and clothJng. And when Pružlnský was Mlnlster of Flnance, deposlts soared t o unbeard of belghts and the Slovak Koruna (Crown), one of the most prized means of exchange In the wbole of Europe, enjoyed the legend or the Tatra dollar. EvEm Catloš hlmself pursued a po llcy wbereby Slovakla contrlbuted as llttle as posslble to the tax of blood. 40 SLOVAKIA Alexander Mach mlght be blamed for almost anythlng and everytblng, but perhap.s no one man stood up so fearlessly against the German propaganda concerning the Germanlsm of the Habans, agalnst 1,he founcllng of German schools for Czecbs who s uddenly discovered tbat tbey had some German blood coursing In tbeir velns. And lt remains a fact that tbe Communlsts, even though their Party wias outlawed, suffered less in &Jovakla than elsewhere. It may sound strange, but it is true nevertheless, that Mach - thls most Germanophile Minister of the Interior - used to sit at a whlte table with Communist inte11ectuals, converse with them, ententain them, and, above all else, protect them. During the existence of the Slovak State, neither the Presldent nor the Mlnisters of State had to fear going among the people without a retinue of armed guards. The President never wanted a motorlzed police escort, in fact, could not even use one going to the altar, the pulpit, the baptlsmal font, or into the confesslonal. President Tiso was truly loved and esteemed by all the people of Slovakia. If his politicaJ enemies b e excepted, and tbey were only few in number, tben we must say t hat even they respected him. What a difference between Tiso and Beneš ! T,iso needed no protection wben he went out among tbe people, but Beneš and bis Communis.t-dominated regime had to have an army around tbem when they entered Slovakia after tbe war. About the Slovak Parllament we migbt say what the followers of Gbandi were wont to say: "Even the worst Indian Government 1s better for I ndia than the best Engllsh Government, because tbe English Government bas no business in India." Similarly, the Slovaks can express tbemselves about every Czech government. The past has shown definitely that a Czecho-Slovak government is in reality always a Czech government, regardless of whether it follows a rightls.t or Communist tendency. A Czec h-Slovak parliament always was and always will be a Czech parJ.iament, even lf lt contains several Slovak members. A nation whlcb bas matured does not want to be regulated or directed by laws t hat are promulgated by an alien parliament and then enforced by an alien government. That is so especially witb a nation wbicb has had lts own parliament and its own government. The Slovak nation had its own parliament and its own government from 1938- 1945, And tbe Slovaks stm wanted to rule themselves, thelr Slovak Republlc, after the war ended in 1945, but thelr will ,v,as violated, They were violently forced back into the political state which had explolted them for thirty years. Slovak ministers, as peopl e, could have a nd undoubtedly did have their faults, but one tbing cannot be denied tbem, the one lndlsputal>Je fact tbat tbey worked for the welfare of the entire Slovak nation as best they could under given circumstances, and the Slovak people never fared better under any otber government - before or slnce that time. In a word, tbe Slovak ministers governed well. Not one of tbem became wealthy through polltlcs; and they lived more modestily, more democratically than the present rulers of Slovakia, they cost the people less than tbe present commissloners. Tbe .same can be sald for the parUament. Tbe work of tbe Slovak Parliament undoubtedly had lts shortcomlngs. Circumstances and SLOVAKIA events often tled the hands of the deputies, but we need not fear the criticism whlch history shall r&eord about the Slovak Parliament. After the war many deputies were tortured and some were k!lled. Most of them recelved an average of ten years in prison. It is good always to remember this, when some Czech In the world says that the Slovaks never had it so good as they had it under the Czechs before 1939 or after 1945. The fact remains that the Czechs in Prague oppressed and exploited the Slovaks before 1939 and, af,ter 1945 avenged -themselves by murdering Dr. Tiso and others, jaillng, persecuting and dispossessing thousands of others, and exlling tens of thousands of Slovaks to Siberla and other regions of the Soviet Union and its satellites. The Slovaks at home and everywhere in exile know tha.t they dld not sell out the Czech people to Moscow, but that Dr. Edward Beneš and hls followers sold out not only the Slovak nation, but the Czech peoI11e as we11, to the tyranny of ,t he hammer and sickJe. • • • WHO SAID IT? BENEŠ IN RETROSPECT: - "In an interview published In a London Sunday paper, REYNOLDS NEWS, on February 20, Presldent Beneš of Czechoslovakia, emphatically declared that he does not fear Russla's return to imperlalism under the pretext of a so-called Al!• Slav policy. The alliance and harmonious collaboratlon of the USSR, Poland, and Czechoslovakia would deter Germany from provoking another world war. Such an agreement may, therefore, have a far• reaching slgnificance for the future peace of Europe as a whole. To the question as to whether the pact will not make Czechoslovakia too dependent on the Soviet Union, President Beneš r eplied that the pact represents the fundamental strengthening of Czechoslovakia's security a nd consolidates her independence. Friendshlp wlth Soviet Russla means a mutual collaboration. The Czechoslovakian people, as the most mature people politically in Europe, would never accept vassalage under any nation." - (News Flashes From Czechoslovakia, Chicago, Ill., March 20, 1944). • • • DR. HUBERT RIPKA:-'IMany siliy rumors and guesses ,have arlsen concerning a quarrel with the Soviet Union about Carpathian-Russia. Many conJectures have been made about our Governmental delegate, NE!mec. T hese are all nonsensical speculations ! The Soviet and Czechoslovak Governments are firmly resolved to proceed in all matters, now and in the future, strlctly accordlng to the Treaty. Governmental dele• gate NE!mec, wlth hls political advisors and the representatlves of the Slovak Natlonal Council, ls already in llberated eastern Slovakia and in a few days wlll start worklng in Košice, to organize a new free Ufe in llberated parts of Slovakla, accordlng to the government on relatlons between the Government delegate and the Slovak Natlonal Councll. President Beneš wlll also come soon to the llberated country, where, under hls leadershlp, a new Government authority wlll be created, based on the wlll of the llberated peoples. Be calm and falth· ful. Liberatlon 1s in slght." - (London Broadcast, January 29, 1945).  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Slovak Assembly and Government Description An account of the resource Slovakia, Vol. 2, No. 3 (5), December 1952 pp. 33-41 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource December 1952 https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/9f038add5ee50b9c7b79791e9bdbd49f.pdf e2c22e9efca9f94f65f2f20df6142e0a PDF Text Text 92 SLOVAKIA The Slovak Benedictines Review 50 Years in Cleveland, Ohio (1922-1972) By Joseph Pa u co, Ph.D. Cleveland has been the home of the Slovak Benedictines, who came to the city from St. Procopius Abbey, Lisle, Illinois, with the blessing of Abbot Valentine Kohlbeck, O.S.B. and his community at the invitation of Bishop Joseph Schrembs, D. D., for a full half century. The official day of their coming is February 2, 1922, when Father Stanislaus Gmuca, O.S.B. offered up the first Mass at St. Andrew's parish church at East 51st Street and Superior Avenue. The Slovak parish had been relinquished to the monks of St. Benedict earlier by Father John Liscinsky at the request of Bishop Schrembs. Father Stanislaus was named prior of the newly-established dependent priory soon afterwards by his Abbot. Father Matthew Jankola was instrumental in sending several Slovak young men to the Czech abbey of Saint Procopius in Lisle, Ill. in 1903. His hope that at least some of them would become Benedictines was realized when John Vaniscak was given the name 'Gregory' upon entering the Order of St. Benedict. Father Gregory was destined to become the founder of the Slovak Benedictine monastery in Cleveland, Ohio. Rev. Clement Hrtanek, president of the Slovak Catholic Federation of America, and Rev. Stefan Kocis, the secretary, encouraged Father Vaniscak to establish a Slovak Benedictine foundation. This became a reality in the fall of 1921 when Bishop Schrembs, D. D., a graduate of St. Vincent's College and Abbey Seminary in Latrobe, Pa., extended a formal invitation to the Slovak Benedictines to come to Cleveland. Bishop Schrembs, a friend and benefactor of the Slovaks, could always be counted on to appear at their important functions. Moreover, his greetings, invariably �SLOVAKIA 93 in their native language, were greatly appreciated by Slovak audiences and congregations throughout the country. Father Gregory Vaniscak, O.S.B., who had been appointed pastor of St. Michael's Slovak parish in Chicago soon after his ordination in the early summer of 1914, remained as pastor of the large parish until the fall of 1929 when the St. Andrew Svorad dependent priory received independent status from the Holy See. The pioneer community immediately elected him as canonical prior. Father Gregory established his headquarters at the new site at 10510 Buckeye Road. The property was acquired from the Notre Dame Sisters at a cost of $125,000. The entire sum for the 15-acre tract and old building was furnished by the Slovak Educational Foundation headed by Michael Bosak, Sr., outstanding Slovak banker in Scranton, Pa. Meanwhile, in the summer of 1927 Father George Luba, O.S .B. was sent by Abbot Kohlbeck to organize a high school for boys at the priory of St. Andrew's . The versatile young priest as first principal welcomed a total of 27 boys on the opening day of Benedictine High School on September 8, 1927. Two years later when the new property was purchased the school was transfered to the East Side. The old but tenable 4-story structure at 10510 Buckeye Road was divided equally between the priory and the school; the third and fourth floors for the residence of the Religious members while the first and second floors were used for classrooms. During the early summer of 1934 the priory was elevated to abbey status and Father Stanislaus Gmuca was elected as the first abbot of St. Andrew Svorad Benedictine Abbey on August 8, 1934. The blessing of the new Abbot on October 2, 1934, was attended by a dozen abbots and five bishops, several hundred clergy and more than two thousand laity at St. John's Cathedral. As pastor and prior of the dependent priory of St. Andrew's, Father Stanislaus built the unique Spanish-style new Church in 1926. In 1940 as Abbot of St. Andrew's Abbey he directed the construction of the new Benedictine High School building at 2900 East Boulevard. This forward step was destiped to increase the school enrollment from 150 to more than 1,200 in six years. Abbot Theodore Kojis, 0. S. B., who succeeded Abbot �94 SLOVAKIA Gmuca in 1946, completed the north and south wings of the high school, added a machine shop, aeronautical depart-ment, science building, a new cafeteria, auditorium and modem gymnasium, and supervised the building of the new Abbey building during the tenure of twenty years in office. In 1953, the year after the new Abbey was completed, Father Leo Rehak, O.S.B., pastor of St. Benedict's abbey church, saw Archbishop Edward Hoban, D. D. dedicate the beautiful new edifice. One of the highlights of Abbot Kojis' administration was the grant of $50,000 in 1960 to establish a Slovak religious and cultural center in Rome. This donation by the Slovak Benedictine community in Cleveland spurred a nationwide campaign that netted more than a half million dollars (mostly donated by American Slovaks) for the project known as the Slovak SS. Cyril and Methodius Institute which sponsors a seminary, publishes religious books and acts as a center for Slovak tourists from all over the world. Abbot Jerome Koval, O.S.B., successor to Abbot Kojis in the spring of 1966, has guided the Abbey in the spirit of the founder and his pioneer community along the guidelines of the spiritual renewal of Vatican II. Abbot Koval is a member of many Slovak and non-Slovak Catholic organizations and is always in great demand as a homilist and after-dinner speaker everywhere. The abbey, in addition to administering Benedictine High School in which the majority of the faculty members are Religious, also furnishes pastoral aid on weekends the year round to many parishes in the diocese. Outside the diocese of Cleveland, the Abbey Fathers have charge of parishes in Illinois, Wisconsin and Michigan. One of the members has been an army chaplain for ten years and three priest have assignments as chaplains at various institutions and one priest is a seminary professor. Both Abbot Stanislaus and Abbot Theodore are still active doing parish work regularly. The Ave Maria monthly religious publication in the Slovak language has been edited by the Slovak Benedictines for more than forty-two years. Editors in the past were: Father Gregory Vaniscak, Father Paschal Kavulic and Father George Luba, O.S.B. The present editors are Father �SLOVAKIA 95 Andrew Pier, O.S.B. and Dr. Karol Strmen. Brother Alfred Nasticky, O.S.B. is the business manager. Subscribers are listed from all over the world. The only countries which will not admit the magazine are communist-ruled countries, including Slovakia. Precisely twenty years ago this summer the Slovak Institute was founded at the Abbey by Abbot Theodore Kojis, O.S.B . Charter members were: Dr. Francis Hrusovsky, Rev. Mikulas Sprinc, Dr. Karol Strmen, Dr. Joseph Cincik, and Rev. Andrew Pier, O.S.B. The ruling abbot of St. Andrew's Abbey is ex officio the president, and he appoints the director. Dr. Francis Hrusovsky was the first director until his death on September 9, 1956. Konstantin Culen served for two full years as his successor and Rev. Andrew Pier O.S.B. has been director since 1958. The Slovak Institute library contains several thousand volumes on Slovak literature, history, etc. The Most, cultural quarterly edited the past eighteen years by Father Mikulas Sprinc, is a Slovak Institute publication. Cleveland's "Slovenske Noviny-Slovak News" (19491959) spanned a decade under the sponsorship of St. Andrew's Abbey and various Slovak organizations in the city. The Slovak weekly (3 pages in Slovak and 1 page in English) finally ceased publication because of lack of funds despite the fact that the Abbey had furnished both the office and the editorial staff for the entire ten years. The editors were: Dr. Francis Hrusovsky, 1949-1952, Dr. Karol Strmen, 1952-1959 for the Slovak section and Rev. Bernard Slimak, O.S.B. (1949 ) and Rev. Andrew Pier, O.S.B. (19491959) for the English section. At one time several Fathers conducted Slovak Missions in various parts of the country. Novenas and Forty Hour devotions, as well as Triduums and pilgrimages were on their schedule. The following priests shared this apostolate: Father George Luba, Wendelin Kravec, Paschal Kavulic, Theodore Kojis, Benedict Dobrancin, Sylvester Prise, Francis Durkac, Jerome Koval, Florian Hudac and Matthew Bonk, O.S.B . Among distinguished guests at the Abbey through the years were the following: The Matica Slovenska (Slovak Institute) delegation from Turciansky Sv. Martin from Slovakia in 1935. The members were: J . C. Hronsky, �96 SLOVAKIA leading Slovak novelist, Konstantin Culen, foremost Slovak journalist, Dr. Jozef Cincik, artist and architectual consultant, K . Plicka, ace photographer . The Spolok sv. Vojtecha delegation from Trnava, Slovakia, in 1937. The members were: Dr. Jozef Tiso (later President of the Slovak Republic), Msgr. Postenyi, Msgr. Korper, Msgr. Caban and Father Mondok. Both of these delegations donated valuable works on Slovak literature and history to the Abbey library, now in the Slovak Institute library. Abbot Primate Kaelin came from Rome in 1952 to participate in the dedication of the new Abbey building. The General Chapter of the Benedictine Abbots was held at the Abbey in 1953 after the blessing of the new abbey church of St. Benedict. Among famous Slovak authors associated with the Abbey were: Philip A. Hrobak (teacher at Benedictine High School for eight years), author of a Slovak dictionary and Slovak Lessons series. J. J. Konus (spent some time in research at the Abbey library), author of several Slovak dictionaries and a grammar. Father Gregory Vaniscak, O.S.B. was the author of a Slovak grammar and translation of the Holy Rule into Slovak. Abbot Stanislaus Gmuca, O.S.B. was the author of a Slovak grammar. For the past quarter of a century the Slovak Institute cooperates with the Cleveland Slovak Radio Club in arranging a speaker's program for its Slovak Hour every Sunday. Aside from their spiritual and educational work the Benedictines in Cleveland are widely known for the prowess of the Bengals in scholastic athletic circles. Benedictine High School has produced city football, basketball, baseball, bowling, tennis and golf championship s and won a state football crown in 1957. In the past quarter of a century Benedictine football teams won eleven city titles. two co-titles and lost only 4 times. In baseball the Bengals have won almost a score city titles, two city crowns in basketball, two in golf, two in tennis and two in bowling. The latest sport is hockey and in the past four years the team has won two city titles. The CYO has used the facilities of the Bengal's gym each year at no charge since 1940. �SLOVAKIA 97 At the very beginning the contributions for the foundation of Benedictine education came exclusively from the Slovaks, from individuals and our organizations. The Jednota, First Catholic Slovak Union, has been in the forefront of the Slovak fraternals that have supported the Slovak Benedictines with donations approved by the delegates at various conventions. Others like the First Catholic Slovak Ladies Association, the Slovak Catholic Sokol, Pennsylvania Slovak Catholic Union, the Ladies Pennsylvania Slovak Catholic Union and several others have at various times made contributions to the Abbey. The most consistent supporter to the Slovak Benedictines for their high school has been the Benedictine Dads Club which has contributed more than $500,000 the past twentyseven years. At present the membership is approximately 70 ( 46 priest, 13 Brothers, 3 novices and a growing number of postulants) . The death of 15 priests in the service of God and the community the past 30 years has been a great loss to the Abbey but new vocations are beginning to come in increasing numbers. Perhaps some day St. Andrew's Abbey will send missionary monks to Slovakia to renew Benedictine monastic foundations that once flourished there during the middle ages. The last Benedictine monastery was closed by imperial edict of Joseph II of Austria-Hungary at the end of the eighteenth century. LIT ERA T U R E Frantisek Hrusovsky, Ph.D.: Slovenske re hole v Amerike. Cleveland , Ohio, 1955. Slovenski benediktini. Kalendar J edno ta, Middletown , Pa. 1928; p p. 103-109. THE SLOVAK LEAGUE OF AMERICA is dedicated to American Democracy, the American way of life, and encourages Americans of Slovak descent to be loyal and alert citizens of America; it urges and aids Slovak emigrants to become U. S. citizens by publishing appropriate manuals and brochures in Slovak and English. � 92 SLOVAKIA The Slovak Benedictines Review 50 Years in Cleveland, Ohio (1922-1972) By Joseph Pa u co, Ph.D. Cleveland has been the home of the Slovak Benedictines, who came to the city from St. Procopius Abbey, Lisle, Illinois, with the blessing of Abbot Valentine Kohlbeck, O.S.B. and his community at the invitation of Bishop Joseph Schrembs, D. D., for a full half century. The official day of their coming is February 2, 1922, when Father Stanislaus Gmuca, O.S.B. offered up the first Mass at St. Andrew's parish church at East 51st Street and Superior Avenue. The Slovak parish had been relinquished to the monks of St. Benedict earlier by Father John Liscinsky at the request of Bishop Schrembs. Father Stanislaus was named prior of the newly-established dependent priory soon afterwards by his Abbot. Father Matthew Jankola was instrumental in sending several Slovak young men to the Czech abbey of Saint Procopius in Lisle, Ill. in 1903. His hope that at least some of them would become Benedictines was realized when John Vaniscak was given the name 'Gregory' upon entering the Order of St. Benedict. Father Gregory was destined to become the founder of the Slovak Benedictine monastery in Cleveland, Ohio. Rev. Clement Hrtanek, president of the Slovak Catholic Federation of America, and Rev. Stefan Kocis, the secretary, encouraged Father Vaniscak to establish a Slovak Benedictine foundation. This became a reality in the fall of 1921 when Bishop Schrembs, D. D., a graduate of St. Vincent's College and Abbey Seminary in Latrobe, Pa., extended a formal invitation to the Slovak Benedictines to come to Cleveland. Bishop Schrembs, a friend and benefactor of the Slovaks, could always be counted on to appear at their important functions. Moreover, his greetings, invariably �SLOVAKIA 93 in their native language, were greatly appreciated by Slovak audiences and congregations throughout the country. Father Gregory Vaniscak, O.S.B., who had been appointed pastor of St. Michael's Slovak parish in Chicago soon after his ordination in the early summer of 1914, remained as pastor of the large parish until the fall of 1929 when the St. Andrew Svorad dependent priory received independent status from the Holy See. The pioneer community immediately elected him as canonical prior. Father Gregory established his headquarters at the new site at 10510 Buckeye Road. The property was acquired from the Notre Dame Sisters at a cost of $125,000. The entire sum for the 15-acre tract and old building was furnished by the Slovak Educational Foundation headed by Michael Bosak, Sr., outstanding Slovak banker in Scranton, Pa. Meanwhile, in the summer of 1927 Father George Luba, O.S .B. was sent by Abbot Kohlbeck to organize a high school for boys at the priory of St. Andrew's . The versatile young priest as first principal welcomed a total of 27 boys on the opening day of Benedictine High School on September 8, 1927. Two years later when the new property was purchased the school was transfered to the East Side. The old but tenable 4-story structure at 10510 Buckeye Road was divided equally between the priory and the school; the third and fourth floors for the residence of the Religious members while the first and second floors were used for classrooms. During the early summer of 1934 the priory was elevated to abbey status and Father Stanislaus Gmuca was elected as the first abbot of St. Andrew Svorad Benedictine Abbey on August 8, 1934. The blessing of the new Abbot on October 2, 1934, was attended by a dozen abbots and five bishops, several hundred clergy and more than two thousand laity at St. John's Cathedral. As pastor and prior of the dependent priory of St. Andrew's, Father Stanislaus built the unique Spanish-style new Church in 1926. In 1940 as Abbot of St. Andrew's Abbey he directed the construction of the new Benedictine High School building at 2900 East Boulevard. This forward step was destiped to increase the school enrollment from 150 to more than 1,200 in six years. Abbot Theodore Kojis, 0. S. B., who succeeded Abbot �94 SLOVAKIA Gmuca in 1946, completed the north and south wings of the high school, added a machine shop, aeronautical depart-ment, science building, a new cafeteria, auditorium and modem gymnasium, and supervised the building of the new Abbey building during the tenure of twenty years in office. In 1953, the year after the new Abbey was completed, Father Leo Rehak, O.S.B., pastor of St. Benedict's abbey church, saw Archbishop Edward Hoban, D. D. dedicate the beautiful new edifice. One of the highlights of Abbot Kojis' administration was the grant of $50,000 in 1960 to establish a Slovak religious and cultural center in Rome. This donation by the Slovak Benedictine community in Cleveland spurred a nationwide campaign that netted more than a half million dollars (mostly donated by American Slovaks) for the project known as the Slovak SS. Cyril and Methodius Institute which sponsors a seminary, publishes religious books and acts as a center for Slovak tourists from all over the world. Abbot Jerome Koval, O.S.B., successor to Abbot Kojis in the spring of 1966, has guided the Abbey in the spirit of the founder and his pioneer community along the guidelines of the spiritual renewal of Vatican II. Abbot Koval is a member of many Slovak and non-Slovak Catholic organizations and is always in great demand as a homilist and after-dinner speaker everywhere. The abbey, in addition to administering Benedictine High School in which the majority of the faculty members are Religious, also furnishes pastoral aid on weekends the year round to many parishes in the diocese. Outside the diocese of Cleveland, the Abbey Fathers have charge of parishes in Illinois, Wisconsin and Michigan. One of the members has been an army chaplain for ten years and three priest have assignments as chaplains at various institutions and one priest is a seminary professor. Both Abbot Stanislaus and Abbot Theodore are still active doing parish work regularly. The Ave Maria monthly religious publication in the Slovak language has been edited by the Slovak Benedictines for more than forty-two years. Editors in the past were: Father Gregory Vaniscak, Father Paschal Kavulic and Father George Luba, O.S.B. The present editors are Father �SLOVAKIA 95 Andrew Pier, O.S.B. and Dr. Karol Strmen. Brother Alfred Nasticky, O.S.B. is the business manager. Subscribers are listed from all over the world. The only countries which will not admit the magazine are communist-ruled countries, including Slovakia. Precisely twenty years ago this summer the Slovak Institute was founded at the Abbey by Abbot Theodore Kojis, O.S.B . Charter members were: Dr. Francis Hrusovsky, Rev. Mikulas Sprinc, Dr. Karol Strmen, Dr. Joseph Cincik, and Rev. Andrew Pier, O.S.B. The ruling abbot of St. Andrew's Abbey is ex officio the president, and he appoints the director. Dr. Francis Hrusovsky was the first director until his death on September 9, 1956. Konstantin Culen served for two full years as his successor and Rev. Andrew Pier O.S.B. has been director since 1958. The Slovak Institute library contains several thousand volumes on Slovak literature, history, etc. The Most, cultural quarterly edited the past eighteen years by Father Mikulas Sprinc, is a Slovak Institute publication. Cleveland's "Slovenske Noviny-Slovak News" (19491959) spanned a decade under the sponsorship of St. Andrew's Abbey and various Slovak organizations in the city. The Slovak weekly (3 pages in Slovak and 1 page in English) finally ceased publication because of lack of funds despite the fact that the Abbey had furnished both the office and the editorial staff for the entire ten years. The editors were: Dr. Francis Hrusovsky, 1949-1952, Dr. Karol Strmen, 1952-1959 for the Slovak section and Rev. Bernard Slimak, O.S.B. (1949 ) and Rev. Andrew Pier, O.S.B. (19491959) for the English section. At one time several Fathers conducted Slovak Missions in various parts of the country. Novenas and Forty Hour devotions, as well as Triduums and pilgrimages were on their schedule. The following priests shared this apostolate: Father George Luba, Wendelin Kravec, Paschal Kavulic, Theodore Kojis, Benedict Dobrancin, Sylvester Prise, Francis Durkac, Jerome Koval, Florian Hudac and Matthew Bonk, O.S.B . Among distinguished guests at the Abbey through the years were the following: The Matica Slovenska (Slovak Institute) delegation from Turciansky Sv. Martin from Slovakia in 1935. The members were: J . C. Hronsky, �96 SLOVAKIA leading Slovak novelist, Konstantin Culen, foremost Slovak journalist, Dr. Jozef Cincik, artist and architectual consultant, K . Plicka, ace photographer . The Spolok sv. Vojtecha delegation from Trnava, Slovakia, in 1937. The members were: Dr. Jozef Tiso (later President of the Slovak Republic), Msgr. Postenyi, Msgr. Korper, Msgr. Caban and Father Mondok. Both of these delegations donated valuable works on Slovak literature and history to the Abbey library, now in the Slovak Institute library. Abbot Primate Kaelin came from Rome in 1952 to participate in the dedication of the new Abbey building. The General Chapter of the Benedictine Abbots was held at the Abbey in 1953 after the blessing of the new abbey church of St. Benedict. Among famous Slovak authors associated with the Abbey were: Philip A. Hrobak (teacher at Benedictine High School for eight years), author of a Slovak dictionary and Slovak Lessons series. J. J. Konus (spent some time in research at the Abbey library), author of several Slovak dictionaries and a grammar. Father Gregory Vaniscak, O.S.B. was the author of a Slovak grammar and translation of the Holy Rule into Slovak. Abbot Stanislaus Gmuca, O.S.B. was the author of a Slovak grammar. For the past quarter of a century the Slovak Institute cooperates with the Cleveland Slovak Radio Club in arranging a speaker's program for its Slovak Hour every Sunday. Aside from their spiritual and educational work the Benedictines in Cleveland are widely known for the prowess of the Bengals in scholastic athletic circles. Benedictine High School has produced city football, basketball, baseball, bowling, tennis and golf championship s and won a state football crown in 1957. In the past quarter of a century Benedictine football teams won eleven city titles. two co-titles and lost only 4 times. In baseball the Bengals have won almost a score city titles, two city crowns in basketball, two in golf, two in tennis and two in bowling. The latest sport is hockey and in the past four years the team has won two city titles. The CYO has used the facilities of the Bengal's gym each year at no charge since 1940. �SLOVAKIA 97 At the very beginning the contributions for the foundation of Benedictine education came exclusively from the Slovaks, from individuals and our organizations. The Jednota, First Catholic Slovak Union, has been in the forefront of the Slovak fraternals that have supported the Slovak Benedictines with donations approved by the delegates at various conventions. Others like the First Catholic Slovak Ladies Association, the Slovak Catholic Sokol, Pennsylvania Slovak Catholic Union, the Ladies Pennsylvania Slovak Catholic Union and several others have at various times made contributions to the Abbey. The most consistent supporter to the Slovak Benedictines for their high school has been the Benedictine Dads Club which has contributed more than $500,000 the past twentyseven years. At present the membership is approximately 70 ( 46 priest, 13 Brothers, 3 novices and a growing number of postulants) . The death of 15 priests in the service of God and the community the past 30 years has been a great loss to the Abbey but new vocations are beginning to come in increasing numbers. Perhaps some day St. Andrew's Abbey will send missionary monks to Slovakia to renew Benedictine monastic foundations that once flourished there during the middle ages. The last Benedictine monastery was closed by imperial edict of Joseph II of Austria-Hungary at the end of the eighteenth century. LIT ERA T U R E Frantisek Hrusovsky, Ph.D.: Slovenske re hole v Amerike. Cleveland , Ohio, 1955. Slovenski benediktini. Kalendar J edno ta, Middletown , Pa. 1928; p p. 103-109. THE SLOVAK LEAGUE OF AMERICA is dedicated to American Democracy, the American way of life, and encourages Americans of Slovak descent to be loyal and alert citizens of America; it urges and aids Slovak emigrants to become U. S. citizens by publishing appropriate manuals and brochures in Slovak and English. � 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 1972, Vol. 22 Description An account of the resource Vol. 22 (No. 45), 1972. 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 1972 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 Slovak Benedictines Review 50 Years in Cleveland, Ohio (1922-1972) By Joseph Pa u co, Ph.D. Cleveland has been the home of the Slovak Benedictines, who came to the city from St. Procopius Abbey, Lisle, Illinois, with the blessing of Abbot Valentine Kohlbeck, O.S.B. and his community at the invitation of Bishop Joseph Schrembs, D. D., for a full half century. The official day of their coming is February 2, 1922, when Father Stanislaus Gmuca, O.S.B. offered up the first Mass at St. Andrew's parish church at East 51st Street and Superior Avenue. The Slovak parish had been relinquished to the monks of St. Benedict earlier by Father John Liscinsky at the request of Bishop Schrembs. Father Stanislaus was named prior of the newly-established dependent priory soon afterwards by his Abbot. Father Matthew Jankola was instrumental in sending several Slovak young men to the Czech abbey of Saint Procopius in Lisle, Ill. in 1903. His hope that at least some of them would become Benedictines was realized when John Vaniscak was given the name 'Gregory' upon entering the Order of St. Benedict. Father Gregory was destined to become the founder of the Slovak Benedictine monastery in Cleveland, Ohio. Rev. Clement Hrtanek, president of the Slovak Catholic Federation of America, and Rev. Stefan Kocis, the secretary, encouraged Father Vaniscak to establish a Slovak Benedictine foundation. This became a reality in the fall of 1921 when Bishop Schrembs, D. D., a graduate of St. Vincent's College and Abbey Seminary in Latrobe, Pa., extended a formal invitation to the Slovak Benedictines to come to Cleveland. Bishop Schrembs, a friend and benefactor of the Slovaks, could always be counted on to appear at their important functions. Moreover, his greetings, invariably SLOVAKIA 93 in their native language, were greatly appreciated by Slovak audiences and congregations throughout the country. Father Gregory Vaniscak, O.S.B., who had been appointed pastor of St. Michael's Slovak parish in Chicago soon after his ordination in the early summer of 1914, remained as pastor of the large parish until the fall of 1929 when the St. Andrew Svorad dependent priory received independent status from the Holy See. The pioneer community immediately elected him as canonical prior. Father Gregory established his headquarters at the new site at 10510 Buckeye Road. The property was acquired from the Notre Dame Sisters at a cost of $125,000. The entire sum for the 15-acre tract and old building was furnished by the Slovak Educational Foundation headed by Michael Bosak, Sr., outstanding Slovak banker in Scranton, Pa. Meanwhile, in the summer of 1927 Father George Luba, O.S .B. was sent by Abbot Kohlbeck to organize a high school for boys at the priory of St. Andrew's . The versatile young priest as first principal welcomed a total of 27 boys on the opening day of Benedictine High School on September 8, 1927. Two years later when the new property was purchased the school was transfered to the East Side. The old but tenable 4-story structure at 10510 Buckeye Road was divided equally between the priory and the school; the third and fourth floors for the residence of the Religious members while the first and second floors were used for classrooms. During the early summer of 1934 the priory was elevated to abbey status and Father Stanislaus Gmuca was elected as the first abbot of St. Andrew Svorad Benedictine Abbey on August 8, 1934. The blessing of the new Abbot on October 2, 1934, was attended by a dozen abbots and five bishops, several hundred clergy and more than two thousand laity at St. John's Cathedral. As pastor and prior of the dependent priory of St. Andrew's, Father Stanislaus built the unique Spanish-style new Church in 1926. In 1940 as Abbot of St. Andrew's Abbey he directed the construction of the new Benedictine High School building at 2900 East Boulevard. This forward step was destiped to increase the school enrollment from 150 to more than 1,200 in six years. Abbot Theodore Kojis, 0. S. B., who succeeded Abbot 94 SLOVAKIA Gmuca in 1946, completed the north and south wings of the high school, added a machine shop, aeronautical depart-ment, science building, a new cafeteria, auditorium and modem gymnasium, and supervised the building of the new Abbey building during the tenure of twenty years in office. In 1953, the year after the new Abbey was completed, Father Leo Rehak, O.S.B., pastor of St. Benedict's abbey church, saw Archbishop Edward Hoban, D. D. dedicate the beautiful new edifice. One of the highlights of Abbot Kojis' administration was the grant of $50,000 in 1960 to establish a Slovak religious and cultural center in Rome. This donation by the Slovak Benedictine community in Cleveland spurred a nationwide campaign that netted more than a half million dollars (mostly donated by American Slovaks) for the project known as the Slovak SS. Cyril and Methodius Institute which sponsors a seminary, publishes religious books and acts as a center for Slovak tourists from all over the world. Abbot Jerome Koval, O.S.B., successor to Abbot Kojis in the spring of 1966, has guided the Abbey in the spirit of the founder and his pioneer community along the guidelines of the spiritual renewal of Vatican II. Abbot Koval is a member of many Slovak and non-Slovak Catholic organizations and is always in great demand as a homilist and after-dinner speaker everywhere. The abbey, in addition to administering Benedictine High School in which the majority of the faculty members are Religious, also furnishes pastoral aid on weekends the year round to many parishes in the diocese. Outside the diocese of Cleveland, the Abbey Fathers have charge of parishes in Illinois, Wisconsin and Michigan. One of the members has been an army chaplain for ten years and three priest have assignments as chaplains at various institutions and one priest is a seminary professor. Both Abbot Stanislaus and Abbot Theodore are still active doing parish work regularly. The Ave Maria monthly religious publication in the Slovak language has been edited by the Slovak Benedictines for more than forty-two years. Editors in the past were: Father Gregory Vaniscak, Father Paschal Kavulic and Father George Luba, O.S.B. The present editors are Father SLOVAKIA 95 Andrew Pier, O.S.B. and Dr. Karol Strmen. Brother Alfred Nasticky, O.S.B. is the business manager. Subscribers are listed from all over the world. The only countries which will not admit the magazine are communist-ruled countries, including Slovakia. Precisely twenty years ago this summer the Slovak Institute was founded at the Abbey by Abbot Theodore Kojis, O.S.B . Charter members were: Dr. Francis Hrusovsky, Rev. Mikulas Sprinc, Dr. Karol Strmen, Dr. Joseph Cincik, and Rev. Andrew Pier, O.S.B. The ruling abbot of St. Andrew's Abbey is ex officio the president, and he appoints the director. Dr. Francis Hrusovsky was the first director until his death on September 9, 1956. Konstantin Culen served for two full years as his successor and Rev. Andrew Pier O.S.B. has been director since 1958. The Slovak Institute library contains several thousand volumes on Slovak literature, history, etc. The Most, cultural quarterly edited the past eighteen years by Father Mikulas Sprinc, is a Slovak Institute publication. Cleveland's "Slovenske Noviny-Slovak News" (19491959) spanned a decade under the sponsorship of St. Andrew's Abbey and various Slovak organizations in the city. The Slovak weekly (3 pages in Slovak and 1 page in English) finally ceased publication because of lack of funds despite the fact that the Abbey had furnished both the office and the editorial staff for the entire ten years. The editors were: Dr. Francis Hrusovsky, 1949-1952, Dr. Karol Strmen, 1952-1959 for the Slovak section and Rev. Bernard Slimak, O.S.B. (1949 ) and Rev. Andrew Pier, O.S.B. (19491959) for the English section. At one time several Fathers conducted Slovak Missions in various parts of the country. Novenas and Forty Hour devotions, as well as Triduums and pilgrimages were on their schedule. The following priests shared this apostolate: Father George Luba, Wendelin Kravec, Paschal Kavulic, Theodore Kojis, Benedict Dobrancin, Sylvester Prise, Francis Durkac, Jerome Koval, Florian Hudac and Matthew Bonk, O.S.B . Among distinguished guests at the Abbey through the years were the following: The Matica Slovenska (Slovak Institute) delegation from Turciansky Sv. Martin from Slovakia in 1935. The members were: J . C. Hronsky, 96 SLOVAKIA leading Slovak novelist, Konstantin Culen, foremost Slovak journalist, Dr. Jozef Cincik, artist and architectual consultant, K . Plicka, ace photographer . The Spolok sv. Vojtecha delegation from Trnava, Slovakia, in 1937. The members were: Dr. Jozef Tiso (later President of the Slovak Republic), Msgr. Postenyi, Msgr. Korper, Msgr. Caban and Father Mondok. Both of these delegations donated valuable works on Slovak literature and history to the Abbey library, now in the Slovak Institute library. Abbot Primate Kaelin came from Rome in 1952 to participate in the dedication of the new Abbey building. The General Chapter of the Benedictine Abbots was held at the Abbey in 1953 after the blessing of the new abbey church of St. Benedict. Among famous Slovak authors associated with the Abbey were: Philip A. Hrobak (teacher at Benedictine High School for eight years), author of a Slovak dictionary and Slovak Lessons series. J. J. Konus (spent some time in research at the Abbey library), author of several Slovak dictionaries and a grammar. Father Gregory Vaniscak, O.S.B. was the author of a Slovak grammar and translation of the Holy Rule into Slovak. Abbot Stanislaus Gmuca, O.S.B. was the author of a Slovak grammar. For the past quarter of a century the Slovak Institute cooperates with the Cleveland Slovak Radio Club in arranging a speaker's program for its Slovak Hour every Sunday. Aside from their spiritual and educational work the Benedictines in Cleveland are widely known for the prowess of the Bengals in scholastic athletic circles. Benedictine High School has produced city football, basketball, baseball, bowling, tennis and golf championship s and won a state football crown in 1957. In the past quarter of a century Benedictine football teams won eleven city titles. two co-titles and lost only 4 times. In baseball the Bengals have won almost a score city titles, two city crowns in basketball, two in golf, two in tennis and two in bowling. The latest sport is hockey and in the past four years the team has won two city titles. The CYO has used the facilities of the Bengal's gym each year at no charge since 1940. SLOVAKIA 97 At the very beginning the contributions for the foundation of Benedictine education came exclusively from the Slovaks, from individuals and our organizations. The Jednota, First Catholic Slovak Union, has been in the forefront of the Slovak fraternals that have supported the Slovak Benedictines with donations approved by the delegates at various conventions. Others like the First Catholic Slovak Ladies Association, the Slovak Catholic Sokol, Pennsylvania Slovak Catholic Union, the Ladies Pennsylvania Slovak Catholic Union and several others have at various times made contributions to the Abbey. The most consistent supporter to the Slovak Benedictines for their high school has been the Benedictine Dads Club which has contributed more than $500,000 the past twentyseven years. At present the membership is approximately 70 ( 46 priest, 13 Brothers, 3 novices and a growing number of postulants) . The death of 15 priests in the service of God and the community the past 30 years has been a great loss to the Abbey but new vocations are beginning to come in increasing numbers. Perhaps some day St. Andrew's Abbey will send missionary monks to Slovakia to renew Benedictine monastic foundations that once flourished there during the middle ages. The last Benedictine monastery was closed by imperial edict of Joseph II of Austria-Hungary at the end of the eighteenth century. LIT ERA T U R E Frantisek Hrusovsky, Ph.D.: Slovenske re hole v Amerike. Cleveland , Ohio, 1955. Slovenski benediktini. Kalendar J edno ta, Middletown , Pa. 1928; p p. 103-109. THE SLOVAK LEAGUE OF AMERICA is dedicated to American Democracy, the American way of life, and encourages Americans of Slovak descent to be loyal and alert citizens of America; it urges and aids Slovak emigrants to become U. S. citizens by publishing appropriate manuals and brochures in Slovak and English.  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Slovak Benedictines Review 50 Years in Cleveland, Ohio (1922-1972) Description An account of the resource Joseph Paučo, Ph.D. Slovakia, Vol. 22 (No. 45), 1972 pp. 92-97 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Paučo, Jozef, 1914-1975 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1972 SNK https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/48cd8179fceefdb5990449726e0ac633.pdf 75fa46edc88348103f8357b702562767 PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA 105 ma. The poor attendance which Czech lands and Moravia report at Slovak films is attributed to the comprehension problem-among other factors. For this reason, dubbing Czech onto Slovak films is now under serious consideration." Dr. Andrew Kubina translated by Sister M . Martina Tybor, SS.C.M. The Slovak Dictionary of 1648 The discovery of a Latin-Magyar-Slovak dictionary published by the univerzity press in Trnava in 1648 brings proof that a Slovak literary language existed i~ Slovakia as early as two hundred years before Anton Bernolak, the scholar who codified Slovak grammar in 1787. The earliest listing of this book is found in Csery's catalogue of books published by the Trnava university press (Historia C. R. Scientiarum universitatis Pestiensis, fasc. III ab anno 1641-1660) . It is dated 1648: "Typographia in domo S. Adalberti in platea Pistorum collocata est, et expressit: Vocabularium Ungarico-Slavico-Latinum. Tyrnaviae 1649 in 8° ." In his study A Bibliography of Slovak Writings compiled in 1946, Jan Misianik called attention to this entry in Csery's accmmt. He concluded, however, that the dictionary itself had not been preserved since he was not able to find it anywhere. 1 Finally this work, so significant in the field of Slovak letters was most fortunately discovered by the eminent historian Msgr. Jan Postenyi, a papal prelate, who had searched long years for some trace of it. In 1967, with the help of devoted scholarly friends, he had the good fortune to come upon it in the library of Brno university. The volume is titled "Verborum in institutione gramatica contentorum in ungaricum et sclavonicum translatio. Secundum ordinem Alphabeticum, Tyrnaviae Typis Academicis, per Philippum Jacobum Mayr, Anno 1648."2 The words "Monasterij Rayhrad" are written in ink on the cover of the book. Apparently the book originally belonged to the Benedictine library in Rajhrad. This fifty-page dictionary with words recorded in Slovak is the oldest known Slovak dictionary. �106 SLOVAKIA , ~ ,.~ . ; • ·• "~:- w• . ,I . }\\i;(. ,: ~ •• ·,:: I f· • 'l' ~ . l!dgariti / ¼· g'niic~ . re/I.Iii' ·,~n,aul ; s-~~hd . . ,g,rz.,,. • .Senedu~> v/nfti • .. · ~e-oiw•~-- . .· .. ·. Stnar.us · ... ,f;,uth ~.· senatus.con-,a~uiph .vlgez:.ts · . · .JiJl·w11 -· . · Slavo11IU, ' ~ · s,den raz. . .:·r.1da. . -: r.d i wipowicd. . . . ... ~ .. {lar9ft. ir2..t~rn(,'g . ·, •., 1 ·:.. ;,qti~ · er'·u1,,,,1.1:1l!,m, ,;,ilt.:m ·cuim. Sc:orfu rn _ . _li_f,, im, •, msrgfin· ·. ·· . .)utlranu. 5.c.nfo.~ ' .... eocio · ' ,.Srp,1r~nm · -,.Je,n . ~1 um'etem . · ·Sc-pd10 be foven1ez..e111. · . .··_SepiO . · fovmy S . ps . ·sl!ps . September s, pt u.a.x · . Sequor '. mergu J.jgJ" .idem. ·-po.chowa~,-. . ,•. obhrazugorn: plot. . : ·gedo'fiU had. f:..en/mt fJ.llJ havli ·.. lazi. J 4. lotu. 14. l.uos . . ·: . · ~o··.i~um · · · na11edugem. • recz. Sermo · · · bcfz.cd , r~gem. ' h1nrnn, -c:tltm Sero, is. be lrtk.:_uo_z.om, urom,- za'u1ikam. · Sero, as. · ·had., Serpcu · k.z..~yo · iluzebnolt. ' fz..olni!.tt SC'rvnus (!) _ trype_nizc. ScHcmnm hu'i'om pbJ.'t.eI . . · . ·4- loci. Sexr.rns . 11,e_r lt11os Jkur,ei. · 1'f.mmt',mintfi.inre ' .· _gak:.g~koi.llo. · . It /ttlti:d:lz. >.. ~ ·. .::,p«'pJd,ml fa,dolu .,.)ido · ·· . " ' ·.. · · · ··. kladem~ ,S'ignifer· · z..Afi..lo.t11fio . ·. ·. ·: . ·' ·. zatlat-nik. · ....... .·· ·sitcr ·~ <} �SLOVAKIA 107 Why was it not possible to find this work in Slovakia though it had been published in Trnava? One ready explanation can be found in the train of a host of events that took place within Slovak borders in the period 1536-1711 when invading and rebelling armies were finally subdued. All this era was marked by wars, disorders and rebellions that erupted in almost every alternating decade and succeeded one another with only brief respites to mark off one episode from the next. The armies of these insurgents destroyed the libraries housed in monasteries and castles; as a matter of fact, they spared not even the private book collections of parish priests. In these upheavals, the territories of present day Czech and Moravian lands were not so seriously threatened as were the lands of the Slovaks and the regions of the Danubian basin. Because of these inauspicious conditions here, it was Prague and Brno that at this time attracted men of learning and culture and encouraged them with the support and promotion of publishing houses and libraries. Yet in spite of all these hardships, the university of Trnava did bequeath to the future a goodly number of works that had been printed in the prime years of its existence 1635-1777, even though these publications are all too often not found within Slovakia proper. Researchers and scholars can find them more readily in Czech and Moravian libraries today. Msgr. Jan Postenyi deserves recognition and credit for his indefatigable efforts to trace this priceless book which brings proof positive that a literary Slovak language existed even long before Bernolak. The accompanying photostatic copy of p. 43 of this dictionary indicates that the words bear the characteristics of western Slovak and that many of the expressions favor the linguistic traits of central Slovak. Unfortunately, the title page of this work does not record the name of the author-compiler of the dictionary. Fr. Bartholomew Koltner, 0. F. M. Translated by Sr. M . Martina Tybor, SS.C.M. 1) Msgr. Jan Postenyi, " Spomienka na trnavsku univerzitu," in the magazine Duchovny Pastier, April 1967. 2 ) Peter Ratkos, " Svedectvo narodnej kontinuity," in the periodical . Kulturny iivot, July 1967. � SLOVAKIA 105 ma. The poor attendance which Czech lands and Moravia report at Slovak films is attributed to the comprehension problem-among other factors. For this reason, dubbing Czech onto Slovak films is now under serious consideration." Dr. Andrew Kubina translated by Sister M . Martina Tybor, SS.C.M. The Slovak Dictionary of 1648 The discovery of a Latin-Magyar-Slovak dictionary published by the univerzity press in Trnava in 1648 brings proof that a Slovak literary language existed i~ Slovakia as early as two hundred years before Anton Bernolak, the scholar who codified Slovak grammar in 1787. The earliest listing of this book is found in Csery's catalogue of books published by the Trnava university press (Historia C. R. Scientiarum universitatis Pestiensis, fasc. III ab anno 1641-1660) . It is dated 1648: "Typographia in domo S. Adalberti in platea Pistorum collocata est, et expressit: Vocabularium Ungarico-Slavico-Latinum. Tyrnaviae 1649 in 8° ." In his study A Bibliography of Slovak Writings compiled in 1946, Jan Misianik called attention to this entry in Csery's accmmt. He concluded, however, that the dictionary itself had not been preserved since he was not able to find it anywhere. 1 Finally this work, so significant in the field of Slovak letters was most fortunately discovered by the eminent historian Msgr. Jan Postenyi, a papal prelate, who had searched long years for some trace of it. In 1967, with the help of devoted scholarly friends, he had the good fortune to come upon it in the library of Brno university. The volume is titled "Verborum in institutione gramatica contentorum in ungaricum et sclavonicum translatio. Secundum ordinem Alphabeticum, Tyrnaviae Typis Academicis, per Philippum Jacobum Mayr, Anno 1648."2 The words "Monasterij Rayhrad" are written in ink on the cover of the book. Apparently the book originally belonged to the Benedictine library in Rajhrad. This fifty-page dictionary with words recorded in Slovak is the oldest known Slovak dictionary. �106 SLOVAKIA , ~ ,.~ . ; • ·• "~:- w• . ,I . }\\i;(. ,: ~ •• ·,:: I f· • 'l' ~ . l!dgariti / ¼· g'niic~ . re/I.Iii' ·,~n,aul ; s-~~hd . . ,g,rz.,,. • .Senedu~> v/nfti • .. · ~e-oiw•~-- . .· .. ·. Stnar.us · ... ,f;,uth ~.· senatus.con-,a~uiph .vlgez:.ts · . · .JiJl·w11 -· . · Slavo11IU, ' ~ · s,den raz. . .:·r.1da. . -: r.d i wipowicd. . . . ... ~ .. {lar9ft. ir2..t~rn(,'g . ·, •., 1 ·:.. ;,qti~ · er'·u1,,,,1.1:1l!,m, ,;,ilt.:m ·cuim. Sc:orfu rn _ . _li_f,, im, •, msrgfin· ·. ·· . .)utlranu. 5.c.nfo.~ ' .... eocio · ' ,.Srp,1r~nm · -,.Je,n . ~1 um'etem . · ·Sc-pd10 be foven1ez..e111. · . .··_SepiO . · fovmy S . ps . ·sl!ps . September s, pt u.a.x · . Sequor '. mergu J.jgJ" .idem. ·-po.chowa~,-. . ,•. obhrazugorn: plot. . : ·gedo'fiU had. f:..en/mt fJ.llJ havli ·.. lazi. J 4. lotu. 14. l.uos . . ·: . · ~o··.i~um · · · na11edugem. • recz. Sermo · · · bcfz.cd , r~gem. ' h1nrnn, -c:tltm Sero, is. be lrtk.:_uo_z.om, urom,- za'u1ikam. · Sero, as. · ·had., Serpcu · k.z..~yo · iluzebnolt. ' fz..olni!.tt SC'rvnus (!) _ trype_nizc. ScHcmnm hu'i'om pbJ.'t.eI . . · . ·4- loci. Sexr.rns . 11,e_r lt11os Jkur,ei. · 1'f.mmt',mintfi.inre ' .· _gak:.g~koi.llo. · . It /ttlti:d:lz. >.. ~ ·. .::,p«'pJd,ml fa,dolu .,.)ido · ·· . " ' ·.. · · · ··. kladem~ ,S'ignifer· · z..Afi..lo.t11fio . ·. ·. ·: . ·' ·. zatlat-nik. · ....... .·· ·sitcr ·~ <} �SLOVAKIA 107 Why was it not possible to find this work in Slovakia though it had been published in Trnava? One ready explanation can be found in the train of a host of events that took place within Slovak borders in the period 1536-1711 when invading and rebelling armies were finally subdued. All this era was marked by wars, disorders and rebellions that erupted in almost every alternating decade and succeeded one another with only brief respites to mark off one episode from the next. The armies of these insurgents destroyed the libraries housed in monasteries and castles; as a matter of fact, they spared not even the private book collections of parish priests. In these upheavals, the territories of present day Czech and Moravian lands were not so seriously threatened as were the lands of the Slovaks and the regions of the Danubian basin. Because of these inauspicious conditions here, it was Prague and Brno that at this time attracted men of learning and culture and encouraged them with the support and promotion of publishing houses and libraries. Yet in spite of all these hardships, the university of Trnava did bequeath to the future a goodly number of works that had been printed in the prime years of its existence 1635-1777, even though these publications are all too often not found within Slovakia proper. Researchers and scholars can find them more readily in Czech and Moravian libraries today. Msgr. Jan Postenyi deserves recognition and credit for his indefatigable efforts to trace this priceless book which brings proof positive that a literary Slovak language existed even long before Bernolak. The accompanying photostatic copy of p. 43 of this dictionary indicates that the words bear the characteristics of western Slovak and that many of the expressions favor the linguistic traits of central Slovak. Unfortunately, the title page of this work does not record the name of the author-compiler of the dictionary. Fr. Bartholomew Koltner, 0. F. M. Translated by Sr. M . Martina Tybor, SS.C.M. 1) Msgr. Jan Postenyi, " Spomienka na trnavsku univerzitu," in the magazine Duchovny Pastier, April 1967. 2 ) Peter Ratkos, " Svedectvo narodnej kontinuity," in the periodical . Kulturny iivot, July 1967. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 1969, Vol. 19 Description An account of the resource Vol. 19 (No. 42), 1969. 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 1969 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 105 ma. The poor attendance which Czech lands and Moravia report at Slovak films is attributed to the comprehension problem-among other factors. For this reason, dubbing Czech onto Slovak films is now under serious consideration." Dr. Andrew Kubina translated by Sister M . Martina Tybor, SS.C.M. The Slovak Dictionary of 1648 The discovery of a Latin-Magyar-Slovak dictionary published by the univerzity press in Trnava in 1648 brings proof that a Slovak literary language existed i~ Slovakia as early as two hundred years before Anton Bernolak, the scholar who codified Slovak grammar in 1787. The earliest listing of this book is found in Csery's catalogue of books published by the Trnava university press (Historia C. R. Scientiarum universitatis Pestiensis, fasc. III ab anno 1641-1660) . It is dated 1648: "Typographia in domo S. Adalberti in platea Pistorum collocata est, et expressit: Vocabularium Ungarico-Slavico-Latinum. Tyrnaviae 1649 in 8° ." In his study A Bibliography of Slovak Writings compiled in 1946, Jan Misianik called attention to this entry in Csery's accmmt. He concluded, however, that the dictionary itself had not been preserved since he was not able to find it anywhere. 1 Finally this work, so significant in the field of Slovak letters was most fortunately discovered by the eminent historian Msgr. Jan Postenyi, a papal prelate, who had searched long years for some trace of it. In 1967, with the help of devoted scholarly friends, he had the good fortune to come upon it in the library of Brno university. The volume is titled "Verborum in institutione gramatica contentorum in ungaricum et sclavonicum translatio. Secundum ordinem Alphabeticum, Tyrnaviae Typis Academicis, per Philippum Jacobum Mayr, Anno 1648."2 The words "Monasterij Rayhrad" are written in ink on the cover of the book. Apparently the book originally belonged to the Benedictine library in Rajhrad. This fifty-page dictionary with words recorded in Slovak is the oldest known Slovak dictionary. 106 SLOVAKIA , ~ ,.~ . ; • ·• "~:- w• . ,I . }\\i;(. ,: ~ •• ·,:: I f· • 'l' ~ . l!dgariti / ¼· g'niic~ . re/I.Iii' ·,~n,aul ; s-~~hd . . ,g,rz.,,. • .Senedu~> v/nfti • .. · ~e-oiw•~-- . .· .. ·. Stnar.us · ... ,f;,uth ~.· senatus.con-,a~uiph .vlgez:.ts · . · .JiJl·w11 -· . · Slavo11IU, ' ~ · s,den raz. . .:·r.1da. . -: r.d i wipowicd. . . . ... ~ .. {lar9ft. ir2..t~rn(,'g . ·, •., 1 ·:.. ;,qti~ · er'·u1,,,,1.1:1l!,m, ,;,ilt.:m ·cuim. Sc:orfu rn _ . _li_f,, im, •, msrgfin· ·. ·· . .)utlranu. 5.c.nfo.~ ' .... eocio · ' ,.Srp,1r~nm · -,.Je,n . ~1 um'etem . · ·Sc-pd10 be foven1ez..e111. · . .··_SepiO . · fovmy S . ps . ·sl!ps . September s, pt u.a.x · . Sequor '. mergu J.jgJ" .idem. ·-po.chowa~,-. . ,•. obhrazugorn: plot. . : ·gedo'fiU had. f:..en/mt fJ.llJ havli ·.. lazi. J 4. lotu. 14. l.uos . . ·: . · ~o··.i~um · · · na11edugem. • recz. Sermo · · · bcfz.cd , r~gem. ' h1nrnn, -c:tltm Sero, is. be lrtk.:_uo_z.om, urom,- za'u1ikam. · Sero, as. · ·had., Serpcu · k.z..~yo · iluzebnolt. ' fz..olni!.tt SC'rvnus (!) _ trype_nizc. ScHcmnm hu'i'om pbJ.'t.eI . . · . ·4- loci. Sexr.rns . 11,e_r lt11os Jkur,ei. · 1'f.mmt',mintfi.inre ' .· _gak:.g~koi.llo. · . It /ttlti:d:lz. >.. ~ ·. .::,p«'pJd,ml fa,dolu .,.)ido · ·· . " ' ·.. · · · ··. kladem~ ,S'ignifer· · z..Afi..lo.t11fio . ·. ·. ·: . ·' ·. zatlat-nik. · ....... .·· ·sitcr ·~ <} SLOVAKIA 107 Why was it not possible to find this work in Slovakia though it had been published in Trnava? One ready explanation can be found in the train of a host of events that took place within Slovak borders in the period 1536-1711 when invading and rebelling armies were finally subdued. All this era was marked by wars, disorders and rebellions that erupted in almost every alternating decade and succeeded one another with only brief respites to mark off one episode from the next. The armies of these insurgents destroyed the libraries housed in monasteries and castles; as a matter of fact, they spared not even the private book collections of parish priests. In these upheavals, the territories of present day Czech and Moravian lands were not so seriously threatened as were the lands of the Slovaks and the regions of the Danubian basin. Because of these inauspicious conditions here, it was Prague and Brno that at this time attracted men of learning and culture and encouraged them with the support and promotion of publishing houses and libraries. Yet in spite of all these hardships, the university of Trnava did bequeath to the future a goodly number of works that had been printed in the prime years of its existence 1635-1777, even though these publications are all too often not found within Slovakia proper. Researchers and scholars can find them more readily in Czech and Moravian libraries today. Msgr. Jan Postenyi deserves recognition and credit for his indefatigable efforts to trace this priceless book which brings proof positive that a literary Slovak language existed even long before Bernolak. The accompanying photostatic copy of p. 43 of this dictionary indicates that the words bear the characteristics of western Slovak and that many of the expressions favor the linguistic traits of central Slovak. Unfortunately, the title page of this work does not record the name of the author-compiler of the dictionary. Fr. Bartholomew Koltner, 0. F. M. Translated by Sr. M . Martina Tybor, SS.C.M. 1) Msgr. Jan Postenyi, " Spomienka na trnavsku univerzitu," in the magazine Duchovny Pastier, April 1967. 2 ) Peter Ratkos, " Svedectvo narodnej kontinuity," in the periodical . Kulturny iivot, July 1967.  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Slovak Dictionary of 1648 Description An account of the resource Fr. Bartholomew Koltner, O.F.M. Slovakia, Vol. 19 (No. 42), 1969 pp. 105-107 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Koltner, Bartholomew Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1969 name https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/495398a0345e07ca444c3d58e165ef2f.pdf 39aabc0d058087af2fa9cc120558c3f4 PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA 105 The Slovak Dilemma Ln Austria-Hungary* Gabor V e r m e s Rutgers University, Dept. of History At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, the educated middle class Slovak in Austria-Hungary found himself enmeshed in a multiple identity crisis. He could remain a Slovak and thus limit his chance for any meaningful participation in the Hungarian Establishment; he could ally himself with the Czechs as a junior partner; he could indulge in an illusionary alliance with Russia; or he could abandon his Slovak identity and become a Magyar. This dilemma weighed most heavily upon members of the Slovak intelligentsia because their status in Hungarian society was contingent upon the choice they made. Yet, the survival of the entire Slovak nation was thought to be in question. Almost all the Slovak and pro-Slovak literati declaimed inevitable doom and prophesized the gradual extinction of the Slovaks. Robert Seton-Watson spoke of the virtual destruction of Slovak nationality, and concluded, " ... especially after the notorious Education Act of Count Albert Apponyi in 1907, the process of Magyarization was advancing by leaps and bounds, in particular along the Southern linguistic frontier ... The victim was rescued just in time." 1 The question arises then: Can an entire people vanish, in modern times, by the superimposition of powerful outside forces? Was the feeling of doom justified as far as ,:, NOTE: We are publishing this article on the recommendation of Prof. J . M. Kirschbaum, concerning an exchange of views on the Slovak question in Austria-Hungary as a precondition for preparing a better future for all nations of Central Europe. Professor Vermes' conclusions are not identical with Slovak views but he presents a serious and well documented attempt at an objective analysis from the Hungarian point of view. The editor �106 SLOVAKIA the Slovaks were concerned? The statistics are inexorable, and they do se6m to indicate a gradual erosion in the number of Slovaks still maintaining their national identity.2 The pull of Magyarization was especially strong among the Slovak educated middle class; very understandably, this caused the gravest concern to the nationalist Slovaks. The nationalist group was also greatly concerned over the large scale emigration of Slovak peasants who left the Tatra Mountains to settle in the adjoining territories which were inhabited by the Magyars or by a mixed population. The peasants also migrated to the big cities, to Budapest in particular, and a considerable number emigrated to America. Yet a revealing comparison between the number of Slovaks who could speak only their native tongue in 1900 and the same category in 1910 shows that a sizable segment remained Slovak.3 In the isolated hamlets and villages of the Tatra, the population remained Slovak, not because of any conscious or deliberate effort to assert themselves as such, but because they lived in homogeneous compact groups. Magyar power reached them only through various types of county officials, and through the school teachers, but even if the little pupil learned to mutter a few sentences in Hungarian, most likely he disposed of them at home with a natural sense of relief. The anticipated diminution of the intellectual elite, therefore, did not seem to conflict with the simultaneous preservation of a less sophisticated stratum of society much less exposed to alien influences. Thus, the usage of the term extinction becomes somewhat exaggerated and overly pessimistic. The Slovak peasantry, provided they were ignorant and indifferent to any kind of cause, including that of Slovak nationalism, could still be considered a bulwark against national self-annihilation and perhaps even as a reservoir of a future Slovak national renaissance. The reasons for the Slovak predicament are fairly well-known. 4 The two basic factors were their early loss of independence to the Hungarians in the 9th-10th centuries A.D. and their sparse expansion over their poor and mountainous terrain. Beginning in the mid-19th century, two additional components were added. One was the disadvantage resulting from the absence of an independent Czech or ~lovak state. (This was a disadvantage in comparison �SLOVAKIA 107 with the Austro-Rumanian and Austro-Serbian position, strengthened by the existence of an independent Rumania and Serbia) . The other factor in the Slovaks' plight was the clash between two adverse national egos, the Magyar and the Slovak. As long as the Monarchy lasted, Magyar nationalism gained the upper hand, not because of any inherent superior quality but as a natural consequence of a superior power, superior in the political, social, and economic sense, and even in the psychological sphere of self-assurance. Hungary had much to be proud of by the second half of the 19th century. It had grown from a backward agricultural country into a relatively advanced agricultural-industrial state. After an unsuccessful revolution in 1848-1849, astute negotiations aided by fortuitous circumstances led to equal partnership with Austria in 1867. Hungary became an integral part of a dualist system which maintained its great power status up to the very end of its existence, in spite of its inner weaknesses . In 1896, prosperity, though unevenly shared, and optimism, though not unanimous, exploded into the pageantry of the Milleneum, the one-thousandth anniversary of Hungary's existence. The country-gentry was the major conveyor of this festive spirit. In their patriotic fervor they were supported by an urban middle class, consisting partly of their own kin, partly of the remnants of the old German burgher class, and partly by a growing number of Jews . Quite often members of these two latter groups turned into more zealous Magyars than the Magyars themselves . Jeno Rakosi, of German origin, was the wellknown editor of the Budapest Hirlap; he coined the slogan of "A Great Hungary of 30 million Magyars," 5 and his Jewish journalist colleagues backed him up with unfaltering ardor. The gentry, however, though deeply entrenched in their strongholds, the administrations of state and counties, was no longer the liberal generation of 1848. As Oszkar Jaszi pointed out, this gentry, by losing its economic power, and somewhat bewildered by the complexities of a new emerging urban-commercial-industrial society, compensated for its growing insecurity with an ever strengthening assertion of national superiority .6 In order to justify this superiority and persevere in it, the gentry stubbornly �108 SLOVAKIA maintained its traditional, legal-political arguments, to the point of referring to the "Law" even when actual injustice was admitted. 7 The Fundamental Law, to which constant reference was made, was considered historical by the Magyar ruling classes, and was based on their rights by virtue of the Magyar conquest. Even such a recognized moderate as Kalman Szell (Prime Minister of Hungary, 1899-1903) asserted, "The Magyars have conquered this country for themselves and not for others. The supremacy and hegemony of the Magyars is fully justified." 8 No one would deny the exceptions to this rule. The impact of Ferenc Deak and Baron J6zsef Eotvos, the great Hungarian liberal statesmen, was still evident upon the creation of the Nationality Law of 1868, which granted extensive cultural rights to the non-Magyar nationalities, though it stopped short of acknowledging their existence as separate legal-political entities. In his exile, Lajos Kossuth changed from an intolerant chauvinist into the champion of a Danubian Federation, and he had a faithful disciple in Hungary in the person of Lajos Mocsary. In later years, preceding World War I, Ozskar Jaszi, a sociologist and politician of radical-leftist leanings, was sympathetically inclined to the course providing genuine equality between Magyars and non-Magyars. These and several other exceptions notwithstanding, most Magyars were indifferent at best, and outrightly hostile at worst, to the national aspirations, demands, and needs of their fellow non-Magyar citizens. The consequences of such attitudes were examined even by the conservative school of Hungarian historians. Count Pal Teleki recognized the impossibility of creating a unified Hungarian nation through enforced assimilation,9 and in addition he blamed the innumerable blunders of the Magyarization efforts on Magyar inconsistency and Magyar administrative inefficiency. 10 Accordin'5 to Gyula Szekfu, the process of Magyarization was detrimental because it corroded the Hungarian nation's moral fibre, yet it was not the "fearsome and bloodthirsty monster of Jaszi and Seton-Watson, but a childish construction, a plaything, and an unrealizable and overly emotional postulate, doing more harm to the Magyars, than to their nationalities." 11 Thus, behind the apparently rigid and legal pedantry �SLOVAKIA 109 of the Magyar public, it has not been hard to discover the emotional content, reflecting frustrations and childlike wishful thinking. To be sure, these elements were of considerable weight. However, at least equal stress should be laid on other factors as well, such as anxiety and fear of being encircled and outnumbered and consequently, of being eventually engulfed and annihilated. That fear and anxiety were never expressed in these pessimistic terms, but rather in their psychological reverse: The Hungarian nation would never perish, because of its power, its eagerness to grow from 10 to 30 million if possible, and because of its readiness to absorb all non-Magyars by all means available. Yet behind this fagade of self-confidence, fear and anxiety lurked, often in near paranoic dimensions. Lajos Steier, a Hungarian "expert" on the Slovaks, sounded the alarm hysterically, " ... Magyar hegemony, national unity, and our Fatherland are in mortal danger!" 12 Regardless of the validity of his anxiety, his proficiency in the affairs of Slovak-Magyar relations provided him with enough foresight to see the "danger" in a Czech-Slovak rapprochement. 13 Most Hungarians, however, were content to release their fear and anxiety in their ch~se of an all-encompassing yet amorphous scarecrow, Pan-Slavism, which was not understood properly at all, but was used as a charge both against bomb-throwing anarchists and totally harmless literati, attributing dark conspiratorial machinations to both. Hungarian gendarmes killed and wounded several Slovaks at the village of cernova, on October 27, 1907. The reason for the unrest was the punitive actions taken against cernova's Slovak nationalist priest, Father Andrej Hlinka by his Magyarone superiors in the Catholic hierarchy. The massacre was followed by stormy sessions in the Hungarian Parliament. Milan Hodza, one of the seven nationalist Slovak members, was accused of paving the way for the massacre through his agitation, and some of his Magyar colleagues called him "Assassin! ... rotten agitator!" 14 The Magyar representative from the district of cernova, bdon Beni9zky, painted a picture of Slovak agitation, a picture, which could have taken a rightful place in Dante's Inferno. He talked of the once pious Slovaks throwing rocks at every coach owned by Hungarian gentlemen, about Slovak agitators going around the villages, spreading news of �110 SLOVAKIA Hungarians taking Slovak children away during the night and taking them down to the Great Hungarian Plain in order to make good Magyars out of them; he conveyed the impression that Slovak peasants were ready to grab an axe and resort to unbridled violence. Hodza demanded proof, but none was forthcoming. The entire Hungarian Parliament sat in stunned silence, but in evident concurrence with the speaker. 15 The purpose of delving into these two factors, fear and anxiety, it not to overplay their role at the expense of the other components already mentioned, but rather, to point toward the substance of the Hungarian gentry and middle class mentality: Being alone, feeling isolated in the midst of "aliens"--Germans, Slavs, Rumanians-was a source of both real pride and real fear, but fear could never be openly confessed, specifically because of the accompanying sense of pride. This lack of balance, therefore, created an unhealthy atmosphere of irrationality and arrogance, which in turn provoked an equally irrational and arrogant response from the representatives of the nationalities; thus, gradually and tragically, all the bridges were burned. The Slovak "deviation" from Magyar patriotism perhaps hurt the Hungarians the most, because, in spite of the bitter experience of 1848, when many Slovaks sided with the Habsburgs against the Hungarians, the Slovak people were still trusted as the "simple, guileless, and pious little brother" of the "sturdy and powerful" Magyar nation. Treason might well be expected from the "fierce Rae" (Serb), or the "crafty Olah" (Rumanian), but not from a "T6t" (A condescending Magyar word for Slovak). There was no viciousness in the general Hungarian view of the Slovaks, but rather a sense of patronizing benevolence, so charmingly popularized in the novels and short stories of Kalman Mikszath. The alleged Pan-Slav agitation aroused such a great fury exactly because it seemed to disrupt the "idyllic harmony" between Magyar and Slovak which was so deeply rooted in historical tradition and friendly coexistence. There was another side to the coin of benevolent patronization, however. The "T6t" was liked perhaps, but obviously not respected as an equal of the Magyar. Count J6szef Mailath remarked in an otherwise strongly chauvinistic rebuttal to H. W. V. Temperley, the famous British �SLOVAKIA 111 historian, "We must confess that the depreciation of Slovakism, whether in lower or higher circles is 2. thing to which everybody is accustomed in Hungary. There is a saying, a Slovak is no man." 16 What was the response of young educated Slovaks to this general Magyar attitude toward them? Jozef Skultety, a well-known Slovak writer wants us to believe " . .. the Slovak remains true to himself ... he most frequently preserves his soul. He will sooner squeeze another than yield17 ••. the Slovak does not imitate." 18 The facts and figures squarely contradict Skultety: According to one estimate, shortly before World War I, the number of the educated Slovak-oriented families did not exceed five hundred in number. 19 However, should we blame the average Slovak for his eagerness to become a Magyar when all the economic and social advantages were on the Magyar side? The Magyar attitude towards the national minorities in general and towards the Slovaks in particular was racial only in a limited or qualified sense. The Magyar was considered superior and the Slovak inferior, but as soon as the Slovak decided to become a Magyar, he seemingly underwent a miraculous metamorphosis and was accepted 2.:; 2, fuE-fledged member of the Hungarian nation. In Magyar eyes, by his conversion, this neophyte Magyar manifested his maturity and wisdom and acquired all the higher qualities attributed to the Magyars. This belief served then as the foundation for pursuing Magyarization through the schools and churches. Albert Einstein could have never graduated into Nazi Germany's "Herrenvolk," but the son of a nationalist Slovak Lutheran pastor, Pavo! Hojc, could become Pal Hojtsy, a recognized historian, who published a book in 1902, under the title of Great Hungary, the Future Centuries of Hungarian History. Not every "new" Hungarian bothered to change his name even. A famous Catholic bishop Ottokar Prohaszka did not. However, it was not necessarily the sound of the name but the spirit that really counted. Bishop Prohaszka, though progressive in many respects, became one of the leading intellectual and spiritual leaders of the ultra chauvinistic counter-revolutionary movements in Hungary during the 1920's. The following excerpts is from a speech he held before a rightist audience in Budapest, "Beneath the national idea we have �112 SLOVAKIA to sense Magyar Reality, Magyar Blood, Magyar Land, and Magyar Life. But we ought not only to sense all of these -we have to live Magyar destiny." 20 Were these people happy and satisfied with their choice ? We cannot read their minds in retrospect, but there is no reason to assume that they were not. Magyar nationalistic policies could be harsh even brutal at times, but they did not demand an open or public renunciation of the old abandoned language, and an open or public pledge for the new one. Quite surely, thousands and thousands of Slovaks turned into Magyars without the flourish of trumpets and worked quietly and diligently. To call them opportunists would be to expect too much from human nature. For the average Slovak high school graduate, with an absolute proficiency in the Magyar language, the appeal of being accepted as an "adult," and also, of course, of securing positions in the church, schools, civil service, etc., was hard to resist. Perhaps some of the "super-converts" who wished to out-Magyar the most bigoted Magyars could be put out of countenance at times if they-as it always happens with this type-were keen on not only asserting the new but denying and hiding the old. Gyorgy Szmrecsanyi, a member of the Parliament, sounded quite embarrassed when after reading long quotes from Slovak newspapers he was questioned about his ethnic origin by Milan Hodza. 21 Who were the members of the minority, the nationally minded Slovaks? They too were graduates of the Magyar high schools, thus proving, at least partially, the self-defeating nature of Magyarization through education. Out of every hundred "converts" perhaps only a few became "rebels," but these latter could potentially cause a great deal of trouble-as they did in fact-to the idea and practices of a one and only Magyar National State. The commonly shared goal of the Slovak nationalists was not an independent Slovakia or Czecho-Slovakia, but broad Slovak autonomy within Hungary. Matyas Bella, one of the Slovak nationalist representatives in the Hungarian Parliament said, "Should all the national minorities be able to assert themselves within the State of Hungary, then I will welcome that State." 22 In this sense, the members of this group were the Slovak counterparts of the Czech Austro-Slavs. The �SLOVAKIA 113 dominant character of the Slovak nationalist movement in Hungary was conservative and Catholic. The main reason for this trend lay in the fact that most Slovak nationalist leaders emerged from a conservative Catholic background, the religious preference for about two-thirds of the Slovaks, and the major aim of these leaders was to win over the fundamentally conservative and religious peasant masses. Ccnservatism, therefore, functioned both as a source and a purpose. The goal of Slovak autonomy was of such paramount importance that it seemed to override all other ideological considerations, even to the point of apparent inconsistency. Milan Hodza was more than eager to strike a simultaneous alliance with all opposition groups outside the Parliament, the radicals and the socialists, and with the Heir to the Crown, Archduke Francis Ferdinand. There was also heavy E.mphasis laid on cooperation with leaders of other national minorities, especially with the Rumanians, who had more elected representatives in the Hungarian Parliament and had a longer tradition and greater experience in their "battle" against Magyar chauvinism ("The roots of the Little Entente") .23 This Magyar chauvinism was eventually countered by Slovak chauvinism, and it is quite evident that Hodza and his fellow Slovak nationalists spoke one language to their colleagues in the Hungarian Parliament, and another one to their Slovak constituents and reading public. The Parliament was filled with complaints over the "duplicity" of the Slovak nationalists, supported by direct quotes from Budapest-based Slovak newspapers. 24 To what extent was the "dilemma" solved for those who chose the Slovak road? It again could be assumed that the reward of fighting for a cause was satisfying on a personal level. However, it was a frustrating fight, not only because it did not seem to bring substantial results, but also because it was beset by a lack of broad support and by a sense of inner insecurity. One had to prove himself a Slovak in his own right, and this task was most difficult in the midst of an environment, where almost every particle of the atmosphere was saturated with condescension for the "Tot" and suspicion of the Slovak. In this antagonistic atmosphere. emotional attachment �114 SLOVAKIA to all brother Slavs and to "Mother Russia" in particular was an aid to some who declined to succumb to Magyar pressure. The roots of this romantic sentiment reach back to the early-middle 19th century, to Jan Kollar and to :Cudovit sttlr. With the passing of romanticism, cultural Slavophilism turned into political Pan-Slavism, which was frequently a barely concealed instrument of Russian foreign policy. Russia's attention, however, was focused on the Balkans. Thus, Slovak-Russian relations suffered more because of the Russians' lack of interest, rather than from the handicap of geographical barriers. A voice of near fatalistic resignation was struck by the leader of the russophi!e Martin group, Svetozar Hurban-Vajansky in a letter to a Russian friend, " ... ir there is no chance for the Slovaks to live under Russian hegemony, then it would be better for them to vanish altogether." 25 In the eyes of the Martin group, Tsarist Russia could do no wrong. Yet, although most educated Slovaks, with the exception of the Magyarones, shared a vague sense of brotherhood with all other Slavs, active russophilism encountered several stumbling blocks. The oppressive character of the Tsarist regime alienated the Slovak liberals and democrats, while the orthodox zeal of Tsarist officialdom estranged the Slovak Catholic conservatives. Both camps were infuriated by Russia's anti-Polish policy. The liberals and democrats were incensed because the rights of a fellow Slav nation were being violated; the Catholics resented the anti-Catholic policy of the Tsarist government. Consequently, the number of russophiles was limited and their emotional, neo-romantic movement reached an impasse by the early 20th century. There was another alternative left for the young educated Slovak: to turn to the Czechs. Liberals and democrats among the Slovak intelligentsia, clustering around the founders of the journal Hlas, Vavro srobar and Pavol Blaho, were inclined to do so. Yet, the "czechophile" group among the Slovak intellectuals was also relatively small26 and without considerable influence, " ... the main reason why we were so powerless and submissive was that during those long decades we did not look to Czech culture and the idea of Czechoslovak unity as in 1848." 27 - these were the bitter words of Ivan Markovic, a Slovak politician, and �SLOVAKIA 115 a member of several Czecho-Slovak cabinets after 1918. I have used this quote for a very important reason: My contention is that though the logic of the quote is entirely correct, it could and should be used in a reverse sense as well. Certainly, the Slovaks could have learned a great deal of self-assurance and a sense of strength from the Czechs, but one reason why the Slovaks were so reluctant to do so was precisely because of their relative weakness and backwardness. The Slovaks were caught in a vicious circle. A "pilgrimage" to Prague was a sensible thing to do; there was so much to learn there. Such a journey, however, concurred with an open admission of inferiority; one often had to swallow one's pride, and the Czechs did not make this cooperation easy. They too had developed a patronizing attitude towards the Slovaks, the implication of which was mere complex than was the case between Magyar and Slo-• vak. A Slovak, by his own will, could become a full-fledged member of a ruling nation, the Magyars, and an "adult" in lVIagyar society. A Slovak in Prague would most likely remain a Slovak who was not expected to abandon his people but was asked to affiliate. On paper, this latter proposition appears to be_much more humane and democratic. Yet, if an alliance is not maintained as between equals, then being relegated to a subordinate position is worse than not being included in one at all. Perhaps the young educated Slovaks had a foreboding of this predicament, and most of them chose the "easy way" to Budapest, even if that resulted in Pal dropping Pavel and Janos shedding Jan. Had there then ever been any hope for the Slovak intelligentsia in Austria-Hungary? Could they in any way have guided the destiny of Slovakia before 1918? Was there any realistic solution to their dilemma? For some of them yes, but at a price. One group of realists joined the Magyars, at the price of assimilation. Another group of realists associated itself with the Czechs, at the price of a new though more subtle form of subordination. For the russophiles, entrapped by their phantasies, the solution was more a matter of heart than of mind. The ones remaining on the "Slovak path" were thrown back to their own resources, intense in their enthusiasm and faith but incapable of overcoming the heavy odds against them. Therefore, the Slovaks in �116 SLOVAKIA Austria-Hungary had no chance whatever to ignore or cast aside the available options in favor of a universal Slovak solution. Their dilemma weighed on them as their historical heritage, present predicament, and a portent of difficult times to come. FOOTNOTES 1) R. W. Seton-Watson, Slovakia Then and Now (London, 1931), pp. 2526. 2) Jan Sveton, Die Slowaken in Ungarn (Bratislava, 1943). Steph en Janak, "The Land Question in Slovakia," The Slavonic Review, VIII (1930). 3) Ar.nuaire Statistique Hongrois, Budapest, L'Office Central De Statistique Du Royaume de Hongrie, 1915. 4) Robert Kann, The Multinational Empire (New York, 1969), I, 271. 5) Oszkar Jaszi, The Dissolution of the Habsburg Monarchy (Chicago, 1931), p. 323. 6) Ibid. , p. 319. 7 ) In this regard , the views of Count J6zsef Mailath, a Magyar artistocrat, were characteristic of the general Hungarian public opinion. M, ilath contended that ,e ven if the changes of forced Magyarization were true, they would really l:le invalid, since the Law acknowledged only one Hungarian national state, and not the existence of Slovak, Rumanian, Serbian, and Ruthenian nations within the borders of Hungary. Joseph Graf Mailath, Hungarica Res (Berlin, 1908), p. 22. 8) Quoted by Jaszi, op. cit., p. 321. 9) Paul Teleki, Count, The Evolution of Hungary and its Place in History (New York, 1923), pp. 155-156. 10) Ibid., p. 161 and p. 173. 11) Guyla Szekfti, Harom Nemzedek (The Three Generations), (Budapest, 1920), p. 261. 12) Lajos Steier, A T6t Ker-des (The Slovak Problem) (Lipt6szentmikl6s, 1912), I, 1. 13) Ibid., p. 160. 14) Orszaggyules-Nyomtatvanyai-Kepviselohaz-Napl6 (The Stenographic Proceedings of the Hungarian Parliament) XIII, 102. October 30, 1907. 15) Ibid., pp. 111-112. 16) " Racial Strife in Hungary" - a Reply to H. W. V. Temperley by Count Joseph Mailath. The Westminster Review, CLXX (1908), 30. 17 ) Joseph Skultety, Sketches from Slovak History (Middletown, 1930), p. 160. 18) Ibid. , p . 193. 19) Th. J. G. Locher, Die Nationale Differenzierung und Integrierung der Slowaken und Tschechen in Ihren Geschichtlichen Verlauf bis 1848 (Haarlem, 1931), p. 197. �SLOVAKIA 117 20 ) Ottokar Prohaszka , A Nacionalizmusr6l (About Nationalism) (Budapest, 1925), p. 61. 21) Orszaggyiiles-Nyomtatvanyai-Kepvise l5h6.z-Napl6, VII, 424, February 18, 1907. 22) Ibid., I, 284. July 7, 1906. 23) Milan Hodza, Federation in Central Europe (New York, 1942), p. 40. 24 ) One example: Speech by Gyorgy Szmrecsanyi. Orszaggyules-Nyomtatvanyai-Kepvisel5h6.z-Napl6, VII, 411-417. February 16, 1907. 25 ) Vladislav Stastny, ed., Slovanstvi v narodnim zivote techu a Slovaku (Praha , 1968), p. 328. 26 ) Ludwig vo n Gogolak, Beitriige zur Geschichte des slowakischen Volkes (Mtinchen, 1963 ), p. 98. 27 ) Seton-Watson, op. cit., p. 93. * * * Centennial of Slovak Health Spas in the Tatra Mountains Rev. Andrew V. Pier, O.S.B. This year (1975) marks the 100th anniversary of public establishment of the now famous health centers in two High Tatra regions, namely, Novy Smokovec and strbske Pleso, and at Lucivna, located at the northern end of the Low Tatra mountains in Slovakia. At Novy Smokovec located at the foot of the forested slope leading upward to the Slavkovsky peak was the first Slovak health resort set aside for tuberculosis patients a hundred years ago. The low humidity, year-round sunshine and intense ultra-violet radiation, crisp atmosphere at the high altitude of some 8,000 feet, low atmospheric pressure .. . these health factors lend themselves to a natural center for the relief and cure of not only pulmonary ailments and chronic respiratory troubles, but contribute greatly to the cure of diseases of the thyroid gland and various neuroses. For the healthy Novy Smokovec is a natural winter sports' resort and a tourist attraction the rest of the year. Accommodations are modest but adequate. � SLOVAKIA 105 The Slovak Dilemma Ln Austria-Hungary* Gabor V e r m e s Rutgers University, Dept. of History At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, the educated middle class Slovak in Austria-Hungary found himself enmeshed in a multiple identity crisis. He could remain a Slovak and thus limit his chance for any meaningful participation in the Hungarian Establishment; he could ally himself with the Czechs as a junior partner; he could indulge in an illusionary alliance with Russia; or he could abandon his Slovak identity and become a Magyar. This dilemma weighed most heavily upon members of the Slovak intelligentsia because their status in Hungarian society was contingent upon the choice they made. Yet, the survival of the entire Slovak nation was thought to be in question. Almost all the Slovak and pro-Slovak literati declaimed inevitable doom and prophesized the gradual extinction of the Slovaks. Robert Seton-Watson spoke of the virtual destruction of Slovak nationality, and concluded, " ... especially after the notorious Education Act of Count Albert Apponyi in 1907, the process of Magyarization was advancing by leaps and bounds, in particular along the Southern linguistic frontier ... The victim was rescued just in time." 1 The question arises then: Can an entire people vanish, in modern times, by the superimposition of powerful outside forces? Was the feeling of doom justified as far as ,:, NOTE: We are publishing this article on the recommendation of Prof. J . M. Kirschbaum, concerning an exchange of views on the Slovak question in Austria-Hungary as a precondition for preparing a better future for all nations of Central Europe. Professor Vermes' conclusions are not identical with Slovak views but he presents a serious and well documented attempt at an objective analysis from the Hungarian point of view. The editor �106 SLOVAKIA the Slovaks were concerned? The statistics are inexorable, and they do se6m to indicate a gradual erosion in the number of Slovaks still maintaining their national identity.2 The pull of Magyarization was especially strong among the Slovak educated middle class; very understandably, this caused the gravest concern to the nationalist Slovaks. The nationalist group was also greatly concerned over the large scale emigration of Slovak peasants who left the Tatra Mountains to settle in the adjoining territories which were inhabited by the Magyars or by a mixed population. The peasants also migrated to the big cities, to Budapest in particular, and a considerable number emigrated to America. Yet a revealing comparison between the number of Slovaks who could speak only their native tongue in 1900 and the same category in 1910 shows that a sizable segment remained Slovak.3 In the isolated hamlets and villages of the Tatra, the population remained Slovak, not because of any conscious or deliberate effort to assert themselves as such, but because they lived in homogeneous compact groups. Magyar power reached them only through various types of county officials, and through the school teachers, but even if the little pupil learned to mutter a few sentences in Hungarian, most likely he disposed of them at home with a natural sense of relief. The anticipated diminution of the intellectual elite, therefore, did not seem to conflict with the simultaneous preservation of a less sophisticated stratum of society much less exposed to alien influences. Thus, the usage of the term extinction becomes somewhat exaggerated and overly pessimistic. The Slovak peasantry, provided they were ignorant and indifferent to any kind of cause, including that of Slovak nationalism, could still be considered a bulwark against national self-annihilation and perhaps even as a reservoir of a future Slovak national renaissance. The reasons for the Slovak predicament are fairly well-known. 4 The two basic factors were their early loss of independence to the Hungarians in the 9th-10th centuries A.D. and their sparse expansion over their poor and mountainous terrain. Beginning in the mid-19th century, two additional components were added. One was the disadvantage resulting from the absence of an independent Czech or ~lovak state. (This was a disadvantage in comparison �SLOVAKIA 107 with the Austro-Rumanian and Austro-Serbian position, strengthened by the existence of an independent Rumania and Serbia) . The other factor in the Slovaks' plight was the clash between two adverse national egos, the Magyar and the Slovak. As long as the Monarchy lasted, Magyar nationalism gained the upper hand, not because of any inherent superior quality but as a natural consequence of a superior power, superior in the political, social, and economic sense, and even in the psychological sphere of self-assurance. Hungary had much to be proud of by the second half of the 19th century. It had grown from a backward agricultural country into a relatively advanced agricultural-industrial state. After an unsuccessful revolution in 1848-1849, astute negotiations aided by fortuitous circumstances led to equal partnership with Austria in 1867. Hungary became an integral part of a dualist system which maintained its great power status up to the very end of its existence, in spite of its inner weaknesses . In 1896, prosperity, though unevenly shared, and optimism, though not unanimous, exploded into the pageantry of the Milleneum, the one-thousandth anniversary of Hungary's existence. The country-gentry was the major conveyor of this festive spirit. In their patriotic fervor they were supported by an urban middle class, consisting partly of their own kin, partly of the remnants of the old German burgher class, and partly by a growing number of Jews . Quite often members of these two latter groups turned into more zealous Magyars than the Magyars themselves . Jeno Rakosi, of German origin, was the wellknown editor of the Budapest Hirlap; he coined the slogan of "A Great Hungary of 30 million Magyars," 5 and his Jewish journalist colleagues backed him up with unfaltering ardor. The gentry, however, though deeply entrenched in their strongholds, the administrations of state and counties, was no longer the liberal generation of 1848. As Oszkar Jaszi pointed out, this gentry, by losing its economic power, and somewhat bewildered by the complexities of a new emerging urban-commercial-industrial society, compensated for its growing insecurity with an ever strengthening assertion of national superiority .6 In order to justify this superiority and persevere in it, the gentry stubbornly �108 SLOVAKIA maintained its traditional, legal-political arguments, to the point of referring to the "Law" even when actual injustice was admitted. 7 The Fundamental Law, to which constant reference was made, was considered historical by the Magyar ruling classes, and was based on their rights by virtue of the Magyar conquest. Even such a recognized moderate as Kalman Szell (Prime Minister of Hungary, 1899-1903) asserted, "The Magyars have conquered this country for themselves and not for others. The supremacy and hegemony of the Magyars is fully justified." 8 No one would deny the exceptions to this rule. The impact of Ferenc Deak and Baron J6zsef Eotvos, the great Hungarian liberal statesmen, was still evident upon the creation of the Nationality Law of 1868, which granted extensive cultural rights to the non-Magyar nationalities, though it stopped short of acknowledging their existence as separate legal-political entities. In his exile, Lajos Kossuth changed from an intolerant chauvinist into the champion of a Danubian Federation, and he had a faithful disciple in Hungary in the person of Lajos Mocsary. In later years, preceding World War I, Ozskar Jaszi, a sociologist and politician of radical-leftist leanings, was sympathetically inclined to the course providing genuine equality between Magyars and non-Magyars. These and several other exceptions notwithstanding, most Magyars were indifferent at best, and outrightly hostile at worst, to the national aspirations, demands, and needs of their fellow non-Magyar citizens. The consequences of such attitudes were examined even by the conservative school of Hungarian historians. Count Pal Teleki recognized the impossibility of creating a unified Hungarian nation through enforced assimilation,9 and in addition he blamed the innumerable blunders of the Magyarization efforts on Magyar inconsistency and Magyar administrative inefficiency. 10 Accordin'5 to Gyula Szekfu, the process of Magyarization was detrimental because it corroded the Hungarian nation's moral fibre, yet it was not the "fearsome and bloodthirsty monster of Jaszi and Seton-Watson, but a childish construction, a plaything, and an unrealizable and overly emotional postulate, doing more harm to the Magyars, than to their nationalities." 11 Thus, behind the apparently rigid and legal pedantry �SLOVAKIA 109 of the Magyar public, it has not been hard to discover the emotional content, reflecting frustrations and childlike wishful thinking. To be sure, these elements were of considerable weight. However, at least equal stress should be laid on other factors as well, such as anxiety and fear of being encircled and outnumbered and consequently, of being eventually engulfed and annihilated. That fear and anxiety were never expressed in these pessimistic terms, but rather in their psychological reverse: The Hungarian nation would never perish, because of its power, its eagerness to grow from 10 to 30 million if possible, and because of its readiness to absorb all non-Magyars by all means available. Yet behind this fagade of self-confidence, fear and anxiety lurked, often in near paranoic dimensions. Lajos Steier, a Hungarian "expert" on the Slovaks, sounded the alarm hysterically, " ... Magyar hegemony, national unity, and our Fatherland are in mortal danger!" 12 Regardless of the validity of his anxiety, his proficiency in the affairs of Slovak-Magyar relations provided him with enough foresight to see the "danger" in a Czech-Slovak rapprochement. 13 Most Hungarians, however, were content to release their fear and anxiety in their ch~se of an all-encompassing yet amorphous scarecrow, Pan-Slavism, which was not understood properly at all, but was used as a charge both against bomb-throwing anarchists and totally harmless literati, attributing dark conspiratorial machinations to both. Hungarian gendarmes killed and wounded several Slovaks at the village of cernova, on October 27, 1907. The reason for the unrest was the punitive actions taken against cernova's Slovak nationalist priest, Father Andrej Hlinka by his Magyarone superiors in the Catholic hierarchy. The massacre was followed by stormy sessions in the Hungarian Parliament. Milan Hodza, one of the seven nationalist Slovak members, was accused of paving the way for the massacre through his agitation, and some of his Magyar colleagues called him "Assassin! ... rotten agitator!" 14 The Magyar representative from the district of cernova, bdon Beni9zky, painted a picture of Slovak agitation, a picture, which could have taken a rightful place in Dante's Inferno. He talked of the once pious Slovaks throwing rocks at every coach owned by Hungarian gentlemen, about Slovak agitators going around the villages, spreading news of �110 SLOVAKIA Hungarians taking Slovak children away during the night and taking them down to the Great Hungarian Plain in order to make good Magyars out of them; he conveyed the impression that Slovak peasants were ready to grab an axe and resort to unbridled violence. Hodza demanded proof, but none was forthcoming. The entire Hungarian Parliament sat in stunned silence, but in evident concurrence with the speaker. 15 The purpose of delving into these two factors, fear and anxiety, it not to overplay their role at the expense of the other components already mentioned, but rather, to point toward the substance of the Hungarian gentry and middle class mentality: Being alone, feeling isolated in the midst of "aliens"--Germans, Slavs, Rumanians-was a source of both real pride and real fear, but fear could never be openly confessed, specifically because of the accompanying sense of pride. This lack of balance, therefore, created an unhealthy atmosphere of irrationality and arrogance, which in turn provoked an equally irrational and arrogant response from the representatives of the nationalities; thus, gradually and tragically, all the bridges were burned. The Slovak "deviation" from Magyar patriotism perhaps hurt the Hungarians the most, because, in spite of the bitter experience of 1848, when many Slovaks sided with the Habsburgs against the Hungarians, the Slovak people were still trusted as the "simple, guileless, and pious little brother" of the "sturdy and powerful" Magyar nation. Treason might well be expected from the "fierce Rae" (Serb), or the "crafty Olah" (Rumanian), but not from a "T6t" (A condescending Magyar word for Slovak). There was no viciousness in the general Hungarian view of the Slovaks, but rather a sense of patronizing benevolence, so charmingly popularized in the novels and short stories of Kalman Mikszath. The alleged Pan-Slav agitation aroused such a great fury exactly because it seemed to disrupt the "idyllic harmony" between Magyar and Slovak which was so deeply rooted in historical tradition and friendly coexistence. There was another side to the coin of benevolent patronization, however. The "T6t" was liked perhaps, but obviously not respected as an equal of the Magyar. Count J6szef Mailath remarked in an otherwise strongly chauvinistic rebuttal to H. W. V. Temperley, the famous British �SLOVAKIA 111 historian, "We must confess that the depreciation of Slovakism, whether in lower or higher circles is 2. thing to which everybody is accustomed in Hungary. There is a saying, a Slovak is no man." 16 What was the response of young educated Slovaks to this general Magyar attitude toward them? Jozef Skultety, a well-known Slovak writer wants us to believe " . .. the Slovak remains true to himself ... he most frequently preserves his soul. He will sooner squeeze another than yield17 ••. the Slovak does not imitate." 18 The facts and figures squarely contradict Skultety: According to one estimate, shortly before World War I, the number of the educated Slovak-oriented families did not exceed five hundred in number. 19 However, should we blame the average Slovak for his eagerness to become a Magyar when all the economic and social advantages were on the Magyar side? The Magyar attitude towards the national minorities in general and towards the Slovaks in particular was racial only in a limited or qualified sense. The Magyar was considered superior and the Slovak inferior, but as soon as the Slovak decided to become a Magyar, he seemingly underwent a miraculous metamorphosis and was accepted 2.:; 2, fuE-fledged member of the Hungarian nation. In Magyar eyes, by his conversion, this neophyte Magyar manifested his maturity and wisdom and acquired all the higher qualities attributed to the Magyars. This belief served then as the foundation for pursuing Magyarization through the schools and churches. Albert Einstein could have never graduated into Nazi Germany's "Herrenvolk," but the son of a nationalist Slovak Lutheran pastor, Pavo! Hojc, could become Pal Hojtsy, a recognized historian, who published a book in 1902, under the title of Great Hungary, the Future Centuries of Hungarian History. Not every "new" Hungarian bothered to change his name even. A famous Catholic bishop Ottokar Prohaszka did not. However, it was not necessarily the sound of the name but the spirit that really counted. Bishop Prohaszka, though progressive in many respects, became one of the leading intellectual and spiritual leaders of the ultra chauvinistic counter-revolutionary movements in Hungary during the 1920's. The following excerpts is from a speech he held before a rightist audience in Budapest, "Beneath the national idea we have �112 SLOVAKIA to sense Magyar Reality, Magyar Blood, Magyar Land, and Magyar Life. But we ought not only to sense all of these -we have to live Magyar destiny." 20 Were these people happy and satisfied with their choice ? We cannot read their minds in retrospect, but there is no reason to assume that they were not. Magyar nationalistic policies could be harsh even brutal at times, but they did not demand an open or public renunciation of the old abandoned language, and an open or public pledge for the new one. Quite surely, thousands and thousands of Slovaks turned into Magyars without the flourish of trumpets and worked quietly and diligently. To call them opportunists would be to expect too much from human nature. For the average Slovak high school graduate, with an absolute proficiency in the Magyar language, the appeal of being accepted as an "adult," and also, of course, of securing positions in the church, schools, civil service, etc., was hard to resist. Perhaps some of the "super-converts" who wished to out-Magyar the most bigoted Magyars could be put out of countenance at times if they-as it always happens with this type-were keen on not only asserting the new but denying and hiding the old. Gyorgy Szmrecsanyi, a member of the Parliament, sounded quite embarrassed when after reading long quotes from Slovak newspapers he was questioned about his ethnic origin by Milan Hodza. 21 Who were the members of the minority, the nationally minded Slovaks? They too were graduates of the Magyar high schools, thus proving, at least partially, the self-defeating nature of Magyarization through education. Out of every hundred "converts" perhaps only a few became "rebels," but these latter could potentially cause a great deal of trouble-as they did in fact-to the idea and practices of a one and only Magyar National State. The commonly shared goal of the Slovak nationalists was not an independent Slovakia or Czecho-Slovakia, but broad Slovak autonomy within Hungary. Matyas Bella, one of the Slovak nationalist representatives in the Hungarian Parliament said, "Should all the national minorities be able to assert themselves within the State of Hungary, then I will welcome that State." 22 In this sense, the members of this group were the Slovak counterparts of the Czech Austro-Slavs. The �SLOVAKIA 113 dominant character of the Slovak nationalist movement in Hungary was conservative and Catholic. The main reason for this trend lay in the fact that most Slovak nationalist leaders emerged from a conservative Catholic background, the religious preference for about two-thirds of the Slovaks, and the major aim of these leaders was to win over the fundamentally conservative and religious peasant masses. Ccnservatism, therefore, functioned both as a source and a purpose. The goal of Slovak autonomy was of such paramount importance that it seemed to override all other ideological considerations, even to the point of apparent inconsistency. Milan Hodza was more than eager to strike a simultaneous alliance with all opposition groups outside the Parliament, the radicals and the socialists, and with the Heir to the Crown, Archduke Francis Ferdinand. There was also heavy E.mphasis laid on cooperation with leaders of other national minorities, especially with the Rumanians, who had more elected representatives in the Hungarian Parliament and had a longer tradition and greater experience in their "battle" against Magyar chauvinism ("The roots of the Little Entente") .23 This Magyar chauvinism was eventually countered by Slovak chauvinism, and it is quite evident that Hodza and his fellow Slovak nationalists spoke one language to their colleagues in the Hungarian Parliament, and another one to their Slovak constituents and reading public. The Parliament was filled with complaints over the "duplicity" of the Slovak nationalists, supported by direct quotes from Budapest-based Slovak newspapers. 24 To what extent was the "dilemma" solved for those who chose the Slovak road? It again could be assumed that the reward of fighting for a cause was satisfying on a personal level. However, it was a frustrating fight, not only because it did not seem to bring substantial results, but also because it was beset by a lack of broad support and by a sense of inner insecurity. One had to prove himself a Slovak in his own right, and this task was most difficult in the midst of an environment, where almost every particle of the atmosphere was saturated with condescension for the "Tot" and suspicion of the Slovak. In this antagonistic atmosphere. emotional attachment �114 SLOVAKIA to all brother Slavs and to "Mother Russia" in particular was an aid to some who declined to succumb to Magyar pressure. The roots of this romantic sentiment reach back to the early-middle 19th century, to Jan Kollar and to :Cudovit sttlr. With the passing of romanticism, cultural Slavophilism turned into political Pan-Slavism, which was frequently a barely concealed instrument of Russian foreign policy. Russia's attention, however, was focused on the Balkans. Thus, Slovak-Russian relations suffered more because of the Russians' lack of interest, rather than from the handicap of geographical barriers. A voice of near fatalistic resignation was struck by the leader of the russophi!e Martin group, Svetozar Hurban-Vajansky in a letter to a Russian friend, " ... ir there is no chance for the Slovaks to live under Russian hegemony, then it would be better for them to vanish altogether." 25 In the eyes of the Martin group, Tsarist Russia could do no wrong. Yet, although most educated Slovaks, with the exception of the Magyarones, shared a vague sense of brotherhood with all other Slavs, active russophilism encountered several stumbling blocks. The oppressive character of the Tsarist regime alienated the Slovak liberals and democrats, while the orthodox zeal of Tsarist officialdom estranged the Slovak Catholic conservatives. Both camps were infuriated by Russia's anti-Polish policy. The liberals and democrats were incensed because the rights of a fellow Slav nation were being violated; the Catholics resented the anti-Catholic policy of the Tsarist government. Consequently, the number of russophiles was limited and their emotional, neo-romantic movement reached an impasse by the early 20th century. There was another alternative left for the young educated Slovak: to turn to the Czechs. Liberals and democrats among the Slovak intelligentsia, clustering around the founders of the journal Hlas, Vavro srobar and Pavol Blaho, were inclined to do so. Yet, the "czechophile" group among the Slovak intellectuals was also relatively small26 and without considerable influence, " ... the main reason why we were so powerless and submissive was that during those long decades we did not look to Czech culture and the idea of Czechoslovak unity as in 1848." 27 - these were the bitter words of Ivan Markovic, a Slovak politician, and �SLOVAKIA 115 a member of several Czecho-Slovak cabinets after 1918. I have used this quote for a very important reason: My contention is that though the logic of the quote is entirely correct, it could and should be used in a reverse sense as well. Certainly, the Slovaks could have learned a great deal of self-assurance and a sense of strength from the Czechs, but one reason why the Slovaks were so reluctant to do so was precisely because of their relative weakness and backwardness. The Slovaks were caught in a vicious circle. A "pilgrimage" to Prague was a sensible thing to do; there was so much to learn there. Such a journey, however, concurred with an open admission of inferiority; one often had to swallow one's pride, and the Czechs did not make this cooperation easy. They too had developed a patronizing attitude towards the Slovaks, the implication of which was mere complex than was the case between Magyar and Slo-• vak. A Slovak, by his own will, could become a full-fledged member of a ruling nation, the Magyars, and an "adult" in lVIagyar society. A Slovak in Prague would most likely remain a Slovak who was not expected to abandon his people but was asked to affiliate. On paper, this latter proposition appears to be_much more humane and democratic. Yet, if an alliance is not maintained as between equals, then being relegated to a subordinate position is worse than not being included in one at all. Perhaps the young educated Slovaks had a foreboding of this predicament, and most of them chose the "easy way" to Budapest, even if that resulted in Pal dropping Pavel and Janos shedding Jan. Had there then ever been any hope for the Slovak intelligentsia in Austria-Hungary? Could they in any way have guided the destiny of Slovakia before 1918? Was there any realistic solution to their dilemma? For some of them yes, but at a price. One group of realists joined the Magyars, at the price of assimilation. Another group of realists associated itself with the Czechs, at the price of a new though more subtle form of subordination. For the russophiles, entrapped by their phantasies, the solution was more a matter of heart than of mind. The ones remaining on the "Slovak path" were thrown back to their own resources, intense in their enthusiasm and faith but incapable of overcoming the heavy odds against them. Therefore, the Slovaks in �116 SLOVAKIA Austria-Hungary had no chance whatever to ignore or cast aside the available options in favor of a universal Slovak solution. Their dilemma weighed on them as their historical heritage, present predicament, and a portent of difficult times to come. FOOTNOTES 1) R. W. Seton-Watson, Slovakia Then and Now (London, 1931), pp. 2526. 2) Jan Sveton, Die Slowaken in Ungarn (Bratislava, 1943). Steph en Janak, "The Land Question in Slovakia," The Slavonic Review, VIII (1930). 3) Ar.nuaire Statistique Hongrois, Budapest, L'Office Central De Statistique Du Royaume de Hongrie, 1915. 4) Robert Kann, The Multinational Empire (New York, 1969), I, 271. 5) Oszkar Jaszi, The Dissolution of the Habsburg Monarchy (Chicago, 1931), p. 323. 6) Ibid. , p. 319. 7 ) In this regard , the views of Count J6zsef Mailath, a Magyar artistocrat, were characteristic of the general Hungarian public opinion. M, ilath contended that ,e ven if the changes of forced Magyarization were true, they would really l:le invalid, since the Law acknowledged only one Hungarian national state, and not the existence of Slovak, Rumanian, Serbian, and Ruthenian nations within the borders of Hungary. Joseph Graf Mailath, Hungarica Res (Berlin, 1908), p. 22. 8) Quoted by Jaszi, op. cit., p. 321. 9) Paul Teleki, Count, The Evolution of Hungary and its Place in History (New York, 1923), pp. 155-156. 10) Ibid., p. 161 and p. 173. 11) Guyla Szekfti, Harom Nemzedek (The Three Generations), (Budapest, 1920), p. 261. 12) Lajos Steier, A T6t Ker-des (The Slovak Problem) (Lipt6szentmikl6s, 1912), I, 1. 13) Ibid., p. 160. 14) Orszaggyules-Nyomtatvanyai-Kepviselohaz-Napl6 (The Stenographic Proceedings of the Hungarian Parliament) XIII, 102. October 30, 1907. 15) Ibid., pp. 111-112. 16) " Racial Strife in Hungary" - a Reply to H. W. V. Temperley by Count Joseph Mailath. The Westminster Review, CLXX (1908), 30. 17 ) Joseph Skultety, Sketches from Slovak History (Middletown, 1930), p. 160. 18) Ibid. , p . 193. 19) Th. J. G. Locher, Die Nationale Differenzierung und Integrierung der Slowaken und Tschechen in Ihren Geschichtlichen Verlauf bis 1848 (Haarlem, 1931), p. 197. �SLOVAKIA 117 20 ) Ottokar Prohaszka , A Nacionalizmusr6l (About Nationalism) (Budapest, 1925), p. 61. 21) Orszaggyiiles-Nyomtatvanyai-Kepvise l5h6.z-Napl6, VII, 424, February 18, 1907. 22) Ibid., I, 284. July 7, 1906. 23) Milan Hodza, Federation in Central Europe (New York, 1942), p. 40. 24 ) One example: Speech by Gyorgy Szmrecsanyi. Orszaggyules-Nyomtatvanyai-Kepvisel5h6.z-Napl6, VII, 411-417. February 16, 1907. 25 ) Vladislav Stastny, ed., Slovanstvi v narodnim zivote techu a Slovaku (Praha , 1968), p. 328. 26 ) Ludwig vo n Gogolak, Beitriige zur Geschichte des slowakischen Volkes (Mtinchen, 1963 ), p. 98. 27 ) Seton-Watson, op. cit., p. 93. * * * Centennial of Slovak Health Spas in the Tatra Mountains Rev. Andrew V. Pier, O.S.B. This year (1975) marks the 100th anniversary of public establishment of the now famous health centers in two High Tatra regions, namely, Novy Smokovec and strbske Pleso, and at Lucivna, located at the northern end of the Low Tatra mountains in Slovakia. At Novy Smokovec located at the foot of the forested slope leading upward to the Slavkovsky peak was the first Slovak health resort set aside for tuberculosis patients a hundred years ago. The low humidity, year-round sunshine and intense ultra-violet radiation, crisp atmosphere at the high altitude of some 8,000 feet, low atmospheric pressure .. . these health factors lend themselves to a natural center for the relief and cure of not only pulmonary ailments and chronic respiratory troubles, but contribute greatly to the cure of diseases of the thyroid gland and various neuroses. For the healthy Novy Smokovec is a natural winter sports' resort and a tourist attraction the rest of the year. Accommodations are modest but adequate. � 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 1975, Vol. 25 Description An account of the resource Vol. 25 (No. 48), 1975. 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 1975 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 105 The Slovak Dilemma Ln Austria-Hungary* Gabor V e r m e s Rutgers University, Dept. of History At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, the educated middle class Slovak in Austria-Hungary found himself enmeshed in a multiple identity crisis. He could remain a Slovak and thus limit his chance for any meaningful participation in the Hungarian Establishment; he could ally himself with the Czechs as a junior partner; he could indulge in an illusionary alliance with Russia; or he could abandon his Slovak identity and become a Magyar. This dilemma weighed most heavily upon members of the Slovak intelligentsia because their status in Hungarian society was contingent upon the choice they made. Yet, the survival of the entire Slovak nation was thought to be in question. Almost all the Slovak and pro-Slovak literati declaimed inevitable doom and prophesized the gradual extinction of the Slovaks. Robert Seton-Watson spoke of the virtual destruction of Slovak nationality, and concluded, " ... especially after the notorious Education Act of Count Albert Apponyi in 1907, the process of Magyarization was advancing by leaps and bounds, in particular along the Southern linguistic frontier ... The victim was rescued just in time." 1 The question arises then: Can an entire people vanish, in modern times, by the superimposition of powerful outside forces? Was the feeling of doom justified as far as ,:, NOTE: We are publishing this article on the recommendation of Prof. J . M. Kirschbaum, concerning an exchange of views on the Slovak question in Austria-Hungary as a precondition for preparing a better future for all nations of Central Europe. Professor Vermes' conclusions are not identical with Slovak views but he presents a serious and well documented attempt at an objective analysis from the Hungarian point of view. The editor 106 SLOVAKIA the Slovaks were concerned? The statistics are inexorable, and they do se6m to indicate a gradual erosion in the number of Slovaks still maintaining their national identity.2 The pull of Magyarization was especially strong among the Slovak educated middle class; very understandably, this caused the gravest concern to the nationalist Slovaks. The nationalist group was also greatly concerned over the large scale emigration of Slovak peasants who left the Tatra Mountains to settle in the adjoining territories which were inhabited by the Magyars or by a mixed population. The peasants also migrated to the big cities, to Budapest in particular, and a considerable number emigrated to America. Yet a revealing comparison between the number of Slovaks who could speak only their native tongue in 1900 and the same category in 1910 shows that a sizable segment remained Slovak.3 In the isolated hamlets and villages of the Tatra, the population remained Slovak, not because of any conscious or deliberate effort to assert themselves as such, but because they lived in homogeneous compact groups. Magyar power reached them only through various types of county officials, and through the school teachers, but even if the little pupil learned to mutter a few sentences in Hungarian, most likely he disposed of them at home with a natural sense of relief. The anticipated diminution of the intellectual elite, therefore, did not seem to conflict with the simultaneous preservation of a less sophisticated stratum of society much less exposed to alien influences. Thus, the usage of the term extinction becomes somewhat exaggerated and overly pessimistic. The Slovak peasantry, provided they were ignorant and indifferent to any kind of cause, including that of Slovak nationalism, could still be considered a bulwark against national self-annihilation and perhaps even as a reservoir of a future Slovak national renaissance. The reasons for the Slovak predicament are fairly well-known. 4 The two basic factors were their early loss of independence to the Hungarians in the 9th-10th centuries A.D. and their sparse expansion over their poor and mountainous terrain. Beginning in the mid-19th century, two additional components were added. One was the disadvantage resulting from the absence of an independent Czech or ~lovak state. (This was a disadvantage in comparison SLOVAKIA 107 with the Austro-Rumanian and Austro-Serbian position, strengthened by the existence of an independent Rumania and Serbia) . The other factor in the Slovaks' plight was the clash between two adverse national egos, the Magyar and the Slovak. As long as the Monarchy lasted, Magyar nationalism gained the upper hand, not because of any inherent superior quality but as a natural consequence of a superior power, superior in the political, social, and economic sense, and even in the psychological sphere of self-assurance. Hungary had much to be proud of by the second half of the 19th century. It had grown from a backward agricultural country into a relatively advanced agricultural-industrial state. After an unsuccessful revolution in 1848-1849, astute negotiations aided by fortuitous circumstances led to equal partnership with Austria in 1867. Hungary became an integral part of a dualist system which maintained its great power status up to the very end of its existence, in spite of its inner weaknesses . In 1896, prosperity, though unevenly shared, and optimism, though not unanimous, exploded into the pageantry of the Milleneum, the one-thousandth anniversary of Hungary's existence. The country-gentry was the major conveyor of this festive spirit. In their patriotic fervor they were supported by an urban middle class, consisting partly of their own kin, partly of the remnants of the old German burgher class, and partly by a growing number of Jews . Quite often members of these two latter groups turned into more zealous Magyars than the Magyars themselves . Jeno Rakosi, of German origin, was the wellknown editor of the Budapest Hirlap; he coined the slogan of "A Great Hungary of 30 million Magyars," 5 and his Jewish journalist colleagues backed him up with unfaltering ardor. The gentry, however, though deeply entrenched in their strongholds, the administrations of state and counties, was no longer the liberal generation of 1848. As Oszkar Jaszi pointed out, this gentry, by losing its economic power, and somewhat bewildered by the complexities of a new emerging urban-commercial-industrial society, compensated for its growing insecurity with an ever strengthening assertion of national superiority .6 In order to justify this superiority and persevere in it, the gentry stubbornly 108 SLOVAKIA maintained its traditional, legal-political arguments, to the point of referring to the "Law" even when actual injustice was admitted. 7 The Fundamental Law, to which constant reference was made, was considered historical by the Magyar ruling classes, and was based on their rights by virtue of the Magyar conquest. Even such a recognized moderate as Kalman Szell (Prime Minister of Hungary, 1899-1903) asserted, "The Magyars have conquered this country for themselves and not for others. The supremacy and hegemony of the Magyars is fully justified." 8 No one would deny the exceptions to this rule. The impact of Ferenc Deak and Baron J6zsef Eotvos, the great Hungarian liberal statesmen, was still evident upon the creation of the Nationality Law of 1868, which granted extensive cultural rights to the non-Magyar nationalities, though it stopped short of acknowledging their existence as separate legal-political entities. In his exile, Lajos Kossuth changed from an intolerant chauvinist into the champion of a Danubian Federation, and he had a faithful disciple in Hungary in the person of Lajos Mocsary. In later years, preceding World War I, Ozskar Jaszi, a sociologist and politician of radical-leftist leanings, was sympathetically inclined to the course providing genuine equality between Magyars and non-Magyars. These and several other exceptions notwithstanding, most Magyars were indifferent at best, and outrightly hostile at worst, to the national aspirations, demands, and needs of their fellow non-Magyar citizens. The consequences of such attitudes were examined even by the conservative school of Hungarian historians. Count Pal Teleki recognized the impossibility of creating a unified Hungarian nation through enforced assimilation,9 and in addition he blamed the innumerable blunders of the Magyarization efforts on Magyar inconsistency and Magyar administrative inefficiency. 10 Accordin'5 to Gyula Szekfu, the process of Magyarization was detrimental because it corroded the Hungarian nation's moral fibre, yet it was not the "fearsome and bloodthirsty monster of Jaszi and Seton-Watson, but a childish construction, a plaything, and an unrealizable and overly emotional postulate, doing more harm to the Magyars, than to their nationalities." 11 Thus, behind the apparently rigid and legal pedantry SLOVAKIA 109 of the Magyar public, it has not been hard to discover the emotional content, reflecting frustrations and childlike wishful thinking. To be sure, these elements were of considerable weight. However, at least equal stress should be laid on other factors as well, such as anxiety and fear of being encircled and outnumbered and consequently, of being eventually engulfed and annihilated. That fear and anxiety were never expressed in these pessimistic terms, but rather in their psychological reverse: The Hungarian nation would never perish, because of its power, its eagerness to grow from 10 to 30 million if possible, and because of its readiness to absorb all non-Magyars by all means available. Yet behind this fagade of self-confidence, fear and anxiety lurked, often in near paranoic dimensions. Lajos Steier, a Hungarian "expert" on the Slovaks, sounded the alarm hysterically, " ... Magyar hegemony, national unity, and our Fatherland are in mortal danger!" 12 Regardless of the validity of his anxiety, his proficiency in the affairs of Slovak-Magyar relations provided him with enough foresight to see the "danger" in a Czech-Slovak rapprochement. 13 Most Hungarians, however, were content to release their fear and anxiety in their ch~se of an all-encompassing yet amorphous scarecrow, Pan-Slavism, which was not understood properly at all, but was used as a charge both against bomb-throwing anarchists and totally harmless literati, attributing dark conspiratorial machinations to both. Hungarian gendarmes killed and wounded several Slovaks at the village of cernova, on October 27, 1907. The reason for the unrest was the punitive actions taken against cernova's Slovak nationalist priest, Father Andrej Hlinka by his Magyarone superiors in the Catholic hierarchy. The massacre was followed by stormy sessions in the Hungarian Parliament. Milan Hodza, one of the seven nationalist Slovak members, was accused of paving the way for the massacre through his agitation, and some of his Magyar colleagues called him "Assassin! ... rotten agitator!" 14 The Magyar representative from the district of cernova, bdon Beni9zky, painted a picture of Slovak agitation, a picture, which could have taken a rightful place in Dante's Inferno. He talked of the once pious Slovaks throwing rocks at every coach owned by Hungarian gentlemen, about Slovak agitators going around the villages, spreading news of 110 SLOVAKIA Hungarians taking Slovak children away during the night and taking them down to the Great Hungarian Plain in order to make good Magyars out of them; he conveyed the impression that Slovak peasants were ready to grab an axe and resort to unbridled violence. Hodza demanded proof, but none was forthcoming. The entire Hungarian Parliament sat in stunned silence, but in evident concurrence with the speaker. 15 The purpose of delving into these two factors, fear and anxiety, it not to overplay their role at the expense of the other components already mentioned, but rather, to point toward the substance of the Hungarian gentry and middle class mentality: Being alone, feeling isolated in the midst of "aliens"--Germans, Slavs, Rumanians-was a source of both real pride and real fear, but fear could never be openly confessed, specifically because of the accompanying sense of pride. This lack of balance, therefore, created an unhealthy atmosphere of irrationality and arrogance, which in turn provoked an equally irrational and arrogant response from the representatives of the nationalities; thus, gradually and tragically, all the bridges were burned. The Slovak "deviation" from Magyar patriotism perhaps hurt the Hungarians the most, because, in spite of the bitter experience of 1848, when many Slovaks sided with the Habsburgs against the Hungarians, the Slovak people were still trusted as the "simple, guileless, and pious little brother" of the "sturdy and powerful" Magyar nation. Treason might well be expected from the "fierce Rae" (Serb), or the "crafty Olah" (Rumanian), but not from a "T6t" (A condescending Magyar word for Slovak). There was no viciousness in the general Hungarian view of the Slovaks, but rather a sense of patronizing benevolence, so charmingly popularized in the novels and short stories of Kalman Mikszath. The alleged Pan-Slav agitation aroused such a great fury exactly because it seemed to disrupt the "idyllic harmony" between Magyar and Slovak which was so deeply rooted in historical tradition and friendly coexistence. There was another side to the coin of benevolent patronization, however. The "T6t" was liked perhaps, but obviously not respected as an equal of the Magyar. Count J6szef Mailath remarked in an otherwise strongly chauvinistic rebuttal to H. W. V. Temperley, the famous British SLOVAKIA 111 historian, "We must confess that the depreciation of Slovakism, whether in lower or higher circles is 2. thing to which everybody is accustomed in Hungary. There is a saying, a Slovak is no man." 16 What was the response of young educated Slovaks to this general Magyar attitude toward them? Jozef Skultety, a well-known Slovak writer wants us to believe " . .. the Slovak remains true to himself ... he most frequently preserves his soul. He will sooner squeeze another than yield17 ••. the Slovak does not imitate." 18 The facts and figures squarely contradict Skultety: According to one estimate, shortly before World War I, the number of the educated Slovak-oriented families did not exceed five hundred in number. 19 However, should we blame the average Slovak for his eagerness to become a Magyar when all the economic and social advantages were on the Magyar side? The Magyar attitude towards the national minorities in general and towards the Slovaks in particular was racial only in a limited or qualified sense. The Magyar was considered superior and the Slovak inferior, but as soon as the Slovak decided to become a Magyar, he seemingly underwent a miraculous metamorphosis and was accepted 2.:; 2, fuE-fledged member of the Hungarian nation. In Magyar eyes, by his conversion, this neophyte Magyar manifested his maturity and wisdom and acquired all the higher qualities attributed to the Magyars. This belief served then as the foundation for pursuing Magyarization through the schools and churches. Albert Einstein could have never graduated into Nazi Germany's "Herrenvolk," but the son of a nationalist Slovak Lutheran pastor, Pavo! Hojc, could become Pal Hojtsy, a recognized historian, who published a book in 1902, under the title of Great Hungary, the Future Centuries of Hungarian History. Not every "new" Hungarian bothered to change his name even. A famous Catholic bishop Ottokar Prohaszka did not. However, it was not necessarily the sound of the name but the spirit that really counted. Bishop Prohaszka, though progressive in many respects, became one of the leading intellectual and spiritual leaders of the ultra chauvinistic counter-revolutionary movements in Hungary during the 1920's. The following excerpts is from a speech he held before a rightist audience in Budapest, "Beneath the national idea we have 112 SLOVAKIA to sense Magyar Reality, Magyar Blood, Magyar Land, and Magyar Life. But we ought not only to sense all of these -we have to live Magyar destiny." 20 Were these people happy and satisfied with their choice ? We cannot read their minds in retrospect, but there is no reason to assume that they were not. Magyar nationalistic policies could be harsh even brutal at times, but they did not demand an open or public renunciation of the old abandoned language, and an open or public pledge for the new one. Quite surely, thousands and thousands of Slovaks turned into Magyars without the flourish of trumpets and worked quietly and diligently. To call them opportunists would be to expect too much from human nature. For the average Slovak high school graduate, with an absolute proficiency in the Magyar language, the appeal of being accepted as an "adult," and also, of course, of securing positions in the church, schools, civil service, etc., was hard to resist. Perhaps some of the "super-converts" who wished to out-Magyar the most bigoted Magyars could be put out of countenance at times if they-as it always happens with this type-were keen on not only asserting the new but denying and hiding the old. Gyorgy Szmrecsanyi, a member of the Parliament, sounded quite embarrassed when after reading long quotes from Slovak newspapers he was questioned about his ethnic origin by Milan Hodza. 21 Who were the members of the minority, the nationally minded Slovaks? They too were graduates of the Magyar high schools, thus proving, at least partially, the self-defeating nature of Magyarization through education. Out of every hundred "converts" perhaps only a few became "rebels," but these latter could potentially cause a great deal of trouble-as they did in fact-to the idea and practices of a one and only Magyar National State. The commonly shared goal of the Slovak nationalists was not an independent Slovakia or Czecho-Slovakia, but broad Slovak autonomy within Hungary. Matyas Bella, one of the Slovak nationalist representatives in the Hungarian Parliament said, "Should all the national minorities be able to assert themselves within the State of Hungary, then I will welcome that State." 22 In this sense, the members of this group were the Slovak counterparts of the Czech Austro-Slavs. The SLOVAKIA 113 dominant character of the Slovak nationalist movement in Hungary was conservative and Catholic. The main reason for this trend lay in the fact that most Slovak nationalist leaders emerged from a conservative Catholic background, the religious preference for about two-thirds of the Slovaks, and the major aim of these leaders was to win over the fundamentally conservative and religious peasant masses. Ccnservatism, therefore, functioned both as a source and a purpose. The goal of Slovak autonomy was of such paramount importance that it seemed to override all other ideological considerations, even to the point of apparent inconsistency. Milan Hodza was more than eager to strike a simultaneous alliance with all opposition groups outside the Parliament, the radicals and the socialists, and with the Heir to the Crown, Archduke Francis Ferdinand. There was also heavy E.mphasis laid on cooperation with leaders of other national minorities, especially with the Rumanians, who had more elected representatives in the Hungarian Parliament and had a longer tradition and greater experience in their "battle" against Magyar chauvinism ("The roots of the Little Entente") .23 This Magyar chauvinism was eventually countered by Slovak chauvinism, and it is quite evident that Hodza and his fellow Slovak nationalists spoke one language to their colleagues in the Hungarian Parliament, and another one to their Slovak constituents and reading public. The Parliament was filled with complaints over the "duplicity" of the Slovak nationalists, supported by direct quotes from Budapest-based Slovak newspapers. 24 To what extent was the "dilemma" solved for those who chose the Slovak road? It again could be assumed that the reward of fighting for a cause was satisfying on a personal level. However, it was a frustrating fight, not only because it did not seem to bring substantial results, but also because it was beset by a lack of broad support and by a sense of inner insecurity. One had to prove himself a Slovak in his own right, and this task was most difficult in the midst of an environment, where almost every particle of the atmosphere was saturated with condescension for the "Tot" and suspicion of the Slovak. In this antagonistic atmosphere. emotional attachment 114 SLOVAKIA to all brother Slavs and to "Mother Russia" in particular was an aid to some who declined to succumb to Magyar pressure. The roots of this romantic sentiment reach back to the early-middle 19th century, to Jan Kollar and to :Cudovit sttlr. With the passing of romanticism, cultural Slavophilism turned into political Pan-Slavism, which was frequently a barely concealed instrument of Russian foreign policy. Russia's attention, however, was focused on the Balkans. Thus, Slovak-Russian relations suffered more because of the Russians' lack of interest, rather than from the handicap of geographical barriers. A voice of near fatalistic resignation was struck by the leader of the russophi!e Martin group, Svetozar Hurban-Vajansky in a letter to a Russian friend, " ... ir there is no chance for the Slovaks to live under Russian hegemony, then it would be better for them to vanish altogether." 25 In the eyes of the Martin group, Tsarist Russia could do no wrong. Yet, although most educated Slovaks, with the exception of the Magyarones, shared a vague sense of brotherhood with all other Slavs, active russophilism encountered several stumbling blocks. The oppressive character of the Tsarist regime alienated the Slovak liberals and democrats, while the orthodox zeal of Tsarist officialdom estranged the Slovak Catholic conservatives. Both camps were infuriated by Russia's anti-Polish policy. The liberals and democrats were incensed because the rights of a fellow Slav nation were being violated; the Catholics resented the anti-Catholic policy of the Tsarist government. Consequently, the number of russophiles was limited and their emotional, neo-romantic movement reached an impasse by the early 20th century. There was another alternative left for the young educated Slovak: to turn to the Czechs. Liberals and democrats among the Slovak intelligentsia, clustering around the founders of the journal Hlas, Vavro srobar and Pavol Blaho, were inclined to do so. Yet, the "czechophile" group among the Slovak intellectuals was also relatively small26 and without considerable influence, " ... the main reason why we were so powerless and submissive was that during those long decades we did not look to Czech culture and the idea of Czechoslovak unity as in 1848." 27 - these were the bitter words of Ivan Markovic, a Slovak politician, and SLOVAKIA 115 a member of several Czecho-Slovak cabinets after 1918. I have used this quote for a very important reason: My contention is that though the logic of the quote is entirely correct, it could and should be used in a reverse sense as well. Certainly, the Slovaks could have learned a great deal of self-assurance and a sense of strength from the Czechs, but one reason why the Slovaks were so reluctant to do so was precisely because of their relative weakness and backwardness. The Slovaks were caught in a vicious circle. A "pilgrimage" to Prague was a sensible thing to do; there was so much to learn there. Such a journey, however, concurred with an open admission of inferiority; one often had to swallow one's pride, and the Czechs did not make this cooperation easy. They too had developed a patronizing attitude towards the Slovaks, the implication of which was mere complex than was the case between Magyar and Slo-• vak. A Slovak, by his own will, could become a full-fledged member of a ruling nation, the Magyars, and an "adult" in lVIagyar society. A Slovak in Prague would most likely remain a Slovak who was not expected to abandon his people but was asked to affiliate. On paper, this latter proposition appears to be_much more humane and democratic. Yet, if an alliance is not maintained as between equals, then being relegated to a subordinate position is worse than not being included in one at all. Perhaps the young educated Slovaks had a foreboding of this predicament, and most of them chose the "easy way" to Budapest, even if that resulted in Pal dropping Pavel and Janos shedding Jan. Had there then ever been any hope for the Slovak intelligentsia in Austria-Hungary? Could they in any way have guided the destiny of Slovakia before 1918? Was there any realistic solution to their dilemma? For some of them yes, but at a price. One group of realists joined the Magyars, at the price of assimilation. Another group of realists associated itself with the Czechs, at the price of a new though more subtle form of subordination. For the russophiles, entrapped by their phantasies, the solution was more a matter of heart than of mind. The ones remaining on the "Slovak path" were thrown back to their own resources, intense in their enthusiasm and faith but incapable of overcoming the heavy odds against them. Therefore, the Slovaks in 116 SLOVAKIA Austria-Hungary had no chance whatever to ignore or cast aside the available options in favor of a universal Slovak solution. Their dilemma weighed on them as their historical heritage, present predicament, and a portent of difficult times to come. FOOTNOTES 1) R. W. Seton-Watson, Slovakia Then and Now (London, 1931), pp. 2526. 2) Jan Sveton, Die Slowaken in Ungarn (Bratislava, 1943). Steph en Janak, "The Land Question in Slovakia," The Slavonic Review, VIII (1930). 3) Ar.nuaire Statistique Hongrois, Budapest, L'Office Central De Statistique Du Royaume de Hongrie, 1915. 4) Robert Kann, The Multinational Empire (New York, 1969), I, 271. 5) Oszkar Jaszi, The Dissolution of the Habsburg Monarchy (Chicago, 1931), p. 323. 6) Ibid. , p. 319. 7 ) In this regard , the views of Count J6zsef Mailath, a Magyar artistocrat, were characteristic of the general Hungarian public opinion. M, ilath contended that ,e ven if the changes of forced Magyarization were true, they would really l:le invalid, since the Law acknowledged only one Hungarian national state, and not the existence of Slovak, Rumanian, Serbian, and Ruthenian nations within the borders of Hungary. Joseph Graf Mailath, Hungarica Res (Berlin, 1908), p. 22. 8) Quoted by Jaszi, op. cit., p. 321. 9) Paul Teleki, Count, The Evolution of Hungary and its Place in History (New York, 1923), pp. 155-156. 10) Ibid., p. 161 and p. 173. 11) Guyla Szekfti, Harom Nemzedek (The Three Generations), (Budapest, 1920), p. 261. 12) Lajos Steier, A T6t Ker-des (The Slovak Problem) (Lipt6szentmikl6s, 1912), I, 1. 13) Ibid., p. 160. 14) Orszaggyules-Nyomtatvanyai-Kepviselohaz-Napl6 (The Stenographic Proceedings of the Hungarian Parliament) XIII, 102. October 30, 1907. 15) Ibid., pp. 111-112. 16) " Racial Strife in Hungary" - a Reply to H. W. V. Temperley by Count Joseph Mailath. The Westminster Review, CLXX (1908), 30. 17 ) Joseph Skultety, Sketches from Slovak History (Middletown, 1930), p. 160. 18) Ibid. , p . 193. 19) Th. J. G. Locher, Die Nationale Differenzierung und Integrierung der Slowaken und Tschechen in Ihren Geschichtlichen Verlauf bis 1848 (Haarlem, 1931), p. 197. SLOVAKIA 117 20 ) Ottokar Prohaszka , A Nacionalizmusr6l (About Nationalism) (Budapest, 1925), p. 61. 21) Orszaggyiiles-Nyomtatvanyai-Kepvise l5h6.z-Napl6, VII, 424, February 18, 1907. 22) Ibid., I, 284. July 7, 1906. 23) Milan Hodza, Federation in Central Europe (New York, 1942), p. 40. 24 ) One example: Speech by Gyorgy Szmrecsanyi. Orszaggyules-Nyomtatvanyai-Kepvisel5h6.z-Napl6, VII, 411-417. February 16, 1907. 25 ) Vladislav Stastny, ed., Slovanstvi v narodnim zivote techu a Slovaku (Praha , 1968), p. 328. 26 ) Ludwig vo n Gogolak, Beitriige zur Geschichte des slowakischen Volkes (Mtinchen, 1963 ), p. 98. 27 ) Seton-Watson, op. cit., p. 93. * * * Centennial of Slovak Health Spas in the Tatra Mountains Rev. Andrew V. Pier, O.S.B. This year (1975) marks the 100th anniversary of public establishment of the now famous health centers in two High Tatra regions, namely, Novy Smokovec and strbske Pleso, and at Lucivna, located at the northern end of the Low Tatra mountains in Slovakia. At Novy Smokovec located at the foot of the forested slope leading upward to the Slavkovsky peak was the first Slovak health resort set aside for tuberculosis patients a hundred years ago. The low humidity, year-round sunshine and intense ultra-violet radiation, crisp atmosphere at the high altitude of some 8,000 feet, low atmospheric pressure .. . these health factors lend themselves to a natural center for the relief and cure of not only pulmonary ailments and chronic respiratory troubles, but contribute greatly to the cure of diseases of the thyroid gland and various neuroses. For the healthy Novy Smokovec is a natural winter sports' resort and a tourist attraction the rest of the year. Accommodations are modest but adequate.  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Slovak Dilemma in Austria-Hungary Description An account of the resource Gabor Vermes Slovakia, Vol. 25 (No. 48), 1975 pp. 105-117 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Vermes, Gábor Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1975 LCNAF https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/66d81964b502ba436e5de58154d80835.pdf 4269718fa2c19a98316fa99893d32db3 PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA 125 The Slovak Experience In Contemporary America Daniel F. Tanzone It shall be my design in this paper to look objectively at the problems and other pertinent sociological data regarding the history, growth and development of the Slovak immigrant in contemporary America. It shall be a study from the point of an American who is of Slovak ancestry, although this might tend to make the paper onesided and bias, I shall endeavor to present an objective view of the situation and problems in present day America. I shall consider the Slovaks to be one of America's minorities. The Slovaks can be considered minorities. For my purpose the definition will prove suggestive. Minorities are subgroups within a culture which are distinguishable from the dominant group by reason of difference in physiognomy, language, customs or culture-patterns (including any combination of these factors). I shall also consider the Slovaks as one of the many immigrant groups who "have made it" in America. Their development and eventual climb to success was brought about by overcoming great difficulties. The role played by one of the institutions of society, notably the Church, proved to be the most important single factor and in some ways one of the greatest problems for the Slovaks' emancipation from the ghettos of narrow-minded Little Slovakias in countless numbers of American cities. Victims of oppression have always looked upon migration to a new land with a promise of freedom and equal opportunity as their mecca. And in the late years of the last century in order to be free of social injustice, economic serfdom, or the threat of national liquidation, the oppressed peoples of central, southern and eastern Europe have constantly looked toward the United States as a haven. The Slovak of the nineteenth and early twentieth century was no exception. Harrassed at home, subject to the insidious pressures of Magyarization, which sought �126 SLOVAKIA to deprive them of their national character and identity literally thousands of thousands of Slovak families sought refuge in the new world. Slovaks began to emigrate in great numbers to America in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. "From the year 1880 until the outbreak of World War I, Slovakia lost more than 550,000 people through emigration to America, over 22 per cent of her total population." 1 "Numerically in the twelve years ending June 30, 1910, Slovakia ranked eighth among the nations providing immigrant material. The rate of emigration of Slovaks per 1,000 was 18.6; this was double that of any other race of people, except the Hebrews 08.3), Croatians-Slovenians (13.1), and South Italians (11.9). The rate was the highest of any group." 2 Having arrived in the United States, the Slovak immigrants began to look for a place to live and to work. The first areas to draw them were the coal mine centers; only in the second instance did the Slovaks settle in the factory cities. One focus of settlement was the hard-coal of north-eastern Pennsylvania where the center was Hazleton, Pennsylvania. Before World War I the mines in the district employed 75,000 to 100,000 men; of this group 12 ';,were Slovaks. 3 Besides northeastern Pennsylvania Slovaks crowded scores of cities in the eastern industrial portions of the United States. Cleveland, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Youngstown, New York, Yonkers, Philadelphia, Detroit, Bridgeport, Newark became the centers of the new Slovak life. There was scarcely a mine, factory or mill in America's new industry where Slovak immigrants and their sons could not be found. And everywhere they went, two opposing drives moved them. One toward Americanization and with it the social acceptance all new immigrants sought from their immigrant predecessors. The other, to preserve the culture and, above all, the faith of the Slovak past. That the two meshed instead of irreconcilably clashing can be attributed largely to the labors of a score or so of Slovak pioneers, in this the new land. Since the Slovaks knew little identity within the framework of Austria-Hungary and •since their very existence was denyed, a sense of Slovak nationalism and identity developed here in the United States. The early aim of �SLOVAKIA 127 these immigrant Slovaks was to preserve the Slovak language, Slovak customs and indeed a distinct Slovak identity. This nationalism, if we might call it, eventually was brought to bear fruit when the republic of CzechoSlovakia was established in 1918. The plans and agreements were reached not only in Europe but their foundations were laid in America. It was the work of the SlovakAmerican organizations in America under the banner of the Slovak League of America that guaranteed the rights of the Slovaks within the republic of Czecho-Slovakia. This early Slovak Nationalism developed with the establishment of a workable Slovak press here in America. The first Slovak newspaper was called the Bulletin which was hectographed by Julius Wolf and John Slovensky in Pittsburgh, Pa., in 1885. The printed word was very important to the Slovak immigrant because in Hungary "to take a Slovak newspaper or, if an educated man, to speak the Slovak tongue, is to brand oneself in Magyar eyes as a political traitor and to insure very possible obstacle in one's path." 4 Slovak was forbidden in the schools, courts and even in the pulpits of churches. It was only natural that the Slovak who now lived in a free land would tend to encourage the use of the Slovak language in every possible instance of daily life. From its very beginnings the Slovak press has always been extremely strong and influential. The Slovak press was used as a means at voicing opposition to the programs and directives of the Austro-Hungarian government. It constantly attacked the Hungarians and their view of the Slovaks which they equated with ignorance, dullness and poverty. From the outset the Slovaks set out to preserve their Christian heritage. Their first Catholic parish was founded in Hazleton, Pennsylvania in 1882 and their first Evangelical (Lutheran ) church in Streator, Ill., two years later. The main problems were twofold: priests were needed who could speak the language and fund were needed for parish churches and schools; both were met but only after a long, hard pull.5 The true flowering of the Slovak identity come with the establishment of the great Slovak fraternal societies. This organizational life among the Slovaks began in the �128 SLOVAKIA lodg·es and societies so common in America after the Civil War. "By 1914 in the United States principal organizations had 15,600,000 members." 6 Economic and social need led the Slovaks to form lodges. Mine disasters often took the lives of husbands and fathers, leaving the family not only destitute, but even without the money for a funeral. In answer to the need of sickness and funeral benefits a large number of societies grew up in industrial and mining towns. These societies proved the greatest blessing to identity-starved Slovak. He now could boast a purely Slovak, not Hungarian or Austro-Hungarian society. These mutual benefit societies were organized in hundreds of cities from Maine to California. They were organized along two distant lines one purely Slovak with no regard to religion or political beliefs, and the other along strictly religious lines . The later proved to attract the majority of Slovak immigrants. The leader of the first group with a purely nationalistic view, was Peter P. Rovnianek, known as the stormy petrel, who did so much to make cause of the Slovaks known to Americans. He organized the National Slovak Society in Pittsburgh, Pa., on February 15, 1890. The second group was led by the Rev. Stephen Furdek, a Slovak immigrant priest of the Cleveland, Ohio Diocese met with representatives of seven Slovak Catholic Societies in Cleveland on September 5, 1890 and organized the First Catholic Slovak Union commonly known as Jednota. This organization attracted many other Catholic societies and became the most important Slovak organization in America. The local lodges of this organization organized Slovak Catholics and formed parishes throughout the Unites States and even in Canada. This organization helped to organize some 350 Slovak Roman Catholic parishes in America. This organization proved to be the most important single achievement of the Slovak in America. It not only protected the member's life but also served as a cultural, religious and economic means of expressing the Slovaks' distinct identity. Not even in Austria-Hungary was there a Slovak organization which had its own press, its own orphanage and a large educational complex in Middletown, Pennsylvania. This organization helped to organize a teaching order of Sisters to staff the Slovak schools which were being built in practically every Slovak parish. This organ- �SLOVAKIA 129 ization provided the first Mother house for the Sisters of SS. Cyril and Methodius, a Slovak-American community founded by the Rev. Matthew Jankola of Bridgeport, Connecticut. Other such Slovak fraternals appeared in the ensuing years. 7 The problem of the second generation was that life at home was unpleasant; whereas in the schoolroom they were too foreign, at home they were too American. The Slovak immigrant fathers who compromised most villingly in adjusting their outside affairs to the realities of the workaday world were different persons in their homes. Within the family circle, the Slovak language, religion, customs and parental authority were not to be modified simply because the home had been transplanted to the United States. The problem of the second generation Slovak American how to inhabit two worlds at the same time, was solved by escape as soon as sons were free economically, even before they reached their legal maturity. The second generation also came to know the contempt in which artistic activities were held by nineteenth and twentieth century Americans. They hastened to prove that they knew little or cared even less about art, music, th8ater or literature. "Nothing was more Yankee than a Yankeeized person of foreign descent." 8 In his opinion, that is the second generation Slovak-American it is he who is to undergo the entire transformation; the true member of the American nationality is not called upon to change in the least. The traits of foreign nationality which the Slovak brings with him are not to be mixed or interwoven. They are to be abandoned. The standard to which he must conform has been already fixed by forces quite outside himself, quite outside any individual, native or foreign, fixed by all the factors, topographical, climatic, racial, historical, fortuitous, which have worked together to make the American nationality what it is. A harsh situation, indeed. But a situation the harshness of which is determined not by the inclination or wish of any person or group of persons, but by the inherent qualities of human nature and social organization. 9 For the Eastern European immigrant and in particular the Slovak the third generation return was not so much �130 SLOVAKIA to cultural entities per se, but to a vague nostalgia and an undefined ideology. This ideology has no organic relation to the third-generation descendant's individual past, but is rather primarily a reaction to the conditions of life in the twentieth-century United States: 1) a "native" population alerted to the alleged stereotypic characteristics of immigrant groups; 2) the threat posed by numbers of incoming immigrants reinforcing a pre-existing population base of their compatriots; 3) the difficulty of maintaining ethnic anonymity; and 4) a somewhat retarded rate of growth in the country leading to a stronger emphasis upon a man's origin. 10 Essentially the group of immigrant origins-whether it be homogenous or heterogenous in character-return s in a context filtered by the American experience. Thus a general question to be put forth, the following is posed: Who returns to what with whom under which conditions of the possible forms and contents of these returns? Individual behavior is meant as well as the process of returning evidenced by the Slovaks who are a religio-ethnic group. Some reasons might be: 1) a generalized interest which may remain diffused or may become crystallized around specific segments of an ethnic folk heritage, a Slovak heritage-languag e, holiday celebrations, foods, etc. 2) the institutional religious framework-the existence of 350 Slovak Roman Catholic parishes, plus prayer and certain holiday observances within the Church. 4) Literary, ideological-cultur al-the writing of immigrant history, and since the Slovaks had a greater sense of freedom in the short period of time since they first arrived in America, the field was very ripe. The sensitive position that Slovak Americans of the third generation have toward the Slovakia of the period 1939-1945. It posed an interesting history of political science. An ethnic Slovak press which was the second largest foreign Slav press in the free world, and a press which was larger than anything that had existed in old Austria-Hungary. All this added to the socially patterned rationalizations and apologetics affirming the Slovak group's identity. 5) An interest in the dress, manner, and speech cadence, employment, political affiliation etc. The renewed interest in things Slovak can be manifested by the present Slovak-American community in the �SLOVAKIA 131 revival of Slovak customs in parishes, homes, schools and organizations throughout the United States. A major factor of this present day resurgence of the Slovak-American ethnic was the development and encouragement of the Black Power movement. This new awareness of blackness, and with it the new social and economic acceptances which world threaten all white Americans the ethnic groups all had a certain renascence. Centers for ethnic studies are proposed for many major cities in the United States so as to encourage and enbody the cultures and heritages that go into the American heritage. Due to this new interest in things Slovak some Universities have established Slovak chairs, notably at the University of Pittsburgh, the University of Minnesota, Columbia, the University of Chicago and also Marquette University. 11 Some contemporary problems which face the SlovakAmerican organizations, churches, religious orders, press and communities are such things as narrow minded mentalities toward other minority groups, and in general polarization. Narrowmindedness persists in many Slovak parishes where although the Slovak parish in within a ghetto community which is no longer Slovak these parishes do nothing to serve the needs of the residents of the ghetto. Most Slovak parishes are no longer needed in the sense that they were needed three-quarters of a century ago. It is true however that certain large cities, points of settlement of newly arrived waves of immigrants, should be maintained. It seems quite ludicrous in many small towns to maintain five or six parishes, when five are national and one or two would adequately serve the needs of the Catholic community. One major factor for the persistence of many national parishes is the fact that their members feel that, although they no longer speak the language of their immigrant parents or grandparents, they nevertheless feel a certain protection from the majority group. The completely unbalanced ethnic background of the American hierarchy is one major reason why Americans born of Slovak descent or, for that matter, any ethnic group other than the Irish feel that their mentality and ideas are not understood by the Irish hierarchy. A more pluralistic hierarchy in America would tend to serve the needs and best wishes of all American Catholics. These �132 SLOVAKIA national parishes pose many juridical problems for the American church today. The problem of the national church, and there still exist in the United States at least 2,855 parishes serving the various ethnic groups, will be a problem which will have to dealt with much compassion and respect. To simply say that this, and that parish will close and all catholics must attend one church, will not settle the problem. It has been estimated that over ten million American Catholics belong to national parishes. 12 Many Slovak parishes in the United States not only serve the Slovak Catholics but serve other groups in inner cities. In most instances these parishes are without debt and are usually quite wealthy due to the fact that Slovak Catholics in America are known for their generosity. These parishes are able to finance large schools admitting many minority groups. An example is the parish of the Most Holy Trinity in Gary, Indiana, where the then Msgr. Andrew G. Grutka was pastor, now the bishop of the Diocese of Gary. Msgr. Grutka opened the parish school to the local Negroes of his parish. His parish school had two-thirds of its populations Black. He not only provided the Blacks with an education but he also gave them free lunches, free clothing and helped their families establish themselves as outstanding citizens of the community. This is an instance where the work, started by the Slovak immigrants, is continuing its service to all who come in contact with the parish. This is an outstanding example of a national parish which is providing not only services to its Slovak American people but, to serve in a true spirit of Christ, it is using its power to help who seek its aid. 13 The problem of polarization in America today is one of Black against White and the Slovaks must be open enough to see that polarization whether Black or White or ethnic is not a healthy attitude for America. Slovak ethnicity can go just so far until it becomes unhealthy and actually un-American. The days of the Slovaks and their sons and grandsons who feel that they are a subgroup and are inherently different and "not belonging" to the dominant American group are over and it is with this spirit of optimism that the Slovak-Americans will continue t o forge ahead to become outstanding American citizens. It is interesting to note that the Slovak organizations �SLOVAKIA 133 in the United States and Canada are stronger than they have ever been in their history. Their membership stands at over one half million and their assets are over $150,000,000.00. These organizations have great potential to become leaders in the realm of Catholic Action works in America. One of these organizations, the largest and the most influential, the First Catholic Slovak Union with its 104,000 members is in the forefront of major reform with its new anticipated multi-million dollar educational. cultural and civic center which will be built on its vast acreage in Middletown, Pennsylvania. The complex will provide 1,800 units of senior citizen housing for the members and any person in need, also a college for 1,000 students. The facilities will be open to all regardless of race, color or creed.14 The Slovak press still has a circulation of over 250,000 in America, althougt Slovak has been replaced with English in many instances. Two members of the American hierarchy are of Slovak descent: the Most Rev. Joseph A. Durick, D. D., Bishop of Nashville, and the Most Rev. Andrew G. Grutka, D. D., LL. D., Bishop of Gary. This number should be much higher when one considers that there are over 1,200 priest of Slovak descent in America. There are three religious communities for men and nine motherhouses of Sisters among the American Slovaks, their membership is better than 3,000. Among the most outstanding laymen of Slovak descent are Dr. Walter Tkach, who is the personal physician of President Richard Nixon; astronaut Eugene V. Cernan; the uranium king of Canada Stephen B. Roman, whose empire is valued at $250,000 ,000.00 , Michael Novak, noted lay Catholic theologian; Dr. Jaroslav Pelikan, Protestant theologian, and many other notables. 15 Since the land of their ancestors is now ruled by the Communists it has been the necessity of American Slovaks to help Slovakia in many areas, particularly regarding the position of the Church. Under the leadership of Bishop Andrew G. Grutka the Slovak Catholic Federation of America, the representative organization of American Catholics of Slovak descent, American Catholics of Slovak origin raised over one million dollars for the establishment of the Slovak Institute of SS. Cyril and Methodius in Rome, Italy to train future priests for work in Slovakia. With �134 SLOVAKIA all Slovak dioceses vacant and all but one seminary opened the Church in Slovakia would have died had it not been for the generosity and interest of the American Slovaks . Today after nine years of existence this Institute has become the spiritual center of Slovaks throughout the world. Since the invasion of Czecho-Slovakia in 1968 tens of thousands have come to Rome and have been settled in Western Countries. Necessity calls for the Slovak Catholic Federation of America to remain a potent voice for the suffering church in Slovakia. The Slovak Catholic Federation along with the Slovak League of America, its counterpart in the socio-political sphere, have had to fight for the rights of the Slovak nation, at home and abroad, time and time again. These two dynamic ethnic organizations, whose philosophy is totally American, possess a fire for the rights of the Slovak nation whose story and traditions are among the most glorious in history yet whose plight in history has been among the most misunderstood. For some nativist Americans these organizations and philosophies are excessively chauvinistic, yet the role which has been played by American Slovaks is monumental in the development of the Slovak nation as a whole. Ethnic pride must never build walls but must always build bridges in these troubled times. Ethnic enclaves must give way to cultural identity whose philosophy can enrich the whole of society. It is quite evident in today's society that homogenization is certainly not possible in America. The pluralistic society which is a reality in America knows no single language, no single culture, no single ethnic stock and no single race. The America which we all know and love is a diverse enriching experience which has no equal in the history of the world. With an enriched diversity each one's potentials can be used to build a better America, an America immanent with the identity the individual possesses. Unless each person can experience what it really means to be an individual he can never be a part of a society. We have to use our Slovak identity to enrich our lives within the framework of the whole human experience. We must use our identity not as a barries but rather as a bridge. Unless we can come to know our roots we can never really know our history. �SLOVAKIA 135 FOOTNOTES 1) Oddo, Gilbert, L., Slovakia and Its People, (New York, 1960), p. 330. 2) Zatko, James, J., "Early Beginning of the Slovaks in America ," Slovakia, (Middletown, Pa., 1965, p. 16. 3) Ibid. 4) Balch, Emily, Greene, Our Slavic Fellow Citizens, (New York, 1910, p . 110. 5) Oddo, op. cit. 6) Zatko, op. cit. 7) Pauco, Joseph, 75 rokov Prvej Katolickej Slovenskej Jednoty (75 Year History of the First Catholic Slovak Union), (Middletown , 1965), p. 35. 8) "The Problems of the Immigrants", Phylon, 1968, Volume 29, No. 4. Winter p. 362. 9) Fairchild, Henry, Pratt, The Melting-Pot Mistake, (Boston, 1946) , p. 154. 10) Ibid. 11) Krajsa, Joseph C., "Slovaks Have Arrived!" , Slovakia, (Middletown , 1965), p. 64. 12) Barron, Milton , L., American Minorities, (New York, 1957), pp. 418--19. 13) Pauco, op. cit. p. 468. 14) Krajsa, Joseph, C., "Slovaks Have Arrived", Slovakia, (Middletown , 1965), pp. 64-5. 15) Stolarik, Imrich, Kanadska Slovenska Liga 35rocna (35 Year History of the Canadian Slovak League), (Passaic, N.J., 1967), pp. 167-8. BIB LI O G RA PHY Balch, Emily, Greene, Our Slavic Fellow Citizens, New York, William F. Fell Company, 1910. Barron, Milton, L., American Minorities, New York, Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1957. Fairchild, Henry, Pratt, The Melting-Pot Mistake, Boston, Little, Brown and Company, 1946. Krajsa, Joseph, C., " Slovaks Have Arrived", Slovakia XV, Middletown, Pa., Jednota Press, 1965, pp. 64-68. Oddo, Gilberit, L., Slovakia and Its People, New York, Robert Speller and Sons, 1960. Pauco, Joseph,75 rokov Prvej Katolickej Slovenskej Jednoty, (75 Year History of the First Catholic Slovak Union), Middletown, Jednota Press, 1965. Stolarik, lmrich , Kanadska Slovenska Liga 35rocna, (35 Year History of the Canadian Slovak League), Passaic, N.J., Slovak Catholic Sokol Press, 1967. Zatko, James, J., "Early Beginnings of the Slovaks in America", Slovakia XV , Middletown, Pa., Jednota Press, 1965, pp. 1-38. � SLOVAKIA 125 The Slovak Experience In Contemporary America Daniel F. Tanzone It shall be my design in this paper to look objectively at the problems and other pertinent sociological data regarding the history, growth and development of the Slovak immigrant in contemporary America. It shall be a study from the point of an American who is of Slovak ancestry, although this might tend to make the paper onesided and bias, I shall endeavor to present an objective view of the situation and problems in present day America. I shall consider the Slovaks to be one of America's minorities. The Slovaks can be considered minorities. For my purpose the definition will prove suggestive. Minorities are subgroups within a culture which are distinguishable from the dominant group by reason of difference in physiognomy, language, customs or culture-patterns (including any combination of these factors). I shall also consider the Slovaks as one of the many immigrant groups who "have made it" in America. Their development and eventual climb to success was brought about by overcoming great difficulties. The role played by one of the institutions of society, notably the Church, proved to be the most important single factor and in some ways one of the greatest problems for the Slovaks' emancipation from the ghettos of narrow-minded Little Slovakias in countless numbers of American cities. Victims of oppression have always looked upon migration to a new land with a promise of freedom and equal opportunity as their mecca. And in the late years of the last century in order to be free of social injustice, economic serfdom, or the threat of national liquidation, the oppressed peoples of central, southern and eastern Europe have constantly looked toward the United States as a haven. The Slovak of the nineteenth and early twentieth century was no exception. Harrassed at home, subject to the insidious pressures of Magyarization, which sought �126 SLOVAKIA to deprive them of their national character and identity literally thousands of thousands of Slovak families sought refuge in the new world. Slovaks began to emigrate in great numbers to America in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. "From the year 1880 until the outbreak of World War I, Slovakia lost more than 550,000 people through emigration to America, over 22 per cent of her total population." 1 "Numerically in the twelve years ending June 30, 1910, Slovakia ranked eighth among the nations providing immigrant material. The rate of emigration of Slovaks per 1,000 was 18.6; this was double that of any other race of people, except the Hebrews 08.3), Croatians-Slovenians (13.1), and South Italians (11.9). The rate was the highest of any group." 2 Having arrived in the United States, the Slovak immigrants began to look for a place to live and to work. The first areas to draw them were the coal mine centers; only in the second instance did the Slovaks settle in the factory cities. One focus of settlement was the hard-coal of north-eastern Pennsylvania where the center was Hazleton, Pennsylvania. Before World War I the mines in the district employed 75,000 to 100,000 men; of this group 12 ';,were Slovaks. 3 Besides northeastern Pennsylvania Slovaks crowded scores of cities in the eastern industrial portions of the United States. Cleveland, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Youngstown, New York, Yonkers, Philadelphia, Detroit, Bridgeport, Newark became the centers of the new Slovak life. There was scarcely a mine, factory or mill in America's new industry where Slovak immigrants and their sons could not be found. And everywhere they went, two opposing drives moved them. One toward Americanization and with it the social acceptance all new immigrants sought from their immigrant predecessors. The other, to preserve the culture and, above all, the faith of the Slovak past. That the two meshed instead of irreconcilably clashing can be attributed largely to the labors of a score or so of Slovak pioneers, in this the new land. Since the Slovaks knew little identity within the framework of Austria-Hungary and •since their very existence was denyed, a sense of Slovak nationalism and identity developed here in the United States. The early aim of �SLOVAKIA 127 these immigrant Slovaks was to preserve the Slovak language, Slovak customs and indeed a distinct Slovak identity. This nationalism, if we might call it, eventually was brought to bear fruit when the republic of CzechoSlovakia was established in 1918. The plans and agreements were reached not only in Europe but their foundations were laid in America. It was the work of the SlovakAmerican organizations in America under the banner of the Slovak League of America that guaranteed the rights of the Slovaks within the republic of Czecho-Slovakia. This early Slovak Nationalism developed with the establishment of a workable Slovak press here in America. The first Slovak newspaper was called the Bulletin which was hectographed by Julius Wolf and John Slovensky in Pittsburgh, Pa., in 1885. The printed word was very important to the Slovak immigrant because in Hungary "to take a Slovak newspaper or, if an educated man, to speak the Slovak tongue, is to brand oneself in Magyar eyes as a political traitor and to insure very possible obstacle in one's path." 4 Slovak was forbidden in the schools, courts and even in the pulpits of churches. It was only natural that the Slovak who now lived in a free land would tend to encourage the use of the Slovak language in every possible instance of daily life. From its very beginnings the Slovak press has always been extremely strong and influential. The Slovak press was used as a means at voicing opposition to the programs and directives of the Austro-Hungarian government. It constantly attacked the Hungarians and their view of the Slovaks which they equated with ignorance, dullness and poverty. From the outset the Slovaks set out to preserve their Christian heritage. Their first Catholic parish was founded in Hazleton, Pennsylvania in 1882 and their first Evangelical (Lutheran ) church in Streator, Ill., two years later. The main problems were twofold: priests were needed who could speak the language and fund were needed for parish churches and schools; both were met but only after a long, hard pull.5 The true flowering of the Slovak identity come with the establishment of the great Slovak fraternal societies. This organizational life among the Slovaks began in the �128 SLOVAKIA lodg·es and societies so common in America after the Civil War. "By 1914 in the United States principal organizations had 15,600,000 members." 6 Economic and social need led the Slovaks to form lodges. Mine disasters often took the lives of husbands and fathers, leaving the family not only destitute, but even without the money for a funeral. In answer to the need of sickness and funeral benefits a large number of societies grew up in industrial and mining towns. These societies proved the greatest blessing to identity-starved Slovak. He now could boast a purely Slovak, not Hungarian or Austro-Hungarian society. These mutual benefit societies were organized in hundreds of cities from Maine to California. They were organized along two distant lines one purely Slovak with no regard to religion or political beliefs, and the other along strictly religious lines . The later proved to attract the majority of Slovak immigrants. The leader of the first group with a purely nationalistic view, was Peter P. Rovnianek, known as the stormy petrel, who did so much to make cause of the Slovaks known to Americans. He organized the National Slovak Society in Pittsburgh, Pa., on February 15, 1890. The second group was led by the Rev. Stephen Furdek, a Slovak immigrant priest of the Cleveland, Ohio Diocese met with representatives of seven Slovak Catholic Societies in Cleveland on September 5, 1890 and organized the First Catholic Slovak Union commonly known as Jednota. This organization attracted many other Catholic societies and became the most important Slovak organization in America. The local lodges of this organization organized Slovak Catholics and formed parishes throughout the Unites States and even in Canada. This organization helped to organize some 350 Slovak Roman Catholic parishes in America. This organization proved to be the most important single achievement of the Slovak in America. It not only protected the member's life but also served as a cultural, religious and economic means of expressing the Slovaks' distinct identity. Not even in Austria-Hungary was there a Slovak organization which had its own press, its own orphanage and a large educational complex in Middletown, Pennsylvania. This organization helped to organize a teaching order of Sisters to staff the Slovak schools which were being built in practically every Slovak parish. This organ- �SLOVAKIA 129 ization provided the first Mother house for the Sisters of SS. Cyril and Methodius, a Slovak-American community founded by the Rev. Matthew Jankola of Bridgeport, Connecticut. Other such Slovak fraternals appeared in the ensuing years. 7 The problem of the second generation was that life at home was unpleasant; whereas in the schoolroom they were too foreign, at home they were too American. The Slovak immigrant fathers who compromised most villingly in adjusting their outside affairs to the realities of the workaday world were different persons in their homes. Within the family circle, the Slovak language, religion, customs and parental authority were not to be modified simply because the home had been transplanted to the United States. The problem of the second generation Slovak American how to inhabit two worlds at the same time, was solved by escape as soon as sons were free economically, even before they reached their legal maturity. The second generation also came to know the contempt in which artistic activities were held by nineteenth and twentieth century Americans. They hastened to prove that they knew little or cared even less about art, music, th8ater or literature. "Nothing was more Yankee than a Yankeeized person of foreign descent." 8 In his opinion, that is the second generation Slovak-American it is he who is to undergo the entire transformation; the true member of the American nationality is not called upon to change in the least. The traits of foreign nationality which the Slovak brings with him are not to be mixed or interwoven. They are to be abandoned. The standard to which he must conform has been already fixed by forces quite outside himself, quite outside any individual, native or foreign, fixed by all the factors, topographical, climatic, racial, historical, fortuitous, which have worked together to make the American nationality what it is. A harsh situation, indeed. But a situation the harshness of which is determined not by the inclination or wish of any person or group of persons, but by the inherent qualities of human nature and social organization. 9 For the Eastern European immigrant and in particular the Slovak the third generation return was not so much �130 SLOVAKIA to cultural entities per se, but to a vague nostalgia and an undefined ideology. This ideology has no organic relation to the third-generation descendant's individual past, but is rather primarily a reaction to the conditions of life in the twentieth-century United States: 1) a "native" population alerted to the alleged stereotypic characteristics of immigrant groups; 2) the threat posed by numbers of incoming immigrants reinforcing a pre-existing population base of their compatriots; 3) the difficulty of maintaining ethnic anonymity; and 4) a somewhat retarded rate of growth in the country leading to a stronger emphasis upon a man's origin. 10 Essentially the group of immigrant origins-whether it be homogenous or heterogenous in character-return s in a context filtered by the American experience. Thus a general question to be put forth, the following is posed: Who returns to what with whom under which conditions of the possible forms and contents of these returns? Individual behavior is meant as well as the process of returning evidenced by the Slovaks who are a religio-ethnic group. Some reasons might be: 1) a generalized interest which may remain diffused or may become crystallized around specific segments of an ethnic folk heritage, a Slovak heritage-languag e, holiday celebrations, foods, etc. 2) the institutional religious framework-the existence of 350 Slovak Roman Catholic parishes, plus prayer and certain holiday observances within the Church. 4) Literary, ideological-cultur al-the writing of immigrant history, and since the Slovaks had a greater sense of freedom in the short period of time since they first arrived in America, the field was very ripe. The sensitive position that Slovak Americans of the third generation have toward the Slovakia of the period 1939-1945. It posed an interesting history of political science. An ethnic Slovak press which was the second largest foreign Slav press in the free world, and a press which was larger than anything that had existed in old Austria-Hungary. All this added to the socially patterned rationalizations and apologetics affirming the Slovak group's identity. 5) An interest in the dress, manner, and speech cadence, employment, political affiliation etc. The renewed interest in things Slovak can be manifested by the present Slovak-American community in the �SLOVAKIA 131 revival of Slovak customs in parishes, homes, schools and organizations throughout the United States. A major factor of this present day resurgence of the Slovak-American ethnic was the development and encouragement of the Black Power movement. This new awareness of blackness, and with it the new social and economic acceptances which world threaten all white Americans the ethnic groups all had a certain renascence. Centers for ethnic studies are proposed for many major cities in the United States so as to encourage and enbody the cultures and heritages that go into the American heritage. Due to this new interest in things Slovak some Universities have established Slovak chairs, notably at the University of Pittsburgh, the University of Minnesota, Columbia, the University of Chicago and also Marquette University. 11 Some contemporary problems which face the SlovakAmerican organizations, churches, religious orders, press and communities are such things as narrow minded mentalities toward other minority groups, and in general polarization. Narrowmindedness persists in many Slovak parishes where although the Slovak parish in within a ghetto community which is no longer Slovak these parishes do nothing to serve the needs of the residents of the ghetto. Most Slovak parishes are no longer needed in the sense that they were needed three-quarters of a century ago. It is true however that certain large cities, points of settlement of newly arrived waves of immigrants, should be maintained. It seems quite ludicrous in many small towns to maintain five or six parishes, when five are national and one or two would adequately serve the needs of the Catholic community. One major factor for the persistence of many national parishes is the fact that their members feel that, although they no longer speak the language of their immigrant parents or grandparents, they nevertheless feel a certain protection from the majority group. The completely unbalanced ethnic background of the American hierarchy is one major reason why Americans born of Slovak descent or, for that matter, any ethnic group other than the Irish feel that their mentality and ideas are not understood by the Irish hierarchy. A more pluralistic hierarchy in America would tend to serve the needs and best wishes of all American Catholics. These �132 SLOVAKIA national parishes pose many juridical problems for the American church today. The problem of the national church, and there still exist in the United States at least 2,855 parishes serving the various ethnic groups, will be a problem which will have to dealt with much compassion and respect. To simply say that this, and that parish will close and all catholics must attend one church, will not settle the problem. It has been estimated that over ten million American Catholics belong to national parishes. 12 Many Slovak parishes in the United States not only serve the Slovak Catholics but serve other groups in inner cities. In most instances these parishes are without debt and are usually quite wealthy due to the fact that Slovak Catholics in America are known for their generosity. These parishes are able to finance large schools admitting many minority groups. An example is the parish of the Most Holy Trinity in Gary, Indiana, where the then Msgr. Andrew G. Grutka was pastor, now the bishop of the Diocese of Gary. Msgr. Grutka opened the parish school to the local Negroes of his parish. His parish school had two-thirds of its populations Black. He not only provided the Blacks with an education but he also gave them free lunches, free clothing and helped their families establish themselves as outstanding citizens of the community. This is an instance where the work, started by the Slovak immigrants, is continuing its service to all who come in contact with the parish. This is an outstanding example of a national parish which is providing not only services to its Slovak American people but, to serve in a true spirit of Christ, it is using its power to help who seek its aid. 13 The problem of polarization in America today is one of Black against White and the Slovaks must be open enough to see that polarization whether Black or White or ethnic is not a healthy attitude for America. Slovak ethnicity can go just so far until it becomes unhealthy and actually un-American. The days of the Slovaks and their sons and grandsons who feel that they are a subgroup and are inherently different and "not belonging" to the dominant American group are over and it is with this spirit of optimism that the Slovak-Americans will continue t o forge ahead to become outstanding American citizens. It is interesting to note that the Slovak organizations �SLOVAKIA 133 in the United States and Canada are stronger than they have ever been in their history. Their membership stands at over one half million and their assets are over $150,000,000.00. These organizations have great potential to become leaders in the realm of Catholic Action works in America. One of these organizations, the largest and the most influential, the First Catholic Slovak Union with its 104,000 members is in the forefront of major reform with its new anticipated multi-million dollar educational. cultural and civic center which will be built on its vast acreage in Middletown, Pennsylvania. The complex will provide 1,800 units of senior citizen housing for the members and any person in need, also a college for 1,000 students. The facilities will be open to all regardless of race, color or creed.14 The Slovak press still has a circulation of over 250,000 in America, althougt Slovak has been replaced with English in many instances. Two members of the American hierarchy are of Slovak descent: the Most Rev. Joseph A. Durick, D. D., Bishop of Nashville, and the Most Rev. Andrew G. Grutka, D. D., LL. D., Bishop of Gary. This number should be much higher when one considers that there are over 1,200 priest of Slovak descent in America. There are three religious communities for men and nine motherhouses of Sisters among the American Slovaks, their membership is better than 3,000. Among the most outstanding laymen of Slovak descent are Dr. Walter Tkach, who is the personal physician of President Richard Nixon; astronaut Eugene V. Cernan; the uranium king of Canada Stephen B. Roman, whose empire is valued at $250,000 ,000.00 , Michael Novak, noted lay Catholic theologian; Dr. Jaroslav Pelikan, Protestant theologian, and many other notables. 15 Since the land of their ancestors is now ruled by the Communists it has been the necessity of American Slovaks to help Slovakia in many areas, particularly regarding the position of the Church. Under the leadership of Bishop Andrew G. Grutka the Slovak Catholic Federation of America, the representative organization of American Catholics of Slovak descent, American Catholics of Slovak origin raised over one million dollars for the establishment of the Slovak Institute of SS. Cyril and Methodius in Rome, Italy to train future priests for work in Slovakia. With �134 SLOVAKIA all Slovak dioceses vacant and all but one seminary opened the Church in Slovakia would have died had it not been for the generosity and interest of the American Slovaks . Today after nine years of existence this Institute has become the spiritual center of Slovaks throughout the world. Since the invasion of Czecho-Slovakia in 1968 tens of thousands have come to Rome and have been settled in Western Countries. Necessity calls for the Slovak Catholic Federation of America to remain a potent voice for the suffering church in Slovakia. The Slovak Catholic Federation along with the Slovak League of America, its counterpart in the socio-political sphere, have had to fight for the rights of the Slovak nation, at home and abroad, time and time again. These two dynamic ethnic organizations, whose philosophy is totally American, possess a fire for the rights of the Slovak nation whose story and traditions are among the most glorious in history yet whose plight in history has been among the most misunderstood. For some nativist Americans these organizations and philosophies are excessively chauvinistic, yet the role which has been played by American Slovaks is monumental in the development of the Slovak nation as a whole. Ethnic pride must never build walls but must always build bridges in these troubled times. Ethnic enclaves must give way to cultural identity whose philosophy can enrich the whole of society. It is quite evident in today's society that homogenization is certainly not possible in America. The pluralistic society which is a reality in America knows no single language, no single culture, no single ethnic stock and no single race. The America which we all know and love is a diverse enriching experience which has no equal in the history of the world. With an enriched diversity each one's potentials can be used to build a better America, an America immanent with the identity the individual possesses. Unless each person can experience what it really means to be an individual he can never be a part of a society. We have to use our Slovak identity to enrich our lives within the framework of the whole human experience. We must use our identity not as a barries but rather as a bridge. Unless we can come to know our roots we can never really know our history. �SLOVAKIA 135 FOOTNOTES 1) Oddo, Gilbert, L., Slovakia and Its People, (New York, 1960), p. 330. 2) Zatko, James, J., "Early Beginning of the Slovaks in America ," Slovakia, (Middletown, Pa., 1965, p. 16. 3) Ibid. 4) Balch, Emily, Greene, Our Slavic Fellow Citizens, (New York, 1910, p . 110. 5) Oddo, op. cit. 6) Zatko, op. cit. 7) Pauco, Joseph, 75 rokov Prvej Katolickej Slovenskej Jednoty (75 Year History of the First Catholic Slovak Union), (Middletown , 1965), p. 35. 8) "The Problems of the Immigrants", Phylon, 1968, Volume 29, No. 4. Winter p. 362. 9) Fairchild, Henry, Pratt, The Melting-Pot Mistake, (Boston, 1946) , p. 154. 10) Ibid. 11) Krajsa, Joseph C., "Slovaks Have Arrived!" , Slovakia, (Middletown , 1965), p. 64. 12) Barron, Milton , L., American Minorities, (New York, 1957), pp. 418--19. 13) Pauco, op. cit. p. 468. 14) Krajsa, Joseph, C., "Slovaks Have Arrived", Slovakia, (Middletown , 1965), pp. 64-5. 15) Stolarik, Imrich, Kanadska Slovenska Liga 35rocna (35 Year History of the Canadian Slovak League), (Passaic, N.J., 1967), pp. 167-8. BIB LI O G RA PHY Balch, Emily, Greene, Our Slavic Fellow Citizens, New York, William F. Fell Company, 1910. Barron, Milton, L., American Minorities, New York, Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1957. Fairchild, Henry, Pratt, The Melting-Pot Mistake, Boston, Little, Brown and Company, 1946. Krajsa, Joseph, C., " Slovaks Have Arrived", Slovakia XV, Middletown, Pa., Jednota Press, 1965, pp. 64-68. Oddo, Gilberit, L., Slovakia and Its People, New York, Robert Speller and Sons, 1960. Pauco, Joseph,75 rokov Prvej Katolickej Slovenskej Jednoty, (75 Year History of the First Catholic Slovak Union), Middletown, Jednota Press, 1965. Stolarik, lmrich , Kanadska Slovenska Liga 35rocna, (35 Year History of the Canadian Slovak League), Passaic, N.J., Slovak Catholic Sokol Press, 1967. Zatko, James, J., "Early Beginnings of the Slovaks in America", Slovakia XV , Middletown, Pa., Jednota Press, 1965, pp. 1-38. � 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 1972, Vol. 22 Description An account of the resource Vol. 22 (No. 45), 1972. 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 1972 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 125 The Slovak Experience In Contemporary America Daniel F. Tanzone It shall be my design in this paper to look objectively at the problems and other pertinent sociological data regarding the history, growth and development of the Slovak immigrant in contemporary America. It shall be a study from the point of an American who is of Slovak ancestry, although this might tend to make the paper onesided and bias, I shall endeavor to present an objective view of the situation and problems in present day America. I shall consider the Slovaks to be one of America's minorities. The Slovaks can be considered minorities. For my purpose the definition will prove suggestive. Minorities are subgroups within a culture which are distinguishable from the dominant group by reason of difference in physiognomy, language, customs or culture-patterns (including any combination of these factors). I shall also consider the Slovaks as one of the many immigrant groups who "have made it" in America. Their development and eventual climb to success was brought about by overcoming great difficulties. The role played by one of the institutions of society, notably the Church, proved to be the most important single factor and in some ways one of the greatest problems for the Slovaks' emancipation from the ghettos of narrow-minded Little Slovakias in countless numbers of American cities. Victims of oppression have always looked upon migration to a new land with a promise of freedom and equal opportunity as their mecca. And in the late years of the last century in order to be free of social injustice, economic serfdom, or the threat of national liquidation, the oppressed peoples of central, southern and eastern Europe have constantly looked toward the United States as a haven. The Slovak of the nineteenth and early twentieth century was no exception. Harrassed at home, subject to the insidious pressures of Magyarization, which sought 126 SLOVAKIA to deprive them of their national character and identity literally thousands of thousands of Slovak families sought refuge in the new world. Slovaks began to emigrate in great numbers to America in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. "From the year 1880 until the outbreak of World War I, Slovakia lost more than 550,000 people through emigration to America, over 22 per cent of her total population." 1 "Numerically in the twelve years ending June 30, 1910, Slovakia ranked eighth among the nations providing immigrant material. The rate of emigration of Slovaks per 1,000 was 18.6; this was double that of any other race of people, except the Hebrews 08.3), Croatians-Slovenians (13.1), and South Italians (11.9). The rate was the highest of any group." 2 Having arrived in the United States, the Slovak immigrants began to look for a place to live and to work. The first areas to draw them were the coal mine centers; only in the second instance did the Slovaks settle in the factory cities. One focus of settlement was the hard-coal of north-eastern Pennsylvania where the center was Hazleton, Pennsylvania. Before World War I the mines in the district employed 75,000 to 100,000 men; of this group 12 ';,were Slovaks. 3 Besides northeastern Pennsylvania Slovaks crowded scores of cities in the eastern industrial portions of the United States. Cleveland, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Youngstown, New York, Yonkers, Philadelphia, Detroit, Bridgeport, Newark became the centers of the new Slovak life. There was scarcely a mine, factory or mill in America's new industry where Slovak immigrants and their sons could not be found. And everywhere they went, two opposing drives moved them. One toward Americanization and with it the social acceptance all new immigrants sought from their immigrant predecessors. The other, to preserve the culture and, above all, the faith of the Slovak past. That the two meshed instead of irreconcilably clashing can be attributed largely to the labors of a score or so of Slovak pioneers, in this the new land. Since the Slovaks knew little identity within the framework of Austria-Hungary and •since their very existence was denyed, a sense of Slovak nationalism and identity developed here in the United States. The early aim of SLOVAKIA 127 these immigrant Slovaks was to preserve the Slovak language, Slovak customs and indeed a distinct Slovak identity. This nationalism, if we might call it, eventually was brought to bear fruit when the republic of CzechoSlovakia was established in 1918. The plans and agreements were reached not only in Europe but their foundations were laid in America. It was the work of the SlovakAmerican organizations in America under the banner of the Slovak League of America that guaranteed the rights of the Slovaks within the republic of Czecho-Slovakia. This early Slovak Nationalism developed with the establishment of a workable Slovak press here in America. The first Slovak newspaper was called the Bulletin which was hectographed by Julius Wolf and John Slovensky in Pittsburgh, Pa., in 1885. The printed word was very important to the Slovak immigrant because in Hungary "to take a Slovak newspaper or, if an educated man, to speak the Slovak tongue, is to brand oneself in Magyar eyes as a political traitor and to insure very possible obstacle in one's path." 4 Slovak was forbidden in the schools, courts and even in the pulpits of churches. It was only natural that the Slovak who now lived in a free land would tend to encourage the use of the Slovak language in every possible instance of daily life. From its very beginnings the Slovak press has always been extremely strong and influential. The Slovak press was used as a means at voicing opposition to the programs and directives of the Austro-Hungarian government. It constantly attacked the Hungarians and their view of the Slovaks which they equated with ignorance, dullness and poverty. From the outset the Slovaks set out to preserve their Christian heritage. Their first Catholic parish was founded in Hazleton, Pennsylvania in 1882 and their first Evangelical (Lutheran ) church in Streator, Ill., two years later. The main problems were twofold: priests were needed who could speak the language and fund were needed for parish churches and schools; both were met but only after a long, hard pull.5 The true flowering of the Slovak identity come with the establishment of the great Slovak fraternal societies. This organizational life among the Slovaks began in the 128 SLOVAKIA lodg·es and societies so common in America after the Civil War. "By 1914 in the United States principal organizations had 15,600,000 members." 6 Economic and social need led the Slovaks to form lodges. Mine disasters often took the lives of husbands and fathers, leaving the family not only destitute, but even without the money for a funeral. In answer to the need of sickness and funeral benefits a large number of societies grew up in industrial and mining towns. These societies proved the greatest blessing to identity-starved Slovak. He now could boast a purely Slovak, not Hungarian or Austro-Hungarian society. These mutual benefit societies were organized in hundreds of cities from Maine to California. They were organized along two distant lines one purely Slovak with no regard to religion or political beliefs, and the other along strictly religious lines . The later proved to attract the majority of Slovak immigrants. The leader of the first group with a purely nationalistic view, was Peter P. Rovnianek, known as the stormy petrel, who did so much to make cause of the Slovaks known to Americans. He organized the National Slovak Society in Pittsburgh, Pa., on February 15, 1890. The second group was led by the Rev. Stephen Furdek, a Slovak immigrant priest of the Cleveland, Ohio Diocese met with representatives of seven Slovak Catholic Societies in Cleveland on September 5, 1890 and organized the First Catholic Slovak Union commonly known as Jednota. This organization attracted many other Catholic societies and became the most important Slovak organization in America. The local lodges of this organization organized Slovak Catholics and formed parishes throughout the Unites States and even in Canada. This organization helped to organize some 350 Slovak Roman Catholic parishes in America. This organization proved to be the most important single achievement of the Slovak in America. It not only protected the member's life but also served as a cultural, religious and economic means of expressing the Slovaks' distinct identity. Not even in Austria-Hungary was there a Slovak organization which had its own press, its own orphanage and a large educational complex in Middletown, Pennsylvania. This organization helped to organize a teaching order of Sisters to staff the Slovak schools which were being built in practically every Slovak parish. This organ- SLOVAKIA 129 ization provided the first Mother house for the Sisters of SS. Cyril and Methodius, a Slovak-American community founded by the Rev. Matthew Jankola of Bridgeport, Connecticut. Other such Slovak fraternals appeared in the ensuing years. 7 The problem of the second generation was that life at home was unpleasant; whereas in the schoolroom they were too foreign, at home they were too American. The Slovak immigrant fathers who compromised most villingly in adjusting their outside affairs to the realities of the workaday world were different persons in their homes. Within the family circle, the Slovak language, religion, customs and parental authority were not to be modified simply because the home had been transplanted to the United States. The problem of the second generation Slovak American how to inhabit two worlds at the same time, was solved by escape as soon as sons were free economically, even before they reached their legal maturity. The second generation also came to know the contempt in which artistic activities were held by nineteenth and twentieth century Americans. They hastened to prove that they knew little or cared even less about art, music, th8ater or literature. "Nothing was more Yankee than a Yankeeized person of foreign descent." 8 In his opinion, that is the second generation Slovak-American it is he who is to undergo the entire transformation; the true member of the American nationality is not called upon to change in the least. The traits of foreign nationality which the Slovak brings with him are not to be mixed or interwoven. They are to be abandoned. The standard to which he must conform has been already fixed by forces quite outside himself, quite outside any individual, native or foreign, fixed by all the factors, topographical, climatic, racial, historical, fortuitous, which have worked together to make the American nationality what it is. A harsh situation, indeed. But a situation the harshness of which is determined not by the inclination or wish of any person or group of persons, but by the inherent qualities of human nature and social organization. 9 For the Eastern European immigrant and in particular the Slovak the third generation return was not so much 130 SLOVAKIA to cultural entities per se, but to a vague nostalgia and an undefined ideology. This ideology has no organic relation to the third-generation descendant's individual past, but is rather primarily a reaction to the conditions of life in the twentieth-century United States: 1) a "native" population alerted to the alleged stereotypic characteristics of immigrant groups; 2) the threat posed by numbers of incoming immigrants reinforcing a pre-existing population base of their compatriots; 3) the difficulty of maintaining ethnic anonymity; and 4) a somewhat retarded rate of growth in the country leading to a stronger emphasis upon a man's origin. 10 Essentially the group of immigrant origins-whether it be homogenous or heterogenous in character-return s in a context filtered by the American experience. Thus a general question to be put forth, the following is posed: Who returns to what with whom under which conditions of the possible forms and contents of these returns? Individual behavior is meant as well as the process of returning evidenced by the Slovaks who are a religio-ethnic group. Some reasons might be: 1) a generalized interest which may remain diffused or may become crystallized around specific segments of an ethnic folk heritage, a Slovak heritage-languag e, holiday celebrations, foods, etc. 2) the institutional religious framework-the existence of 350 Slovak Roman Catholic parishes, plus prayer and certain holiday observances within the Church. 4) Literary, ideological-cultur al-the writing of immigrant history, and since the Slovaks had a greater sense of freedom in the short period of time since they first arrived in America, the field was very ripe. The sensitive position that Slovak Americans of the third generation have toward the Slovakia of the period 1939-1945. It posed an interesting history of political science. An ethnic Slovak press which was the second largest foreign Slav press in the free world, and a press which was larger than anything that had existed in old Austria-Hungary. All this added to the socially patterned rationalizations and apologetics affirming the Slovak group's identity. 5) An interest in the dress, manner, and speech cadence, employment, political affiliation etc. The renewed interest in things Slovak can be manifested by the present Slovak-American community in the SLOVAKIA 131 revival of Slovak customs in parishes, homes, schools and organizations throughout the United States. A major factor of this present day resurgence of the Slovak-American ethnic was the development and encouragement of the Black Power movement. This new awareness of blackness, and with it the new social and economic acceptances which world threaten all white Americans the ethnic groups all had a certain renascence. Centers for ethnic studies are proposed for many major cities in the United States so as to encourage and enbody the cultures and heritages that go into the American heritage. Due to this new interest in things Slovak some Universities have established Slovak chairs, notably at the University of Pittsburgh, the University of Minnesota, Columbia, the University of Chicago and also Marquette University. 11 Some contemporary problems which face the SlovakAmerican organizations, churches, religious orders, press and communities are such things as narrow minded mentalities toward other minority groups, and in general polarization. Narrowmindedness persists in many Slovak parishes where although the Slovak parish in within a ghetto community which is no longer Slovak these parishes do nothing to serve the needs of the residents of the ghetto. Most Slovak parishes are no longer needed in the sense that they were needed three-quarters of a century ago. It is true however that certain large cities, points of settlement of newly arrived waves of immigrants, should be maintained. It seems quite ludicrous in many small towns to maintain five or six parishes, when five are national and one or two would adequately serve the needs of the Catholic community. One major factor for the persistence of many national parishes is the fact that their members feel that, although they no longer speak the language of their immigrant parents or grandparents, they nevertheless feel a certain protection from the majority group. The completely unbalanced ethnic background of the American hierarchy is one major reason why Americans born of Slovak descent or, for that matter, any ethnic group other than the Irish feel that their mentality and ideas are not understood by the Irish hierarchy. A more pluralistic hierarchy in America would tend to serve the needs and best wishes of all American Catholics. These 132 SLOVAKIA national parishes pose many juridical problems for the American church today. The problem of the national church, and there still exist in the United States at least 2,855 parishes serving the various ethnic groups, will be a problem which will have to dealt with much compassion and respect. To simply say that this, and that parish will close and all catholics must attend one church, will not settle the problem. It has been estimated that over ten million American Catholics belong to national parishes. 12 Many Slovak parishes in the United States not only serve the Slovak Catholics but serve other groups in inner cities. In most instances these parishes are without debt and are usually quite wealthy due to the fact that Slovak Catholics in America are known for their generosity. These parishes are able to finance large schools admitting many minority groups. An example is the parish of the Most Holy Trinity in Gary, Indiana, where the then Msgr. Andrew G. Grutka was pastor, now the bishop of the Diocese of Gary. Msgr. Grutka opened the parish school to the local Negroes of his parish. His parish school had two-thirds of its populations Black. He not only provided the Blacks with an education but he also gave them free lunches, free clothing and helped their families establish themselves as outstanding citizens of the community. This is an instance where the work, started by the Slovak immigrants, is continuing its service to all who come in contact with the parish. This is an outstanding example of a national parish which is providing not only services to its Slovak American people but, to serve in a true spirit of Christ, it is using its power to help who seek its aid. 13 The problem of polarization in America today is one of Black against White and the Slovaks must be open enough to see that polarization whether Black or White or ethnic is not a healthy attitude for America. Slovak ethnicity can go just so far until it becomes unhealthy and actually un-American. The days of the Slovaks and their sons and grandsons who feel that they are a subgroup and are inherently different and "not belonging" to the dominant American group are over and it is with this spirit of optimism that the Slovak-Americans will continue t o forge ahead to become outstanding American citizens. It is interesting to note that the Slovak organizations SLOVAKIA 133 in the United States and Canada are stronger than they have ever been in their history. Their membership stands at over one half million and their assets are over $150,000,000.00. These organizations have great potential to become leaders in the realm of Catholic Action works in America. One of these organizations, the largest and the most influential, the First Catholic Slovak Union with its 104,000 members is in the forefront of major reform with its new anticipated multi-million dollar educational. cultural and civic center which will be built on its vast acreage in Middletown, Pennsylvania. The complex will provide 1,800 units of senior citizen housing for the members and any person in need, also a college for 1,000 students. The facilities will be open to all regardless of race, color or creed.14 The Slovak press still has a circulation of over 250,000 in America, althougt Slovak has been replaced with English in many instances. Two members of the American hierarchy are of Slovak descent: the Most Rev. Joseph A. Durick, D. D., Bishop of Nashville, and the Most Rev. Andrew G. Grutka, D. D., LL. D., Bishop of Gary. This number should be much higher when one considers that there are over 1,200 priest of Slovak descent in America. There are three religious communities for men and nine motherhouses of Sisters among the American Slovaks, their membership is better than 3,000. Among the most outstanding laymen of Slovak descent are Dr. Walter Tkach, who is the personal physician of President Richard Nixon; astronaut Eugene V. Cernan; the uranium king of Canada Stephen B. Roman, whose empire is valued at $250,000 ,000.00 , Michael Novak, noted lay Catholic theologian; Dr. Jaroslav Pelikan, Protestant theologian, and many other notables. 15 Since the land of their ancestors is now ruled by the Communists it has been the necessity of American Slovaks to help Slovakia in many areas, particularly regarding the position of the Church. Under the leadership of Bishop Andrew G. Grutka the Slovak Catholic Federation of America, the representative organization of American Catholics of Slovak descent, American Catholics of Slovak origin raised over one million dollars for the establishment of the Slovak Institute of SS. Cyril and Methodius in Rome, Italy to train future priests for work in Slovakia. With 134 SLOVAKIA all Slovak dioceses vacant and all but one seminary opened the Church in Slovakia would have died had it not been for the generosity and interest of the American Slovaks . Today after nine years of existence this Institute has become the spiritual center of Slovaks throughout the world. Since the invasion of Czecho-Slovakia in 1968 tens of thousands have come to Rome and have been settled in Western Countries. Necessity calls for the Slovak Catholic Federation of America to remain a potent voice for the suffering church in Slovakia. The Slovak Catholic Federation along with the Slovak League of America, its counterpart in the socio-political sphere, have had to fight for the rights of the Slovak nation, at home and abroad, time and time again. These two dynamic ethnic organizations, whose philosophy is totally American, possess a fire for the rights of the Slovak nation whose story and traditions are among the most glorious in history yet whose plight in history has been among the most misunderstood. For some nativist Americans these organizations and philosophies are excessively chauvinistic, yet the role which has been played by American Slovaks is monumental in the development of the Slovak nation as a whole. Ethnic pride must never build walls but must always build bridges in these troubled times. Ethnic enclaves must give way to cultural identity whose philosophy can enrich the whole of society. It is quite evident in today's society that homogenization is certainly not possible in America. The pluralistic society which is a reality in America knows no single language, no single culture, no single ethnic stock and no single race. The America which we all know and love is a diverse enriching experience which has no equal in the history of the world. With an enriched diversity each one's potentials can be used to build a better America, an America immanent with the identity the individual possesses. Unless each person can experience what it really means to be an individual he can never be a part of a society. We have to use our Slovak identity to enrich our lives within the framework of the whole human experience. We must use our identity not as a barries but rather as a bridge. Unless we can come to know our roots we can never really know our history. SLOVAKIA 135 FOOTNOTES 1) Oddo, Gilbert, L., Slovakia and Its People, (New York, 1960), p. 330. 2) Zatko, James, J., "Early Beginning of the Slovaks in America ," Slovakia, (Middletown, Pa., 1965, p. 16. 3) Ibid. 4) Balch, Emily, Greene, Our Slavic Fellow Citizens, (New York, 1910, p . 110. 5) Oddo, op. cit. 6) Zatko, op. cit. 7) Pauco, Joseph, 75 rokov Prvej Katolickej Slovenskej Jednoty (75 Year History of the First Catholic Slovak Union), (Middletown , 1965), p. 35. 8) "The Problems of the Immigrants", Phylon, 1968, Volume 29, No. 4. Winter p. 362. 9) Fairchild, Henry, Pratt, The Melting-Pot Mistake, (Boston, 1946) , p. 154. 10) Ibid. 11) Krajsa, Joseph C., "Slovaks Have Arrived!" , Slovakia, (Middletown , 1965), p. 64. 12) Barron, Milton , L., American Minorities, (New York, 1957), pp. 418--19. 13) Pauco, op. cit. p. 468. 14) Krajsa, Joseph, C., "Slovaks Have Arrived", Slovakia, (Middletown , 1965), pp. 64-5. 15) Stolarik, Imrich, Kanadska Slovenska Liga 35rocna (35 Year History of the Canadian Slovak League), (Passaic, N.J., 1967), pp. 167-8. BIB LI O G RA PHY Balch, Emily, Greene, Our Slavic Fellow Citizens, New York, William F. Fell Company, 1910. Barron, Milton, L., American Minorities, New York, Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1957. Fairchild, Henry, Pratt, The Melting-Pot Mistake, Boston, Little, Brown and Company, 1946. Krajsa, Joseph, C., " Slovaks Have Arrived", Slovakia XV, Middletown, Pa., Jednota Press, 1965, pp. 64-68. Oddo, Gilberit, L., Slovakia and Its People, New York, Robert Speller and Sons, 1960. Pauco, Joseph,75 rokov Prvej Katolickej Slovenskej Jednoty, (75 Year History of the First Catholic Slovak Union), Middletown, Jednota Press, 1965. Stolarik, lmrich , Kanadska Slovenska Liga 35rocna, (35 Year History of the Canadian Slovak League), Passaic, N.J., Slovak Catholic Sokol Press, 1967. Zatko, James, J., "Early Beginnings of the Slovaks in America", Slovakia XV , Middletown, Pa., Jednota Press, 1965, pp. 1-38.  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Slovak Experience in Contemporary America Description An account of the resource Daniel F. Tanzone Slovakia, Vol. 22 (No. 45), 1972 pp. 125-135 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Tanzone, Daniel F. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1972 name https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/63368ebaa2d773b9a3c2b7630775e8f8.pdf 98018628eb3c119083d7cff21b39a0ee PDF Text Text 100 SLOVAKIA The Slovak Fairytale Tradition and J.R.R. Tolkien's ''Eucatastrophe'' in the Realistic Stories of Martin Kukucfn Norm a L. Rudinsky Although Martin Kukucfn is primarily and consciously a realistic author, there are noticeable remnants of the fairytale tradition in hi s short stories about Slovak village life. This is not surprising as fairytales were still very popular amon g the Slovak public that Kuku cfn wanted to reach in 1880-1900 ; Slovak folk literature in general and fairytales in particular remained an active part of Slovak cultural life and were universally very popular mu ch later than in most other European countries. The unu su ally long-lastin g oral tradition and the scarcity of written literature in Slovak until the 18th century made the Slovaks cling to their fairytales as vital evidence of their ancient n ational existence, since this folk literature had not been a ppropriated by the ruling M agyar or G erm an cultures, nor eve n by the Czech culture of Bohem ia and M oravia . This is the atmosphere in which Slovak literary realism began , and, of course, prose village realism essentially began with Kuku cfn. It a ppears that , co nsciously a nd probably unco nsciously, Kuku cfn kept some of the fairytale elements that were famili ar and "natural" to the co mmon readers he wanted to reach, even though he did not picture the knights , princesses, and witches of traditional tales, but instead the farme r , the hired hand , and the mayor of the real Slovak vi ll age in 1880-1894 . Num erous elem ents of folklore, superstition, and tradition al folk cu stoms have been cited in Kuku cfn's early stories.' Besides these in cidental similarities to folk literature, many of Kukucfn's central plots suggest the fairytale in one critical respect : they usually have a happy ending. This similarity is Kuku cfn 's m ost important rela tion to the fairytale tradition of hi s tim e, and the only relation that I shall �SLOVAKIA 101 take up here . Kuku cfn 's usu al happy ending may come suddenly and without mu ch prepa rat ion , a nd ce rtainl y it is not typical for a realist a uthor. In fact, his forced ha ppy endings are a puzzle in Kukucfn ' s work and co nstitute a problem for the criti c to expl ain. I rej ec t the idea that he was too ca reless or un skillful to write otherwise, or that he was simply following the tradition of his time, as he was too innovative for that. I think Kukucfn chose to e nd his stories this way , so the question is why did he force a happy e nding from materi al tha t could more naturall y be sad ? Th e result so m e times see ms sentimental, but it is not the sentim e ntalism of Thom as Hardy or Charles Dicke ns, who "milk" a sad sce ne . Kuku cfn neve r milks a sad scene. In fact, he has few such scenes, or he ends them hap pily after all. M a ny critics have commented upon this fact: Kuku cfn seldom shows a characte r suffering very long; he kills off ve ry few characters; he never shows evil triumphing; he seldom shows a merely moral victory in an o therw ise defeated characte r. Although there are a few except ions and some of hi s most ironic stories are ambivalent, Kukucfn , as Alexander Matuska has said, "sees evil but doesn't point a finge r at it. " 1 For this reaso n , I think, Kukucfn was for a long tim e regarded as o nl y a comi c writer, despite the fact tha t his themes a re often ve ry serious. The hap py e ndin g in Kuku cfn's work has b een analyzed by the pe rceptive Bra tislava critic O skar Cepan partly in Freudian terms of in fa ntil e repression of co nflict ing motives: " Kukucfn 'represses' confli ct ing motives a nd 'transfers' them to the infantile-archaic environment of the 'famil y nest.' " 3 Not being a Freudian I think Cepan's expl a na tion cove rs onl y part of the ground , a nd I am instead inclin ed to ex plain Kuku cfn ' s h appy endin gs in te rm s of his conscious beliefs as well as the unconscious desire for ha rmony and peace which Cepan writes of. The cleares t and most obvious belief of Kuku cfn , of cou rse, was his C hri stian faith . Particularly the critics Stanislav M eciar and Cyril Potocek have em phasized the C hri stia n them es of Kukucfn 's work , ranging from early sto ri es su ch as Dve cesty, Vianocne oblatky, a nd Zo stupna na stupen to th e last no vels, es pecially Mat' vola. 4 So, the seco nd part of my thesis here is that Kukucfn's fairytale-like happy ending , besides reflecting the then-curre nt Slovak interest in fairytales, also refl ects Kuku cfn 's ow n Christian optimism. To expla in a nd su pport this thesis , I should like to use the co n cept �102 SLOVAKIA of "eucatastrophe " that was developed by the English author J .R.R . Tolkien, the leading 20th-century creator of medieval fairytales , in his Andrew Lang lecture and essay '' On Fairy-stories .' ' For T olkien , much of the appeal of fairytal es lies in the Escape they provide, and he defends such escapism not as the "Flight of the D eserter " but as the "Escape of the Prisoner ,'' or the consolation of escaping imaginatively from the inev itable pains and evils of life. 5 The greatest consolation in fairytales is that of the Happy Ending, for which Tolkien made up the word "eucatastrophe": "the good catastrophe , the sudden joyous 'turn' " of the plot in contrast to the " dyscatastroph e of sorrow and failure." The eucatastrophe, Tolkien says, "denies universal final defeat " and is the "evangelium" (pp. 85-86). The religiou s suggestion of this word "evangelium" is made explicit when Tolkien says the joy of the happy ending can " be explained as a sudden glimpse of the underlying reality or truth '' of human life; the Eucatastrophe of a story is like the R esurrection in Christian history, and the R esurrection of Christ is the eucatastrophe of real life (p. 88). This is , very briefly, the theory of fairytales that governed Tolkien 's creation of his famous books Th e Hobbit and The Lord of th e Rings . The ''Consolation '' of a happy ending was apparently needed personally by Tolkien , whose fervent Catholicism was strongly tinged by Jansenism with its scrupulosity and depression. His biographer Humphrey Carpenter cites Tolkien's unpublished diary as evidence that he " was capable of bouts of profound despair , " 6 and says he " took an almost tragic view of himself as a weak man - which was another cause of his deep troughs of pessimism . '' 7 There is no indication of J ansenism in Kukucfn 's Christianity , during either his Lu theran or his R om an Catholic period ; in fact, the Jansenist heresy seems to have been more of a French, Irish, and English phenomenon than a Slavic one. But there is ample evidence that Kuku cfn too suffered a t times from severe depression. A s Stefan Krcmery wrote of him , The objectivity of Kuku cfn ' s art is deliberate . H e penetrated with th at sight of his into things and people so that he would not fall into th at internal sadness of his. H e lau ghed so that he would not weep .. . . There are things in life that just cannot be explained . Such are the roots of Kuku cfn ' s pessim ism . Did it com e from his feeling of sadness as a transplanted plant? Did it com e intellectually from hi s study? Philosophically , �SLOVAKIA 103 Dostoevsky and T olstoy reached most deeply into his soul. But his pessimism , even in its origins, has the stamp of the pessimism of great souls. It colors them as the dark side of their heroism . 8 Scarcely recognized by the reading public of Kukucfn 's time , this underlying pessimism and almost inadvertent sadness are more easily recognizable today . As Oskar Cepan says, Kukucfn 's ' realism ' today shows itself from a different side, and appears in a different light. It has unexpected lines . . . . More and more, we are today intrigued by his ' hidden planes,' his difficult-to-understand subtext, especially his risky balance on the ceaselessly vibrating metonymic border between epic assurance and dramatic doubt. Kukucfn's objectivity and mild humor conceal within themselves also the tinge of an indefinable and fleeting nostalgia, which is close to the most tragic chord known then to Slovak literature. 9 Thus, Kukucfn too , like Tolkien , may have personally needed the solace and consolation of the happy ending in his own creative life . '' Eu catastrophe,'' however, is not just a matter of personal need and satisfaction . Tolkien refers also to the social value of su ch consolation in the modern world of pollution , alienation , wars, depressions, and totalitarian power , in addition to the eternal evils : But there are also other and more profound "escapisms" that have always appeared in fairy-tale and legend . There are other things more grim and terrible to fly from than the noise, stench, ruthlessness, and extravagance of the internal-combustion machine . There are hunger, thirst, poverty, pain, sorrow , injustice , death . And even when men are not facing hard things such as these, there are ancient limitations from which fairy-stories offer a sort of escape. (p. 83) For Kukucfn, this social benefit in the fictional representation of ultim ate divine justice was probably even more important than it was for Tolkien , because Kukucfn ' s fiction was consciously didactic , as Tolkien's was not. In fact, almos t all of Slavic literary realism was didactic and se rved extra-literary functions not found in other literatu re because of the historical conditions of its origin . 10 In the Slovak students' club in Prague , called " D etvan," there were several arguments about the mean- �104 SLOVAKI A ing of realism and the rela tive valu e o f th e Ru ssia n a nd th e Fren ch schools. Kukucfn preferred the Ru ssia n reali sts becau se of th eir edu ca tional effect in a backwa rd society. 11 Criti cs agree th a t Kuku cfn delibera tely wrote about the Slovak v ill a ge for the Slovak vill age r in the speech o f the Slovak vill a ge r. 11 H e wrote for the purpose of raising the consciousness of the d owntrodden Slovak p easant , as he him self later explained in rejecting th e hope of El ena Mar6thy- Soltesova ( expressed in her novel Prati pnidu ) th a t the Slovak gentry wo uld fin ally resist Magyarization and begin to w a ke the Slovak comm o ne rs from '' their dream of self-forge tfuln ess.'' T o accomplish thi s awakenin g, the writer should combat the p assivity a nd d espair th a t ch aracte ri zed mu ch o f Slovak public life at thi s tim e - just afte r the M a ti ca slovenska and the three Slovak high school s were closed . 13 Th e re we re even fa mines in Orava at this time , whi ch Kuku cfn d escribed in Czech a rticles whose fund a ppeals w ere d esign ed to stin g the M agyar a uth orities into a id fo r the a rea . 14 C ertainly these we re compelling rea son s fo r Kuku cfn 's quiet but d efinite didacti c purpose eve n in his early hum o rou s ta les . In summary , then , I believe there were probably three forces pushin g Kukucfn to m a ke a ha ppy endin g for his sto ri es wh ere o ne mi ght expect a sadder outcome: 1) The living tradition o f the fair ytal e in the Slovak vill age of hi s tim e; 2) Kukucfn's own Christia n optimism and hi s "smile ove r hi s tears ' ' ; 3) His d ete rmination to chee r a nd en courage the d ow n trodden villager for whom h e wrote . P erh aps Kukucfn hon estl y could n ot bear to show sadn ess, fa ilure , a nd inju stice in hi s fi ction when these ev il s we re so comm on in the Slovak life of thi s tim e. N ow I should like to support these ideas with several example stories about Slovak village life, all of th em a mong Kuku cfn 's m os t celebra ted a nd ce rtainl y amon g his fin est stories. 15 First R ysava jalovica (The M o ttled H eife r , V ol. II ) is a n out- a nd out com ed y, a nd ver y su ccessful - no one would ask fo r a sad e ndin g to it! H ere the happy outcome is compl etely in keepin g w ith th e comi c plot a nd style; th e goodna tured drunk a rd Ada m Krt is a ch a rmin g caricature a nd th e pl o t is a n all ego ry so th a t K rt 's sudden reform a nd �SLOVAKIA 105 co nsequent wealth are e mine ntl y suitable to the sto ry. Krt is a classic und erdog hero - sm all , ridiculed , but cl ever in hi s ow n way; his trips to th e fair a nd then to find the lost heifer are a qu est from which h e re turn s victorious to everyone's a m azem ent. The subsidiary anecdotes , a bout the m ayo r 's troubles with the broken ha nd on the town cl ock , the feud betwee n Krt a nd hi s neighbor Trnka over a n a nn y goat a nd a rooster, a nd the d og with its head cau ght in a churn , are pure farce a nd their tone su pports the comic victory of Krt. No wonde r it was Kukucfn 's most popular story, a nd people asked for " m ore about Krt. " 16 The second exampl e, Neprebuden y (Vol. II ) is equally su ccessful , but in the oppos ite way . The titl e Neprebuden y m eans "The Unawakened" in th e m ascu lin e sin gul a r , a nd by writing of a youn g m a n who is m entall y retarded Kuku cfn in vokes the tradition of the " h oly idiot." Thi s sto ry is unique amo n g his work in b ein g trul y tragic , a nd each of th e characte rs is scarred by th e goose herd 's di scove ry of th e dece ption pract iced upon him b y the vill age bell e and h er fami ly, the n hi s subseque n t d eath in the fire that end s the wedd in g feast. Th e re is forebodin g irony throughout the story in the pun on the words husar as "gooseherd " a nd husar as "cavalryman," and this foreshadowin g is fulfill ed when the hu sar is killed tryin g to save a me re goose a nd her goslin gs in a burnin g barn. The story is really an anti-fairytale in which Kukucfn explicitly rejec ts the co nve ntion al roman ce. The gooseherd dream s of a princess in a cas tl e , the n awake ns to the teas ing of th e vill age b elle who am uses he rself by lettin g him think she will marry him . Thi s contrast between fa iryla nd a nd real life is d eveloped throu ghout the story . Neprebudeny is the closest of Kuku cfn 's stori es to th e French naturali sm of, fo r ex a mpl e , Em il e Zola , a nd it may have been a n ex perime nt on Kuku cfn 's pa rt , to imi tate Zola . If it was a n ex pe rim ent , it was on e Kuku cfn did not care to repeat , a nd late r (in 1925) he wrote to a fri end th a t he saw " no thin g spec ial" in Nepreb udeny. 17 An othe r trul y tragic story is Drotarove Vian oce (The Tinker ' s C hri st m as, Vol. III) , whi ch dramatizes a n incid e nt in the M agyar government 's actual campaign to assign Slovak children to M agyar far m fam ili es in southern Hun gary, chan gin g their names a nd preventin g their , return to Slovak a reas. T heo re ti call y all we re orph a ns, but not in realit y, a nd thi s story shows a fami ly 's failure to find their so n . H oweve r , Kuku cfn published this sto ry onl y in C zech in Bohemi a; thu s it was n ot one of hi s stories fo r th e ge neral Slovak read e r , in pa rt because it wou ld �106 SLOVAKIA have been dangerou s to print it in Hungary . Also, it was not included in his collected works published in the new Czechoslovakia. Several important stories have ironic, even ambivalent endings , such as K ed' bacik z Chochol'ova umrie (When M y Uncle from Chocholov Passes Away , Vol. IV) , which shows the co rruptive influence of an impoverished gentleman's great expectations of inheritance . Also , some stories have well-worked out happy endings to a spiritual conflict, such as an old woman's effort to understand and accept the fact that her neighbor ' s only son reached manhood and a happy wedding while her own only son had died as a young man , in D ve cesty (Two paths, Vol. V) . Another example is seen in the attempt of a young school-teacher to comprehend his vocation as willing servant to the com munity but not subservient to any individual , when he was expected to bake the traditional wafers for the whole village, in Vianocn e oblatky (Christmas Wafers, Vol. IV) . The story Zo stupna n a stupen (Going Down Step by Step, Vol. V) also shows a spiritual victory but it is only briefl y narrated , not dramatized , and the man 's happiness in poverty is only asserted, not presented . These effective happy endings , howeve r , are uncommon . The story that best illustrates my point that Kukucfn chose to force a happy ending where he could more naturally have had a sadder end, is Dies irae ... (The Day of Wrath , Vol. V) . It is a very successful story , which Bratislava critic Julius N oge calls one of the fin est in Slovak literature . 18 Dies irae is the account of a cholera epidemic, yet not one of the main characters dies. It is also the account of a spendthrift mayor who has abandoned his first love when she was expecti n g hi s child in order to marry someone else for m oney, yet he is punished only in his own view of himself. It is also the account of a miserly father whose selfishness drives out both his sons before he loses his fortune to thieves and cheating partners, yet he is able to win back one and perhaps both of his sons . The two characters, the mayor and the miser , reverberate with irony, and Kukuci'.n makes clear their moral imperfections , yet at the end he allows them all to live happily ever after. The abandoned woman loses her bitterness and her desire for revenge when she sees the mayor 's chagrin (it is not true humility), and the youn g lovers are not separated by cholera, nor by the miserly father . The last se ntence is " Now finally at the richtar's house there was peace, both the external kind and , above all, the peace that no one can take away" (p. 37 1). �SLOVAK IA 107 The story su cceed s, but I think it would have been even more moving if it h ad not end ed so well. A clear contrast to Kukucfn 's optimism is seen in the work ofBozena Slancfkova, p seudony m Timrava (1867-1951), whose long story T apa.kovci (The Tapak C la n , 1914) shows a family ' s stubborn, unimaginative adh eren ce to repressive old customs and its ill-tempered resista nce to the effort of a young bride to revamp the household. There is very little liberating humor a nd there is a much grimmer irony than Kukucfn 's iro n y would have been in the " h appy " ending whereby the bride gets a new house and the rest of the Tapak clan can stay contentedly crowded together in the old hom estead . 19 Several factors must have caused this difference between Kukucfn and Timrava . One would be the development o f their personalities, of course, but also there ar e philosophic contrasts. For example, the so-called " Tolstoyan " emphasis in Kukucfn' s Christianity is not present in Timrava ; in fact, Christian themes are less noticeable in Tim rava's work, and incipient fem inist themes are prese nt. But the sh ift in satiric to n e also com es from the historical development of' 'critical' ' realism out of classical realism , and, I believe , from the d ecreased popularity of fairytal es and other folk literary forms as the Slovak edu cat ional level rose and industrialization spread during the 20th ce ntury. Kukucfn was o b v iously aware of hi s tenden cy to gloss over some of the problems of real life becau se he wrote of it in a story published the year before Dies irae. In Po d eviatich rokoch (Afte r Nine Years, Vol. V), he has o ne of his roman ti c h ero ines return a nd accuse him ( as the a uthor) of a bandoning h er after the wedding b y n ot writing a nother story about the con fli cts that occu r within marriage. But Kukucfn allows himself to a n swer his heroin e with the easy excu se that read ers like romantic plots a bout young love, n ot domestic conflicts; thus, h e does not actuall y face the problem . H owever, later ( 1903) h e may have tried to work ou t this proble m in his novel D om v strani ( House on the Hillside) , which is about exactl y that same subj ect : the conflicts that would come if the wealthy landow ner 's so n Niko were to marry the simple peasant 's daughte r K at ica, since they are un suited b y their diffe rent upbringing and edu cation as well as by their different dispositions. 10 The novel is not a C inderella story, because Kukucfn is clearly on the n on-romantic side of class distin ctions and g ives no fairytal e endin g to this novel. It is worth noting , h owever, that even in this novel Kuku cfn does not ac- �SLOVAKIA tually show domestic conflicts resulting from an unsuita ble m arriage, because he prevents the marriage from occurring. With Dom v strani, howeve r , I am out of stories into novels, and Kukucfn was no longer writing in the fairytale tradition . Kukucfn wrote little of the origins of his work , saying only that he had learned to write from hearing and admiring the speech of the Slovak villagers in J asenova. 21 As he nowhere gave his theory of lite rature, it is only psychological speculation that his interior motiva tion was similar to Tolkien 's. Also, there can be no question of influence between Kukucfn and Tolkien, because of diffe rences in time and in language . Nor was Tolkien's specifically Christian theory offairytales anticipated in Slovak discussions of "fantasticke rozpravky," to my knowl edge. Y et the similarity is not really surprising with two writers whose Christian world view is impressed throughout their work. Tolkien's conce ption offairytales is a variation of the classic aesthetic theory that literature represents the underlying reality of huma n life, with or without the "realistic" detail of the surface phenom en a . Unfortunately, this same theory also covers the desire of many third-rate writers, including both the melodramatist and the socialist realist, to directly illustrate a clear moral ideal by rewarding goodness and punishing evil ; so whenever the didactic desire to teach and to reform becomes stronger than the artistic d esire to reveal and to express, a weakened literary effect b ecom es apparent. In some of Kukucfn 's stories, the result (as already stated), is a more or less sudden wrenching of a potential " dyscatastrophe " into a ''eucatastrophe.'' The ultimate cause of this wrench , b es ides whatever internal motivat ion lay in Kukucfn ' s creative personality, probably has to b e seen in the very h a rsh social and political structures of late 19th century Hungary. These unju st conditions stimulated a nd even forced Kukucfn to picture realistically (for the first tim e in Slovak prose) the life of the common villager, but they also stimulated a nd forced him to soften his realism with a hap p y e nding. In this way , he would not overwhelm the downtrodde n villagers ( or the dishearten ed Slovak intellectuals) with a full picture of the ir truly discouragin g lot but would instead encourage them and awaken them from their "drama of self-forge tfulness." Thus , we see 1) another illustration of the ge neral truth that literature results from the conjuncture of a particular writer with the intell ectual co nditions and the social audience of his time, a nd 2) a nothe r example of the fact that earlier Slovak culture mu st be a n a - �SLOVAKIA 109 lyzed a nd evaluated in relation to the severe limitation s impressed upo n it b y the hi sto rical conditions of Hungary . D espite the weak e ndings o f many of Kuku cfn 's stories, h e achieved a striking synthesis of both "seeing the evil " and expressin g his d eliberate Christian optimism; hi s synthesis remains as witness to a very difficult ye t promising p e riod in Slovak literar y history. It should also serve as a re minder that wherever fairytales a re a serious part o f a culture, they must also be take n seriou sly b y literary crit ics . In fac t , fairytales may h ave played a hidde n a nd unu su al role in Slovak lite r a ture simply b ecau se of the historical conditions r eferred to already. For example, Alexander M atuska su ggests that the m odern noveli st J ozef Ciger H ronsky was influ enced b y fairytales with " their natural and also unn atural a tmosph e re, their shifting border between the real a nd th e the unreal. " 11 Under this influence, Hronsky d evelop ed his unique blend of observation and realism with poe try and lyricism - a realism which stops beside d e tail but d oes n ot stop at detail, a realism to which n eithe r the miraculous nor the grotesque is foreign; and a poetry which magically fascinates u s b y its everyday subj ect and pull s u s toward deeper ideas, to the meaning of ex isten ce. 13 Probably the greatest noveli st in Slovak , Hron sk y is at o n ce one o f the most Slovak of writers and one of the m ost worldly and cosmopolitan in technique a nd style. It is ironic a nd revealing of the histo rical sp ecifics of Slovak literature that fairytales were apparently a mong the forces that led Hronsky to th e techniques that relate his work to European n atu ralism, expressio nism , a nd surrealism , to P rou st, J oyce, K a fka, and M usi l. 14 Su ch a force cannot be neglected in any p eriod. NOTES For exam ple. V iera Gasparfkova , "Prvky l'udovej kultury V Kuku cfnovej drobnej pr6ze , '' in Martin Kukucfn v kritike a spomien k ach: Sbornfk (Bratislava: Slovenske Vydavatel's tvo Kras nej Li teratury , 1957) , pp. 360-404. This book reprints a t least major parts of most known criti cism a nd recollections of Kuku cfn up to the time of its printing; hereafter Sbornfk. ' Alex ander M a tuska, " Doslov," in Sbornfk, p. 921. All translation s from Slovak are min e. ' O skar C epan, Kuku cfnove epick e istoty (Brati slava: Tatran , 1972), pp. 267 -68. I �110 SLOVAKIA • Stanislav Meciar, Kuku cfn i ivy, 2 vols. (B uenos Aires, 1958 and 1960); Cy ril J. Potocek, M artin Kuku cfn: A Link between Two Worlds (Passaic, N .J .: Slovak Catholic Sokol, 1943). William E. Harkins has perceptively summ ari zed Kuku cin's "expressive symbol of the truth tha t m an li ves under G od's judgment, and that he would d o well therefore to li ve justly," "Foreword," Seven Slovak Stories by Martin Kuku cfn , trans . and edited by Norma Leigh Rudi nsky (R ome: Slovak Institute, 1980) , p . ix . For a full a nd rich treatment of this idea, see G. J. Sabo, " Kuku cfn 's Village Stories and Shuksin 's 'Snowball Berry-R ed,' "Slovakia, XXX (1982-83), this issue. 5 J .R .R . T olkien , " On Fairy-stories," in T he Tolkien R eader (New York : Ballantine Books, 1966), p . 79. Further references a re give n in the tex t . • Humph rey Carpenter,J.R .R . Tolkien (London : George Allen & Unwin Ltd ., 1977), p. 3 1. 7 Carpen ter, p. 129 . ' Stefan Krcmery, Stopiit'desiat rokov slovenskej literatury (M artin 1943), II , 50, quoted here from Cepan , Epick e istoty, p. 24 and 253-54. ' Cepan, Epick e istoty, p . 19 . 0 ' Dmitrij Cizevskij , Comparative History of Slavic Literatures, trans. Richa rd Noel P orter and M artin P . Rice, ed. Serge A . Zenkovsky (Baltimore: Vanderbilt U ni versity Press, 197 1), pp. 164-75. " Milos Tomcik, " Z problem a tiky Kukucin ovej tvorby v Prazskom obdobi ," in S bornfk , pp . 167 -68; see also selections from the " D etva n " minutes in M a rtin Kuku cin , Dielo: Z avaine skusen osti (Bratislava: Tatran , 1971), XX , 512-14, 525-26, and 54 1-42. " C epa n , Epicke istoty, pp . 24-26 , and Cepan , " Literarno-hi storicke poznamky, " in Martin Kukucin, Dielo: R ozpravky (Bratislava: Slovenske Vydavatel'stvo Krasnej Literatury , 1957) , I , 326. " Kukucin , " Niekol'ko myslienok o romane Eleny M ar6th y-Soltesovej: Prati prudu ," in Dielo: Zavaine skusenosti, p . 400 . Further evidence of Kuku cfn 's belief in the village as the carrier of the na ti onal tradition is in my a rticl e " Preliminary Notes on Martin Kuku cin 's Criticism of Americanized Slovaks and His Opposition to the Slovak Gentry ," Slovak Studies, XVIII ( I 978), 153-67. 14 M a rtin Kuku cin , " O hladu v oravskej stolici," " Bra ti'im pod T a trami ," and " Hlad na Orave," in Dielo: Zavain e skusenosti , pp . 379-89. 15 The stori es a re in Volumes I-V of Dielo and are cited furth er in the tex t. Onl y eight of Kuku cin 's stories have been transla ted into Engl ish: R egruti by P aul Seiver in An Anthology of Czechoslovak Literature (London, 1929) and Obecne trampoty, Dedin sk y j armok, Z tepleho hniezda , R ysavajalovica, Neprebudeny, Na obecnom salasi, and Dies irae by Norma L. Rudin sky in Seven Slovak Stories of M artin Kuku cfn , op . cit . 16 Jozef Skultety , " M a rtin Kuku cin ( 17 /V .1860 - 17/V . 1920) ," in Sbornfk , p . 623 . 17 Letter to J an Cadra, in Dielo: Listy priatel'om a znam ym (Bratislava: Tatran , 1974), XXI , 202) . 18 Julius Noge, Martin Kuku cfn: Tradicionalista a novator , V ol. I (Bra tislava: V yd avatel'stvo Slovenskej Akadem ie Vied, 1962), p . 1982. �SLOVAKIA 111 " Bozena Slancikova , "Tapakovci , " Timrava, 2 vols. (Martin: Tatran, 1975), II, 413-50. 0 ' Dielo: Dom v strani (Bratislava: Slovenske Vydavatel'stvo Krasnej Literatury, 1961 ), Vol. IX. " "Odpoved' na anketu casopisu Stfedni skola," in Dielo: Zavazne skusenosti, pp. 457-58; see also his remarks on learning the best and richest Slovak from the dialects: "najkrajsou cestou k studiumu gramatikovi je studovat' dialekty, " in the minutes of the "Detvan" meetings, ibid., p. 548 . " Alexander Matuska,J.C. Hronsky (Bratislava, 1970) rpt. in Osobnosti (Slovensky Spisovatel', 1973), p. 458. " Matuska, p . 459. " Matuska, p. 458. Presented in Panel 128, "Slovak Literature as a Mirror of the National Awakening ," at the AAASS convention in Philadelphia on 8 November 1980. � 100 SLOVAKIA The Slovak Fairytale Tradition and J.R.R. Tolkien's ''Eucatastrophe'' in the Realistic Stories of Martin Kukucfn Norm a L. Rudinsky Although Martin Kukucfn is primarily and consciously a realistic author, there are noticeable remnants of the fairytale tradition in hi s short stories about Slovak village life. This is not surprising as fairytales were still very popular amon g the Slovak public that Kuku cfn wanted to reach in 1880-1900 ; Slovak folk literature in general and fairytales in particular remained an active part of Slovak cultural life and were universally very popular mu ch later than in most other European countries. The unu su ally long-lastin g oral tradition and the scarcity of written literature in Slovak until the 18th century made the Slovaks cling to their fairytales as vital evidence of their ancient n ational existence, since this folk literature had not been a ppropriated by the ruling M agyar or G erm an cultures, nor eve n by the Czech culture of Bohem ia and M oravia . This is the atmosphere in which Slovak literary realism began , and, of course, prose village realism essentially began with Kuku cfn. It a ppears that , co nsciously a nd probably unco nsciously, Kuku cfn kept some of the fairytale elements that were famili ar and "natural" to the co mmon readers he wanted to reach, even though he did not picture the knights , princesses, and witches of traditional tales, but instead the farme r , the hired hand , and the mayor of the real Slovak vi ll age in 1880-1894 . Num erous elem ents of folklore, superstition, and tradition al folk cu stoms have been cited in Kuku cfn's early stories.' Besides these in cidental similarities to folk literature, many of Kukucfn's central plots suggest the fairytale in one critical respect : they usually have a happy ending. This similarity is Kuku cfn 's m ost important rela tion to the fairytale tradition of hi s tim e, and the only relation that I shall �SLOVAKIA 101 take up here . Kuku cfn 's usu al happy ending may come suddenly and without mu ch prepa rat ion , a nd ce rtainl y it is not typical for a realist a uthor. In fact, his forced ha ppy endings are a puzzle in Kukucfn ' s work and co nstitute a problem for the criti c to expl ain. I rej ec t the idea that he was too ca reless or un skillful to write otherwise, or that he was simply following the tradition of his time, as he was too innovative for that. I think Kukucfn chose to e nd his stories this way , so the question is why did he force a happy e nding from materi al tha t could more naturall y be sad ? Th e result so m e times see ms sentimental, but it is not the sentim e ntalism of Thom as Hardy or Charles Dicke ns, who "milk" a sad sce ne . Kuku cfn neve r milks a sad scene. In fact, he has few such scenes, or he ends them hap pily after all. M a ny critics have commented upon this fact: Kuku cfn seldom shows a characte r suffering very long; he kills off ve ry few characters; he never shows evil triumphing; he seldom shows a merely moral victory in an o therw ise defeated characte r. Although there are a few except ions and some of hi s most ironic stories are ambivalent, Kukucfn , as Alexander Matuska has said, "sees evil but doesn't point a finge r at it. " 1 For this reaso n , I think, Kukucfn was for a long tim e regarded as o nl y a comi c writer, despite the fact tha t his themes a re often ve ry serious. The hap py e ndin g in Kuku cfn's work has b een analyzed by the pe rceptive Bra tislava critic O skar Cepan partly in Freudian terms of in fa ntil e repression of co nflict ing motives: " Kukucfn 'represses' confli ct ing motives a nd 'transfers' them to the infantile-archaic environment of the 'famil y nest.' " 3 Not being a Freudian I think Cepan's expl a na tion cove rs onl y part of the ground , a nd I am instead inclin ed to ex plain Kuku cfn ' s h appy endin gs in te rm s of his conscious beliefs as well as the unconscious desire for ha rmony and peace which Cepan writes of. The cleares t and most obvious belief of Kuku cfn , of cou rse, was his C hri stian faith . Particularly the critics Stanislav M eciar and Cyril Potocek have em phasized the C hri stia n them es of Kukucfn 's work , ranging from early sto ri es su ch as Dve cesty, Vianocne oblatky, a nd Zo stupna na stupen to th e last no vels, es pecially Mat' vola. 4 So, the seco nd part of my thesis here is that Kukucfn's fairytale-like happy ending , besides reflecting the then-curre nt Slovak interest in fairytales, also refl ects Kuku cfn 's ow n Christian optimism. To expla in a nd su pport this thesis , I should like to use the co n cept �102 SLOVAKIA of "eucatastrophe " that was developed by the English author J .R.R . Tolkien, the leading 20th-century creator of medieval fairytales , in his Andrew Lang lecture and essay '' On Fairy-stories .' ' For T olkien , much of the appeal of fairytal es lies in the Escape they provide, and he defends such escapism not as the "Flight of the D eserter " but as the "Escape of the Prisoner ,'' or the consolation of escaping imaginatively from the inev itable pains and evils of life. 5 The greatest consolation in fairytales is that of the Happy Ending, for which Tolkien made up the word "eucatastrophe": "the good catastrophe , the sudden joyous 'turn' " of the plot in contrast to the " dyscatastroph e of sorrow and failure." The eucatastrophe, Tolkien says, "denies universal final defeat " and is the "evangelium" (pp. 85-86). The religiou s suggestion of this word "evangelium" is made explicit when Tolkien says the joy of the happy ending can " be explained as a sudden glimpse of the underlying reality or truth '' of human life; the Eucatastrophe of a story is like the R esurrection in Christian history, and the R esurrection of Christ is the eucatastrophe of real life (p. 88). This is , very briefly, the theory of fairytales that governed Tolkien 's creation of his famous books Th e Hobbit and The Lord of th e Rings . The ''Consolation '' of a happy ending was apparently needed personally by Tolkien , whose fervent Catholicism was strongly tinged by Jansenism with its scrupulosity and depression. His biographer Humphrey Carpenter cites Tolkien's unpublished diary as evidence that he " was capable of bouts of profound despair , " 6 and says he " took an almost tragic view of himself as a weak man - which was another cause of his deep troughs of pessimism . '' 7 There is no indication of J ansenism in Kukucfn 's Christianity , during either his Lu theran or his R om an Catholic period ; in fact, the Jansenist heresy seems to have been more of a French, Irish, and English phenomenon than a Slavic one. But there is ample evidence that Kuku cfn too suffered a t times from severe depression. A s Stefan Krcmery wrote of him , The objectivity of Kuku cfn ' s art is deliberate . H e penetrated with th at sight of his into things and people so that he would not fall into th at internal sadness of his. H e lau ghed so that he would not weep .. . . There are things in life that just cannot be explained . Such are the roots of Kuku cfn ' s pessim ism . Did it com e from his feeling of sadness as a transplanted plant? Did it com e intellectually from hi s study? Philosophically , �SLOVAKIA 103 Dostoevsky and T olstoy reached most deeply into his soul. But his pessimism , even in its origins, has the stamp of the pessimism of great souls. It colors them as the dark side of their heroism . 8 Scarcely recognized by the reading public of Kukucfn 's time , this underlying pessimism and almost inadvertent sadness are more easily recognizable today . As Oskar Cepan says, Kukucfn 's ' realism ' today shows itself from a different side, and appears in a different light. It has unexpected lines . . . . More and more, we are today intrigued by his ' hidden planes,' his difficult-to-understand subtext, especially his risky balance on the ceaselessly vibrating metonymic border between epic assurance and dramatic doubt. Kukucfn's objectivity and mild humor conceal within themselves also the tinge of an indefinable and fleeting nostalgia, which is close to the most tragic chord known then to Slovak literature. 9 Thus, Kukucfn too , like Tolkien , may have personally needed the solace and consolation of the happy ending in his own creative life . '' Eu catastrophe,'' however, is not just a matter of personal need and satisfaction . Tolkien refers also to the social value of su ch consolation in the modern world of pollution , alienation , wars, depressions, and totalitarian power , in addition to the eternal evils : But there are also other and more profound "escapisms" that have always appeared in fairy-tale and legend . There are other things more grim and terrible to fly from than the noise, stench, ruthlessness, and extravagance of the internal-combustion machine . There are hunger, thirst, poverty, pain, sorrow , injustice , death . And even when men are not facing hard things such as these, there are ancient limitations from which fairy-stories offer a sort of escape. (p. 83) For Kukucfn, this social benefit in the fictional representation of ultim ate divine justice was probably even more important than it was for Tolkien , because Kukucfn ' s fiction was consciously didactic , as Tolkien's was not. In fact, almos t all of Slavic literary realism was didactic and se rved extra-literary functions not found in other literatu re because of the historical conditions of its origin . 10 In the Slovak students' club in Prague , called " D etvan," there were several arguments about the mean- �104 SLOVAKI A ing of realism and the rela tive valu e o f th e Ru ssia n a nd th e Fren ch schools. Kukucfn preferred the Ru ssia n reali sts becau se of th eir edu ca tional effect in a backwa rd society. 11 Criti cs agree th a t Kuku cfn delibera tely wrote about the Slovak v ill a ge for the Slovak vill age r in the speech o f the Slovak vill a ge r. 11 H e wrote for the purpose of raising the consciousness of the d owntrodden Slovak p easant , as he him self later explained in rejecting th e hope of El ena Mar6thy- Soltesova ( expressed in her novel Prati pnidu ) th a t the Slovak gentry wo uld fin ally resist Magyarization and begin to w a ke the Slovak comm o ne rs from '' their dream of self-forge tfuln ess.'' T o accomplish thi s awakenin g, the writer should combat the p assivity a nd d espair th a t ch aracte ri zed mu ch o f Slovak public life at thi s tim e - just afte r the M a ti ca slovenska and the three Slovak high school s were closed . 13 Th e re we re even fa mines in Orava at this time , whi ch Kuku cfn d escribed in Czech a rticles whose fund a ppeals w ere d esign ed to stin g the M agyar a uth orities into a id fo r the a rea . 14 C ertainly these we re compelling rea son s fo r Kuku cfn 's quiet but d efinite didacti c purpose eve n in his early hum o rou s ta les . In summary , then , I believe there were probably three forces pushin g Kukucfn to m a ke a ha ppy endin g for his sto ri es wh ere o ne mi ght expect a sadder outcome: 1) The living tradition o f the fair ytal e in the Slovak vill age of hi s tim e; 2) Kukucfn's own Christia n optimism and hi s "smile ove r hi s tears ' ' ; 3) His d ete rmination to chee r a nd en courage the d ow n trodden villager for whom h e wrote . P erh aps Kukucfn hon estl y could n ot bear to show sadn ess, fa ilure , a nd inju stice in hi s fi ction when these ev il s we re so comm on in the Slovak life of thi s tim e. N ow I should like to support these ideas with several example stories about Slovak village life, all of th em a mong Kuku cfn 's m os t celebra ted a nd ce rtainl y amon g his fin est stories. 15 First R ysava jalovica (The M o ttled H eife r , V ol. II ) is a n out- a nd out com ed y, a nd ver y su ccessful - no one would ask fo r a sad e ndin g to it! H ere the happy outcome is compl etely in keepin g w ith th e comi c plot a nd style; th e goodna tured drunk a rd Ada m Krt is a ch a rmin g caricature a nd th e pl o t is a n all ego ry so th a t K rt 's sudden reform a nd �SLOVAKIA 105 co nsequent wealth are e mine ntl y suitable to the sto ry. Krt is a classic und erdog hero - sm all , ridiculed , but cl ever in hi s ow n way; his trips to th e fair a nd then to find the lost heifer are a qu est from which h e re turn s victorious to everyone's a m azem ent. The subsidiary anecdotes , a bout the m ayo r 's troubles with the broken ha nd on the town cl ock , the feud betwee n Krt a nd hi s neighbor Trnka over a n a nn y goat a nd a rooster, a nd the d og with its head cau ght in a churn , are pure farce a nd their tone su pports the comic victory of Krt. No wonde r it was Kukucfn 's most popular story, a nd people asked for " m ore about Krt. " 16 The second exampl e, Neprebuden y (Vol. II ) is equally su ccessful , but in the oppos ite way . The titl e Neprebuden y m eans "The Unawakened" in th e m ascu lin e sin gul a r , a nd by writing of a youn g m a n who is m entall y retarded Kuku cfn in vokes the tradition of the " h oly idiot." Thi s sto ry is unique amo n g his work in b ein g trul y tragic , a nd each of th e characte rs is scarred by th e goose herd 's di scove ry of th e dece ption pract iced upon him b y the vill age bell e and h er fami ly, the n hi s subseque n t d eath in the fire that end s the wedd in g feast. Th e re is forebodin g irony throughout the story in the pun on the words husar as "gooseherd " a nd husar as "cavalryman," and this foreshadowin g is fulfill ed when the hu sar is killed tryin g to save a me re goose a nd her goslin gs in a burnin g barn. The story is really an anti-fairytale in which Kukucfn explicitly rejec ts the co nve ntion al roman ce. The gooseherd dream s of a princess in a cas tl e , the n awake ns to the teas ing of th e vill age b elle who am uses he rself by lettin g him think she will marry him . Thi s contrast between fa iryla nd a nd real life is d eveloped throu ghout the story . Neprebudeny is the closest of Kuku cfn 's stori es to th e French naturali sm of, fo r ex a mpl e , Em il e Zola , a nd it may have been a n ex perime nt on Kuku cfn 's pa rt , to imi tate Zola . If it was a n ex pe rim ent , it was on e Kuku cfn did not care to repeat , a nd late r (in 1925) he wrote to a fri end th a t he saw " no thin g spec ial" in Nepreb udeny. 17 An othe r trul y tragic story is Drotarove Vian oce (The Tinker ' s C hri st m as, Vol. III) , whi ch dramatizes a n incid e nt in the M agyar government 's actual campaign to assign Slovak children to M agyar far m fam ili es in southern Hun gary, chan gin g their names a nd preventin g their , return to Slovak a reas. T heo re ti call y all we re orph a ns, but not in realit y, a nd thi s story shows a fami ly 's failure to find their so n . H oweve r , Kuku cfn published this sto ry onl y in C zech in Bohemi a; thu s it was n ot one of hi s stories fo r th e ge neral Slovak read e r , in pa rt because it wou ld �106 SLOVAKIA have been dangerou s to print it in Hungary . Also, it was not included in his collected works published in the new Czechoslovakia. Several important stories have ironic, even ambivalent endings , such as K ed' bacik z Chochol'ova umrie (When M y Uncle from Chocholov Passes Away , Vol. IV) , which shows the co rruptive influence of an impoverished gentleman's great expectations of inheritance . Also , some stories have well-worked out happy endings to a spiritual conflict, such as an old woman's effort to understand and accept the fact that her neighbor ' s only son reached manhood and a happy wedding while her own only son had died as a young man , in D ve cesty (Two paths, Vol. V) . Another example is seen in the attempt of a young school-teacher to comprehend his vocation as willing servant to the com munity but not subservient to any individual , when he was expected to bake the traditional wafers for the whole village, in Vianocn e oblatky (Christmas Wafers, Vol. IV) . The story Zo stupna n a stupen (Going Down Step by Step, Vol. V) also shows a spiritual victory but it is only briefl y narrated , not dramatized , and the man 's happiness in poverty is only asserted, not presented . These effective happy endings , howeve r , are uncommon . The story that best illustrates my point that Kukucfn chose to force a happy ending where he could more naturally have had a sadder end, is Dies irae ... (The Day of Wrath , Vol. V) . It is a very successful story , which Bratislava critic Julius N oge calls one of the fin est in Slovak literature . 18 Dies irae is the account of a cholera epidemic, yet not one of the main characters dies. It is also the account of a spendthrift mayor who has abandoned his first love when she was expecti n g hi s child in order to marry someone else for m oney, yet he is punished only in his own view of himself. It is also the account of a miserly father whose selfishness drives out both his sons before he loses his fortune to thieves and cheating partners, yet he is able to win back one and perhaps both of his sons . The two characters, the mayor and the miser , reverberate with irony, and Kukuci'.n makes clear their moral imperfections , yet at the end he allows them all to live happily ever after. The abandoned woman loses her bitterness and her desire for revenge when she sees the mayor 's chagrin (it is not true humility), and the youn g lovers are not separated by cholera, nor by the miserly father . The last se ntence is " Now finally at the richtar's house there was peace, both the external kind and , above all, the peace that no one can take away" (p. 37 1). �SLOVAK IA 107 The story su cceed s, but I think it would have been even more moving if it h ad not end ed so well. A clear contrast to Kukucfn 's optimism is seen in the work ofBozena Slancfkova, p seudony m Timrava (1867-1951), whose long story T apa.kovci (The Tapak C la n , 1914) shows a family ' s stubborn, unimaginative adh eren ce to repressive old customs and its ill-tempered resista nce to the effort of a young bride to revamp the household. There is very little liberating humor a nd there is a much grimmer irony than Kukucfn 's iro n y would have been in the " h appy " ending whereby the bride gets a new house and the rest of the Tapak clan can stay contentedly crowded together in the old hom estead . 19 Several factors must have caused this difference between Kukucfn and Timrava . One would be the development o f their personalities, of course, but also there ar e philosophic contrasts. For example, the so-called " Tolstoyan " emphasis in Kukucfn' s Christianity is not present in Timrava ; in fact, Christian themes are less noticeable in Tim rava's work, and incipient fem inist themes are prese nt. But the sh ift in satiric to n e also com es from the historical development of' 'critical' ' realism out of classical realism , and, I believe , from the d ecreased popularity of fairytal es and other folk literary forms as the Slovak edu cat ional level rose and industrialization spread during the 20th ce ntury. Kukucfn was o b v iously aware of hi s tenden cy to gloss over some of the problems of real life becau se he wrote of it in a story published the year before Dies irae. In Po d eviatich rokoch (Afte r Nine Years, Vol. V), he has o ne of his roman ti c h ero ines return a nd accuse him ( as the a uthor) of a bandoning h er after the wedding b y n ot writing a nother story about the con fli cts that occu r within marriage. But Kukucfn allows himself to a n swer his heroin e with the easy excu se that read ers like romantic plots a bout young love, n ot domestic conflicts; thus, h e does not actuall y face the problem . H owever, later ( 1903) h e may have tried to work ou t this proble m in his novel D om v strani ( House on the Hillside) , which is about exactl y that same subj ect : the conflicts that would come if the wealthy landow ner 's so n Niko were to marry the simple peasant 's daughte r K at ica, since they are un suited b y their diffe rent upbringing and edu cation as well as by their different dispositions. 10 The novel is not a C inderella story, because Kukucfn is clearly on the n on-romantic side of class distin ctions and g ives no fairytal e endin g to this novel. It is worth noting , h owever, that even in this novel Kuku cfn does not ac- �SLOVAKIA tually show domestic conflicts resulting from an unsuita ble m arriage, because he prevents the marriage from occurring. With Dom v strani, howeve r , I am out of stories into novels, and Kukucfn was no longer writing in the fairytale tradition . Kukucfn wrote little of the origins of his work , saying only that he had learned to write from hearing and admiring the speech of the Slovak villagers in J asenova. 21 As he nowhere gave his theory of lite rature, it is only psychological speculation that his interior motiva tion was similar to Tolkien 's. Also, there can be no question of influence between Kukucfn and Tolkien, because of diffe rences in time and in language . Nor was Tolkien's specifically Christian theory offairytales anticipated in Slovak discussions of "fantasticke rozpravky," to my knowl edge. Y et the similarity is not really surprising with two writers whose Christian world view is impressed throughout their work. Tolkien's conce ption offairytales is a variation of the classic aesthetic theory that literature represents the underlying reality of huma n life, with or without the "realistic" detail of the surface phenom en a . Unfortunately, this same theory also covers the desire of many third-rate writers, including both the melodramatist and the socialist realist, to directly illustrate a clear moral ideal by rewarding goodness and punishing evil ; so whenever the didactic desire to teach and to reform becomes stronger than the artistic d esire to reveal and to express, a weakened literary effect b ecom es apparent. In some of Kukucfn 's stories, the result (as already stated), is a more or less sudden wrenching of a potential " dyscatastrophe " into a ''eucatastrophe.'' The ultimate cause of this wrench , b es ides whatever internal motivat ion lay in Kukucfn ' s creative personality, probably has to b e seen in the very h a rsh social and political structures of late 19th century Hungary. These unju st conditions stimulated a nd even forced Kukucfn to picture realistically (for the first tim e in Slovak prose) the life of the common villager, but they also stimulated a nd forced him to soften his realism with a hap p y e nding. In this way , he would not overwhelm the downtrodde n villagers ( or the dishearten ed Slovak intellectuals) with a full picture of the ir truly discouragin g lot but would instead encourage them and awaken them from their "drama of self-forge tfulness." Thus , we see 1) another illustration of the ge neral truth that literature results from the conjuncture of a particular writer with the intell ectual co nditions and the social audience of his time, a nd 2) a nothe r example of the fact that earlier Slovak culture mu st be a n a - �SLOVAKIA 109 lyzed a nd evaluated in relation to the severe limitation s impressed upo n it b y the hi sto rical conditions of Hungary . D espite the weak e ndings o f many of Kuku cfn 's stories, h e achieved a striking synthesis of both "seeing the evil " and expressin g his d eliberate Christian optimism; hi s synthesis remains as witness to a very difficult ye t promising p e riod in Slovak literar y history. It should also serve as a re minder that wherever fairytales a re a serious part o f a culture, they must also be take n seriou sly b y literary crit ics . In fac t , fairytales may h ave played a hidde n a nd unu su al role in Slovak lite r a ture simply b ecau se of the historical conditions r eferred to already. For example, Alexander M atuska su ggests that the m odern noveli st J ozef Ciger H ronsky was influ enced b y fairytales with " their natural and also unn atural a tmosph e re, their shifting border between the real a nd th e the unreal. " 11 Under this influence, Hronsky d evelop ed his unique blend of observation and realism with poe try and lyricism - a realism which stops beside d e tail but d oes n ot stop at detail, a realism to which n eithe r the miraculous nor the grotesque is foreign; and a poetry which magically fascinates u s b y its everyday subj ect and pull s u s toward deeper ideas, to the meaning of ex isten ce. 13 Probably the greatest noveli st in Slovak , Hron sk y is at o n ce one o f the most Slovak of writers and one of the m ost worldly and cosmopolitan in technique a nd style. It is ironic a nd revealing of the histo rical sp ecifics of Slovak literature that fairytales were apparently a mong the forces that led Hronsky to th e techniques that relate his work to European n atu ralism, expressio nism , a nd surrealism , to P rou st, J oyce, K a fka, and M usi l. 14 Su ch a force cannot be neglected in any p eriod. NOTES For exam ple. V iera Gasparfkova , "Prvky l'udovej kultury V Kuku cfnovej drobnej pr6ze , '' in Martin Kukucfn v kritike a spomien k ach: Sbornfk (Bratislava: Slovenske Vydavatel's tvo Kras nej Li teratury , 1957) , pp. 360-404. This book reprints a t least major parts of most known criti cism a nd recollections of Kuku cfn up to the time of its printing; hereafter Sbornfk. ' Alex ander M a tuska, " Doslov," in Sbornfk, p. 921. All translation s from Slovak are min e. ' O skar C epan, Kuku cfnove epick e istoty (Brati slava: Tatran , 1972), pp. 267 -68. I �110 SLOVAKIA • Stanislav Meciar, Kuku cfn i ivy, 2 vols. (B uenos Aires, 1958 and 1960); Cy ril J. Potocek, M artin Kuku cfn: A Link between Two Worlds (Passaic, N .J .: Slovak Catholic Sokol, 1943). William E. Harkins has perceptively summ ari zed Kuku cin's "expressive symbol of the truth tha t m an li ves under G od's judgment, and that he would d o well therefore to li ve justly," "Foreword," Seven Slovak Stories by Martin Kuku cfn , trans . and edited by Norma Leigh Rudi nsky (R ome: Slovak Institute, 1980) , p . ix . For a full a nd rich treatment of this idea, see G. J. Sabo, " Kuku cfn 's Village Stories and Shuksin 's 'Snowball Berry-R ed,' "Slovakia, XXX (1982-83), this issue. 5 J .R .R . T olkien , " On Fairy-stories," in T he Tolkien R eader (New York : Ballantine Books, 1966), p . 79. Further references a re give n in the tex t . • Humph rey Carpenter,J.R .R . Tolkien (London : George Allen & Unwin Ltd ., 1977), p. 3 1. 7 Carpen ter, p. 129 . ' Stefan Krcmery, Stopiit'desiat rokov slovenskej literatury (M artin 1943), II , 50, quoted here from Cepan , Epick e istoty, p. 24 and 253-54. ' Cepan, Epick e istoty, p . 19 . 0 ' Dmitrij Cizevskij , Comparative History of Slavic Literatures, trans. Richa rd Noel P orter and M artin P . Rice, ed. Serge A . Zenkovsky (Baltimore: Vanderbilt U ni versity Press, 197 1), pp. 164-75. " Milos Tomcik, " Z problem a tiky Kukucin ovej tvorby v Prazskom obdobi ," in S bornfk , pp . 167 -68; see also selections from the " D etva n " minutes in M a rtin Kuku cin , Dielo: Z avaine skusen osti (Bratislava: Tatran , 1971), XX , 512-14, 525-26, and 54 1-42. " C epa n , Epicke istoty, pp . 24-26 , and Cepan , " Literarno-hi storicke poznamky, " in Martin Kukucin, Dielo: R ozpravky (Bratislava: Slovenske Vydavatel'stvo Krasnej Literatury , 1957) , I , 326. " Kukucin , " Niekol'ko myslienok o romane Eleny M ar6th y-Soltesovej: Prati prudu ," in Dielo: Zavaine skusenosti, p . 400 . Further evidence of Kuku cfn 's belief in the village as the carrier of the na ti onal tradition is in my a rticl e " Preliminary Notes on Martin Kuku cin 's Criticism of Americanized Slovaks and His Opposition to the Slovak Gentry ," Slovak Studies, XVIII ( I 978), 153-67. 14 M a rtin Kuku cin , " O hladu v oravskej stolici," " Bra ti'im pod T a trami ," and " Hlad na Orave," in Dielo: Zavain e skusenosti , pp . 379-89. 15 The stori es a re in Volumes I-V of Dielo and are cited furth er in the tex t. Onl y eight of Kuku cin 's stories have been transla ted into Engl ish: R egruti by P aul Seiver in An Anthology of Czechoslovak Literature (London, 1929) and Obecne trampoty, Dedin sk y j armok, Z tepleho hniezda , R ysavajalovica, Neprebudeny, Na obecnom salasi, and Dies irae by Norma L. Rudin sky in Seven Slovak Stories of M artin Kuku cfn , op . cit . 16 Jozef Skultety , " M a rtin Kuku cin ( 17 /V .1860 - 17/V . 1920) ," in Sbornfk , p . 623 . 17 Letter to J an Cadra, in Dielo: Listy priatel'om a znam ym (Bratislava: Tatran , 1974), XXI , 202) . 18 Julius Noge, Martin Kuku cfn: Tradicionalista a novator , V ol. I (Bra tislava: V yd avatel'stvo Slovenskej Akadem ie Vied, 1962), p . 1982. �SLOVAKIA 111 " Bozena Slancikova , "Tapakovci , " Timrava, 2 vols. (Martin: Tatran, 1975), II, 413-50. 0 ' Dielo: Dom v strani (Bratislava: Slovenske Vydavatel'stvo Krasnej Literatury, 1961 ), Vol. IX. " "Odpoved' na anketu casopisu Stfedni skola," in Dielo: Zavazne skusenosti, pp. 457-58; see also his remarks on learning the best and richest Slovak from the dialects: "najkrajsou cestou k studiumu gramatikovi je studovat' dialekty, " in the minutes of the "Detvan" meetings, ibid., p. 548 . " Alexander Matuska,J.C. Hronsky (Bratislava, 1970) rpt. in Osobnosti (Slovensky Spisovatel', 1973), p. 458. " Matuska, p . 459. " Matuska, p. 458. Presented in Panel 128, "Slovak Literature as a Mirror of the National Awakening ," at the AAASS convention in Philadelphia on 8 November 1980. � 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 1982-83, Vol. 30 Description An account of the resource Vol. 30 (No. 55-56), 1982-83. 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 1982-83 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 100 SLOVAKIA The Slovak Fairytale Tradition and J.R.R. Tolkien's ''Eucatastrophe'' in the Realistic Stories of Martin Kukucfn Norm a L. Rudinsky Although Martin Kukucfn is primarily and consciously a realistic author, there are noticeable remnants of the fairytale tradition in hi s short stories about Slovak village life. This is not surprising as fairytales were still very popular amon g the Slovak public that Kuku cfn wanted to reach in 1880-1900 ; Slovak folk literature in general and fairytales in particular remained an active part of Slovak cultural life and were universally very popular mu ch later than in most other European countries. The unu su ally long-lastin g oral tradition and the scarcity of written literature in Slovak until the 18th century made the Slovaks cling to their fairytales as vital evidence of their ancient n ational existence, since this folk literature had not been a ppropriated by the ruling M agyar or G erm an cultures, nor eve n by the Czech culture of Bohem ia and M oravia . This is the atmosphere in which Slovak literary realism began , and, of course, prose village realism essentially began with Kuku cfn. It a ppears that , co nsciously a nd probably unco nsciously, Kuku cfn kept some of the fairytale elements that were famili ar and "natural" to the co mmon readers he wanted to reach, even though he did not picture the knights , princesses, and witches of traditional tales, but instead the farme r , the hired hand , and the mayor of the real Slovak vi ll age in 1880-1894 . Num erous elem ents of folklore, superstition, and tradition al folk cu stoms have been cited in Kuku cfn's early stories.' Besides these in cidental similarities to folk literature, many of Kukucfn's central plots suggest the fairytale in one critical respect : they usually have a happy ending. This similarity is Kuku cfn 's m ost important rela tion to the fairytale tradition of hi s tim e, and the only relation that I shall SLOVAKIA 101 take up here . Kuku cfn 's usu al happy ending may come suddenly and without mu ch prepa rat ion , a nd ce rtainl y it is not typical for a realist a uthor. In fact, his forced ha ppy endings are a puzzle in Kukucfn ' s work and co nstitute a problem for the criti c to expl ain. I rej ec t the idea that he was too ca reless or un skillful to write otherwise, or that he was simply following the tradition of his time, as he was too innovative for that. I think Kukucfn chose to e nd his stories this way , so the question is why did he force a happy e nding from materi al tha t could more naturall y be sad ? Th e result so m e times see ms sentimental, but it is not the sentim e ntalism of Thom as Hardy or Charles Dicke ns, who "milk" a sad sce ne . Kuku cfn neve r milks a sad scene. In fact, he has few such scenes, or he ends them hap pily after all. M a ny critics have commented upon this fact: Kuku cfn seldom shows a characte r suffering very long; he kills off ve ry few characters; he never shows evil triumphing; he seldom shows a merely moral victory in an o therw ise defeated characte r. Although there are a few except ions and some of hi s most ironic stories are ambivalent, Kukucfn , as Alexander Matuska has said, "sees evil but doesn't point a finge r at it. " 1 For this reaso n , I think, Kukucfn was for a long tim e regarded as o nl y a comi c writer, despite the fact tha t his themes a re often ve ry serious. The hap py e ndin g in Kuku cfn's work has b een analyzed by the pe rceptive Bra tislava critic O skar Cepan partly in Freudian terms of in fa ntil e repression of co nflict ing motives: " Kukucfn 'represses' confli ct ing motives a nd 'transfers' them to the infantile-archaic environment of the 'famil y nest.' " 3 Not being a Freudian I think Cepan's expl a na tion cove rs onl y part of the ground , a nd I am instead inclin ed to ex plain Kuku cfn ' s h appy endin gs in te rm s of his conscious beliefs as well as the unconscious desire for ha rmony and peace which Cepan writes of. The cleares t and most obvious belief of Kuku cfn , of cou rse, was his C hri stian faith . Particularly the critics Stanislav M eciar and Cyril Potocek have em phasized the C hri stia n them es of Kukucfn 's work , ranging from early sto ri es su ch as Dve cesty, Vianocne oblatky, a nd Zo stupna na stupen to th e last no vels, es pecially Mat' vola. 4 So, the seco nd part of my thesis here is that Kukucfn's fairytale-like happy ending , besides reflecting the then-curre nt Slovak interest in fairytales, also refl ects Kuku cfn 's ow n Christian optimism. To expla in a nd su pport this thesis , I should like to use the co n cept 102 SLOVAKIA of "eucatastrophe " that was developed by the English author J .R.R . Tolkien, the leading 20th-century creator of medieval fairytales , in his Andrew Lang lecture and essay '' On Fairy-stories .' ' For T olkien , much of the appeal of fairytal es lies in the Escape they provide, and he defends such escapism not as the "Flight of the D eserter " but as the "Escape of the Prisoner ,'' or the consolation of escaping imaginatively from the inev itable pains and evils of life. 5 The greatest consolation in fairytales is that of the Happy Ending, for which Tolkien made up the word "eucatastrophe": "the good catastrophe , the sudden joyous 'turn' " of the plot in contrast to the " dyscatastroph e of sorrow and failure." The eucatastrophe, Tolkien says, "denies universal final defeat " and is the "evangelium" (pp. 85-86). The religiou s suggestion of this word "evangelium" is made explicit when Tolkien says the joy of the happy ending can " be explained as a sudden glimpse of the underlying reality or truth '' of human life; the Eucatastrophe of a story is like the R esurrection in Christian history, and the R esurrection of Christ is the eucatastrophe of real life (p. 88). This is , very briefly, the theory of fairytales that governed Tolkien 's creation of his famous books Th e Hobbit and The Lord of th e Rings . The ''Consolation '' of a happy ending was apparently needed personally by Tolkien , whose fervent Catholicism was strongly tinged by Jansenism with its scrupulosity and depression. His biographer Humphrey Carpenter cites Tolkien's unpublished diary as evidence that he " was capable of bouts of profound despair , " 6 and says he " took an almost tragic view of himself as a weak man - which was another cause of his deep troughs of pessimism . '' 7 There is no indication of J ansenism in Kukucfn 's Christianity , during either his Lu theran or his R om an Catholic period ; in fact, the Jansenist heresy seems to have been more of a French, Irish, and English phenomenon than a Slavic one. But there is ample evidence that Kuku cfn too suffered a t times from severe depression. A s Stefan Krcmery wrote of him , The objectivity of Kuku cfn ' s art is deliberate . H e penetrated with th at sight of his into things and people so that he would not fall into th at internal sadness of his. H e lau ghed so that he would not weep .. . . There are things in life that just cannot be explained . Such are the roots of Kuku cfn ' s pessim ism . Did it com e from his feeling of sadness as a transplanted plant? Did it com e intellectually from hi s study? Philosophically , SLOVAKIA 103 Dostoevsky and T olstoy reached most deeply into his soul. But his pessimism , even in its origins, has the stamp of the pessimism of great souls. It colors them as the dark side of their heroism . 8 Scarcely recognized by the reading public of Kukucfn 's time , this underlying pessimism and almost inadvertent sadness are more easily recognizable today . As Oskar Cepan says, Kukucfn 's ' realism ' today shows itself from a different side, and appears in a different light. It has unexpected lines . . . . More and more, we are today intrigued by his ' hidden planes,' his difficult-to-understand subtext, especially his risky balance on the ceaselessly vibrating metonymic border between epic assurance and dramatic doubt. Kukucfn's objectivity and mild humor conceal within themselves also the tinge of an indefinable and fleeting nostalgia, which is close to the most tragic chord known then to Slovak literature. 9 Thus, Kukucfn too , like Tolkien , may have personally needed the solace and consolation of the happy ending in his own creative life . '' Eu catastrophe,'' however, is not just a matter of personal need and satisfaction . Tolkien refers also to the social value of su ch consolation in the modern world of pollution , alienation , wars, depressions, and totalitarian power , in addition to the eternal evils : But there are also other and more profound "escapisms" that have always appeared in fairy-tale and legend . There are other things more grim and terrible to fly from than the noise, stench, ruthlessness, and extravagance of the internal-combustion machine . There are hunger, thirst, poverty, pain, sorrow , injustice , death . And even when men are not facing hard things such as these, there are ancient limitations from which fairy-stories offer a sort of escape. (p. 83) For Kukucfn, this social benefit in the fictional representation of ultim ate divine justice was probably even more important than it was for Tolkien , because Kukucfn ' s fiction was consciously didactic , as Tolkien's was not. In fact, almos t all of Slavic literary realism was didactic and se rved extra-literary functions not found in other literatu re because of the historical conditions of its origin . 10 In the Slovak students' club in Prague , called " D etvan," there were several arguments about the mean- 104 SLOVAKI A ing of realism and the rela tive valu e o f th e Ru ssia n a nd th e Fren ch schools. Kukucfn preferred the Ru ssia n reali sts becau se of th eir edu ca tional effect in a backwa rd society. 11 Criti cs agree th a t Kuku cfn delibera tely wrote about the Slovak v ill a ge for the Slovak vill age r in the speech o f the Slovak vill a ge r. 11 H e wrote for the purpose of raising the consciousness of the d owntrodden Slovak p easant , as he him self later explained in rejecting th e hope of El ena Mar6thy- Soltesova ( expressed in her novel Prati pnidu ) th a t the Slovak gentry wo uld fin ally resist Magyarization and begin to w a ke the Slovak comm o ne rs from '' their dream of self-forge tfuln ess.'' T o accomplish thi s awakenin g, the writer should combat the p assivity a nd d espair th a t ch aracte ri zed mu ch o f Slovak public life at thi s tim e - just afte r the M a ti ca slovenska and the three Slovak high school s were closed . 13 Th e re we re even fa mines in Orava at this time , whi ch Kuku cfn d escribed in Czech a rticles whose fund a ppeals w ere d esign ed to stin g the M agyar a uth orities into a id fo r the a rea . 14 C ertainly these we re compelling rea son s fo r Kuku cfn 's quiet but d efinite didacti c purpose eve n in his early hum o rou s ta les . In summary , then , I believe there were probably three forces pushin g Kukucfn to m a ke a ha ppy endin g for his sto ri es wh ere o ne mi ght expect a sadder outcome: 1) The living tradition o f the fair ytal e in the Slovak vill age of hi s tim e; 2) Kukucfn's own Christia n optimism and hi s "smile ove r hi s tears ' ' ; 3) His d ete rmination to chee r a nd en courage the d ow n trodden villager for whom h e wrote . P erh aps Kukucfn hon estl y could n ot bear to show sadn ess, fa ilure , a nd inju stice in hi s fi ction when these ev il s we re so comm on in the Slovak life of thi s tim e. N ow I should like to support these ideas with several example stories about Slovak village life, all of th em a mong Kuku cfn 's m os t celebra ted a nd ce rtainl y amon g his fin est stories. 15 First R ysava jalovica (The M o ttled H eife r , V ol. II ) is a n out- a nd out com ed y, a nd ver y su ccessful - no one would ask fo r a sad e ndin g to it! H ere the happy outcome is compl etely in keepin g w ith th e comi c plot a nd style; th e goodna tured drunk a rd Ada m Krt is a ch a rmin g caricature a nd th e pl o t is a n all ego ry so th a t K rt 's sudden reform a nd SLOVAKIA 105 co nsequent wealth are e mine ntl y suitable to the sto ry. Krt is a classic und erdog hero - sm all , ridiculed , but cl ever in hi s ow n way; his trips to th e fair a nd then to find the lost heifer are a qu est from which h e re turn s victorious to everyone's a m azem ent. The subsidiary anecdotes , a bout the m ayo r 's troubles with the broken ha nd on the town cl ock , the feud betwee n Krt a nd hi s neighbor Trnka over a n a nn y goat a nd a rooster, a nd the d og with its head cau ght in a churn , are pure farce a nd their tone su pports the comic victory of Krt. No wonde r it was Kukucfn 's most popular story, a nd people asked for " m ore about Krt. " 16 The second exampl e, Neprebuden y (Vol. II ) is equally su ccessful , but in the oppos ite way . The titl e Neprebuden y m eans "The Unawakened" in th e m ascu lin e sin gul a r , a nd by writing of a youn g m a n who is m entall y retarded Kuku cfn in vokes the tradition of the " h oly idiot." Thi s sto ry is unique amo n g his work in b ein g trul y tragic , a nd each of th e characte rs is scarred by th e goose herd 's di scove ry of th e dece ption pract iced upon him b y the vill age bell e and h er fami ly, the n hi s subseque n t d eath in the fire that end s the wedd in g feast. Th e re is forebodin g irony throughout the story in the pun on the words husar as "gooseherd " a nd husar as "cavalryman," and this foreshadowin g is fulfill ed when the hu sar is killed tryin g to save a me re goose a nd her goslin gs in a burnin g barn. The story is really an anti-fairytale in which Kukucfn explicitly rejec ts the co nve ntion al roman ce. The gooseherd dream s of a princess in a cas tl e , the n awake ns to the teas ing of th e vill age b elle who am uses he rself by lettin g him think she will marry him . Thi s contrast between fa iryla nd a nd real life is d eveloped throu ghout the story . Neprebudeny is the closest of Kuku cfn 's stori es to th e French naturali sm of, fo r ex a mpl e , Em il e Zola , a nd it may have been a n ex perime nt on Kuku cfn 's pa rt , to imi tate Zola . If it was a n ex pe rim ent , it was on e Kuku cfn did not care to repeat , a nd late r (in 1925) he wrote to a fri end th a t he saw " no thin g spec ial" in Nepreb udeny. 17 An othe r trul y tragic story is Drotarove Vian oce (The Tinker ' s C hri st m as, Vol. III) , whi ch dramatizes a n incid e nt in the M agyar government 's actual campaign to assign Slovak children to M agyar far m fam ili es in southern Hun gary, chan gin g their names a nd preventin g their , return to Slovak a reas. T heo re ti call y all we re orph a ns, but not in realit y, a nd thi s story shows a fami ly 's failure to find their so n . H oweve r , Kuku cfn published this sto ry onl y in C zech in Bohemi a; thu s it was n ot one of hi s stories fo r th e ge neral Slovak read e r , in pa rt because it wou ld 106 SLOVAKIA have been dangerou s to print it in Hungary . Also, it was not included in his collected works published in the new Czechoslovakia. Several important stories have ironic, even ambivalent endings , such as K ed' bacik z Chochol'ova umrie (When M y Uncle from Chocholov Passes Away , Vol. IV) , which shows the co rruptive influence of an impoverished gentleman's great expectations of inheritance . Also , some stories have well-worked out happy endings to a spiritual conflict, such as an old woman's effort to understand and accept the fact that her neighbor ' s only son reached manhood and a happy wedding while her own only son had died as a young man , in D ve cesty (Two paths, Vol. V) . Another example is seen in the attempt of a young school-teacher to comprehend his vocation as willing servant to the com munity but not subservient to any individual , when he was expected to bake the traditional wafers for the whole village, in Vianocn e oblatky (Christmas Wafers, Vol. IV) . The story Zo stupna n a stupen (Going Down Step by Step, Vol. V) also shows a spiritual victory but it is only briefl y narrated , not dramatized , and the man 's happiness in poverty is only asserted, not presented . These effective happy endings , howeve r , are uncommon . The story that best illustrates my point that Kukucfn chose to force a happy ending where he could more naturally have had a sadder end, is Dies irae ... (The Day of Wrath , Vol. V) . It is a very successful story , which Bratislava critic Julius N oge calls one of the fin est in Slovak literature . 18 Dies irae is the account of a cholera epidemic, yet not one of the main characters dies. It is also the account of a spendthrift mayor who has abandoned his first love when she was expecti n g hi s child in order to marry someone else for m oney, yet he is punished only in his own view of himself. It is also the account of a miserly father whose selfishness drives out both his sons before he loses his fortune to thieves and cheating partners, yet he is able to win back one and perhaps both of his sons . The two characters, the mayor and the miser , reverberate with irony, and Kukuci'.n makes clear their moral imperfections , yet at the end he allows them all to live happily ever after. The abandoned woman loses her bitterness and her desire for revenge when she sees the mayor 's chagrin (it is not true humility), and the youn g lovers are not separated by cholera, nor by the miserly father . The last se ntence is " Now finally at the richtar's house there was peace, both the external kind and , above all, the peace that no one can take away" (p. 37 1). SLOVAK IA 107 The story su cceed s, but I think it would have been even more moving if it h ad not end ed so well. A clear contrast to Kukucfn 's optimism is seen in the work ofBozena Slancfkova, p seudony m Timrava (1867-1951), whose long story T apa.kovci (The Tapak C la n , 1914) shows a family ' s stubborn, unimaginative adh eren ce to repressive old customs and its ill-tempered resista nce to the effort of a young bride to revamp the household. There is very little liberating humor a nd there is a much grimmer irony than Kukucfn 's iro n y would have been in the " h appy " ending whereby the bride gets a new house and the rest of the Tapak clan can stay contentedly crowded together in the old hom estead . 19 Several factors must have caused this difference between Kukucfn and Timrava . One would be the development o f their personalities, of course, but also there ar e philosophic contrasts. For example, the so-called " Tolstoyan " emphasis in Kukucfn' s Christianity is not present in Timrava ; in fact, Christian themes are less noticeable in Tim rava's work, and incipient fem inist themes are prese nt. But the sh ift in satiric to n e also com es from the historical development of' 'critical' ' realism out of classical realism , and, I believe , from the d ecreased popularity of fairytal es and other folk literary forms as the Slovak edu cat ional level rose and industrialization spread during the 20th ce ntury. Kukucfn was o b v iously aware of hi s tenden cy to gloss over some of the problems of real life becau se he wrote of it in a story published the year before Dies irae. In Po d eviatich rokoch (Afte r Nine Years, Vol. V), he has o ne of his roman ti c h ero ines return a nd accuse him ( as the a uthor) of a bandoning h er after the wedding b y n ot writing a nother story about the con fli cts that occu r within marriage. But Kukucfn allows himself to a n swer his heroin e with the easy excu se that read ers like romantic plots a bout young love, n ot domestic conflicts; thus, h e does not actuall y face the problem . H owever, later ( 1903) h e may have tried to work ou t this proble m in his novel D om v strani ( House on the Hillside) , which is about exactl y that same subj ect : the conflicts that would come if the wealthy landow ner 's so n Niko were to marry the simple peasant 's daughte r K at ica, since they are un suited b y their diffe rent upbringing and edu cation as well as by their different dispositions. 10 The novel is not a C inderella story, because Kukucfn is clearly on the n on-romantic side of class distin ctions and g ives no fairytal e endin g to this novel. It is worth noting , h owever, that even in this novel Kuku cfn does not ac- SLOVAKIA tually show domestic conflicts resulting from an unsuita ble m arriage, because he prevents the marriage from occurring. With Dom v strani, howeve r , I am out of stories into novels, and Kukucfn was no longer writing in the fairytale tradition . Kukucfn wrote little of the origins of his work , saying only that he had learned to write from hearing and admiring the speech of the Slovak villagers in J asenova. 21 As he nowhere gave his theory of lite rature, it is only psychological speculation that his interior motiva tion was similar to Tolkien 's. Also, there can be no question of influence between Kukucfn and Tolkien, because of diffe rences in time and in language . Nor was Tolkien's specifically Christian theory offairytales anticipated in Slovak discussions of "fantasticke rozpravky," to my knowl edge. Y et the similarity is not really surprising with two writers whose Christian world view is impressed throughout their work. Tolkien's conce ption offairytales is a variation of the classic aesthetic theory that literature represents the underlying reality of huma n life, with or without the "realistic" detail of the surface phenom en a . Unfortunately, this same theory also covers the desire of many third-rate writers, including both the melodramatist and the socialist realist, to directly illustrate a clear moral ideal by rewarding goodness and punishing evil ; so whenever the didactic desire to teach and to reform becomes stronger than the artistic d esire to reveal and to express, a weakened literary effect b ecom es apparent. In some of Kukucfn 's stories, the result (as already stated), is a more or less sudden wrenching of a potential " dyscatastrophe " into a ''eucatastrophe.'' The ultimate cause of this wrench , b es ides whatever internal motivat ion lay in Kukucfn ' s creative personality, probably has to b e seen in the very h a rsh social and political structures of late 19th century Hungary. These unju st conditions stimulated a nd even forced Kukucfn to picture realistically (for the first tim e in Slovak prose) the life of the common villager, but they also stimulated a nd forced him to soften his realism with a hap p y e nding. In this way , he would not overwhelm the downtrodde n villagers ( or the dishearten ed Slovak intellectuals) with a full picture of the ir truly discouragin g lot but would instead encourage them and awaken them from their "drama of self-forge tfulness." Thus , we see 1) another illustration of the ge neral truth that literature results from the conjuncture of a particular writer with the intell ectual co nditions and the social audience of his time, a nd 2) a nothe r example of the fact that earlier Slovak culture mu st be a n a - SLOVAKIA 109 lyzed a nd evaluated in relation to the severe limitation s impressed upo n it b y the hi sto rical conditions of Hungary . D espite the weak e ndings o f many of Kuku cfn 's stories, h e achieved a striking synthesis of both "seeing the evil " and expressin g his d eliberate Christian optimism; hi s synthesis remains as witness to a very difficult ye t promising p e riod in Slovak literar y history. It should also serve as a re minder that wherever fairytales a re a serious part o f a culture, they must also be take n seriou sly b y literary crit ics . In fac t , fairytales may h ave played a hidde n a nd unu su al role in Slovak lite r a ture simply b ecau se of the historical conditions r eferred to already. For example, Alexander M atuska su ggests that the m odern noveli st J ozef Ciger H ronsky was influ enced b y fairytales with " their natural and also unn atural a tmosph e re, their shifting border between the real a nd th e the unreal. " 11 Under this influence, Hronsky d evelop ed his unique blend of observation and realism with poe try and lyricism - a realism which stops beside d e tail but d oes n ot stop at detail, a realism to which n eithe r the miraculous nor the grotesque is foreign; and a poetry which magically fascinates u s b y its everyday subj ect and pull s u s toward deeper ideas, to the meaning of ex isten ce. 13 Probably the greatest noveli st in Slovak , Hron sk y is at o n ce one o f the most Slovak of writers and one of the m ost worldly and cosmopolitan in technique a nd style. It is ironic a nd revealing of the histo rical sp ecifics of Slovak literature that fairytales were apparently a mong the forces that led Hronsky to th e techniques that relate his work to European n atu ralism, expressio nism , a nd surrealism , to P rou st, J oyce, K a fka, and M usi l. 14 Su ch a force cannot be neglected in any p eriod. NOTES For exam ple. V iera Gasparfkova , "Prvky l'udovej kultury V Kuku cfnovej drobnej pr6ze , '' in Martin Kukucfn v kritike a spomien k ach: Sbornfk (Bratislava: Slovenske Vydavatel's tvo Kras nej Li teratury , 1957) , pp. 360-404. This book reprints a t least major parts of most known criti cism a nd recollections of Kuku cfn up to the time of its printing; hereafter Sbornfk. ' Alex ander M a tuska, " Doslov," in Sbornfk, p. 921. All translation s from Slovak are min e. ' O skar C epan, Kuku cfnove epick e istoty (Brati slava: Tatran , 1972), pp. 267 -68. I 110 SLOVAKIA • Stanislav Meciar, Kuku cfn i ivy, 2 vols. (B uenos Aires, 1958 and 1960); Cy ril J. Potocek, M artin Kuku cfn: A Link between Two Worlds (Passaic, N .J .: Slovak Catholic Sokol, 1943). William E. Harkins has perceptively summ ari zed Kuku cin's "expressive symbol of the truth tha t m an li ves under G od's judgment, and that he would d o well therefore to li ve justly," "Foreword," Seven Slovak Stories by Martin Kuku cfn , trans . and edited by Norma Leigh Rudi nsky (R ome: Slovak Institute, 1980) , p . ix . For a full a nd rich treatment of this idea, see G. J. Sabo, " Kuku cfn 's Village Stories and Shuksin 's 'Snowball Berry-R ed,' "Slovakia, XXX (1982-83), this issue. 5 J .R .R . T olkien , " On Fairy-stories," in T he Tolkien R eader (New York : Ballantine Books, 1966), p . 79. Further references a re give n in the tex t . • Humph rey Carpenter,J.R .R . Tolkien (London : George Allen & Unwin Ltd ., 1977), p. 3 1. 7 Carpen ter, p. 129 . ' Stefan Krcmery, Stopiit'desiat rokov slovenskej literatury (M artin 1943), II , 50, quoted here from Cepan , Epick e istoty, p. 24 and 253-54. ' Cepan, Epick e istoty, p . 19 . 0 ' Dmitrij Cizevskij , Comparative History of Slavic Literatures, trans. Richa rd Noel P orter and M artin P . Rice, ed. Serge A . Zenkovsky (Baltimore: Vanderbilt U ni versity Press, 197 1), pp. 164-75. " Milos Tomcik, " Z problem a tiky Kukucin ovej tvorby v Prazskom obdobi ," in S bornfk , pp . 167 -68; see also selections from the " D etva n " minutes in M a rtin Kuku cin , Dielo: Z avaine skusen osti (Bratislava: Tatran , 1971), XX , 512-14, 525-26, and 54 1-42. " C epa n , Epicke istoty, pp . 24-26 , and Cepan , " Literarno-hi storicke poznamky, " in Martin Kukucin, Dielo: R ozpravky (Bratislava: Slovenske Vydavatel'stvo Krasnej Literatury , 1957) , I , 326. " Kukucin , " Niekol'ko myslienok o romane Eleny M ar6th y-Soltesovej: Prati prudu ," in Dielo: Zavaine skusenosti, p . 400 . Further evidence of Kuku cfn 's belief in the village as the carrier of the na ti onal tradition is in my a rticl e " Preliminary Notes on Martin Kuku cin 's Criticism of Americanized Slovaks and His Opposition to the Slovak Gentry ," Slovak Studies, XVIII ( I 978), 153-67. 14 M a rtin Kuku cin , " O hladu v oravskej stolici," " Bra ti'im pod T a trami ," and " Hlad na Orave," in Dielo: Zavain e skusenosti , pp . 379-89. 15 The stori es a re in Volumes I-V of Dielo and are cited furth er in the tex t. Onl y eight of Kuku cin 's stories have been transla ted into Engl ish: R egruti by P aul Seiver in An Anthology of Czechoslovak Literature (London, 1929) and Obecne trampoty, Dedin sk y j armok, Z tepleho hniezda , R ysavajalovica, Neprebudeny, Na obecnom salasi, and Dies irae by Norma L. Rudin sky in Seven Slovak Stories of M artin Kuku cfn , op . cit . 16 Jozef Skultety , " M a rtin Kuku cin ( 17 /V .1860 - 17/V . 1920) ," in Sbornfk , p . 623 . 17 Letter to J an Cadra, in Dielo: Listy priatel'om a znam ym (Bratislava: Tatran , 1974), XXI , 202) . 18 Julius Noge, Martin Kuku cfn: Tradicionalista a novator , V ol. I (Bra tislava: V yd avatel'stvo Slovenskej Akadem ie Vied, 1962), p . 1982. SLOVAKIA 111 " Bozena Slancikova , "Tapakovci , " Timrava, 2 vols. (Martin: Tatran, 1975), II, 413-50. 0 ' Dielo: Dom v strani (Bratislava: Slovenske Vydavatel'stvo Krasnej Literatury, 1961 ), Vol. IX. " "Odpoved' na anketu casopisu Stfedni skola," in Dielo: Zavazne skusenosti, pp. 457-58; see also his remarks on learning the best and richest Slovak from the dialects: "najkrajsou cestou k studiumu gramatikovi je studovat' dialekty, " in the minutes of the "Detvan" meetings, ibid., p. 548 . " Alexander Matuska,J.C. Hronsky (Bratislava, 1970) rpt. in Osobnosti (Slovensky Spisovatel', 1973), p. 458. " Matuska, p . 459. " Matuska, p. 458. Presented in Panel 128, "Slovak Literature as a Mirror of the National Awakening ," at the AAASS convention in Philadelphia on 8 November 1980.  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Slovak Fairytale Tradition and J.R.R. Tolkien's "Eucatastrophe" in the Realistic Stories of Martin Kukučín Description An account of the resource Norma L. Rudinsky Slovakia, Vol. 30 (No. 55-56), 1982-83 pp. 100-111 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rudinsky, Norma Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1982-83 LCNAF https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/2a34a75b82806f8fb6c5ae06baf89887.pdf b5aa7b80770b815331f27df2848c047f PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA 76 THE SILOVAK ~GE By Joseph R. Kristofik On March 26, 1966 a second wave of protest marchers demonstrated in some of the world's capitals and in major American cities protesting United States policy in Viet Nam. Among the demonstrators were college students expounding a belief in the principle of self determination for the Viet Namese people. To those who have studied the problems of the Slovak people and the Slovak nation, this statement appears to be most insincere. There have been many opportunities in the past to demonstrate this expressed interest in the self determination of nations in behalf of many Eastern European nations, notably Slovakia, but to date no tangible expression of interest in Eastern European self determination has been shown by these self same groups. 1 The Slovaks in America have for many years advocated and pursued the policy of self determination for the people of Slovakia. In striving to meet this objective, however, a very serious error was made by the American Slovaks as in their eagerness to help establish an independent Slovak state, they failed to establish and extend the vast limits of their Slovak culture in America, and as a result suffer today from this lack of a so called "Slovak Image". In an effort to overcome this deficiency of the past, an attempt is being made to make the Slovaks aware not only of the quickest way in achieving positive results in projecting this "Slovak image", in America, but also a means of obtaining quicker recognition of Slovak objectives on an international level. One of the more complex problems with which the Slovaks have been confronted since the turn of the century has been •the inability to project the distinctive S 1 o v a k character or influence in either the area of American politics, OT to any significant degree in civic affairs. This is a most regrettable situation, since there are many outst,anding leaders in industry, in the field of education, and in the arts and sciences who not only have a Slovaik background, but are proud of their Central European heritage. So the question that must be asked is why, despite thi,s wealth of competent, educated people throughout the United States, �SLOVAKIA 77 we have as an ethnic group, faHed to project this Slovak image. One of the basic answers to this prOiblem lies in the use of more effective public and press relations. Another answer lies in more active participation in civic affairs. But probably the most effective method in making rapid strides in projecting this Slovak image is through the field of partisan politics, where the wants, the needs, the desires, and the ambitions of an ethnic group are not only recognized, but evaluated on the basis of compatibility with our foreign policy and national interest. This year we are commemorating the 27th Anniversary of Slovak Independence. This is a very memorable diate in the history of the Slovak people, as it was on March 14, 1939 that the Slovaks as a united people , carved their own independent state, in the world of freedom loving and self governing nations. Yet it is disheartening, that despite the fact that we are here today, twenty seven years later, celebrating the anniversary of the birth of the modern Slova,k state, a majority of Americans do not even recognize Slovaks as an independent, separaJte, Central Europe ethnic group. Thi:s is not too surprising however, when one realizes that the average American really knows very little about Central European affairs, and is doubly confused when confronted with t:Jhe compounded problems presented by the Siovaks. Even as late as four weeks ago there a,ppeared in the Detroit News a column by the well known and wideily read columnist Bob Considine, whose coiumn I know many of you read regularly. Despite Mr. Considine's wehl versed baokground, despite his constant attention to world affairs, despite his periodic visits to the worltl''S capita•ls, he stiQiJ. refer,s to Czedho-S•lovalkia as the 1kiingdom of bhe SeI1biaJn s, the Croatians, and the Slovenes. And yet we all here know that Czeoho-SilovBJkia is a land inhabited principaH.y by the Slovaks and the Czeohs. It is no wonder then that the national ambitions of the Slovaks have been so high misconstrued over the years, and the road to ethnic recognition so difficult. A moment ago I expressed the opinion that the quickest, surest, and most direct route to recognition as an ethnic group is through partisan politics. Many of you may recall a statement made by Republioan National Chairman Ray C. Bliss, in which he stated that it was time for the 1 �78 SLOVAKIA Republican Party to realize that the American electorate was not composed solely of white, Anglo-Saxon, Protestants, but a mixture of all races, colors, and creeds. As a result of Mr. Bliss' conviction, more attention is being given to the ethnic groups, and thankfully also to the Slovak community. The DemoCTatic Party recogni~ed many years ago the need to evaluate the wants of the ethnic groups, and to respond accordingly. I would like to review briefly some of the recently accomplishments of your Michigan leaders in obtaining recognitions of the S,lovaks and for Slovak objectives not only here in Michigan, but throughout the United States. Within the past two years, in both major political parties, a complete separation has been made in the ethnic identification of the Czech and Slovak peoples. In each political party there exists a separate Siovak Division on the State Level, and in each political party there exists a Slovak Division on the National Level. We have in Michigan at the present time a Democratic Slovak Chaivman in almost every one of Michigan's nineteen congressional districts, and we expect before all programs are completed, to have a Slovak Chairman in each congressional district of every state in whic,h we have able, competent, and interested Slovak leadership. We want to express for once and for all time that there is a Slovak ethnic growp in America, that this ethnic group is interested in specific objectives such as an independent Slovak section at the Voice of America, that we are interested in the re-establishment of an independent Slovak state, and that we are not only interested in, and capable of, but desirous of holding elective offices. Every American President from Woodrow W i 1son through John F. Kennedy has reaffirmed the American conviction that all the people of the world have the right to their own self determination. Many of you will remember the words of the then Attorney General of the United States Robert Kennedy in Youngstown, Ohio on July 14, 1963 when he stated, "The President has asked me to tell you that the United States Government will continue to support the just aspirations of all people in the world for independence and liberty - aspirations which the Slovaks share today with many other of the captive nations." But in striving to meet any objectives we must never lose sight �SLOVAKIA 79 of the fact that there can be no accomplishment without the blessing of a power far greater than any here on earth. The Slova:ks have recognized this ever since the day,s of the Saints Cyril and Method}us, Patron Saints of Slovakia who first introduced Ohristi!anity to Central Europe over 1100 yeruris ago, and in the Sfavoniic rt01I1g1Ue. A!S ,a personal testimony to this deep Christian character of the Slovaks, I can recall that during my grade school days when a child, or even an adult first entered the home, the very firnt wo:ros to be spoken were "PochvMen bud' Pan Jezi s Kristus" (Praised Be Jesus Christ) . And I can recall a framed picture which hung on the wa11 in the kitohen of our home, and alongside the picture were inscribed these wOTlds, "Kde Boh hospodad, tam sa dobre dari" (Whe,r e God Rules, All is Well). And these words are just as true today as they were when I first had the good grace to read and understand their meaning. And I know that if we heed these words as we move forward, and work with tihese words as guidance, there will be no Slovak hope, there wHl be no Slovak desire, there will be no Slovak objective whioh will not be ultimately fulfilled. 1 There is throughout the United States a young, educated, and interested group of Slovaks who can be classif,i ed as a part of the army of 'angry young men'. Angry because of the failure to resolve Slovak problems which it appears should have been resolved over a quarter century ago. Angry because of the factionalism which has kept the Slovaks a house divided for too many years. Angry because of the loss of prestige suffered through failure to be associated with the culture of Slovak artists, professional and industrial people, social and economic leaders. It is hoped that this outlook on the Slovak problem will in some small way contribute to its eventual resolution. "After Benes concluded the 'Czechoslovak-Soviet Treaty' in Moscow, on December 12, 1943, the left-wing Slovak Agrarians (Lettrich's group) joined the Slovak communists (the Schmidke-Husak group) to conclude the 'Christmas Agreement' of 1943. They created a 'common political leadership' and declared 'eternal friendship' for each other." - Gilbert L. Oddo: Slovakia and Its People. � SLOVAKIA 76 THE SILOVAK ~GE By Joseph R. Kristofik On March 26, 1966 a second wave of protest marchers demonstrated in some of the world's capitals and in major American cities protesting United States policy in Viet Nam. Among the demonstrators were college students expounding a belief in the principle of self determination for the Viet Namese people. To those who have studied the problems of the Slovak people and the Slovak nation, this statement appears to be most insincere. There have been many opportunities in the past to demonstrate this expressed interest in the self determination of nations in behalf of many Eastern European nations, notably Slovakia, but to date no tangible expression of interest in Eastern European self determination has been shown by these self same groups. 1 The Slovaks in America have for many years advocated and pursued the policy of self determination for the people of Slovakia. In striving to meet this objective, however, a very serious error was made by the American Slovaks as in their eagerness to help establish an independent Slovak state, they failed to establish and extend the vast limits of their Slovak culture in America, and as a result suffer today from this lack of a so called "Slovak Image". In an effort to overcome this deficiency of the past, an attempt is being made to make the Slovaks aware not only of the quickest way in achieving positive results in projecting this "Slovak image", in America, but also a means of obtaining quicker recognition of Slovak objectives on an international level. One of the more complex problems with which the Slovaks have been confronted since the turn of the century has been •the inability to project the distinctive S 1 o v a k character or influence in either the area of American politics, OT to any significant degree in civic affairs. This is a most regrettable situation, since there are many outst,anding leaders in industry, in the field of education, and in the arts and sciences who not only have a Slovaik background, but are proud of their Central European heritage. So the question that must be asked is why, despite thi,s wealth of competent, educated people throughout the United States, �SLOVAKIA 77 we have as an ethnic group, faHed to project this Slovak image. One of the basic answers to this prOiblem lies in the use of more effective public and press relations. Another answer lies in more active participation in civic affairs. But probably the most effective method in making rapid strides in projecting this Slovak image is through the field of partisan politics, where the wants, the needs, the desires, and the ambitions of an ethnic group are not only recognized, but evaluated on the basis of compatibility with our foreign policy and national interest. This year we are commemorating the 27th Anniversary of Slovak Independence. This is a very memorable diate in the history of the Slovak people, as it was on March 14, 1939 that the Slovaks as a united people , carved their own independent state, in the world of freedom loving and self governing nations. Yet it is disheartening, that despite the fact that we are here today, twenty seven years later, celebrating the anniversary of the birth of the modern Slova,k state, a majority of Americans do not even recognize Slovaks as an independent, separaJte, Central Europe ethnic group. Thi:s is not too surprising however, when one realizes that the average American really knows very little about Central European affairs, and is doubly confused when confronted with t:Jhe compounded problems presented by the Siovaks. Even as late as four weeks ago there a,ppeared in the Detroit News a column by the well known and wideily read columnist Bob Considine, whose coiumn I know many of you read regularly. Despite Mr. Considine's wehl versed baokground, despite his constant attention to world affairs, despite his periodic visits to the worltl''S capita•ls, he stiQiJ. refer,s to Czedho-S•lovalkia as the 1kiingdom of bhe SeI1biaJn s, the Croatians, and the Slovenes. And yet we all here know that Czeoho-SilovBJkia is a land inhabited principaH.y by the Slovaks and the Czeohs. It is no wonder then that the national ambitions of the Slovaks have been so high misconstrued over the years, and the road to ethnic recognition so difficult. A moment ago I expressed the opinion that the quickest, surest, and most direct route to recognition as an ethnic group is through partisan politics. Many of you may recall a statement made by Republioan National Chairman Ray C. Bliss, in which he stated that it was time for the 1 �78 SLOVAKIA Republican Party to realize that the American electorate was not composed solely of white, Anglo-Saxon, Protestants, but a mixture of all races, colors, and creeds. As a result of Mr. Bliss' conviction, more attention is being given to the ethnic groups, and thankfully also to the Slovak community. The DemoCTatic Party recogni~ed many years ago the need to evaluate the wants of the ethnic groups, and to respond accordingly. I would like to review briefly some of the recently accomplishments of your Michigan leaders in obtaining recognitions of the S,lovaks and for Slovak objectives not only here in Michigan, but throughout the United States. Within the past two years, in both major political parties, a complete separation has been made in the ethnic identification of the Czech and Slovak peoples. In each political party there exists a separate Siovak Division on the State Level, and in each political party there exists a Slovak Division on the National Level. We have in Michigan at the present time a Democratic Slovak Chaivman in almost every one of Michigan's nineteen congressional districts, and we expect before all programs are completed, to have a Slovak Chairman in each congressional district of every state in whic,h we have able, competent, and interested Slovak leadership. We want to express for once and for all time that there is a Slovak ethnic growp in America, that this ethnic group is interested in specific objectives such as an independent Slovak section at the Voice of America, that we are interested in the re-establishment of an independent Slovak state, and that we are not only interested in, and capable of, but desirous of holding elective offices. Every American President from Woodrow W i 1son through John F. Kennedy has reaffirmed the American conviction that all the people of the world have the right to their own self determination. Many of you will remember the words of the then Attorney General of the United States Robert Kennedy in Youngstown, Ohio on July 14, 1963 when he stated, "The President has asked me to tell you that the United States Government will continue to support the just aspirations of all people in the world for independence and liberty - aspirations which the Slovaks share today with many other of the captive nations." But in striving to meet any objectives we must never lose sight �SLOVAKIA 79 of the fact that there can be no accomplishment without the blessing of a power far greater than any here on earth. The Slova:ks have recognized this ever since the day,s of the Saints Cyril and Method}us, Patron Saints of Slovakia who first introduced Ohristi!anity to Central Europe over 1100 yeruris ago, and in the Sfavoniic rt01I1g1Ue. A!S ,a personal testimony to this deep Christian character of the Slovaks, I can recall that during my grade school days when a child, or even an adult first entered the home, the very firnt wo:ros to be spoken were "PochvMen bud' Pan Jezi s Kristus" (Praised Be Jesus Christ) . And I can recall a framed picture which hung on the wa11 in the kitohen of our home, and alongside the picture were inscribed these wOTlds, "Kde Boh hospodad, tam sa dobre dari" (Whe,r e God Rules, All is Well). And these words are just as true today as they were when I first had the good grace to read and understand their meaning. And I know that if we heed these words as we move forward, and work with tihese words as guidance, there will be no Slovak hope, there wHl be no Slovak desire, there will be no Slovak objective whioh will not be ultimately fulfilled. 1 There is throughout the United States a young, educated, and interested group of Slovaks who can be classif,i ed as a part of the army of 'angry young men'. Angry because of the failure to resolve Slovak problems which it appears should have been resolved over a quarter century ago. Angry because of the factionalism which has kept the Slovaks a house divided for too many years. Angry because of the loss of prestige suffered through failure to be associated with the culture of Slovak artists, professional and industrial people, social and economic leaders. It is hoped that this outlook on the Slovak problem will in some small way contribute to its eventual resolution. "After Benes concluded the 'Czechoslovak-Soviet Treaty' in Moscow, on December 12, 1943, the left-wing Slovak Agrarians (Lettrich's group) joined the Slovak communists (the Schmidke-Husak group) to conclude the 'Christmas Agreement' of 1943. They created a 'common political leadership' and declared 'eternal friendship' for each other." - Gilbert L. Oddo: Slovakia and Its People. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 1966, Vol. 16 Description An account of the resource Vol. 16 (No. 39), 1966. 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 1966 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 76 THE SILOVAK ~GE By Joseph R. Kristofik On March 26, 1966 a second wave of protest marchers demonstrated in some of the world's capitals and in major American cities protesting United States policy in Viet Nam. Among the demonstrators were college students expounding a belief in the principle of self determination for the Viet Namese people. To those who have studied the problems of the Slovak people and the Slovak nation, this statement appears to be most insincere. There have been many opportunities in the past to demonstrate this expressed interest in the self determination of nations in behalf of many Eastern European nations, notably Slovakia, but to date no tangible expression of interest in Eastern European self determination has been shown by these self same groups. 1 The Slovaks in America have for many years advocated and pursued the policy of self determination for the people of Slovakia. In striving to meet this objective, however, a very serious error was made by the American Slovaks as in their eagerness to help establish an independent Slovak state, they failed to establish and extend the vast limits of their Slovak culture in America, and as a result suffer today from this lack of a so called "Slovak Image". In an effort to overcome this deficiency of the past, an attempt is being made to make the Slovaks aware not only of the quickest way in achieving positive results in projecting this "Slovak image", in America, but also a means of obtaining quicker recognition of Slovak objectives on an international level. One of the more complex problems with which the Slovaks have been confronted since the turn of the century has been •the inability to project the distinctive S 1 o v a k character or influence in either the area of American politics, OT to any significant degree in civic affairs. This is a most regrettable situation, since there are many outst,anding leaders in industry, in the field of education, and in the arts and sciences who not only have a Slovaik background, but are proud of their Central European heritage. So the question that must be asked is why, despite thi,s wealth of competent, educated people throughout the United States, SLOVAKIA 77 we have as an ethnic group, faHed to project this Slovak image. One of the basic answers to this prOiblem lies in the use of more effective public and press relations. Another answer lies in more active participation in civic affairs. But probably the most effective method in making rapid strides in projecting this Slovak image is through the field of partisan politics, where the wants, the needs, the desires, and the ambitions of an ethnic group are not only recognized, but evaluated on the basis of compatibility with our foreign policy and national interest. This year we are commemorating the 27th Anniversary of Slovak Independence. This is a very memorable diate in the history of the Slovak people, as it was on March 14, 1939 that the Slovaks as a united people , carved their own independent state, in the world of freedom loving and self governing nations. Yet it is disheartening, that despite the fact that we are here today, twenty seven years later, celebrating the anniversary of the birth of the modern Slova,k state, a majority of Americans do not even recognize Slovaks as an independent, separaJte, Central Europe ethnic group. Thi:s is not too surprising however, when one realizes that the average American really knows very little about Central European affairs, and is doubly confused when confronted with t:Jhe compounded problems presented by the Siovaks. Even as late as four weeks ago there a,ppeared in the Detroit News a column by the well known and wideily read columnist Bob Considine, whose coiumn I know many of you read regularly. Despite Mr. Considine's wehl versed baokground, despite his constant attention to world affairs, despite his periodic visits to the worltl''S capita•ls, he stiQiJ. refer,s to Czedho-S•lovalkia as the 1kiingdom of bhe SeI1biaJn s, the Croatians, and the Slovenes. And yet we all here know that Czeoho-SilovBJkia is a land inhabited principaH.y by the Slovaks and the Czeohs. It is no wonder then that the national ambitions of the Slovaks have been so high misconstrued over the years, and the road to ethnic recognition so difficult. A moment ago I expressed the opinion that the quickest, surest, and most direct route to recognition as an ethnic group is through partisan politics. Many of you may recall a statement made by Republioan National Chairman Ray C. Bliss, in which he stated that it was time for the 1 78 SLOVAKIA Republican Party to realize that the American electorate was not composed solely of white, Anglo-Saxon, Protestants, but a mixture of all races, colors, and creeds. As a result of Mr. Bliss' conviction, more attention is being given to the ethnic groups, and thankfully also to the Slovak community. The DemoCTatic Party recogni~ed many years ago the need to evaluate the wants of the ethnic groups, and to respond accordingly. I would like to review briefly some of the recently accomplishments of your Michigan leaders in obtaining recognitions of the S,lovaks and for Slovak objectives not only here in Michigan, but throughout the United States. Within the past two years, in both major political parties, a complete separation has been made in the ethnic identification of the Czech and Slovak peoples. In each political party there exists a separate Siovak Division on the State Level, and in each political party there exists a Slovak Division on the National Level. We have in Michigan at the present time a Democratic Slovak Chaivman in almost every one of Michigan's nineteen congressional districts, and we expect before all programs are completed, to have a Slovak Chairman in each congressional district of every state in whic,h we have able, competent, and interested Slovak leadership. We want to express for once and for all time that there is a Slovak ethnic growp in America, that this ethnic group is interested in specific objectives such as an independent Slovak section at the Voice of America, that we are interested in the re-establishment of an independent Slovak state, and that we are not only interested in, and capable of, but desirous of holding elective offices. Every American President from Woodrow W i 1son through John F. Kennedy has reaffirmed the American conviction that all the people of the world have the right to their own self determination. Many of you will remember the words of the then Attorney General of the United States Robert Kennedy in Youngstown, Ohio on July 14, 1963 when he stated, "The President has asked me to tell you that the United States Government will continue to support the just aspirations of all people in the world for independence and liberty - aspirations which the Slovaks share today with many other of the captive nations." But in striving to meet any objectives we must never lose sight SLOVAKIA 79 of the fact that there can be no accomplishment without the blessing of a power far greater than any here on earth. The Slova:ks have recognized this ever since the day,s of the Saints Cyril and Method}us, Patron Saints of Slovakia who first introduced Ohristi!anity to Central Europe over 1100 yeruris ago, and in the Sfavoniic rt01I1g1Ue. A!S ,a personal testimony to this deep Christian character of the Slovaks, I can recall that during my grade school days when a child, or even an adult first entered the home, the very firnt wo:ros to be spoken were "PochvMen bud' Pan Jezi s Kristus" (Praised Be Jesus Christ) . And I can recall a framed picture which hung on the wa11 in the kitohen of our home, and alongside the picture were inscribed these wOTlds, "Kde Boh hospodad, tam sa dobre dari" (Whe,r e God Rules, All is Well). And these words are just as true today as they were when I first had the good grace to read and understand their meaning. And I know that if we heed these words as we move forward, and work with tihese words as guidance, there will be no Slovak hope, there wHl be no Slovak desire, there will be no Slovak objective whioh will not be ultimately fulfilled. 1 There is throughout the United States a young, educated, and interested group of Slovaks who can be classif,i ed as a part of the army of 'angry young men'. Angry because of the failure to resolve Slovak problems which it appears should have been resolved over a quarter century ago. Angry because of the factionalism which has kept the Slovaks a house divided for too many years. Angry because of the loss of prestige suffered through failure to be associated with the culture of Slovak artists, professional and industrial people, social and economic leaders. It is hoped that this outlook on the Slovak problem will in some small way contribute to its eventual resolution. "After Benes concluded the 'Czechoslovak-Soviet Treaty' in Moscow, on December 12, 1943, the left-wing Slovak Agrarians (Lettrich's group) joined the Slovak communists (the Schmidke-Husak group) to conclude the 'Christmas Agreement' of 1943. They created a 'common political leadership' and declared 'eternal friendship' for each other." - Gilbert L. Oddo: Slovakia and Its People.  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Slovak Image Description An account of the resource Joseph R. Kristofik Slovakia, Vol. 16 (No. 39), 1966 pp. 76-79 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Kristofik, Joseph R. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1966 name https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/e9a545c6701bae7a962bd2db2a3834d8.pdf 0dd3fe301e1b099f10663374997e72a5 PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA 25 The Slovak Intelligentsia 1918-1938 OWEN V. JOHNSON \ The 25th issue of Slovensky dennik, published December 7, 1918, carried a message from the Slovak Society of Studying Youth. It began bluntly, '' A nation is strong only if it has a strong intelligentsia.'' Issue No. 1, published November 9, 1918, called on the Slovak intelligentsia to come forward. Since the new Czechoslovak state will need a great many Slovak people for offices and schools, we challenge each Slovak intelligent to immediately apply in writing or personally to the Legal Committee of the Slovak National Council listing complete name and address. Slovensky dennik might well have devoted its limited space to other matters, for the Slovakia of 1918 was ahnost without an intelligentsia, a body without a head. How and to what extent was this void filled in the following twenty years? In essence, this essay is a preliminary examination of that question. A combination of historical and ideological circumstances has combined to divert attention almost completely from a serious study of the development of education and the concomitant development of the intelligentsia (using here the Marxist definition of the intelligentsia as being "educated specialists") in interwar Slovakia, and in fact for the whole of Czechoslovakia.(!) Victor Mamatey describes Slovak politicians as showing considerable energy in promoting the cultural and educational development of the Slovak people,(2) but furnishes no evidence. R. W. Seton-Watson describes the "remarkable transformation" wrought in the field of education in Slovakia, but provides only broad quantitative evidence, referring especially to the elementary schools. (3) Reprinted by permission from Russian and Slavic History (Papers from the Banff ' 74 Conference) edited by D. K. Rowney and G. E. Orchard, Slavica Publishers, Inc., P.O. Box 14388, Columbus, Ohio 43214. �26 SLOVAKIA While Czech and Slovak historians generally evaluate this phenomenon favorably, only now is any extensive research developing in the field. The published draft survey, Prehled teskoslovenskych dejin(4) does not once mention education. One report on a meeting of the Polish-Czechoslovak Historical Commission in Warsaw in September 1972 pointed out, "There emerged in the rich discussion many questions which even in our historiography have not been resolved through analytical work (such as) (the growth of national intelligentsia, the question of education ... ).(5) Oldriska Kodedova, reviewing Kuzmin's Shkola i obrazovanie v Chekoslovakii, comments(6) that insufficient attention has been paid to the social and nationality problem of education between the two wars. She points out that there is not a single basic work on the subject. Professor Jozef Matej, chairman of the pedagogical department of the Faculty of Philosophy at Comenius University in Bratislava, surveys the considerable progress made in research over the last five years, and declares that the editorial board of Jednotna skola supports the publication of articles about the history of education and pedagogy in the "bourgeois" Republic.(7) Admittedly this problem is not one that lends itself easily to a time frame as short as twenty years. Even the very few high school graduates from 1919 would have been less than forty years old in 1938, an age which in the traditional European context was still quite young. The names which showed up as outstanding among high school students· in the twenties and thirties became the leaders only in the turbulent forties and fifties. Perforce, then, this paper must confine itself to observations on some aspects of the development of the intelligentsia. A thorough study would require a complete monograph. What I will seek to do is discuss briefly the circumstances that brought about the poverty of the intelligentsia before 1918, identify institutions which contributed to the development of this educated group of Slovaks in the interwar period; describe summarily the educational system in use and provide a statistical overview of the schools and the students who studied in them; briefly describe other signs of cultural development; and suggest some accomplishments, shortcomings, and problems on the period. Linguistic and anthropological experts have long debated the question as to whether the term Czechoslovlik can be used to describe one language and one nation, or whether the individual Czech and Slovak terms should be used. This paper proceeds on the basis of the latter, as a means to better understanding the problem at hand. If the idea of a Slovak nation was to have a solid basis, whether in a �SLOVAKIA 27 \ Czechoslovak state or by it'self, it was necessary that an intelligentsia develop from the Slovak people . The course of events prior to the creation of Czechoslovakia at the end of World War I found the Slovak people practically without a nationally conscious Slovak intelligentsia. Policies pursued by the Hungarian government following the 1867 Ausgleich had made it practically impossible for any Slovak youth who aspired to advanced education and a high position in life, to succeeed without giving up his Slovak identity. There were no Slovak schools beyond the primary level. It is generally accepted(8) that there were only between five hundred and a thousand educated and nationally conscious Slovaks in the year 1918. This estimate can be challenged on the basis that it represented the number of Slovaks and members of their families on whom the Hungarian authorities kept watch because of Slovak or panSlavic tendencies.(9) There may well have been several thousand nationally neutral intelligentsia who found it quite simple to fit into a Czechoslovak environment following the founding of the Republic. Several Slovak historians are seeking at this time a more accurate estimate.(10) Certainly the predominantly agricultural configuration of the Slovak society did not promote Slovak intellectual development. The cities , with few exceptions , were Hungarian, German, or Jewish dominated. Thus we are left with a Slovak intelligentsia made up primarily of clergymen, doctors , and lawyers, and their families .(11) One could not in any case expect that there would be a sufficient number of Slovaks who would have the requisite administrative experience to run a modem state and nation. To overcome this shortcoming it was necessary to bring in Czechs.(12) An example can be made of the advanced educational establishments. There were about twenty qualified and nationally conscious Slovaks who could teach in the gymnasia, enough persons to supply about two schools . Perhaps three hundred nationally conscious Slovaks were qualified to teach in the elementary schools.(13) Dr. Karel Koch , later Surgeon-General for Slovakia, lists only three Slovak-oriented surgeons remaining in Slovakia in 1918.(14) Borovicka even says that after the attainment of independence in 1918 there was not a single Slovak government official whatever with a Slovak national consciousness .(15) The bleakness of the situation was described poignantly by Dr. Vavro Srobar, a future Agrarian Party Minister of Education. "There were so few of us that we almost all knew each other personally , we knew even addresses , as well as personal and family relationships. " (16) �28 SLOVAKIA Accustomed to the Hungarian tradition, the Slovak peasant looked upon the intelligentsia as those people who, on the basis of a definite higher schooling got an official position or who otherwise stood out on the basis of their knowledge, property and influence in public, and earned admission to intelligent society. High school and university education and a proper knowledge of Hungarian or German, gentlemanly behavior, official position in the church, county, school, etc. gave legitimation to the title of intelligent. (17) The intelligentsia were the people who worked with their heads, not their hands. On this basis, one may consider a study of schools which awarded the maturitne vysvedcenie (matriculation certificate) or its equivalent and of the students in these schools as a study of the intelligentsia. The certificate was given for the successful completion of the school leaving examination at the end of high school (similar to the French baccalaureat). Of five categories of state employees, three required at least a high school education. A fourth required lower high school or middle school joined with special courses. While the fifth included those demanding only general elementary education, elementary and middle school teachers were included in this category.(18) At this point, attention must be directed to the structure of the whole school system. School attendance in Slovakia was mandatory for six years until 1922; after that, eight years was required, although the increase could not be enforced until the late twenties for lack of the needed personnel and facilities. All students spent the first five years in elementary (l'udove) schools. The other three years could be taken in middle schools, or in the beginning grades of the various secondary schools. In some of the more rural areas, only the elementary school existed, and here students who had no intention of continuing higher studies were allowed to attend if no alternative school was available. There were about 4000 elementary schools. The majority of the schools awarding the matriculation certificate came under the general heading gymnasia. Children who had completed elementary school and were at last ten years old, could apply for admission to the gymnasia. These were of fm\f types: 1. The classical gymnasium, of which there· were very few, was an eight-year school. Successful completion of the course allowed the student to enter the university directly. Until reforms �SLOVAKIA 29 \ instituted in early 1930s, students in these schools studied Latin from the first year and Greek from the fifth. 2. The real gymnasium was by far the most popular because its graduates could directly enter both universities and technical universities. In these schools, French or English was taken instead of Greek beginning in the fifth year. 3. The real reformed gymnasium, which was more popular in the early years of the Republic, later lost attractiveness, and many of these schools were converted to real gymnasia. They followed the same curriculum as the real gymnasia except that a third language (English, Italian, or a Slavic one) replaced Latin in the seventh year. The reason for their later unpopularity was the necessity of taking an additional examination in Latin in order to gain entrance into the university. 4. The re<ilka was a seven-year school and its graduates had entrance directly only into the technical universities. No classical language was required, and French or English was begun in the second year. Other schools which awarded the matriculation certificate were only four years in length. The most wide-spread in Slovakia was the teacher-training institute , conducting a four year course of instruction which qualified its graduates to teach in the elementary, and after a time, the middle schools. Students were admitted in their ninth year of schooling in most cases , provided they had reached the minimum age of fifteen . During the depression this type of institution reached its peak of popularity with several times more applicants being turned down than were admitted. This is explained by its providing its graduates nearly guaranteed employment without their having to consider how to obtain funds to study at the university . Compared to the gymnasia and the teacher training institutes, the four other types of schools which gave degrees equivalent to the matriculation certificate were limited in number. The priemyseln<i skola , or industrial school, was four years in length, and its graduates could be admitted directly to the technical universities. These schools operated under a severe handicap in Slovakia during the first republic, for it was not until the fall of 1938 that the first Slovak technical university was opened. In anticipation of this event, enrolhnent in the technical high schools swelled considerably after the mid-thirties. The commercial academy (obchodn<i akademia) graduate also completed a four-year program which allowed him to enter either the technical university or the law faculty. Graduates of the four year �30 SLOVAKIA agricultural high school in Kosice or the four year forestry high school in Banska Stiavnica could enter the technical universities in their respective fields. The agriculture high school was designed primarily, however, for the education of independent farmers, and the forestry high school for the preparation of forest administrators. While much attention has been directed thus far to the rights to higher education achieved by these secondary school graduates, the percentage of those completing higher education was not overwhelming. Gustav Husak, in admittedly rough calculations, adjudged between 2000 and 2500 Slovaks engaged in university studies in the 1933-34 school year.(19) That compares with the 19,047 students in Slovakia attending the gymnasia and teacher training institutes that year. The 1930 census counted 2,295,067 Slovaks in Czechoslovakia. (20) During the twelve-year period 1926-7-1937-8, slightly more than seven percent of the total number of students at the Evangelical Gymnasium in Presov took the maturita examination.(21) If this figure is applied as a rough ratio for all of Slovakia, it would mean that in the above mentioned year of 1933-34, approximately 1330 students in Slovakia took the maturita. In the same year, approximately one fifth of the law students at Comenius University were first year students (2861162).(22) Applying this percentage to Husak's estimated total of 20002500 Slovaks attending institutions of higher learning, we arrive at the figure of about 600 first year Slovak students in all university faculties. This means that less than one half of those holding the matriculation certificate went on to the university. And of these, some forty percent did not complete the first set of state examinations normally given after two years study.(23) According to these calculations, less than one third of those holding the matriculation certificate from the gymnasium completed a university degree.(24) (The original estimate of 1330 maturants includes the graduates of the teacher training institutes who rarely continued to the university.) Support for using the criteria of a secondary school education to define the intelligent is offered by the percentage of such students in the whole educational spectrum. In the school year 1921-22, students of gymnasia and teacher training institutes 'made up 2. 7 percent of the total number of students in Slovakia.(25) For reasons that are both complex and unclear, statistical offices of the Czechoslovak Republic did not publish complete data on the number of those gaining the matriculation certificate each year. In Slovakia, a circular with some such information was prepared by the Bratislava (Slovak) Referent for Education each year until the late �SLOVAKIA 31 1920s. The only other manner in which this number can be determined is by a methodical examination of the annual high school yearbooks sponsored by each school. Let it be taken as an assumption, based on a general familiarity with . the figures, that an average of about one thousand Czechoslovak s~udents in Slovakia each year passed the maturita exam, or about 20,000 during the life of the Republic. The figure is of course lower in the early years, and much higher in the period just before Munich. The general accuracy of this estimate can be judged by the estimate of Robert Rosko(26) that 68,000 employees in Slovakia in 1953 had higher and specialized secondary education. Stefanek's estimate of 50,000 students having completed high school studies by 1944(27) is likely too high. Only one writer, Jan Novacky, probably with statistics furnished by the Ministry of Education, has calculated the number of persons receiving the matriculation certificate over a period of time (Table 1). These data suggest the projection of 1330 recipients of the maturita for the year 1933-34 is reasonably accurate as does our estimated average of one thousand matriculation certificates per year for the 1918-19-1937-38 period. The number of graduates of the teacher training institutes remained fairly constant at about 300 per year.(28) The number of girl students in grade VIII (and thus eligible for the maturita examination) as a percentage of the total number of girl students enrolled in the gymnasia in 1927-28 was just under five percent, thus fifty percent less than the average for all those enrolled. (29) TABLE 1 NUMBER OF MATRICULATION CERTIFICATES (HIGH SCHOOL DIPLOMAS) AWARDED 1918-19 - 1928-29: SELECTED YEARS AND TOTAL Total 1918-19 Type of Institution 1918-19 1923-24 1928-29 1928-29 3075 Real gymnasium 84 250 532 Teacher training institute 122 262 247 3014 Real reformed gymnasium 5 70 189 1000 23 44 82 623 Realka 64 Classical gymnasium 0 0 36 Total Source: 234 626 1086 7776 Jan M. Novacky, ed., Desat' rokov slovenskych strednych skol, Bratislava: Slovenska knihtlaciaren, 1929, pp. 68-71. �32 SLOVAKIA The figures we have been discussing up to this point refer to the Czechoslovak high schools in Slovakia. They include a smattering of Hungarians, Jews, Germans, and other nationalities , as well as Czechs and Slovaks. The number of Czechs in some schools was substantial. For example, during the 1937-38 school year, the First Czechoslovak real gymnasium in Bratislava had 896 students, of which less than half (431) were Slovak. Three hundred eighty-six were Czech, 43 German , 24 Hungarian , and the rest other nationalities.(30) In Banska Bystrica, 394 out of 470 students in that year were Slovak , 66 Czech and the other ten divided among four nationalities.(31) Again, a complete survey must await further computation. What can be said with safety is that a significant proportion - ten to twenty-five percent - of the students were not Slovaks. The only known official publication which differentiates between Czechs and Slovaks in the high schools in Slovakia was published for the 1922-23 school year in Slovakia by the Skalsk y Referat. Of the 11,267 students, 1286 are Czech, 8501 Slovak, and the rest belong to other nationalities. At the same time there were six Czechs and 116 Slovaks in non-Czechoslovak institutions . This confirms our estimate of ten to twenty-five percent non-Slovaks.(32) The State Statistical Office of the Czechoslovak Republic did not, in its school statistics, differentiate between Czechs and Slovaks , using instead the inclusive term Czechoslovak. However, between half and two thirds of the individual schools did make a distinction in their published yearly reports, and some of them also expressed the distinction on the statistical forms mailed to the Ministry of Education. It is this lack of readily available data which has hindered until now any significant studies of this question. Because some schools only used the term Czechoslovak means we shall never have a completely accurate picture of the nationality situation. This attitude of Czechoslovakism in the statistics occurred for a variety of reasons : political conviction, political fear, lack of interest , or desire to maintain the status quo. It was the principal (riaditel') who decided which policy would be followed.(33) Because of these varying motivations, one cannot with reliability apportion the students in the unoi(ferentiated schools to the specific nationalities. Further, even when a aifferent,.iation is made in the general and classroom statistics between ' nationalities, we do not have available this information for individual students, so as to be able to determine whether such and such an individual student, be he Czech or Slovak, passed the maturita exam. We must content ourselves with comparing the percentage of each nationality in the final year of school and applying these percentages to the number of persons taking the �33 SLOVAKIA maturita exams. Even in the less common instances when the maturita recording books are availa\:ile in the archives , they frequently do not specify the nationality, but fist only the place of birth. While this is of some assistance in obtaining a reasonably accurate picture , the very existence of 120,000 Czechs in Slovakia(34) will distort it, as well as the non-Czechoslovak abode of many of these persons prior to 1918. In the above Banska Bystrica case, although there were 66 Czechs , only 34 of the students were born in Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia. There will also be some distortion , when we cannot specifically distinguish Czech from Slovak, in identifying the social, religious, and other characteristics of the students according to nationality. Here again, it seems that we must proceed on the basis of what we have , hoping that studies of the individual schools described by Matej(35) will tum up better information. Let us use 1927-28 as a sample year. The decline in the number of enrollees which developed later because of the wartime decline in the birth rate and not yet made itself felt. With the exception of a number of schools which would open in the last four years of the Republic, almost all schools were operating as full institutions. Some had been converted from Hungarian to Slovak over a period of seven or eight years . TABLE 2 CZECHOSLOVAK SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN SLOVAKIA , 1927-28 Type of School Real gymnasium Real reformed gymnasium Realka Teacher training institute Commercial academy Industrial high school Classical gymnasium Agricultural high school Forestry high school Total Number Students Graduates Studentsgraduate 24 8217 426 19 10 3 2939 997 165 98 18 13 6 3 2 1 1 63 970 617 470 406 98 Unavailable 14,714 327 62 100 16 14 14 1222 10 3 10 5 25 7 12 �34 SLOVAKIA Sources: Novacky, Desat' rokov , pp. 63-67; Styridsat' rokov Lesnickej technickej skoly v Banskej Stiavnici 1918-1959, Bratislava: Poverenictvo Podohospodarstva, 1959, pp. 62-67; Anton Stefanek, Education in Pre-War Hungary and in Slovakia To-Day," in Slovakia Then and Now: A Political Survey ed. by Robert W. Seton-Watson, London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd., 1931, p. 130; Individual vyrocne zpravy of the agricultural high school, commercial high schools , and industrial high schools. The most productive gymnasium of any kind in the first eleven years was the real gymnasium at Bratislava with 363 degrees awarded followed by the realka at Zilina with 340. Other gymnasia producing more than 200 matriculation certificate holders in the first eleven years were the real gymnasia at Kosice, Nitra, Ruzomberok, Trencin, Trnava, and Banska Bystrica. The teacher training institute at Modra produced by far the largest number of graduates in the first eleven years with 419, primarily because of the 142 which it graduated in the first three years, a figure twice the number of any other school during that period, excepting Tmava, which also had the second highest eleven year total with 323. Seven other institutions had more than 200 graduates each. Over the twenty year period, there were 51 gymnasia of different types, 17 teacher training institutes, 5 industrial high schools, 7 commercial high schools, and one each of the agricultural and forestry high schools. A significant number of this total (16-82) began operation in the last four years, a jump of about 25 percent from the number in existence at the end of the 1933-34 school year. The reasons for this sudden increase will be discussed below. The total does not include a private unlicensed secondary school operated in Bratislava in the 193738 school year which used French as the language of instruction and was seeking state accreditation. The proportion of secondary school students in the population was lower in all Slovak counties (between 3 and 8 per 1000) than in Prague (12-13 per 1000) .(36) By some strange quirk, however, the county of Mikulas had the highest number of secondary schools in relation to the population (9-10-200,000) anywhere in Czechoslovakia. This included 14 schools for 319,509 people.(37) In Slovakia in 1922-23 there was one Czechoslovak student for each 179 Czecho~lovak inhabitants. For the whole country (excepting Ruthenia) the ratio was I-116.(38) There were other schools which one might consider as producers of intelligentsia. The so-called pedagogical academy which began to operate in Bratislava in the 1930-31 school year at the suggestion of the �SLOVAKIA 35 Slovak Pedagogical Society was the first step toward placing teacher training on the university level. It was a one-year program which gave gymnasium graduates the right to teach in elementary schools. In seven years it produced 706 graduates.(39) Graduates of the teacher training institutes did no~ have the possibility nor the need to attend. Comenius University \11 Bratislava had three faculties - law, medicine, and philosophy- ano began accepting gymnasium graduates in the fall of 1921.(40) Slovaks could attend other universities in the country as well. The Slovak Technical University opened only in the fall of 1938. There were two theological faculties. The Lutheran faculty, which operated throughout the twenty years, received university rank in 1934. The Catholic faculty, authorized in 1919, began operations in 1936 although in the interim there were a half dozen small seminaries scattered around Slovakia. The music and drama academy of Bratislava received university status in 1926. The higher agricultural co-operative school opened in Bratislava in 1936 to help provide administrative officials for the co-operative movement. Previously these officials had come from among the graduates of the commercial academies and commercial schools (usually 2-year programs not leading to a matriculation certificate). Students were chosen from among those who already held the matriculation certificate, with preference to persons who had been graduated from the commercial or agricultural high schools and to those with co-operative experience. Those who had a partial high school education or had finished middle school and one of the agricultural or commercial schools, and had two years of experience in the co-operative movement as well, could qualify if they successfully passed an entrance exam. There were only 22 students in each year of operation. There were also a number of theological academies with the equivalency rank of universities. Entrants were required to hold the matriculation certificate. The six Catholic institutes (seminaries) mentioned above closed with the opening of the Bratislava theological faculty in 1936. Even so , Slovakia still possessed more than half of the theological institutes in the country. There were also a half dozen city music schools , sometimes supported by the public, but these were rather for private music instruction and did not fit into the regular scheme of formal education . Reference has been made to vocational courses in the fields of agricultural, industrial and commercial education. There was in these courses no attempt to advance beyond the teaching of specific skills. The courses varied from several weeks to two years. �36 SLOVAKIA Matica slovenska, the Slovak cultural and national organization, sponsored in many cities the so-called enlightenment courses. These consisted on one or a series of lectures, and would more properly fall under the heading of popular or civic education. The local organizations of Matica slovenska were supposed to be distributing knowledge, rather than fostering it.(41) Courses held by the Army for illiterate soldiers should be considered also in the realm of popular education. What other evidence do we have of cultural advancement during the period under discussion? One is the publication of books, magazines and newspapers. Before the outbreak of World War I there was some of this activity , although exactly how much is uncertain. Stefan Krcmery , long active in Matica slovenska, said that a total of 41 periodicals in 1909 had declined to ten by 1918.(42) A more recent survey conducted by Matica slovenska shows the total growing from 32 in 1900 to 47 in 1910 to 61 in 1914 before dropping to 30 in 1918.(43) The most important were N arodnie noviny , published three times a week at Martin, and Slouenske pohl'ady, a monthly literary journal.(44) Jozef Votruba, a Slovak patriot , was said to have remarked(45) that the Slovak intelligentsia was made up of those who read Narodnie nouiny. Similar problems arise in trying to measure the number of journals published after the revolution. Maria Kipsova, in a definitive bibliography published in 1968, (46) lists 980 journals definitely located and 80 journals not found which were published in Slovak during the 20-year period. Jozef Darmo 's incomplete study(47) of Slovak journalism, published two years earlier, says there was a total of 1565 magazines and newspapers published, of which 442 were Hungarian and an undefined number in other languages. A survey compiled by the press referent for Slovakia in 1927(48) listed 162 purely Slovak publications for that year . Approximately one-third of these were political , another third organizational . Eight of the publications were dailies, all but one of them published ip Bratislava. A further 49 publications were multi-lingual with Slova~ as one of the languages . Nearly half of the all-Slovak publications · (77) Had a frequency of monthly or less. The Kipsova bibliography shows that the great majority of these publications did not long survive . Included among the reasons were the lack of printers and the inability to extend circulation beyond the cities into the countryside . Quite simply, the rural population was not yet accustomed to reading.(49) While some efforts have been made at estimating the extent of circulation of the various publications ,(50) there is no source extensive enough to provide any adequate analysis. The expansion of the number of daily papers from two (one of which was Hungarian-oriented)(51) before the war , to eight �SLOVAKIA 37 under the Czechoslovak ~epublic indicates definite progress. Even with insufficient evidence, 'one can presume a circulation expansion as well. While there is considerable disagreement, too, over the exact number of Slovak books published between the wars,(52) it averaged 600-800 per year, of which about three quarters were published in Slovakia itself. A provisional B ibliografia slovenskych knih 19191938(53) published in 1965, listed 13,320 items definitely identified, and 6530 uncertain. If the nearly 19,000 were in fact all published, it would establish an average of approximately one thousand per year, somewhat higher than the estimate by Stefanek (13,425).(54) Most likely, not all of the desiderata will be included in a definitive bibliography, soon to be published by Matica slovenska, since, for instance, some of the jubilee high school yearbooks, which are in fact not books, are included, plus some listings which are only Slovakicized titles of Czech books. The most difficult problem is unfortunately unsolvable, that is, how many copies of each of these books were published. Only a few organizations, such as Matica slovenska, kept publication totals . One estimate suggested that pre-war printings rarely exceeded 600-800 copies; by 1928 the average was 250010,000.(55) Stefanek provides some interesting comparisons of the occupations of writers before and after the revolution. (56) They show that before the revolution 112 out of 178 writers were priests (two-thirds Lutheran, one-third Catholic). After 1918 (approximately 1935) only 14111 are priests. The bulk (47) are academicians. Another measurement of general progress can be noted in the area of libraries. In 1927 there were 3283 research libraries for teachers with 258 ,200 books; 216 school libraries containing 1,185,464 books including 150,000 at Comenius University; and 2592 communal libraries with 202 , 781 books . (5 7) By 1932 the number of libraries in the first two categories had increased only by seven, but the number of volumes was up half a million.(58) Since there were only private church libraries and those of priests and patriots prior to 1918, there is a definite note of progress here. One of the most difficult problems in handling a subject of this type is to maintain a differentiation between the terms intelligentsia and national enlightenment. While we have noted the tremendous development of communal libraries, libraries which average less than one hundred books apiece will not contribute much to the development of the intelligentsia, although they may significantly raise the national consciousness of the broad mass of the population. The same problem �38 SLOVAKIA must be faced when we examine the national and religious cultural societies . Either we must redefine what we call a member of the intelligentsia or we must recognize the fact that these organizations had different purposes. The Society of St. Adalbert is a case in point. A Catholic society with 100,000 members, it dealt mainly with popular education and Catholic science and literature.(59) Yet Peter Vajcik(60) described one of the society's three aims as being to help the Slovak Catholic intelligentsia, a much smaller group . The Lutheran Church had a similar society of Tranoscius. Matica slovenska anguished over the direction of its goals . Until 1932 it tended to reflect more accurately the number of intelligentsia than did the two specifically religious societies, but it also included a number of Czechs and people of other nationalities involved in the work of popular education. In some respects it sought to fulfill the role of a scientific academy, but lacked the personnel and monetary support, and could not tear itself away from its popular education role . Interestingly , when its membership roles swelled after the capture of the leadership in 1932 by those who favored a greater amount of Slovak autonomy, its organized scientific research increased substantially. The membership increased from 11,063 in 1930 to 30,147 in 1936.(61) The Safarik Scientific Society was organized in 1926 mainly by the members of the faculty of Comenius University. It was begun with the intent of increasing the amount of knowledge about Slovakia and Ruthenia. Strongly supported by persons with a Czechoslovak orientation, it frequently found itself at loggerheads with the people in Matica slovenska.(62) In 1934 it had a total of 168 members of whom only 40 were Slovak. It was divided into two sections, one for the social sciences and one for the natural sciences. In the latter, there were only 16 Slovaks among 101 members, which can in part be explained by the lack of a faculty of natural sciences at Comenius University . During its twelve year existence it published 45 volumes of research results.(63) A number of other societies or organizations which could be called cultural or intellectual also functioned but they will not be dealt with here . These include the Slovak Museum Society, the Slovak Cultural (Vlastivedne) Museum, the East Slovak Museum, the Slovak Pedagogical Society, the Union of Slovak Students, DAV , and the several unions of teachers.(64) · Having sketched the general outline of the development of the intelligentsia , it becomes necessary to examine the broader context of the matter as it relates to political development and the whole of life in interwar Czechoslovakia. �SLOVAKIA 39 It was the early actio~s of the Czechoslovak government taken in the field of education that\ ~ere the most far reaching. Before 1918 there were 53 secondary schools in Slovakia, all Hungarian.(65) Following the attainment of independence, three were closed immediately, two others were combined, and in nine towns new secondary schools were organized. Before the New Year, three secondary schools were operating, and a total of thirteen were giving instruction after three months of independence. (66) Anton Stefanek, assigned the task of co-ordinating this project, described his guiding principle as ''the democratic principle of religious and racial equality before the law."(67) Thus, in purely Slovak districts, the schools were deMagyarized. In the southern districts, he "on the whole" left the status quo. This immediate de-Magyarization of the Slovak high schools was exceptionally important. Changes which are readily accepted in a time of revolution are not achieved even gradually in times of peace and quiet. The entire Czech policy followed in the southern parts of Slovakia sought to integrate the area into the Czechoslovak Republic. (68) The new schools which were opened in essentially Hungarian towns such as Nove Zamky or Lucenec, took root rapidly even though a Hungarian school was also frequently authorized. While these cities had been Hungarian for several decades, the countryside was in many cases still Slovak. The extra assistance provided by the central authorities was frequently the deciding factor in reclaiming the cities, and thus the gathering places of the intelligentsia, for the Slovaks . According to the 1930 census, only seven cities in Slovakia had more than 20,000 persons. Of these, all had two or more Czechoslovak secondary schools except Komarno, which did not gain its first Czechoslovak secondary school until 1936. Only two of the fourteen towns with between 10,000 and 20,000 inhabitants, Guta and Handlova, did not have secondary schools . Handlova is only seven miles from Prievidza, which had a school. Guta (now called Kolarovo), is in a strongly Hungarian area about ten miles southwest of Nove Zarnky, which also had a gymnasium .(69) State control was extended over six Catholic high schools in 1919, under fear that the vacant six sees, which were responsible for their supervision , would be filled by Hungarians . The only other two alternatives , according to Stefanek, were to close the schools, or to accept Hungarian control. It was the attempt by the Slovak People 's Party to gain restoration of three of these Catholic gymnasia in 1921 which led to that party's break-away from the Czech People ' s Party. Josef Susta , the Minister of Education in the Cerny government, ap- �40 SLOVAKIA parently made promises to the effect that the schools would be returned to Catholic control, an action which his successor, Vavro Srobar, an Agrarian Slovak, refused to carry out once the Benes government took office . (70) The Protestants in contrast, carried out an internal reorganization in 1919 and were allowed to maintain control over their schools. Within a decade they gave up all but one for financial reasons .(71) It might be mentioned that the Slovak National Council, which spoke for Slovakia in its declaration of union with the Czechs at Martin October 30, 1918, apparently made no effort to institute an educational system, although some of its local branch officials served to help coordinate the setting up of new schools . Mamatey attributes this to inexperience in the exercise of political power.(72) The impliction is that the Slovak elite, carried over from the Hungarian era, did not use realistic methods in developing a modem nation. Thus, they did not conceive of the need to build an expanded intelligentsia. (73) Much of the policy relating to education was determined by administrative , rather than legislative action. Thus, the fact that five out of the twelve interwar Ministers of Education were Slovaks is of considerable significance. Actually these five held the post for a •longer period (by three months) than Czechs, and many significant reforms were accomplished under them. Ivan Derer, a Social Democrat, held the post for the longest period, from 1929 to 1934. Milan Hodza, an, Agrarian, had the third longest term (1926-1929), a period that probably would have lasted longer had he not become embroiled in conflict with Masaryk and Benes over foreign policy matters. Several policy changes were carried out which affected secondary education in Slovakia. One involved converting the realka to the Austrian or Czech pattern, which meant a seven-year, rather than an eight-year, curriculum, and thus lessened in the eyes of many Slovaks the value of its education. The six-year higher girls ' schools were first reestablished as lycees , then converted quickly to real reformed gymnasia because the former institutions had offered little perspective for further education or employment. The use of boarding schools was also generally eliminated in Slovakia. Prior to World War I, boarding schools had helped to foster Magyarization by cutting off the students from the Slovak countryside. By 1923 only sixteen remained , of which eleven were located at teacher training institutes. (74) At the same time , various organizations set up " intemats" in many towns to strengthen thE\regained Slovak foothold . This made it possible for young people from remote districts , for whom poor transportation connections would have preve~ted daily com- �SLOVAKIA 41 muting, to acquire a secondary education. Others could avoid the otherwise inflated living costs in the cities.(75) The government also sought to increase the percentage of women in the schools. By the year i937-38 girls made up nearly one-third of the students in the gymnasia, ~though as noted above, a smaller percentage actually completed the final year (and presumably the maturita exam). In the teacher training institutes more than half of the total enrollees were girls. Government regulations specified that these institutes were to have equal numbers of boys and girls. (76) As the country began to emerge from the depression, there developed also a rapid increase in the total enrollment of the secondary schools. There were a number of reasons for this, including the growth of cities, better preparation in elementary schools, and the increased post-war birth rate. The government responded by approving various arrangements to open new schools, including some sponsored by cities and some by church bodies. They were made possible under Article 54 of Hungarian law XXX-1883,(77) under which the state assumed responsibility for paying the personnel, who had to meet state qualification standards, while the sponsoring group paid the operating expenses. The schools charged higher tuition, but these higher rates were usually justified by the savings in transportation costs which students would otherwise have had to pay if they were commuting to another school. There were several of these schools in Kosice operated by church groups. Examples of city-sponsored schools were in Piest'any, Koma.mo, and Topol'cany. Acceptance of these arrangements occurred because of an improvement in the economic situation, (78) the fact that there was no longer doubt about the ability of these schools to attract a sufficient number of qualified professors , and the ability of the organizations to meet the requirements of XXX-1883. The analysis of placement - where did the graduates go - is a task beyond the goals of this paper. The central government apparently did not concern itself with these matters except for a brief period during the depression.(79) Many of the secondary schools themselves did not bother with such records either. Occasionally the yearbooks or reports to the Ministry of Education contained information about the future plans of the graduates. It is only in scattered cases at the time of the dedication of a new building or during a celebration of an anniversary that the occupations of the graduates were recorded at all, e.g., Kremnica-1937 or Zlate Moravce-1924. Unfortunately, these samples are not sufficiently broad to draw any conclusions . There is an intriguing organization called the Sprostredkovatel'na prace pre nezamestnanu inteligenciu na Slovensku, which evolved in 1934. �42 SLOVAKIA Sponsored by the Slovak League and the Economic Institute of Slovakia and Ruthenia, with the apparent support of the Agrarian Party, it collected data on graduates and their job searches.(80) Even without these data, let me suggest some judgments on the development of the intelligentsia in interwar Slovakia. First of all, it is clear that significant progress was made . The very fact that the independent Slovak State was able to function at all is evidence of this progress.(81) The Slovak State would not have been possible in 1918. By 1938, the large majority of the intelligentsia was Slovak in language and feeling . Under the situation prevailing before 1918, many of these people would have become members of the intelligentsia, but it would have been as Hungarians, not as Slovaks. It seems that there was not an intellectual proletariat in Slovakia.(82) As Ivan Derer pointed out, even in the depths of depression in 1933 all qualified Slovak high school and elementary teachers had positions.(83) He also catalogued the many other positions which Slovaks filled.(84) What the Czechoslovak Republic failed to do was to institutionalize in Slovakia a system of education which would provide the specialized skills and training requisite for the broad range of cadres - bureaucratic, managerial, technical, and professional - that are required to conduct a modern nation. Insufficient emphasis was put on the education that would develop leaders in industry, commerce, and even agriculture. This type of policy requires particular effort because in fluid postwar situations, there is a tendency to chose occupations where training is short and not too strenuous and the prospects of rapid enrichment promising.(85) This helps to explain Slovakia's lack of military men , of engineers , and of doctors. One must also keep in mind that the younger members of the small Slovak intelligentsia in 1918 had been able to gain positions of influence at a young age, something that could not be continued after the revolutionary wave had subsided and the Czechs who had come to Slovakia to help had become entrenched. (86) The young Slovak intelligent was not unemployed, but underemployed. One must recall that particularly in later years the central government had doubts as to whether it could trust the Slovak intelligentsia. Whatever feelings of distress this under-employment engen~red were worsened by the attitudes carried over from the Hungarian\ experience that education was the road to success .(87) Pre-independe:o.ce lead,ership was in the hands of a highly visible educated majority,. which fostered assumptions of the links between education , political mobility, and the benefits accruing to members of the intelligentsia. �SLOVAKIA 43 Quite probably , time was too short to produce a large enough intelligentsia in all fields. (88) In twenty years , the Czechoslovak government laid the groundwork for the future , and for twenty years built on it. The restoration of the Czechoslovak Republic after World War II provided the opportunity to look critically at what had and had not been done before in the area of intelligentsia development and to make adjustments. · ' But it was not just a matter of insufficient time. I would suggest that the interwar Czechoslovak government was not concerned with developing a specifically Slovak intelligentsia. Instead, its main goal was to reclaim the entire area of Slovakia for the Czechoslovak nationstate. By establishing a large number of Slovak secondary schools in cities of any size, especially those with large Hungarian populations , it could insure that this was done . But the early success of these centralist policies delayed recognition of certain aspects of the developing Slovak problem. If a Slovak nation was to be a viable entity, it required Slovak participation in all aspects and at all levels of society , not just where vacancies existed in a larger Czechoslovak society. One of the reasons for the above-mentioned lack of a Slovak technical university was the assumption that sufficient numbers of persons (mostly Czechs and Germans) were being educated in Bohemia and Moravia. Such an institution in Slovakia was said to be superfluous. If the concept of national self-awareness is not considered , then such an approach is plausible. On the other hand, when a nation has a feeling of running its affairs in the state in which it exists , even if that state be multinational, it has much greater reason to support the continued existence of that state. It then has no reason to trade the security it knows for the uncertainty of separation. Most Slovaks were initially very willing to cooperate with the Czechs, as demonstrated in the Martin declaration, recognizing that it was primarily Czech activities which had achieved the separation of Slovakia from Hungary and its attachment to the Czech Lands. But if Czechoslovakism embodies something more than Greater Czechism , it implied the balanced development of both parts and peoples of the country . If not, then the Slovaks were ipso facto a minority . Prior to 1938, the international political setting mitigated against any Slovak separation, since some kind of political attachment to Hungary or Poland would have resulted, yet active recognition of the concept of a Slovak nation by the Czechoslovak government would have strengthened Slovak resistance, alongside the Czechs , to the developing German threat. �44 SLOVAKIA Masaryk did not see in the Slovak case what he had been so willing to see in the Czech: the desire, as a nation, to develop and administer a complete society, particularly when that nation is part of the multinational state. He admitted in 1931 that he did not himself fully understand the Czech-Slovak relationship. I believe ... that the Comenius University helps the young to understand the true political and cultural task of Slovakia in our Republic. In a large degree it is the question of the relationship between Czechs and Slovaks. I have considered this problem myself and I must think still further about it.(89) While it might be argued that Masaryk was merely being respectful to his hosts, it is more likely the uncertainty he expressed was real. The so-called Castle group which gathered around Masaryk may have been nationally tolerant,(90) but it did not actively promote the development of individual nationalities.(91) One cannot, then, say the interwar Czechoslovak Republic did not, through its educational and cultural system, develop an intelligentsia in Slovakia. As has been shown, it made substantial progress. But it may be criticized for not actively supporting the production of an intelligentsia tailored to meet the needs of Slovakia, which by meeting the Slovak desire for self-management, would have strengthened the integrity of the Czechoslovak state. FOOTNOTES As Lucien W . Pye has noted, there is a large gap between the broad assumptions about the importance of education in national development and the limited amount of research on the subject. See Lucien W . Pye , " Foreword," in Education and Political Development , ed . James Coleman, Princeton, N .J ; rrinceton University Press, 1965, p . v. ' (2) Victor S. Mamatey, " The Development of Czechoslovak Democracy ," in A History of the Czechoslovak Republic 1918-1948, ed. by Victor S. Mamatey and Radomir Luza, Princeton, N.J .: Princeton University Press , 1973 , p. 118 . (3) R. W . Seton-Watson , A History of the Czechs and Slovaks , Hamden, Connecticut: Archon Books, 1965, p . 336. (4) Prehled teskoslovenskych dejin: Maketa , m, Prague: Nakladatelstvi Ceskoslovenske Akademie Ved, 1960. (5) Historicky fosopis , Vol. XXI , No . 1 (1973) , p. 155. (6) Oldriska Kodedova, Ceskoslovensky tasopis historicky, Vol. XXI, No. 1 (1973) , p. 114. (1) �SLOVAKIA 45 ' (7) Jozef Matej, "Sucasny stav a perspektivy rozvoja dejin pedagogiky na Slovensku," Jednotna skola, Vol. XXVI, No. 1 (January 1974) , pp . 56-70 . (8) E .g ., Seton-Watson, Czechs and Slovaks, p . 323; Stefan Krcmery , "A Survey of Modern Slovak Literature ," Slavonic and East European Review, Vol. VI (1928), p . 160. (9) Anton Stefanek, Zaklady sociografie Slovenska , Bratislava: Slovenska Akademia Vied , 1944, pp . 137-142. (10) Conversations with Slovak historians, 1973-74. (ll) Anton Stefanek, " Novoslovaci," Sociologicka revue, Vol. VI, No. 3-4 (1935), pp. 272-3 . (12) Ludwig v. Gogolak , Beitrage zur Geschichte des slowakischen Volkes, ill Muenchen : R. Oldenbourg Verlag, 1972, p . 163; Ferdinand Peroutka, Budovani statu, I, Praha : Fr. Borovy, 1936, p . 208 . (13) Jozef Matej, Kapitoly z dejin slovenskeho skolstva apedagogiky (19. a 20. storoc!ie), Bratislava: Univerzita Komenskeho, 1972, 2nd ed., p . 71. (14) Letter to author, February 2, 1973. (15) Josef Borovicka, Ten Years of Czechoslovak Politics, Prague : Orbis , 1929, p . 44 . (16) Peroutka , Budo vani statu, I, p . 207. (17) Stefanek, Zaklady , p . 114. (18) Jaroslav Kopac, Dejiny skolstvi a pedagogiky v Ceskoslovensku, I, Brno: Universita J. E. Purkyne, 1971 , p. 48 footnote . There were some exceptions to the rule, however, such as the fact that high school graduation was not a requirement for the highly influential position of notary. (19) Gustav Husak, "Zprava predsedu socialnej komisie SSS," Vyroc!na zprava 1935-36: 15 rokov Sviizu Slovenskeho Studentstva v Bratislave , p . 13. (20) Czechoslovakia-Statistical Abstract , Prague : Orbis, 1963 , p. 18 . (21) Mirko Trnovsky, ed ., Sbornik prac profesorov evanj. kolej. slovenskeho gymnazia v Presove k vyroc!iu 1919-1939 Presov : Slovenska statna knihtlaciaren , 1940, p . 55 . (22) Vratislav Busek , " Pravnicke studium ve svetle statistiky, " Pravny obzor, Vol. XX, No . 15-16 (1-15 October 1937), p . 688 . (23) Ibid., pp . 682-8 . (24) Matej , Kapitoly, 1st ed., p . 83, notes that the contents of a 1933 curriculum reform were directed toward two goals, theoretical preparation of the graduates for the university , and partly for the practical needs of life. (25) Skolstvo na Slovensku, Bratislava: Slovensky planovaci urad, 1949, p . 46. (26) Sociol6gia, Vol. IV, No . 3 (1972), pp . 193-204, as cited in ABSEES Soviet and East European Abstracts Series, ill, No. 2 (26) (Oct. 1972), p . 167. (27) Stefanek, Zaklady , p . 296 . (28) Jan M. Novacky, ed ., Desat' rokov slo venskych strednych sk6l, Bratislava: Slovenska knihtlaciaren, 1929, pp . 68-71. Novacky's calculations omit the teacher training institutes operated by churches. The total for 1933-4 is actually 1542 , but the difference of 200 from the estimate can be wholly attributed to the doubled enrollment in the teacher training institutes in the early thirties - Zpravy Statniho uradu statistickeho republiky Ceskoslove nske, 1935, No. 3-7. �46 SLOVAKIA (29) Skolstvo, p . 47. (30) See the school's Vyrofod zprciva 1937-38, pp . 54-57. (31) See the school's Vyrofod zprdva 1937-38, pp. 13-15. (32) Priloha " Stredne skoly," Zprcivy §kolskeho referdtu v Bratislave ministerstva ~kolstva a ndrodnej osvety, 1922. (33) Paul R. Magocsi, " The Role of Education in the Formation of a National Consciousness ," East European Quarterly, Vo. Vll, No. 2 (Summer 1973) , p . 162 . (34) Paul E. Zinner, Communist Strategy and Tactics in Czechoslovakia, 1918-48, New York : Frederick A. Praeger, 1963 , p . 12; Stefimek, Zdklady , p . 386. (35) Matej, " Sucasny stav," pp. 56-70. (36) Josef Henrich and Mikulas Smok, Eenseignement clans la Republique Tchecoslovaque , Prague : Ostredni spolek ceskoslovenskych profesoru, 1923, p . 94. (37) Ibid. , p . 95. (38) Ibid., p . 91. (39) Matej , Kapitoly, 2nd ed ., p . 83. (40) Richard Homa, Patndct let Komenskeho university v Bratislaue, Bratislava, 1934, p . 9. {41) Michal Fedor, Poslanie a program Matice slovenskej na vychodnom Slovensku, Martin : Matica slovenska, 1966, p . 91. (42) Krcmery, "A Survey," p . 161. {43) Michal Potemra, ed ., Bibliografia slovenskych novin a c!asopisov do roku 1918, Martin : Matica· slovenska, 1958. (44) Seton-Watson, Czechs and Slovaks, p . 282 . (45) Related to author by Czech historian . Efforts to locate published citation to date fruitless . (46) Maria Kipsova et al., Bibliografia slovenskych a inorec!ouych nouin a c!asopisou z rokou 1919-1938, Martin : Matica slovenska, 1968. (47) Jozef Darmo , Slouenskci iurnalistika 1918-1938, II, Martin: Matica slovenska, 1966. (48) Soznam c!asopisou na Slouensku 1927, Bratislava: Tlacovy referat pre spravu Slovensku, 1927. (49) Darmo , Slouenskci iurnalistika, p . 159. (50) E .g ., Darmo . (51) Stefimek, Zdklady , p . 324. (52) Ibid ., pp . 318-324. (53) Bibliografia slouenskych knih 1919-1938, Vol. 1-XVIl, Martin : Matica slovenska, 1965 . (54) Stefimek, Z ciklady, p . 318. (55) Stefan Krcmery, " Slovak Literature," in Seton-~atson , Slovakia Then & Now , p . 141 . \ (56) Stefanek, Zciklady , pp . 313-314. (57) Manuel Statistique de la R epublique Tchechoslo uaque, ill, Prague : Statni urad statisticky, 1928, pp. 17-19. A law of February 1919 set up in each community �SLOVAKIA 47 educational committees to con\ truct libraries and run lectures and courses . In Slovakia, this matter was generally handled by the local branch of Matica slovenska. (58) Annuaire statistique de la Republique Tchecoslovaque , 1934, Prague: L'Office de Statistique de la Republique Tchecoslovaque, 1934, Table XIV-17 . (59) Stefanek, Zdklady , p. 303 . (60) Peter Vajcik , " Zvesti z Literarno-vedeckeho odboru SSV ," Kultura, Vol. VII , No. 1 (1935) , p . 38 . (61) Ivan Kusy, " Obnovenie Matice slovenskej a jej uloha za predmnichovskej CSR, " in Matica slovenskd v na§ich dejindch: Sbornik stati, Bratislava: Vydavatel'stvo Slovenskej Akademie Vied, 1963 , pp. 224-232 . (62) Frantisek Bokes, Snahy o organizovanie slovenskej vedy od konca 18. storoi!ia do vzniku SAV, Bratislava: Vydavatel'stvo Slovenskej Akademie Vied, 1967, p. 65. (63) Miroslav Kropilak, "Zakladne kulturnopoliticke problemy Slovenska v rokoch 191838 ," in Matica slovenskd v na§ich dejindch, p. 205 . (64) In particular note the Spolok profesorov Slovakov, which after its founding in 1921 worked particularly for better placement of Slovak teachers in Slovak high schools. Viz its Sbornik Spolku profesorov Slovdkov . (65) Hendrich and Smok, Eenseignement , p . 73. (66) Karel Veleminsky, "Czecho-Slovak Secondary Schools ," in The Czecho-Slovak Republic , Prague: Czecho-Slovak Foreigners' Office, 1919, Vol. IV, Part 3 , p . 13 . In 1919, the Ministry of Education carried out a census in Slovakia for the purpose of determining how many schools would be needed. Peroutka, Budo vdni stdtu , I, p. 210. (67) Stefanek, " Education in Pre-War Hungary ," p . 121. (68) Gogolak , Beitrage , ill, p . 160. (69) Annuaire statistique , 1935, Table 11-17 and 1937, Table 11-4. (70) Milos Trap! , " Ke skolske legislative obecnych a obcanskych (mest'anskych) skol a jejimu uplatnovani v ceskych zemich 1918-1922," in Z dejin i!eskeho §kolstv i, ed by Ervin Koukal , Prague : Statni pedagogicke nakladatelstvi, 1970, p . 44 footnote 82. (71) Stefanek, "Education in Pre-War Hungary," p . 121. (72) Victor S. Mamatey , ''The Establishment of the Republic,'' in Mamatey and Luz.a, A History, p . 30 . (73) Gogolak , B eitrage , ill, p . 165. (74) Hendrich and Smok , Eenseignement , p . 34. (75) See Msano 52143-1920 Odbor V Oddeleni 19 of 15 August 1920, Carton 1297-State Central Archive (SOA) - Prague. The " intemats" also separated the students from parental influence which " is not always characterized by friendly feelings toward our state ." - Instruktorat Ministerstva socialnej starostlivosti (IMSS) Carton 5 item 276 in Slovak State Central Archive (SSOA) - Bratislava. This particular item is a letter from the acting headmaster of the Banska Stiavnica real gymnasium to the Ministerstvo socialni pece c. 798-1920 of 15 July 1920. (76) Skolstvo , pp . 23 , 11 1, and 150. (77) The fir st law passed in the new Czechoslovak Republic decreed that all laws in force in Austria-Hungary would be carried over to the new state . This explains how Hungarian law would be considered in Slovakia . �48 SLOVAKIA (78) E.g., note willingness of Fimini (Ministry of Finance) and Nejvyssi ucetni kontrolni urad (NUKU) to postpone indefinitely closing of school in exchange for opening of realka in Bardejov, or to substitute a closing of a school in Bohemia or Moravia-Msano 104.048-1938 Odbor ill Oddeleni 2 of 1 July 1938-Carton 1297-SUA. (79) Msano , 2637-1934 Pres . Odd . Studijni, 20 April 1934 , SUA , Carton 1445. (80) Okresny archiv, Prievidza , Prievidza gymnasium collection, 605-1934 and 214-1936 (Carton 3) . (81) Frederick G. Heymann, Poland & Czechoslovakia, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1966. (82) This contradicts Zinner's assertions in Communist Strategy, p. 12 . (83) Ivan Derer, Ceskoslovenskci otcizka, Prague: Orbis , 1935, p. 38. (84) Ibid . (85) R. W. Seton-Watson, "Introduction . Czechoslovakia and the Slovak Problem ," in Slovakia Then and Now, p . 62. (86) James S. Coleman, " Introduction : Education and Political Development " in Education and Political Development discusses the tension that develops with lack of political mobility for the second generation. Thomson 's assertion that the Czechoslovak government adhered to a policy of returning Czech officeholders to the historic lands as soon as possible does not hold up . S. Harrison Thomson , Czechoslovakia in European History , Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1953, p . 334. (87) See page 184. (88) See Matej, Kapitoly, 2nd ed., p . 86. (89) Zprciva o tinnosti Spolku pre postavenie a vydriovanie Universitnej koleje a akademickej menzi, 1930, p . 6. (Speech at Bratislava.) (90) Kopac, Dejiny ~kolstvi, I, p . 11. (91) It has been suggested that the Czechs erred in Slovakia after 1918 by trying to transform before forming a nation . See Jan Hajda, " The Role of the Intelligentsia in the Developme nt of the Czechoslovak Society,'' in The Czechoslovak Contribution to World Culture ed. by Miroslav Rechcigl , The Hague: Mouton , 1964, pp . 307-312. � SLOVAKIA 25 The Slovak Intelligentsia 1918-1938 OWEN V. JOHNSON \ The 25th issue of Slovensky dennik, published December 7, 1918, carried a message from the Slovak Society of Studying Youth. It began bluntly, '' A nation is strong only if it has a strong intelligentsia.'' Issue No. 1, published November 9, 1918, called on the Slovak intelligentsia to come forward. Since the new Czechoslovak state will need a great many Slovak people for offices and schools, we challenge each Slovak intelligent to immediately apply in writing or personally to the Legal Committee of the Slovak National Council listing complete name and address. Slovensky dennik might well have devoted its limited space to other matters, for the Slovakia of 1918 was ahnost without an intelligentsia, a body without a head. How and to what extent was this void filled in the following twenty years? In essence, this essay is a preliminary examination of that question. A combination of historical and ideological circumstances has combined to divert attention almost completely from a serious study of the development of education and the concomitant development of the intelligentsia (using here the Marxist definition of the intelligentsia as being "educated specialists") in interwar Slovakia, and in fact for the whole of Czechoslovakia.(!) Victor Mamatey describes Slovak politicians as showing considerable energy in promoting the cultural and educational development of the Slovak people,(2) but furnishes no evidence. R. W. Seton-Watson describes the "remarkable transformation" wrought in the field of education in Slovakia, but provides only broad quantitative evidence, referring especially to the elementary schools. (3) Reprinted by permission from Russian and Slavic History (Papers from the Banff ' 74 Conference) edited by D. K. Rowney and G. E. Orchard, Slavica Publishers, Inc., P.O. Box 14388, Columbus, Ohio 43214. �26 SLOVAKIA While Czech and Slovak historians generally evaluate this phenomenon favorably, only now is any extensive research developing in the field. The published draft survey, Prehled teskoslovenskych dejin(4) does not once mention education. One report on a meeting of the Polish-Czechoslovak Historical Commission in Warsaw in September 1972 pointed out, "There emerged in the rich discussion many questions which even in our historiography have not been resolved through analytical work (such as) (the growth of national intelligentsia, the question of education ... ).(5) Oldriska Kodedova, reviewing Kuzmin's Shkola i obrazovanie v Chekoslovakii, comments(6) that insufficient attention has been paid to the social and nationality problem of education between the two wars. She points out that there is not a single basic work on the subject. Professor Jozef Matej, chairman of the pedagogical department of the Faculty of Philosophy at Comenius University in Bratislava, surveys the considerable progress made in research over the last five years, and declares that the editorial board of Jednotna skola supports the publication of articles about the history of education and pedagogy in the "bourgeois" Republic.(7) Admittedly this problem is not one that lends itself easily to a time frame as short as twenty years. Even the very few high school graduates from 1919 would have been less than forty years old in 1938, an age which in the traditional European context was still quite young. The names which showed up as outstanding among high school students· in the twenties and thirties became the leaders only in the turbulent forties and fifties. Perforce, then, this paper must confine itself to observations on some aspects of the development of the intelligentsia. A thorough study would require a complete monograph. What I will seek to do is discuss briefly the circumstances that brought about the poverty of the intelligentsia before 1918, identify institutions which contributed to the development of this educated group of Slovaks in the interwar period; describe summarily the educational system in use and provide a statistical overview of the schools and the students who studied in them; briefly describe other signs of cultural development; and suggest some accomplishments, shortcomings, and problems on the period. Linguistic and anthropological experts have long debated the question as to whether the term Czechoslovlik can be used to describe one language and one nation, or whether the individual Czech and Slovak terms should be used. This paper proceeds on the basis of the latter, as a means to better understanding the problem at hand. If the idea of a Slovak nation was to have a solid basis, whether in a �SLOVAKIA 27 \ Czechoslovak state or by it'self, it was necessary that an intelligentsia develop from the Slovak people . The course of events prior to the creation of Czechoslovakia at the end of World War I found the Slovak people practically without a nationally conscious Slovak intelligentsia. Policies pursued by the Hungarian government following the 1867 Ausgleich had made it practically impossible for any Slovak youth who aspired to advanced education and a high position in life, to succeeed without giving up his Slovak identity. There were no Slovak schools beyond the primary level. It is generally accepted(8) that there were only between five hundred and a thousand educated and nationally conscious Slovaks in the year 1918. This estimate can be challenged on the basis that it represented the number of Slovaks and members of their families on whom the Hungarian authorities kept watch because of Slovak or panSlavic tendencies.(9) There may well have been several thousand nationally neutral intelligentsia who found it quite simple to fit into a Czechoslovak environment following the founding of the Republic. Several Slovak historians are seeking at this time a more accurate estimate.(10) Certainly the predominantly agricultural configuration of the Slovak society did not promote Slovak intellectual development. The cities , with few exceptions , were Hungarian, German, or Jewish dominated. Thus we are left with a Slovak intelligentsia made up primarily of clergymen, doctors , and lawyers, and their families .(11) One could not in any case expect that there would be a sufficient number of Slovaks who would have the requisite administrative experience to run a modem state and nation. To overcome this shortcoming it was necessary to bring in Czechs.(12) An example can be made of the advanced educational establishments. There were about twenty qualified and nationally conscious Slovaks who could teach in the gymnasia, enough persons to supply about two schools . Perhaps three hundred nationally conscious Slovaks were qualified to teach in the elementary schools.(13) Dr. Karel Koch , later Surgeon-General for Slovakia, lists only three Slovak-oriented surgeons remaining in Slovakia in 1918.(14) Borovicka even says that after the attainment of independence in 1918 there was not a single Slovak government official whatever with a Slovak national consciousness .(15) The bleakness of the situation was described poignantly by Dr. Vavro Srobar, a future Agrarian Party Minister of Education. "There were so few of us that we almost all knew each other personally , we knew even addresses , as well as personal and family relationships. " (16) �28 SLOVAKIA Accustomed to the Hungarian tradition, the Slovak peasant looked upon the intelligentsia as those people who, on the basis of a definite higher schooling got an official position or who otherwise stood out on the basis of their knowledge, property and influence in public, and earned admission to intelligent society. High school and university education and a proper knowledge of Hungarian or German, gentlemanly behavior, official position in the church, county, school, etc. gave legitimation to the title of intelligent. (17) The intelligentsia were the people who worked with their heads, not their hands. On this basis, one may consider a study of schools which awarded the maturitne vysvedcenie (matriculation certificate) or its equivalent and of the students in these schools as a study of the intelligentsia. The certificate was given for the successful completion of the school leaving examination at the end of high school (similar to the French baccalaureat). Of five categories of state employees, three required at least a high school education. A fourth required lower high school or middle school joined with special courses. While the fifth included those demanding only general elementary education, elementary and middle school teachers were included in this category.(18) At this point, attention must be directed to the structure of the whole school system. School attendance in Slovakia was mandatory for six years until 1922; after that, eight years was required, although the increase could not be enforced until the late twenties for lack of the needed personnel and facilities. All students spent the first five years in elementary (l'udove) schools. The other three years could be taken in middle schools, or in the beginning grades of the various secondary schools. In some of the more rural areas, only the elementary school existed, and here students who had no intention of continuing higher studies were allowed to attend if no alternative school was available. There were about 4000 elementary schools. The majority of the schools awarding the matriculation certificate came under the general heading gymnasia. Children who had completed elementary school and were at last ten years old, could apply for admission to the gymnasia. These were of fm\f types: 1. The classical gymnasium, of which there· were very few, was an eight-year school. Successful completion of the course allowed the student to enter the university directly. Until reforms �SLOVAKIA 29 \ instituted in early 1930s, students in these schools studied Latin from the first year and Greek from the fifth. 2. The real gymnasium was by far the most popular because its graduates could directly enter both universities and technical universities. In these schools, French or English was taken instead of Greek beginning in the fifth year. 3. The real reformed gymnasium, which was more popular in the early years of the Republic, later lost attractiveness, and many of these schools were converted to real gymnasia. They followed the same curriculum as the real gymnasia except that a third language (English, Italian, or a Slavic one) replaced Latin in the seventh year. The reason for their later unpopularity was the necessity of taking an additional examination in Latin in order to gain entrance into the university. 4. The re<ilka was a seven-year school and its graduates had entrance directly only into the technical universities. No classical language was required, and French or English was begun in the second year. Other schools which awarded the matriculation certificate were only four years in length. The most wide-spread in Slovakia was the teacher-training institute , conducting a four year course of instruction which qualified its graduates to teach in the elementary, and after a time, the middle schools. Students were admitted in their ninth year of schooling in most cases , provided they had reached the minimum age of fifteen . During the depression this type of institution reached its peak of popularity with several times more applicants being turned down than were admitted. This is explained by its providing its graduates nearly guaranteed employment without their having to consider how to obtain funds to study at the university . Compared to the gymnasia and the teacher training institutes, the four other types of schools which gave degrees equivalent to the matriculation certificate were limited in number. The priemyseln<i skola , or industrial school, was four years in length, and its graduates could be admitted directly to the technical universities. These schools operated under a severe handicap in Slovakia during the first republic, for it was not until the fall of 1938 that the first Slovak technical university was opened. In anticipation of this event, enrolhnent in the technical high schools swelled considerably after the mid-thirties. The commercial academy (obchodn<i akademia) graduate also completed a four-year program which allowed him to enter either the technical university or the law faculty. Graduates of the four year �30 SLOVAKIA agricultural high school in Kosice or the four year forestry high school in Banska Stiavnica could enter the technical universities in their respective fields. The agriculture high school was designed primarily, however, for the education of independent farmers, and the forestry high school for the preparation of forest administrators. While much attention has been directed thus far to the rights to higher education achieved by these secondary school graduates, the percentage of those completing higher education was not overwhelming. Gustav Husak, in admittedly rough calculations, adjudged between 2000 and 2500 Slovaks engaged in university studies in the 1933-34 school year.(19) That compares with the 19,047 students in Slovakia attending the gymnasia and teacher training institutes that year. The 1930 census counted 2,295,067 Slovaks in Czechoslovakia. (20) During the twelve-year period 1926-7-1937-8, slightly more than seven percent of the total number of students at the Evangelical Gymnasium in Presov took the maturita examination.(21) If this figure is applied as a rough ratio for all of Slovakia, it would mean that in the above mentioned year of 1933-34, approximately 1330 students in Slovakia took the maturita. In the same year, approximately one fifth of the law students at Comenius University were first year students (2861162).(22) Applying this percentage to Husak's estimated total of 20002500 Slovaks attending institutions of higher learning, we arrive at the figure of about 600 first year Slovak students in all university faculties. This means that less than one half of those holding the matriculation certificate went on to the university. And of these, some forty percent did not complete the first set of state examinations normally given after two years study.(23) According to these calculations, less than one third of those holding the matriculation certificate from the gymnasium completed a university degree.(24) (The original estimate of 1330 maturants includes the graduates of the teacher training institutes who rarely continued to the university.) Support for using the criteria of a secondary school education to define the intelligent is offered by the percentage of such students in the whole educational spectrum. In the school year 1921-22, students of gymnasia and teacher training institutes 'made up 2. 7 percent of the total number of students in Slovakia.(25) For reasons that are both complex and unclear, statistical offices of the Czechoslovak Republic did not publish complete data on the number of those gaining the matriculation certificate each year. In Slovakia, a circular with some such information was prepared by the Bratislava (Slovak) Referent for Education each year until the late �SLOVAKIA 31 1920s. The only other manner in which this number can be determined is by a methodical examination of the annual high school yearbooks sponsored by each school. Let it be taken as an assumption, based on a general familiarity with . the figures, that an average of about one thousand Czechoslovak s~udents in Slovakia each year passed the maturita exam, or about 20,000 during the life of the Republic. The figure is of course lower in the early years, and much higher in the period just before Munich. The general accuracy of this estimate can be judged by the estimate of Robert Rosko(26) that 68,000 employees in Slovakia in 1953 had higher and specialized secondary education. Stefanek's estimate of 50,000 students having completed high school studies by 1944(27) is likely too high. Only one writer, Jan Novacky, probably with statistics furnished by the Ministry of Education, has calculated the number of persons receiving the matriculation certificate over a period of time (Table 1). These data suggest the projection of 1330 recipients of the maturita for the year 1933-34 is reasonably accurate as does our estimated average of one thousand matriculation certificates per year for the 1918-19-1937-38 period. The number of graduates of the teacher training institutes remained fairly constant at about 300 per year.(28) The number of girl students in grade VIII (and thus eligible for the maturita examination) as a percentage of the total number of girl students enrolled in the gymnasia in 1927-28 was just under five percent, thus fifty percent less than the average for all those enrolled. (29) TABLE 1 NUMBER OF MATRICULATION CERTIFICATES (HIGH SCHOOL DIPLOMAS) AWARDED 1918-19 - 1928-29: SELECTED YEARS AND TOTAL Total 1918-19 Type of Institution 1918-19 1923-24 1928-29 1928-29 3075 Real gymnasium 84 250 532 Teacher training institute 122 262 247 3014 Real reformed gymnasium 5 70 189 1000 23 44 82 623 Realka 64 Classical gymnasium 0 0 36 Total Source: 234 626 1086 7776 Jan M. Novacky, ed., Desat' rokov slovenskych strednych skol, Bratislava: Slovenska knihtlaciaren, 1929, pp. 68-71. �32 SLOVAKIA The figures we have been discussing up to this point refer to the Czechoslovak high schools in Slovakia. They include a smattering of Hungarians, Jews, Germans, and other nationalities , as well as Czechs and Slovaks. The number of Czechs in some schools was substantial. For example, during the 1937-38 school year, the First Czechoslovak real gymnasium in Bratislava had 896 students, of which less than half (431) were Slovak. Three hundred eighty-six were Czech, 43 German , 24 Hungarian , and the rest other nationalities.(30) In Banska Bystrica, 394 out of 470 students in that year were Slovak , 66 Czech and the other ten divided among four nationalities.(31) Again, a complete survey must await further computation. What can be said with safety is that a significant proportion - ten to twenty-five percent - of the students were not Slovaks. The only known official publication which differentiates between Czechs and Slovaks in the high schools in Slovakia was published for the 1922-23 school year in Slovakia by the Skalsk y Referat. Of the 11,267 students, 1286 are Czech, 8501 Slovak, and the rest belong to other nationalities. At the same time there were six Czechs and 116 Slovaks in non-Czechoslovak institutions . This confirms our estimate of ten to twenty-five percent non-Slovaks.(32) The State Statistical Office of the Czechoslovak Republic did not, in its school statistics, differentiate between Czechs and Slovaks , using instead the inclusive term Czechoslovak. However, between half and two thirds of the individual schools did make a distinction in their published yearly reports, and some of them also expressed the distinction on the statistical forms mailed to the Ministry of Education. It is this lack of readily available data which has hindered until now any significant studies of this question. Because some schools only used the term Czechoslovak means we shall never have a completely accurate picture of the nationality situation. This attitude of Czechoslovakism in the statistics occurred for a variety of reasons : political conviction, political fear, lack of interest , or desire to maintain the status quo. It was the principal (riaditel') who decided which policy would be followed.(33) Because of these varying motivations, one cannot with reliability apportion the students in the unoi(ferentiated schools to the specific nationalities. Further, even when a aifferent,.iation is made in the general and classroom statistics between ' nationalities, we do not have available this information for individual students, so as to be able to determine whether such and such an individual student, be he Czech or Slovak, passed the maturita exam. We must content ourselves with comparing the percentage of each nationality in the final year of school and applying these percentages to the number of persons taking the �33 SLOVAKIA maturita exams. Even in the less common instances when the maturita recording books are availa\:ile in the archives , they frequently do not specify the nationality, but fist only the place of birth. While this is of some assistance in obtaining a reasonably accurate picture , the very existence of 120,000 Czechs in Slovakia(34) will distort it, as well as the non-Czechoslovak abode of many of these persons prior to 1918. In the above Banska Bystrica case, although there were 66 Czechs , only 34 of the students were born in Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia. There will also be some distortion , when we cannot specifically distinguish Czech from Slovak, in identifying the social, religious, and other characteristics of the students according to nationality. Here again, it seems that we must proceed on the basis of what we have , hoping that studies of the individual schools described by Matej(35) will tum up better information. Let us use 1927-28 as a sample year. The decline in the number of enrollees which developed later because of the wartime decline in the birth rate and not yet made itself felt. With the exception of a number of schools which would open in the last four years of the Republic, almost all schools were operating as full institutions. Some had been converted from Hungarian to Slovak over a period of seven or eight years . TABLE 2 CZECHOSLOVAK SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN SLOVAKIA , 1927-28 Type of School Real gymnasium Real reformed gymnasium Realka Teacher training institute Commercial academy Industrial high school Classical gymnasium Agricultural high school Forestry high school Total Number Students Graduates Studentsgraduate 24 8217 426 19 10 3 2939 997 165 98 18 13 6 3 2 1 1 63 970 617 470 406 98 Unavailable 14,714 327 62 100 16 14 14 1222 10 3 10 5 25 7 12 �34 SLOVAKIA Sources: Novacky, Desat' rokov , pp. 63-67; Styridsat' rokov Lesnickej technickej skoly v Banskej Stiavnici 1918-1959, Bratislava: Poverenictvo Podohospodarstva, 1959, pp. 62-67; Anton Stefanek, Education in Pre-War Hungary and in Slovakia To-Day," in Slovakia Then and Now: A Political Survey ed. by Robert W. Seton-Watson, London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd., 1931, p. 130; Individual vyrocne zpravy of the agricultural high school, commercial high schools , and industrial high schools. The most productive gymnasium of any kind in the first eleven years was the real gymnasium at Bratislava with 363 degrees awarded followed by the realka at Zilina with 340. Other gymnasia producing more than 200 matriculation certificate holders in the first eleven years were the real gymnasia at Kosice, Nitra, Ruzomberok, Trencin, Trnava, and Banska Bystrica. The teacher training institute at Modra produced by far the largest number of graduates in the first eleven years with 419, primarily because of the 142 which it graduated in the first three years, a figure twice the number of any other school during that period, excepting Tmava, which also had the second highest eleven year total with 323. Seven other institutions had more than 200 graduates each. Over the twenty year period, there were 51 gymnasia of different types, 17 teacher training institutes, 5 industrial high schools, 7 commercial high schools, and one each of the agricultural and forestry high schools. A significant number of this total (16-82) began operation in the last four years, a jump of about 25 percent from the number in existence at the end of the 1933-34 school year. The reasons for this sudden increase will be discussed below. The total does not include a private unlicensed secondary school operated in Bratislava in the 193738 school year which used French as the language of instruction and was seeking state accreditation. The proportion of secondary school students in the population was lower in all Slovak counties (between 3 and 8 per 1000) than in Prague (12-13 per 1000) .(36) By some strange quirk, however, the county of Mikulas had the highest number of secondary schools in relation to the population (9-10-200,000) anywhere in Czechoslovakia. This included 14 schools for 319,509 people.(37) In Slovakia in 1922-23 there was one Czechoslovak student for each 179 Czecho~lovak inhabitants. For the whole country (excepting Ruthenia) the ratio was I-116.(38) There were other schools which one might consider as producers of intelligentsia. The so-called pedagogical academy which began to operate in Bratislava in the 1930-31 school year at the suggestion of the �SLOVAKIA 35 Slovak Pedagogical Society was the first step toward placing teacher training on the university level. It was a one-year program which gave gymnasium graduates the right to teach in elementary schools. In seven years it produced 706 graduates.(39) Graduates of the teacher training institutes did no~ have the possibility nor the need to attend. Comenius University \11 Bratislava had three faculties - law, medicine, and philosophy- ano began accepting gymnasium graduates in the fall of 1921.(40) Slovaks could attend other universities in the country as well. The Slovak Technical University opened only in the fall of 1938. There were two theological faculties. The Lutheran faculty, which operated throughout the twenty years, received university rank in 1934. The Catholic faculty, authorized in 1919, began operations in 1936 although in the interim there were a half dozen small seminaries scattered around Slovakia. The music and drama academy of Bratislava received university status in 1926. The higher agricultural co-operative school opened in Bratislava in 1936 to help provide administrative officials for the co-operative movement. Previously these officials had come from among the graduates of the commercial academies and commercial schools (usually 2-year programs not leading to a matriculation certificate). Students were chosen from among those who already held the matriculation certificate, with preference to persons who had been graduated from the commercial or agricultural high schools and to those with co-operative experience. Those who had a partial high school education or had finished middle school and one of the agricultural or commercial schools, and had two years of experience in the co-operative movement as well, could qualify if they successfully passed an entrance exam. There were only 22 students in each year of operation. There were also a number of theological academies with the equivalency rank of universities. Entrants were required to hold the matriculation certificate. The six Catholic institutes (seminaries) mentioned above closed with the opening of the Bratislava theological faculty in 1936. Even so , Slovakia still possessed more than half of the theological institutes in the country. There were also a half dozen city music schools , sometimes supported by the public, but these were rather for private music instruction and did not fit into the regular scheme of formal education . Reference has been made to vocational courses in the fields of agricultural, industrial and commercial education. There was in these courses no attempt to advance beyond the teaching of specific skills. The courses varied from several weeks to two years. �36 SLOVAKIA Matica slovenska, the Slovak cultural and national organization, sponsored in many cities the so-called enlightenment courses. These consisted on one or a series of lectures, and would more properly fall under the heading of popular or civic education. The local organizations of Matica slovenska were supposed to be distributing knowledge, rather than fostering it.(41) Courses held by the Army for illiterate soldiers should be considered also in the realm of popular education. What other evidence do we have of cultural advancement during the period under discussion? One is the publication of books, magazines and newspapers. Before the outbreak of World War I there was some of this activity , although exactly how much is uncertain. Stefan Krcmery , long active in Matica slovenska, said that a total of 41 periodicals in 1909 had declined to ten by 1918.(42) A more recent survey conducted by Matica slovenska shows the total growing from 32 in 1900 to 47 in 1910 to 61 in 1914 before dropping to 30 in 1918.(43) The most important were N arodnie noviny , published three times a week at Martin, and Slouenske pohl'ady, a monthly literary journal.(44) Jozef Votruba, a Slovak patriot , was said to have remarked(45) that the Slovak intelligentsia was made up of those who read Narodnie nouiny. Similar problems arise in trying to measure the number of journals published after the revolution. Maria Kipsova, in a definitive bibliography published in 1968, (46) lists 980 journals definitely located and 80 journals not found which were published in Slovak during the 20-year period. Jozef Darmo 's incomplete study(47) of Slovak journalism, published two years earlier, says there was a total of 1565 magazines and newspapers published, of which 442 were Hungarian and an undefined number in other languages. A survey compiled by the press referent for Slovakia in 1927(48) listed 162 purely Slovak publications for that year . Approximately one-third of these were political , another third organizational . Eight of the publications were dailies, all but one of them published ip Bratislava. A further 49 publications were multi-lingual with Slova~ as one of the languages . Nearly half of the all-Slovak publications · (77) Had a frequency of monthly or less. The Kipsova bibliography shows that the great majority of these publications did not long survive . Included among the reasons were the lack of printers and the inability to extend circulation beyond the cities into the countryside . Quite simply, the rural population was not yet accustomed to reading.(49) While some efforts have been made at estimating the extent of circulation of the various publications ,(50) there is no source extensive enough to provide any adequate analysis. The expansion of the number of daily papers from two (one of which was Hungarian-oriented)(51) before the war , to eight �SLOVAKIA 37 under the Czechoslovak ~epublic indicates definite progress. Even with insufficient evidence, 'one can presume a circulation expansion as well. While there is considerable disagreement, too, over the exact number of Slovak books published between the wars,(52) it averaged 600-800 per year, of which about three quarters were published in Slovakia itself. A provisional B ibliografia slovenskych knih 19191938(53) published in 1965, listed 13,320 items definitely identified, and 6530 uncertain. If the nearly 19,000 were in fact all published, it would establish an average of approximately one thousand per year, somewhat higher than the estimate by Stefanek (13,425).(54) Most likely, not all of the desiderata will be included in a definitive bibliography, soon to be published by Matica slovenska, since, for instance, some of the jubilee high school yearbooks, which are in fact not books, are included, plus some listings which are only Slovakicized titles of Czech books. The most difficult problem is unfortunately unsolvable, that is, how many copies of each of these books were published. Only a few organizations, such as Matica slovenska, kept publication totals . One estimate suggested that pre-war printings rarely exceeded 600-800 copies; by 1928 the average was 250010,000.(55) Stefanek provides some interesting comparisons of the occupations of writers before and after the revolution. (56) They show that before the revolution 112 out of 178 writers were priests (two-thirds Lutheran, one-third Catholic). After 1918 (approximately 1935) only 14111 are priests. The bulk (47) are academicians. Another measurement of general progress can be noted in the area of libraries. In 1927 there were 3283 research libraries for teachers with 258 ,200 books; 216 school libraries containing 1,185,464 books including 150,000 at Comenius University; and 2592 communal libraries with 202 , 781 books . (5 7) By 1932 the number of libraries in the first two categories had increased only by seven, but the number of volumes was up half a million.(58) Since there were only private church libraries and those of priests and patriots prior to 1918, there is a definite note of progress here. One of the most difficult problems in handling a subject of this type is to maintain a differentiation between the terms intelligentsia and national enlightenment. While we have noted the tremendous development of communal libraries, libraries which average less than one hundred books apiece will not contribute much to the development of the intelligentsia, although they may significantly raise the national consciousness of the broad mass of the population. The same problem �38 SLOVAKIA must be faced when we examine the national and religious cultural societies . Either we must redefine what we call a member of the intelligentsia or we must recognize the fact that these organizations had different purposes. The Society of St. Adalbert is a case in point. A Catholic society with 100,000 members, it dealt mainly with popular education and Catholic science and literature.(59) Yet Peter Vajcik(60) described one of the society's three aims as being to help the Slovak Catholic intelligentsia, a much smaller group . The Lutheran Church had a similar society of Tranoscius. Matica slovenska anguished over the direction of its goals . Until 1932 it tended to reflect more accurately the number of intelligentsia than did the two specifically religious societies, but it also included a number of Czechs and people of other nationalities involved in the work of popular education. In some respects it sought to fulfill the role of a scientific academy, but lacked the personnel and monetary support, and could not tear itself away from its popular education role . Interestingly , when its membership roles swelled after the capture of the leadership in 1932 by those who favored a greater amount of Slovak autonomy, its organized scientific research increased substantially. The membership increased from 11,063 in 1930 to 30,147 in 1936.(61) The Safarik Scientific Society was organized in 1926 mainly by the members of the faculty of Comenius University. It was begun with the intent of increasing the amount of knowledge about Slovakia and Ruthenia. Strongly supported by persons with a Czechoslovak orientation, it frequently found itself at loggerheads with the people in Matica slovenska.(62) In 1934 it had a total of 168 members of whom only 40 were Slovak. It was divided into two sections, one for the social sciences and one for the natural sciences. In the latter, there were only 16 Slovaks among 101 members, which can in part be explained by the lack of a faculty of natural sciences at Comenius University . During its twelve year existence it published 45 volumes of research results.(63) A number of other societies or organizations which could be called cultural or intellectual also functioned but they will not be dealt with here . These include the Slovak Museum Society, the Slovak Cultural (Vlastivedne) Museum, the East Slovak Museum, the Slovak Pedagogical Society, the Union of Slovak Students, DAV , and the several unions of teachers.(64) · Having sketched the general outline of the development of the intelligentsia , it becomes necessary to examine the broader context of the matter as it relates to political development and the whole of life in interwar Czechoslovakia. �SLOVAKIA 39 It was the early actio~s of the Czechoslovak government taken in the field of education that\ ~ere the most far reaching. Before 1918 there were 53 secondary schools in Slovakia, all Hungarian.(65) Following the attainment of independence, three were closed immediately, two others were combined, and in nine towns new secondary schools were organized. Before the New Year, three secondary schools were operating, and a total of thirteen were giving instruction after three months of independence. (66) Anton Stefanek, assigned the task of co-ordinating this project, described his guiding principle as ''the democratic principle of religious and racial equality before the law."(67) Thus, in purely Slovak districts, the schools were deMagyarized. In the southern districts, he "on the whole" left the status quo. This immediate de-Magyarization of the Slovak high schools was exceptionally important. Changes which are readily accepted in a time of revolution are not achieved even gradually in times of peace and quiet. The entire Czech policy followed in the southern parts of Slovakia sought to integrate the area into the Czechoslovak Republic. (68) The new schools which were opened in essentially Hungarian towns such as Nove Zamky or Lucenec, took root rapidly even though a Hungarian school was also frequently authorized. While these cities had been Hungarian for several decades, the countryside was in many cases still Slovak. The extra assistance provided by the central authorities was frequently the deciding factor in reclaiming the cities, and thus the gathering places of the intelligentsia, for the Slovaks . According to the 1930 census, only seven cities in Slovakia had more than 20,000 persons. Of these, all had two or more Czechoslovak secondary schools except Komarno, which did not gain its first Czechoslovak secondary school until 1936. Only two of the fourteen towns with between 10,000 and 20,000 inhabitants, Guta and Handlova, did not have secondary schools . Handlova is only seven miles from Prievidza, which had a school. Guta (now called Kolarovo), is in a strongly Hungarian area about ten miles southwest of Nove Zarnky, which also had a gymnasium .(69) State control was extended over six Catholic high schools in 1919, under fear that the vacant six sees, which were responsible for their supervision , would be filled by Hungarians . The only other two alternatives , according to Stefanek, were to close the schools, or to accept Hungarian control. It was the attempt by the Slovak People 's Party to gain restoration of three of these Catholic gymnasia in 1921 which led to that party's break-away from the Czech People ' s Party. Josef Susta , the Minister of Education in the Cerny government, ap- �40 SLOVAKIA parently made promises to the effect that the schools would be returned to Catholic control, an action which his successor, Vavro Srobar, an Agrarian Slovak, refused to carry out once the Benes government took office . (70) The Protestants in contrast, carried out an internal reorganization in 1919 and were allowed to maintain control over their schools. Within a decade they gave up all but one for financial reasons .(71) It might be mentioned that the Slovak National Council, which spoke for Slovakia in its declaration of union with the Czechs at Martin October 30, 1918, apparently made no effort to institute an educational system, although some of its local branch officials served to help coordinate the setting up of new schools . Mamatey attributes this to inexperience in the exercise of political power.(72) The impliction is that the Slovak elite, carried over from the Hungarian era, did not use realistic methods in developing a modem nation. Thus, they did not conceive of the need to build an expanded intelligentsia. (73) Much of the policy relating to education was determined by administrative , rather than legislative action. Thus, the fact that five out of the twelve interwar Ministers of Education were Slovaks is of considerable significance. Actually these five held the post for a •longer period (by three months) than Czechs, and many significant reforms were accomplished under them. Ivan Derer, a Social Democrat, held the post for the longest period, from 1929 to 1934. Milan Hodza, an, Agrarian, had the third longest term (1926-1929), a period that probably would have lasted longer had he not become embroiled in conflict with Masaryk and Benes over foreign policy matters. Several policy changes were carried out which affected secondary education in Slovakia. One involved converting the realka to the Austrian or Czech pattern, which meant a seven-year, rather than an eight-year, curriculum, and thus lessened in the eyes of many Slovaks the value of its education. The six-year higher girls ' schools were first reestablished as lycees , then converted quickly to real reformed gymnasia because the former institutions had offered little perspective for further education or employment. The use of boarding schools was also generally eliminated in Slovakia. Prior to World War I, boarding schools had helped to foster Magyarization by cutting off the students from the Slovak countryside. By 1923 only sixteen remained , of which eleven were located at teacher training institutes. (74) At the same time , various organizations set up " intemats" in many towns to strengthen thE\regained Slovak foothold . This made it possible for young people from remote districts , for whom poor transportation connections would have preve~ted daily com- �SLOVAKIA 41 muting, to acquire a secondary education. Others could avoid the otherwise inflated living costs in the cities.(75) The government also sought to increase the percentage of women in the schools. By the year i937-38 girls made up nearly one-third of the students in the gymnasia, ~though as noted above, a smaller percentage actually completed the final year (and presumably the maturita exam). In the teacher training institutes more than half of the total enrollees were girls. Government regulations specified that these institutes were to have equal numbers of boys and girls. (76) As the country began to emerge from the depression, there developed also a rapid increase in the total enrollment of the secondary schools. There were a number of reasons for this, including the growth of cities, better preparation in elementary schools, and the increased post-war birth rate. The government responded by approving various arrangements to open new schools, including some sponsored by cities and some by church bodies. They were made possible under Article 54 of Hungarian law XXX-1883,(77) under which the state assumed responsibility for paying the personnel, who had to meet state qualification standards, while the sponsoring group paid the operating expenses. The schools charged higher tuition, but these higher rates were usually justified by the savings in transportation costs which students would otherwise have had to pay if they were commuting to another school. There were several of these schools in Kosice operated by church groups. Examples of city-sponsored schools were in Piest'any, Koma.mo, and Topol'cany. Acceptance of these arrangements occurred because of an improvement in the economic situation, (78) the fact that there was no longer doubt about the ability of these schools to attract a sufficient number of qualified professors , and the ability of the organizations to meet the requirements of XXX-1883. The analysis of placement - where did the graduates go - is a task beyond the goals of this paper. The central government apparently did not concern itself with these matters except for a brief period during the depression.(79) Many of the secondary schools themselves did not bother with such records either. Occasionally the yearbooks or reports to the Ministry of Education contained information about the future plans of the graduates. It is only in scattered cases at the time of the dedication of a new building or during a celebration of an anniversary that the occupations of the graduates were recorded at all, e.g., Kremnica-1937 or Zlate Moravce-1924. Unfortunately, these samples are not sufficiently broad to draw any conclusions . There is an intriguing organization called the Sprostredkovatel'na prace pre nezamestnanu inteligenciu na Slovensku, which evolved in 1934. �42 SLOVAKIA Sponsored by the Slovak League and the Economic Institute of Slovakia and Ruthenia, with the apparent support of the Agrarian Party, it collected data on graduates and their job searches.(80) Even without these data, let me suggest some judgments on the development of the intelligentsia in interwar Slovakia. First of all, it is clear that significant progress was made . The very fact that the independent Slovak State was able to function at all is evidence of this progress.(81) The Slovak State would not have been possible in 1918. By 1938, the large majority of the intelligentsia was Slovak in language and feeling . Under the situation prevailing before 1918, many of these people would have become members of the intelligentsia, but it would have been as Hungarians, not as Slovaks. It seems that there was not an intellectual proletariat in Slovakia.(82) As Ivan Derer pointed out, even in the depths of depression in 1933 all qualified Slovak high school and elementary teachers had positions.(83) He also catalogued the many other positions which Slovaks filled.(84) What the Czechoslovak Republic failed to do was to institutionalize in Slovakia a system of education which would provide the specialized skills and training requisite for the broad range of cadres - bureaucratic, managerial, technical, and professional - that are required to conduct a modern nation. Insufficient emphasis was put on the education that would develop leaders in industry, commerce, and even agriculture. This type of policy requires particular effort because in fluid postwar situations, there is a tendency to chose occupations where training is short and not too strenuous and the prospects of rapid enrichment promising.(85) This helps to explain Slovakia's lack of military men , of engineers , and of doctors. One must also keep in mind that the younger members of the small Slovak intelligentsia in 1918 had been able to gain positions of influence at a young age, something that could not be continued after the revolutionary wave had subsided and the Czechs who had come to Slovakia to help had become entrenched. (86) The young Slovak intelligent was not unemployed, but underemployed. One must recall that particularly in later years the central government had doubts as to whether it could trust the Slovak intelligentsia. Whatever feelings of distress this under-employment engen~red were worsened by the attitudes carried over from the Hungarian\ experience that education was the road to success .(87) Pre-independe:o.ce lead,ership was in the hands of a highly visible educated majority,. which fostered assumptions of the links between education , political mobility, and the benefits accruing to members of the intelligentsia. �SLOVAKIA 43 Quite probably , time was too short to produce a large enough intelligentsia in all fields. (88) In twenty years , the Czechoslovak government laid the groundwork for the future , and for twenty years built on it. The restoration of the Czechoslovak Republic after World War II provided the opportunity to look critically at what had and had not been done before in the area of intelligentsia development and to make adjustments. · ' But it was not just a matter of insufficient time. I would suggest that the interwar Czechoslovak government was not concerned with developing a specifically Slovak intelligentsia. Instead, its main goal was to reclaim the entire area of Slovakia for the Czechoslovak nationstate. By establishing a large number of Slovak secondary schools in cities of any size, especially those with large Hungarian populations , it could insure that this was done . But the early success of these centralist policies delayed recognition of certain aspects of the developing Slovak problem. If a Slovak nation was to be a viable entity, it required Slovak participation in all aspects and at all levels of society , not just where vacancies existed in a larger Czechoslovak society. One of the reasons for the above-mentioned lack of a Slovak technical university was the assumption that sufficient numbers of persons (mostly Czechs and Germans) were being educated in Bohemia and Moravia. Such an institution in Slovakia was said to be superfluous. If the concept of national self-awareness is not considered , then such an approach is plausible. On the other hand, when a nation has a feeling of running its affairs in the state in which it exists , even if that state be multinational, it has much greater reason to support the continued existence of that state. It then has no reason to trade the security it knows for the uncertainty of separation. Most Slovaks were initially very willing to cooperate with the Czechs, as demonstrated in the Martin declaration, recognizing that it was primarily Czech activities which had achieved the separation of Slovakia from Hungary and its attachment to the Czech Lands. But if Czechoslovakism embodies something more than Greater Czechism , it implied the balanced development of both parts and peoples of the country . If not, then the Slovaks were ipso facto a minority . Prior to 1938, the international political setting mitigated against any Slovak separation, since some kind of political attachment to Hungary or Poland would have resulted, yet active recognition of the concept of a Slovak nation by the Czechoslovak government would have strengthened Slovak resistance, alongside the Czechs , to the developing German threat. �44 SLOVAKIA Masaryk did not see in the Slovak case what he had been so willing to see in the Czech: the desire, as a nation, to develop and administer a complete society, particularly when that nation is part of the multinational state. He admitted in 1931 that he did not himself fully understand the Czech-Slovak relationship. I believe ... that the Comenius University helps the young to understand the true political and cultural task of Slovakia in our Republic. In a large degree it is the question of the relationship between Czechs and Slovaks. I have considered this problem myself and I must think still further about it.(89) While it might be argued that Masaryk was merely being respectful to his hosts, it is more likely the uncertainty he expressed was real. The so-called Castle group which gathered around Masaryk may have been nationally tolerant,(90) but it did not actively promote the development of individual nationalities.(91) One cannot, then, say the interwar Czechoslovak Republic did not, through its educational and cultural system, develop an intelligentsia in Slovakia. As has been shown, it made substantial progress. But it may be criticized for not actively supporting the production of an intelligentsia tailored to meet the needs of Slovakia, which by meeting the Slovak desire for self-management, would have strengthened the integrity of the Czechoslovak state. FOOTNOTES As Lucien W . Pye has noted, there is a large gap between the broad assumptions about the importance of education in national development and the limited amount of research on the subject. See Lucien W . Pye , " Foreword," in Education and Political Development , ed . James Coleman, Princeton, N .J ; rrinceton University Press, 1965, p . v. ' (2) Victor S. Mamatey, " The Development of Czechoslovak Democracy ," in A History of the Czechoslovak Republic 1918-1948, ed. by Victor S. Mamatey and Radomir Luza, Princeton, N.J .: Princeton University Press , 1973 , p. 118 . (3) R. W . Seton-Watson , A History of the Czechs and Slovaks , Hamden, Connecticut: Archon Books, 1965, p . 336. (4) Prehled teskoslovenskych dejin: Maketa , m, Prague: Nakladatelstvi Ceskoslovenske Akademie Ved, 1960. (5) Historicky fosopis , Vol. XXI , No . 1 (1973) , p. 155. (6) Oldriska Kodedova, Ceskoslovensky tasopis historicky, Vol. XXI, No. 1 (1973) , p. 114. (1) �SLOVAKIA 45 ' (7) Jozef Matej, "Sucasny stav a perspektivy rozvoja dejin pedagogiky na Slovensku," Jednotna skola, Vol. XXVI, No. 1 (January 1974) , pp . 56-70 . (8) E .g ., Seton-Watson, Czechs and Slovaks, p . 323; Stefan Krcmery , "A Survey of Modern Slovak Literature ," Slavonic and East European Review, Vol. VI (1928), p . 160. (9) Anton Stefanek, Zaklady sociografie Slovenska , Bratislava: Slovenska Akademia Vied , 1944, pp . 137-142. (10) Conversations with Slovak historians, 1973-74. (ll) Anton Stefanek, " Novoslovaci," Sociologicka revue, Vol. VI, No. 3-4 (1935), pp. 272-3 . (12) Ludwig v. Gogolak , Beitrage zur Geschichte des slowakischen Volkes, ill Muenchen : R. Oldenbourg Verlag, 1972, p . 163; Ferdinand Peroutka, Budovani statu, I, Praha : Fr. Borovy, 1936, p . 208 . (13) Jozef Matej, Kapitoly z dejin slovenskeho skolstva apedagogiky (19. a 20. storoc!ie), Bratislava: Univerzita Komenskeho, 1972, 2nd ed., p . 71. (14) Letter to author, February 2, 1973. (15) Josef Borovicka, Ten Years of Czechoslovak Politics, Prague : Orbis , 1929, p . 44 . (16) Peroutka , Budo vani statu, I, p . 207. (17) Stefanek, Zaklady , p . 114. (18) Jaroslav Kopac, Dejiny skolstvi a pedagogiky v Ceskoslovensku, I, Brno: Universita J. E. Purkyne, 1971 , p. 48 footnote . There were some exceptions to the rule, however, such as the fact that high school graduation was not a requirement for the highly influential position of notary. (19) Gustav Husak, "Zprava predsedu socialnej komisie SSS," Vyroc!na zprava 1935-36: 15 rokov Sviizu Slovenskeho Studentstva v Bratislave , p . 13. (20) Czechoslovakia-Statistical Abstract , Prague : Orbis, 1963 , p. 18 . (21) Mirko Trnovsky, ed ., Sbornik prac profesorov evanj. kolej. slovenskeho gymnazia v Presove k vyroc!iu 1919-1939 Presov : Slovenska statna knihtlaciaren , 1940, p . 55 . (22) Vratislav Busek , " Pravnicke studium ve svetle statistiky, " Pravny obzor, Vol. XX, No . 15-16 (1-15 October 1937), p . 688 . (23) Ibid., pp . 682-8 . (24) Matej , Kapitoly, 1st ed., p . 83, notes that the contents of a 1933 curriculum reform were directed toward two goals, theoretical preparation of the graduates for the university , and partly for the practical needs of life. (25) Skolstvo na Slovensku, Bratislava: Slovensky planovaci urad, 1949, p . 46. (26) Sociol6gia, Vol. IV, No . 3 (1972), pp . 193-204, as cited in ABSEES Soviet and East European Abstracts Series, ill, No. 2 (26) (Oct. 1972), p . 167. (27) Stefanek, Zaklady , p . 296 . (28) Jan M. Novacky, ed ., Desat' rokov slo venskych strednych sk6l, Bratislava: Slovenska knihtlaciaren, 1929, pp . 68-71. Novacky's calculations omit the teacher training institutes operated by churches. The total for 1933-4 is actually 1542 , but the difference of 200 from the estimate can be wholly attributed to the doubled enrollment in the teacher training institutes in the early thirties - Zpravy Statniho uradu statistickeho republiky Ceskoslove nske, 1935, No. 3-7. �46 SLOVAKIA (29) Skolstvo, p . 47. (30) See the school's Vyrofod zprciva 1937-38, pp . 54-57. (31) See the school's Vyrofod zprdva 1937-38, pp. 13-15. (32) Priloha " Stredne skoly," Zprcivy §kolskeho referdtu v Bratislave ministerstva ~kolstva a ndrodnej osvety, 1922. (33) Paul R. Magocsi, " The Role of Education in the Formation of a National Consciousness ," East European Quarterly, Vo. Vll, No. 2 (Summer 1973) , p . 162 . (34) Paul E. Zinner, Communist Strategy and Tactics in Czechoslovakia, 1918-48, New York : Frederick A. Praeger, 1963 , p . 12; Stefimek, Zdklady , p . 386. (35) Matej, " Sucasny stav," pp. 56-70. (36) Josef Henrich and Mikulas Smok, Eenseignement clans la Republique Tchecoslovaque , Prague : Ostredni spolek ceskoslovenskych profesoru, 1923, p . 94. (37) Ibid. , p . 95. (38) Ibid., p . 91. (39) Matej , Kapitoly, 2nd ed ., p . 83. (40) Richard Homa, Patndct let Komenskeho university v Bratislaue, Bratislava, 1934, p . 9. {41) Michal Fedor, Poslanie a program Matice slovenskej na vychodnom Slovensku, Martin : Matica slovenska, 1966, p . 91. (42) Krcmery, "A Survey," p . 161. {43) Michal Potemra, ed ., Bibliografia slovenskych novin a c!asopisov do roku 1918, Martin : Matica· slovenska, 1958. (44) Seton-Watson, Czechs and Slovaks, p . 282 . (45) Related to author by Czech historian . Efforts to locate published citation to date fruitless . (46) Maria Kipsova et al., Bibliografia slovenskych a inorec!ouych nouin a c!asopisou z rokou 1919-1938, Martin : Matica slovenska, 1968. (47) Jozef Darmo , Slouenskci iurnalistika 1918-1938, II, Martin: Matica slovenska, 1966. (48) Soznam c!asopisou na Slouensku 1927, Bratislava: Tlacovy referat pre spravu Slovensku, 1927. (49) Darmo , Slouenskci iurnalistika, p . 159. (50) E .g ., Darmo . (51) Stefimek, Zdklady , p . 324. (52) Ibid ., pp . 318-324. (53) Bibliografia slouenskych knih 1919-1938, Vol. 1-XVIl, Martin : Matica slovenska, 1965 . (54) Stefimek, Z ciklady, p . 318. (55) Stefan Krcmery, " Slovak Literature," in Seton-~atson , Slovakia Then & Now , p . 141 . \ (56) Stefanek, Zciklady , pp . 313-314. (57) Manuel Statistique de la R epublique Tchechoslo uaque, ill, Prague : Statni urad statisticky, 1928, pp. 17-19. A law of February 1919 set up in each community �SLOVAKIA 47 educational committees to con\ truct libraries and run lectures and courses . In Slovakia, this matter was generally handled by the local branch of Matica slovenska. (58) Annuaire statistique de la Republique Tchecoslovaque , 1934, Prague: L'Office de Statistique de la Republique Tchecoslovaque, 1934, Table XIV-17 . (59) Stefanek, Zdklady , p. 303 . (60) Peter Vajcik , " Zvesti z Literarno-vedeckeho odboru SSV ," Kultura, Vol. VII , No. 1 (1935) , p . 38 . (61) Ivan Kusy, " Obnovenie Matice slovenskej a jej uloha za predmnichovskej CSR, " in Matica slovenskd v na§ich dejindch: Sbornik stati, Bratislava: Vydavatel'stvo Slovenskej Akademie Vied, 1963 , pp. 224-232 . (62) Frantisek Bokes, Snahy o organizovanie slovenskej vedy od konca 18. storoi!ia do vzniku SAV, Bratislava: Vydavatel'stvo Slovenskej Akademie Vied, 1967, p. 65. (63) Miroslav Kropilak, "Zakladne kulturnopoliticke problemy Slovenska v rokoch 191838 ," in Matica slovenskd v na§ich dejindch, p. 205 . (64) In particular note the Spolok profesorov Slovakov, which after its founding in 1921 worked particularly for better placement of Slovak teachers in Slovak high schools. Viz its Sbornik Spolku profesorov Slovdkov . (65) Hendrich and Smok, Eenseignement , p . 73. (66) Karel Veleminsky, "Czecho-Slovak Secondary Schools ," in The Czecho-Slovak Republic , Prague: Czecho-Slovak Foreigners' Office, 1919, Vol. IV, Part 3 , p . 13 . In 1919, the Ministry of Education carried out a census in Slovakia for the purpose of determining how many schools would be needed. Peroutka, Budo vdni stdtu , I, p. 210. (67) Stefanek, " Education in Pre-War Hungary ," p . 121. (68) Gogolak , Beitrage , ill, p . 160. (69) Annuaire statistique , 1935, Table 11-17 and 1937, Table 11-4. (70) Milos Trap! , " Ke skolske legislative obecnych a obcanskych (mest'anskych) skol a jejimu uplatnovani v ceskych zemich 1918-1922," in Z dejin i!eskeho §kolstv i, ed by Ervin Koukal , Prague : Statni pedagogicke nakladatelstvi, 1970, p . 44 footnote 82. (71) Stefanek, "Education in Pre-War Hungary," p . 121. (72) Victor S. Mamatey , ''The Establishment of the Republic,'' in Mamatey and Luz.a, A History, p . 30 . (73) Gogolak , B eitrage , ill, p . 165. (74) Hendrich and Smok , Eenseignement , p . 34. (75) See Msano 52143-1920 Odbor V Oddeleni 19 of 15 August 1920, Carton 1297-State Central Archive (SOA) - Prague. The " intemats" also separated the students from parental influence which " is not always characterized by friendly feelings toward our state ." - Instruktorat Ministerstva socialnej starostlivosti (IMSS) Carton 5 item 276 in Slovak State Central Archive (SSOA) - Bratislava. This particular item is a letter from the acting headmaster of the Banska Stiavnica real gymnasium to the Ministerstvo socialni pece c. 798-1920 of 15 July 1920. (76) Skolstvo , pp . 23 , 11 1, and 150. (77) The fir st law passed in the new Czechoslovak Republic decreed that all laws in force in Austria-Hungary would be carried over to the new state . This explains how Hungarian law would be considered in Slovakia . �48 SLOVAKIA (78) E.g., note willingness of Fimini (Ministry of Finance) and Nejvyssi ucetni kontrolni urad (NUKU) to postpone indefinitely closing of school in exchange for opening of realka in Bardejov, or to substitute a closing of a school in Bohemia or Moravia-Msano 104.048-1938 Odbor ill Oddeleni 2 of 1 July 1938-Carton 1297-SUA. (79) Msano , 2637-1934 Pres . Odd . Studijni, 20 April 1934 , SUA , Carton 1445. (80) Okresny archiv, Prievidza , Prievidza gymnasium collection, 605-1934 and 214-1936 (Carton 3) . (81) Frederick G. Heymann, Poland & Czechoslovakia, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1966. (82) This contradicts Zinner's assertions in Communist Strategy, p. 12 . (83) Ivan Derer, Ceskoslovenskci otcizka, Prague: Orbis , 1935, p. 38. (84) Ibid . (85) R. W. Seton-Watson, "Introduction . Czechoslovakia and the Slovak Problem ," in Slovakia Then and Now, p . 62. (86) James S. Coleman, " Introduction : Education and Political Development " in Education and Political Development discusses the tension that develops with lack of political mobility for the second generation. Thomson 's assertion that the Czechoslovak government adhered to a policy of returning Czech officeholders to the historic lands as soon as possible does not hold up . S. Harrison Thomson , Czechoslovakia in European History , Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1953, p . 334. (87) See page 184. (88) See Matej, Kapitoly, 2nd ed., p . 86. (89) Zprciva o tinnosti Spolku pre postavenie a vydriovanie Universitnej koleje a akademickej menzi, 1930, p . 6. (Speech at Bratislava.) (90) Kopac, Dejiny ~kolstvi, I, p . 11. (91) It has been suggested that the Czechs erred in Slovakia after 1918 by trying to transform before forming a nation . See Jan Hajda, " The Role of the Intelligentsia in the Developme nt of the Czechoslovak Society,'' in The Czechoslovak Contribution to World Culture ed. by Miroslav Rechcigl , The Hague: Mouton , 1964, pp . 307-312. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 1978-79, Vol. 28 Description An account of the resource Vol. 28 (No. 51-52), 1978-79. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Slovak League of America Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1978-79 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document SLOVAKIA 25 The Slovak Intelligentsia 1918-1938 OWEN V. JOHNSON \ The 25th issue of Slovensky dennik, published December 7, 1918, carried a message from the Slovak Society of Studying Youth. It began bluntly, '' A nation is strong only if it has a strong intelligentsia.'' Issue No. 1, published November 9, 1918, called on the Slovak intelligentsia to come forward. Since the new Czechoslovak state will need a great many Slovak people for offices and schools, we challenge each Slovak intelligent to immediately apply in writing or personally to the Legal Committee of the Slovak National Council listing complete name and address. Slovensky dennik might well have devoted its limited space to other matters, for the Slovakia of 1918 was ahnost without an intelligentsia, a body without a head. How and to what extent was this void filled in the following twenty years? In essence, this essay is a preliminary examination of that question. A combination of historical and ideological circumstances has combined to divert attention almost completely from a serious study of the development of education and the concomitant development of the intelligentsia (using here the Marxist definition of the intelligentsia as being "educated specialists") in interwar Slovakia, and in fact for the whole of Czechoslovakia.(!) Victor Mamatey describes Slovak politicians as showing considerable energy in promoting the cultural and educational development of the Slovak people,(2) but furnishes no evidence. R. W. Seton-Watson describes the "remarkable transformation" wrought in the field of education in Slovakia, but provides only broad quantitative evidence, referring especially to the elementary schools. (3) Reprinted by permission from Russian and Slavic History (Papers from the Banff ' 74 Conference) edited by D. K. Rowney and G. E. Orchard, Slavica Publishers, Inc., P.O. Box 14388, Columbus, Ohio 43214. 26 SLOVAKIA While Czech and Slovak historians generally evaluate this phenomenon favorably, only now is any extensive research developing in the field. The published draft survey, Prehled teskoslovenskych dejin(4) does not once mention education. One report on a meeting of the Polish-Czechoslovak Historical Commission in Warsaw in September 1972 pointed out, "There emerged in the rich discussion many questions which even in our historiography have not been resolved through analytical work (such as) (the growth of national intelligentsia, the question of education ... ).(5) Oldriska Kodedova, reviewing Kuzmin's Shkola i obrazovanie v Chekoslovakii, comments(6) that insufficient attention has been paid to the social and nationality problem of education between the two wars. She points out that there is not a single basic work on the subject. Professor Jozef Matej, chairman of the pedagogical department of the Faculty of Philosophy at Comenius University in Bratislava, surveys the considerable progress made in research over the last five years, and declares that the editorial board of Jednotna skola supports the publication of articles about the history of education and pedagogy in the "bourgeois" Republic.(7) Admittedly this problem is not one that lends itself easily to a time frame as short as twenty years. Even the very few high school graduates from 1919 would have been less than forty years old in 1938, an age which in the traditional European context was still quite young. The names which showed up as outstanding among high school students· in the twenties and thirties became the leaders only in the turbulent forties and fifties. Perforce, then, this paper must confine itself to observations on some aspects of the development of the intelligentsia. A thorough study would require a complete monograph. What I will seek to do is discuss briefly the circumstances that brought about the poverty of the intelligentsia before 1918, identify institutions which contributed to the development of this educated group of Slovaks in the interwar period; describe summarily the educational system in use and provide a statistical overview of the schools and the students who studied in them; briefly describe other signs of cultural development; and suggest some accomplishments, shortcomings, and problems on the period. Linguistic and anthropological experts have long debated the question as to whether the term Czechoslovlik can be used to describe one language and one nation, or whether the individual Czech and Slovak terms should be used. This paper proceeds on the basis of the latter, as a means to better understanding the problem at hand. If the idea of a Slovak nation was to have a solid basis, whether in a SLOVAKIA 27 \ Czechoslovak state or by it'self, it was necessary that an intelligentsia develop from the Slovak people . The course of events prior to the creation of Czechoslovakia at the end of World War I found the Slovak people practically without a nationally conscious Slovak intelligentsia. Policies pursued by the Hungarian government following the 1867 Ausgleich had made it practically impossible for any Slovak youth who aspired to advanced education and a high position in life, to succeeed without giving up his Slovak identity. There were no Slovak schools beyond the primary level. It is generally accepted(8) that there were only between five hundred and a thousand educated and nationally conscious Slovaks in the year 1918. This estimate can be challenged on the basis that it represented the number of Slovaks and members of their families on whom the Hungarian authorities kept watch because of Slovak or panSlavic tendencies.(9) There may well have been several thousand nationally neutral intelligentsia who found it quite simple to fit into a Czechoslovak environment following the founding of the Republic. Several Slovak historians are seeking at this time a more accurate estimate.(10) Certainly the predominantly agricultural configuration of the Slovak society did not promote Slovak intellectual development. The cities , with few exceptions , were Hungarian, German, or Jewish dominated. Thus we are left with a Slovak intelligentsia made up primarily of clergymen, doctors , and lawyers, and their families .(11) One could not in any case expect that there would be a sufficient number of Slovaks who would have the requisite administrative experience to run a modem state and nation. To overcome this shortcoming it was necessary to bring in Czechs.(12) An example can be made of the advanced educational establishments. There were about twenty qualified and nationally conscious Slovaks who could teach in the gymnasia, enough persons to supply about two schools . Perhaps three hundred nationally conscious Slovaks were qualified to teach in the elementary schools.(13) Dr. Karel Koch , later Surgeon-General for Slovakia, lists only three Slovak-oriented surgeons remaining in Slovakia in 1918.(14) Borovicka even says that after the attainment of independence in 1918 there was not a single Slovak government official whatever with a Slovak national consciousness .(15) The bleakness of the situation was described poignantly by Dr. Vavro Srobar, a future Agrarian Party Minister of Education. "There were so few of us that we almost all knew each other personally , we knew even addresses , as well as personal and family relationships. " (16) 28 SLOVAKIA Accustomed to the Hungarian tradition, the Slovak peasant looked upon the intelligentsia as those people who, on the basis of a definite higher schooling got an official position or who otherwise stood out on the basis of their knowledge, property and influence in public, and earned admission to intelligent society. High school and university education and a proper knowledge of Hungarian or German, gentlemanly behavior, official position in the church, county, school, etc. gave legitimation to the title of intelligent. (17) The intelligentsia were the people who worked with their heads, not their hands. On this basis, one may consider a study of schools which awarded the maturitne vysvedcenie (matriculation certificate) or its equivalent and of the students in these schools as a study of the intelligentsia. The certificate was given for the successful completion of the school leaving examination at the end of high school (similar to the French baccalaureat). Of five categories of state employees, three required at least a high school education. A fourth required lower high school or middle school joined with special courses. While the fifth included those demanding only general elementary education, elementary and middle school teachers were included in this category.(18) At this point, attention must be directed to the structure of the whole school system. School attendance in Slovakia was mandatory for six years until 1922; after that, eight years was required, although the increase could not be enforced until the late twenties for lack of the needed personnel and facilities. All students spent the first five years in elementary (l'udove) schools. The other three years could be taken in middle schools, or in the beginning grades of the various secondary schools. In some of the more rural areas, only the elementary school existed, and here students who had no intention of continuing higher studies were allowed to attend if no alternative school was available. There were about 4000 elementary schools. The majority of the schools awarding the matriculation certificate came under the general heading gymnasia. Children who had completed elementary school and were at last ten years old, could apply for admission to the gymnasia. These were of fm\f types: 1. The classical gymnasium, of which there· were very few, was an eight-year school. Successful completion of the course allowed the student to enter the university directly. Until reforms SLOVAKIA 29 \ instituted in early 1930s, students in these schools studied Latin from the first year and Greek from the fifth. 2. The real gymnasium was by far the most popular because its graduates could directly enter both universities and technical universities. In these schools, French or English was taken instead of Greek beginning in the fifth year. 3. The real reformed gymnasium, which was more popular in the early years of the Republic, later lost attractiveness, and many of these schools were converted to real gymnasia. They followed the same curriculum as the real gymnasia except that a third language (English, Italian, or a Slavic one) replaced Latin in the seventh year. The reason for their later unpopularity was the necessity of taking an additional examination in Latin in order to gain entrance into the university. 4. The re<ilka was a seven-year school and its graduates had entrance directly only into the technical universities. No classical language was required, and French or English was begun in the second year. Other schools which awarded the matriculation certificate were only four years in length. The most wide-spread in Slovakia was the teacher-training institute , conducting a four year course of instruction which qualified its graduates to teach in the elementary, and after a time, the middle schools. Students were admitted in their ninth year of schooling in most cases , provided they had reached the minimum age of fifteen . During the depression this type of institution reached its peak of popularity with several times more applicants being turned down than were admitted. This is explained by its providing its graduates nearly guaranteed employment without their having to consider how to obtain funds to study at the university . Compared to the gymnasia and the teacher training institutes, the four other types of schools which gave degrees equivalent to the matriculation certificate were limited in number. The priemyseln<i skola , or industrial school, was four years in length, and its graduates could be admitted directly to the technical universities. These schools operated under a severe handicap in Slovakia during the first republic, for it was not until the fall of 1938 that the first Slovak technical university was opened. In anticipation of this event, enrolhnent in the technical high schools swelled considerably after the mid-thirties. The commercial academy (obchodn<i akademia) graduate also completed a four-year program which allowed him to enter either the technical university or the law faculty. Graduates of the four year 30 SLOVAKIA agricultural high school in Kosice or the four year forestry high school in Banska Stiavnica could enter the technical universities in their respective fields. The agriculture high school was designed primarily, however, for the education of independent farmers, and the forestry high school for the preparation of forest administrators. While much attention has been directed thus far to the rights to higher education achieved by these secondary school graduates, the percentage of those completing higher education was not overwhelming. Gustav Husak, in admittedly rough calculations, adjudged between 2000 and 2500 Slovaks engaged in university studies in the 1933-34 school year.(19) That compares with the 19,047 students in Slovakia attending the gymnasia and teacher training institutes that year. The 1930 census counted 2,295,067 Slovaks in Czechoslovakia. (20) During the twelve-year period 1926-7-1937-8, slightly more than seven percent of the total number of students at the Evangelical Gymnasium in Presov took the maturita examination.(21) If this figure is applied as a rough ratio for all of Slovakia, it would mean that in the above mentioned year of 1933-34, approximately 1330 students in Slovakia took the maturita. In the same year, approximately one fifth of the law students at Comenius University were first year students (2861162).(22) Applying this percentage to Husak's estimated total of 20002500 Slovaks attending institutions of higher learning, we arrive at the figure of about 600 first year Slovak students in all university faculties. This means that less than one half of those holding the matriculation certificate went on to the university. And of these, some forty percent did not complete the first set of state examinations normally given after two years study.(23) According to these calculations, less than one third of those holding the matriculation certificate from the gymnasium completed a university degree.(24) (The original estimate of 1330 maturants includes the graduates of the teacher training institutes who rarely continued to the university.) Support for using the criteria of a secondary school education to define the intelligent is offered by the percentage of such students in the whole educational spectrum. In the school year 1921-22, students of gymnasia and teacher training institutes 'made up 2. 7 percent of the total number of students in Slovakia.(25) For reasons that are both complex and unclear, statistical offices of the Czechoslovak Republic did not publish complete data on the number of those gaining the matriculation certificate each year. In Slovakia, a circular with some such information was prepared by the Bratislava (Slovak) Referent for Education each year until the late SLOVAKIA 31 1920s. The only other manner in which this number can be determined is by a methodical examination of the annual high school yearbooks sponsored by each school. Let it be taken as an assumption, based on a general familiarity with . the figures, that an average of about one thousand Czechoslovak s~udents in Slovakia each year passed the maturita exam, or about 20,000 during the life of the Republic. The figure is of course lower in the early years, and much higher in the period just before Munich. The general accuracy of this estimate can be judged by the estimate of Robert Rosko(26) that 68,000 employees in Slovakia in 1953 had higher and specialized secondary education. Stefanek's estimate of 50,000 students having completed high school studies by 1944(27) is likely too high. Only one writer, Jan Novacky, probably with statistics furnished by the Ministry of Education, has calculated the number of persons receiving the matriculation certificate over a period of time (Table 1). These data suggest the projection of 1330 recipients of the maturita for the year 1933-34 is reasonably accurate as does our estimated average of one thousand matriculation certificates per year for the 1918-19-1937-38 period. The number of graduates of the teacher training institutes remained fairly constant at about 300 per year.(28) The number of girl students in grade VIII (and thus eligible for the maturita examination) as a percentage of the total number of girl students enrolled in the gymnasia in 1927-28 was just under five percent, thus fifty percent less than the average for all those enrolled. (29) TABLE 1 NUMBER OF MATRICULATION CERTIFICATES (HIGH SCHOOL DIPLOMAS) AWARDED 1918-19 - 1928-29: SELECTED YEARS AND TOTAL Total 1918-19 Type of Institution 1918-19 1923-24 1928-29 1928-29 3075 Real gymnasium 84 250 532 Teacher training institute 122 262 247 3014 Real reformed gymnasium 5 70 189 1000 23 44 82 623 Realka 64 Classical gymnasium 0 0 36 Total Source: 234 626 1086 7776 Jan M. Novacky, ed., Desat' rokov slovenskych strednych skol, Bratislava: Slovenska knihtlaciaren, 1929, pp. 68-71. 32 SLOVAKIA The figures we have been discussing up to this point refer to the Czechoslovak high schools in Slovakia. They include a smattering of Hungarians, Jews, Germans, and other nationalities , as well as Czechs and Slovaks. The number of Czechs in some schools was substantial. For example, during the 1937-38 school year, the First Czechoslovak real gymnasium in Bratislava had 896 students, of which less than half (431) were Slovak. Three hundred eighty-six were Czech, 43 German , 24 Hungarian , and the rest other nationalities.(30) In Banska Bystrica, 394 out of 470 students in that year were Slovak , 66 Czech and the other ten divided among four nationalities.(31) Again, a complete survey must await further computation. What can be said with safety is that a significant proportion - ten to twenty-five percent - of the students were not Slovaks. The only known official publication which differentiates between Czechs and Slovaks in the high schools in Slovakia was published for the 1922-23 school year in Slovakia by the Skalsk y Referat. Of the 11,267 students, 1286 are Czech, 8501 Slovak, and the rest belong to other nationalities. At the same time there were six Czechs and 116 Slovaks in non-Czechoslovak institutions . This confirms our estimate of ten to twenty-five percent non-Slovaks.(32) The State Statistical Office of the Czechoslovak Republic did not, in its school statistics, differentiate between Czechs and Slovaks , using instead the inclusive term Czechoslovak. However, between half and two thirds of the individual schools did make a distinction in their published yearly reports, and some of them also expressed the distinction on the statistical forms mailed to the Ministry of Education. It is this lack of readily available data which has hindered until now any significant studies of this question. Because some schools only used the term Czechoslovak means we shall never have a completely accurate picture of the nationality situation. This attitude of Czechoslovakism in the statistics occurred for a variety of reasons : political conviction, political fear, lack of interest , or desire to maintain the status quo. It was the principal (riaditel') who decided which policy would be followed.(33) Because of these varying motivations, one cannot with reliability apportion the students in the unoi(ferentiated schools to the specific nationalities. Further, even when a aifferent,.iation is made in the general and classroom statistics between ' nationalities, we do not have available this information for individual students, so as to be able to determine whether such and such an individual student, be he Czech or Slovak, passed the maturita exam. We must content ourselves with comparing the percentage of each nationality in the final year of school and applying these percentages to the number of persons taking the 33 SLOVAKIA maturita exams. Even in the less common instances when the maturita recording books are availa\:ile in the archives , they frequently do not specify the nationality, but fist only the place of birth. While this is of some assistance in obtaining a reasonably accurate picture , the very existence of 120,000 Czechs in Slovakia(34) will distort it, as well as the non-Czechoslovak abode of many of these persons prior to 1918. In the above Banska Bystrica case, although there were 66 Czechs , only 34 of the students were born in Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia. There will also be some distortion , when we cannot specifically distinguish Czech from Slovak, in identifying the social, religious, and other characteristics of the students according to nationality. Here again, it seems that we must proceed on the basis of what we have , hoping that studies of the individual schools described by Matej(35) will tum up better information. Let us use 1927-28 as a sample year. The decline in the number of enrollees which developed later because of the wartime decline in the birth rate and not yet made itself felt. With the exception of a number of schools which would open in the last four years of the Republic, almost all schools were operating as full institutions. Some had been converted from Hungarian to Slovak over a period of seven or eight years . TABLE 2 CZECHOSLOVAK SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN SLOVAKIA , 1927-28 Type of School Real gymnasium Real reformed gymnasium Realka Teacher training institute Commercial academy Industrial high school Classical gymnasium Agricultural high school Forestry high school Total Number Students Graduates Studentsgraduate 24 8217 426 19 10 3 2939 997 165 98 18 13 6 3 2 1 1 63 970 617 470 406 98 Unavailable 14,714 327 62 100 16 14 14 1222 10 3 10 5 25 7 12 34 SLOVAKIA Sources: Novacky, Desat' rokov , pp. 63-67; Styridsat' rokov Lesnickej technickej skoly v Banskej Stiavnici 1918-1959, Bratislava: Poverenictvo Podohospodarstva, 1959, pp. 62-67; Anton Stefanek, Education in Pre-War Hungary and in Slovakia To-Day," in Slovakia Then and Now: A Political Survey ed. by Robert W. Seton-Watson, London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd., 1931, p. 130; Individual vyrocne zpravy of the agricultural high school, commercial high schools , and industrial high schools. The most productive gymnasium of any kind in the first eleven years was the real gymnasium at Bratislava with 363 degrees awarded followed by the realka at Zilina with 340. Other gymnasia producing more than 200 matriculation certificate holders in the first eleven years were the real gymnasia at Kosice, Nitra, Ruzomberok, Trencin, Trnava, and Banska Bystrica. The teacher training institute at Modra produced by far the largest number of graduates in the first eleven years with 419, primarily because of the 142 which it graduated in the first three years, a figure twice the number of any other school during that period, excepting Tmava, which also had the second highest eleven year total with 323. Seven other institutions had more than 200 graduates each. Over the twenty year period, there were 51 gymnasia of different types, 17 teacher training institutes, 5 industrial high schools, 7 commercial high schools, and one each of the agricultural and forestry high schools. A significant number of this total (16-82) began operation in the last four years, a jump of about 25 percent from the number in existence at the end of the 1933-34 school year. The reasons for this sudden increase will be discussed below. The total does not include a private unlicensed secondary school operated in Bratislava in the 193738 school year which used French as the language of instruction and was seeking state accreditation. The proportion of secondary school students in the population was lower in all Slovak counties (between 3 and 8 per 1000) than in Prague (12-13 per 1000) .(36) By some strange quirk, however, the county of Mikulas had the highest number of secondary schools in relation to the population (9-10-200,000) anywhere in Czechoslovakia. This included 14 schools for 319,509 people.(37) In Slovakia in 1922-23 there was one Czechoslovak student for each 179 Czecho~lovak inhabitants. For the whole country (excepting Ruthenia) the ratio was I-116.(38) There were other schools which one might consider as producers of intelligentsia. The so-called pedagogical academy which began to operate in Bratislava in the 1930-31 school year at the suggestion of the SLOVAKIA 35 Slovak Pedagogical Society was the first step toward placing teacher training on the university level. It was a one-year program which gave gymnasium graduates the right to teach in elementary schools. In seven years it produced 706 graduates.(39) Graduates of the teacher training institutes did no~ have the possibility nor the need to attend. Comenius University \11 Bratislava had three faculties - law, medicine, and philosophy- ano began accepting gymnasium graduates in the fall of 1921.(40) Slovaks could attend other universities in the country as well. The Slovak Technical University opened only in the fall of 1938. There were two theological faculties. The Lutheran faculty, which operated throughout the twenty years, received university rank in 1934. The Catholic faculty, authorized in 1919, began operations in 1936 although in the interim there were a half dozen small seminaries scattered around Slovakia. The music and drama academy of Bratislava received university status in 1926. The higher agricultural co-operative school opened in Bratislava in 1936 to help provide administrative officials for the co-operative movement. Previously these officials had come from among the graduates of the commercial academies and commercial schools (usually 2-year programs not leading to a matriculation certificate). Students were chosen from among those who already held the matriculation certificate, with preference to persons who had been graduated from the commercial or agricultural high schools and to those with co-operative experience. Those who had a partial high school education or had finished middle school and one of the agricultural or commercial schools, and had two years of experience in the co-operative movement as well, could qualify if they successfully passed an entrance exam. There were only 22 students in each year of operation. There were also a number of theological academies with the equivalency rank of universities. Entrants were required to hold the matriculation certificate. The six Catholic institutes (seminaries) mentioned above closed with the opening of the Bratislava theological faculty in 1936. Even so , Slovakia still possessed more than half of the theological institutes in the country. There were also a half dozen city music schools , sometimes supported by the public, but these were rather for private music instruction and did not fit into the regular scheme of formal education . Reference has been made to vocational courses in the fields of agricultural, industrial and commercial education. There was in these courses no attempt to advance beyond the teaching of specific skills. The courses varied from several weeks to two years. 36 SLOVAKIA Matica slovenska, the Slovak cultural and national organization, sponsored in many cities the so-called enlightenment courses. These consisted on one or a series of lectures, and would more properly fall under the heading of popular or civic education. The local organizations of Matica slovenska were supposed to be distributing knowledge, rather than fostering it.(41) Courses held by the Army for illiterate soldiers should be considered also in the realm of popular education. What other evidence do we have of cultural advancement during the period under discussion? One is the publication of books, magazines and newspapers. Before the outbreak of World War I there was some of this activity , although exactly how much is uncertain. Stefan Krcmery , long active in Matica slovenska, said that a total of 41 periodicals in 1909 had declined to ten by 1918.(42) A more recent survey conducted by Matica slovenska shows the total growing from 32 in 1900 to 47 in 1910 to 61 in 1914 before dropping to 30 in 1918.(43) The most important were N arodnie noviny , published three times a week at Martin, and Slouenske pohl'ady, a monthly literary journal.(44) Jozef Votruba, a Slovak patriot , was said to have remarked(45) that the Slovak intelligentsia was made up of those who read Narodnie nouiny. Similar problems arise in trying to measure the number of journals published after the revolution. Maria Kipsova, in a definitive bibliography published in 1968, (46) lists 980 journals definitely located and 80 journals not found which were published in Slovak during the 20-year period. Jozef Darmo 's incomplete study(47) of Slovak journalism, published two years earlier, says there was a total of 1565 magazines and newspapers published, of which 442 were Hungarian and an undefined number in other languages. A survey compiled by the press referent for Slovakia in 1927(48) listed 162 purely Slovak publications for that year . Approximately one-third of these were political , another third organizational . Eight of the publications were dailies, all but one of them published ip Bratislava. A further 49 publications were multi-lingual with Slova~ as one of the languages . Nearly half of the all-Slovak publications · (77) Had a frequency of monthly or less. The Kipsova bibliography shows that the great majority of these publications did not long survive . Included among the reasons were the lack of printers and the inability to extend circulation beyond the cities into the countryside . Quite simply, the rural population was not yet accustomed to reading.(49) While some efforts have been made at estimating the extent of circulation of the various publications ,(50) there is no source extensive enough to provide any adequate analysis. The expansion of the number of daily papers from two (one of which was Hungarian-oriented)(51) before the war , to eight SLOVAKIA 37 under the Czechoslovak ~epublic indicates definite progress. Even with insufficient evidence, 'one can presume a circulation expansion as well. While there is considerable disagreement, too, over the exact number of Slovak books published between the wars,(52) it averaged 600-800 per year, of which about three quarters were published in Slovakia itself. A provisional B ibliografia slovenskych knih 19191938(53) published in 1965, listed 13,320 items definitely identified, and 6530 uncertain. If the nearly 19,000 were in fact all published, it would establish an average of approximately one thousand per year, somewhat higher than the estimate by Stefanek (13,425).(54) Most likely, not all of the desiderata will be included in a definitive bibliography, soon to be published by Matica slovenska, since, for instance, some of the jubilee high school yearbooks, which are in fact not books, are included, plus some listings which are only Slovakicized titles of Czech books. The most difficult problem is unfortunately unsolvable, that is, how many copies of each of these books were published. Only a few organizations, such as Matica slovenska, kept publication totals . One estimate suggested that pre-war printings rarely exceeded 600-800 copies; by 1928 the average was 250010,000.(55) Stefanek provides some interesting comparisons of the occupations of writers before and after the revolution. (56) They show that before the revolution 112 out of 178 writers were priests (two-thirds Lutheran, one-third Catholic). After 1918 (approximately 1935) only 14111 are priests. The bulk (47) are academicians. Another measurement of general progress can be noted in the area of libraries. In 1927 there were 3283 research libraries for teachers with 258 ,200 books; 216 school libraries containing 1,185,464 books including 150,000 at Comenius University; and 2592 communal libraries with 202 , 781 books . (5 7) By 1932 the number of libraries in the first two categories had increased only by seven, but the number of volumes was up half a million.(58) Since there were only private church libraries and those of priests and patriots prior to 1918, there is a definite note of progress here. One of the most difficult problems in handling a subject of this type is to maintain a differentiation between the terms intelligentsia and national enlightenment. While we have noted the tremendous development of communal libraries, libraries which average less than one hundred books apiece will not contribute much to the development of the intelligentsia, although they may significantly raise the national consciousness of the broad mass of the population. The same problem 38 SLOVAKIA must be faced when we examine the national and religious cultural societies . Either we must redefine what we call a member of the intelligentsia or we must recognize the fact that these organizations had different purposes. The Society of St. Adalbert is a case in point. A Catholic society with 100,000 members, it dealt mainly with popular education and Catholic science and literature.(59) Yet Peter Vajcik(60) described one of the society's three aims as being to help the Slovak Catholic intelligentsia, a much smaller group . The Lutheran Church had a similar society of Tranoscius. Matica slovenska anguished over the direction of its goals . Until 1932 it tended to reflect more accurately the number of intelligentsia than did the two specifically religious societies, but it also included a number of Czechs and people of other nationalities involved in the work of popular education. In some respects it sought to fulfill the role of a scientific academy, but lacked the personnel and monetary support, and could not tear itself away from its popular education role . Interestingly , when its membership roles swelled after the capture of the leadership in 1932 by those who favored a greater amount of Slovak autonomy, its organized scientific research increased substantially. The membership increased from 11,063 in 1930 to 30,147 in 1936.(61) The Safarik Scientific Society was organized in 1926 mainly by the members of the faculty of Comenius University. It was begun with the intent of increasing the amount of knowledge about Slovakia and Ruthenia. Strongly supported by persons with a Czechoslovak orientation, it frequently found itself at loggerheads with the people in Matica slovenska.(62) In 1934 it had a total of 168 members of whom only 40 were Slovak. It was divided into two sections, one for the social sciences and one for the natural sciences. In the latter, there were only 16 Slovaks among 101 members, which can in part be explained by the lack of a faculty of natural sciences at Comenius University . During its twelve year existence it published 45 volumes of research results.(63) A number of other societies or organizations which could be called cultural or intellectual also functioned but they will not be dealt with here . These include the Slovak Museum Society, the Slovak Cultural (Vlastivedne) Museum, the East Slovak Museum, the Slovak Pedagogical Society, the Union of Slovak Students, DAV , and the several unions of teachers.(64) · Having sketched the general outline of the development of the intelligentsia , it becomes necessary to examine the broader context of the matter as it relates to political development and the whole of life in interwar Czechoslovakia. SLOVAKIA 39 It was the early actio~s of the Czechoslovak government taken in the field of education that\ ~ere the most far reaching. Before 1918 there were 53 secondary schools in Slovakia, all Hungarian.(65) Following the attainment of independence, three were closed immediately, two others were combined, and in nine towns new secondary schools were organized. Before the New Year, three secondary schools were operating, and a total of thirteen were giving instruction after three months of independence. (66) Anton Stefanek, assigned the task of co-ordinating this project, described his guiding principle as ''the democratic principle of religious and racial equality before the law."(67) Thus, in purely Slovak districts, the schools were deMagyarized. In the southern districts, he "on the whole" left the status quo. This immediate de-Magyarization of the Slovak high schools was exceptionally important. Changes which are readily accepted in a time of revolution are not achieved even gradually in times of peace and quiet. The entire Czech policy followed in the southern parts of Slovakia sought to integrate the area into the Czechoslovak Republic. (68) The new schools which were opened in essentially Hungarian towns such as Nove Zamky or Lucenec, took root rapidly even though a Hungarian school was also frequently authorized. While these cities had been Hungarian for several decades, the countryside was in many cases still Slovak. The extra assistance provided by the central authorities was frequently the deciding factor in reclaiming the cities, and thus the gathering places of the intelligentsia, for the Slovaks . According to the 1930 census, only seven cities in Slovakia had more than 20,000 persons. Of these, all had two or more Czechoslovak secondary schools except Komarno, which did not gain its first Czechoslovak secondary school until 1936. Only two of the fourteen towns with between 10,000 and 20,000 inhabitants, Guta and Handlova, did not have secondary schools . Handlova is only seven miles from Prievidza, which had a school. Guta (now called Kolarovo), is in a strongly Hungarian area about ten miles southwest of Nove Zarnky, which also had a gymnasium .(69) State control was extended over six Catholic high schools in 1919, under fear that the vacant six sees, which were responsible for their supervision , would be filled by Hungarians . The only other two alternatives , according to Stefanek, were to close the schools, or to accept Hungarian control. It was the attempt by the Slovak People 's Party to gain restoration of three of these Catholic gymnasia in 1921 which led to that party's break-away from the Czech People ' s Party. Josef Susta , the Minister of Education in the Cerny government, ap- 40 SLOVAKIA parently made promises to the effect that the schools would be returned to Catholic control, an action which his successor, Vavro Srobar, an Agrarian Slovak, refused to carry out once the Benes government took office . (70) The Protestants in contrast, carried out an internal reorganization in 1919 and were allowed to maintain control over their schools. Within a decade they gave up all but one for financial reasons .(71) It might be mentioned that the Slovak National Council, which spoke for Slovakia in its declaration of union with the Czechs at Martin October 30, 1918, apparently made no effort to institute an educational system, although some of its local branch officials served to help coordinate the setting up of new schools . Mamatey attributes this to inexperience in the exercise of political power.(72) The impliction is that the Slovak elite, carried over from the Hungarian era, did not use realistic methods in developing a modem nation. Thus, they did not conceive of the need to build an expanded intelligentsia. (73) Much of the policy relating to education was determined by administrative , rather than legislative action. Thus, the fact that five out of the twelve interwar Ministers of Education were Slovaks is of considerable significance. Actually these five held the post for a •longer period (by three months) than Czechs, and many significant reforms were accomplished under them. Ivan Derer, a Social Democrat, held the post for the longest period, from 1929 to 1934. Milan Hodza, an, Agrarian, had the third longest term (1926-1929), a period that probably would have lasted longer had he not become embroiled in conflict with Masaryk and Benes over foreign policy matters. Several policy changes were carried out which affected secondary education in Slovakia. One involved converting the realka to the Austrian or Czech pattern, which meant a seven-year, rather than an eight-year, curriculum, and thus lessened in the eyes of many Slovaks the value of its education. The six-year higher girls ' schools were first reestablished as lycees , then converted quickly to real reformed gymnasia because the former institutions had offered little perspective for further education or employment. The use of boarding schools was also generally eliminated in Slovakia. Prior to World War I, boarding schools had helped to foster Magyarization by cutting off the students from the Slovak countryside. By 1923 only sixteen remained , of which eleven were located at teacher training institutes. (74) At the same time , various organizations set up " intemats" in many towns to strengthen thE\regained Slovak foothold . This made it possible for young people from remote districts , for whom poor transportation connections would have preve~ted daily com- SLOVAKIA 41 muting, to acquire a secondary education. Others could avoid the otherwise inflated living costs in the cities.(75) The government also sought to increase the percentage of women in the schools. By the year i937-38 girls made up nearly one-third of the students in the gymnasia, ~though as noted above, a smaller percentage actually completed the final year (and presumably the maturita exam). In the teacher training institutes more than half of the total enrollees were girls. Government regulations specified that these institutes were to have equal numbers of boys and girls. (76) As the country began to emerge from the depression, there developed also a rapid increase in the total enrollment of the secondary schools. There were a number of reasons for this, including the growth of cities, better preparation in elementary schools, and the increased post-war birth rate. The government responded by approving various arrangements to open new schools, including some sponsored by cities and some by church bodies. They were made possible under Article 54 of Hungarian law XXX-1883,(77) under which the state assumed responsibility for paying the personnel, who had to meet state qualification standards, while the sponsoring group paid the operating expenses. The schools charged higher tuition, but these higher rates were usually justified by the savings in transportation costs which students would otherwise have had to pay if they were commuting to another school. There were several of these schools in Kosice operated by church groups. Examples of city-sponsored schools were in Piest'any, Koma.mo, and Topol'cany. Acceptance of these arrangements occurred because of an improvement in the economic situation, (78) the fact that there was no longer doubt about the ability of these schools to attract a sufficient number of qualified professors , and the ability of the organizations to meet the requirements of XXX-1883. The analysis of placement - where did the graduates go - is a task beyond the goals of this paper. The central government apparently did not concern itself with these matters except for a brief period during the depression.(79) Many of the secondary schools themselves did not bother with such records either. Occasionally the yearbooks or reports to the Ministry of Education contained information about the future plans of the graduates. It is only in scattered cases at the time of the dedication of a new building or during a celebration of an anniversary that the occupations of the graduates were recorded at all, e.g., Kremnica-1937 or Zlate Moravce-1924. Unfortunately, these samples are not sufficiently broad to draw any conclusions . There is an intriguing organization called the Sprostredkovatel'na prace pre nezamestnanu inteligenciu na Slovensku, which evolved in 1934. 42 SLOVAKIA Sponsored by the Slovak League and the Economic Institute of Slovakia and Ruthenia, with the apparent support of the Agrarian Party, it collected data on graduates and their job searches.(80) Even without these data, let me suggest some judgments on the development of the intelligentsia in interwar Slovakia. First of all, it is clear that significant progress was made . The very fact that the independent Slovak State was able to function at all is evidence of this progress.(81) The Slovak State would not have been possible in 1918. By 1938, the large majority of the intelligentsia was Slovak in language and feeling . Under the situation prevailing before 1918, many of these people would have become members of the intelligentsia, but it would have been as Hungarians, not as Slovaks. It seems that there was not an intellectual proletariat in Slovakia.(82) As Ivan Derer pointed out, even in the depths of depression in 1933 all qualified Slovak high school and elementary teachers had positions.(83) He also catalogued the many other positions which Slovaks filled.(84) What the Czechoslovak Republic failed to do was to institutionalize in Slovakia a system of education which would provide the specialized skills and training requisite for the broad range of cadres - bureaucratic, managerial, technical, and professional - that are required to conduct a modern nation. Insufficient emphasis was put on the education that would develop leaders in industry, commerce, and even agriculture. This type of policy requires particular effort because in fluid postwar situations, there is a tendency to chose occupations where training is short and not too strenuous and the prospects of rapid enrichment promising.(85) This helps to explain Slovakia's lack of military men , of engineers , and of doctors. One must also keep in mind that the younger members of the small Slovak intelligentsia in 1918 had been able to gain positions of influence at a young age, something that could not be continued after the revolutionary wave had subsided and the Czechs who had come to Slovakia to help had become entrenched. (86) The young Slovak intelligent was not unemployed, but underemployed. One must recall that particularly in later years the central government had doubts as to whether it could trust the Slovak intelligentsia. Whatever feelings of distress this under-employment engen~red were worsened by the attitudes carried over from the Hungarian\ experience that education was the road to success .(87) Pre-independe:o.ce lead,ership was in the hands of a highly visible educated majority,. which fostered assumptions of the links between education , political mobility, and the benefits accruing to members of the intelligentsia. SLOVAKIA 43 Quite probably , time was too short to produce a large enough intelligentsia in all fields. (88) In twenty years , the Czechoslovak government laid the groundwork for the future , and for twenty years built on it. The restoration of the Czechoslovak Republic after World War II provided the opportunity to look critically at what had and had not been done before in the area of intelligentsia development and to make adjustments. · ' But it was not just a matter of insufficient time. I would suggest that the interwar Czechoslovak government was not concerned with developing a specifically Slovak intelligentsia. Instead, its main goal was to reclaim the entire area of Slovakia for the Czechoslovak nationstate. By establishing a large number of Slovak secondary schools in cities of any size, especially those with large Hungarian populations , it could insure that this was done . But the early success of these centralist policies delayed recognition of certain aspects of the developing Slovak problem. If a Slovak nation was to be a viable entity, it required Slovak participation in all aspects and at all levels of society , not just where vacancies existed in a larger Czechoslovak society. One of the reasons for the above-mentioned lack of a Slovak technical university was the assumption that sufficient numbers of persons (mostly Czechs and Germans) were being educated in Bohemia and Moravia. Such an institution in Slovakia was said to be superfluous. If the concept of national self-awareness is not considered , then such an approach is plausible. On the other hand, when a nation has a feeling of running its affairs in the state in which it exists , even if that state be multinational, it has much greater reason to support the continued existence of that state. It then has no reason to trade the security it knows for the uncertainty of separation. Most Slovaks were initially very willing to cooperate with the Czechs, as demonstrated in the Martin declaration, recognizing that it was primarily Czech activities which had achieved the separation of Slovakia from Hungary and its attachment to the Czech Lands. But if Czechoslovakism embodies something more than Greater Czechism , it implied the balanced development of both parts and peoples of the country . If not, then the Slovaks were ipso facto a minority . Prior to 1938, the international political setting mitigated against any Slovak separation, since some kind of political attachment to Hungary or Poland would have resulted, yet active recognition of the concept of a Slovak nation by the Czechoslovak government would have strengthened Slovak resistance, alongside the Czechs , to the developing German threat. 44 SLOVAKIA Masaryk did not see in the Slovak case what he had been so willing to see in the Czech: the desire, as a nation, to develop and administer a complete society, particularly when that nation is part of the multinational state. He admitted in 1931 that he did not himself fully understand the Czech-Slovak relationship. I believe ... that the Comenius University helps the young to understand the true political and cultural task of Slovakia in our Republic. In a large degree it is the question of the relationship between Czechs and Slovaks. I have considered this problem myself and I must think still further about it.(89) While it might be argued that Masaryk was merely being respectful to his hosts, it is more likely the uncertainty he expressed was real. The so-called Castle group which gathered around Masaryk may have been nationally tolerant,(90) but it did not actively promote the development of individual nationalities.(91) One cannot, then, say the interwar Czechoslovak Republic did not, through its educational and cultural system, develop an intelligentsia in Slovakia. As has been shown, it made substantial progress. But it may be criticized for not actively supporting the production of an intelligentsia tailored to meet the needs of Slovakia, which by meeting the Slovak desire for self-management, would have strengthened the integrity of the Czechoslovak state. FOOTNOTES As Lucien W . Pye has noted, there is a large gap between the broad assumptions about the importance of education in national development and the limited amount of research on the subject. See Lucien W . Pye , " Foreword," in Education and Political Development , ed . James Coleman, Princeton, N .J ; rrinceton University Press, 1965, p . v. ' (2) Victor S. Mamatey, " The Development of Czechoslovak Democracy ," in A History of the Czechoslovak Republic 1918-1948, ed. by Victor S. Mamatey and Radomir Luza, Princeton, N.J .: Princeton University Press , 1973 , p. 118 . (3) R. W . Seton-Watson , A History of the Czechs and Slovaks , Hamden, Connecticut: Archon Books, 1965, p . 336. (4) Prehled teskoslovenskych dejin: Maketa , m, Prague: Nakladatelstvi Ceskoslovenske Akademie Ved, 1960. (5) Historicky fosopis , Vol. XXI , No . 1 (1973) , p. 155. (6) Oldriska Kodedova, Ceskoslovensky tasopis historicky, Vol. XXI, No. 1 (1973) , p. 114. (1) SLOVAKIA 45 ' (7) Jozef Matej, "Sucasny stav a perspektivy rozvoja dejin pedagogiky na Slovensku," Jednotna skola, Vol. XXVI, No. 1 (January 1974) , pp . 56-70 . (8) E .g ., Seton-Watson, Czechs and Slovaks, p . 323; Stefan Krcmery , "A Survey of Modern Slovak Literature ," Slavonic and East European Review, Vol. VI (1928), p . 160. (9) Anton Stefanek, Zaklady sociografie Slovenska , Bratislava: Slovenska Akademia Vied , 1944, pp . 137-142. (10) Conversations with Slovak historians, 1973-74. (ll) Anton Stefanek, " Novoslovaci," Sociologicka revue, Vol. VI, No. 3-4 (1935), pp. 272-3 . (12) Ludwig v. Gogolak , Beitrage zur Geschichte des slowakischen Volkes, ill Muenchen : R. Oldenbourg Verlag, 1972, p . 163; Ferdinand Peroutka, Budovani statu, I, Praha : Fr. Borovy, 1936, p . 208 . (13) Jozef Matej, Kapitoly z dejin slovenskeho skolstva apedagogiky (19. a 20. storoc!ie), Bratislava: Univerzita Komenskeho, 1972, 2nd ed., p . 71. (14) Letter to author, February 2, 1973. (15) Josef Borovicka, Ten Years of Czechoslovak Politics, Prague : Orbis , 1929, p . 44 . (16) Peroutka , Budo vani statu, I, p . 207. (17) Stefanek, Zaklady , p . 114. (18) Jaroslav Kopac, Dejiny skolstvi a pedagogiky v Ceskoslovensku, I, Brno: Universita J. E. Purkyne, 1971 , p. 48 footnote . There were some exceptions to the rule, however, such as the fact that high school graduation was not a requirement for the highly influential position of notary. (19) Gustav Husak, "Zprava predsedu socialnej komisie SSS," Vyroc!na zprava 1935-36: 15 rokov Sviizu Slovenskeho Studentstva v Bratislave , p . 13. (20) Czechoslovakia-Statistical Abstract , Prague : Orbis, 1963 , p. 18 . (21) Mirko Trnovsky, ed ., Sbornik prac profesorov evanj. kolej. slovenskeho gymnazia v Presove k vyroc!iu 1919-1939 Presov : Slovenska statna knihtlaciaren , 1940, p . 55 . (22) Vratislav Busek , " Pravnicke studium ve svetle statistiky, " Pravny obzor, Vol. XX, No . 15-16 (1-15 October 1937), p . 688 . (23) Ibid., pp . 682-8 . (24) Matej , Kapitoly, 1st ed., p . 83, notes that the contents of a 1933 curriculum reform were directed toward two goals, theoretical preparation of the graduates for the university , and partly for the practical needs of life. (25) Skolstvo na Slovensku, Bratislava: Slovensky planovaci urad, 1949, p . 46. (26) Sociol6gia, Vol. IV, No . 3 (1972), pp . 193-204, as cited in ABSEES Soviet and East European Abstracts Series, ill, No. 2 (26) (Oct. 1972), p . 167. (27) Stefanek, Zaklady , p . 296 . (28) Jan M. Novacky, ed ., Desat' rokov slo venskych strednych sk6l, Bratislava: Slovenska knihtlaciaren, 1929, pp . 68-71. Novacky's calculations omit the teacher training institutes operated by churches. The total for 1933-4 is actually 1542 , but the difference of 200 from the estimate can be wholly attributed to the doubled enrollment in the teacher training institutes in the early thirties - Zpravy Statniho uradu statistickeho republiky Ceskoslove nske, 1935, No. 3-7. 46 SLOVAKIA (29) Skolstvo, p . 47. (30) See the school's Vyrofod zprciva 1937-38, pp . 54-57. (31) See the school's Vyrofod zprdva 1937-38, pp. 13-15. (32) Priloha " Stredne skoly," Zprcivy §kolskeho referdtu v Bratislave ministerstva ~kolstva a ndrodnej osvety, 1922. (33) Paul R. Magocsi, " The Role of Education in the Formation of a National Consciousness ," East European Quarterly, Vo. Vll, No. 2 (Summer 1973) , p . 162 . (34) Paul E. Zinner, Communist Strategy and Tactics in Czechoslovakia, 1918-48, New York : Frederick A. Praeger, 1963 , p . 12; Stefimek, Zdklady , p . 386. (35) Matej, " Sucasny stav," pp. 56-70. (36) Josef Henrich and Mikulas Smok, Eenseignement clans la Republique Tchecoslovaque , Prague : Ostredni spolek ceskoslovenskych profesoru, 1923, p . 94. (37) Ibid. , p . 95. (38) Ibid., p . 91. (39) Matej , Kapitoly, 2nd ed ., p . 83. (40) Richard Homa, Patndct let Komenskeho university v Bratislaue, Bratislava, 1934, p . 9. {41) Michal Fedor, Poslanie a program Matice slovenskej na vychodnom Slovensku, Martin : Matica slovenska, 1966, p . 91. (42) Krcmery, "A Survey," p . 161. {43) Michal Potemra, ed ., Bibliografia slovenskych novin a c!asopisov do roku 1918, Martin : Matica· slovenska, 1958. (44) Seton-Watson, Czechs and Slovaks, p . 282 . (45) Related to author by Czech historian . Efforts to locate published citation to date fruitless . (46) Maria Kipsova et al., Bibliografia slovenskych a inorec!ouych nouin a c!asopisou z rokou 1919-1938, Martin : Matica slovenska, 1968. (47) Jozef Darmo , Slouenskci iurnalistika 1918-1938, II, Martin: Matica slovenska, 1966. (48) Soznam c!asopisou na Slouensku 1927, Bratislava: Tlacovy referat pre spravu Slovensku, 1927. (49) Darmo , Slouenskci iurnalistika, p . 159. (50) E .g ., Darmo . (51) Stefimek, Zdklady , p . 324. (52) Ibid ., pp . 318-324. (53) Bibliografia slouenskych knih 1919-1938, Vol. 1-XVIl, Martin : Matica slovenska, 1965 . (54) Stefimek, Z ciklady, p . 318. (55) Stefan Krcmery, " Slovak Literature," in Seton-~atson , Slovakia Then & Now , p . 141 . \ (56) Stefanek, Zciklady , pp . 313-314. (57) Manuel Statistique de la R epublique Tchechoslo uaque, ill, Prague : Statni urad statisticky, 1928, pp. 17-19. A law of February 1919 set up in each community SLOVAKIA 47 educational committees to con\ truct libraries and run lectures and courses . In Slovakia, this matter was generally handled by the local branch of Matica slovenska. (58) Annuaire statistique de la Republique Tchecoslovaque , 1934, Prague: L'Office de Statistique de la Republique Tchecoslovaque, 1934, Table XIV-17 . (59) Stefanek, Zdklady , p. 303 . (60) Peter Vajcik , " Zvesti z Literarno-vedeckeho odboru SSV ," Kultura, Vol. VII , No. 1 (1935) , p . 38 . (61) Ivan Kusy, " Obnovenie Matice slovenskej a jej uloha za predmnichovskej CSR, " in Matica slovenskd v na§ich dejindch: Sbornik stati, Bratislava: Vydavatel'stvo Slovenskej Akademie Vied, 1963 , pp. 224-232 . (62) Frantisek Bokes, Snahy o organizovanie slovenskej vedy od konca 18. storoi!ia do vzniku SAV, Bratislava: Vydavatel'stvo Slovenskej Akademie Vied, 1967, p. 65. (63) Miroslav Kropilak, "Zakladne kulturnopoliticke problemy Slovenska v rokoch 191838 ," in Matica slovenskd v na§ich dejindch, p. 205 . (64) In particular note the Spolok profesorov Slovakov, which after its founding in 1921 worked particularly for better placement of Slovak teachers in Slovak high schools. Viz its Sbornik Spolku profesorov Slovdkov . (65) Hendrich and Smok, Eenseignement , p . 73. (66) Karel Veleminsky, "Czecho-Slovak Secondary Schools ," in The Czecho-Slovak Republic , Prague: Czecho-Slovak Foreigners' Office, 1919, Vol. IV, Part 3 , p . 13 . In 1919, the Ministry of Education carried out a census in Slovakia for the purpose of determining how many schools would be needed. Peroutka, Budo vdni stdtu , I, p. 210. (67) Stefanek, " Education in Pre-War Hungary ," p . 121. (68) Gogolak , Beitrage , ill, p . 160. (69) Annuaire statistique , 1935, Table 11-17 and 1937, Table 11-4. (70) Milos Trap! , " Ke skolske legislative obecnych a obcanskych (mest'anskych) skol a jejimu uplatnovani v ceskych zemich 1918-1922," in Z dejin i!eskeho §kolstv i, ed by Ervin Koukal , Prague : Statni pedagogicke nakladatelstvi, 1970, p . 44 footnote 82. (71) Stefanek, "Education in Pre-War Hungary," p . 121. (72) Victor S. Mamatey , ''The Establishment of the Republic,'' in Mamatey and Luz.a, A History, p . 30 . (73) Gogolak , B eitrage , ill, p . 165. (74) Hendrich and Smok , Eenseignement , p . 34. (75) See Msano 52143-1920 Odbor V Oddeleni 19 of 15 August 1920, Carton 1297-State Central Archive (SOA) - Prague. The " intemats" also separated the students from parental influence which " is not always characterized by friendly feelings toward our state ." - Instruktorat Ministerstva socialnej starostlivosti (IMSS) Carton 5 item 276 in Slovak State Central Archive (SSOA) - Bratislava. This particular item is a letter from the acting headmaster of the Banska Stiavnica real gymnasium to the Ministerstvo socialni pece c. 798-1920 of 15 July 1920. (76) Skolstvo , pp . 23 , 11 1, and 150. (77) The fir st law passed in the new Czechoslovak Republic decreed that all laws in force in Austria-Hungary would be carried over to the new state . This explains how Hungarian law would be considered in Slovakia . 48 SLOVAKIA (78) E.g., note willingness of Fimini (Ministry of Finance) and Nejvyssi ucetni kontrolni urad (NUKU) to postpone indefinitely closing of school in exchange for opening of realka in Bardejov, or to substitute a closing of a school in Bohemia or Moravia-Msano 104.048-1938 Odbor ill Oddeleni 2 of 1 July 1938-Carton 1297-SUA. (79) Msano , 2637-1934 Pres . Odd . Studijni, 20 April 1934 , SUA , Carton 1445. (80) Okresny archiv, Prievidza , Prievidza gymnasium collection, 605-1934 and 214-1936 (Carton 3) . (81) Frederick G. Heymann, Poland & Czechoslovakia, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1966. (82) This contradicts Zinner's assertions in Communist Strategy, p. 12 . (83) Ivan Derer, Ceskoslovenskci otcizka, Prague: Orbis , 1935, p. 38. (84) Ibid . (85) R. W. Seton-Watson, "Introduction . Czechoslovakia and the Slovak Problem ," in Slovakia Then and Now, p . 62. (86) James S. Coleman, " Introduction : Education and Political Development " in Education and Political Development discusses the tension that develops with lack of political mobility for the second generation. Thomson 's assertion that the Czechoslovak government adhered to a policy of returning Czech officeholders to the historic lands as soon as possible does not hold up . S. Harrison Thomson , Czechoslovakia in European History , Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1953, p . 334. (87) See page 184. (88) See Matej, Kapitoly, 2nd ed., p . 86. (89) Zprciva o tinnosti Spolku pre postavenie a vydriovanie Universitnej koleje a akademickej menzi, 1930, p . 6. (Speech at Bratislava.) (90) Kopac, Dejiny ~kolstvi, I, p . 11. (91) It has been suggested that the Czechs erred in Slovakia after 1918 by trying to transform before forming a nation . See Jan Hajda, " The Role of the Intelligentsia in the Developme nt of the Czechoslovak Society,'' in The Czechoslovak Contribution to World Culture ed. by Miroslav Rechcigl , The Hague: Mouton , 1964, pp . 307-312.  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Slovak Intelligentsia, 1918-1938 Description An account of the resource Owen V. Johnson Slovakia, Vol. 28 (No. 51-52), 1978-79 pp. 25-48 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Johnson, Owen V. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1978-79 LCNAF https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/67406a640fb71c7f19f8eb1fdefe8c0e.pdf a2394ec21e2f99a13346f09b9ba36ddb PDF Text Text SLOV AKIA Pu-blished by the Slovak League of America VOL. XVI 1966 N O. 39 THE SLOVAK LANGUAGE AND ITS PLACE AM.ONG THE SLAVIC LANGUAGES J. M. Kirschbaum I. Introductory Note A review of symposia, surveys and handbooks,1 dealing with Slavs and their languages, indicates that there is a certain confusion as far as the language of the Slovaks and their literary media are concerned. The confusion seems to have been created, on one hand, by Slavists and literary historians who failed to draw a proper distinction between the native and spoken language of the Slovaks and their written or literary language. On the other hand, the misconceptions were intentionally spread by philologists and literary historians who were influenced by political views and aspirations, and some Slavists accepted them without the necessary caution required in scholarly works. As a result, we find in manuals and symposia on Slavic peoples or in works on philology and Slavic languages either the thesis that the Slovak language is merely a dialect of the Czech, or that Slovak became a literary language only at the beginning of the XIXth century. Some surveys speak even of a Czechoslovak language. Before analyzing these misconceptions, it may perhaps be stated that the claim that Slovak is but a dialect of the Czech language, was not based on facts of history or philology. It was a biased opinion of those who tried to give a scholarly basis to political aspirations denying to the Slovaks the right to their independent national and cultural life. And there lay also the origins of the erroneous thesis that Slovak began to be used as a literary language only from the second half of the nineteenth century. Slovak philologists and linguists (Bernolak, Safarik, Stur, Czambel, Skultety, Bartek, Stanislav, Novak, Pauliny) �2 SLOVAKIA rejected, during the last two centuries, all these biased theories and looked for linguistic criteria to determine the origin and the main characteristics of the Slovak language. They reviewed the historic forms of the Slovak tongue, and by scholarly methods and comparative study of Slavic languages determined the place of Slovak among Slavic languages. 2 Works of Slovak philologists, except for those of Safarik and partly Stur and Czambel, remained, however, for a long time ·e ither unknown to foreign Slavists, or were interpreted incorrectly. As a result, we find only recently in linguistic studies, published outside Slovakia, the proper distinction between the Slovak language and the literary media used by Slovaks, and a rejection of the thesis that Slovak has been but a dialect of the Czech language or that there is a Czechoslovak language. According to these studies, during long centuries, Slovak people spoke their own Slovak dialects, which developed from the primitive Slavic after its disintegration, into the modern Slovak language, but they used several literary media. It was first the Old Church Slavonic, in the 9th and 10th centuries, afterwards the Latin language, the Biblical Czech (used by the Protestant minority until the second half of the 19th century), the literary Slovak based on Slovak western dialects and finally the revised present form , based on central Slovak dialects.3 On the following pages, we shall attempt to p0int out and analyze the main misconceptions about the Slovak language and the literary media used in Slovakia and define the place of Slovak among Slavic languages in the light of recent linguistic research of European Slavists, including the Marxist philologists of Slavic countries.4 II. Views and conceptions of Slovak philologists In their scholarly studies of phonology, etymology, lexicology and grammar Slovak philologists and linguists maintained continuously the point of view that the Slovak language has been distinct from any other Slavic tongue. This was not so clear and evident to Slavists of the 19th century, according to Slovak philologists, because philology was in its infancy and used primitive methods.5 Recent research, how- �SLOVAKIA 3 ever, proves that Slovak language has been the real and original national tongue of the inhabitants of Slovakia since the dawn of history, and the linguistic analysis of the fundamental roots of the Czech and Slovak languages and a comparative study of their developments showed that Slovak language never was a part of the Czech or so-called "Czechoslovak" language.6 If we accept the theiiis, supported by Trubeckoj ,7 that in the ninth century the Old Slavonic &1:.ill was the common tongue of the Slavs with a unified phonology, and that from the ninth century different dialects developed into distinct Slavic languages, it is to be assumed, according to Slovak philologists, that among them was also the Slovak tongue. There is no historical or philological reason why it should not be claimed that at the time of disintegration of the Old Slavonic and of the rise of new independent Slavic languages, Slovak was among them and that its development cannot be identified with that of the Czech language.8 This thesis is strengthened also by the fact that the Slovak territory was annexed after the collapse of Great Moravia, by Hungary and, hence, the only contact the Slovaks had with Czechs was through Moravians who have continued to speak a Slovak dialect in spite of the pressure of the Czechs from the West, and to the p-resent time they have retained their own phonological structure. Consequently, the relation between the Czech and Slovak languages became a matter of controversy because of political aspirations of some Czech politicians and scholars and not because of philological reasons - is the view of Slovak philologists. In fact, as early as in the 16th century Vavrinec Benedikti z Nedozier (1555-1615), a learned Slovak philologist and professor at the Prague University exhorted his Slovak countrymen to cultivate their native tongue. He wrote his appeal in a grammar he composed for Czechs, which makes it clear that already for him there were two different languages. 9 From the sixteenth century on, there are numerous proofs that Slovak erudities, with the exception of a few protestants, considered Slovaks as one of the "tribes" of Slavic nation, but speaking their own "dialect" different from the Czech, Polish or Russian, using the word dialect for our term language. Slovak was used not only in homiletic �4 SLOVAKIA writings, but also in scholarly works and poetry, especially since the middle of the 17th century around the University of Trnava (founded 1635) and, at the end of the 18th century, Anton Bernolak only codified a language in use in his linguistic works Dissertatio, Gramatica slavica and his huge pentalingual Dictionary. 10 The well-known Slavist, P. J . Safarik, and initially also Jan Kollar, were aware of the fact that there had been a Slovak ~anguage and Slovak literature, different from the Czech or the other Slavic languages and literatures. Safarik gave testimony to it in his Geschichte der Slawischen Sprache und Literatur in allen Mundarten (1826) , and when some Czech leaders reproached him and his scholarly objectivity, Safarik indignantly announced that he would go even farther in stressing the differences than he did in his book.11 Jan Kollar was also instrumental originally in preparing Sti'.lr's reform and later changed his mind and became an advocate of a common literary language with the Czechs (which he called "old Slovak" ) because of reasons which Slovak literary historians avoid to discuss. The great poet of Panslavism had also some human deficiencies like very high personal pride and terrible temper, and took it as an insult ,that Stur and his group dared to do something in Slovak cultural life without consulting him or without his patronage. 12 This "crimen lesae majestatis" moved Kollar to opose Stu.r's reform and the final acceotance of the Slovak literary language also by Slovak protest;nts. Safarik did not change his scholarly views which he expressed in his Geschichte, but being employed in Prague and financially supported by Czech patriots, he tried to convince his Slovak countrymen that they should not move too far from Czechs and suggested that the Czech should be adjusted to the Slovak linguistic phenomena and peculiarities. "The will of the Slovak groups to assert their own national individuality was, however, too strong", as admitted by Radl, 13 and Stu.r's reform was victorious over Kollar's protests and Safa:rik's advices, because it was in line with the linguistic facts and centuries' long Slovak national development. The reasons for a sporadic use of the Czech language for administrative and partly also for literary purposes (mainly by the Slovak Protestants) which some Czech philologists considered as a proof of national and linguistic unity of the �SLOVAKIA 5 Czechs and Slovaks, have been reconsidered by several "bourgeois" and "marxist" philologists and literary historians. There are at least three theories om the penetration of the Czech language into the Slovak territory. One theory refers to the continuation of relations between Slovaks and Moravians (who adopted the Czech language) from trhe time of Great Moravia, which relations survived the collapse of that state and developed between the Moravian cultural center Olomouc arnd Slovak religious centers. More acceptable and also more elaborated is the theory ascribing the use of the Czech language to the fact that Czech clerks were used at certain periods not only in the Slovak territory but also in Hungary and Poland in state and city-administration. 14 In Slovakia, the use of the Czech, adapted to local dialects, survived because of the Reformation which penetrated into Slovakia from Germany and Bohemia with Bible and religious books writteJ) in the old Czech, and because during the Counter-Reformation "many protestant Czechs found shelter in Slovakia and even printed books in Czech for the purpose of smuggling them into Bohemia" .15 Settled in Slovakia, the Czech refugees tried to keep all Slovak protestants linked to Bohemia by language also in secular writings. 16 Around 1840, it became, however, clear to the leaders of the Protestant minority in Slovakia that the Czech language was not intelligible to the common people, that their writings could not reach Slovak population and for reasons which U. Stur explained in his Narecia slovenskuo and other writings, they agreed with Catholics who used the Slovak for homiletic as well as for secular writings from the 16th century, on the reform taking for basis central Slovak dialects, and on the exclusive use of Slovak in Slovak literature. Stur's reform, by which the Slovak language was finally established as a literary medium of all Slovaks, has been accepted by the Slovak intelligentsia within a very short space of time, and it received its final linguistic , form in the grammar of a Catholic priest, Martin Hattala. Thus the peculiar situation of multilingualism in modern Slovak literature was changed. 17 During all these centuries, Slovak people spoke, as we mentioned before, their own Slovak dialects which developed from the Old Slavonic after its disintegration into modern Slovak language, which happened more or less at the same �6 SLOVAKIA time at which other central European peoples began to use vernacular for literary purposes. On the position of Slovak among Slavic languages, Slovak philologists expressed various opinions. 18 V. Jagic in his book Entstehungsgeschichte der Kirchenslawischen Sprache, wrote that "in Great Moravia people must have spoken in the ninth century a tongue which in its fundamentals was identical with the Slovak language of today". J . Dobrovsky admitted that certain linguistic phenomena linked Slovak with South Slavic languages and S. Czambel elaborated linguistically a theory to prove that the question as to whether Slovak is closer to Western Slavic or to the Southern Slavic group of languages deserves to be reconsidered by philologists. Stur viewed the position of the Slovak language as a central clearing house, mainly because he was conscious of many of its similiarities with the Slavic tongues of the East, West, North and South, especially noting the South Slavic dialects with which Slovak came into intimate contact during long centuries. 19 Recent studies indicate that the Slovak language conserved many archaic forms and expr-essions common to all Slavs. Remaining for centuries only a spoken vernacular of the people, it was affected mainly by the influence of neighbouring Slavic peoples, and since it was codified in the era of the revival of Slavonic peoples, the Slovak cultural and political leaders saw to it that Slovak language might conserve its central position and Slavic purity. Kollar himself argued, and some Slavists of that time accepted his idea that the Slovak language "stands grammatically and geographically in the center of all Slav dialects" and the Tatra mountains are the "nest and cradle of all Slavs" which, of course, the modern science of history, archeology and ethnography challenges. However, U1.e central position of the Slovak language, geographically or linguistically, is accepted to a great extent even by modern philology. According to de Bray "the Slovaks have preserved a beautifully soft and musical language, which might well serve as a modern "Common Slav" or lingua franca among the Slavs today. For modern Slovak is the most comprehensible of the living Slavonic languages to all other Slavs. Just as the Slovaks occupy geographically a central position among the Slavs, so, too, their language, in its �SLOVAKIA 7 sounds and forms, is the nearest to an all-round compromise between the various Slavonic languages, having features which make it near both to East and South Slav, as well as to the other West Slav languages. 20 In fact, the Slovaks - either educated or common people - do not experience much difficulty in communicating in Slovak with Poles, Ukrainians, C:ziechs, Russians, or Slovenes and Croats, as has been proven even on the American Continent, since basically there ar,e no great differences among Slavic languages, and in the case of the Slovak language, history and geography made it close not only to Polish and Czech, but also to Ukrainian and South Slavic, Slovenian and Croat. 21 Slovak intellectuals of the nineteenth century read not only Polish or Czech poets and writers in original, but also Russian and Ukrainian, Croat and .Slovenian. Modern scientific and literary development drifts the twelve Slavic languages more apart. Nevertheless, even if we cannot agree with the nineteenth century poet that "with the Slovak language you may travel Earth's four corners", the fact remains that Slovaks are able to communicate in their own vernacular with the majority of the Slavic peoples. III. Views and conceptions of European Slavists As for European Slavists, including the present-day Czech philologists, some of their recent studies would indicate that they corrected many of the erroneous views they held on the relation between the Slovak and Czech and the origin of the Slovak literary language. It is evident that the modem techniques in linguistics and philology have thrown new light on the subject and have been instrumental in giving modified conceptions that are far advanced beyond the hasty unwarranted conclusions of the amateur-philologists or linguists serving political aspirations. Noteworthy among the new conceptions are not only those which defend the distinct and ancient character of the Slovak among Slavic languages but also the views that the history of the Slovak literary language necessarily begins in the 9th century with the Old Church Slavonic as the first literary medium in Slovakia. This view has been held by Slovak literary historians .for a long time, but never was considered before by foreign �8 SLOVAKIA Slavists. Recently, howev,er, the well-known Polish philologist T. Lehr-Splawinski expressed the following view: "The beginnings of the literary language in Slovakia are connected with the period of activities of ConstantineCyril and Methodius in the Moravian state. As the whole of Slovakia was, without ,any doubt, a part of that state, and the important centers of its political and cultural life were situated on the Slovak territory, writings in the old ChurchSlavonian language must have undoubtedly developed among the Slovaks in the last quarter of the IXth century". 22 R. Auty, from the University of Cambridge, in his paper, presented to the VIIIth Congress of the International Federation of Modern Languages & Literatures at Liege, August 1960, corrected misconceptions on Bernolak and Stur and their reforms. Anton Bernolak codified in 1870 a language which was already in use, according to Auty, and "in the following fifty or sixty years a considerable number of literary and other works were published or written in this (Bernolak's) form of Slovak". 23 The Czech language was, according to Auty, "sporadicalin Slovakia (with certain local modification) for used ly administrative and, still more occasionally, literary purposes". The reasons for this sporadic usage of Czech for administrative and "mor,e occasionally" also for literary purposes, are explained by Auty in his statement that "since the Reformation the Czech had been the language of the Lutheran scriptures and Church Services in Slovakia". "Stur, Protestant though he was, acted against what he regarded as an unnatural linguistic situation which had been brought about by the hazards of history. His reaction was radical" - says Auty, and gives a detailed picture of the changes which were brought about in the Slovak language by the agreement of the Catholics and Protestants in order to end bilingualism in Slovak literature. Auty's views on the reform of the , Slovak literary language which took place in the 1840's are fairly in line with the historical truth and recent r-esearch. According to him "Catholic and Protestant Slovaks agreed to accept a new written form of their language for all purposes: this has been worked out by U. Stur in discussion with other Slovak intellectual leaders in the perfod 1842-44 and was somewhat modified by M. M. Hodza and M. Hattala in subsequent years". _,/ �SLOVAKIA 9 Stur "on more than one occasion praised the work of Bernolak, and above all, the poetry of Jan Holly and fully accepted one element of Bernolak's linguistic reform - the orthographical system" - continues Auty. The general pattern of the language, as fashioned by Stur, was in accordance with the needs of Slovak Society and has proven itself - and Stur's genius - by its survivor". 2 " R. G. A. de Bray, in his Guide to the Slavonic Languages, is equally close to the views of Slovak philologists and literary historians. "It is not true to say" - writes de Bray - "that Slovak was not written till the nineteenth century, as some assert. It is true that the modern literary language, as we know it today, was then first stabilized, but there are traces of the Slovak language in the local Latin documents from the elev,enth to the fifteenth centuries, Latin being the official language at the time". 25 On the relation between the Czech and Slovak de Bray expressed the following view: "While the phonetic system of Slovak is more conservative than that of Czech and so is nearer to that of Old Slavonic and other Slavonic languages, its morphological system has developed further than that of Czech, its nearest relative, mainly through the workiings of analogy and the generalization of certain standard endings, especially in the plural of nouns. Both the 1st and 2nd palatalization of gutturals occur less frequently in the declensions than they do in Czech, owing to the workings of analogy, as in Russian and Slov•enian. And in general Slovak morphology has fewer irregularities, exceptions, and archaic survivals, such as the declension of Kamen (- stone) in Czech. Prof. Roman Smal-Stocki in his paper Discrimination and Bias in Two Unesco Publications also raised his voice against treating Slovak and Czech "as one unit". "From the linguistic point of view" - says Prof. Smal-Stocki - "it js inadmissible to mix state units with existing languages and to treat "as one unit" Czech and Slovak, because the linguistic fact is that in existence are two separate units, Czech and Slovak". 26 The contributors to the Encyclopedia Britanica (1959, Vol. 20) published some correct and some incorrect views, �10 SLOVAKIA but they grasped the essential points of difference between the Czech and Slovak. 27 "The Czech, as spoken and written today in Bohemia, diverges considerably from Slovak - says the Encyclopedia. The disagreement is least marked in vocabulary but appears prominently in the phonetics; in particular the itacism so distinct a characteristic of Czech, is non-existent in Slovak, which has preserved the fuller diphthongs (ia, ie, iu etc.) of the Slavonic languages; a further small.er point is the dz, from Common Slav dj, is used (as in Polish) where Czech has z. In one point only is there a divergence which goes back beyond the time of the common ancestry of the two languages; Slovak has not developed the t, which is characteristic of Czech and in that language occurs since the beginning of its literature. The Slovak palatalization of n, d, t and 1 after e, which does not occur in modern literary Czech, is a further point of disagreement, although this would not be obvious from Slovak spelling which does not find it necessary to distinguish by diacritics; consonanrts are always softened in this position". The Encyclopedia also points out to the relation of Slovak with other Slavic languages. It says: "The dialectical development shows some characteristics identical with those in South Slavonic and Russian. Not everywhere, for example, have u and i been confused, and instead of the e, which is the normal result in Slovak as in Czech, we find in Eastern dialects an o from the u, thus agreeing with Russian. An agreement with South Slavonic is the occurrence of raz- and la- and lo-. Because of these and other phonetic and morphological reasons the grammarian Czambel, a keen opponent of the identity of Czech and Slovak, has asserted that Slovak should rightly be associated with South Slavonic". 28 It would appear from this brief survey that European Sl~vists are very close to the views of Slovak philologists and that misconceptions, which we still can find in American symposia, considered hereafter, are disappearing from European Slavic studies. Very close to the views of European Slavists is also the well-known Canadian Slavist Prof. W. Kirkconnell who already in 1939 stated: "It cannot be too strongly emphasized that the Slovaks are not Czechs, and that there is no such ciieature as a 'Czechoslovak'. While they speak closely related Slavic languages, Slovak is not �SLOVAKIA 11 a mere dialect of Czech. The differences are about as great as those between the similarly related languages, Dutch and German. I have on my shelves Miroslav Kalal's Slovak-Czech dictionary (published 1924), in which there are 35,000 Slovak words that were apparently unintelligible to a Czech and hence required definition." (d. Canada, Europe, and Hitler, p. 44) IV. Misconceptions in American symposia and surveys With the sudden development of Slavic Studies on the American continent came hand in hand a large number of symposia, handbooks and surveys on Slavic literatures and langutlges. They are, however, written predominantly by scholars and writers with European schooling and background and, therefore, it is more appropriate to speak, in this respe0t, rather of American symposia than of American Slavists. A survey of several such symposia indicates that there are misconceptions not only in the relation of the Slovak with the Czech, but also on the history of the Slovak literary language and the role of foreign languages in Slovak literature. In this respect, we read not without surprise that even the well-known Slavist, Roman Jakobson, helped to spread some erroneous views on the Slovak language. In his study Slavic Languages, he writes as follows: "Toward the middle of the same (i.e. the 19th) century, the Slovaks, who had used literary Czech (somewhat adapted to their own habits) inaugurated their own literary language based on the central Slovak dialect but patterned after standard Czech". 29 Prof. A. Senn in Strakhovsky's Handbook of Slavic Studies, completed and modified Jakiobson's description of Slovak literary language. His classification of Slovak is correct, but we could hardly agree with certain parts of his definition. Prof. A. Senn says: "Slovak forms a connecting link with the South Slavic Slovenian and is more archaic than Czech. Otherwise differences between Czech and Slovak are not very great. Slovak became a literary language at the beginning of the nineteenth century . . . Slovak and Czech form one "Czechoslovak unit". �12 SLOVAKIA In the same symposium, another contributor, Otto Radl, admitted that "as early as 1635 in Trnava books were printed in different Slovak dialects", but he confusingly states further that it was only i,n 1844, in the period of Romanticism, that "the therefore common written language, the Czech, was being replaced by a newly-originated Slovak literary language". According to Radl "this movement had been begun at the end of the 18th century by the learned Slovak philologist Anton Bernolak who published several works in Latin in which he tried to show that the Slovaks were a separate nation and that they should therefore use their own distinctive written language based on dialects spoken in Western Slovakia". 30 A similar version can be found in Prof. H. S. Thompson's book "Czechoslovakia in European History", who says that "a deliberate effort to substitute for the written Czech then in use in Slovakia a language based upon a local dialect came from the Catholic camp only in 1790, when Anton Bernolak published a Gramatica slavica". However, he asserts further that "about the only followers Bernolak had were Catholic writers, and even among them the vogue for his grammar and dictionary soon died out. The year 1834-1835 is usually given" - concludes Thompson - "as the date of the rise of written Slovak, although strictly speaking, Stur did not make his first formal declarartion until 1846". 31 In R. J. Kerner's symposium Czechoslovakia and in V. Busek-N. Spulber's Czechoslovakia under Communism, we find only slightly modified or re-worded versions of the views mentioned above. "Catholic Slovaks under Bernolak tried to create with indifferent success a written Slovak dialect", we read in Kerner's symposium, and Busek-Spulber's symposium gives the following genesis of the Slovak literary language: " ... the first attempts were made (aside from earlier sporadic ventures) to establish a distinct Slovak literary language in the last decade of the 18th century by Anton Bernolak (1762-1813) who selected the Western Slovak dialects as a basis of the new literary medium: his suggestions, not elaborated linguistically, did not take permanent hold. "The decisive step towards the establishment of Slovak literary language was undertaken through the initiative of the Protestants. Ludovit St(ir selected the central Slovak dialect for the Slovak literary medium. Beginning in the �SLOVAKIA 13 1840's, several poets followed Stur and used the new literary language with great skill".32 It is perhaps not necessary to sum up all the mistaken assertions and impressions which we find in the symposia mentioned here. The foregoing views of European and Slovak philologists showed that Slovak was spoken by Slovak people from the dawn of their history and that it was in use for literary purposes from the 17th century, and Bernolak codified only a literary language used by the majority of Slovaks for more than 150 years. The function of the Czech language in Slovakia and the reasons for its sporadic use, besides Latin and Slovak, were also explained by Slovak as well as European Slavists. Responsibility for the lack of precision and mistaken views in American symposia might lay with the sources used by the contributors to these symposia. It would appear that they predominantly relied on old studies, which favoured the biased conceptions of linguistic, cultural -and political unity of Czechs and Slovaks, and which has been abandoned during the past two decades even by the Czech philologists, as we shall see from the survey of Czech and Slovak contemporary linguistic studies. Since all the symposia under review were edited or written by writers who specialized in Slavic studies, we might perhaps mention also at this point that academic precision would have required to say that before Stur's reform Slovaks used for literary purposes far more frequently Latin, on the Catholic side, and German, on the Protestant J.ide, than the Czech "somewhat adapted to their own hal>its". Bernolak codified Slovak language in Latin works, the first works on history of Slovakia were written by their Slovak authors also in Latin, and on the Protestant side Safarik wrote his first scholarly work in German, used Czech later only because he was forced to do it by unhappy circumstances, and Kollar also wrote in German his treatise on Slavic solidarity -Ober die Literarische Wechselseitigkeit zwischen den verschiedenen Stammen und Mundarten der slavischen Nation. Equally imprecise for a scholarly writer is to say that Stur's reform was based "on the central Slovak dialect but patterned after standard Czech". Recent research proves that Stur relied on Bernolak in many respects and that the literary language, reformed by Stur, "was not based on the dialect of any single area, but represented a kind of 'koine' of the �14 SLOVAKIA central Slovak dialects, eschewing features from both the eastern and western dialects" - as R. Auty correctly says and new works on Slovak language confiirm. V. "Marxist" conceptions of literary Slovak and the origins of the Slovak language Slovak philology has been exposed, since the inclusion of Slovakia into the Soviet political and cultural sphere, to the influence of Marxist criteria and method, and is gradually developing with considerable dependence on Soviet philology. There were strong attempts at the beginning to apply to Slovak philology "the theoretical directives given the Marxist philology by J. V. Stalin in his genial work Marxism and Problems of Linguistics"33 and later other Soviet examples were imitated. However, a considerable number of Slovak philologists adhered, in the first place, to scientific principles and methods and results of favourable development of Slovak philology are visible in two recent bibliographies, not only in the number of entries, but also in the number of fields covered. Scholarly research into the Slovak language is, of course, still the principal field of interest. The number of works, studies and articles referring to Slovak, its history and development during the period of 1939-1945 alone was over 1000 and amounts to 700 in Dvonc's Bibliography of Slovak philology which covers only the years 1948-1952. Many of these entries were written by highly qualified philologists of Slovak or foreign origin (J. Stanislav, L. Novak, E. Pauliny, V. Uhlar, A. Janosik, S. Peciar, J. Horecky, V. Blanar, E. Jona, Kniesza, Vazny, Kiraly, Stieber etc.) and they cover the history of literary languages in Slovakia, historical grammar, dialectology, ,etymology, phonology, orthography, vocabulary, etc. From the published works by the "marxist" philologists and literary historians it is obvious that the theses on the Slovak language, on the history of the Slovak literary language and on the function of some fureign languages (Czech, Czechoslovak) in Slovak literature, which theses were intended to support the political theory of a single Czechoslovak nation, have been definitely buried. Particularly noteworthy in this regard is the work of the Czech University Profe~or A. Dostal, 34 and of the Slovak school, Prof. E. Pauliny's Dejiny spisovnej slovenciny (History of Literary Slovak, Brati- �SLOVAKIA 15 slava, 1948), and A. Mraz's Dejiny slovenskej literatury (History of Slovak Literature, Bratislava, 1948), as well as the papers read at the Moscow Fourth International Congress of Slavists in 1958. Professor A. Dostal, in his work "Nastin dejin ceskeho a slovenskeho jazyka" published in Prague in 1954, accepted not only the thesis that the Slovak is a distinct and ancient tongue, but he also condemned the traditional views of Czech philologists. "Slovak language whose development goes back to ancient times, was established as a literary language in connection with the formation of Slovaks into a nation", says Dostal. "Its establishment cannot at all be viewed as a separation from the literary Czech language, but as a long, slow development towards a literary language ... " Prof Dostal goes even further and says that the attempts to impose the Czech language upon Slovaks as literary medium must be considered "as a negation of centuries long development which in the 1840's was already a historical fact in Slovakia ... " 35 The paper of Prof. E. Pauliny on bilingualism in the history of the Slovak literary language, d_eserves particular attention. Pauliny tries to explain the function of the Czech language in Slovakia in the XVth and the following centuries on the basis of social and economic phenomena and changes. He has arrived, nevertheless, at the same conclusions as the philologists who did not apply "Marxist criteria" in philology, i.e. that the Czech language was a foreign language in Slovakia and could not stand competition with the Slovak vernacular when the Slovak ethnicum evolved in its national consciousness. Literary Slovak won in spite of the fact that the Protestant minority, predominantly of Czech origin, at that time tried to maintain it even in the XIXth century when the Slovak literary language was established by the Catholic majority (80%) over a century ago. The relation between the Czech and Slovak is, therefore, according to Pauliny, that of bilingualism. 36 In the introduction to his book Dejiny spisovnej slovenciny, Pauliny understands the history of the language as the history of the origin, disappearance and changes of its individual styles. However, in the book itself, he divided the history of the Slovak literary language according to the �HS SLOVAKIA languages which were used by the Slovaks as literary languages in addition to the spoken vernacular from the time of the Greater Moravia. He writes: "Although, in this case, the period of the actual Slovak literary language can begin only with Bernolak, or with the period shortly before Bernolak, nevertheless, it is not possible to begin the history of the literary languages of the Slovaks either with Bernolak or Stur, but it is necessary to go deep into the past, all the way to the very beginnings of the historical period of our nation in the Greater Moravian epoch, nay, in certain matters, it is necessary to go even further, into the prehistoric period, when our ancestors were not yet baptized and did not participate in the Eul'opean culture which was introduced to us by Chl'istianity". In his contribution to a volume O vzajomnych vzt'ahoch Cechov a Slovakov, published in 1956 by the Slovak Academy of Sciences, Pauliny states that "Bernolak codified a language which can be traced in the writings of the middle-class, the lower nobility and educated Slovaks back to the 15th century, and this in both Catholic and Protestant writings". 37 Stu.r's reform, which is erroneously presented by some Slavists as the beginning of the Slovak literary language (in this respect even Jakobson is wrong), in Pauliny's view, is but a "younger branch of Bernolak's school". 38 In the opinion of Prof. A. Mraz, who still remains the main authority in Marxist literary history of Slovakia, Anton Bernolak reformed and codified the Slovak literary language and its orthography. 39 Mraz regards the activity which Ol'iginated around the Catholic University of Trnava (1635) as a starting point for introducing Slovak vernacular as a literary medium and stresses that the first manifestation of the new era in Slovak national life was the publication of Cantus Catholici by Benedict Szollosi in 1655. "The book Cantus Catholici", says Mraz, "laid the foundation on which the language used by Slovak Catholic writers, was formed into an independent Slovak literary language. Crystallization of the language, which Slovak Catholic writers used during the period of the University of Trnava (16351777), progressed so far in accordance with the spoken language in Western Slovakia that, when Bernolak and his followers came, at the end of the 18th century, with the idea �SLOVAKIA 17 of an independent literary language, they merely codified, in many respects, a language used and domesticated among the Catholic Slovak writers of the preceding period". 40 Scholarly basis to this conception of the development of the Slovak literary language was given by several philologists of today's Slovakia, among whom noteworthy is in the first place Prof. Jan Stanislav with his two volumes on the history of the Slovak language (Dejiny slovenskeho jazyka) and philological studies of J6na, Uhlar, Ruzicka, Peciar etc. 41 By a careful analysis of the fundamental roots of both languages, Czech and Slovak, as well as through the comparative study of their later developments, they revealed the true basis of the Slovak language and have classified it properly as one of the distinct Slavonic languages which developed after the disappearance of the Old Slavonic language. As a result of this development the relation between the two literary languages of today's Czecho-Slovakia is now officially accepted as a relation between two Slavic but distinct languages. The Czech poetry and prose are translated into the Slovak and vice versa as the Polish or Russian have been. Life and historical facts prevailed over artificial tendencies and theories a long time ago, and finally they have prevailed even over the reluctance of some politicians and philologists to recognize their victory. A century-long debate, as to whether Slovak is a dialect of the Czech language or a distinct Slavonic tongue, has thus been "officially" closed by the recognition on both Czech and Slovak sides that, from its earliest beginnings, the Slovak language has always manifested a distinct identity as a Slavonic tongue of the inhabitants of Slovakia. NOTES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY See the following symposia: R. J . Kerner, Czechoslovakia, (Berkeley, Calif., University of California Press, 1949), and L. I. Strakhovsky, ed. Handbook of Slavic Studies ( Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press, 1949) the article by 0 . Rad!. The chapter on the Slavic languages by A. Senn in the same symposium is in accordance with recent research. Slavonic Encyclopedia, chapter by J. S. Roucek (New York, 1949) in the same category as Kerner's symposium. 2. See Eugen Pauliny, Dejiny spisovnej slovenciny (Bratislava, Slovenska Akademia vied a umeni, 1948) . 3. Cf. A. Mraz, Die Literatur der Slovaken (Wien, 1943). 1. �18 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21 . SLOVAKIA Cf. Prof. A. Dostal, Ncistin dejin ceskeho a siovenskeho jazyka (Prague, 1954), pp. 200-206. Cf. J. M. Kirschbaum, "Contemporary Tendencies in Slovak Philoiogy", Etudes siaves et Est Europeennes, IV, (1959-60 ), pp. 163-174. Cf. E. Pauliny, op. cit., and Jan Stanislav, Dejiny siovenskeho jazyka (Bratislava, 1957), p. 326, also H. Bartek, siovensky pravopis, (Whiting, Ind., 1956). N. S. Toubetzkoy, Grundzuge der Phonofogie, (Prague, 1939), pp. 117, 136, 141. J. Dobrovsky and P. J. Safarik have traced the linguistic line which separated the Czech and Slovak dialects around the Moravia. Cf. J. Skultety, Sketches from siovak History, (Middetown, Pa., 1936) and his Stodvadsat'piit' rokov zo siovenskeho zivota, Turc. Sv. Martin, 1920. Cf. E. Pauliny, Dejiny spisovnej siovenciny, p. 41. Benedicti Grammaticae Bohemicae iibri due, (Prague, 1603) p. VI, has written: "Neque tamen ego hie eos ad Bohemicam linguam cogo, sed ad exercitationem et culturam ipsorum idiomatis invito: praesertim cum non tantum in civitatibus et oppidis, sed etiam in pagis scholis abundent". Cf. E. Pauliny, op. cit., pp. 57 and 113, and A. Mraz, Dejiny siovenskej Hteratury, p. 108. See, J. Skultety, op. cit., p. 23, and Jaroslav Vlcek, Medzi Vcihom a Vitavou, (Bratislava 1957), pp. 228-234. J. Skultety, op. cit., pp. 20-30. L. I. Strakhovsky, op. cit., pp. 494-495. E. Pauliny, op. cit., pp. 30-36. 0. Radl, in L. I. Strakhovsky's Handbook of siavic Studies, p. 491. Cf. E. Pauliny, op. cit., p. 36-37 and 53. Pauliny is of the opinion that the occupation of Hungary by Turks (1526) helped the penetration of the Czech language, since there was a sort of common border between Slovakia and Moravia in the Habsburg Monarchy. E. Pauliny, op. cit., p. 17; A. Mraz, op. cit., pp. 12-16, and Jan Stanislav, op. cit. p. 12. J. Dobrovsky in 1875 wrote that Slovak is close to the Croat and Slovene languages in several respects. Zd. Stieber considers certain characteristics of the Slovak language as southern Slavic elements (juhoslavismy) . Cf. Jan Stanislav, Dejiny siovenskeho jazyka, p. 387. V. Jagic, Entstehungsgeschichte der Kirchensiawischen Sprache (Wien, 1900), p. 19; E. Pauliny, 0 vzcijomnych vzt'ahoch cechov a Slovcikov (Bratislava, 1956), p. 101., and David Diringer, Cambridge Univ., England, article in The Encydopedia Americana, Can. Edition, 1963, p. 379-380. S. Czambel, siovenskci rec a jej miesto v rodine siovanskych jazykov, (Turciansky Sv. Martin, 1906), pp. 320, and J. M. Kirschbaum, I!udovit stur and His Piace in the siavic World, Slavistica No. 32, Cleveland, Ohio, 1956. A. Senn "Slavic Linguistics", in Handbook of Slavic Studies, edited by L. I. Strakhovsky, p. 116-139, and R. G. A. de Bray, Guide To The siavonic Languages (London & New York, J. M. Dent & Sons Ltd., 1951), p. 513. J . M. Kirschbaum, "A Note on Two Modern Slovak Translators �SLOVAKIA 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40. 41. 19 of Mickiewicz" in Adam Mickiewicz in World Literature, edited by W. Lednicki, (Berkeley & Los Angeles, Calif. University of Calif. Press, 1956) , p. 487-493. T. Lehr-Splawinski, Preglad i charakterystyka jezykow slowianskich (Warszawa, 1954,) p. 71. Robert Auty, "Dialect, Koine and Tradition in the Formation of Literary Slovak", The Slav onic and East European Review, XXXIX, (1961), p . 331-356. Ibidem, pp. 342-346. R. G. A. de Bray, op. cit., pp. 513-515. Roman Smal-Stocki, Discrimination and Bias in Two UNESCO Publications, (New York, Shevchenko Scientific Society, 1961), p. 3. T. Lehr-Splawinski, op. cit. p. 71. Ibid. p. 800. Roman Jakobson, Slavic Languages (New York, Columbia University Press, 1949) , p. 10. L. I. Strakhovsky, op. cit. p. 491. See S. H . Thomson, Czechoslovakia in European History, (Prince: ton, University Press, 1943) , p. 242-258. V. Busek-Spulber, Czechoslov akia under Communism (New York Mid-European Study Center, 1957) , 193-197. See J. M. Kirschbaum "Contemporary Tendencies in Slovak Philology", Etudes Slaves et Est-Europeennes, vol. IV, (1960), pp. 163-174. A. Dostal, Nastin dejin ceskeho a slovenske ho jazyka (Prague, 1954), pp. 200-201. See also "Die Tschechoslowakische Sprachenwissenschaft in den Jahren 1933 bis 1944" - Zeitschrift fur Slavische Philologie, Band XXIX, XXX, XXXI, Heidelberg, 196263. See esp. Vol. XXX, 1. p. 164-180. A. Dostal, op. cit., pp. 200-201. E. Pauliny, Dejiny spisovnej slovenciny (Bratislava, 1948) , p. 46-108. Symposium O vzajomnych vzt'ahoch techov a Slovakov, (Bratislava, Slovenska Akademia Vied, 1956) . teskoslovenske pfednasky pro IV. Medzinarodni zjezd slavistu v Moskve, ed. Ceskoslovensky komitet slavistu, (Praha, 1958). A. Mraz, Dejiny slovenskej literatury, (Bratislava, 1948) . Ibid. p. 101-118. See Bibliography. BIBLIOGRAPHY of selected works in English, French, German and Italian on Slovak Language and Literature Auty, Robert, The Evolution of Literary Slovak, Cambridge, 1953. Reprint from Transactions of the Philological Society, p. 143-160. Dialect, Koine and Tradition in the Formation of Literary Slovak (Paper presented to the VIIIth Congress of the International Federation of Modern Languages and Literatures at Liege, August 1960), published in The Slavonic and East European Review, Vol. 39, No. 93, London, 1961. �20 SLOVAKIA Bernolak, Anton, Slowakische Grammatik, Aus dem Lateinischen ins Deutsche iibersetzt, gedr. mit konigl. ung. Universitatsschriften, Offen, 1817. Bokes, F., Literarische Vbersicht des geschichtlichen Schaffens in der Slowakei, Leipziger Vierteljahrschrift fiir Siidosteuropa 4, Leipzig, 1940. Bray de, R. G. A., Guide To The Slavonic Languages (London & New York, J. M. Dent & Sons Ltd., 1951) , p. 513. Cizevsky, Dmitry, Outline of Comparative Slavic Literatures, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Boston, Mass., 1952. On Romanticism in Slavic Literatures, Gravenhage, Monton & Co., 1957. Aus Zwei Welten, Beitrage zur Geschichte der Slawisch-westlichen literarischen Beziehungen, 1956. Mickiewicz, Stur and Kral, in W. Lednicki's Adam Mickiewicz in World Literature, Berkeley, 1956. A Bibliography of the Publications of Dr. Dmitry Cizevsky in the Fields of Literatiire, Language, Philosophy and Culture, Cambridge, Mass., 1952. Denis, Ernest, La question d'Autriche - Les Slovaques, Paris, 1917, Librairie Delagrave. One of the best books on Slovaks before the end of the First World War. His views on Bernolak, Stur, etc. are slightly distorted by the idea of the national and cultural unity of Czechs and Slovaks. Dixon, Charlton, Slovak Grammar for English speaking Students, Middletown, Pa., Jednota Printery, 1935. Harkins, W. E. - Simoncic, K., Czech and Slovak Literature, Oxford, King's Crown Press, 1951. Fischel, Alfred, Panslavismus bis zum Weltkrieg, Stuttgart und Berlin, 1919. One of the best documented works on Panslavism in the German language. Giusti, Walgango, Il Panslavismo, Milano, 1941, Instituto per gli studi di politica internazionale. Rather political than scholarly review of the idea of Panslavism among Slavic peoples. Gross, Felix (ed.), European Ideologies, New York, 1948, Philosophical Library, W. Lednicki's chapter on Panslavism. Scholarly written treatise from the Polish point of view. Hrobak, Philip A., Slovak Lessons, Lakewood, Ohio, Middletown, Pa., Jednota Printery, 1935. The Slovak Language, Book I - II. Middletown, Pa. , Jednota, 1935-1936. Hrusovsky, F., Geschichte der Slowakei, Bratislava, 1942. This is Slovakia, Scranton, Pa., 1953. Jakobson, Roman, Sur l'histoire et sur les relations mutuelles du tcheque et du slovaque. Le Monde slave, XIV., 1937, 353-366. Slavic Languages, Columbia University Press, 1949. Kirschbaum, J . M., Slovakia - Nation at the Crossroads of Central Europe, New York, Speller & Sons, 1960. Slovak Literature under the Soviet Impact, The Slavic and EastEuropean Studies, Montreal, 1956, Part 1, p. 45-54. nudovit Stur and His Place in Slavic World, Slavistica No. 32, Winnipeg-Cleveland, 1956. Contemporary Tendencies in Slovak Philology, An Offprint from �SLOVAKIA 21 Slavic and East-European Studies, Vol. IV, No. 3-4, Montreal, 1960. Pavel Jozef Safarik and His Contribution to Slavic Studies, The Slovak Institute, Cleveland, Ohio, 1962, Slavistica No. 43, p. 51. A Note on Two Slovak Translators of Mickiewicz in W. Lednicki's Adam Mickiewicz in World Literature, Berkeley, 1956. Anton Bernolak - The First Codifier of the Slovak Language, Slavistica No. 52, Cleveland - Winnipeg, 1964. Slovak Literary History in Marxist and Western Interpretations. A reprint from Canadian Slavonic Papers, Vol. VI, University of Toronto Press, Toronto, 1964. The Role of the Cyrilo-Methodian Tradition in Slovak National and Political Life. An offprint from Slovak Studies III, Rome, 1963. La litterature de la periode cyrillo-methodienne et la slovaquie. An offprint from Slovak Studies III, Rome, 1963. La place du slovaque parmi les langues slaves. An offprint from Etudes slaves et est-europeennes, Vol. VIII. Fasc. 3-4, Universite de Montreal, 1963. Jan Kollar - Slovak Poet of Pan-Slavism, Slavistica No. 56, The Slovak Institute, Cleveland-Toronto-Winnipeg, 1966. Kohn, Hans, Pan-Slavism, Its History and Ideology, University of Notre Dame Press, 1953. One of the most objective books on Pan-Slavism. Konus, Joseph, Practical Slovak Grammar. A textbook for high schools, colleges and adult private students, Pittsburgh, Pa., 1939. New English-Slovak Dictionary, Pittsburgh, Pa., 1941. Kniezsa, Stefan, Zur Geschichte der Jugoslavismen im Mittelslowakischen, Budapest, 1948, tire a part des Etudes slaves et roumaines, Vol. 1, Fasc. 3. Kramoris, Ivan J., An Anthology of Slovak Poetry, Scranton, 1947. A selection of lyric and narrative poems including some members of Stur's group. Slovakia and Slovak Literature. Reprinted from the Catholic Encyclopedia, New York, 1950. A Chronological Outline of Slovak Literature and History, Passaic, N. J., 1946 Krcmery, Stefan, A Survey of Modern Slovak Literature, Offprint from The Slavonic Review, Vol. VII, No. 19, 1928-1929. Lednicki, Waclaw (ed.), Adam Mickiewicz in World Literature, University of California Press, 1956. Articles by D. Cizevsky and J. M. Kirschbaum. Leger, Louis, Le panslavisme et l'interet francais, Paris, 1917, Ernest Flammarion. Relatively objective study of pan-slavism and Slovak contribution. French point of view. Locher, T. J., Die nationale Differenzierung und Integrierung der Slowaken und Tschechen in ihrem geschichtlichen Verlauf bis 1848, Harlem, 1931. Macartney, C. A ., Hungary and Her Successors, London-New York- Toronto, 1937. Manning, Clarence A. (ed.), An Anthology of Czech and Slovak Poetry, New York, 1929, Columbia University Press. Contains translations by Prof. Kirkconnell, Kramoris, Gallik, Manning, Slabey, Kotouc, etc. �22 SLOVAKIA Meriggi, Bruno, Storia deUe letterature ceca e slovacca. University of Florence, 1959. Mikus, J . A., La Slovaquie dans le drame de l'Europe, Paris, Les Iles d'Or, 1955. La Slovaquie, Individualite politique de l'Europe Centrale, Paris, 1952. Mraz, Andreas, Die Literatur der Slowaken, Wien-Stuttgart, 1943. A History of Slovak literature by a contemporary scholar and professor at the University of Bratislava. The work was completed and edited in the Slovak language in 1948 by The Slovak Academy of Sciences and Arts and presents one of the best works on the history of Slovak literature. Pastrnek, Fr., Beitriige zur Lautlehre der Slowakischen Sprache in Ungarn (Aus dem Sitzungsberichten der philos.-hist. Klasse der K. Akademie der Wissenschaften), Wien, 1888. Petrovich, Michael B., The Emergence of Russian Panslavism, Columbia University Press, 1956. Rekem, John, The Origin and Dei;elopment of the Slovak Language, an offprint from Slovakia, Vol. XII, No. 35, Middletown, Pa., 1962. Slovak Literature and National Consciousness Before Bernolak, Cleveland, 1965. Seton-Watson, R. H. , A History of the Czechs and Slovaks, London, 1943. Scholarly written history by one of the best defenders of the Slovak people at the beginning of this century (see his Racial Problems in Austria-Hungary) who turned against the Slovak movement for autonomy and independence being influenced by his Czech friends. Scotus, Viator, Racial Problems in Hungary, London, 1908. Slovak Studies I, Historica 1, Slovak Institute, Rome, 1961. Safarik, J . P., Geschichte der Slawischen Sprache und Literatur nach allen Mundarten. Mit konigl. ung. Universitatsschriften, Offen, 1826. Skultety, Joseph, Sketches From Slovak History, Middletown, Pa., 1930, Jednota Press. Translation from Slovak by 0 . D. Koreff. Skultety was professor at the University of Bratislava and one of the most outstanding figures in the Slovak cultural life in the first half of the century. Stefanek, Anton, Zur Soziographie der geistigen Kultur in der Slowakei, Bratislava, 1944. Strakhovsky, L. I. (ed.), A Handbook of Slavic Studies, Harvard University Press, 1949, chapters by A. Senn and Otto Radl. Both articles reflect recent research, though Radl's contribution is strongly pro-Czech. Vajda, Jaroslav, Bloody Sonets, transl. from Hviezdoslav, P. 0., Scranton, Pa., 1950. Viktorin, J. K. Gramatik der Slowakischen Sprache. Zurn Schul-und Selbstunterricht, Budapest, 1862. Tourtzer, H. Louis Stur et l'idee de !'independence slovaque, Cahoss et Alencon, Paris, 1913. Trubetzkoy, N. S., Grundzilge der Phonologie, Prag, 1939. (on Slovak language p. 117-118, 136, 141, 143, 161, 167, 170, 175, 208, 245.) Yourchak, Peter P., The Slovaks, Whiting, Ind., 1947, Lach editions, �SLOVAKIA 23 chapters from Slovak history and literature destined for Americans of Slovak origin. BIBLIOGRAPHY in Slavic Languages Bartek, Heinrich, Anton Bernolak, Trnava, 1937. £udovit Stur a slovencina, Turc. Sv. Martin, 1943. Krest'anstvo a slovencina, in the Symposium Nadej vit'azna, Scranton, Pa., 1947. Slovensky pravopis s gramatickymi pouckami a slovnikom, Whiting, Ind., Lach Publications, 1956. Spravna vyslovnost' slovenska, Bratislava, 1943. Blanar, Vincent, Bibliografia jazykovedy na Slovensku v rokoch 19391947. Slovenska akademia vied a umeni. Bratislava, 1950. Bobek, W., Prehl'adne dejiny slovenskej literatury, Bratislava, 1939. Mickiewicz v literaturze slowackiej, Praha, 1931. Dzieje literatury slowackiej w zarysie. An offprint from Slowacja i Slowacy, Edit. W. Semkowicz, Krakow, 1938. Czambel, Samo, Prispevky k dejinam jazyka slovenskeho, Budapest, 1887. Slovenska rec a jej miesto v rodine slovanskych jazykov, Turc. Sv. Martin, 1906. Slovensky pravopis. Historicko-kriticky nakres. Budapest', 1890. Dvonc, Ladislav, Bibliografia slovenskej jazykovedy za roky 1948- 1952. Matica slovenska, Martin, 1957. Gajdos, V. J. Slovenske glosy v latinskom missali za XVI. storocia, Historica slovacca I-II, Bratislava, 1940-1941, 221-243. Grabowski, T. S., Dwaja Slowaccy pionerzy oswiecenia i postepu, Bernolak i Fandly, 1951. Hattala, Martin, Kratka mluvnica slovenska, Bratislava, 1852. Gramatica linguae slovenicae, Schemnicii, 1850. Hodza, Michal M., Vetin o slovencine, Levoca, 1848. Isacenko, A. V. Zaciatky vzdelanosti vo Vel'komoravskej risi, Jazykovedny sbornik I-II, 1947, 137-178. Jagic, I. V., Istorija slavianskoj filologii, S. Petersburg, 1910. Jankovic, V. "Prvy preklad slovensky celeho Pisma svateho", Verbum I, Bratislava, 1946-1947. Kondrasov, N. A., Kategorija licnosti i nelicnosti v slovackom jazyku, MGU, 1949. Programma po istoriji slovackogo jazyka. Programma po sovremennom slovackom jazyku, Izdatelstvo Moskovskogo universiteta, 1951. Slavianskaja filologia, Stati i monografiji, Izdatelstvo Moskovskogo univerziteta, 1951. Kotvan, Imrich, "Jozef Ignac Bajza a slovenska rec", Linguistica slovaca III, Bratislava, 1941. Juraj Fandly, Trnava, 1946. "Juraj Fandly a slovensky jazyk", Linguistica slovaca I-II, Bratislava, 1939. Bernolakovci, Trnava, 1948. Bibliografia bernolakovcov, Matica slovenska, Martin, 1957. �24 SLOVAKIA Magiera, J., Literatura czeska i slowacka, Obraz pismiennictwa, Warszawa, 1929. Magnuszewski, J., Mickiewicz wsr6d Slowakow. Wroclaw, 1956. Misianik, Jan, Dejiny starsej slovenskej literatury, SAV, Bratislava, 1958. Stran 320. Mraz, Andrej, Gavlovicova skola krest'anskci. Brati!lava, 1940. Dejiny slovenskej literatury, Bratislava, 1948. Novak, l;udovit, Cestina na Slovensku a vznik spisovnej slovenciny. Odtlacok zo Slovenskych pohl'adov LIV, 1938. Jazykovedne glosy k ceskoslovenskej otcizke, Turc. Sv. Martin, 1935. ~udovit Stur ako jazykovedec, Slovenske pohl'ady III, 1936. Pastrnek, Fr., Starci jazykovci pamcitka slovenskci, Sbornik filologicky VII, 1922. Pauliny, Eugen, Na okraj kamaldulskeho Pisma, Verbum I, 1946-1947. Glosy k pomeru: bernolcictina a sturovcina, Kultura XIV, 1942. Dejiny spisovnej slovenciny, Slovenska akademia vied a umeni, Bratislava, 1948. Pisut, Milan, Literatura ncirodneho obrodenia, SAV, Bratislava, 1960, p. 490. Slovensky litercirny romantizmus, C-sl. prednasky pro medzinarodni sjezd slavistu v Moskve. Semkowicz, W., Slowacia i Slovacy, Krakow, 1937. Skultety, Jozef, Stodvadsat'piit' rokov zo slovenskeho zivota 1790-1914, Martin, 1920. 0 Slovcikoch, Turciansky Sv. Martin, 1936. Sobolevskij, A. I., Cerkovno-slavianskije texty moravskogo proischozdenija, Ruskij filologiceskij vestnik, 1900. Stanislav Jan, K jazykovednemu dielu A. Bernolcika, Bratislava, 1941. Pribinovi velmozi, Linguistica slovaca I-II, 1939-1940. "Spisovny jazyk slovensky", Symposium Slovanske jazy ky v dobe pfitomne, Praha, 1937. Dejiny slovenskeho jazyka I-II, Slovenska akademia vied, Bratislava, 1958. Stiebr, Zdislaw, Zarys dialektologii jezykow zachodnio-slowianskich. Warszawa, 1956. Stur, l;udovit, Nauka reci slovenskej, Bratislava, 1846. Ncirecia slovenskuo, Bratislava, 1844. Tibensky, Jan, J. Papanek • J. Sklenar: Obrancovia slovenskej ncirodnosti v XVIII. storoci. Osveta, Martin, 1958. "K problemu hodnotenia bernolactiny a bernolakovskeho hnutia". Historicky casopis, VII., 4, 1959. "Vznik, vyvoj a vyznam vel'komoravskej tradicie v slovenskom narodnom obrodeni. Sbornik O vzcijomnych vzt'ahoch Cechov a Slovcikov, SAV., 1956. Varsik, Branislav, Slovcici na prazskej univerzite do konca stredoveku, Bratislava, 1926. Vilikovsky, Jan, Cantus Catholici, Bratislava, 1935. Vlcek, Jaroslav, Dejiny literatury slovenskej, Turc. Sv. Martin, 1923. Weingart, Milos, 0 najstarsich jazykovych pamcitkach slovenskych, CMF., Prague 1935. � SLOV AKIA Pu-blished by the Slovak League of America VOL. XVI 1966 N O. 39 THE SLOVAK LANGUAGE AND ITS PLACE AM.ONG THE SLAVIC LANGUAGES J. M. Kirschbaum I. Introductory Note A review of symposia, surveys and handbooks,1 dealing with Slavs and their languages, indicates that there is a certain confusion as far as the language of the Slovaks and their literary media are concerned. The confusion seems to have been created, on one hand, by Slavists and literary historians who failed to draw a proper distinction between the native and spoken language of the Slovaks and their written or literary language. On the other hand, the misconceptions were intentionally spread by philologists and literary historians who were influenced by political views and aspirations, and some Slavists accepted them without the necessary caution required in scholarly works. As a result, we find in manuals and symposia on Slavic peoples or in works on philology and Slavic languages either the thesis that the Slovak language is merely a dialect of the Czech, or that Slovak became a literary language only at the beginning of the XIXth century. Some surveys speak even of a Czechoslovak language. Before analyzing these misconceptions, it may perhaps be stated that the claim that Slovak is but a dialect of the Czech language, was not based on facts of history or philology. It was a biased opinion of those who tried to give a scholarly basis to political aspirations denying to the Slovaks the right to their independent national and cultural life. And there lay also the origins of the erroneous thesis that Slovak began to be used as a literary language only from the second half of the nineteenth century. Slovak philologists and linguists (Bernolak, Safarik, Stur, Czambel, Skultety, Bartek, Stanislav, Novak, Pauliny) �2 SLOVAKIA rejected, during the last two centuries, all these biased theories and looked for linguistic criteria to determine the origin and the main characteristics of the Slovak language. They reviewed the historic forms of the Slovak tongue, and by scholarly methods and comparative study of Slavic languages determined the place of Slovak among Slavic languages. 2 Works of Slovak philologists, except for those of Safarik and partly Stur and Czambel, remained, however, for a long time ·e ither unknown to foreign Slavists, or were interpreted incorrectly. As a result, we find only recently in linguistic studies, published outside Slovakia, the proper distinction between the Slovak language and the literary media used by Slovaks, and a rejection of the thesis that Slovak has been but a dialect of the Czech language or that there is a Czechoslovak language. According to these studies, during long centuries, Slovak people spoke their own Slovak dialects, which developed from the primitive Slavic after its disintegration, into the modern Slovak language, but they used several literary media. It was first the Old Church Slavonic, in the 9th and 10th centuries, afterwards the Latin language, the Biblical Czech (used by the Protestant minority until the second half of the 19th century), the literary Slovak based on Slovak western dialects and finally the revised present form , based on central Slovak dialects.3 On the following pages, we shall attempt to p0int out and analyze the main misconceptions about the Slovak language and the literary media used in Slovakia and define the place of Slovak among Slavic languages in the light of recent linguistic research of European Slavists, including the Marxist philologists of Slavic countries.4 II. Views and conceptions of Slovak philologists In their scholarly studies of phonology, etymology, lexicology and grammar Slovak philologists and linguists maintained continuously the point of view that the Slovak language has been distinct from any other Slavic tongue. This was not so clear and evident to Slavists of the 19th century, according to Slovak philologists, because philology was in its infancy and used primitive methods.5 Recent research, how- �SLOVAKIA 3 ever, proves that Slovak language has been the real and original national tongue of the inhabitants of Slovakia since the dawn of history, and the linguistic analysis of the fundamental roots of the Czech and Slovak languages and a comparative study of their developments showed that Slovak language never was a part of the Czech or so-called "Czechoslovak" language.6 If we accept the theiiis, supported by Trubeckoj ,7 that in the ninth century the Old Slavonic &1:.ill was the common tongue of the Slavs with a unified phonology, and that from the ninth century different dialects developed into distinct Slavic languages, it is to be assumed, according to Slovak philologists, that among them was also the Slovak tongue. There is no historical or philological reason why it should not be claimed that at the time of disintegration of the Old Slavonic and of the rise of new independent Slavic languages, Slovak was among them and that its development cannot be identified with that of the Czech language.8 This thesis is strengthened also by the fact that the Slovak territory was annexed after the collapse of Great Moravia, by Hungary and, hence, the only contact the Slovaks had with Czechs was through Moravians who have continued to speak a Slovak dialect in spite of the pressure of the Czechs from the West, and to the p-resent time they have retained their own phonological structure. Consequently, the relation between the Czech and Slovak languages became a matter of controversy because of political aspirations of some Czech politicians and scholars and not because of philological reasons - is the view of Slovak philologists. In fact, as early as in the 16th century Vavrinec Benedikti z Nedozier (1555-1615), a learned Slovak philologist and professor at the Prague University exhorted his Slovak countrymen to cultivate their native tongue. He wrote his appeal in a grammar he composed for Czechs, which makes it clear that already for him there were two different languages. 9 From the sixteenth century on, there are numerous proofs that Slovak erudities, with the exception of a few protestants, considered Slovaks as one of the "tribes" of Slavic nation, but speaking their own "dialect" different from the Czech, Polish or Russian, using the word dialect for our term language. Slovak was used not only in homiletic �4 SLOVAKIA writings, but also in scholarly works and poetry, especially since the middle of the 17th century around the University of Trnava (founded 1635) and, at the end of the 18th century, Anton Bernolak only codified a language in use in his linguistic works Dissertatio, Gramatica slavica and his huge pentalingual Dictionary. 10 The well-known Slavist, P. J . Safarik, and initially also Jan Kollar, were aware of the fact that there had been a Slovak ~anguage and Slovak literature, different from the Czech or the other Slavic languages and literatures. Safarik gave testimony to it in his Geschichte der Slawischen Sprache und Literatur in allen Mundarten (1826) , and when some Czech leaders reproached him and his scholarly objectivity, Safarik indignantly announced that he would go even farther in stressing the differences than he did in his book.11 Jan Kollar was also instrumental originally in preparing Sti'.lr's reform and later changed his mind and became an advocate of a common literary language with the Czechs (which he called "old Slovak" ) because of reasons which Slovak literary historians avoid to discuss. The great poet of Panslavism had also some human deficiencies like very high personal pride and terrible temper, and took it as an insult ,that Stur and his group dared to do something in Slovak cultural life without consulting him or without his patronage. 12 This "crimen lesae majestatis" moved Kollar to opose Stu.r's reform and the final acceotance of the Slovak literary language also by Slovak protest;nts. Safarik did not change his scholarly views which he expressed in his Geschichte, but being employed in Prague and financially supported by Czech patriots, he tried to convince his Slovak countrymen that they should not move too far from Czechs and suggested that the Czech should be adjusted to the Slovak linguistic phenomena and peculiarities. "The will of the Slovak groups to assert their own national individuality was, however, too strong", as admitted by Radl, 13 and Stu.r's reform was victorious over Kollar's protests and Safa:rik's advices, because it was in line with the linguistic facts and centuries' long Slovak national development. The reasons for a sporadic use of the Czech language for administrative and partly also for literary purposes (mainly by the Slovak Protestants) which some Czech philologists considered as a proof of national and linguistic unity of the �SLOVAKIA 5 Czechs and Slovaks, have been reconsidered by several "bourgeois" and "marxist" philologists and literary historians. There are at least three theories om the penetration of the Czech language into the Slovak territory. One theory refers to the continuation of relations between Slovaks and Moravians (who adopted the Czech language) from trhe time of Great Moravia, which relations survived the collapse of that state and developed between the Moravian cultural center Olomouc arnd Slovak religious centers. More acceptable and also more elaborated is the theory ascribing the use of the Czech language to the fact that Czech clerks were used at certain periods not only in the Slovak territory but also in Hungary and Poland in state and city-administration. 14 In Slovakia, the use of the Czech, adapted to local dialects, survived because of the Reformation which penetrated into Slovakia from Germany and Bohemia with Bible and religious books writteJ) in the old Czech, and because during the Counter-Reformation "many protestant Czechs found shelter in Slovakia and even printed books in Czech for the purpose of smuggling them into Bohemia" .15 Settled in Slovakia, the Czech refugees tried to keep all Slovak protestants linked to Bohemia by language also in secular writings. 16 Around 1840, it became, however, clear to the leaders of the Protestant minority in Slovakia that the Czech language was not intelligible to the common people, that their writings could not reach Slovak population and for reasons which U. Stur explained in his Narecia slovenskuo and other writings, they agreed with Catholics who used the Slovak for homiletic as well as for secular writings from the 16th century, on the reform taking for basis central Slovak dialects, and on the exclusive use of Slovak in Slovak literature. Stur's reform, by which the Slovak language was finally established as a literary medium of all Slovaks, has been accepted by the Slovak intelligentsia within a very short space of time, and it received its final linguistic , form in the grammar of a Catholic priest, Martin Hattala. Thus the peculiar situation of multilingualism in modern Slovak literature was changed. 17 During all these centuries, Slovak people spoke, as we mentioned before, their own Slovak dialects which developed from the Old Slavonic after its disintegration into modern Slovak language, which happened more or less at the same �6 SLOVAKIA time at which other central European peoples began to use vernacular for literary purposes. On the position of Slovak among Slavic languages, Slovak philologists expressed various opinions. 18 V. Jagic in his book Entstehungsgeschichte der Kirchenslawischen Sprache, wrote that "in Great Moravia people must have spoken in the ninth century a tongue which in its fundamentals was identical with the Slovak language of today". J . Dobrovsky admitted that certain linguistic phenomena linked Slovak with South Slavic languages and S. Czambel elaborated linguistically a theory to prove that the question as to whether Slovak is closer to Western Slavic or to the Southern Slavic group of languages deserves to be reconsidered by philologists. Stur viewed the position of the Slovak language as a central clearing house, mainly because he was conscious of many of its similiarities with the Slavic tongues of the East, West, North and South, especially noting the South Slavic dialects with which Slovak came into intimate contact during long centuries. 19 Recent studies indicate that the Slovak language conserved many archaic forms and expr-essions common to all Slavs. Remaining for centuries only a spoken vernacular of the people, it was affected mainly by the influence of neighbouring Slavic peoples, and since it was codified in the era of the revival of Slavonic peoples, the Slovak cultural and political leaders saw to it that Slovak language might conserve its central position and Slavic purity. Kollar himself argued, and some Slavists of that time accepted his idea that the Slovak language "stands grammatically and geographically in the center of all Slav dialects" and the Tatra mountains are the "nest and cradle of all Slavs" which, of course, the modern science of history, archeology and ethnography challenges. However, U1.e central position of the Slovak language, geographically or linguistically, is accepted to a great extent even by modern philology. According to de Bray "the Slovaks have preserved a beautifully soft and musical language, which might well serve as a modern "Common Slav" or lingua franca among the Slavs today. For modern Slovak is the most comprehensible of the living Slavonic languages to all other Slavs. Just as the Slovaks occupy geographically a central position among the Slavs, so, too, their language, in its �SLOVAKIA 7 sounds and forms, is the nearest to an all-round compromise between the various Slavonic languages, having features which make it near both to East and South Slav, as well as to the other West Slav languages. 20 In fact, the Slovaks - either educated or common people - do not experience much difficulty in communicating in Slovak with Poles, Ukrainians, C:ziechs, Russians, or Slovenes and Croats, as has been proven even on the American Continent, since basically there ar,e no great differences among Slavic languages, and in the case of the Slovak language, history and geography made it close not only to Polish and Czech, but also to Ukrainian and South Slavic, Slovenian and Croat. 21 Slovak intellectuals of the nineteenth century read not only Polish or Czech poets and writers in original, but also Russian and Ukrainian, Croat and .Slovenian. Modern scientific and literary development drifts the twelve Slavic languages more apart. Nevertheless, even if we cannot agree with the nineteenth century poet that "with the Slovak language you may travel Earth's four corners", the fact remains that Slovaks are able to communicate in their own vernacular with the majority of the Slavic peoples. III. Views and conceptions of European Slavists As for European Slavists, including the present-day Czech philologists, some of their recent studies would indicate that they corrected many of the erroneous views they held on the relation between the Slovak and Czech and the origin of the Slovak literary language. It is evident that the modem techniques in linguistics and philology have thrown new light on the subject and have been instrumental in giving modified conceptions that are far advanced beyond the hasty unwarranted conclusions of the amateur-philologists or linguists serving political aspirations. Noteworthy among the new conceptions are not only those which defend the distinct and ancient character of the Slovak among Slavic languages but also the views that the history of the Slovak literary language necessarily begins in the 9th century with the Old Church Slavonic as the first literary medium in Slovakia. This view has been held by Slovak literary historians .for a long time, but never was considered before by foreign �8 SLOVAKIA Slavists. Recently, howev,er, the well-known Polish philologist T. Lehr-Splawinski expressed the following view: "The beginnings of the literary language in Slovakia are connected with the period of activities of ConstantineCyril and Methodius in the Moravian state. As the whole of Slovakia was, without ,any doubt, a part of that state, and the important centers of its political and cultural life were situated on the Slovak territory, writings in the old ChurchSlavonian language must have undoubtedly developed among the Slovaks in the last quarter of the IXth century". 22 R. Auty, from the University of Cambridge, in his paper, presented to the VIIIth Congress of the International Federation of Modern Languages & Literatures at Liege, August 1960, corrected misconceptions on Bernolak and Stur and their reforms. Anton Bernolak codified in 1870 a language which was already in use, according to Auty, and "in the following fifty or sixty years a considerable number of literary and other works were published or written in this (Bernolak's) form of Slovak". 23 The Czech language was, according to Auty, "sporadicalin Slovakia (with certain local modification) for used ly administrative and, still more occasionally, literary purposes". The reasons for this sporadic usage of Czech for administrative and "mor,e occasionally" also for literary purposes, are explained by Auty in his statement that "since the Reformation the Czech had been the language of the Lutheran scriptures and Church Services in Slovakia". "Stur, Protestant though he was, acted against what he regarded as an unnatural linguistic situation which had been brought about by the hazards of history. His reaction was radical" - says Auty, and gives a detailed picture of the changes which were brought about in the Slovak language by the agreement of the Catholics and Protestants in order to end bilingualism in Slovak literature. Auty's views on the reform of the , Slovak literary language which took place in the 1840's are fairly in line with the historical truth and recent r-esearch. According to him "Catholic and Protestant Slovaks agreed to accept a new written form of their language for all purposes: this has been worked out by U. Stur in discussion with other Slovak intellectual leaders in the perfod 1842-44 and was somewhat modified by M. M. Hodza and M. Hattala in subsequent years". _,/ �SLOVAKIA 9 Stur "on more than one occasion praised the work of Bernolak, and above all, the poetry of Jan Holly and fully accepted one element of Bernolak's linguistic reform - the orthographical system" - continues Auty. The general pattern of the language, as fashioned by Stur, was in accordance with the needs of Slovak Society and has proven itself - and Stur's genius - by its survivor". 2 " R. G. A. de Bray, in his Guide to the Slavonic Languages, is equally close to the views of Slovak philologists and literary historians. "It is not true to say" - writes de Bray - "that Slovak was not written till the nineteenth century, as some assert. It is true that the modern literary language, as we know it today, was then first stabilized, but there are traces of the Slovak language in the local Latin documents from the elev,enth to the fifteenth centuries, Latin being the official language at the time". 25 On the relation between the Czech and Slovak de Bray expressed the following view: "While the phonetic system of Slovak is more conservative than that of Czech and so is nearer to that of Old Slavonic and other Slavonic languages, its morphological system has developed further than that of Czech, its nearest relative, mainly through the workiings of analogy and the generalization of certain standard endings, especially in the plural of nouns. Both the 1st and 2nd palatalization of gutturals occur less frequently in the declensions than they do in Czech, owing to the workings of analogy, as in Russian and Slov•enian. And in general Slovak morphology has fewer irregularities, exceptions, and archaic survivals, such as the declension of Kamen (- stone) in Czech. Prof. Roman Smal-Stocki in his paper Discrimination and Bias in Two Unesco Publications also raised his voice against treating Slovak and Czech "as one unit". "From the linguistic point of view" - says Prof. Smal-Stocki - "it js inadmissible to mix state units with existing languages and to treat "as one unit" Czech and Slovak, because the linguistic fact is that in existence are two separate units, Czech and Slovak". 26 The contributors to the Encyclopedia Britanica (1959, Vol. 20) published some correct and some incorrect views, �10 SLOVAKIA but they grasped the essential points of difference between the Czech and Slovak. 27 "The Czech, as spoken and written today in Bohemia, diverges considerably from Slovak - says the Encyclopedia. The disagreement is least marked in vocabulary but appears prominently in the phonetics; in particular the itacism so distinct a characteristic of Czech, is non-existent in Slovak, which has preserved the fuller diphthongs (ia, ie, iu etc.) of the Slavonic languages; a further small.er point is the dz, from Common Slav dj, is used (as in Polish) where Czech has z. In one point only is there a divergence which goes back beyond the time of the common ancestry of the two languages; Slovak has not developed the t, which is characteristic of Czech and in that language occurs since the beginning of its literature. The Slovak palatalization of n, d, t and 1 after e, which does not occur in modern literary Czech, is a further point of disagreement, although this would not be obvious from Slovak spelling which does not find it necessary to distinguish by diacritics; consonanrts are always softened in this position". The Encyclopedia also points out to the relation of Slovak with other Slavic languages. It says: "The dialectical development shows some characteristics identical with those in South Slavonic and Russian. Not everywhere, for example, have u and i been confused, and instead of the e, which is the normal result in Slovak as in Czech, we find in Eastern dialects an o from the u, thus agreeing with Russian. An agreement with South Slavonic is the occurrence of raz- and la- and lo-. Because of these and other phonetic and morphological reasons the grammarian Czambel, a keen opponent of the identity of Czech and Slovak, has asserted that Slovak should rightly be associated with South Slavonic". 28 It would appear from this brief survey that European Sl~vists are very close to the views of Slovak philologists and that misconceptions, which we still can find in American symposia, considered hereafter, are disappearing from European Slavic studies. Very close to the views of European Slavists is also the well-known Canadian Slavist Prof. W. Kirkconnell who already in 1939 stated: "It cannot be too strongly emphasized that the Slovaks are not Czechs, and that there is no such ciieature as a 'Czechoslovak'. While they speak closely related Slavic languages, Slovak is not �SLOVAKIA 11 a mere dialect of Czech. The differences are about as great as those between the similarly related languages, Dutch and German. I have on my shelves Miroslav Kalal's Slovak-Czech dictionary (published 1924), in which there are 35,000 Slovak words that were apparently unintelligible to a Czech and hence required definition." (d. Canada, Europe, and Hitler, p. 44) IV. Misconceptions in American symposia and surveys With the sudden development of Slavic Studies on the American continent came hand in hand a large number of symposia, handbooks and surveys on Slavic literatures and langutlges. They are, however, written predominantly by scholars and writers with European schooling and background and, therefore, it is more appropriate to speak, in this respe0t, rather of American symposia than of American Slavists. A survey of several such symposia indicates that there are misconceptions not only in the relation of the Slovak with the Czech, but also on the history of the Slovak literary language and the role of foreign languages in Slovak literature. In this respect, we read not without surprise that even the well-known Slavist, Roman Jakobson, helped to spread some erroneous views on the Slovak language. In his study Slavic Languages, he writes as follows: "Toward the middle of the same (i.e. the 19th) century, the Slovaks, who had used literary Czech (somewhat adapted to their own habits) inaugurated their own literary language based on the central Slovak dialect but patterned after standard Czech". 29 Prof. A. Senn in Strakhovsky's Handbook of Slavic Studies, completed and modified Jakiobson's description of Slovak literary language. His classification of Slovak is correct, but we could hardly agree with certain parts of his definition. Prof. A. Senn says: "Slovak forms a connecting link with the South Slavic Slovenian and is more archaic than Czech. Otherwise differences between Czech and Slovak are not very great. Slovak became a literary language at the beginning of the nineteenth century . . . Slovak and Czech form one "Czechoslovak unit". �12 SLOVAKIA In the same symposium, another contributor, Otto Radl, admitted that "as early as 1635 in Trnava books were printed in different Slovak dialects", but he confusingly states further that it was only i,n 1844, in the period of Romanticism, that "the therefore common written language, the Czech, was being replaced by a newly-originated Slovak literary language". According to Radl "this movement had been begun at the end of the 18th century by the learned Slovak philologist Anton Bernolak who published several works in Latin in which he tried to show that the Slovaks were a separate nation and that they should therefore use their own distinctive written language based on dialects spoken in Western Slovakia". 30 A similar version can be found in Prof. H. S. Thompson's book "Czechoslovakia in European History", who says that "a deliberate effort to substitute for the written Czech then in use in Slovakia a language based upon a local dialect came from the Catholic camp only in 1790, when Anton Bernolak published a Gramatica slavica". However, he asserts further that "about the only followers Bernolak had were Catholic writers, and even among them the vogue for his grammar and dictionary soon died out. The year 1834-1835 is usually given" - concludes Thompson - "as the date of the rise of written Slovak, although strictly speaking, Stur did not make his first formal declarartion until 1846". 31 In R. J. Kerner's symposium Czechoslovakia and in V. Busek-N. Spulber's Czechoslovakia under Communism, we find only slightly modified or re-worded versions of the views mentioned above. "Catholic Slovaks under Bernolak tried to create with indifferent success a written Slovak dialect", we read in Kerner's symposium, and Busek-Spulber's symposium gives the following genesis of the Slovak literary language: " ... the first attempts were made (aside from earlier sporadic ventures) to establish a distinct Slovak literary language in the last decade of the 18th century by Anton Bernolak (1762-1813) who selected the Western Slovak dialects as a basis of the new literary medium: his suggestions, not elaborated linguistically, did not take permanent hold. "The decisive step towards the establishment of Slovak literary language was undertaken through the initiative of the Protestants. Ludovit St(ir selected the central Slovak dialect for the Slovak literary medium. Beginning in the �SLOVAKIA 13 1840's, several poets followed Stur and used the new literary language with great skill".32 It is perhaps not necessary to sum up all the mistaken assertions and impressions which we find in the symposia mentioned here. The foregoing views of European and Slovak philologists showed that Slovak was spoken by Slovak people from the dawn of their history and that it was in use for literary purposes from the 17th century, and Bernolak codified only a literary language used by the majority of Slovaks for more than 150 years. The function of the Czech language in Slovakia and the reasons for its sporadic use, besides Latin and Slovak, were also explained by Slovak as well as European Slavists. Responsibility for the lack of precision and mistaken views in American symposia might lay with the sources used by the contributors to these symposia. It would appear that they predominantly relied on old studies, which favoured the biased conceptions of linguistic, cultural -and political unity of Czechs and Slovaks, and which has been abandoned during the past two decades even by the Czech philologists, as we shall see from the survey of Czech and Slovak contemporary linguistic studies. Since all the symposia under review were edited or written by writers who specialized in Slavic studies, we might perhaps mention also at this point that academic precision would have required to say that before Stur's reform Slovaks used for literary purposes far more frequently Latin, on the Catholic side, and German, on the Protestant J.ide, than the Czech "somewhat adapted to their own hal>its". Bernolak codified Slovak language in Latin works, the first works on history of Slovakia were written by their Slovak authors also in Latin, and on the Protestant side Safarik wrote his first scholarly work in German, used Czech later only because he was forced to do it by unhappy circumstances, and Kollar also wrote in German his treatise on Slavic solidarity -Ober die Literarische Wechselseitigkeit zwischen den verschiedenen Stammen und Mundarten der slavischen Nation. Equally imprecise for a scholarly writer is to say that Stur's reform was based "on the central Slovak dialect but patterned after standard Czech". Recent research proves that Stur relied on Bernolak in many respects and that the literary language, reformed by Stur, "was not based on the dialect of any single area, but represented a kind of 'koine' of the �14 SLOVAKIA central Slovak dialects, eschewing features from both the eastern and western dialects" - as R. Auty correctly says and new works on Slovak language confiirm. V. "Marxist" conceptions of literary Slovak and the origins of the Slovak language Slovak philology has been exposed, since the inclusion of Slovakia into the Soviet political and cultural sphere, to the influence of Marxist criteria and method, and is gradually developing with considerable dependence on Soviet philology. There were strong attempts at the beginning to apply to Slovak philology "the theoretical directives given the Marxist philology by J. V. Stalin in his genial work Marxism and Problems of Linguistics"33 and later other Soviet examples were imitated. However, a considerable number of Slovak philologists adhered, in the first place, to scientific principles and methods and results of favourable development of Slovak philology are visible in two recent bibliographies, not only in the number of entries, but also in the number of fields covered. Scholarly research into the Slovak language is, of course, still the principal field of interest. The number of works, studies and articles referring to Slovak, its history and development during the period of 1939-1945 alone was over 1000 and amounts to 700 in Dvonc's Bibliography of Slovak philology which covers only the years 1948-1952. Many of these entries were written by highly qualified philologists of Slovak or foreign origin (J. Stanislav, L. Novak, E. Pauliny, V. Uhlar, A. Janosik, S. Peciar, J. Horecky, V. Blanar, E. Jona, Kniesza, Vazny, Kiraly, Stieber etc.) and they cover the history of literary languages in Slovakia, historical grammar, dialectology, ,etymology, phonology, orthography, vocabulary, etc. From the published works by the "marxist" philologists and literary historians it is obvious that the theses on the Slovak language, on the history of the Slovak literary language and on the function of some fureign languages (Czech, Czechoslovak) in Slovak literature, which theses were intended to support the political theory of a single Czechoslovak nation, have been definitely buried. Particularly noteworthy in this regard is the work of the Czech University Profe~or A. Dostal, 34 and of the Slovak school, Prof. E. Pauliny's Dejiny spisovnej slovenciny (History of Literary Slovak, Brati- �SLOVAKIA 15 slava, 1948), and A. Mraz's Dejiny slovenskej literatury (History of Slovak Literature, Bratislava, 1948), as well as the papers read at the Moscow Fourth International Congress of Slavists in 1958. Professor A. Dostal, in his work "Nastin dejin ceskeho a slovenskeho jazyka" published in Prague in 1954, accepted not only the thesis that the Slovak is a distinct and ancient tongue, but he also condemned the traditional views of Czech philologists. "Slovak language whose development goes back to ancient times, was established as a literary language in connection with the formation of Slovaks into a nation", says Dostal. "Its establishment cannot at all be viewed as a separation from the literary Czech language, but as a long, slow development towards a literary language ... " Prof Dostal goes even further and says that the attempts to impose the Czech language upon Slovaks as literary medium must be considered "as a negation of centuries long development which in the 1840's was already a historical fact in Slovakia ... " 35 The paper of Prof. E. Pauliny on bilingualism in the history of the Slovak literary language, d_eserves particular attention. Pauliny tries to explain the function of the Czech language in Slovakia in the XVth and the following centuries on the basis of social and economic phenomena and changes. He has arrived, nevertheless, at the same conclusions as the philologists who did not apply "Marxist criteria" in philology, i.e. that the Czech language was a foreign language in Slovakia and could not stand competition with the Slovak vernacular when the Slovak ethnicum evolved in its national consciousness. Literary Slovak won in spite of the fact that the Protestant minority, predominantly of Czech origin, at that time tried to maintain it even in the XIXth century when the Slovak literary language was established by the Catholic majority (80%) over a century ago. The relation between the Czech and Slovak is, therefore, according to Pauliny, that of bilingualism. 36 In the introduction to his book Dejiny spisovnej slovenciny, Pauliny understands the history of the language as the history of the origin, disappearance and changes of its individual styles. However, in the book itself, he divided the history of the Slovak literary language according to the �HS SLOVAKIA languages which were used by the Slovaks as literary languages in addition to the spoken vernacular from the time of the Greater Moravia. He writes: "Although, in this case, the period of the actual Slovak literary language can begin only with Bernolak, or with the period shortly before Bernolak, nevertheless, it is not possible to begin the history of the literary languages of the Slovaks either with Bernolak or Stur, but it is necessary to go deep into the past, all the way to the very beginnings of the historical period of our nation in the Greater Moravian epoch, nay, in certain matters, it is necessary to go even further, into the prehistoric period, when our ancestors were not yet baptized and did not participate in the Eul'opean culture which was introduced to us by Chl'istianity". In his contribution to a volume O vzajomnych vzt'ahoch Cechov a Slovakov, published in 1956 by the Slovak Academy of Sciences, Pauliny states that "Bernolak codified a language which can be traced in the writings of the middle-class, the lower nobility and educated Slovaks back to the 15th century, and this in both Catholic and Protestant writings". 37 Stu.r's reform, which is erroneously presented by some Slavists as the beginning of the Slovak literary language (in this respect even Jakobson is wrong), in Pauliny's view, is but a "younger branch of Bernolak's school". 38 In the opinion of Prof. A. Mraz, who still remains the main authority in Marxist literary history of Slovakia, Anton Bernolak reformed and codified the Slovak literary language and its orthography. 39 Mraz regards the activity which Ol'iginated around the Catholic University of Trnava (1635) as a starting point for introducing Slovak vernacular as a literary medium and stresses that the first manifestation of the new era in Slovak national life was the publication of Cantus Catholici by Benedict Szollosi in 1655. "The book Cantus Catholici", says Mraz, "laid the foundation on which the language used by Slovak Catholic writers, was formed into an independent Slovak literary language. Crystallization of the language, which Slovak Catholic writers used during the period of the University of Trnava (16351777), progressed so far in accordance with the spoken language in Western Slovakia that, when Bernolak and his followers came, at the end of the 18th century, with the idea �SLOVAKIA 17 of an independent literary language, they merely codified, in many respects, a language used and domesticated among the Catholic Slovak writers of the preceding period". 40 Scholarly basis to this conception of the development of the Slovak literary language was given by several philologists of today's Slovakia, among whom noteworthy is in the first place Prof. Jan Stanislav with his two volumes on the history of the Slovak language (Dejiny slovenskeho jazyka) and philological studies of J6na, Uhlar, Ruzicka, Peciar etc. 41 By a careful analysis of the fundamental roots of both languages, Czech and Slovak, as well as through the comparative study of their later developments, they revealed the true basis of the Slovak language and have classified it properly as one of the distinct Slavonic languages which developed after the disappearance of the Old Slavonic language. As a result of this development the relation between the two literary languages of today's Czecho-Slovakia is now officially accepted as a relation between two Slavic but distinct languages. The Czech poetry and prose are translated into the Slovak and vice versa as the Polish or Russian have been. Life and historical facts prevailed over artificial tendencies and theories a long time ago, and finally they have prevailed even over the reluctance of some politicians and philologists to recognize their victory. A century-long debate, as to whether Slovak is a dialect of the Czech language or a distinct Slavonic tongue, has thus been "officially" closed by the recognition on both Czech and Slovak sides that, from its earliest beginnings, the Slovak language has always manifested a distinct identity as a Slavonic tongue of the inhabitants of Slovakia. NOTES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY See the following symposia: R. J . Kerner, Czechoslovakia, (Berkeley, Calif., University of California Press, 1949), and L. I. Strakhovsky, ed. Handbook of Slavic Studies ( Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press, 1949) the article by 0 . Rad!. The chapter on the Slavic languages by A. Senn in the same symposium is in accordance with recent research. Slavonic Encyclopedia, chapter by J. S. Roucek (New York, 1949) in the same category as Kerner's symposium. 2. See Eugen Pauliny, Dejiny spisovnej slovenciny (Bratislava, Slovenska Akademia vied a umeni, 1948) . 3. Cf. A. Mraz, Die Literatur der Slovaken (Wien, 1943). 1. �18 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21 . SLOVAKIA Cf. Prof. A. Dostal, Ncistin dejin ceskeho a siovenskeho jazyka (Prague, 1954), pp. 200-206. Cf. J. M. Kirschbaum, "Contemporary Tendencies in Slovak Philoiogy", Etudes siaves et Est Europeennes, IV, (1959-60 ), pp. 163-174. Cf. E. Pauliny, op. cit., and Jan Stanislav, Dejiny siovenskeho jazyka (Bratislava, 1957), p. 326, also H. Bartek, siovensky pravopis, (Whiting, Ind., 1956). N. S. Toubetzkoy, Grundzuge der Phonofogie, (Prague, 1939), pp. 117, 136, 141. J. Dobrovsky and P. J. Safarik have traced the linguistic line which separated the Czech and Slovak dialects around the Moravia. Cf. J. Skultety, Sketches from siovak History, (Middetown, Pa., 1936) and his Stodvadsat'piit' rokov zo siovenskeho zivota, Turc. Sv. Martin, 1920. Cf. E. Pauliny, Dejiny spisovnej siovenciny, p. 41. Benedicti Grammaticae Bohemicae iibri due, (Prague, 1603) p. VI, has written: "Neque tamen ego hie eos ad Bohemicam linguam cogo, sed ad exercitationem et culturam ipsorum idiomatis invito: praesertim cum non tantum in civitatibus et oppidis, sed etiam in pagis scholis abundent". Cf. E. Pauliny, op. cit., pp. 57 and 113, and A. Mraz, Dejiny siovenskej Hteratury, p. 108. See, J. Skultety, op. cit., p. 23, and Jaroslav Vlcek, Medzi Vcihom a Vitavou, (Bratislava 1957), pp. 228-234. J. Skultety, op. cit., pp. 20-30. L. I. Strakhovsky, op. cit., pp. 494-495. E. Pauliny, op. cit., pp. 30-36. 0. Radl, in L. I. Strakhovsky's Handbook of siavic Studies, p. 491. Cf. E. Pauliny, op. cit., p. 36-37 and 53. Pauliny is of the opinion that the occupation of Hungary by Turks (1526) helped the penetration of the Czech language, since there was a sort of common border between Slovakia and Moravia in the Habsburg Monarchy. E. Pauliny, op. cit., p. 17; A. Mraz, op. cit., pp. 12-16, and Jan Stanislav, op. cit. p. 12. J. Dobrovsky in 1875 wrote that Slovak is close to the Croat and Slovene languages in several respects. Zd. Stieber considers certain characteristics of the Slovak language as southern Slavic elements (juhoslavismy) . Cf. Jan Stanislav, Dejiny siovenskeho jazyka, p. 387. V. Jagic, Entstehungsgeschichte der Kirchensiawischen Sprache (Wien, 1900), p. 19; E. Pauliny, 0 vzcijomnych vzt'ahoch cechov a Slovcikov (Bratislava, 1956), p. 101., and David Diringer, Cambridge Univ., England, article in The Encydopedia Americana, Can. Edition, 1963, p. 379-380. S. Czambel, siovenskci rec a jej miesto v rodine siovanskych jazykov, (Turciansky Sv. Martin, 1906), pp. 320, and J. M. Kirschbaum, I!udovit stur and His Piace in the siavic World, Slavistica No. 32, Cleveland, Ohio, 1956. A. Senn "Slavic Linguistics", in Handbook of Slavic Studies, edited by L. I. Strakhovsky, p. 116-139, and R. G. A. de Bray, Guide To The siavonic Languages (London & New York, J. M. Dent & Sons Ltd., 1951), p. 513. J . M. Kirschbaum, "A Note on Two Modern Slovak Translators �SLOVAKIA 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40. 41. 19 of Mickiewicz" in Adam Mickiewicz in World Literature, edited by W. Lednicki, (Berkeley & Los Angeles, Calif. University of Calif. Press, 1956) , p. 487-493. T. Lehr-Splawinski, Preglad i charakterystyka jezykow slowianskich (Warszawa, 1954,) p. 71. Robert Auty, "Dialect, Koine and Tradition in the Formation of Literary Slovak", The Slav onic and East European Review, XXXIX, (1961), p . 331-356. Ibidem, pp. 342-346. R. G. A. de Bray, op. cit., pp. 513-515. Roman Smal-Stocki, Discrimination and Bias in Two UNESCO Publications, (New York, Shevchenko Scientific Society, 1961), p. 3. T. Lehr-Splawinski, op. cit. p. 71. Ibid. p. 800. Roman Jakobson, Slavic Languages (New York, Columbia University Press, 1949) , p. 10. L. I. Strakhovsky, op. cit. p. 491. See S. H . Thomson, Czechoslovakia in European History, (Prince: ton, University Press, 1943) , p. 242-258. V. Busek-Spulber, Czechoslov akia under Communism (New York Mid-European Study Center, 1957) , 193-197. See J. M. Kirschbaum "Contemporary Tendencies in Slovak Philology", Etudes Slaves et Est-Europeennes, vol. IV, (1960), pp. 163-174. A. Dostal, Nastin dejin ceskeho a slovenske ho jazyka (Prague, 1954), pp. 200-201. See also "Die Tschechoslowakische Sprachenwissenschaft in den Jahren 1933 bis 1944" - Zeitschrift fur Slavische Philologie, Band XXIX, XXX, XXXI, Heidelberg, 196263. See esp. Vol. XXX, 1. p. 164-180. A. Dostal, op. cit., pp. 200-201. E. Pauliny, Dejiny spisovnej slovenciny (Bratislava, 1948) , p. 46-108. Symposium O vzajomnych vzt'ahoch techov a Slovakov, (Bratislava, Slovenska Akademia Vied, 1956) . teskoslovenske pfednasky pro IV. Medzinarodni zjezd slavistu v Moskve, ed. Ceskoslovensky komitet slavistu, (Praha, 1958). A. Mraz, Dejiny slovenskej literatury, (Bratislava, 1948) . Ibid. p. 101-118. See Bibliography. BIBLIOGRAPHY of selected works in English, French, German and Italian on Slovak Language and Literature Auty, Robert, The Evolution of Literary Slovak, Cambridge, 1953. Reprint from Transactions of the Philological Society, p. 143-160. Dialect, Koine and Tradition in the Formation of Literary Slovak (Paper presented to the VIIIth Congress of the International Federation of Modern Languages and Literatures at Liege, August 1960), published in The Slavonic and East European Review, Vol. 39, No. 93, London, 1961. �20 SLOVAKIA Bernolak, Anton, Slowakische Grammatik, Aus dem Lateinischen ins Deutsche iibersetzt, gedr. mit konigl. ung. Universitatsschriften, Offen, 1817. Bokes, F., Literarische Vbersicht des geschichtlichen Schaffens in der Slowakei, Leipziger Vierteljahrschrift fiir Siidosteuropa 4, Leipzig, 1940. Bray de, R. G. A., Guide To The Slavonic Languages (London & New York, J. M. Dent & Sons Ltd., 1951) , p. 513. Cizevsky, Dmitry, Outline of Comparative Slavic Literatures, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Boston, Mass., 1952. On Romanticism in Slavic Literatures, Gravenhage, Monton & Co., 1957. Aus Zwei Welten, Beitrage zur Geschichte der Slawisch-westlichen literarischen Beziehungen, 1956. Mickiewicz, Stur and Kral, in W. Lednicki's Adam Mickiewicz in World Literature, Berkeley, 1956. A Bibliography of the Publications of Dr. Dmitry Cizevsky in the Fields of Literatiire, Language, Philosophy and Culture, Cambridge, Mass., 1952. Denis, Ernest, La question d'Autriche - Les Slovaques, Paris, 1917, Librairie Delagrave. One of the best books on Slovaks before the end of the First World War. His views on Bernolak, Stur, etc. are slightly distorted by the idea of the national and cultural unity of Czechs and Slovaks. Dixon, Charlton, Slovak Grammar for English speaking Students, Middletown, Pa., Jednota Printery, 1935. Harkins, W. E. - Simoncic, K., Czech and Slovak Literature, Oxford, King's Crown Press, 1951. Fischel, Alfred, Panslavismus bis zum Weltkrieg, Stuttgart und Berlin, 1919. One of the best documented works on Panslavism in the German language. Giusti, Walgango, Il Panslavismo, Milano, 1941, Instituto per gli studi di politica internazionale. Rather political than scholarly review of the idea of Panslavism among Slavic peoples. Gross, Felix (ed.), European Ideologies, New York, 1948, Philosophical Library, W. Lednicki's chapter on Panslavism. Scholarly written treatise from the Polish point of view. Hrobak, Philip A., Slovak Lessons, Lakewood, Ohio, Middletown, Pa., Jednota Printery, 1935. The Slovak Language, Book I - II. Middletown, Pa. , Jednota, 1935-1936. Hrusovsky, F., Geschichte der Slowakei, Bratislava, 1942. This is Slovakia, Scranton, Pa., 1953. Jakobson, Roman, Sur l'histoire et sur les relations mutuelles du tcheque et du slovaque. Le Monde slave, XIV., 1937, 353-366. Slavic Languages, Columbia University Press, 1949. Kirschbaum, J . M., Slovakia - Nation at the Crossroads of Central Europe, New York, Speller & Sons, 1960. Slovak Literature under the Soviet Impact, The Slavic and EastEuropean Studies, Montreal, 1956, Part 1, p. 45-54. nudovit Stur and His Place in Slavic World, Slavistica No. 32, Winnipeg-Cleveland, 1956. Contemporary Tendencies in Slovak Philology, An Offprint from �SLOVAKIA 21 Slavic and East-European Studies, Vol. IV, No. 3-4, Montreal, 1960. Pavel Jozef Safarik and His Contribution to Slavic Studies, The Slovak Institute, Cleveland, Ohio, 1962, Slavistica No. 43, p. 51. A Note on Two Slovak Translators of Mickiewicz in W. Lednicki's Adam Mickiewicz in World Literature, Berkeley, 1956. Anton Bernolak - The First Codifier of the Slovak Language, Slavistica No. 52, Cleveland - Winnipeg, 1964. Slovak Literary History in Marxist and Western Interpretations. A reprint from Canadian Slavonic Papers, Vol. VI, University of Toronto Press, Toronto, 1964. The Role of the Cyrilo-Methodian Tradition in Slovak National and Political Life. An offprint from Slovak Studies III, Rome, 1963. La litterature de la periode cyrillo-methodienne et la slovaquie. An offprint from Slovak Studies III, Rome, 1963. La place du slovaque parmi les langues slaves. An offprint from Etudes slaves et est-europeennes, Vol. VIII. Fasc. 3-4, Universite de Montreal, 1963. Jan Kollar - Slovak Poet of Pan-Slavism, Slavistica No. 56, The Slovak Institute, Cleveland-Toronto-Winnipeg, 1966. Kohn, Hans, Pan-Slavism, Its History and Ideology, University of Notre Dame Press, 1953. One of the most objective books on Pan-Slavism. Konus, Joseph, Practical Slovak Grammar. A textbook for high schools, colleges and adult private students, Pittsburgh, Pa., 1939. New English-Slovak Dictionary, Pittsburgh, Pa., 1941. Kniezsa, Stefan, Zur Geschichte der Jugoslavismen im Mittelslowakischen, Budapest, 1948, tire a part des Etudes slaves et roumaines, Vol. 1, Fasc. 3. Kramoris, Ivan J., An Anthology of Slovak Poetry, Scranton, 1947. A selection of lyric and narrative poems including some members of Stur's group. Slovakia and Slovak Literature. Reprinted from the Catholic Encyclopedia, New York, 1950. A Chronological Outline of Slovak Literature and History, Passaic, N. J., 1946 Krcmery, Stefan, A Survey of Modern Slovak Literature, Offprint from The Slavonic Review, Vol. VII, No. 19, 1928-1929. Lednicki, Waclaw (ed.), Adam Mickiewicz in World Literature, University of California Press, 1956. Articles by D. Cizevsky and J. M. Kirschbaum. Leger, Louis, Le panslavisme et l'interet francais, Paris, 1917, Ernest Flammarion. Relatively objective study of pan-slavism and Slovak contribution. French point of view. Locher, T. J., Die nationale Differenzierung und Integrierung der Slowaken und Tschechen in ihrem geschichtlichen Verlauf bis 1848, Harlem, 1931. Macartney, C. A ., Hungary and Her Successors, London-New York- Toronto, 1937. Manning, Clarence A. (ed.), An Anthology of Czech and Slovak Poetry, New York, 1929, Columbia University Press. Contains translations by Prof. Kirkconnell, Kramoris, Gallik, Manning, Slabey, Kotouc, etc. �22 SLOVAKIA Meriggi, Bruno, Storia deUe letterature ceca e slovacca. University of Florence, 1959. Mikus, J . A., La Slovaquie dans le drame de l'Europe, Paris, Les Iles d'Or, 1955. La Slovaquie, Individualite politique de l'Europe Centrale, Paris, 1952. Mraz, Andreas, Die Literatur der Slowaken, Wien-Stuttgart, 1943. A History of Slovak literature by a contemporary scholar and professor at the University of Bratislava. The work was completed and edited in the Slovak language in 1948 by The Slovak Academy of Sciences and Arts and presents one of the best works on the history of Slovak literature. Pastrnek, Fr., Beitriige zur Lautlehre der Slowakischen Sprache in Ungarn (Aus dem Sitzungsberichten der philos.-hist. Klasse der K. Akademie der Wissenschaften), Wien, 1888. Petrovich, Michael B., The Emergence of Russian Panslavism, Columbia University Press, 1956. Rekem, John, The Origin and Dei;elopment of the Slovak Language, an offprint from Slovakia, Vol. XII, No. 35, Middletown, Pa., 1962. Slovak Literature and National Consciousness Before Bernolak, Cleveland, 1965. Seton-Watson, R. H. , A History of the Czechs and Slovaks, London, 1943. Scholarly written history by one of the best defenders of the Slovak people at the beginning of this century (see his Racial Problems in Austria-Hungary) who turned against the Slovak movement for autonomy and independence being influenced by his Czech friends. Scotus, Viator, Racial Problems in Hungary, London, 1908. Slovak Studies I, Historica 1, Slovak Institute, Rome, 1961. Safarik, J . P., Geschichte der Slawischen Sprache und Literatur nach allen Mundarten. Mit konigl. ung. Universitatsschriften, Offen, 1826. Skultety, Joseph, Sketches From Slovak History, Middletown, Pa., 1930, Jednota Press. Translation from Slovak by 0 . D. Koreff. Skultety was professor at the University of Bratislava and one of the most outstanding figures in the Slovak cultural life in the first half of the century. Stefanek, Anton, Zur Soziographie der geistigen Kultur in der Slowakei, Bratislava, 1944. Strakhovsky, L. I. (ed.), A Handbook of Slavic Studies, Harvard University Press, 1949, chapters by A. Senn and Otto Radl. Both articles reflect recent research, though Radl's contribution is strongly pro-Czech. Vajda, Jaroslav, Bloody Sonets, transl. from Hviezdoslav, P. 0., Scranton, Pa., 1950. Viktorin, J. K. Gramatik der Slowakischen Sprache. Zurn Schul-und Selbstunterricht, Budapest, 1862. Tourtzer, H. Louis Stur et l'idee de !'independence slovaque, Cahoss et Alencon, Paris, 1913. Trubetzkoy, N. S., Grundzilge der Phonologie, Prag, 1939. (on Slovak language p. 117-118, 136, 141, 143, 161, 167, 170, 175, 208, 245.) Yourchak, Peter P., The Slovaks, Whiting, Ind., 1947, Lach editions, �SLOVAKIA 23 chapters from Slovak history and literature destined for Americans of Slovak origin. BIBLIOGRAPHY in Slavic Languages Bartek, Heinrich, Anton Bernolak, Trnava, 1937. £udovit Stur a slovencina, Turc. Sv. Martin, 1943. Krest'anstvo a slovencina, in the Symposium Nadej vit'azna, Scranton, Pa., 1947. Slovensky pravopis s gramatickymi pouckami a slovnikom, Whiting, Ind., Lach Publications, 1956. Spravna vyslovnost' slovenska, Bratislava, 1943. Blanar, Vincent, Bibliografia jazykovedy na Slovensku v rokoch 19391947. Slovenska akademia vied a umeni. Bratislava, 1950. Bobek, W., Prehl'adne dejiny slovenskej literatury, Bratislava, 1939. Mickiewicz v literaturze slowackiej, Praha, 1931. Dzieje literatury slowackiej w zarysie. An offprint from Slowacja i Slowacy, Edit. W. Semkowicz, Krakow, 1938. Czambel, Samo, Prispevky k dejinam jazyka slovenskeho, Budapest, 1887. Slovenska rec a jej miesto v rodine slovanskych jazykov, Turc. Sv. Martin, 1906. Slovensky pravopis. Historicko-kriticky nakres. Budapest', 1890. Dvonc, Ladislav, Bibliografia slovenskej jazykovedy za roky 1948- 1952. Matica slovenska, Martin, 1957. Gajdos, V. J. Slovenske glosy v latinskom missali za XVI. storocia, Historica slovacca I-II, Bratislava, 1940-1941, 221-243. Grabowski, T. S., Dwaja Slowaccy pionerzy oswiecenia i postepu, Bernolak i Fandly, 1951. Hattala, Martin, Kratka mluvnica slovenska, Bratislava, 1852. Gramatica linguae slovenicae, Schemnicii, 1850. Hodza, Michal M., Vetin o slovencine, Levoca, 1848. Isacenko, A. V. Zaciatky vzdelanosti vo Vel'komoravskej risi, Jazykovedny sbornik I-II, 1947, 137-178. Jagic, I. V., Istorija slavianskoj filologii, S. Petersburg, 1910. Jankovic, V. "Prvy preklad slovensky celeho Pisma svateho", Verbum I, Bratislava, 1946-1947. Kondrasov, N. A., Kategorija licnosti i nelicnosti v slovackom jazyku, MGU, 1949. Programma po istoriji slovackogo jazyka. Programma po sovremennom slovackom jazyku, Izdatelstvo Moskovskogo universiteta, 1951. Slavianskaja filologia, Stati i monografiji, Izdatelstvo Moskovskogo univerziteta, 1951. Kotvan, Imrich, "Jozef Ignac Bajza a slovenska rec", Linguistica slovaca III, Bratislava, 1941. Juraj Fandly, Trnava, 1946. "Juraj Fandly a slovensky jazyk", Linguistica slovaca I-II, Bratislava, 1939. Bernolakovci, Trnava, 1948. Bibliografia bernolakovcov, Matica slovenska, Martin, 1957. �24 SLOVAKIA Magiera, J., Literatura czeska i slowacka, Obraz pismiennictwa, Warszawa, 1929. Magnuszewski, J., Mickiewicz wsr6d Slowakow. Wroclaw, 1956. Misianik, Jan, Dejiny starsej slovenskej literatury, SAV, Bratislava, 1958. Stran 320. Mraz, Andrej, Gavlovicova skola krest'anskci. Brati!lava, 1940. Dejiny slovenskej literatury, Bratislava, 1948. Novak, l;udovit, Cestina na Slovensku a vznik spisovnej slovenciny. Odtlacok zo Slovenskych pohl'adov LIV, 1938. Jazykovedne glosy k ceskoslovenskej otcizke, Turc. Sv. Martin, 1935. ~udovit Stur ako jazykovedec, Slovenske pohl'ady III, 1936. Pastrnek, Fr., Starci jazykovci pamcitka slovenskci, Sbornik filologicky VII, 1922. Pauliny, Eugen, Na okraj kamaldulskeho Pisma, Verbum I, 1946-1947. Glosy k pomeru: bernolcictina a sturovcina, Kultura XIV, 1942. Dejiny spisovnej slovenciny, Slovenska akademia vied a umeni, Bratislava, 1948. Pisut, Milan, Literatura ncirodneho obrodenia, SAV, Bratislava, 1960, p. 490. Slovensky litercirny romantizmus, C-sl. prednasky pro medzinarodni sjezd slavistu v Moskve. Semkowicz, W., Slowacia i Slovacy, Krakow, 1937. Skultety, Jozef, Stodvadsat'piit' rokov zo slovenskeho zivota 1790-1914, Martin, 1920. 0 Slovcikoch, Turciansky Sv. Martin, 1936. Sobolevskij, A. I., Cerkovno-slavianskije texty moravskogo proischozdenija, Ruskij filologiceskij vestnik, 1900. Stanislav Jan, K jazykovednemu dielu A. Bernolcika, Bratislava, 1941. Pribinovi velmozi, Linguistica slovaca I-II, 1939-1940. "Spisovny jazyk slovensky", Symposium Slovanske jazy ky v dobe pfitomne, Praha, 1937. Dejiny slovenskeho jazyka I-II, Slovenska akademia vied, Bratislava, 1958. Stiebr, Zdislaw, Zarys dialektologii jezykow zachodnio-slowianskich. Warszawa, 1956. Stur, l;udovit, Nauka reci slovenskej, Bratislava, 1846. Ncirecia slovenskuo, Bratislava, 1844. Tibensky, Jan, J. Papanek • J. Sklenar: Obrancovia slovenskej ncirodnosti v XVIII. storoci. Osveta, Martin, 1958. "K problemu hodnotenia bernolactiny a bernolakovskeho hnutia". Historicky casopis, VII., 4, 1959. "Vznik, vyvoj a vyznam vel'komoravskej tradicie v slovenskom narodnom obrodeni. Sbornik O vzcijomnych vzt'ahoch Cechov a Slovcikov, SAV., 1956. Varsik, Branislav, Slovcici na prazskej univerzite do konca stredoveku, Bratislava, 1926. Vilikovsky, Jan, Cantus Catholici, Bratislava, 1935. Vlcek, Jaroslav, Dejiny literatury slovenskej, Turc. Sv. Martin, 1923. Weingart, Milos, 0 najstarsich jazykovych pamcitkach slovenskych, CMF., Prague 1935. � 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 1966, Vol. 16 Description An account of the resource Vol. 16 (No. 39), 1966. 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 1966 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 SLOV AKIA Pu-blished by the Slovak League of America VOL. XVI 1966 N O. 39 THE SLOVAK LANGUAGE AND ITS PLACE AM.ONG THE SLAVIC LANGUAGES J. M. Kirschbaum I. Introductory Note A review of symposia, surveys and handbooks,1 dealing with Slavs and their languages, indicates that there is a certain confusion as far as the language of the Slovaks and their literary media are concerned. The confusion seems to have been created, on one hand, by Slavists and literary historians who failed to draw a proper distinction between the native and spoken language of the Slovaks and their written or literary language. On the other hand, the misconceptions were intentionally spread by philologists and literary historians who were influenced by political views and aspirations, and some Slavists accepted them without the necessary caution required in scholarly works. As a result, we find in manuals and symposia on Slavic peoples or in works on philology and Slavic languages either the thesis that the Slovak language is merely a dialect of the Czech, or that Slovak became a literary language only at the beginning of the XIXth century. Some surveys speak even of a Czechoslovak language. Before analyzing these misconceptions, it may perhaps be stated that the claim that Slovak is but a dialect of the Czech language, was not based on facts of history or philology. It was a biased opinion of those who tried to give a scholarly basis to political aspirations denying to the Slovaks the right to their independent national and cultural life. And there lay also the origins of the erroneous thesis that Slovak began to be used as a literary language only from the second half of the nineteenth century. Slovak philologists and linguists (Bernolak, Safarik, Stur, Czambel, Skultety, Bartek, Stanislav, Novak, Pauliny) 2 SLOVAKIA rejected, during the last two centuries, all these biased theories and looked for linguistic criteria to determine the origin and the main characteristics of the Slovak language. They reviewed the historic forms of the Slovak tongue, and by scholarly methods and comparative study of Slavic languages determined the place of Slovak among Slavic languages. 2 Works of Slovak philologists, except for those of Safarik and partly Stur and Czambel, remained, however, for a long time ·e ither unknown to foreign Slavists, or were interpreted incorrectly. As a result, we find only recently in linguistic studies, published outside Slovakia, the proper distinction between the Slovak language and the literary media used by Slovaks, and a rejection of the thesis that Slovak has been but a dialect of the Czech language or that there is a Czechoslovak language. According to these studies, during long centuries, Slovak people spoke their own Slovak dialects, which developed from the primitive Slavic after its disintegration, into the modern Slovak language, but they used several literary media. It was first the Old Church Slavonic, in the 9th and 10th centuries, afterwards the Latin language, the Biblical Czech (used by the Protestant minority until the second half of the 19th century), the literary Slovak based on Slovak western dialects and finally the revised present form , based on central Slovak dialects.3 On the following pages, we shall attempt to p0int out and analyze the main misconceptions about the Slovak language and the literary media used in Slovakia and define the place of Slovak among Slavic languages in the light of recent linguistic research of European Slavists, including the Marxist philologists of Slavic countries.4 II. Views and conceptions of Slovak philologists In their scholarly studies of phonology, etymology, lexicology and grammar Slovak philologists and linguists maintained continuously the point of view that the Slovak language has been distinct from any other Slavic tongue. This was not so clear and evident to Slavists of the 19th century, according to Slovak philologists, because philology was in its infancy and used primitive methods.5 Recent research, how- SLOVAKIA 3 ever, proves that Slovak language has been the real and original national tongue of the inhabitants of Slovakia since the dawn of history, and the linguistic analysis of the fundamental roots of the Czech and Slovak languages and a comparative study of their developments showed that Slovak language never was a part of the Czech or so-called "Czechoslovak" language.6 If we accept the theiiis, supported by Trubeckoj ,7 that in the ninth century the Old Slavonic &1:.ill was the common tongue of the Slavs with a unified phonology, and that from the ninth century different dialects developed into distinct Slavic languages, it is to be assumed, according to Slovak philologists, that among them was also the Slovak tongue. There is no historical or philological reason why it should not be claimed that at the time of disintegration of the Old Slavonic and of the rise of new independent Slavic languages, Slovak was among them and that its development cannot be identified with that of the Czech language.8 This thesis is strengthened also by the fact that the Slovak territory was annexed after the collapse of Great Moravia, by Hungary and, hence, the only contact the Slovaks had with Czechs was through Moravians who have continued to speak a Slovak dialect in spite of the pressure of the Czechs from the West, and to the p-resent time they have retained their own phonological structure. Consequently, the relation between the Czech and Slovak languages became a matter of controversy because of political aspirations of some Czech politicians and scholars and not because of philological reasons - is the view of Slovak philologists. In fact, as early as in the 16th century Vavrinec Benedikti z Nedozier (1555-1615), a learned Slovak philologist and professor at the Prague University exhorted his Slovak countrymen to cultivate their native tongue. He wrote his appeal in a grammar he composed for Czechs, which makes it clear that already for him there were two different languages. 9 From the sixteenth century on, there are numerous proofs that Slovak erudities, with the exception of a few protestants, considered Slovaks as one of the "tribes" of Slavic nation, but speaking their own "dialect" different from the Czech, Polish or Russian, using the word dialect for our term language. Slovak was used not only in homiletic 4 SLOVAKIA writings, but also in scholarly works and poetry, especially since the middle of the 17th century around the University of Trnava (founded 1635) and, at the end of the 18th century, Anton Bernolak only codified a language in use in his linguistic works Dissertatio, Gramatica slavica and his huge pentalingual Dictionary. 10 The well-known Slavist, P. J . Safarik, and initially also Jan Kollar, were aware of the fact that there had been a Slovak ~anguage and Slovak literature, different from the Czech or the other Slavic languages and literatures. Safarik gave testimony to it in his Geschichte der Slawischen Sprache und Literatur in allen Mundarten (1826) , and when some Czech leaders reproached him and his scholarly objectivity, Safarik indignantly announced that he would go even farther in stressing the differences than he did in his book.11 Jan Kollar was also instrumental originally in preparing Sti'.lr's reform and later changed his mind and became an advocate of a common literary language with the Czechs (which he called "old Slovak" ) because of reasons which Slovak literary historians avoid to discuss. The great poet of Panslavism had also some human deficiencies like very high personal pride and terrible temper, and took it as an insult ,that Stur and his group dared to do something in Slovak cultural life without consulting him or without his patronage. 12 This "crimen lesae majestatis" moved Kollar to opose Stu.r's reform and the final acceotance of the Slovak literary language also by Slovak protest;nts. Safarik did not change his scholarly views which he expressed in his Geschichte, but being employed in Prague and financially supported by Czech patriots, he tried to convince his Slovak countrymen that they should not move too far from Czechs and suggested that the Czech should be adjusted to the Slovak linguistic phenomena and peculiarities. "The will of the Slovak groups to assert their own national individuality was, however, too strong", as admitted by Radl, 13 and Stu.r's reform was victorious over Kollar's protests and Safa:rik's advices, because it was in line with the linguistic facts and centuries' long Slovak national development. The reasons for a sporadic use of the Czech language for administrative and partly also for literary purposes (mainly by the Slovak Protestants) which some Czech philologists considered as a proof of national and linguistic unity of the SLOVAKIA 5 Czechs and Slovaks, have been reconsidered by several "bourgeois" and "marxist" philologists and literary historians. There are at least three theories om the penetration of the Czech language into the Slovak territory. One theory refers to the continuation of relations between Slovaks and Moravians (who adopted the Czech language) from trhe time of Great Moravia, which relations survived the collapse of that state and developed between the Moravian cultural center Olomouc arnd Slovak religious centers. More acceptable and also more elaborated is the theory ascribing the use of the Czech language to the fact that Czech clerks were used at certain periods not only in the Slovak territory but also in Hungary and Poland in state and city-administration. 14 In Slovakia, the use of the Czech, adapted to local dialects, survived because of the Reformation which penetrated into Slovakia from Germany and Bohemia with Bible and religious books writteJ) in the old Czech, and because during the Counter-Reformation "many protestant Czechs found shelter in Slovakia and even printed books in Czech for the purpose of smuggling them into Bohemia" .15 Settled in Slovakia, the Czech refugees tried to keep all Slovak protestants linked to Bohemia by language also in secular writings. 16 Around 1840, it became, however, clear to the leaders of the Protestant minority in Slovakia that the Czech language was not intelligible to the common people, that their writings could not reach Slovak population and for reasons which U. Stur explained in his Narecia slovenskuo and other writings, they agreed with Catholics who used the Slovak for homiletic as well as for secular writings from the 16th century, on the reform taking for basis central Slovak dialects, and on the exclusive use of Slovak in Slovak literature. Stur's reform, by which the Slovak language was finally established as a literary medium of all Slovaks, has been accepted by the Slovak intelligentsia within a very short space of time, and it received its final linguistic , form in the grammar of a Catholic priest, Martin Hattala. Thus the peculiar situation of multilingualism in modern Slovak literature was changed. 17 During all these centuries, Slovak people spoke, as we mentioned before, their own Slovak dialects which developed from the Old Slavonic after its disintegration into modern Slovak language, which happened more or less at the same 6 SLOVAKIA time at which other central European peoples began to use vernacular for literary purposes. On the position of Slovak among Slavic languages, Slovak philologists expressed various opinions. 18 V. Jagic in his book Entstehungsgeschichte der Kirchenslawischen Sprache, wrote that "in Great Moravia people must have spoken in the ninth century a tongue which in its fundamentals was identical with the Slovak language of today". J . Dobrovsky admitted that certain linguistic phenomena linked Slovak with South Slavic languages and S. Czambel elaborated linguistically a theory to prove that the question as to whether Slovak is closer to Western Slavic or to the Southern Slavic group of languages deserves to be reconsidered by philologists. Stur viewed the position of the Slovak language as a central clearing house, mainly because he was conscious of many of its similiarities with the Slavic tongues of the East, West, North and South, especially noting the South Slavic dialects with which Slovak came into intimate contact during long centuries. 19 Recent studies indicate that the Slovak language conserved many archaic forms and expr-essions common to all Slavs. Remaining for centuries only a spoken vernacular of the people, it was affected mainly by the influence of neighbouring Slavic peoples, and since it was codified in the era of the revival of Slavonic peoples, the Slovak cultural and political leaders saw to it that Slovak language might conserve its central position and Slavic purity. Kollar himself argued, and some Slavists of that time accepted his idea that the Slovak language "stands grammatically and geographically in the center of all Slav dialects" and the Tatra mountains are the "nest and cradle of all Slavs" which, of course, the modern science of history, archeology and ethnography challenges. However, U1.e central position of the Slovak language, geographically or linguistically, is accepted to a great extent even by modern philology. According to de Bray "the Slovaks have preserved a beautifully soft and musical language, which might well serve as a modern "Common Slav" or lingua franca among the Slavs today. For modern Slovak is the most comprehensible of the living Slavonic languages to all other Slavs. Just as the Slovaks occupy geographically a central position among the Slavs, so, too, their language, in its SLOVAKIA 7 sounds and forms, is the nearest to an all-round compromise between the various Slavonic languages, having features which make it near both to East and South Slav, as well as to the other West Slav languages. 20 In fact, the Slovaks - either educated or common people - do not experience much difficulty in communicating in Slovak with Poles, Ukrainians, C:ziechs, Russians, or Slovenes and Croats, as has been proven even on the American Continent, since basically there ar,e no great differences among Slavic languages, and in the case of the Slovak language, history and geography made it close not only to Polish and Czech, but also to Ukrainian and South Slavic, Slovenian and Croat. 21 Slovak intellectuals of the nineteenth century read not only Polish or Czech poets and writers in original, but also Russian and Ukrainian, Croat and .Slovenian. Modern scientific and literary development drifts the twelve Slavic languages more apart. Nevertheless, even if we cannot agree with the nineteenth century poet that "with the Slovak language you may travel Earth's four corners", the fact remains that Slovaks are able to communicate in their own vernacular with the majority of the Slavic peoples. III. Views and conceptions of European Slavists As for European Slavists, including the present-day Czech philologists, some of their recent studies would indicate that they corrected many of the erroneous views they held on the relation between the Slovak and Czech and the origin of the Slovak literary language. It is evident that the modem techniques in linguistics and philology have thrown new light on the subject and have been instrumental in giving modified conceptions that are far advanced beyond the hasty unwarranted conclusions of the amateur-philologists or linguists serving political aspirations. Noteworthy among the new conceptions are not only those which defend the distinct and ancient character of the Slovak among Slavic languages but also the views that the history of the Slovak literary language necessarily begins in the 9th century with the Old Church Slavonic as the first literary medium in Slovakia. This view has been held by Slovak literary historians .for a long time, but never was considered before by foreign 8 SLOVAKIA Slavists. Recently, howev,er, the well-known Polish philologist T. Lehr-Splawinski expressed the following view: "The beginnings of the literary language in Slovakia are connected with the period of activities of ConstantineCyril and Methodius in the Moravian state. As the whole of Slovakia was, without ,any doubt, a part of that state, and the important centers of its political and cultural life were situated on the Slovak territory, writings in the old ChurchSlavonian language must have undoubtedly developed among the Slovaks in the last quarter of the IXth century". 22 R. Auty, from the University of Cambridge, in his paper, presented to the VIIIth Congress of the International Federation of Modern Languages & Literatures at Liege, August 1960, corrected misconceptions on Bernolak and Stur and their reforms. Anton Bernolak codified in 1870 a language which was already in use, according to Auty, and "in the following fifty or sixty years a considerable number of literary and other works were published or written in this (Bernolak's) form of Slovak". 23 The Czech language was, according to Auty, "sporadicalin Slovakia (with certain local modification) for used ly administrative and, still more occasionally, literary purposes". The reasons for this sporadic usage of Czech for administrative and "mor,e occasionally" also for literary purposes, are explained by Auty in his statement that "since the Reformation the Czech had been the language of the Lutheran scriptures and Church Services in Slovakia". "Stur, Protestant though he was, acted against what he regarded as an unnatural linguistic situation which had been brought about by the hazards of history. His reaction was radical" - says Auty, and gives a detailed picture of the changes which were brought about in the Slovak language by the agreement of the Catholics and Protestants in order to end bilingualism in Slovak literature. Auty's views on the reform of the , Slovak literary language which took place in the 1840's are fairly in line with the historical truth and recent r-esearch. According to him "Catholic and Protestant Slovaks agreed to accept a new written form of their language for all purposes: this has been worked out by U. Stur in discussion with other Slovak intellectual leaders in the perfod 1842-44 and was somewhat modified by M. M. Hodza and M. Hattala in subsequent years". _,/ SLOVAKIA 9 Stur "on more than one occasion praised the work of Bernolak, and above all, the poetry of Jan Holly and fully accepted one element of Bernolak's linguistic reform - the orthographical system" - continues Auty. The general pattern of the language, as fashioned by Stur, was in accordance with the needs of Slovak Society and has proven itself - and Stur's genius - by its survivor". 2 " R. G. A. de Bray, in his Guide to the Slavonic Languages, is equally close to the views of Slovak philologists and literary historians. "It is not true to say" - writes de Bray - "that Slovak was not written till the nineteenth century, as some assert. It is true that the modern literary language, as we know it today, was then first stabilized, but there are traces of the Slovak language in the local Latin documents from the elev,enth to the fifteenth centuries, Latin being the official language at the time". 25 On the relation between the Czech and Slovak de Bray expressed the following view: "While the phonetic system of Slovak is more conservative than that of Czech and so is nearer to that of Old Slavonic and other Slavonic languages, its morphological system has developed further than that of Czech, its nearest relative, mainly through the workiings of analogy and the generalization of certain standard endings, especially in the plural of nouns. Both the 1st and 2nd palatalization of gutturals occur less frequently in the declensions than they do in Czech, owing to the workings of analogy, as in Russian and Slov•enian. And in general Slovak morphology has fewer irregularities, exceptions, and archaic survivals, such as the declension of Kamen (- stone) in Czech. Prof. Roman Smal-Stocki in his paper Discrimination and Bias in Two Unesco Publications also raised his voice against treating Slovak and Czech "as one unit". "From the linguistic point of view" - says Prof. Smal-Stocki - "it js inadmissible to mix state units with existing languages and to treat "as one unit" Czech and Slovak, because the linguistic fact is that in existence are two separate units, Czech and Slovak". 26 The contributors to the Encyclopedia Britanica (1959, Vol. 20) published some correct and some incorrect views, 10 SLOVAKIA but they grasped the essential points of difference between the Czech and Slovak. 27 "The Czech, as spoken and written today in Bohemia, diverges considerably from Slovak - says the Encyclopedia. The disagreement is least marked in vocabulary but appears prominently in the phonetics; in particular the itacism so distinct a characteristic of Czech, is non-existent in Slovak, which has preserved the fuller diphthongs (ia, ie, iu etc.) of the Slavonic languages; a further small.er point is the dz, from Common Slav dj, is used (as in Polish) where Czech has z. In one point only is there a divergence which goes back beyond the time of the common ancestry of the two languages; Slovak has not developed the t, which is characteristic of Czech and in that language occurs since the beginning of its literature. The Slovak palatalization of n, d, t and 1 after e, which does not occur in modern literary Czech, is a further point of disagreement, although this would not be obvious from Slovak spelling which does not find it necessary to distinguish by diacritics; consonanrts are always softened in this position". The Encyclopedia also points out to the relation of Slovak with other Slavic languages. It says: "The dialectical development shows some characteristics identical with those in South Slavonic and Russian. Not everywhere, for example, have u and i been confused, and instead of the e, which is the normal result in Slovak as in Czech, we find in Eastern dialects an o from the u, thus agreeing with Russian. An agreement with South Slavonic is the occurrence of raz- and la- and lo-. Because of these and other phonetic and morphological reasons the grammarian Czambel, a keen opponent of the identity of Czech and Slovak, has asserted that Slovak should rightly be associated with South Slavonic". 28 It would appear from this brief survey that European Sl~vists are very close to the views of Slovak philologists and that misconceptions, which we still can find in American symposia, considered hereafter, are disappearing from European Slavic studies. Very close to the views of European Slavists is also the well-known Canadian Slavist Prof. W. Kirkconnell who already in 1939 stated: "It cannot be too strongly emphasized that the Slovaks are not Czechs, and that there is no such ciieature as a 'Czechoslovak'. While they speak closely related Slavic languages, Slovak is not SLOVAKIA 11 a mere dialect of Czech. The differences are about as great as those between the similarly related languages, Dutch and German. I have on my shelves Miroslav Kalal's Slovak-Czech dictionary (published 1924), in which there are 35,000 Slovak words that were apparently unintelligible to a Czech and hence required definition." (d. Canada, Europe, and Hitler, p. 44) IV. Misconceptions in American symposia and surveys With the sudden development of Slavic Studies on the American continent came hand in hand a large number of symposia, handbooks and surveys on Slavic literatures and langutlges. They are, however, written predominantly by scholars and writers with European schooling and background and, therefore, it is more appropriate to speak, in this respe0t, rather of American symposia than of American Slavists. A survey of several such symposia indicates that there are misconceptions not only in the relation of the Slovak with the Czech, but also on the history of the Slovak literary language and the role of foreign languages in Slovak literature. In this respect, we read not without surprise that even the well-known Slavist, Roman Jakobson, helped to spread some erroneous views on the Slovak language. In his study Slavic Languages, he writes as follows: "Toward the middle of the same (i.e. the 19th) century, the Slovaks, who had used literary Czech (somewhat adapted to their own habits) inaugurated their own literary language based on the central Slovak dialect but patterned after standard Czech". 29 Prof. A. Senn in Strakhovsky's Handbook of Slavic Studies, completed and modified Jakiobson's description of Slovak literary language. His classification of Slovak is correct, but we could hardly agree with certain parts of his definition. Prof. A. Senn says: "Slovak forms a connecting link with the South Slavic Slovenian and is more archaic than Czech. Otherwise differences between Czech and Slovak are not very great. Slovak became a literary language at the beginning of the nineteenth century . . . Slovak and Czech form one "Czechoslovak unit". 12 SLOVAKIA In the same symposium, another contributor, Otto Radl, admitted that "as early as 1635 in Trnava books were printed in different Slovak dialects", but he confusingly states further that it was only i,n 1844, in the period of Romanticism, that "the therefore common written language, the Czech, was being replaced by a newly-originated Slovak literary language". According to Radl "this movement had been begun at the end of the 18th century by the learned Slovak philologist Anton Bernolak who published several works in Latin in which he tried to show that the Slovaks were a separate nation and that they should therefore use their own distinctive written language based on dialects spoken in Western Slovakia". 30 A similar version can be found in Prof. H. S. Thompson's book "Czechoslovakia in European History", who says that "a deliberate effort to substitute for the written Czech then in use in Slovakia a language based upon a local dialect came from the Catholic camp only in 1790, when Anton Bernolak published a Gramatica slavica". However, he asserts further that "about the only followers Bernolak had were Catholic writers, and even among them the vogue for his grammar and dictionary soon died out. The year 1834-1835 is usually given" - concludes Thompson - "as the date of the rise of written Slovak, although strictly speaking, Stur did not make his first formal declarartion until 1846". 31 In R. J. Kerner's symposium Czechoslovakia and in V. Busek-N. Spulber's Czechoslovakia under Communism, we find only slightly modified or re-worded versions of the views mentioned above. "Catholic Slovaks under Bernolak tried to create with indifferent success a written Slovak dialect", we read in Kerner's symposium, and Busek-Spulber's symposium gives the following genesis of the Slovak literary language: " ... the first attempts were made (aside from earlier sporadic ventures) to establish a distinct Slovak literary language in the last decade of the 18th century by Anton Bernolak (1762-1813) who selected the Western Slovak dialects as a basis of the new literary medium: his suggestions, not elaborated linguistically, did not take permanent hold. "The decisive step towards the establishment of Slovak literary language was undertaken through the initiative of the Protestants. Ludovit St(ir selected the central Slovak dialect for the Slovak literary medium. Beginning in the SLOVAKIA 13 1840's, several poets followed Stur and used the new literary language with great skill".32 It is perhaps not necessary to sum up all the mistaken assertions and impressions which we find in the symposia mentioned here. The foregoing views of European and Slovak philologists showed that Slovak was spoken by Slovak people from the dawn of their history and that it was in use for literary purposes from the 17th century, and Bernolak codified only a literary language used by the majority of Slovaks for more than 150 years. The function of the Czech language in Slovakia and the reasons for its sporadic use, besides Latin and Slovak, were also explained by Slovak as well as European Slavists. Responsibility for the lack of precision and mistaken views in American symposia might lay with the sources used by the contributors to these symposia. It would appear that they predominantly relied on old studies, which favoured the biased conceptions of linguistic, cultural -and political unity of Czechs and Slovaks, and which has been abandoned during the past two decades even by the Czech philologists, as we shall see from the survey of Czech and Slovak contemporary linguistic studies. Since all the symposia under review were edited or written by writers who specialized in Slavic studies, we might perhaps mention also at this point that academic precision would have required to say that before Stur's reform Slovaks used for literary purposes far more frequently Latin, on the Catholic side, and German, on the Protestant J.ide, than the Czech "somewhat adapted to their own hal>its". Bernolak codified Slovak language in Latin works, the first works on history of Slovakia were written by their Slovak authors also in Latin, and on the Protestant side Safarik wrote his first scholarly work in German, used Czech later only because he was forced to do it by unhappy circumstances, and Kollar also wrote in German his treatise on Slavic solidarity -Ober die Literarische Wechselseitigkeit zwischen den verschiedenen Stammen und Mundarten der slavischen Nation. Equally imprecise for a scholarly writer is to say that Stur's reform was based "on the central Slovak dialect but patterned after standard Czech". Recent research proves that Stur relied on Bernolak in many respects and that the literary language, reformed by Stur, "was not based on the dialect of any single area, but represented a kind of 'koine' of the 14 SLOVAKIA central Slovak dialects, eschewing features from both the eastern and western dialects" - as R. Auty correctly says and new works on Slovak language confiirm. V. "Marxist" conceptions of literary Slovak and the origins of the Slovak language Slovak philology has been exposed, since the inclusion of Slovakia into the Soviet political and cultural sphere, to the influence of Marxist criteria and method, and is gradually developing with considerable dependence on Soviet philology. There were strong attempts at the beginning to apply to Slovak philology "the theoretical directives given the Marxist philology by J. V. Stalin in his genial work Marxism and Problems of Linguistics"33 and later other Soviet examples were imitated. However, a considerable number of Slovak philologists adhered, in the first place, to scientific principles and methods and results of favourable development of Slovak philology are visible in two recent bibliographies, not only in the number of entries, but also in the number of fields covered. Scholarly research into the Slovak language is, of course, still the principal field of interest. The number of works, studies and articles referring to Slovak, its history and development during the period of 1939-1945 alone was over 1000 and amounts to 700 in Dvonc's Bibliography of Slovak philology which covers only the years 1948-1952. Many of these entries were written by highly qualified philologists of Slovak or foreign origin (J. Stanislav, L. Novak, E. Pauliny, V. Uhlar, A. Janosik, S. Peciar, J. Horecky, V. Blanar, E. Jona, Kniesza, Vazny, Kiraly, Stieber etc.) and they cover the history of literary languages in Slovakia, historical grammar, dialectology, ,etymology, phonology, orthography, vocabulary, etc. From the published works by the "marxist" philologists and literary historians it is obvious that the theses on the Slovak language, on the history of the Slovak literary language and on the function of some fureign languages (Czech, Czechoslovak) in Slovak literature, which theses were intended to support the political theory of a single Czechoslovak nation, have been definitely buried. Particularly noteworthy in this regard is the work of the Czech University Profe~or A. Dostal, 34 and of the Slovak school, Prof. E. Pauliny's Dejiny spisovnej slovenciny (History of Literary Slovak, Brati- SLOVAKIA 15 slava, 1948), and A. Mraz's Dejiny slovenskej literatury (History of Slovak Literature, Bratislava, 1948), as well as the papers read at the Moscow Fourth International Congress of Slavists in 1958. Professor A. Dostal, in his work "Nastin dejin ceskeho a slovenskeho jazyka" published in Prague in 1954, accepted not only the thesis that the Slovak is a distinct and ancient tongue, but he also condemned the traditional views of Czech philologists. "Slovak language whose development goes back to ancient times, was established as a literary language in connection with the formation of Slovaks into a nation", says Dostal. "Its establishment cannot at all be viewed as a separation from the literary Czech language, but as a long, slow development towards a literary language ... " Prof Dostal goes even further and says that the attempts to impose the Czech language upon Slovaks as literary medium must be considered "as a negation of centuries long development which in the 1840's was already a historical fact in Slovakia ... " 35 The paper of Prof. E. Pauliny on bilingualism in the history of the Slovak literary language, d_eserves particular attention. Pauliny tries to explain the function of the Czech language in Slovakia in the XVth and the following centuries on the basis of social and economic phenomena and changes. He has arrived, nevertheless, at the same conclusions as the philologists who did not apply "Marxist criteria" in philology, i.e. that the Czech language was a foreign language in Slovakia and could not stand competition with the Slovak vernacular when the Slovak ethnicum evolved in its national consciousness. Literary Slovak won in spite of the fact that the Protestant minority, predominantly of Czech origin, at that time tried to maintain it even in the XIXth century when the Slovak literary language was established by the Catholic majority (80%) over a century ago. The relation between the Czech and Slovak is, therefore, according to Pauliny, that of bilingualism. 36 In the introduction to his book Dejiny spisovnej slovenciny, Pauliny understands the history of the language as the history of the origin, disappearance and changes of its individual styles. However, in the book itself, he divided the history of the Slovak literary language according to the HS SLOVAKIA languages which were used by the Slovaks as literary languages in addition to the spoken vernacular from the time of the Greater Moravia. He writes: "Although, in this case, the period of the actual Slovak literary language can begin only with Bernolak, or with the period shortly before Bernolak, nevertheless, it is not possible to begin the history of the literary languages of the Slovaks either with Bernolak or Stur, but it is necessary to go deep into the past, all the way to the very beginnings of the historical period of our nation in the Greater Moravian epoch, nay, in certain matters, it is necessary to go even further, into the prehistoric period, when our ancestors were not yet baptized and did not participate in the Eul'opean culture which was introduced to us by Chl'istianity". In his contribution to a volume O vzajomnych vzt'ahoch Cechov a Slovakov, published in 1956 by the Slovak Academy of Sciences, Pauliny states that "Bernolak codified a language which can be traced in the writings of the middle-class, the lower nobility and educated Slovaks back to the 15th century, and this in both Catholic and Protestant writings". 37 Stu.r's reform, which is erroneously presented by some Slavists as the beginning of the Slovak literary language (in this respect even Jakobson is wrong), in Pauliny's view, is but a "younger branch of Bernolak's school". 38 In the opinion of Prof. A. Mraz, who still remains the main authority in Marxist literary history of Slovakia, Anton Bernolak reformed and codified the Slovak literary language and its orthography. 39 Mraz regards the activity which Ol'iginated around the Catholic University of Trnava (1635) as a starting point for introducing Slovak vernacular as a literary medium and stresses that the first manifestation of the new era in Slovak national life was the publication of Cantus Catholici by Benedict Szollosi in 1655. "The book Cantus Catholici", says Mraz, "laid the foundation on which the language used by Slovak Catholic writers, was formed into an independent Slovak literary language. Crystallization of the language, which Slovak Catholic writers used during the period of the University of Trnava (16351777), progressed so far in accordance with the spoken language in Western Slovakia that, when Bernolak and his followers came, at the end of the 18th century, with the idea SLOVAKIA 17 of an independent literary language, they merely codified, in many respects, a language used and domesticated among the Catholic Slovak writers of the preceding period". 40 Scholarly basis to this conception of the development of the Slovak literary language was given by several philologists of today's Slovakia, among whom noteworthy is in the first place Prof. Jan Stanislav with his two volumes on the history of the Slovak language (Dejiny slovenskeho jazyka) and philological studies of J6na, Uhlar, Ruzicka, Peciar etc. 41 By a careful analysis of the fundamental roots of both languages, Czech and Slovak, as well as through the comparative study of their later developments, they revealed the true basis of the Slovak language and have classified it properly as one of the distinct Slavonic languages which developed after the disappearance of the Old Slavonic language. As a result of this development the relation between the two literary languages of today's Czecho-Slovakia is now officially accepted as a relation between two Slavic but distinct languages. The Czech poetry and prose are translated into the Slovak and vice versa as the Polish or Russian have been. Life and historical facts prevailed over artificial tendencies and theories a long time ago, and finally they have prevailed even over the reluctance of some politicians and philologists to recognize their victory. A century-long debate, as to whether Slovak is a dialect of the Czech language or a distinct Slavonic tongue, has thus been "officially" closed by the recognition on both Czech and Slovak sides that, from its earliest beginnings, the Slovak language has always manifested a distinct identity as a Slavonic tongue of the inhabitants of Slovakia. NOTES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY See the following symposia: R. J . Kerner, Czechoslovakia, (Berkeley, Calif., University of California Press, 1949), and L. I. Strakhovsky, ed. Handbook of Slavic Studies ( Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press, 1949) the article by 0 . Rad!. The chapter on the Slavic languages by A. Senn in the same symposium is in accordance with recent research. Slavonic Encyclopedia, chapter by J. S. Roucek (New York, 1949) in the same category as Kerner's symposium. 2. See Eugen Pauliny, Dejiny spisovnej slovenciny (Bratislava, Slovenska Akademia vied a umeni, 1948) . 3. Cf. A. Mraz, Die Literatur der Slovaken (Wien, 1943). 1. 18 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21 . SLOVAKIA Cf. Prof. A. Dostal, Ncistin dejin ceskeho a siovenskeho jazyka (Prague, 1954), pp. 200-206. Cf. J. M. Kirschbaum, "Contemporary Tendencies in Slovak Philoiogy", Etudes siaves et Est Europeennes, IV, (1959-60 ), pp. 163-174. Cf. E. Pauliny, op. cit., and Jan Stanislav, Dejiny siovenskeho jazyka (Bratislava, 1957), p. 326, also H. Bartek, siovensky pravopis, (Whiting, Ind., 1956). N. S. Toubetzkoy, Grundzuge der Phonofogie, (Prague, 1939), pp. 117, 136, 141. J. Dobrovsky and P. J. Safarik have traced the linguistic line which separated the Czech and Slovak dialects around the Moravia. Cf. J. Skultety, Sketches from siovak History, (Middetown, Pa., 1936) and his Stodvadsat'piit' rokov zo siovenskeho zivota, Turc. Sv. Martin, 1920. Cf. E. Pauliny, Dejiny spisovnej siovenciny, p. 41. Benedicti Grammaticae Bohemicae iibri due, (Prague, 1603) p. VI, has written: "Neque tamen ego hie eos ad Bohemicam linguam cogo, sed ad exercitationem et culturam ipsorum idiomatis invito: praesertim cum non tantum in civitatibus et oppidis, sed etiam in pagis scholis abundent". Cf. E. Pauliny, op. cit., pp. 57 and 113, and A. Mraz, Dejiny siovenskej Hteratury, p. 108. See, J. Skultety, op. cit., p. 23, and Jaroslav Vlcek, Medzi Vcihom a Vitavou, (Bratislava 1957), pp. 228-234. J. Skultety, op. cit., pp. 20-30. L. I. Strakhovsky, op. cit., pp. 494-495. E. Pauliny, op. cit., pp. 30-36. 0. Radl, in L. I. Strakhovsky's Handbook of siavic Studies, p. 491. Cf. E. Pauliny, op. cit., p. 36-37 and 53. Pauliny is of the opinion that the occupation of Hungary by Turks (1526) helped the penetration of the Czech language, since there was a sort of common border between Slovakia and Moravia in the Habsburg Monarchy. E. Pauliny, op. cit., p. 17; A. Mraz, op. cit., pp. 12-16, and Jan Stanislav, op. cit. p. 12. J. Dobrovsky in 1875 wrote that Slovak is close to the Croat and Slovene languages in several respects. Zd. Stieber considers certain characteristics of the Slovak language as southern Slavic elements (juhoslavismy) . Cf. Jan Stanislav, Dejiny siovenskeho jazyka, p. 387. V. Jagic, Entstehungsgeschichte der Kirchensiawischen Sprache (Wien, 1900), p. 19; E. Pauliny, 0 vzcijomnych vzt'ahoch cechov a Slovcikov (Bratislava, 1956), p. 101., and David Diringer, Cambridge Univ., England, article in The Encydopedia Americana, Can. Edition, 1963, p. 379-380. S. Czambel, siovenskci rec a jej miesto v rodine siovanskych jazykov, (Turciansky Sv. Martin, 1906), pp. 320, and J. M. Kirschbaum, I!udovit stur and His Piace in the siavic World, Slavistica No. 32, Cleveland, Ohio, 1956. A. Senn "Slavic Linguistics", in Handbook of Slavic Studies, edited by L. I. Strakhovsky, p. 116-139, and R. G. A. de Bray, Guide To The siavonic Languages (London & New York, J. M. Dent & Sons Ltd., 1951), p. 513. J . M. Kirschbaum, "A Note on Two Modern Slovak Translators SLOVAKIA 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40. 41. 19 of Mickiewicz" in Adam Mickiewicz in World Literature, edited by W. Lednicki, (Berkeley & Los Angeles, Calif. University of Calif. Press, 1956) , p. 487-493. T. Lehr-Splawinski, Preglad i charakterystyka jezykow slowianskich (Warszawa, 1954,) p. 71. Robert Auty, "Dialect, Koine and Tradition in the Formation of Literary Slovak", The Slav onic and East European Review, XXXIX, (1961), p . 331-356. Ibidem, pp. 342-346. R. G. A. de Bray, op. cit., pp. 513-515. Roman Smal-Stocki, Discrimination and Bias in Two UNESCO Publications, (New York, Shevchenko Scientific Society, 1961), p. 3. T. Lehr-Splawinski, op. cit. p. 71. Ibid. p. 800. Roman Jakobson, Slavic Languages (New York, Columbia University Press, 1949) , p. 10. L. I. Strakhovsky, op. cit. p. 491. See S. H . Thomson, Czechoslovakia in European History, (Prince: ton, University Press, 1943) , p. 242-258. V. Busek-Spulber, Czechoslov akia under Communism (New York Mid-European Study Center, 1957) , 193-197. See J. M. Kirschbaum "Contemporary Tendencies in Slovak Philology", Etudes Slaves et Est-Europeennes, vol. IV, (1960), pp. 163-174. A. Dostal, Nastin dejin ceskeho a slovenske ho jazyka (Prague, 1954), pp. 200-201. See also "Die Tschechoslowakische Sprachenwissenschaft in den Jahren 1933 bis 1944" - Zeitschrift fur Slavische Philologie, Band XXIX, XXX, XXXI, Heidelberg, 196263. See esp. Vol. XXX, 1. p. 164-180. A. Dostal, op. cit., pp. 200-201. E. Pauliny, Dejiny spisovnej slovenciny (Bratislava, 1948) , p. 46-108. Symposium O vzajomnych vzt'ahoch techov a Slovakov, (Bratislava, Slovenska Akademia Vied, 1956) . teskoslovenske pfednasky pro IV. Medzinarodni zjezd slavistu v Moskve, ed. Ceskoslovensky komitet slavistu, (Praha, 1958). A. Mraz, Dejiny slovenskej literatury, (Bratislava, 1948) . Ibid. p. 101-118. See Bibliography. BIBLIOGRAPHY of selected works in English, French, German and Italian on Slovak Language and Literature Auty, Robert, The Evolution of Literary Slovak, Cambridge, 1953. Reprint from Transactions of the Philological Society, p. 143-160. Dialect, Koine and Tradition in the Formation of Literary Slovak (Paper presented to the VIIIth Congress of the International Federation of Modern Languages and Literatures at Liege, August 1960), published in The Slavonic and East European Review, Vol. 39, No. 93, London, 1961. 20 SLOVAKIA Bernolak, Anton, Slowakische Grammatik, Aus dem Lateinischen ins Deutsche iibersetzt, gedr. mit konigl. ung. Universitatsschriften, Offen, 1817. Bokes, F., Literarische Vbersicht des geschichtlichen Schaffens in der Slowakei, Leipziger Vierteljahrschrift fiir Siidosteuropa 4, Leipzig, 1940. Bray de, R. G. A., Guide To The Slavonic Languages (London & New York, J. M. Dent & Sons Ltd., 1951) , p. 513. Cizevsky, Dmitry, Outline of Comparative Slavic Literatures, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Boston, Mass., 1952. On Romanticism in Slavic Literatures, Gravenhage, Monton & Co., 1957. Aus Zwei Welten, Beitrage zur Geschichte der Slawisch-westlichen literarischen Beziehungen, 1956. Mickiewicz, Stur and Kral, in W. Lednicki's Adam Mickiewicz in World Literature, Berkeley, 1956. A Bibliography of the Publications of Dr. Dmitry Cizevsky in the Fields of Literatiire, Language, Philosophy and Culture, Cambridge, Mass., 1952. Denis, Ernest, La question d'Autriche - Les Slovaques, Paris, 1917, Librairie Delagrave. One of the best books on Slovaks before the end of the First World War. His views on Bernolak, Stur, etc. are slightly distorted by the idea of the national and cultural unity of Czechs and Slovaks. Dixon, Charlton, Slovak Grammar for English speaking Students, Middletown, Pa., Jednota Printery, 1935. Harkins, W. E. - Simoncic, K., Czech and Slovak Literature, Oxford, King's Crown Press, 1951. Fischel, Alfred, Panslavismus bis zum Weltkrieg, Stuttgart und Berlin, 1919. One of the best documented works on Panslavism in the German language. Giusti, Walgango, Il Panslavismo, Milano, 1941, Instituto per gli studi di politica internazionale. Rather political than scholarly review of the idea of Panslavism among Slavic peoples. Gross, Felix (ed.), European Ideologies, New York, 1948, Philosophical Library, W. Lednicki's chapter on Panslavism. Scholarly written treatise from the Polish point of view. Hrobak, Philip A., Slovak Lessons, Lakewood, Ohio, Middletown, Pa., Jednota Printery, 1935. The Slovak Language, Book I - II. Middletown, Pa. , Jednota, 1935-1936. Hrusovsky, F., Geschichte der Slowakei, Bratislava, 1942. This is Slovakia, Scranton, Pa., 1953. Jakobson, Roman, Sur l'histoire et sur les relations mutuelles du tcheque et du slovaque. Le Monde slave, XIV., 1937, 353-366. Slavic Languages, Columbia University Press, 1949. Kirschbaum, J . M., Slovakia - Nation at the Crossroads of Central Europe, New York, Speller & Sons, 1960. Slovak Literature under the Soviet Impact, The Slavic and EastEuropean Studies, Montreal, 1956, Part 1, p. 45-54. nudovit Stur and His Place in Slavic World, Slavistica No. 32, Winnipeg-Cleveland, 1956. Contemporary Tendencies in Slovak Philology, An Offprint from SLOVAKIA 21 Slavic and East-European Studies, Vol. IV, No. 3-4, Montreal, 1960. Pavel Jozef Safarik and His Contribution to Slavic Studies, The Slovak Institute, Cleveland, Ohio, 1962, Slavistica No. 43, p. 51. A Note on Two Slovak Translators of Mickiewicz in W. Lednicki's Adam Mickiewicz in World Literature, Berkeley, 1956. Anton Bernolak - The First Codifier of the Slovak Language, Slavistica No. 52, Cleveland - Winnipeg, 1964. Slovak Literary History in Marxist and Western Interpretations. A reprint from Canadian Slavonic Papers, Vol. VI, University of Toronto Press, Toronto, 1964. The Role of the Cyrilo-Methodian Tradition in Slovak National and Political Life. An offprint from Slovak Studies III, Rome, 1963. La litterature de la periode cyrillo-methodienne et la slovaquie. An offprint from Slovak Studies III, Rome, 1963. La place du slovaque parmi les langues slaves. An offprint from Etudes slaves et est-europeennes, Vol. VIII. Fasc. 3-4, Universite de Montreal, 1963. Jan Kollar - Slovak Poet of Pan-Slavism, Slavistica No. 56, The Slovak Institute, Cleveland-Toronto-Winnipeg, 1966. Kohn, Hans, Pan-Slavism, Its History and Ideology, University of Notre Dame Press, 1953. One of the most objective books on Pan-Slavism. Konus, Joseph, Practical Slovak Grammar. A textbook for high schools, colleges and adult private students, Pittsburgh, Pa., 1939. New English-Slovak Dictionary, Pittsburgh, Pa., 1941. Kniezsa, Stefan, Zur Geschichte der Jugoslavismen im Mittelslowakischen, Budapest, 1948, tire a part des Etudes slaves et roumaines, Vol. 1, Fasc. 3. Kramoris, Ivan J., An Anthology of Slovak Poetry, Scranton, 1947. A selection of lyric and narrative poems including some members of Stur's group. Slovakia and Slovak Literature. Reprinted from the Catholic Encyclopedia, New York, 1950. A Chronological Outline of Slovak Literature and History, Passaic, N. J., 1946 Krcmery, Stefan, A Survey of Modern Slovak Literature, Offprint from The Slavonic Review, Vol. VII, No. 19, 1928-1929. Lednicki, Waclaw (ed.), Adam Mickiewicz in World Literature, University of California Press, 1956. Articles by D. Cizevsky and J. M. Kirschbaum. Leger, Louis, Le panslavisme et l'interet francais, Paris, 1917, Ernest Flammarion. Relatively objective study of pan-slavism and Slovak contribution. French point of view. Locher, T. J., Die nationale Differenzierung und Integrierung der Slowaken und Tschechen in ihrem geschichtlichen Verlauf bis 1848, Harlem, 1931. Macartney, C. A ., Hungary and Her Successors, London-New York- Toronto, 1937. Manning, Clarence A. (ed.), An Anthology of Czech and Slovak Poetry, New York, 1929, Columbia University Press. Contains translations by Prof. Kirkconnell, Kramoris, Gallik, Manning, Slabey, Kotouc, etc. 22 SLOVAKIA Meriggi, Bruno, Storia deUe letterature ceca e slovacca. University of Florence, 1959. Mikus, J . A., La Slovaquie dans le drame de l'Europe, Paris, Les Iles d'Or, 1955. La Slovaquie, Individualite politique de l'Europe Centrale, Paris, 1952. Mraz, Andreas, Die Literatur der Slowaken, Wien-Stuttgart, 1943. A History of Slovak literature by a contemporary scholar and professor at the University of Bratislava. The work was completed and edited in the Slovak language in 1948 by The Slovak Academy of Sciences and Arts and presents one of the best works on the history of Slovak literature. Pastrnek, Fr., Beitriige zur Lautlehre der Slowakischen Sprache in Ungarn (Aus dem Sitzungsberichten der philos.-hist. Klasse der K. Akademie der Wissenschaften), Wien, 1888. Petrovich, Michael B., The Emergence of Russian Panslavism, Columbia University Press, 1956. Rekem, John, The Origin and Dei;elopment of the Slovak Language, an offprint from Slovakia, Vol. XII, No. 35, Middletown, Pa., 1962. Slovak Literature and National Consciousness Before Bernolak, Cleveland, 1965. Seton-Watson, R. H. , A History of the Czechs and Slovaks, London, 1943. Scholarly written history by one of the best defenders of the Slovak people at the beginning of this century (see his Racial Problems in Austria-Hungary) who turned against the Slovak movement for autonomy and independence being influenced by his Czech friends. Scotus, Viator, Racial Problems in Hungary, London, 1908. Slovak Studies I, Historica 1, Slovak Institute, Rome, 1961. Safarik, J . P., Geschichte der Slawischen Sprache und Literatur nach allen Mundarten. Mit konigl. ung. Universitatsschriften, Offen, 1826. Skultety, Joseph, Sketches From Slovak History, Middletown, Pa., 1930, Jednota Press. Translation from Slovak by 0 . D. Koreff. Skultety was professor at the University of Bratislava and one of the most outstanding figures in the Slovak cultural life in the first half of the century. Stefanek, Anton, Zur Soziographie der geistigen Kultur in der Slowakei, Bratislava, 1944. Strakhovsky, L. I. (ed.), A Handbook of Slavic Studies, Harvard University Press, 1949, chapters by A. Senn and Otto Radl. Both articles reflect recent research, though Radl's contribution is strongly pro-Czech. Vajda, Jaroslav, Bloody Sonets, transl. from Hviezdoslav, P. 0., Scranton, Pa., 1950. Viktorin, J. K. Gramatik der Slowakischen Sprache. Zurn Schul-und Selbstunterricht, Budapest, 1862. Tourtzer, H. Louis Stur et l'idee de !'independence slovaque, Cahoss et Alencon, Paris, 1913. Trubetzkoy, N. S., Grundzilge der Phonologie, Prag, 1939. (on Slovak language p. 117-118, 136, 141, 143, 161, 167, 170, 175, 208, 245.) Yourchak, Peter P., The Slovaks, Whiting, Ind., 1947, Lach editions, SLOVAKIA 23 chapters from Slovak history and literature destined for Americans of Slovak origin. BIBLIOGRAPHY in Slavic Languages Bartek, Heinrich, Anton Bernolak, Trnava, 1937. £udovit Stur a slovencina, Turc. Sv. Martin, 1943. Krest'anstvo a slovencina, in the Symposium Nadej vit'azna, Scranton, Pa., 1947. Slovensky pravopis s gramatickymi pouckami a slovnikom, Whiting, Ind., Lach Publications, 1956. Spravna vyslovnost' slovenska, Bratislava, 1943. Blanar, Vincent, Bibliografia jazykovedy na Slovensku v rokoch 19391947. Slovenska akademia vied a umeni. Bratislava, 1950. Bobek, W., Prehl'adne dejiny slovenskej literatury, Bratislava, 1939. Mickiewicz v literaturze slowackiej, Praha, 1931. Dzieje literatury slowackiej w zarysie. An offprint from Slowacja i Slowacy, Edit. W. Semkowicz, Krakow, 1938. Czambel, Samo, Prispevky k dejinam jazyka slovenskeho, Budapest, 1887. Slovenska rec a jej miesto v rodine slovanskych jazykov, Turc. Sv. Martin, 1906. Slovensky pravopis. Historicko-kriticky nakres. Budapest', 1890. Dvonc, Ladislav, Bibliografia slovenskej jazykovedy za roky 1948- 1952. Matica slovenska, Martin, 1957. Gajdos, V. J. Slovenske glosy v latinskom missali za XVI. storocia, Historica slovacca I-II, Bratislava, 1940-1941, 221-243. Grabowski, T. S., Dwaja Slowaccy pionerzy oswiecenia i postepu, Bernolak i Fandly, 1951. Hattala, Martin, Kratka mluvnica slovenska, Bratislava, 1852. Gramatica linguae slovenicae, Schemnicii, 1850. Hodza, Michal M., Vetin o slovencine, Levoca, 1848. Isacenko, A. V. Zaciatky vzdelanosti vo Vel'komoravskej risi, Jazykovedny sbornik I-II, 1947, 137-178. Jagic, I. V., Istorija slavianskoj filologii, S. Petersburg, 1910. Jankovic, V. "Prvy preklad slovensky celeho Pisma svateho", Verbum I, Bratislava, 1946-1947. Kondrasov, N. A., Kategorija licnosti i nelicnosti v slovackom jazyku, MGU, 1949. Programma po istoriji slovackogo jazyka. Programma po sovremennom slovackom jazyku, Izdatelstvo Moskovskogo universiteta, 1951. Slavianskaja filologia, Stati i monografiji, Izdatelstvo Moskovskogo univerziteta, 1951. Kotvan, Imrich, "Jozef Ignac Bajza a slovenska rec", Linguistica slovaca III, Bratislava, 1941. Juraj Fandly, Trnava, 1946. "Juraj Fandly a slovensky jazyk", Linguistica slovaca I-II, Bratislava, 1939. Bernolakovci, Trnava, 1948. Bibliografia bernolakovcov, Matica slovenska, Martin, 1957. 24 SLOVAKIA Magiera, J., Literatura czeska i slowacka, Obraz pismiennictwa, Warszawa, 1929. Magnuszewski, J., Mickiewicz wsr6d Slowakow. Wroclaw, 1956. Misianik, Jan, Dejiny starsej slovenskej literatury, SAV, Bratislava, 1958. Stran 320. Mraz, Andrej, Gavlovicova skola krest'anskci. Brati!lava, 1940. Dejiny slovenskej literatury, Bratislava, 1948. Novak, l;udovit, Cestina na Slovensku a vznik spisovnej slovenciny. Odtlacok zo Slovenskych pohl'adov LIV, 1938. Jazykovedne glosy k ceskoslovenskej otcizke, Turc. Sv. Martin, 1935. ~udovit Stur ako jazykovedec, Slovenske pohl'ady III, 1936. Pastrnek, Fr., Starci jazykovci pamcitka slovenskci, Sbornik filologicky VII, 1922. Pauliny, Eugen, Na okraj kamaldulskeho Pisma, Verbum I, 1946-1947. Glosy k pomeru: bernolcictina a sturovcina, Kultura XIV, 1942. Dejiny spisovnej slovenciny, Slovenska akademia vied a umeni, Bratislava, 1948. Pisut, Milan, Literatura ncirodneho obrodenia, SAV, Bratislava, 1960, p. 490. Slovensky litercirny romantizmus, C-sl. prednasky pro medzinarodni sjezd slavistu v Moskve. Semkowicz, W., Slowacia i Slovacy, Krakow, 1937. Skultety, Jozef, Stodvadsat'piit' rokov zo slovenskeho zivota 1790-1914, Martin, 1920. 0 Slovcikoch, Turciansky Sv. Martin, 1936. Sobolevskij, A. I., Cerkovno-slavianskije texty moravskogo proischozdenija, Ruskij filologiceskij vestnik, 1900. Stanislav Jan, K jazykovednemu dielu A. Bernolcika, Bratislava, 1941. Pribinovi velmozi, Linguistica slovaca I-II, 1939-1940. "Spisovny jazyk slovensky", Symposium Slovanske jazy ky v dobe pfitomne, Praha, 1937. Dejiny slovenskeho jazyka I-II, Slovenska akademia vied, Bratislava, 1958. Stiebr, Zdislaw, Zarys dialektologii jezykow zachodnio-slowianskich. Warszawa, 1956. Stur, l;udovit, Nauka reci slovenskej, Bratislava, 1846. Ncirecia slovenskuo, Bratislava, 1844. Tibensky, Jan, J. Papanek • J. Sklenar: Obrancovia slovenskej ncirodnosti v XVIII. storoci. Osveta, Martin, 1958. "K problemu hodnotenia bernolactiny a bernolakovskeho hnutia". Historicky casopis, VII., 4, 1959. "Vznik, vyvoj a vyznam vel'komoravskej tradicie v slovenskom narodnom obrodeni. Sbornik O vzcijomnych vzt'ahoch Cechov a Slovcikov, SAV., 1956. Varsik, Branislav, Slovcici na prazskej univerzite do konca stredoveku, Bratislava, 1926. Vilikovsky, Jan, Cantus Catholici, Bratislava, 1935. Vlcek, Jaroslav, Dejiny literatury slovenskej, Turc. Sv. Martin, 1923. Weingart, Milos, 0 najstarsich jazykovych pamcitkach slovenskych, CMF., Prague 1935.  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Slovak Language and its Place Among the Slavic Languages Description An account of the resource J. M. Kirschbaum Slovakia, Vol. 16 (No. 39), 1966 pp. 1-24 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Kirschbaum, Jozef M., 1913-2001 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1966 SNK https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/a1dab0e556764d40525d3613569b260f.pdf ac569b85f5e09475c0b34e435d909ac2 PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA 139 Gracious Majesty's favour-in deepest reverence, Your Imperial Royal Apostolic Majesty's most loyal subject and submissive chaplain, Stephen Moyses, Bishop of Banska Bystrica Vienna, December 5, 1861. (Translated from "Petitionen der Serben und Slowaken von Jahre 1861", Vienna, 1862, and published in Scotus Viator, Raciai Probiems in Hungary, Archibald Constable & Co. Ltd., London, 1908.) The Slovak League Finnly Believes ... Our primary interest is the welfare and security of the United States of America. 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. We strongly recommend that all official, semi-official and private American institutions desiring any information on problems affecting the Slovak nation, consult with the Slovak League of America, an American institution which since 1907 has been advancing the cause of freedom and national rights of the Slovak nation. We heartily commend all efforts on the part of our Government, its agencies and Congressional Committees 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, .s hould be thoroughly investigated by the proper organs of our Government. 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 humanly possible. �14-0 SLOVAKIA 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. We subscribe wholeheartedly to the principle that all 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 selfdetermination -the fundamental principle of American policy in Europe since the administration of President Woodrow Wilsonmust apply without reservations even to the Slovak nation from which we are descended. 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 by the 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. 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 welfare of the Slovak nation can best be safeguarded by the Slovaks themselves in their own Slovak Republic. 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 right of their nation to survival and self..'.f ulfillment. ( Platform of the Slovak League of America) � SLOVAKIA 139 Gracious Majesty's favour-in deepest reverence, Your Imperial Royal Apostolic Majesty's most loyal subject and submissive chaplain, Stephen Moyses, Bishop of Banska Bystrica Vienna, December 5, 1861. (Translated from "Petitionen der Serben und Slowaken von Jahre 1861", Vienna, 1862, and published in Scotus Viator, Raciai Probiems in Hungary, Archibald Constable & Co. Ltd., London, 1908.) The Slovak League Finnly Believes ... Our primary interest is the welfare and security of the United States of America. 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. We strongly recommend that all official, semi-official and private American institutions desiring any information on problems affecting the Slovak nation, consult with the Slovak League of America, an American institution which since 1907 has been advancing the cause of freedom and national rights of the Slovak nation. We heartily commend all efforts on the part of our Government, its agencies and Congressional Committees 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, .s hould be thoroughly investigated by the proper organs of our Government. 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 humanly possible. �14-0 SLOVAKIA 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. We subscribe wholeheartedly to the principle that all 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 selfdetermination -the fundamental principle of American policy in Europe since the administration of President Woodrow Wilsonmust apply without reservations even to the Slovak nation from which we are descended. 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 by the 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. 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 welfare of the Slovak nation can best be safeguarded by the Slovaks themselves in their own Slovak Republic. 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 right of their nation to survival and self..'.f ulfillment. ( Platform of the Slovak League of America) � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 1970, Vol. 20 Description An account of the resource Vol. 20 (No. 43), 1970. 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 1970 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 139 Gracious Majesty's favour-in deepest reverence, Your Imperial Royal Apostolic Majesty's most loyal subject and submissive chaplain, Stephen Moyses, Bishop of Banska Bystrica Vienna, December 5, 1861. (Translated from "Petitionen der Serben und Slowaken von Jahre 1861", Vienna, 1862, and published in Scotus Viator, Raciai Probiems in Hungary, Archibald Constable & Co. Ltd., London, 1908.) The Slovak League Finnly Believes ... Our primary interest is the welfare and security of the United States of America. 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. We strongly recommend that all official, semi-official and private American institutions desiring any information on problems affecting the Slovak nation, consult with the Slovak League of America, an American institution which since 1907 has been advancing the cause of freedom and national rights of the Slovak nation. We heartily commend all efforts on the part of our Government, its agencies and Congressional Committees 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, .s hould be thoroughly investigated by the proper organs of our Government. 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 humanly possible. 14-0 SLOVAKIA 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. We subscribe wholeheartedly to the principle that all 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 selfdetermination -the fundamental principle of American policy in Europe since the administration of President Woodrow Wilsonmust apply without reservations even to the Slovak nation from which we are descended. 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 by the 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. 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 welfare of the Slovak nation can best be safeguarded by the Slovaks themselves in their own Slovak Republic. 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 right of their nation to survival and self..'.f ulfillment. ( Platform of the Slovak League of America)  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Slovak League Firmly Believes... Description An account of the resource Platform of the Slovak League of America Slovakia, Vol. 20 (No. 43), 1970 pp. 139-140 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1970 https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/d925da0d8a7832d0462546dec79e89fb.pdf f1f8f259cd81edb019364cc519241de2 PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA 7 THE SLOVAK LEAGUE OF AMERICA AND THE CANADIAN SLOVAK LEAGUE IN THE STRUGGLE FOR THE SELF-DETERMINATION OF THE NATION, 1907-1992 M. Mark Stolarik 1 In the 20th century the American and Canadian Slovak Leagues pl ayed a major role in the struggle for the self-determination of the Slovak nation. Founded by immi grants who so ught a better li ve lyhood in the New World , the Slovak League of America played a leading ro le in the creation of Czecho-S lovakia during the Great War. In the inter-war years , the Slovak League of America, joined by its Canadian offshoot, bombard ed the central government in Prag ue with demands to grant the Slovaks in the newly-created state their promised autonom y. When the Slovaks achi eved autonomy in the fa ll of 1938, both Leagues rejoiced. When the Autonomous Diet procl aimed Slovak independence in March of 1939, both Leagues were caught by surpri se, but, after so me hesitation , they supported it. However, because Slovakia was allied with Nazi Germany , both Leagues had to te mper their support after Canada entered the war against Germany in September of 1939 and the U nited States followed sui t in December of 1941. After the war had ended , however, both the American and the Canadian Slovak Leagues demanded a plebiscite on the future of their countrymen in Europe. Having fai led to achieve thi s goal, both Leag ues, whi ch were buttressed by recently-arrived political emigres after 1945, decl ared their support for a new Slovak liberatio n movement which was first led by the Slovak National Council Abroad and, from 1970 on by the Slovak World 1 An earlier version of this paper was presented to the conference on "Emigration to the Engli sh Speaking world," Catho lic University of Rufo mberok, Slovakia, May 19, 2006. �8 SLOVAKIA Congress. After the Communist government gave up its monopol y of power in 1989, both Leagues sent fact-finding delegation s to Czechoslovakia and both supported the movement for Slova k independence, which became a reality in 1993. Since then , they have continued to help their countrymen to consolidate their independence. Between 1870 and 19 14 approx imate ly half a million Slovaks left their homeland in the Kingdom of Hungary and settled in North America in search of work. Once there, they established three pillars of their new communities- fraternal-benefit societies, parish churches and a newspaper press. Largely of peasant stock from eastern Slovaki a, they sought better wages in the coal mines, steel mills and oil refineries of the American Northeast and Midwest (Connec ti cut , New York, New Jersey, Pennsy lvania, Ohio, Indiana and lllinois). 2 The early arriva ls quickly di scovered that the United State s provided vi1tually no social services. Therefore, these immigrants establi shed their own fratern al-benefit societies which, from monthly membership dues, provided accident, illness or death benefits to their members or families , as well as a pl ace to socialize. By 1890 over fifty such fraternals existed and they then began to federate into nation al organizations such as the National Slovak Society , headquartered in Pittsburgh and the First Catholic Slovak Union, with its headquarters in Cleveland . Since the men initially excluded women from their organizations, Slovak women established the Zivena Beneficial Society in New York in 1891 and Catholic women established the First Catholic Slovak Ladies Union in Cleveland in 1892. Lutherans established their own Slovak Evangelical Union in 1893 and Calvini sts their Slovak Cal vin Presbyterian Union in 1902. Even the tiny group of socialists estab li shed their own Slovak Workers Society in 1916. By 1920 American Slovaks had enrolled over 200,000 members in these, and other, fraternal-benefit societies. 3 2 For more details on the process of Slovak migration and resettlement in the United States see my Immigration and Urbanization: Th e Slovak Experience, 1870- 191 8 (New York: AMS Press, I 989), I-7 1. 3 For the story of Slovak fratern al-benefit soc ieties in the United States see my "A Place fo r Everyo ne: Slovak Fratern al-Benefi t Societies," in Scott Cummings, ed ., Self-Help in Urban America: Patterns of Minority Business Enterprise (Port Washington, NY : Kennikat Press, 1980, 130-41 and "Slovak Fraternal-Benefit Societies in North America: An Overview ( 1883- 1993), in Matjaz Klemenc ic ed. , Etnicni fra- �SLOVAKIA 9 Besides the need for social benefits , Slovak immigrants also yearned for religious services in their own language. The fraternalbenefit societies led the way in establishing pari sh churches , in recruiting their priests and in supporting (or not supporting) them. Slovak Roman Catholics established 241 parishes, Lutherans 68 , Calvinists 9 and Greek Catholics (mixed parishes of Rusins and Slovaks) 155 by 1930.4 At least half of the Roman Catholic parishes also established parochial schools which taught their children to read, write and sing in Slovak, while all other subjects were taught in English. The Roman Catholics also established several religious orders to teach their children, as well as Benedictine High School for boys in Cleveland and Danville Academy for girls in Danville, Pen. 5 nsy Ivama. Finally, most of the immigrants from Slovakia yearned for news from their homeland and were also curious about conditions in the New World. Therefore, a small number of intellectuals, who had followed them from Slovakia, established a very vigorous newspaper press. Starting with a mere Bulletin in 1885, American Slovaks developed a full-service press that consisted of dailies, weeklies and monthlies , and that varied in orientation from nationalist to Magyarone, from secular to religious, from socialist to capitalist. By 1914 the combined circulation of the Slovak-American press was over 150,000, which was four times the circulation of the Slovak-langu- terna/izem v priseljenskich deie/ach/Ethnic Fratemalism in Immigra nt Countries (Maribor: University of Maribor, 1996), 147-59. 4 For the process of the creation of parishes, see my Growing Up on the South Side: Three Generations of Slovaks in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, I 880- 1976 (Lewsiburg: Bucknell Uni vers ity Press, 1985), 44-62; for the number of parishes of various denominations see Filip Hrobak, comp., and ed. , Slovak Catholic Parishes and Institutions in the United States and Canada (Cleveland: First Catholic Slovak Union , 1955), 3 I- I65; George Dolak, A History of the Slovak Evangelical Lutheran Church in the United States of America, /902-1927 (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1955), 189-206; Jan Body & John Adam , comp. and ed .. History of the Slovak Zion Synod LCA (Pittsburgh: Zion Synod, 1976), 199-200; Kalendar pre slovenskych Kalvfnov, 1927 (P ittsburgh), 97- 147; and Paul R. Magocs i, Our People: CarpathoRusyns and Their Descendants in North America (Toron to: Multicultural History Society of Ontario, 1984), 14. 5 Hrobak, Parishes and institutions, 169-82. �SLOVAKIA . Hungary. 6 age press m As they were building the pillars of the ir new co mmunities in America, Slovak immigrants did not fo rget their homeland . Indi vidual immigrants sent several hundred million doll ars to support their fa milies in Slovakia in the period 1870-1914. In addition , Slovak fraternal-benefit societies and their leaders rai sed fund s for the Slovak National Museum, for Slovak schools and churches in Hungary, they paid for and published in the ir Almanacs articles written by Slovak inte llectuals, and they established schol arship fund s to support Slovak high-school students in Bohe mi a and Moravia. Most important of all , they fi nancially supported Slovak candidates to the Hungarian Parli ament and rejo iced when, for the first time in hi story, seven nati onall y-conscious Slovaks were elected in 1906.7 Meanwhile, since the 1867 "Compromi se," whereby the ruling Habsburgs of Austri a and the Magyars of Hungary agreed to divide the empire into the Dual Monarchy of Au stri a-Hungary, the Magyars set out to forcibl y assimilate all the non-M agyar nationalities in Hungary. 8 American Slovak leaders were aware of thi s poli cy of "Magyari zation" and joined their counterparts in Slova ki a in trying to combat it. To thi s end American Slovaks, reacting to urgings from Slovak leaders in Europe, organized a " national congress" to be held in Cleveland on May 26, 1907 . On that day over l0,000 countrymen fro m across America packed into Greys Armory and established the Slovak Leag ue of Ameri ca, whi ch would be the cover organization fo r all nationall y-conscious Slovak organizations in the United States. Thi s sa me congress also e lected the Rev. Stefa n Furdek of Cleveland (originally from Trstena, Orava county), fo under of the First Catholic Slovak Union, as its president and Peter V. Rovnianek of Pittsburgh (originally fro m Doln y Hricov, Trencfn county), foun 6 For an over-view see my "The Slovak-American Press," in Sall y M. Miller ed. , The Ethnic Press in the United States: A Historical A nalysis and Handbook (Westport, CT: Gree nwood Press, 1987), 354-68 ; fo r the circul ation of the Slovak-Ameri can press in 19 14 see my " Slovak Nati onalism in the USA as Refl ected in th e Slovak-American Press, 1885- 1918 ," Canadian Review of Studies in Na tionalism, 3 1 (Nos. 1-2, 2004) , 65-76. 7 Stolarik, Immigration and Urbanization, 185-205 . 8 The best desc ripti on of " Magyarization" is still Scotus Viator (R.W. Seton-Watson), Racial Problems in Hungary (London: Archibald Constable, 1908 ; reprinted by Howard Ferti g, New York, 1972). �SLOVAKIA 11 der of the National Slovak Society , as its first vice-president, as well as the presidents of all the other fraternals as vice-presidents. The League published its formal program of autonomy for the Slovaks in Hungary in September of 1914, just as the world was entering into the first of two world wars that would plague the 20th century. 9 While the League 's official program was autonomy for its countrymen in the Kingdom of Hungary , a small group of Slovaks dissented and called for the destruction of Austria-Hungary and the liberation of their people. These di ssidents were large ly organized in the Slovak Gymnastic Union Sokol , which had been established in New Jersey in 1896, and which adopted the program of the Czech professsor of philosophy T.G. Masaryk. ' 0 The latter had fled hi s homeland in the fall of 1914 and had started to organize a movement to liberate the linguistically-related Czechs and Slovaks from Au stria-Hungary and to create a new state on its ruin s. Masaryk was assisted in hi s quest by one of hi s form er students, the Paris-based Slovak astronomer, Milan R. Stefanik. Later, Masaryk was joined by another of hi s students, the sociologist Edvard Benes. This trio organized itself into a "Czech Committee" and hoped to persuade the western Allies, if they were victorious over the Central Powers, to dismember AustriaHungary and to allow the Czechs and Slovaks to establish their own state. 11 While Masaryk was an elected member of the Austrian Parliament, and in touch with hi s Czech colleagues, who approved of his plans, he had no mandate from the Slovaks in Hungary to include 9 Fo r the creation of the Slovak League see Jednota (C leveland), May 29, 1907; ~udove noviny (Ska lica), Jun e 4, 1907; Jan Pank uch, Dejiny Clevelandskych a Lakewoodskych Slovakov (C leveland: Jan Pankuch, 1930), 71-3 ; and Kon stantin Cul en, Dejiny Slovakov v A merike, JI (Bratislava: Slovenska Liga, 1942), 11 3-24 ; for the program of autonomy see " Memorandum Slovenskej Ligy v Amerike vydane menom americkyc h Slovakov," in Dr. Yacovsky [Milan Ivanka], Slovaci a Madari: Politicko-historicka uvaha (Pittsburgh: Slovak League of America, I 9 14), 10 I-7. 10 For the ac ti vities of the Slovak Gymnastic Union Sokol see Milan Getting, A merickf Slovaci a vyvin ceskoslovenskej myslienky v rokoch 19 14-1 9 /8 (Perth Amboy, NJ: Slovak Gymnastic Union Sokol , 1933) 11 Masaryk and Benes left us the ir memoirs: T.G . Masaryk, The Making of a State: Memories and Observations, 19 14-1 918 (London: Frederick A. Stokes, 1927; Edu ard Benes, Souvenirs de g uerre et de revolution (1914-1918), 2 Vols. (Paris: E. Lero ux , 1928). Stefanik left no memoirs but Jan Jurfcek wrote a sy mpathetic biography: M.R. Stefanik: t ivotopisny nacrt (Brati slava: Mlade !eta, 1968). �12 SLOVAKIA them in the proposed state. Therefore, Masaryk sought such a mandate from American Slovak immigrants, most of whom were not yet citizens of the United States, but whose leaders had been in close touch with Slovak leaders in Hungary before the war, and who had a mandate from them to speak on behalf of the Slovak nation . 12 As a result, Masaryk urged his Czech colleagues in the United States to seek out the Slovaks and try to persuade them to join in his liberation movement. American Czechs did so and on October 22, 1915 the Bohemian National Alliance, which was the cover organization of most American Czechs, and the Slovak League of America met and concluded the Cleveland Agreement, which was named after the city in which it was signed. In this Agreement, the two sides pledged to work for the destruction of Austria-Hungary and the creation of a new, federal state consisting "of the Czech and Slovak nations," with "complete national autonomy for Slovakia, with its own Diet, its own state administration, complete cultural freedom .. ..its own financial and political administration," and "with Slovak as the state language ." The Slovak League insisted upon these points because it knew that the Czechs would outnumber the Slovaks in the new state by three-to-one and the League did not want the Czechs to dominate the Slovaks as had the Magyars in Hungary. 13 Had the two sides respected the Cleveland Agreement, the liberation movement might have worked smoothly and led to a harmonious future for the Czechs and Slovaks. Unfortunately, T.G. Masaryk did not believe in the existence of separate Czech and Slovak nations. Perhaps because he was of mixed Slovak (father) and Czech (mother) origin, he believed that the Czechs and Slovaks 12 On August 6, 1906, political leaders in Slovakia sent their counterparts in the USA a letter in which they proposed to share the leadership of the Slovak natio n with them. The letter was published in lmrich Mazar, Dejiny Binghamtonskych Slovakov za dobu styridsat' rokov, I 879-19 I 9 (Bingha mton : Branch I04 of the Slovak League of America, 1919), 2 1-22 . The Czechs recog nized th at Slovak leaders in the USA were authorized to speak on behalf of the Slovaks in Hungary in an editorial that appeared in The Bohemian Review (Chicago), March, 19 18, p.47 . 13 Cleveland Plain Dealer, October 23 , 1915 , p.7 ; Jednota (M iddl etow n, PA ), November 24, 1915, p.4; Narodne noviny (Pittsburgh), November 25, 19 15, p.5 ; the original was published in Dokumenty slovenskej nardonej identity a statnosti, I (Bratislava: Narodne literarne centrum, 1998), 445-7; an English translation can be found in my "The Role of American Slovaks in the Creation of Czecho-S lovakia, 1914-1918," Slovak Studies, VIII (Rome, I 968), p.55. �SLOVAKIA 13 formed one "Czechoslovak" nation and merely spoke two dialects of the same language. Therefore, when he arrived in the United States in the spring of 1918 to seek the recognition of the American government for the liberation movement and was shown the Cleveland Agreement, he proclaimed it "out of date" and proceeded to negotiate a new one with the Slovaks. On May 31st, 1918 Masaryk in Pittsburgh negotiated a weaker agreement with American Slovaks. According to thi s new "Pittsburgh Agreement," the two sides approved a "political program to unite the Czechs and Slovaks into an independent state of Czech and Slovak lands," in which " Slovakia will have its own administration, its own Diet and its own courts." Furthermore, "S lovak will be the official language in the school s, in offices and public life generally." And the "Czecho-Slovak state will be a republic and its Constitution will be a democratic one." Noticeably absent from this Agreement were the phrases "federal state" and "complete national autonomy for Slovakia," and there was no mention of the "Czech and Slovak nations," as there had been in the Cleveland Agreement. 14 Members of the Slovak League of America, led by its president Albert Mamatey of Pittsburgh (originall y from Klastor pod Znievom in Turiec county), signed the Pittsburgh Agreement because by then the liberation movement, led by Masaryk, was in high gear. The newly-formed Czechoslovak Legions in Russia revolted against the Bolsheviks and seized control over the entire Trans-Siberian Railway. These Legions had been organized from prisoners-of-war by Masaryk and Stefanik, and their seizure of the railroad greatly aided the Allied war effort, because they prevented hundreds of thousands of German and Austro-Hungarian prisoners-of-war from returning to fight on the western front. 15 In addition, si nce Masaryk himself had 14 Jednota, June 5, 191 8, p.5; N:irodne noviny, June 6, 1918 , p.5; Jozef Hu sek, "Prehl'ad vaznejsfch udalostf v hi storii I. Kat. Slovenskej Jednoty, Jednota Katolfcky Kalend:ir, 1931, (Middletown, PA), pp.58-9. Victor S. Mamatey pointed ou t that the date of the Pittsburgh Agreement was May 3 1, 191 8, not May 30 as the calligrapher erroneously wrote it. Cf "Este raz o Pittsburgskej dohode," Premeny (Flushing, NY), 20 (No.3 , 1983), 39. For the full text of the Pittsburgh Agreement see Dokumenty, QJ2&i.t. , 485-6 and for an English translation see my The Role of, QJ2,....ci_t., 56. 15 Cleveland Plain Dealer, June 20, 1918, p.5; New York Times, June 29, 1918, p.3 ; for a detailed di sc ussion of the Czechoslovak Leg ion see J.F.N. Bradley , "The Allies and the Czech Revolt aga inst the Bol sheviks in 191 8," Slavonic and East �14 SLOVAKIA drafted and signed the Pittsburgh Agreement, along with the Bohemian National Alliance and the Union of Czech Catholics, American Slovak leaders felt confident that Masaryk would honor it. Skeptics, such as Jozef Hu sek, editor of Jednota (originall y from Okolicne, Liptov county), the official organ of the First Catholic Slovak Union, the largest Slovak fraternal-benefit society in America, did not tru st Masaryk. lt was Husek who forced Masary k into drafting the Pittsburgh Agreement, and it was Husek who insisted that he sign a calligraphed copy of it on November 14, I 918 , the very day that the newly-created Czecho-Slovak government in Prague e lected Masaryk President of the Republic. After Masaryk signed it a second time, American Slovaks were sati sfied and hoped for the best for their people in the new Czecho-Slovak Republic, which was proclaimed by a gathering of Czec h deputies of the former Austrian Parli ament in Prague on October 28 , 191 8, just as the defeated Austria-Hungary was collapsing. 16 Unfortunately for the future of Czecho-Slovakia, the promi ses made to American Slovaks by T.G. Masary k in the Pittsburgh Agreement were not carried out. Once he had returned in triumph to the newl y-created Republic in Dece mber of 1918 , Masaryk promptl y forgot about the Pittsburgh Agreement. The Czec h deputies in Prague , meanwhile, formed themselves into a "Czechoslovak government" on November 14th and later appointed a Czech-dominated "Constitutional Committee" to draft a Constitution for the new Republic. 17 Hearing of these events, the Slovak League of America sent a five-person delegation to Czecho-Slovakia in the spring of 1919, to remind Masaryk of hi s promises and to demand that the Pittsburgh Agreement be included in the proposed Constitution . Upon their return to the United States, the Executive Board of the Slovak League passed a resolution at its quarterly meeting on October 24, 1919, Europea n Review, 43 (No. I OI , 1965), 175-92 . The lack of the word "S lovak" in Bradley ' s title testifi es to the pro-Czech bias of western hi storian s during the ex istence of Czechoslovakia. 16 Husek, " Prehl'ad," op.cit. , 58-9 ; Joze f Husek, " Pittsburghska Dohoda," Jednota Katolfcky K al endar, 1933, 11 I. 17 For more on these proceedings see Vaclav L. Benes , " Czechoslovak Democracy and Its Problems, 1918-1920," in Victor S. Mamatey & Radomir Lu za, eds. , A History of the Czechoslovak Republic. 19 18- 1948 (Princeton : Princeton University Press, 1973), 53-6. �SLOVAKIA 15 calling for the incorporation of the Pittsburgh Agreement into the proposed Czecho-Slovak Constitution. 18 Indeed, at the last meeting of the Czecho-Slovak Nation al Council in America, which had been founded in 1917 to coordinate the work of the Leag ue and of the Bohemian National Alliance, the Slovak delegates asked their Czech colleagues to pass a similar resolution, and the latter gladly complied 19 on November 7, 1919. Thus, American Czechs recogni zed the validity of the Pittsburgh Agreement while the Constitutional Committee did not. Masaryk, on the other hand , when asked by Prime Mini ster Vl astimil Tu s:cir in January of 1920 to comment on the validity of the Pittsburgh Agreement, brushed it aside as " one of many pre-revolutionary program s made beyond the boundaries. It has its hi storical value." 20 As a result, in March of 1920 the Constitutional Committee drafted , and the Prague Parliament adopted , a very centrali st Constitution of the Czechoslovak Republic , which sy mboli ca ll y dropped the hyphen from its name , and proclaimed that " the Czechoslovak Republic is a unified, not a federative state ," that its official language was the "Czechoslovak language" (even thou gh no such lang uage existed) , and Slovakia did not receive its own administration, its own Diet and its own courts, nor did Slovak become the official language of administration, as promised in the Pittsburgh Agreement? In the inter-war period , after some hesitatio n, the Slovak League of America continued to demand the home-rule promi sed the Slovaks by T.G. Masaryk. Albert Mamatey, the president of the League, visited Slovakia with a copy of the Pittsburgh Agreement in the winter of 19 I 9-1920 and was reass ured by Mil an Hodfa, one of the leaders of the Czec hoslovak Agrarian Party, that the Slovaks had nothing to worry about. Indeed , in September of 1920 Mamatey was rewarded for hi s wartime services on behalf of Slovakia by being ap- 18 19 Jednota, October 29, I 9 I 9. p. l The Czechoslovak Review [Formerly the Bohemian Review], December, 1919, p. 394. T.G. Masaryk to Y lastimil Tu sar, February 5. I920 , as published in The Slovaks 20 and the Pittsburgh Pact (Chicago : Slovak Catholic Federation, 1934), p.34. Jii'i Hoetzl and V. Joachim ( Introd uction by) , The Constitution of the Czechoslo vak Republic (Prague: Ed ition de la Soc iete de I'effort de la T checoslovaqu ie. 1920), pp. I 2, 47 . 21 �16 SLOVAKIA pointed the Czechoslo vak Consul in Pittsburgh. 22 He was succeeded as president of the League by hi s colleague Ivan Bielek, the former editor of the American Narodn e noviny, offici al organ of the National Slovak Society.23 Jan A. Kocur, a pre-war immigrant from 24 Turzovka, meanwhile, became the League ' s secretary. Under thi s new leadership the 14th Congress of the Slovak League, held in Pittsburgh, PA on June 28-29, 1922, sent a Memorandum to the National Assembly in Prague in which it demanded that the Pittsburgh Agreement be made a part of the Czechoslovak Constitution .25 Meanwhil e, after some prodding by Jozef Husek, editor of Jednota, as well as by the leadership of the First Catholic Slovak Union and the Slovak Catholic Federation, the 15th Congress of the Slovak League, held in Binghamton , New York on May 27-29, 1924, rejected the philosophy of "Czechoslovakism" as practiced by the Prague government and once again demanded that the provi sions of the Pittsburgh Agreem ent be carried out. 26 In addition , the Slovak League now openl y supported the Slovak People 's Party, led by the Reverend Andrej Hlinka, because that party had adopted the program of the Pittsburgh Agreement. Indeed , in 1926 the Slovak League made Hlinka an honorary member. 27 Interestingly enough, the League was so committed to the Pittsburgh Agreement th at, when the Slovak People ' s Party ag reed to join the center-right Czechoslovak coalition government in 1927-29, the League denounced this step! 28 On the other hand , it heartily approved of the People ' s Party 's withdrawal from the coalition after the October 1929 trial and conviction for treason of Yojtech Tuka, editor of Slo vak, the People 's Party ' s official organ .29 Furthermore, in 1928, on the l 0th anniver22 Joze f Paufo, 75. Rok ov Prvej K atolfckej Slovenskej Jednory (Cleveland: First Catholic Slovak Union, 1965), 160. For a short biograph y of A lbert M amatey see Joze f Paufo, Slovensk f priekopn fci v A merike (Cleveland: First Cath olic Slovak Union, 1972), 269-75. 23 For a short biograph y of Ivan Bielek see Paufo , Slovenskf priekopnfci, p. 25-28. 24 For hi s biography see ilii.d.. , 229. 25 M emorandum Slovenskej Ligy v A merike upravene na vladu a Narodne Shromai denie Cesko-Sl ovenskej Republiky v zaujme vte/enia Pittsburghskej Dohody do ustavy C.-S. Republiky (Pittsburgh: Slovak League of A meri ca, 1922). 26 " Z XV. Kongresu Slovenskej Ligy v A merike." Jednota, June 4, 1924, pp. 1-2, 4. 27 Paufo, 75 roko v, 21 I. 28 lb.id... 223 . 29 " Prehlas od Ivana Bieleka,'· Jednota, October 23 , 1929, p.4. �SLOVAKIA 17 sary of the founding of Czechoslovakia, the League rejected a special commendation from the Czechoslovak government for its role in the liberation of the country.30 Thereafter the League continued to publish and send memoranda to the Czecho-Slovak government, as it had in the l 920's, demanding that it grant the Slovaks the home-rule that Masaryk had promised in the Pittsburgh Agreement. 3 1 During the 1930's the Slovak League and the People ' s Party closely cooperated for the benefit of both sides. At its 19th Congress held in Cleveland on November 19-20, 1934, the assembled delegates elected the American-born Chicago medical doctor Peter P. Hletko as their president and he and his executive board invited the nationalist cultural organization Matica slovenska to send a delegation of scholars and leaders to help American Slovaks to maintain their national identity. The Matica complied in 1935-1936 by sending its director, the writer J.C. Hronsky, the publicist Konstantin Culen, the art historian Jozef Cincfk, and the photographer Karel Plicka. They visited 98 of the largest Slovak-American communities, presented lectures, slides and films about Slovakia, and donated four large libraries to the Slovak communities of New York City, Pittsburgh, Cleveland and Chicago. This delegation also gathered a wealth of published and manuscript materials pertaining to the history of American Slovaks , which are now stored in the Slovak National Library.32 The People ' s Party, which was the main supporter of the Matica slovenska, reciprocated in 1938 when it invited the Slovak League to send a delegation to the mother country in order to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the signing of the Pittsburgh Agreement. The 20th congress of the League, held in Pittsburgh on April 28-29, 1938, elected a six-person delegation, which included Peter P. Hletko and Jozef Husek, to travel to Slovakia, and to bring with it the original of 30 "Kongres Slovenskej Ligy," Jednota, June 6, 1928, p. l. See, for example the, fo llow ing: Prehlas Slovenskej Ligy v Amerike upraveny na vsetkych politickych cinitelbv Cesko-Slovenskej Republiky (Pittsburgh: P. Jamriska & Co., 1925); V zaujme pra vdy ! (Pittsburgh: P. Jamriska & Co., 1930); and An Autonomi st [Peter P. Hletko], Slovakia's Plea for Autonomy (Middletown, PA: Slovak Literary Society, I 935). 32 J.C. Hronsky described the Matica's trip and its achieve ments in Cesta slovenskou Amerikou: Cestopisne crty z r. 1935-36. v dvoch dieloch (Turc. Sv. Martin : Matica slovenska, 1940). 31 �18 SLOVAKIA the Pittsburgh Agreement. The delegation went via Poland, in order to first visit the Rev. Andrej Hlinka in Rufomberok, and only then did it proceed to Bratislava and Prague. In Bratislava on June 5th the Slovak League delegation appeared on the balcony of the Slovak National Theater on Hviezdoslav Square, along with Andrej Hlinka and other notables of the People 's Party. Peter P. Hletko then triumphantly held up the original of the Pittsburgh Agreement, to the cheers of over 100,000 people.33 Finally, on October 6, 1938, after the infamous Munich Agreement weakened Czechoslovakia and president Edvard Benes resigned his office and fled to the west, the Slovak People 's Party, with the support of the Agrarian and National Parties and the approval of Prague, proclaimed the autonomy of Slovakia and formed a six-man government headed by Dr. Jozef Tiso. He had succeeded Andrej Hlinka as party leader after the latter' s death on August 16th. The Prague Parliament formally approved Slovak autonomy on November 22nd and re-named the Republic as Czecho-Slovakia, to reflect thi s new reality. Needless to say, the Slovak League of America was overjoyed to see that, after 20 years of strugg le, the provisions of the Pittsburgh Agreement were finally carried out. 34 While the Slovak League was satisfied with the outcome of its efforts on behalf of the Pittsburgh Agreement, Adolph Hitler was not. The German Chancellor was determined to destroy Czecho-Slovakia and to incorporate Bohemia-Moravia into his "Third Reich." Therefore, he had his agents get in touch with the most radical individuals in the People 's Party, who were led by the recently-releasedfrom-prison Vojtech Tuka, and urged them to seek complete Slovak independence. Tuka and his followers began to plot against CzechoSlovakia and the Prague government reacted by declaring martial law on March 11th, by di ssolving the recently-elected Slovak Diet, 33 Hlas l'udu (Toronto), May 27, 1938, pp.l-2 , June 7, 1938, pp.1-4 ; Slovak v Kan ade (Montreal ), June 2, 1938, p. l; Osadne hlasy (Chicago), June 24, 1938, pp.12; Narodne noviny, Jul y 6, 1938, p.5. Photos of the delegation in Poland and in Slovakia can be found in J.M . Kirschbaum, Slovakia: Nation at the Crossroads of Central Europe (New York: Robert Speller & Sons, 1960), between pp.264-265. 34 New Yorksky dennfk (New York) , October 9, 1938 , p.1; Kato/icky Sokol (Passaic, NJ) , October 12, 1938, p.l; Narodne no viny, October 12, 1938, p.l; Osadne h/asy, October 14, 1938 , p.l and October 21 , 1938, pp. 1&3 ; Jednota, November 2, 1938, p.3 �SLOVAKIA 19 and by arresting over 200 suspected "plotters" against the Republic. Meanwhile, Hitler's agents summoned the recently-dismissed Prime Minister Jozef Tiso to Berlin on March 13th and gave him an ultimatum: either proclaim independence or watch Slovakia be partitioned by Poland and Hungary. Tiso returned to Bratislava on March 14th, he persuaded President Emil Hacha to reconvene the Slovak Diet, and after Tiso passed on to the Diet Hitler's message, the Diet unanimously declared Slovak independence. Since Czecho-Slovakia no longer existed, Hitler ordered the German army to occupy BohemiaMoravia and turn it into a German " Protectorate." He also recognized the independence of the Slovak Republic, but forced it into a German alliance and put it under German protection. 35 When news of the declaration of Slovak Independence reached American Slovaks, they were at first puzzled and subsequently split into two camps-those who supported Slovak independence and those who did not. This split had first surfaced right after World War I, when certain American Slovaks chose to support the new, centralized Czechoslovak Republic, while others did not. Generally speaking, most Slovak Protestant societies in the USA, as well as those individuals organized in the militantly secular Slovak Gymnastic Union Sokol (founded in 1896) supported the new state because they agreed with its official philosophy of "Czechoslovakism," that is, that the Czechs and Slovaks formed one nation but spoke two dialects of the "Czechoslovak" language. 36 The majority of American Slovaks, who were Roman Catholics, and were represented by the First Catholic Slovak Union and the Slovak Catholic Federation, among others, did not. Between 1919 and 1924 the pro-Czechoslovak group controlled the Slovak League. 37 After 1924 the Slovak nationalists regained control over the League, and continue to do so. Therefore, the Protestants and the Sokols (as well as Slovak Communi sts), rejected the independent Slovak Republic and hoped that 35 The best description of this period in Czecho-Slovakia ' s hi story is by Theodor Prochazka, The Second Republic: Th e Disintegration of post-Munich Czechoslovakia (Boulder: East European Monographs, 198 1); for an alternative view see Frantisek Ynuk, " Slovakia' s Six Eventfu l Months," Slovak Studies, 4 ( 1964), 7- I 64. 36 Milan Getting best represented thi s group and described their act ivities in his Americki Slovaci, ~ 37 " Z XV . Kongresu Slovenskej Li gy v Amerike," Q)hci.t. �20 SLOVAKIA Czecho-Slovakia could be resurrected.38 To this end they supported ex-president Edvard Benes's new liberation movement during World War 11. 39 The leadership of the Slovak League, largely representing the majority Roman Catholics, on the other hand, supported the new state. Indeed, Jozef Husek, who was elected president of the League at its 21 st Congress in Cleveland on October 14th, 1938, form all y requested president Franklin Delano Roosevelt of the United States on April 24, 1939 to grant the Slovak Republic diplomatic recognition.40 Shortly thereafter the Slovak League was heartened by a message ("Posolstvo") sent by Prime Minister Jozef Tiso to American and Canadian Slovaks on May 23rd of 1939. Here Tiso explained in 38 A group of Slovak Protestants (Lutherans, Calvini sts and Congregationalists), led by the Baptist preac her A. P. Slabey, met in Duquesne, PA on May 30th, 1938 and denounced the Hletko- led delegati on of the Slovak League to Slovakja that spring. Cf. Narodne noviny, June 8, 1938 , p.3; In the fall Jan Pankuch, a Lutheran and fo rmer mem ber of the Delegati on, regretted the granting of autonomy to Slovakia. Cf. Hla s (C leveland), October 13, I 938, p. l ; after the Slovak Diet declared independence on Marc h 14th , 1939 . the Lutheran-dominated Nati onal Slovak Society denounced this act. Cf. Narodne noviny, March 15, 1939, p. l , as did the secul arist and Sokol-do minated New Yorksky dennik , March 15, 1939, p. l. Slovak communists also de nounced both Slovak auto no my and independence. Cf. I', udovy dennik (Chicago), October 7, 1938, p. l ; October 8, 1938, p. I; March I6, 1939, p. l 39 Those American Slovaks who opposed Slovak indepe ndence and wished to see Czecho-Slovakja res urrected after th e war initiall y organi zed the mselves into th e Slovak Nati onal Council of America. However, they soon split into fac tions th at either supported ex-president Benes or else Dr. Milan Hodfa or Dr. Stefan Osusky, both of whom had fl ed to the West after the fa ll of France in June of 1940, and both of whom broke with Benes over the future of a res urrected Czecho-S lovakia. While Be nes wanted a return to the cent ra lized pre-M un ich Czechoslovakia, Hodfa and Osusky wished to return to a federated Czecho-S lovilia. Cf. Letters of Jan Dend'ur, Secretary of the Slovak National Council to Vlad imir Hurban, ex-Ambassador of Czechos lovakia in Washington, Papers of Jan Dend'ur, Box I , File A-S , Balch Institute at th e Histori cal Society of Penn sy lvania, Philade lphia; those who supported Benes joined the Czechoslovak Nati onal Co un cil of America and we re led by the Lutheran Rev . Jaros lav Pelikan, Sr. of Chicago. Cf. New York sky dennik, Dece mber 11 , 1941 , p. I. For a descri ption of the Benes-led liberation move ment see Ed uard Taborsky, " Politics in Exile, 1939- 1945 ," in Mamatey & Lufa , A History , QP..ci.1. , 322-42. 40 Letter of Jozef Husek to Frank lin Delano Roosevelt, April 24, 1939, publ ished in Correspondence in re Slovakia and the Declaration of the Aim and Principles of the Slo vak League of A merica (Middletown? Slovak League of America, 1940?), 1718. Husek sent a similar letter to Secretary of State Corde ll Hull on August 4, 1939, ilii.d., 19-20. �SLOVAKIA 21 great detail how and why the Slovak Republic came into being and he asked American and Canadian Slovaks to support it. 4 1 As a result, the 22nd Congress of the Slovak League, which was held on November 14-15 in Cleveland, and which re-elected Husek as its president, passed a resolution in which it fully supported the independent Slovak Republic. Furthermore, it called upon the United States government to grant Slovakia diplomatic recognition, and it deplored ex-president Edvard Benes's American speaking tour, in which he called for the restoration of pre-war Czechoslovakia.42 In the fo llowing October, president Franklin Delano Roosevelt received a IS-person delegation of the Slovak League led by Husek and Hletko during which they pledged their loyalty to the USA . They considered thi s meeting to be a moral victory, even though FDR refu sed to recognize the Slovak Republic. 43 On the other hand, because of attacks launched upon the Slovak League by the supporters of Edvard Benes, Husek and the Slovak League were investigated by the Dies Committee on Un-American Activities. Thereafter they were under FBI surveillance. 44 Since the United States entered the Second World War on the side of the Allies on December 7, 1941 , and since Prime Mini ster Vojtech Tuka of Slovakia foolishly declared war upon the United States shortly there41 Tiso was responding to a letter sent to him by Andrej Potocky, Supreme Secretary of the Canadian Slovak League, askin g for an ex planation as to why the Slovak Diet had declared independence. Cf. And rej Potocky to Jozef Tiso, April 20, 1939 and Tiso's reply, of June 2, 1939, with a copy of the " Posolstvo," in the Papers of Andrej Kucera, lmrich Stolarik Co ll ection, Box 576, fo lder 2, 1939, Slovak Archives, University of Ottawa, Archi ves and Spec ia l Collections, and in the Andrej Potocky Papers, box 282 , folder 4, I 939, lhid. Jozef Husek translated and published it as " Dr. Joseph Tiso to the Slovaks in America," in Correspondence in re Slovakia, QJ2,.Q!., 716. This " Posolstvo" was originall y published in Slovak in several pro-independence newspapers in the USA and Canada. Cf. S lovenske bratstvo (Montreal), Jul y 2 1, and July 31, 1939, p.3 . 42 Jednota, Novem ber 29, 1939, p. 3; H/as Judu, November 18 and 21 , p. I. 43 Jedno ta, October 30, 1940, p. I, November 6, 1940, p.2; Slo venske bratstvo, November I, 1940, p.2. 44 Hlas Judu , October 24, 1939 , p. l ; see also Jozef Husek's letters to Martin Dies, Chairman , Dies House Committee, October 6, 1939 and October 28, 1939, in Correspondence in re Slovakia, QJ2..ci.t. , 23-4. In the summer of 1970 I visited with Dr. Peter P. Hletko in Chi cago and he confi rmed that the FBI had him and Husek under survei llance throughout the war, a lthough Hletko struck up a friendship with those watching him . �22 SLOVAKIA after, the Slovak League had to become more circumspect m its pronouncements. It now pledged absolute loyalty to the United States, although it continued to passively support the Slovak Republic. 45 However, the United States Office of War Information arranged a meeting of all Slovak-American organizations in Pittsburgh on September 14, 1942, and urged them to sign a declaration in which they repudiated the Slovak Republic and pledged their loyalty to the United States and its Allies. 46 By December a dejected Jozef Husek resigned as president of the League.47 He was eventually replaced by the more cautious Msgr. Frantisek Du bosh of Lakewood, Ohio, at the 23rd Congress of the League held in Pittsburgh on February 25-26, 1943. 48 Since the Slovak League could no longer openly support Slovak independence, it had to lower its expectations. At its 23rd Congress it had to develop a new program for Slovakia and, at the same time, deal with the issue of accepting or rejecting two former hi gh-ranking Slovaks in the pre-war Czechoslovak government and bureaucracy who had come to America. One was the former Prime Minister of Czechoslovakia, Milan Hodz.a, and the other was the former Czechoslovak Minister to Paris, Stefan Osusky. Both had broken with Edvard Benes after the destruction of Czecho-Slovakia. Hodza now recognized the Slovaks as a distinct nation but favored the resurrection of a federated Czecho-Slovakia within a Central European Federation . Osu sky also recognized the Slovaks as an independent nation and favored the resurrection of a federated Czecho-Slovakia as stipul ated in the Cleveland Agreement of 1915 , which he had helped to draft. After much debate, the League rejected both Hodza and 45 Osadne h/asy, December 19, 194 1, p.2; Jednota , January 7, 1942 , p.8. Pavel Jamriska, the vice-president of the L eague, pledged that " American Slovaks never betrayed and never w ill betray the Slovak nation and Slovakia." Cf. Jednota, January 2 1, 1942, p.4. Jozef Husek president of the League, added that " Slovakia should retain its freedom ," in spite of the war. Jednota, February 25, 1942, p.4. 46 Jednota, September 23, 1942, p. l and October 14, 1942, p.2. Thi s " Resolution " was reprinted in Martin Kvetko and Miroslav J. Licko 's edited Zbornik tivah a osobnych spomienok o S/ovenskom narodnom povstanf (Toronto: Stala konferencia slovenskych demokratickych exu lantov, 1976), pp. 396-7 w ithout any explanation. 47 I.:udo ve zvesti (Toronto), December 12, 1942, p. I and January 16, 1943, p.5. 48 Kanadsky Slovak (Montrea l), March 11 , 1943, p. I ; I.:udove zves ti, March 20 , 1943 , p.5. �SLOVAKIA 23 Osusky as former collaborators of the first Czechoslovak Republic and it returned to its pre-war program of "self-determination" for the Slovaks in the future. 49 When the Slovak National Uprising against the Germans broke out at the end of August, 1944, American Slovaks were once again divided. After some hesitation, the 26th Congress of the Slovak League, held in Pittsburgh on October 18-19, 1944, and most American Catholic organizations , rejected the leadership of the newlyformed Slovak National Council as too "Czechoslovak" and Communi st. 50 Most American Lutherans, National Sokols and Communi sts, on the other hand, cheered and recognized the leadership of the SNC. 51 To complicate matters even more, the People' s Party journali st Peter Prfdavok, who had initially rejected the Slovak Republic and had fled to France and Great Britain in 1939, al so broke with Edvard Benes and in 1943 establi shed a Slovak National Council in London . He immediately contacted the Slovak League of America and , after the 1944 uprising in Slovakia, counseled the Slovak League not to recognize the Slovak National Council in Slovakia. 52 The League did not do so until it heard of the promulgation of the Kosice Programme of April 5, 1945 , which recognized the Slovaks as a di stinct nation and which al so recognized the Slovak National Council as the government of Slovakia. Thi s was a major concession by representatives of Edvard Benes 's victorious government-in-exile, which by then had returned to Slovak ("Czechoslovak") territory on 49 Cudove z vesti, March 20, 1943 and Kanadsky Slovak, March 25 , 1943, p.4. After Osusky broke with Benes he publi shed a series of pamphlets in whi ch he denounced the latter: Pravda vfthzf 1 (Pohlhd do zrkadla druheho odboj a) (London : The Continental Publishers, 1942); Benes and Slovakia (Middletown, PA : First Catholi c Slovak Union, 1943) ; Triedenie duchov nastalo (L ondon : The Continental Publishers, 1943) ; Hodza ' s position was best reported in K anadsky Slovak, M ay 28, 1942, pp. 7 & 10. For Hodza ' s acti vities in the USA see Michal Mudry, Milan Hodi a v Amerike (Chicago: Geringer Press, 1949). For more on Benes's opponents during World War II see Jan Kuklfk and Jan Nemecek, Prati Beneso vi! Ceska a slovenska protibeneso vska opozice v Londy ne /939-1 945 (Praha: Karolinum , 2004). 50 Kanadsky Slovak, November 9, 1944, p.4; Jednota, N ovember 15, 1944, p.2. 51 Cudove zvesti, September 23 , 1944, pp. I & 4. 52 Slovenske bratst vo, M ay 24, 1940, p.2; Slo vensky priekopnfk, November 27, 1942, pp. I & 4; ~udove zvesti, M arch 18, 1944, p.5 ; Jednota, April 16, 1945, p.5; for a short biograph y of Prfdavok see Literarny almanach Slovaka v A merike, 1967 (Middletown, PA), 209- 10. �24 SLOVAKIA the heel s of the Red Army, and which by now included the Communist leader Klement Gottwald. 53 However, this "Washington Declaration" of April 6, 1945 by the Executive of the Slovak League of America was immediately denounced by Jozef Husek and Peter P. Hletko.54 Furthermore, the 27th Congress of the Slovak League, held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in October of 1945 also repudiated it. Instead, the Congress reaffirmed the right of the Slovaks in Europe to self-determination. This Congress, which elected the Amercanborn attorney Peter P. Yurchak as its president, also announced a new fund-rai sing campaign to help rebuild post-war Slovakia, as well as to help thousands of political refugees who had fled the resurrected post-war Czechoslovakia.55 Meanwhile, the Slovak League had also sent a three-person delegation to the San Francisco meeting of the newly-founded United Nations from April 25th to June 21st. It was led by the Rev. Jan J. Lach of Whiting, Indiana, in the company of the poet, the Rev . Milos Mlynarovic, and the young Americanborn attorney Edward J. Behuncfk. The League had hoped that its delegation could speak on behalf of the Slovak nation but Jan Masaryk, son of the former president of Czechoslovakia, registered himself as a Slovak (whic h he was not) and, in hi s capacity as Czechoslovakia's new Foreign Minister, claimed that the Slovaks were well-represented at the United Nations, and therefore, did not need the services of the League. Lach was given only the status of an observer and could not participate in the debates about the future of Europe. 56 Meanwhile, Slovaks who had emigrated to Canada also took an interest in the fate of their countrymen. Since the United States Congress had passed three Immigration Acts in the l 920's, which severely restricted further migration from east-central and southern Europe to the United States, about 40,000 Slovaks moved to Canada in search of work in the l 920's and 1930's. Even though the government of Canada wanted them to settle on farms on the Prairies, they 53 For the text of the Kosice Program see "Kosicky vlad ny program," in Dokumenty, II (1998), 407-8 . 54 Osadne hlasy, April 20, 1945 , p.4 and June I, 1945, p.2, June 30, I 945, p.2 ; Kanadsky Slovak, June 14, 1945, p.5. 55 Osadne hlasy, October 26, 1945, p. l ; Kanadsky Slovak, November I, 1945. 56 Jednota , May 23, I 945 , p. l; Osadne hlasy, May 25, 1945, p.4; I'.udove zvesti, June 9, 1945, p.4, and Jul y 2 1, 1945 , p.2. �SLOVAKIA 25 largely headed to the metropolitan areas of Winnipeg, Fort William, Montreal and Toronto. There, they quickly copied their American countrymen and established fraternal-benefit societies, parishes and newspapers. Indeed, they originally joined American-Slovak organizations, subsc ribed to their newspapers and were served by SlovakAmerican priests and mini sters. 57 However, when the Great Depression broke out in 1929, SlovakCanadians di scovered that they had to look out for themselves. For instance, when the Slovak League of America announced that it was raising funds to provide food and clothing for its members who were in dire straits, Canadian members of the Slovak League , who had organized fifteen branches in Canada, applied for thi s " relief. " They were shocked when Jan A. Kocur, the Leag ue 's Secretary , replied that American Slovaks had only enough resources to help themselves, and could not afford to help Slovaks in Canada. 58 Therefore, led by Andrej Kucera of Winnipeg (ori ginall y from Radosovce, in Bratislava county) representatives of three Canadian branches of the Slovak League of America met in Winnipeg in 1932 and organized the Slovak League of Canada which, when it was officially incorporated by an Act of Parliament in 1934, had its name changed to the Canadian Slovak League. Meanwhile, in order to help its countrymen to survive the Great Depression, leaders of the Canadian Slovak League organized it into a fratern al-benefit society, as well as a nationalist organization. 59 The national orientation of the Canadian Slovak League mirrored that of its American parent. Thus, in November of 1933 the Central Assembly of the Canadian Slovak League sent president T . G. Masa57 For a brief history of the Slovaks in Canada see the entry by Elena Jakesova and M. Mark Stolarik in the Encyclopedia of Canada 's Peoples, ed. By Paul R. Magocsi (Toronto: Uni versity of Toronto Press, 1999), 11 68-79. For a longer treatment see J. M. Kirschbaum , Slovaks in Canada (Toronto: Canadian Eth ni c Press Association of Ontario, 1967). 58 See the correspondence between Kucera and Kocur in the Papers of Andrej Kucera, Lmrich Stolarik Collection, Box 575, fo lder 7, 1928- 1934, Slovak Archives in the Archives and Special Collections, Uni versity of Ottawa and Kucera 's article on the 10th an ni versary of the fo unding of the CSL, Kanadsky Slovak, December 17, 1942, pp. 1-2. For a fuller description see " Pociatky a rozvoj Kanadskej Slovenskej Ligy ," in lmrich Stolarik ed. , Kanadska Slovenska Liga: 35 rocna: Historicky nacrt (19321967) (Toronto: Kanadska Slovenska Liga, 1967), 18-20. 59 Ibid. 2 1-26. �26 SLOVAKIA ryk of Czechoslovakia a reso lution demanding that the Pittsburgh Agreement be incorporated into the Constitution of the Republic.6() Indeed, in 1935 the two Leagues sent a joint appeal to all voters in Slovaki a to support only those political parties that recognized the Pittsburgh Agreement. 61 After Slovakia achieved its autonomy in the fall of 1938, the Canadian Slovak League, like its American counterpart, welcomed this autonomy and congratulated Dr. Jozef Tiso, its first Prime Minister. 62 After the Slovak Diet proclaimed the independence of Slovakia on March 14th, 1939, Canadian Slovaks, like their American cousins, were initially caught off guard and divided over the issue. To clarify matters, Andrej Potocky (w ho hailed from Sedliacka Dubova, Orava county) , the secretary of the Canadian Slovak League, addressed a letter to Dr. Jozef Tiso and asked him for an explanation. Tiso replied in May in his already-mentioned "Posolstvo" and both Leagues published it in newspapers that supported their politics. 63 Thereafter, both Leagues supported the independent Slovak Republic as much as they could. The Canadian Slovak League, like its American counterpart, also rejected Edvard Benes's World War II liberation movement, as well as Milan Hodfa' s plans for a Central European federation. 64 It seriously considered sending a delegate to the San Francisco meeting of the United Nations in 1945 , but could not afford to do so. 65 Meanwhile, delegates to the 28th Congress of the Slovak League of America, held in Detroit on October 29-30th, 1946 and to the 7th Convention of the Canadian Slovak League held in neighboring Windsor on October 28-30th of the same year, iss ued a joint resolution wherein they rejected the resurrected post-war Cze60 See the "Ustredn a sprava Slov . Ligy v Kanade: Rezolucia" , dated November 6, 1933, Winnipeg, Manitoba, in the Papers of Andrej Kucera, QJlii1. 61 Kucera to Kocur, March 30, 1935, ibid 62 Centra l Assembly of the Canadian Slovak Leag ue to Dr. Jozef Tiso, January 2 1, 1939, i..b.id... 63 Andrej Potocky to Jozef Tiso, April 20, 1939 and Jozef Tiso to Andrej Potocky, June 2, 1939 plus the ' Posolstvo" dated May 23, 1939 in ilii..d. See also Slovenske bratstvo, Jul y 21 , 1939, p.3 and Jul y 28 , 1939, p.3. 64 S lovenske bratstvo, August 4, 1939 , p.4 ; March 15, 1940, p. I; Kanadsky Slovak, August 6, 1942, p.2 and December 9, 1943 , p.2 65 Letter of Msgr. F.J. Dubosh, president of the Slovak league of Ameri ca to Jan Ivan of the Canadian Slovak League, March 25 , 1945 , papers of Andrej Kucera, QJlii1. �SLOVAKIA 27 choslovakia and instead declared their support for the re-establishment of an independent Slovak Republic. 66 This political stand by both Leagues was reinforced by the arrival of post-war political refugees from Slovakia. Several thou sand supporters of the independent Slovak Republic, consisting of government officials, bureaucrats, soldiers and intellectuals fled the advancing Red Army in the winter and spring of 1945 and settled in Upper Austria and, eventually, in the defeated Germany. From there they sent appea ls to both Slovak Leagues for financial and other assistance. The two Leagues responded by sending them material goods, by arranging for surplus Red Cross packages to be distributed among them and, most importantly, by persuading the International Refugee Organization to recognize them as refugees and to help them emigrate out of war-torn Europe.67 One of the Slovak League of America's first successes was the appointment of Dr. Jozef Kirsc hbaum as its official delegate to the IRO in September of 1947.68 Kirschbaum had been the Slovak Charge d ' Affaires in Switzerland for most of the 66 Indeed , the Canadian Slovak League had also deplored the April 6, 1945 "Washington Resolution" of the Slovak League of America. CF. Andrej Kucera to Msgr. F. Dubosh, October 12, 1945, Papers of Andrej Ku cera, lmrich Stolarik Fonds, Box 572, file 1945 , Slovak Archives, Archives and Special Collections, Morisset Library, University of Ottawa; Kanadsky Slov;:ik, November 16, 1946, p.2 and January 2, 1947, p.3. 67 See the " Memorandum" drafted by the writer Milo Urban to the Slovak League of America dated May 30 , 1945, as publi shed on its 20th an ni versary in K anadsky Slovak, May 29, 1965, p. 2 and September 4, 1965, p.3; see also Osadne hlasy, Jul y 6, 1945, p.2, Apri l 4, 1947, p.l and April 11 , 1947, p.2; see also Kanadsky Slovak, Jul y 12, 1945, p.2. A preliminary li st of these refugees in Austria was compiled by the Czechoslovak Ambassador to Switzerland and se nt to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Prague because the Czechoslovak government wished to " repatriate" some of them. Cf. Slove nsky narodn y arc hfv, PY , beop.- lll dov. , 1945, 6. Sept. , 1945, Ministerstvo zahrani cnfch veci. Praha, 26079/11-2/45 . No-one has yet written a schol arl y acco unt of this phenomenon as it pertains to the Slovaks. However. l:ubomfr Gleiman , one of these refugees, has penned hi s reminiscences in a manuscript entitled "Out of thi s Century ' s Mae lstro m: A Pilgrim 's Story of Disse nt and Surviva l," (Cary , NC: 200 I ). A co py of this manuscript, as well as his father' s diaries from 1944 to 1954, on whi ch the manuscript is partly based, can be found in the Slovak Archives, Archives and Special Collections, Morisset Library, University of Ottawa, Canada. For a general description of the plight of post-war refugees see Mark Wyman , DP: Europe 's Displaced Persons, 1945-1951 (Philadelphia: The Balch Institute Press, 1989). 68 Kanadsky Slovak, May 27, 1948, p.2 and June I 0, 1948, p. l. �28 SLOVAKIA war. Since he had acti vely supported the creation of the Slovak Republic , he refu sed to return to post-war Czechoslovakia. Instead, he worked vigorou sly with both Slovak Leagues to arrange for the emigration of hundreds of Slovaks to the USA and Canada, once these countries opened their borders to post-war refugees in 1947 and 1948. 69 As the refugees began to arrive in the United States and Canada, they quickly joined the two Slovak Leag ues and reinforced their commitment to Slovak independence. The first to come to the USA was the poet, the Rev . Mikul as Sprinc. He arrived in Jul y of 1946, settled in Cleveland, and immediate ly informed the executive of the Slovak League of what had actually transpired during the existence of the Slovak Republic.70 That is why the Slovak League, at its 28th Congress in Detroit called for a plebiscite to be held in Slovakia to decide its future and it also appealed for a fair trial for Dr. Jozef Tiso. 7 1 The latter had evacuated to Austria with the Slovak government in the dying days of the war but was turned over to Czechoslovak authorities by the victorious American Army. 72 Meanwhile, the historian Dr. Frantisek Hrusovsky arrived in the USA at the end of 1947 and he also joined the Slovak League. Indeed, after Jan A. Kocu r died , Hrusovsky was elected the Secretary of the League at its 30th Congress in Chicago in March of 1948. On September 15, 1952, largely on hi s initiative, the Slovak Institute was established at the Slovak Benedictine Abbey in Cleveland, Ohio, 73 and Hrusovsky became its first director. In 1950 Dr. Jozef Pauco gained admittance to the USA. Thi s former editor of the dail y Slovak, official organ of the Slovak Peo- 69 Author interview with J.M. Kirschbaum, November 7, 1998.He recorded his political views and activities in Nas boj o sam ostatnost' Slovenska (C leveland: Slovak Institute, 1958; reprinted and updated by the Matica slovenska, 2000). 70 Paufo , 75. Rokov QJU;lL 353; Sprinc described his trip to the USA in K slobodnym pobreiiam (Scranton, PA : Obrana Press, 1949). 71 See footnote 65 . 72 For Tiso' s activities during and after World War II , as penned by hi s forme r personal secretary, see Karo l Murin, Spomienky a svedectvo (Hami lton,Ontario: Zahranicna Matica slovenska, 1987). 73 Kanadsky Slovak, October 30, 1947 , pp.1 -2, November 6, 1947 , pp.I & 7, March 17, I949, p. 1. For a short biograph y see " Dr. Frantisek Hrusovsky ," in Literarny Almanach Slovaka v Amerik e, 1967 (Middletown, PA), 16 1-2. �SLOVAKIA 29 pie' s Party , initially found employment as assistant editor of the weekly fraternal Jednota , which was published in Middletown, PA. In 1958 he became editor and in 1964 also publisher of the weekly Slovak v Amerike, the oldest Slovak newspaper in America. In 1962 Pauco was elected Secretary of the Slovak League of America, a 74 post which he held until his death in 1975. Finally, in 1952 Dr. Jozef A. Mikus came to the USA. This former Slovak Charge d ' Affaires in Spain fled his homeland after the Communist takeover of Czechoslovakia in 1948. He initi ally lived in Paris but after four years he moved to Washington , D.C. For the first five years of his life in the USA he was employed by the Slovak League as its Press Secretary. After that he taught at various American colleges until his retirement. He also remained active within the Slovak League and the Slovak World Congress. 75 While a few post-war Slovak refugees managed to gain entry into the United States after the war, the majority headed for Canada, because the latter opened its doors to refugees first. Among the most important to arrive in 1949 were Dr. Karol Murin, the former personal secretary of president Jozef Tiso, Dr. Jozef Kirschbaum (mentioned earlier) and the publicist and historian Konstantin Culen. 76 In 1950 Karol Sidor, former Slovak Ambassador to the Vatican, and the most prominent of all the emigres, made his way to Montreal. 77 All of them immediately joined the Canadian Slovak League and Culen even became editor of its weekly Kanadsky Slovak from 1952 to 74 Ibid. , 200-2. Kanadsky Slovak, May 18, 1950, p.2. Ibid., 188-9. Kanadsky Slovak, January 24, 1952, p.5 and June 21 , 1952, p.7. The complete life of Jozef Mikus can be reconstructed in "The Jozef Mikus Fonds" located in the Slovak Archives, Archives and Special Collections, Morisset Library , University of Ottawa. 76 Kanadsky S lovak, February 10, 1949, p. I; £udove zvesti, March 12. 1949, p.4, February 25, 1950, p.4. For biographies of Murin and Cu len see Literarny almanach S/ovaka v Amerike, / 967 (Middletown, PA), 129-30 and 194-95. 77 Andrej Kucera to Andrej Potocky, Apri l 6, 1950, Papers of A. Kucera, lmrich Stolarik Collec tion. Box 576, fo lder 7. 1950, Slovak Archives, Archives and Special Collections, Morisset Library , University of Ottawa; Kanadsky Slovak, April 20, 1950, p.5; letter of Karol Sidor to lmrich Stolarik, January 12, 1951 , Joseph Stasko Fonds, Slovenska narodna rada v zahranicf, Box 30, Series II , File 4, Subfile 4.1 , Folder 22, ARCS 92-3 , Slovak Archives, Archives and Special Collections, Mori sset Library, University of Ottawa. For more on Sidor see Literamy almanach I 967, 2212. 75 �30 SLOVAKIA 1956. Needless to say, these emigres strengthened the League's commitment to promoting Slovak independence. Indeed, they and their American counterparts started to celebrate the anniversary of Slovak independence (Marc h 14th) as early as 1947.78 Both of the Slovak Leagues, meanwhile, denounced the execution of Dr. Jozef Tiso after he was found gui lty of treason by the Communist-dominated National Court in Bratislava in April of 1947. 79 After the Communist takeover of power in Czechoslovakia in February of 1948, a new wave of political refugees fled to the West. This was a mixture of Slovaks who favored independence and those who did not. Those refugees who had fled to the west after 1945 seized the initiative and re-established the Slovak National Council Abroad in the fall of 1948 and elected Karol Sidor as its president and Peter Pridavok of London as its secretary. 80 Those who wished Czechoslovakia to continue, but were opposed to its communist government, organized themselves into the Council for a Free Czechoslovakia, led by Dr. Jozef Lettrich , the former Chairman of the postwar Democratic Party in Slovakia. 81 Both Slovak Leagues rejected Lettrich and his followers as early as 1946 and instead supported the Slovak National Council Abroad .82 Indeed, both Slovak Leagues had previously also rejected the more radical Slovak Action Committee, founded in Rome in 1946 by Dr. Ferdinand Durcansky, the first Foreign Minister of the Slovak Republic .83 Rivalries between the leaders of the Slovak National Council Abroad and that of the Slovak Action Committee seeped into both Leagues and caused much in- 78 Osadne hlasy, March 14, 1947, p.l ; Kanadsky Slovak, April JO and 17, 1954, pp.2-4. 79 Osadne hlasy, April 25 , 1947, pp. I & 2; Kanadsky Slovak, May 8, 1947, p.l, October 30, 1947, pp. 1-2 and November 6, 1947, pp. I & 7; for the reminiscences of the chief prosecutor and the chief defense attorney at thi s trial see Proces s dr. 1. Tisom (Bratislava: Tatra Press, 1990). 8 Kanadsky Slovak, June 24, 1948 , p.3 , December I6, 1948 , p. I and December 30, 1948, p.3 ; Kirschbaum , Nas boj, QJ1.&iL (2000) , 370- 1. 81 Spetko, "Slovenska exi lova," QJ1.&iL 247-8. 82 Kanadsky Slovak, April 11 , 1946, p.5; Ferdinand Durcansky to Andrej Kucera, September 8, 1949, in Papers of A. Kucera, Correspondence with Refugees in Europe, Box 572, lmrich Stolarik Fonds, Slovak Archives, Archives and Special Collections, University of Ottawa. 83 Durcansky, Ibid. For more on Durcansky see Literarny almanach 1967 , 137-9. ° �SLOVAKIA 31 fighting among both in the 1950's. 84 The matter was finally settled in 1960 when the two sides decided to merge into the Slovak Liberation Council, with two co-chairmen: Dr. Jozef Kirschbaum in Toronto (Sidor had died in 1953) and Dr. Ferdinand Durcansky in Munich. 85 Meanwhile, in 1962, Dr. Peter P. Hletko, once again became president of the Slovak League of America, which had undergone some turbulent times. Hletko had succeeded Filip A. Hrobak, editor of Jednota , who had become president in 1950 . The American-born Hrobak was an activist, who had established the Slovak League 's Information Office in Washington in 1952, as well as the Englishlanguage periodical Slovakia in 1950 to champion the independence of his cousins overseas. Meanwhile, Hrobak also had to referee an intense rivalry that broke out between various factions in the League, a rivalry that resulted in the di smissal of Konstantfn Culen from the directorship of the Slovak institute in Cleveland (he had come down from Canada in 1956 and was made director of the Institute shortly after the death of Hrusovsky in the same year) and his banishment from Slovak-American life. 86 Hletko, who had largely been responsible for Culen's dismissal, congratulated the Canadian Slovak League on its 30th anniversary and remarked that it had become " more active" than the Slovak League of America. 87 He may have had in mind the fact that, on March 16th, 1953 (strategically close to the 14th anniversary of Slovak independence on March 14th), the First 84 See the letter of A. Ku cera to Jozef Siksa dated March 20, 1950 as well as the circ ul ar letter of Ferdinand Durcansky dated February 9, 1951, an undated letter from early 195 1, as well as letters from Michael Yargovic , president of the First Catholic Union , dated February 19, 1951 and Fi lip A. Hrobak, president of the Slovak League of America, dated February 20. 1951 , in the Papers of A. Kucera, Qlhci..!.; see also Kanadsky Slovak, January 17, 1952, p.3 and February 14, 1952, p.2, and November 5, 1955, p.2. See also l',udove zves ti. February I, 1958, p.6, and March I, 1958, p.4. 85 Kanadsky Slovak, October 11 , 1958, p.1 , March 2 1, 1959, p.1 , June 4, 1960, p.1 and June 18, 1960, p. I ; l',udove zvesti, September I, 1960, p.6 86 Kanadsky Slovak, June 8, 1950, p.1 , June 2 1, 1952, p.7 , June 27, 1959, p.1 ; I.:udove zvesti, June 17, 1950, p.2 ; for Konstantin Cu len's problems with Hletko and other American Slovak leaders see hi s V zajatf fa losnych legiend od nenavistneho srdca, 11 Vols. (Mim ieographed, New York, 1961). Frantisek Ynuk, in his Z ivotopis Konstantfna Culena (Cleveland: Slovak Institute, 1984), 190-93 also touched on this problem. 87 Kanadsky Slovak, December 15 , 1962, p. I. Filip A. Hrobak, a few years earlier, had expressed simi lar sentiments ; cf. Kanadsky S lovak, July 18, 1959, p. I. �32 SLOVAKIA District Assembly of the Canadian Slovak League had organized a gala banquet at the Chateau Laurier in Ottawa to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the founding of the Leag ue. Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent, four cabi net ministers and 25 mem bers of the Canadian Parliament attended! 88 Thi s diplomati c "coup" by the Canadian Slovak League was not matched by its American counterpart. The most the Slovak League of America was able to accomplish on the diplomatic front in the l 950's was to arrange a meeting with officials of Radio Free Europe in 1953 and wi th Secretary of State John Foster Dulles in October of 1956. 89 Nothing came of these meetings. Peter P. Hletko also noticed that the Canadian Slovak League was both younger than its parent organization and had more youthful members. In thi s respect he may have been thinking of Stephen B. Roman, who had come to Oshawa, Canada from Velky Ruskov, Slovakia as a 16 year-old in 1937. Through a seri es of shrewd investments in the 1940's and 1950's, Roman had become a multi-millionaire in Canada's uranium industry. Roman was an active member of the Canadi an Slovak League who had lobbied for the early adm ittance of Slovak post-war political refugees, and who supported the movement for Slovak independence.90 As a devout Greek Catholi c, in 1963 Roman took a leading role in the 1100th anniversary celebrations of the arri val of Sts. Cyril and Methodius on Slovak territory, he contributed to the establishment of the Institute of Sts. Cyril and Methodius in Rome in that same year, he was a lay observer to the Second Vatican Council (l 962-1965) and he successfull y lobbied the Vatican to appoint a Slovak Greek Catholic bishop in Canada ( 1965), as well as to create a Slovak Greek Catholic Eparchy (diocese) in Toronto in 1980. 9 1 88 The most comprehensive treatment of th is banquet can be found in " Historicky banket Kanad. Slov. Ligy v Ottawe," in lmrich Stolarik ed., Kanadska Slovenska Liga 35 rocna (Toronto: Canad ian Slovak League, 1967), 268-75. 89 Kanadsk f Slovak, Jul y 18, 1953, p.4 and November 10, 1956, p.5. 90 Slovenske bratstvo (Montreal), Apri l 25 , 1941 , p.3 ; Kanadskf Slovak, April 16, 1943, p.10, December 16, 1943, p.7, May 24, 1945 , p.5, October 4, 1945, September 3, 1955 , p.5, October 20, 1956, p.5, October 19, 1957 , p.3. For a sympathetic biography of Roman see Peter C. Newman, Th e Canadian Establishment, I (Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, I975), 269-72. 91 Kanadskf Slovak, November 25 , 1961 , p.2 , Jul y 6, 1963 , p.l, October 3, 1964, p.l, October 17, 1964, p. l , January 9, 196 1, p.l , January 3, 198 1, p. I and February �SLOVAKIA 33 Roman ' s greatest achievement, however, was to establish the Slovak World Congress. Even though he had been a member of the Canadian Slovak League since the early 1940's, Roman lamented the fact that Slovaks in the Western world were divided into so many different organizations.92 He first attempted to bring together the Canadian Slovak League and its rival Canadian Slovak Benefit Society in 1969 but failed .93 Then , angered by the Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968 , Roman decided to approach various individuals and organizations to issue an appeal to all Slovak organizations the world over to unite in the struggle to overthrow Communism in the homeland and to seek self-determination for the Slovak nation. The appeal was signed by the presidents of the Slovak League of America, the Canadian Slovak League, the National Slovak Society, Stephen B. Roman , three bishops and an abbot. As a result, in July of 1970 representatives of dozen s of Slovak organizations the world over, including the Slovak League of America and the Canadian Slovak League, met in New York City and created the Slovak World Congress.94 For the next twenty years the Slovak World Congress, led by Stephen B. Roman, worked to spread the good name of the Slovaks the world over. It held meetings in many of the major cities of the world, including Toronto, New York, Washington, Chicago, Munich and Rome; it sponsored scholarly conferences which published their proceedings; it organized Slovak world youth festival s and it published a monthly Bulletin. The two Slovak Leagues participated in most of these ventures. 95 Indeed , the two Slovak Leagues, at first independently, and later working within the Slovak World Congress, successfully lobbied the Vatican to create an independent archbis- 21, 198 1, p. I. Kanadsky Slovak, January 4, 1945, p. 3. 93 Kanadsky S lovak, Septe mber 20 , 1969 , p. I. Nove mber 15, 1969, p. I, June 6, 1970, p. l. 94 Kanadsky S lovak, March 2 1, 1970. p.l , June 26, 197 1, p. l , Jul y 4, 1970, p. l , Jul y 11 , 1970, p. l. 95 The first ten years of the Congress were described by J.M. Kirschbaum in Desa t' rokov cinnosti SKS (Toronto: Slovak World Congress, 1981 ); a short summary was written by Dusan T6th, the Sec retary-General of the Congress from 1971 to 1990 in Kanadsky Slovak , September 10, 2005, p.4. T here is not yet a scholarl y history of the entire period of the Congress's ex istence. 92 �34 SLOVAKIA hopric and church province in Slovakia. Their dream came true in 1977 , although the communist government blocked the appointment of an archbishop until 1988. 96 Thi s was a sy mbolic victory for the two Leagues and the Slovak World Congress because it gave Slovakia its own church jurisdiction, which implied that the Slovaks could also have their own state. Unfortunately for all concerned, Stephen B. Roman died in 1988, just one year before Czechoslovakia threw off its communist rulers.97 With its patron gone, the Slovak World Congress slowly withered away. The two Slovak Leagues, on the other hand , sprang into action. The Canadian Slovak League sent a delegation to Slovakia in February of 1990, to urge Slovak leaders to seek either more homerule or else complete independence. 98 The Slovak League of America likewise sent a delegation in May of 1990 for the same purpose.99 Both Slovak Leagues started a fund-raising campaign for various Slovak causes, and both rejoiced when Slovakia became independent in 1993. 100 Since then both Leagues have cooperated with the various Slovak governments to spread the good name of the Slovaks the world over and to help Slovakia in its transition from a communist dictatorship to a democratic and capitalist society. It should be apparent, therefore, that the Slovak League of America, and the Canadian Slovak League, remained dedicated to Slovak self-determination throughout the 20th century. During World War I 96 See, for instance, the Memorandum of the Central Assembly of the Canadian Slovak League to the Vati can requesting a Church Province and an Archbi shop for Slovaki a, Kanadsky Slovak, September 25, 1965, p. l . J. M. Kirschbaum had firs t suggested thi s move in 1959, Ibid. , and Peter Mulik, " Usilie o zriaden ie slovenskej cirkev nej provincie od roku 1939 a jej vyvoj po sucasnost:" in Mulik ed., Katolfcka cirkev a Slovaci: Us ilie Slovakov o samostatnti cirkevnti provinciu (Brati slava: Bernolakova spolocnost: 1997), 68. 97 See the special iss ue of the monthly Maria (Toronto), May, 1988 for many eulogies concerning the life and achievements of Stephen B. Roman. 98 Smer (Bratislava), February 15, 1990 and Praca (Brati slava), February 16, 1990. See also Rudolf Schu ster's Ultim atum (Bratislava, 1996), pp.101 -2 and the photo section between pages 96 and 97. 99 Slovak v Amerike, June, 1990. I happened to be a member of this del egation. We traveled all over Slovakia, met with governme nt officials, journalists and students and urged them to seek more self-determ ination or independence. See al so Schuster's Ultimatum, op. cit. , 224-5. 100 Kanadsky Slovak, January 2, 1993 ; Slovak v Amerike, January issue, 1993. �SLOVAKIA 35 the Slovak League of America spoke on behalf of its brethren in Slovakia when the latter could not do so. Since T. G. Masaryk had no mandate from Slovaks in Hungary to create a new state consisting of Czechs and Slovaks, the Slovak League of America gave him that mandate in the Cleveland and Pittsburgh Agreements. Since Masaryk and hi s followers did not respect the promises that they had made guaranteeing Slovaks home-rule in Czechoslovakia, both the Slovak Leag ue of America, and its Canadian offshoot, the Canadian Slovak League, demanded home-rule for the Slovaks in the inter-war period. When Slovakia unexpectedly became independent in 1939, both Leagues, after some hesitation, supported thi s independence. After Czechoslovakia was restored by the victorious Allies, both Slovak Leagues supported a return to Slovak independence, especiall y after the arrival in North America of several thou sa nd political refu gees . During the communist era (1948-1989) both Leagues denounced the communi st regime that ruled over their overseas cousins and they co ntinued to demand Slovak independence. After the Communists gave up their power in 1989, both Leagues urged the Slovaks to either demand more home-rule or else complete independence from the Czechs. When Slovakia finally became independent on January 1, 1993 , both Leagues rejoiced and pledged to help it grow and prosper. � SLOVAKIA 7 THE SLOVAK LEAGUE OF AMERICA AND THE CANADIAN SLOVAK LEAGUE IN THE STRUGGLE FOR THE SELF-DETERMINATION OF THE NATION, 1907-1992 M. Mark Stolarik 1 In the 20th century the American and Canadian Slovak Leagues pl ayed a major role in the struggle for the self-determination of the Slovak nation. Founded by immi grants who so ught a better li ve lyhood in the New World , the Slovak League of America played a leading ro le in the creation of Czecho-S lovakia during the Great War. In the inter-war years , the Slovak League of America, joined by its Canadian offshoot, bombard ed the central government in Prag ue with demands to grant the Slovaks in the newly-created state their promised autonom y. When the Slovaks achi eved autonomy in the fa ll of 1938, both Leagues rejoiced. When the Autonomous Diet procl aimed Slovak independence in March of 1939, both Leagues were caught by surpri se, but, after so me hesitation , they supported it. However, because Slovakia was allied with Nazi Germany , both Leagues had to te mper their support after Canada entered the war against Germany in September of 1939 and the U nited States followed sui t in December of 1941. After the war had ended , however, both the American and the Canadian Slovak Leagues demanded a plebiscite on the future of their countrymen in Europe. Having fai led to achieve thi s goal, both Leag ues, whi ch were buttressed by recently-arrived political emigres after 1945, decl ared their support for a new Slovak liberatio n movement which was first led by the Slovak National Council Abroad and, from 1970 on by the Slovak World 1 An earlier version of this paper was presented to the conference on "Emigration to the Engli sh Speaking world," Catho lic University of Rufo mberok, Slovakia, May 19, 2006. �8 SLOVAKIA Congress. After the Communist government gave up its monopol y of power in 1989, both Leagues sent fact-finding delegation s to Czechoslovakia and both supported the movement for Slova k independence, which became a reality in 1993. Since then , they have continued to help their countrymen to consolidate their independence. Between 1870 and 19 14 approx imate ly half a million Slovaks left their homeland in the Kingdom of Hungary and settled in North America in search of work. Once there, they established three pillars of their new communities- fraternal-benefit societies, parish churches and a newspaper press. Largely of peasant stock from eastern Slovaki a, they sought better wages in the coal mines, steel mills and oil refineries of the American Northeast and Midwest (Connec ti cut , New York, New Jersey, Pennsy lvania, Ohio, Indiana and lllinois). 2 The early arriva ls quickly di scovered that the United State s provided vi1tually no social services. Therefore, these immigrants establi shed their own fratern al-benefit societies which, from monthly membership dues, provided accident, illness or death benefits to their members or families , as well as a pl ace to socialize. By 1890 over fifty such fraternals existed and they then began to federate into nation al organizations such as the National Slovak Society , headquartered in Pittsburgh and the First Catholic Slovak Union, with its headquarters in Cleveland . Since the men initially excluded women from their organizations, Slovak women established the Zivena Beneficial Society in New York in 1891 and Catholic women established the First Catholic Slovak Ladies Union in Cleveland in 1892. Lutherans established their own Slovak Evangelical Union in 1893 and Calvini sts their Slovak Cal vin Presbyterian Union in 1902. Even the tiny group of socialists estab li shed their own Slovak Workers Society in 1916. By 1920 American Slovaks had enrolled over 200,000 members in these, and other, fraternal-benefit societies. 3 2 For more details on the process of Slovak migration and resettlement in the United States see my Immigration and Urbanization: Th e Slovak Experience, 1870- 191 8 (New York: AMS Press, I 989), I-7 1. 3 For the story of Slovak fratern al-benefit soc ieties in the United States see my "A Place fo r Everyo ne: Slovak Fratern al-Benefi t Societies," in Scott Cummings, ed ., Self-Help in Urban America: Patterns of Minority Business Enterprise (Port Washington, NY : Kennikat Press, 1980, 130-41 and "Slovak Fraternal-Benefit Societies in North America: An Overview ( 1883- 1993), in Matjaz Klemenc ic ed. , Etnicni fra- �SLOVAKIA 9 Besides the need for social benefits , Slovak immigrants also yearned for religious services in their own language. The fraternalbenefit societies led the way in establishing pari sh churches , in recruiting their priests and in supporting (or not supporting) them. Slovak Roman Catholics established 241 parishes, Lutherans 68 , Calvinists 9 and Greek Catholics (mixed parishes of Rusins and Slovaks) 155 by 1930.4 At least half of the Roman Catholic parishes also established parochial schools which taught their children to read, write and sing in Slovak, while all other subjects were taught in English. The Roman Catholics also established several religious orders to teach their children, as well as Benedictine High School for boys in Cleveland and Danville Academy for girls in Danville, Pen. 5 nsy Ivama. Finally, most of the immigrants from Slovakia yearned for news from their homeland and were also curious about conditions in the New World. Therefore, a small number of intellectuals, who had followed them from Slovakia, established a very vigorous newspaper press. Starting with a mere Bulletin in 1885, American Slovaks developed a full-service press that consisted of dailies, weeklies and monthlies , and that varied in orientation from nationalist to Magyarone, from secular to religious, from socialist to capitalist. By 1914 the combined circulation of the Slovak-American press was over 150,000, which was four times the circulation of the Slovak-langu- terna/izem v priseljenskich deie/ach/Ethnic Fratemalism in Immigra nt Countries (Maribor: University of Maribor, 1996), 147-59. 4 For the process of the creation of parishes, see my Growing Up on the South Side: Three Generations of Slovaks in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, I 880- 1976 (Lewsiburg: Bucknell Uni vers ity Press, 1985), 44-62; for the number of parishes of various denominations see Filip Hrobak, comp., and ed. , Slovak Catholic Parishes and Institutions in the United States and Canada (Cleveland: First Catholic Slovak Union , 1955), 3 I- I65; George Dolak, A History of the Slovak Evangelical Lutheran Church in the United States of America, /902-1927 (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1955), 189-206; Jan Body & John Adam , comp. and ed .. History of the Slovak Zion Synod LCA (Pittsburgh: Zion Synod, 1976), 199-200; Kalendar pre slovenskych Kalvfnov, 1927 (P ittsburgh), 97- 147; and Paul R. Magocs i, Our People: CarpathoRusyns and Their Descendants in North America (Toron to: Multicultural History Society of Ontario, 1984), 14. 5 Hrobak, Parishes and institutions, 169-82. �SLOVAKIA . Hungary. 6 age press m As they were building the pillars of the ir new co mmunities in America, Slovak immigrants did not fo rget their homeland . Indi vidual immigrants sent several hundred million doll ars to support their fa milies in Slovakia in the period 1870-1914. In addition , Slovak fraternal-benefit societies and their leaders rai sed fund s for the Slovak National Museum, for Slovak schools and churches in Hungary, they paid for and published in the ir Almanacs articles written by Slovak inte llectuals, and they established schol arship fund s to support Slovak high-school students in Bohe mi a and Moravia. Most important of all , they fi nancially supported Slovak candidates to the Hungarian Parli ament and rejo iced when, for the first time in hi story, seven nati onall y-conscious Slovaks were elected in 1906.7 Meanwhile, since the 1867 "Compromi se," whereby the ruling Habsburgs of Austri a and the Magyars of Hungary agreed to divide the empire into the Dual Monarchy of Au stri a-Hungary, the Magyars set out to forcibl y assimilate all the non-M agyar nationalities in Hungary. 8 American Slovak leaders were aware of thi s poli cy of "Magyari zation" and joined their counterparts in Slova ki a in trying to combat it. To thi s end American Slovaks, reacting to urgings from Slovak leaders in Europe, organized a " national congress" to be held in Cleveland on May 26, 1907 . On that day over l0,000 countrymen fro m across America packed into Greys Armory and established the Slovak Leag ue of Ameri ca, whi ch would be the cover organization fo r all nationall y-conscious Slovak organizations in the United States. Thi s sa me congress also e lected the Rev. Stefa n Furdek of Cleveland (originally from Trstena, Orava county), fo under of the First Catholic Slovak Union, as its president and Peter V. Rovnianek of Pittsburgh (originally fro m Doln y Hricov, Trencfn county), foun 6 For an over-view see my "The Slovak-American Press," in Sall y M. Miller ed. , The Ethnic Press in the United States: A Historical A nalysis and Handbook (Westport, CT: Gree nwood Press, 1987), 354-68 ; fo r the circul ation of the Slovak-Ameri can press in 19 14 see my " Slovak Nati onalism in the USA as Refl ected in th e Slovak-American Press, 1885- 1918 ," Canadian Review of Studies in Na tionalism, 3 1 (Nos. 1-2, 2004) , 65-76. 7 Stolarik, Immigration and Urbanization, 185-205 . 8 The best desc ripti on of " Magyarization" is still Scotus Viator (R.W. Seton-Watson), Racial Problems in Hungary (London: Archibald Constable, 1908 ; reprinted by Howard Ferti g, New York, 1972). �SLOVAKIA 11 der of the National Slovak Society , as its first vice-president, as well as the presidents of all the other fraternals as vice-presidents. The League published its formal program of autonomy for the Slovaks in Hungary in September of 1914, just as the world was entering into the first of two world wars that would plague the 20th century. 9 While the League 's official program was autonomy for its countrymen in the Kingdom of Hungary , a small group of Slovaks dissented and called for the destruction of Austria-Hungary and the liberation of their people. These di ssidents were large ly organized in the Slovak Gymnastic Union Sokol , which had been established in New Jersey in 1896, and which adopted the program of the Czech professsor of philosophy T.G. Masaryk. ' 0 The latter had fled hi s homeland in the fall of 1914 and had started to organize a movement to liberate the linguistically-related Czechs and Slovaks from Au stria-Hungary and to create a new state on its ruin s. Masaryk was assisted in hi s quest by one of hi s form er students, the Paris-based Slovak astronomer, Milan R. Stefanik. Later, Masaryk was joined by another of hi s students, the sociologist Edvard Benes. This trio organized itself into a "Czech Committee" and hoped to persuade the western Allies, if they were victorious over the Central Powers, to dismember AustriaHungary and to allow the Czechs and Slovaks to establish their own state. 11 While Masaryk was an elected member of the Austrian Parliament, and in touch with hi s Czech colleagues, who approved of his plans, he had no mandate from the Slovaks in Hungary to include 9 Fo r the creation of the Slovak League see Jednota (C leveland), May 29, 1907; ~udove noviny (Ska lica), Jun e 4, 1907; Jan Pank uch, Dejiny Clevelandskych a Lakewoodskych Slovakov (C leveland: Jan Pankuch, 1930), 71-3 ; and Kon stantin Cul en, Dejiny Slovakov v A merike, JI (Bratislava: Slovenska Liga, 1942), 11 3-24 ; for the program of autonomy see " Memorandum Slovenskej Ligy v Amerike vydane menom americkyc h Slovakov," in Dr. Yacovsky [Milan Ivanka], Slovaci a Madari: Politicko-historicka uvaha (Pittsburgh: Slovak League of America, I 9 14), 10 I-7. 10 For the ac ti vities of the Slovak Gymnastic Union Sokol see Milan Getting, A merickf Slovaci a vyvin ceskoslovenskej myslienky v rokoch 19 14-1 9 /8 (Perth Amboy, NJ: Slovak Gymnastic Union Sokol , 1933) 11 Masaryk and Benes left us the ir memoirs: T.G . Masaryk, The Making of a State: Memories and Observations, 19 14-1 918 (London: Frederick A. Stokes, 1927; Edu ard Benes, Souvenirs de g uerre et de revolution (1914-1918), 2 Vols. (Paris: E. Lero ux , 1928). Stefanik left no memoirs but Jan Jurfcek wrote a sy mpathetic biography: M.R. Stefanik: t ivotopisny nacrt (Brati slava: Mlade !eta, 1968). �12 SLOVAKIA them in the proposed state. Therefore, Masaryk sought such a mandate from American Slovak immigrants, most of whom were not yet citizens of the United States, but whose leaders had been in close touch with Slovak leaders in Hungary before the war, and who had a mandate from them to speak on behalf of the Slovak nation . 12 As a result, Masaryk urged his Czech colleagues in the United States to seek out the Slovaks and try to persuade them to join in his liberation movement. American Czechs did so and on October 22, 1915 the Bohemian National Alliance, which was the cover organization of most American Czechs, and the Slovak League of America met and concluded the Cleveland Agreement, which was named after the city in which it was signed. In this Agreement, the two sides pledged to work for the destruction of Austria-Hungary and the creation of a new, federal state consisting "of the Czech and Slovak nations," with "complete national autonomy for Slovakia, with its own Diet, its own state administration, complete cultural freedom .. ..its own financial and political administration," and "with Slovak as the state language ." The Slovak League insisted upon these points because it knew that the Czechs would outnumber the Slovaks in the new state by three-to-one and the League did not want the Czechs to dominate the Slovaks as had the Magyars in Hungary. 13 Had the two sides respected the Cleveland Agreement, the liberation movement might have worked smoothly and led to a harmonious future for the Czechs and Slovaks. Unfortunately, T.G. Masaryk did not believe in the existence of separate Czech and Slovak nations. Perhaps because he was of mixed Slovak (father) and Czech (mother) origin, he believed that the Czechs and Slovaks 12 On August 6, 1906, political leaders in Slovakia sent their counterparts in the USA a letter in which they proposed to share the leadership of the Slovak natio n with them. The letter was published in lmrich Mazar, Dejiny Binghamtonskych Slovakov za dobu styridsat' rokov, I 879-19 I 9 (Bingha mton : Branch I04 of the Slovak League of America, 1919), 2 1-22 . The Czechs recog nized th at Slovak leaders in the USA were authorized to speak on behalf of the Slovaks in Hungary in an editorial that appeared in The Bohemian Review (Chicago), March, 19 18, p.47 . 13 Cleveland Plain Dealer, October 23 , 1915 , p.7 ; Jednota (M iddl etow n, PA ), November 24, 1915, p.4; Narodne noviny (Pittsburgh), November 25, 19 15, p.5 ; the original was published in Dokumenty slovenskej nardonej identity a statnosti, I (Bratislava: Narodne literarne centrum, 1998), 445-7; an English translation can be found in my "The Role of American Slovaks in the Creation of Czecho-S lovakia, 1914-1918," Slovak Studies, VIII (Rome, I 968), p.55. �SLOVAKIA 13 formed one "Czechoslovak" nation and merely spoke two dialects of the same language. Therefore, when he arrived in the United States in the spring of 1918 to seek the recognition of the American government for the liberation movement and was shown the Cleveland Agreement, he proclaimed it "out of date" and proceeded to negotiate a new one with the Slovaks. On May 31st, 1918 Masaryk in Pittsburgh negotiated a weaker agreement with American Slovaks. According to thi s new "Pittsburgh Agreement," the two sides approved a "political program to unite the Czechs and Slovaks into an independent state of Czech and Slovak lands," in which " Slovakia will have its own administration, its own Diet and its own courts." Furthermore, "S lovak will be the official language in the school s, in offices and public life generally." And the "Czecho-Slovak state will be a republic and its Constitution will be a democratic one." Noticeably absent from this Agreement were the phrases "federal state" and "complete national autonomy for Slovakia," and there was no mention of the "Czech and Slovak nations," as there had been in the Cleveland Agreement. 14 Members of the Slovak League of America, led by its president Albert Mamatey of Pittsburgh (originall y from Klastor pod Znievom in Turiec county), signed the Pittsburgh Agreement because by then the liberation movement, led by Masaryk, was in high gear. The newly-formed Czechoslovak Legions in Russia revolted against the Bolsheviks and seized control over the entire Trans-Siberian Railway. These Legions had been organized from prisoners-of-war by Masaryk and Stefanik, and their seizure of the railroad greatly aided the Allied war effort, because they prevented hundreds of thousands of German and Austro-Hungarian prisoners-of-war from returning to fight on the western front. 15 In addition, si nce Masaryk himself had 14 Jednota, June 5, 191 8, p.5; N:irodne noviny, June 6, 1918 , p.5; Jozef Hu sek, "Prehl'ad vaznejsfch udalostf v hi storii I. Kat. Slovenskej Jednoty, Jednota Katolfcky Kalend:ir, 1931, (Middletown, PA), pp.58-9. Victor S. Mamatey pointed ou t that the date of the Pittsburgh Agreement was May 3 1, 191 8, not May 30 as the calligrapher erroneously wrote it. Cf "Este raz o Pittsburgskej dohode," Premeny (Flushing, NY), 20 (No.3 , 1983), 39. For the full text of the Pittsburgh Agreement see Dokumenty, QJ2&i.t. , 485-6 and for an English translation see my The Role of, QJ2,....ci_t., 56. 15 Cleveland Plain Dealer, June 20, 1918, p.5; New York Times, June 29, 1918, p.3 ; for a detailed di sc ussion of the Czechoslovak Leg ion see J.F.N. Bradley , "The Allies and the Czech Revolt aga inst the Bol sheviks in 191 8," Slavonic and East �14 SLOVAKIA drafted and signed the Pittsburgh Agreement, along with the Bohemian National Alliance and the Union of Czech Catholics, American Slovak leaders felt confident that Masaryk would honor it. Skeptics, such as Jozef Hu sek, editor of Jednota (originall y from Okolicne, Liptov county), the official organ of the First Catholic Slovak Union, the largest Slovak fraternal-benefit society in America, did not tru st Masaryk. lt was Husek who forced Masary k into drafting the Pittsburgh Agreement, and it was Husek who insisted that he sign a calligraphed copy of it on November 14, I 918 , the very day that the newly-created Czecho-Slovak government in Prague e lected Masaryk President of the Republic. After Masaryk signed it a second time, American Slovaks were sati sfied and hoped for the best for their people in the new Czecho-Slovak Republic, which was proclaimed by a gathering of Czec h deputies of the former Austrian Parli ament in Prague on October 28 , 191 8, just as the defeated Austria-Hungary was collapsing. 16 Unfortunately for the future of Czecho-Slovakia, the promi ses made to American Slovaks by T.G. Masary k in the Pittsburgh Agreement were not carried out. Once he had returned in triumph to the newl y-created Republic in Dece mber of 1918 , Masaryk promptl y forgot about the Pittsburgh Agreement. The Czec h deputies in Prague , meanwhile, formed themselves into a "Czechoslovak government" on November 14th and later appointed a Czech-dominated "Constitutional Committee" to draft a Constitution for the new Republic. 17 Hearing of these events, the Slovak League of America sent a five-person delegation to Czecho-Slovakia in the spring of 1919, to remind Masaryk of hi s promises and to demand that the Pittsburgh Agreement be included in the proposed Constitution . Upon their return to the United States, the Executive Board of the Slovak League passed a resolution at its quarterly meeting on October 24, 1919, Europea n Review, 43 (No. I OI , 1965), 175-92 . The lack of the word "S lovak" in Bradley ' s title testifi es to the pro-Czech bias of western hi storian s during the ex istence of Czechoslovakia. 16 Husek, " Prehl'ad," op.cit. , 58-9 ; Joze f Husek, " Pittsburghska Dohoda," Jednota Katolfcky K al endar, 1933, 11 I. 17 For more on these proceedings see Vaclav L. Benes , " Czechoslovak Democracy and Its Problems, 1918-1920," in Victor S. Mamatey & Radomir Lu za, eds. , A History of the Czechoslovak Republic. 19 18- 1948 (Princeton : Princeton University Press, 1973), 53-6. �SLOVAKIA 15 calling for the incorporation of the Pittsburgh Agreement into the proposed Czecho-Slovak Constitution. 18 Indeed, at the last meeting of the Czecho-Slovak Nation al Council in America, which had been founded in 1917 to coordinate the work of the Leag ue and of the Bohemian National Alliance, the Slovak delegates asked their Czech colleagues to pass a similar resolution, and the latter gladly complied 19 on November 7, 1919. Thus, American Czechs recogni zed the validity of the Pittsburgh Agreement while the Constitutional Committee did not. Masaryk, on the other hand , when asked by Prime Mini ster Vl astimil Tu s:cir in January of 1920 to comment on the validity of the Pittsburgh Agreement, brushed it aside as " one of many pre-revolutionary program s made beyond the boundaries. It has its hi storical value." 20 As a result, in March of 1920 the Constitutional Committee drafted , and the Prague Parliament adopted , a very centrali st Constitution of the Czechoslovak Republic , which sy mboli ca ll y dropped the hyphen from its name , and proclaimed that " the Czechoslovak Republic is a unified, not a federative state ," that its official language was the "Czechoslovak language" (even thou gh no such lang uage existed) , and Slovakia did not receive its own administration, its own Diet and its own courts, nor did Slovak become the official language of administration, as promised in the Pittsburgh Agreement? In the inter-war period , after some hesitatio n, the Slovak League of America continued to demand the home-rule promi sed the Slovaks by T.G. Masaryk. Albert Mamatey, the president of the League, visited Slovakia with a copy of the Pittsburgh Agreement in the winter of 19 I 9-1920 and was reass ured by Mil an Hodfa, one of the leaders of the Czec hoslovak Agrarian Party, that the Slovaks had nothing to worry about. Indeed , in September of 1920 Mamatey was rewarded for hi s wartime services on behalf of Slovakia by being ap- 18 19 Jednota, October 29, I 9 I 9. p. l The Czechoslovak Review [Formerly the Bohemian Review], December, 1919, p. 394. T.G. Masaryk to Y lastimil Tu sar, February 5. I920 , as published in The Slovaks 20 and the Pittsburgh Pact (Chicago : Slovak Catholic Federation, 1934), p.34. Jii'i Hoetzl and V. Joachim ( Introd uction by) , The Constitution of the Czechoslo vak Republic (Prague: Ed ition de la Soc iete de I'effort de la T checoslovaqu ie. 1920), pp. I 2, 47 . 21 �16 SLOVAKIA pointed the Czechoslo vak Consul in Pittsburgh. 22 He was succeeded as president of the League by hi s colleague Ivan Bielek, the former editor of the American Narodn e noviny, offici al organ of the National Slovak Society.23 Jan A. Kocur, a pre-war immigrant from 24 Turzovka, meanwhile, became the League ' s secretary. Under thi s new leadership the 14th Congress of the Slovak League, held in Pittsburgh, PA on June 28-29, 1922, sent a Memorandum to the National Assembly in Prague in which it demanded that the Pittsburgh Agreement be made a part of the Czechoslovak Constitution .25 Meanwhil e, after some prodding by Jozef Husek, editor of Jednota, as well as by the leadership of the First Catholic Slovak Union and the Slovak Catholic Federation, the 15th Congress of the Slovak League, held in Binghamton , New York on May 27-29, 1924, rejected the philosophy of "Czechoslovakism" as practiced by the Prague government and once again demanded that the provi sions of the Pittsburgh Agreem ent be carried out. 26 In addition , the Slovak League now openl y supported the Slovak People 's Party, led by the Reverend Andrej Hlinka, because that party had adopted the program of the Pittsburgh Agreement. Indeed , in 1926 the Slovak League made Hlinka an honorary member. 27 Interestingly enough, the League was so committed to the Pittsburgh Agreement th at, when the Slovak People ' s Party ag reed to join the center-right Czechoslovak coalition government in 1927-29, the League denounced this step! 28 On the other hand , it heartily approved of the People ' s Party 's withdrawal from the coalition after the October 1929 trial and conviction for treason of Yojtech Tuka, editor of Slo vak, the People 's Party ' s official organ .29 Furthermore, in 1928, on the l 0th anniver22 Joze f Paufo, 75. Rok ov Prvej K atolfckej Slovenskej Jednory (Cleveland: First Catholic Slovak Union, 1965), 160. For a short biograph y of A lbert M amatey see Joze f Paufo, Slovensk f priekopn fci v A merike (Cleveland: First Cath olic Slovak Union, 1972), 269-75. 23 For a short biograph y of Ivan Bielek see Paufo , Slovenskf priekopnfci, p. 25-28. 24 For hi s biography see ilii.d.. , 229. 25 M emorandum Slovenskej Ligy v A merike upravene na vladu a Narodne Shromai denie Cesko-Sl ovenskej Republiky v zaujme vte/enia Pittsburghskej Dohody do ustavy C.-S. Republiky (Pittsburgh: Slovak League of A meri ca, 1922). 26 " Z XV. Kongresu Slovenskej Ligy v A merike." Jednota, June 4, 1924, pp. 1-2, 4. 27 Paufo, 75 roko v, 21 I. 28 lb.id... 223 . 29 " Prehlas od Ivana Bieleka,'· Jednota, October 23 , 1929, p.4. �SLOVAKIA 17 sary of the founding of Czechoslovakia, the League rejected a special commendation from the Czechoslovak government for its role in the liberation of the country.30 Thereafter the League continued to publish and send memoranda to the Czecho-Slovak government, as it had in the l 920's, demanding that it grant the Slovaks the home-rule that Masaryk had promised in the Pittsburgh Agreement. 3 1 During the 1930's the Slovak League and the People ' s Party closely cooperated for the benefit of both sides. At its 19th Congress held in Cleveland on November 19-20, 1934, the assembled delegates elected the American-born Chicago medical doctor Peter P. Hletko as their president and he and his executive board invited the nationalist cultural organization Matica slovenska to send a delegation of scholars and leaders to help American Slovaks to maintain their national identity. The Matica complied in 1935-1936 by sending its director, the writer J.C. Hronsky, the publicist Konstantin Culen, the art historian Jozef Cincfk, and the photographer Karel Plicka. They visited 98 of the largest Slovak-American communities, presented lectures, slides and films about Slovakia, and donated four large libraries to the Slovak communities of New York City, Pittsburgh, Cleveland and Chicago. This delegation also gathered a wealth of published and manuscript materials pertaining to the history of American Slovaks , which are now stored in the Slovak National Library.32 The People ' s Party, which was the main supporter of the Matica slovenska, reciprocated in 1938 when it invited the Slovak League to send a delegation to the mother country in order to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the signing of the Pittsburgh Agreement. The 20th congress of the League, held in Pittsburgh on April 28-29, 1938, elected a six-person delegation, which included Peter P. Hletko and Jozef Husek, to travel to Slovakia, and to bring with it the original of 30 "Kongres Slovenskej Ligy," Jednota, June 6, 1928, p. l. See, for example the, fo llow ing: Prehlas Slovenskej Ligy v Amerike upraveny na vsetkych politickych cinitelbv Cesko-Slovenskej Republiky (Pittsburgh: P. Jamriska & Co., 1925); V zaujme pra vdy ! (Pittsburgh: P. Jamriska & Co., 1930); and An Autonomi st [Peter P. Hletko], Slovakia's Plea for Autonomy (Middletown, PA: Slovak Literary Society, I 935). 32 J.C. Hronsky described the Matica's trip and its achieve ments in Cesta slovenskou Amerikou: Cestopisne crty z r. 1935-36. v dvoch dieloch (Turc. Sv. Martin : Matica slovenska, 1940). 31 �18 SLOVAKIA the Pittsburgh Agreement. The delegation went via Poland, in order to first visit the Rev. Andrej Hlinka in Rufomberok, and only then did it proceed to Bratislava and Prague. In Bratislava on June 5th the Slovak League delegation appeared on the balcony of the Slovak National Theater on Hviezdoslav Square, along with Andrej Hlinka and other notables of the People 's Party. Peter P. Hletko then triumphantly held up the original of the Pittsburgh Agreement, to the cheers of over 100,000 people.33 Finally, on October 6, 1938, after the infamous Munich Agreement weakened Czechoslovakia and president Edvard Benes resigned his office and fled to the west, the Slovak People 's Party, with the support of the Agrarian and National Parties and the approval of Prague, proclaimed the autonomy of Slovakia and formed a six-man government headed by Dr. Jozef Tiso. He had succeeded Andrej Hlinka as party leader after the latter' s death on August 16th. The Prague Parliament formally approved Slovak autonomy on November 22nd and re-named the Republic as Czecho-Slovakia, to reflect thi s new reality. Needless to say, the Slovak League of America was overjoyed to see that, after 20 years of strugg le, the provisions of the Pittsburgh Agreement were finally carried out. 34 While the Slovak League was satisfied with the outcome of its efforts on behalf of the Pittsburgh Agreement, Adolph Hitler was not. The German Chancellor was determined to destroy Czecho-Slovakia and to incorporate Bohemia-Moravia into his "Third Reich." Therefore, he had his agents get in touch with the most radical individuals in the People 's Party, who were led by the recently-releasedfrom-prison Vojtech Tuka, and urged them to seek complete Slovak independence. Tuka and his followers began to plot against CzechoSlovakia and the Prague government reacted by declaring martial law on March 11th, by di ssolving the recently-elected Slovak Diet, 33 Hlas l'udu (Toronto), May 27, 1938, pp.l-2 , June 7, 1938, pp.1-4 ; Slovak v Kan ade (Montreal ), June 2, 1938, p. l; Osadne hlasy (Chicago), June 24, 1938, pp.12; Narodne noviny, Jul y 6, 1938, p.5. Photos of the delegation in Poland and in Slovakia can be found in J.M . Kirschbaum, Slovakia: Nation at the Crossroads of Central Europe (New York: Robert Speller & Sons, 1960), between pp.264-265. 34 New Yorksky dennfk (New York) , October 9, 1938 , p.1; Kato/icky Sokol (Passaic, NJ) , October 12, 1938, p.l; Narodne no viny, October 12, 1938, p.l; Osadne h/asy, October 14, 1938 , p.l and October 21 , 1938, pp. 1&3 ; Jednota, November 2, 1938, p.3 �SLOVAKIA 19 and by arresting over 200 suspected "plotters" against the Republic. Meanwhile, Hitler's agents summoned the recently-dismissed Prime Minister Jozef Tiso to Berlin on March 13th and gave him an ultimatum: either proclaim independence or watch Slovakia be partitioned by Poland and Hungary. Tiso returned to Bratislava on March 14th, he persuaded President Emil Hacha to reconvene the Slovak Diet, and after Tiso passed on to the Diet Hitler's message, the Diet unanimously declared Slovak independence. Since Czecho-Slovakia no longer existed, Hitler ordered the German army to occupy BohemiaMoravia and turn it into a German " Protectorate." He also recognized the independence of the Slovak Republic, but forced it into a German alliance and put it under German protection. 35 When news of the declaration of Slovak Independence reached American Slovaks, they were at first puzzled and subsequently split into two camps-those who supported Slovak independence and those who did not. This split had first surfaced right after World War I, when certain American Slovaks chose to support the new, centralized Czechoslovak Republic, while others did not. Generally speaking, most Slovak Protestant societies in the USA, as well as those individuals organized in the militantly secular Slovak Gymnastic Union Sokol (founded in 1896) supported the new state because they agreed with its official philosophy of "Czechoslovakism," that is, that the Czechs and Slovaks formed one nation but spoke two dialects of the "Czechoslovak" language. 36 The majority of American Slovaks, who were Roman Catholics, and were represented by the First Catholic Slovak Union and the Slovak Catholic Federation, among others, did not. Between 1919 and 1924 the pro-Czechoslovak group controlled the Slovak League. 37 After 1924 the Slovak nationalists regained control over the League, and continue to do so. Therefore, the Protestants and the Sokols (as well as Slovak Communi sts), rejected the independent Slovak Republic and hoped that 35 The best description of this period in Czecho-Slovakia ' s hi story is by Theodor Prochazka, The Second Republic: Th e Disintegration of post-Munich Czechoslovakia (Boulder: East European Monographs, 198 1); for an alternative view see Frantisek Ynuk, " Slovakia' s Six Eventfu l Months," Slovak Studies, 4 ( 1964), 7- I 64. 36 Milan Getting best represented thi s group and described their act ivities in his Americki Slovaci, ~ 37 " Z XV . Kongresu Slovenskej Li gy v Amerike," Q)hci.t. �20 SLOVAKIA Czecho-Slovakia could be resurrected.38 To this end they supported ex-president Edvard Benes's new liberation movement during World War 11. 39 The leadership of the Slovak League, largely representing the majority Roman Catholics, on the other hand, supported the new state. Indeed, Jozef Husek, who was elected president of the League at its 21 st Congress in Cleveland on October 14th, 1938, form all y requested president Franklin Delano Roosevelt of the United States on April 24, 1939 to grant the Slovak Republic diplomatic recognition.40 Shortly thereafter the Slovak League was heartened by a message ("Posolstvo") sent by Prime Minister Jozef Tiso to American and Canadian Slovaks on May 23rd of 1939. Here Tiso explained in 38 A group of Slovak Protestants (Lutherans, Calvini sts and Congregationalists), led by the Baptist preac her A. P. Slabey, met in Duquesne, PA on May 30th, 1938 and denounced the Hletko- led delegati on of the Slovak League to Slovakja that spring. Cf. Narodne noviny, June 8, 1938 , p.3; In the fall Jan Pankuch, a Lutheran and fo rmer mem ber of the Delegati on, regretted the granting of autonomy to Slovakia. Cf. Hla s (C leveland), October 13, I 938, p. l ; after the Slovak Diet declared independence on Marc h 14th , 1939 . the Lutheran-dominated Nati onal Slovak Society denounced this act. Cf. Narodne noviny, March 15, 1939, p. l , as did the secul arist and Sokol-do minated New Yorksky dennik , March 15, 1939, p. l. Slovak communists also de nounced both Slovak auto no my and independence. Cf. I', udovy dennik (Chicago), October 7, 1938, p. l ; October 8, 1938, p. I; March I6, 1939, p. l 39 Those American Slovaks who opposed Slovak indepe ndence and wished to see Czecho-Slovakja res urrected after th e war initiall y organi zed the mselves into th e Slovak Nati onal Council of America. However, they soon split into fac tions th at either supported ex-president Benes or else Dr. Milan Hodfa or Dr. Stefan Osusky, both of whom had fl ed to the West after the fa ll of France in June of 1940, and both of whom broke with Benes over the future of a res urrected Czecho-S lovakia. While Be nes wanted a return to the cent ra lized pre-M un ich Czechoslovakia, Hodfa and Osusky wished to return to a federated Czecho-S lovilia. Cf. Letters of Jan Dend'ur, Secretary of the Slovak National Council to Vlad imir Hurban, ex-Ambassador of Czechos lovakia in Washington, Papers of Jan Dend'ur, Box I , File A-S , Balch Institute at th e Histori cal Society of Penn sy lvania, Philade lphia; those who supported Benes joined the Czechoslovak Nati onal Co un cil of America and we re led by the Lutheran Rev . Jaros lav Pelikan, Sr. of Chicago. Cf. New York sky dennik, Dece mber 11 , 1941 , p. I. For a descri ption of the Benes-led liberation move ment see Ed uard Taborsky, " Politics in Exile, 1939- 1945 ," in Mamatey & Lufa , A History , QP..ci.1. , 322-42. 40 Letter of Jozef Husek to Frank lin Delano Roosevelt, April 24, 1939, publ ished in Correspondence in re Slovakia and the Declaration of the Aim and Principles of the Slo vak League of A merica (Middletown? Slovak League of America, 1940?), 1718. Husek sent a similar letter to Secretary of State Corde ll Hull on August 4, 1939, ilii.d., 19-20. �SLOVAKIA 21 great detail how and why the Slovak Republic came into being and he asked American and Canadian Slovaks to support it. 4 1 As a result, the 22nd Congress of the Slovak League, which was held on November 14-15 in Cleveland, and which re-elected Husek as its president, passed a resolution in which it fully supported the independent Slovak Republic. Furthermore, it called upon the United States government to grant Slovakia diplomatic recognition, and it deplored ex-president Edvard Benes's American speaking tour, in which he called for the restoration of pre-war Czechoslovakia.42 In the fo llowing October, president Franklin Delano Roosevelt received a IS-person delegation of the Slovak League led by Husek and Hletko during which they pledged their loyalty to the USA . They considered thi s meeting to be a moral victory, even though FDR refu sed to recognize the Slovak Republic. 43 On the other hand, because of attacks launched upon the Slovak League by the supporters of Edvard Benes, Husek and the Slovak League were investigated by the Dies Committee on Un-American Activities. Thereafter they were under FBI surveillance. 44 Since the United States entered the Second World War on the side of the Allies on December 7, 1941 , and since Prime Mini ster Vojtech Tuka of Slovakia foolishly declared war upon the United States shortly there41 Tiso was responding to a letter sent to him by Andrej Potocky, Supreme Secretary of the Canadian Slovak League, askin g for an ex planation as to why the Slovak Diet had declared independence. Cf. And rej Potocky to Jozef Tiso, April 20, 1939 and Tiso's reply, of June 2, 1939, with a copy of the " Posolstvo," in the Papers of Andrej Kucera, lmrich Stolarik Co ll ection, Box 576, fo lder 2, 1939, Slovak Archives, University of Ottawa, Archi ves and Spec ia l Collections, and in the Andrej Potocky Papers, box 282 , folder 4, I 939, lhid. Jozef Husek translated and published it as " Dr. Joseph Tiso to the Slovaks in America," in Correspondence in re Slovakia, QJ2,.Q!., 716. This " Posolstvo" was originall y published in Slovak in several pro-independence newspapers in the USA and Canada. Cf. S lovenske bratstvo (Montreal), Jul y 2 1, and July 31, 1939, p.3 . 42 Jednota, Novem ber 29, 1939, p. 3; H/as Judu, November 18 and 21 , p. I. 43 Jedno ta, October 30, 1940, p. I, November 6, 1940, p.2; Slo venske bratstvo, November I, 1940, p.2. 44 Hlas Judu , October 24, 1939 , p. l ; see also Jozef Husek's letters to Martin Dies, Chairman , Dies House Committee, October 6, 1939 and October 28, 1939, in Correspondence in re Slovakia, QJ2..ci.t. , 23-4. In the summer of 1970 I visited with Dr. Peter P. Hletko in Chi cago and he confi rmed that the FBI had him and Husek under survei llance throughout the war, a lthough Hletko struck up a friendship with those watching him . �22 SLOVAKIA after, the Slovak League had to become more circumspect m its pronouncements. It now pledged absolute loyalty to the United States, although it continued to passively support the Slovak Republic. 45 However, the United States Office of War Information arranged a meeting of all Slovak-American organizations in Pittsburgh on September 14, 1942, and urged them to sign a declaration in which they repudiated the Slovak Republic and pledged their loyalty to the United States and its Allies. 46 By December a dejected Jozef Husek resigned as president of the League.47 He was eventually replaced by the more cautious Msgr. Frantisek Du bosh of Lakewood, Ohio, at the 23rd Congress of the League held in Pittsburgh on February 25-26, 1943. 48 Since the Slovak League could no longer openly support Slovak independence, it had to lower its expectations. At its 23rd Congress it had to develop a new program for Slovakia and, at the same time, deal with the issue of accepting or rejecting two former hi gh-ranking Slovaks in the pre-war Czechoslovak government and bureaucracy who had come to America. One was the former Prime Minister of Czechoslovakia, Milan Hodz.a, and the other was the former Czechoslovak Minister to Paris, Stefan Osusky. Both had broken with Edvard Benes after the destruction of Czecho-Slovakia. Hodza now recognized the Slovaks as a distinct nation but favored the resurrection of a federated Czecho-Slovakia within a Central European Federation . Osu sky also recognized the Slovaks as an independent nation and favored the resurrection of a federated Czecho-Slovakia as stipul ated in the Cleveland Agreement of 1915 , which he had helped to draft. After much debate, the League rejected both Hodza and 45 Osadne h/asy, December 19, 194 1, p.2; Jednota , January 7, 1942 , p.8. Pavel Jamriska, the vice-president of the L eague, pledged that " American Slovaks never betrayed and never w ill betray the Slovak nation and Slovakia." Cf. Jednota, January 2 1, 1942, p.4. Jozef Husek president of the League, added that " Slovakia should retain its freedom ," in spite of the war. Jednota, February 25, 1942, p.4. 46 Jednota, September 23, 1942, p. l and October 14, 1942, p.2. Thi s " Resolution " was reprinted in Martin Kvetko and Miroslav J. Licko 's edited Zbornik tivah a osobnych spomienok o S/ovenskom narodnom povstanf (Toronto: Stala konferencia slovenskych demokratickych exu lantov, 1976), pp. 396-7 w ithout any explanation. 47 I.:udo ve zvesti (Toronto), December 12, 1942, p. I and January 16, 1943, p.5. 48 Kanadsky Slovak (Montrea l), March 11 , 1943, p. I ; I.:udove zves ti, March 20 , 1943 , p.5. �SLOVAKIA 23 Osusky as former collaborators of the first Czechoslovak Republic and it returned to its pre-war program of "self-determination" for the Slovaks in the future. 49 When the Slovak National Uprising against the Germans broke out at the end of August, 1944, American Slovaks were once again divided. After some hesitation, the 26th Congress of the Slovak League, held in Pittsburgh on October 18-19, 1944, and most American Catholic organizations , rejected the leadership of the newlyformed Slovak National Council as too "Czechoslovak" and Communi st. 50 Most American Lutherans, National Sokols and Communi sts, on the other hand, cheered and recognized the leadership of the SNC. 51 To complicate matters even more, the People' s Party journali st Peter Prfdavok, who had initially rejected the Slovak Republic and had fled to France and Great Britain in 1939, al so broke with Edvard Benes and in 1943 establi shed a Slovak National Council in London . He immediately contacted the Slovak League of America and , after the 1944 uprising in Slovakia, counseled the Slovak League not to recognize the Slovak National Council in Slovakia. 52 The League did not do so until it heard of the promulgation of the Kosice Programme of April 5, 1945 , which recognized the Slovaks as a di stinct nation and which al so recognized the Slovak National Council as the government of Slovakia. Thi s was a major concession by representatives of Edvard Benes 's victorious government-in-exile, which by then had returned to Slovak ("Czechoslovak") territory on 49 Cudove z vesti, March 20, 1943 and Kanadsky Slovak, March 25 , 1943, p.4. After Osusky broke with Benes he publi shed a series of pamphlets in whi ch he denounced the latter: Pravda vfthzf 1 (Pohlhd do zrkadla druheho odboj a) (London : The Continental Publishers, 1942); Benes and Slovakia (Middletown, PA : First Catholi c Slovak Union, 1943) ; Triedenie duchov nastalo (L ondon : The Continental Publishers, 1943) ; Hodza ' s position was best reported in K anadsky Slovak, M ay 28, 1942, pp. 7 & 10. For Hodza ' s acti vities in the USA see Michal Mudry, Milan Hodi a v Amerike (Chicago: Geringer Press, 1949). For more on Benes's opponents during World War II see Jan Kuklfk and Jan Nemecek, Prati Beneso vi! Ceska a slovenska protibeneso vska opozice v Londy ne /939-1 945 (Praha: Karolinum , 2004). 50 Kanadsky Slovak, November 9, 1944, p.4; Jednota, N ovember 15, 1944, p.2. 51 Cudove zvesti, September 23 , 1944, pp. I & 4. 52 Slovenske bratst vo, M ay 24, 1940, p.2; Slo vensky priekopnfk, November 27, 1942, pp. I & 4; ~udove zvesti, M arch 18, 1944, p.5 ; Jednota, April 16, 1945, p.5; for a short biograph y of Prfdavok see Literarny almanach Slovaka v A merike, 1967 (Middletown, PA), 209- 10. �24 SLOVAKIA the heel s of the Red Army, and which by now included the Communist leader Klement Gottwald. 53 However, this "Washington Declaration" of April 6, 1945 by the Executive of the Slovak League of America was immediately denounced by Jozef Husek and Peter P. Hletko.54 Furthermore, the 27th Congress of the Slovak League, held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in October of 1945 also repudiated it. Instead, the Congress reaffirmed the right of the Slovaks in Europe to self-determination. This Congress, which elected the Amercanborn attorney Peter P. Yurchak as its president, also announced a new fund-rai sing campaign to help rebuild post-war Slovakia, as well as to help thousands of political refugees who had fled the resurrected post-war Czechoslovakia.55 Meanwhile, the Slovak League had also sent a three-person delegation to the San Francisco meeting of the newly-founded United Nations from April 25th to June 21st. It was led by the Rev. Jan J. Lach of Whiting, Indiana, in the company of the poet, the Rev . Milos Mlynarovic, and the young Americanborn attorney Edward J. Behuncfk. The League had hoped that its delegation could speak on behalf of the Slovak nation but Jan Masaryk, son of the former president of Czechoslovakia, registered himself as a Slovak (whic h he was not) and, in hi s capacity as Czechoslovakia's new Foreign Minister, claimed that the Slovaks were well-represented at the United Nations, and therefore, did not need the services of the League. Lach was given only the status of an observer and could not participate in the debates about the future of Europe. 56 Meanwhile, Slovaks who had emigrated to Canada also took an interest in the fate of their countrymen. Since the United States Congress had passed three Immigration Acts in the l 920's, which severely restricted further migration from east-central and southern Europe to the United States, about 40,000 Slovaks moved to Canada in search of work in the l 920's and 1930's. Even though the government of Canada wanted them to settle on farms on the Prairies, they 53 For the text of the Kosice Program see "Kosicky vlad ny program," in Dokumenty, II (1998), 407-8 . 54 Osadne hlasy, April 20, 1945 , p.4 and June I, 1945, p.2, June 30, I 945, p.2 ; Kanadsky Slovak, June 14, 1945, p.5. 55 Osadne hlasy, October 26, 1945, p. l ; Kanadsky Slovak, November I, 1945. 56 Jednota , May 23, I 945 , p. l; Osadne hlasy, May 25, 1945, p.4; I'.udove zvesti, June 9, 1945, p.4, and Jul y 2 1, 1945 , p.2. �SLOVAKIA 25 largely headed to the metropolitan areas of Winnipeg, Fort William, Montreal and Toronto. There, they quickly copied their American countrymen and established fraternal-benefit societies, parishes and newspapers. Indeed, they originally joined American-Slovak organizations, subsc ribed to their newspapers and were served by SlovakAmerican priests and mini sters. 57 However, when the Great Depression broke out in 1929, SlovakCanadians di scovered that they had to look out for themselves. For instance, when the Slovak League of America announced that it was raising funds to provide food and clothing for its members who were in dire straits, Canadian members of the Slovak League , who had organized fifteen branches in Canada, applied for thi s " relief. " They were shocked when Jan A. Kocur, the Leag ue 's Secretary , replied that American Slovaks had only enough resources to help themselves, and could not afford to help Slovaks in Canada. 58 Therefore, led by Andrej Kucera of Winnipeg (ori ginall y from Radosovce, in Bratislava county) representatives of three Canadian branches of the Slovak League of America met in Winnipeg in 1932 and organized the Slovak League of Canada which, when it was officially incorporated by an Act of Parliament in 1934, had its name changed to the Canadian Slovak League. Meanwhile, in order to help its countrymen to survive the Great Depression, leaders of the Canadian Slovak League organized it into a fratern al-benefit society, as well as a nationalist organization. 59 The national orientation of the Canadian Slovak League mirrored that of its American parent. Thus, in November of 1933 the Central Assembly of the Canadian Slovak League sent president T . G. Masa57 For a brief history of the Slovaks in Canada see the entry by Elena Jakesova and M. Mark Stolarik in the Encyclopedia of Canada 's Peoples, ed. By Paul R. Magocsi (Toronto: Uni versity of Toronto Press, 1999), 11 68-79. For a longer treatment see J. M. Kirschbaum , Slovaks in Canada (Toronto: Canadian Eth ni c Press Association of Ontario, 1967). 58 See the correspondence between Kucera and Kocur in the Papers of Andrej Kucera, Lmrich Stolarik Collection, Box 575, fo lder 7, 1928- 1934, Slovak Archives in the Archives and Special Collections, Uni versity of Ottawa and Kucera 's article on the 10th an ni versary of the fo unding of the CSL, Kanadsky Slovak, December 17, 1942, pp. 1-2. For a fuller description see " Pociatky a rozvoj Kanadskej Slovenskej Ligy ," in lmrich Stolarik ed. , Kanadska Slovenska Liga: 35 rocna: Historicky nacrt (19321967) (Toronto: Kanadska Slovenska Liga, 1967), 18-20. 59 Ibid. 2 1-26. �26 SLOVAKIA ryk of Czechoslovakia a reso lution demanding that the Pittsburgh Agreement be incorporated into the Constitution of the Republic.6() Indeed, in 1935 the two Leagues sent a joint appeal to all voters in Slovaki a to support only those political parties that recognized the Pittsburgh Agreement. 61 After Slovakia achieved its autonomy in the fall of 1938, the Canadian Slovak League, like its American counterpart, welcomed this autonomy and congratulated Dr. Jozef Tiso, its first Prime Minister. 62 After the Slovak Diet proclaimed the independence of Slovakia on March 14th, 1939, Canadian Slovaks, like their American cousins, were initially caught off guard and divided over the issue. To clarify matters, Andrej Potocky (w ho hailed from Sedliacka Dubova, Orava county) , the secretary of the Canadian Slovak League, addressed a letter to Dr. Jozef Tiso and asked him for an explanation. Tiso replied in May in his already-mentioned "Posolstvo" and both Leagues published it in newspapers that supported their politics. 63 Thereafter, both Leagues supported the independent Slovak Republic as much as they could. The Canadian Slovak League, like its American counterpart, also rejected Edvard Benes's World War II liberation movement, as well as Milan Hodfa' s plans for a Central European federation. 64 It seriously considered sending a delegate to the San Francisco meeting of the United Nations in 1945 , but could not afford to do so. 65 Meanwhile, delegates to the 28th Congress of the Slovak League of America, held in Detroit on October 29-30th, 1946 and to the 7th Convention of the Canadian Slovak League held in neighboring Windsor on October 28-30th of the same year, iss ued a joint resolution wherein they rejected the resurrected post-war Cze60 See the "Ustredn a sprava Slov . Ligy v Kanade: Rezolucia" , dated November 6, 1933, Winnipeg, Manitoba, in the Papers of Andrej Kucera, QJlii1. 61 Kucera to Kocur, March 30, 1935, ibid 62 Centra l Assembly of the Canadian Slovak Leag ue to Dr. Jozef Tiso, January 2 1, 1939, i..b.id... 63 Andrej Potocky to Jozef Tiso, April 20, 1939 and Jozef Tiso to Andrej Potocky, June 2, 1939 plus the ' Posolstvo" dated May 23, 1939 in ilii..d. See also Slovenske bratstvo, Jul y 21 , 1939, p.3 and Jul y 28 , 1939, p.3. 64 S lovenske bratstvo, August 4, 1939 , p.4 ; March 15, 1940, p. I; Kanadsky Slovak, August 6, 1942, p.2 and December 9, 1943 , p.2 65 Letter of Msgr. F.J. Dubosh, president of the Slovak league of Ameri ca to Jan Ivan of the Canadian Slovak League, March 25 , 1945 , papers of Andrej Kucera, QJlii1. �SLOVAKIA 27 choslovakia and instead declared their support for the re-establishment of an independent Slovak Republic. 66 This political stand by both Leagues was reinforced by the arrival of post-war political refugees from Slovakia. Several thou sand supporters of the independent Slovak Republic, consisting of government officials, bureaucrats, soldiers and intellectuals fled the advancing Red Army in the winter and spring of 1945 and settled in Upper Austria and, eventually, in the defeated Germany. From there they sent appea ls to both Slovak Leagues for financial and other assistance. The two Leagues responded by sending them material goods, by arranging for surplus Red Cross packages to be distributed among them and, most importantly, by persuading the International Refugee Organization to recognize them as refugees and to help them emigrate out of war-torn Europe.67 One of the Slovak League of America's first successes was the appointment of Dr. Jozef Kirsc hbaum as its official delegate to the IRO in September of 1947.68 Kirschbaum had been the Slovak Charge d ' Affaires in Switzerland for most of the 66 Indeed , the Canadian Slovak League had also deplored the April 6, 1945 "Washington Resolution" of the Slovak League of America. CF. Andrej Kucera to Msgr. F. Dubosh, October 12, 1945, Papers of Andrej Ku cera, lmrich Stolarik Fonds, Box 572, file 1945 , Slovak Archives, Archives and Special Collections, Morisset Library, University of Ottawa; Kanadsky Slov;:ik, November 16, 1946, p.2 and January 2, 1947, p.3. 67 See the " Memorandum" drafted by the writer Milo Urban to the Slovak League of America dated May 30 , 1945, as publi shed on its 20th an ni versary in K anadsky Slovak, May 29, 1965, p. 2 and September 4, 1965, p.3; see also Osadne hlasy, Jul y 6, 1945, p.2, Apri l 4, 1947, p.l and April 11 , 1947, p.2; see also Kanadsky Slovak, Jul y 12, 1945, p.2. A preliminary li st of these refugees in Austria was compiled by the Czechoslovak Ambassador to Switzerland and se nt to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Prague because the Czechoslovak government wished to " repatriate" some of them. Cf. Slove nsky narodn y arc hfv, PY , beop.- lll dov. , 1945, 6. Sept. , 1945, Ministerstvo zahrani cnfch veci. Praha, 26079/11-2/45 . No-one has yet written a schol arl y acco unt of this phenomenon as it pertains to the Slovaks. However. l:ubomfr Gleiman , one of these refugees, has penned hi s reminiscences in a manuscript entitled "Out of thi s Century ' s Mae lstro m: A Pilgrim 's Story of Disse nt and Surviva l," (Cary , NC: 200 I ). A co py of this manuscript, as well as his father' s diaries from 1944 to 1954, on whi ch the manuscript is partly based, can be found in the Slovak Archives, Archives and Special Collections, Morisset Library, University of Ottawa, Canada. For a general description of the plight of post-war refugees see Mark Wyman , DP: Europe 's Displaced Persons, 1945-1951 (Philadelphia: The Balch Institute Press, 1989). 68 Kanadsky Slovak, May 27, 1948, p.2 and June I 0, 1948, p. l. �28 SLOVAKIA war. Since he had acti vely supported the creation of the Slovak Republic , he refu sed to return to post-war Czechoslovakia. Instead, he worked vigorou sly with both Slovak Leagues to arrange for the emigration of hundreds of Slovaks to the USA and Canada, once these countries opened their borders to post-war refugees in 1947 and 1948. 69 As the refugees began to arrive in the United States and Canada, they quickly joined the two Slovak Leag ues and reinforced their commitment to Slovak independence. The first to come to the USA was the poet, the Rev . Mikul as Sprinc. He arrived in Jul y of 1946, settled in Cleveland, and immediate ly informed the executive of the Slovak League of what had actually transpired during the existence of the Slovak Republic.70 That is why the Slovak League, at its 28th Congress in Detroit called for a plebiscite to be held in Slovakia to decide its future and it also appealed for a fair trial for Dr. Jozef Tiso. 7 1 The latter had evacuated to Austria with the Slovak government in the dying days of the war but was turned over to Czechoslovak authorities by the victorious American Army. 72 Meanwhile, the historian Dr. Frantisek Hrusovsky arrived in the USA at the end of 1947 and he also joined the Slovak League. Indeed, after Jan A. Kocu r died , Hrusovsky was elected the Secretary of the League at its 30th Congress in Chicago in March of 1948. On September 15, 1952, largely on hi s initiative, the Slovak Institute was established at the Slovak Benedictine Abbey in Cleveland, Ohio, 73 and Hrusovsky became its first director. In 1950 Dr. Jozef Pauco gained admittance to the USA. Thi s former editor of the dail y Slovak, official organ of the Slovak Peo- 69 Author interview with J.M. Kirschbaum, November 7, 1998.He recorded his political views and activities in Nas boj o sam ostatnost' Slovenska (C leveland: Slovak Institute, 1958; reprinted and updated by the Matica slovenska, 2000). 70 Paufo , 75. Rokov QJU;lL 353; Sprinc described his trip to the USA in K slobodnym pobreiiam (Scranton, PA : Obrana Press, 1949). 71 See footnote 65 . 72 For Tiso' s activities during and after World War II , as penned by hi s forme r personal secretary, see Karo l Murin, Spomienky a svedectvo (Hami lton,Ontario: Zahranicna Matica slovenska, 1987). 73 Kanadsky Slovak, October 30, 1947 , pp.1 -2, November 6, 1947 , pp.I & 7, March 17, I949, p. 1. For a short biograph y see " Dr. Frantisek Hrusovsky ," in Literarny Almanach Slovaka v Amerik e, 1967 (Middletown, PA), 16 1-2. �SLOVAKIA 29 pie' s Party , initially found employment as assistant editor of the weekly fraternal Jednota , which was published in Middletown, PA. In 1958 he became editor and in 1964 also publisher of the weekly Slovak v Amerike, the oldest Slovak newspaper in America. In 1962 Pauco was elected Secretary of the Slovak League of America, a 74 post which he held until his death in 1975. Finally, in 1952 Dr. Jozef A. Mikus came to the USA. This former Slovak Charge d ' Affaires in Spain fled his homeland after the Communist takeover of Czechoslovakia in 1948. He initi ally lived in Paris but after four years he moved to Washington , D.C. For the first five years of his life in the USA he was employed by the Slovak League as its Press Secretary. After that he taught at various American colleges until his retirement. He also remained active within the Slovak League and the Slovak World Congress. 75 While a few post-war Slovak refugees managed to gain entry into the United States after the war, the majority headed for Canada, because the latter opened its doors to refugees first. Among the most important to arrive in 1949 were Dr. Karol Murin, the former personal secretary of president Jozef Tiso, Dr. Jozef Kirschbaum (mentioned earlier) and the publicist and historian Konstantin Culen. 76 In 1950 Karol Sidor, former Slovak Ambassador to the Vatican, and the most prominent of all the emigres, made his way to Montreal. 77 All of them immediately joined the Canadian Slovak League and Culen even became editor of its weekly Kanadsky Slovak from 1952 to 74 Ibid. , 200-2. Kanadsky Slovak, May 18, 1950, p.2. Ibid., 188-9. Kanadsky Slovak, January 24, 1952, p.5 and June 21 , 1952, p.7. The complete life of Jozef Mikus can be reconstructed in "The Jozef Mikus Fonds" located in the Slovak Archives, Archives and Special Collections, Morisset Library , University of Ottawa. 76 Kanadsky S lovak, February 10, 1949, p. I; £udove zvesti, March 12. 1949, p.4, February 25, 1950, p.4. For biographies of Murin and Cu len see Literarny almanach S/ovaka v Amerike, / 967 (Middletown, PA), 129-30 and 194-95. 77 Andrej Kucera to Andrej Potocky, Apri l 6, 1950, Papers of A. Kucera, lmrich Stolarik Collec tion. Box 576, fo lder 7. 1950, Slovak Archives, Archives and Special Collections, Morisset Library , University of Ottawa; Kanadsky Slovak, April 20, 1950, p.5; letter of Karol Sidor to lmrich Stolarik, January 12, 1951 , Joseph Stasko Fonds, Slovenska narodna rada v zahranicf, Box 30, Series II , File 4, Subfile 4.1 , Folder 22, ARCS 92-3 , Slovak Archives, Archives and Special Collections, Mori sset Library, University of Ottawa. For more on Sidor see Literamy almanach I 967, 2212. 75 �30 SLOVAKIA 1956. Needless to say, these emigres strengthened the League's commitment to promoting Slovak independence. Indeed, they and their American counterparts started to celebrate the anniversary of Slovak independence (Marc h 14th) as early as 1947.78 Both of the Slovak Leagues, meanwhile, denounced the execution of Dr. Jozef Tiso after he was found gui lty of treason by the Communist-dominated National Court in Bratislava in April of 1947. 79 After the Communist takeover of power in Czechoslovakia in February of 1948, a new wave of political refugees fled to the West. This was a mixture of Slovaks who favored independence and those who did not. Those refugees who had fled to the west after 1945 seized the initiative and re-established the Slovak National Council Abroad in the fall of 1948 and elected Karol Sidor as its president and Peter Pridavok of London as its secretary. 80 Those who wished Czechoslovakia to continue, but were opposed to its communist government, organized themselves into the Council for a Free Czechoslovakia, led by Dr. Jozef Lettrich , the former Chairman of the postwar Democratic Party in Slovakia. 81 Both Slovak Leagues rejected Lettrich and his followers as early as 1946 and instead supported the Slovak National Council Abroad .82 Indeed, both Slovak Leagues had previously also rejected the more radical Slovak Action Committee, founded in Rome in 1946 by Dr. Ferdinand Durcansky, the first Foreign Minister of the Slovak Republic .83 Rivalries between the leaders of the Slovak National Council Abroad and that of the Slovak Action Committee seeped into both Leagues and caused much in- 78 Osadne hlasy, March 14, 1947, p.l ; Kanadsky Slovak, April JO and 17, 1954, pp.2-4. 79 Osadne hlasy, April 25 , 1947, pp. I & 2; Kanadsky Slovak, May 8, 1947, p.l, October 30, 1947, pp. 1-2 and November 6, 1947, pp. I & 7; for the reminiscences of the chief prosecutor and the chief defense attorney at thi s trial see Proces s dr. 1. Tisom (Bratislava: Tatra Press, 1990). 8 Kanadsky Slovak, June 24, 1948 , p.3 , December I6, 1948 , p. I and December 30, 1948, p.3 ; Kirschbaum , Nas boj, QJ1.&iL (2000) , 370- 1. 81 Spetko, "Slovenska exi lova," QJ1.&iL 247-8. 82 Kanadsky Slovak, April 11 , 1946, p.5; Ferdinand Durcansky to Andrej Kucera, September 8, 1949, in Papers of A. Kucera, Correspondence with Refugees in Europe, Box 572, lmrich Stolarik Fonds, Slovak Archives, Archives and Special Collections, University of Ottawa. 83 Durcansky, Ibid. For more on Durcansky see Literarny almanach 1967 , 137-9. ° �SLOVAKIA 31 fighting among both in the 1950's. 84 The matter was finally settled in 1960 when the two sides decided to merge into the Slovak Liberation Council, with two co-chairmen: Dr. Jozef Kirschbaum in Toronto (Sidor had died in 1953) and Dr. Ferdinand Durcansky in Munich. 85 Meanwhile, in 1962, Dr. Peter P. Hletko, once again became president of the Slovak League of America, which had undergone some turbulent times. Hletko had succeeded Filip A. Hrobak, editor of Jednota , who had become president in 1950 . The American-born Hrobak was an activist, who had established the Slovak League 's Information Office in Washington in 1952, as well as the Englishlanguage periodical Slovakia in 1950 to champion the independence of his cousins overseas. Meanwhile, Hrobak also had to referee an intense rivalry that broke out between various factions in the League, a rivalry that resulted in the di smissal of Konstantfn Culen from the directorship of the Slovak institute in Cleveland (he had come down from Canada in 1956 and was made director of the Institute shortly after the death of Hrusovsky in the same year) and his banishment from Slovak-American life. 86 Hletko, who had largely been responsible for Culen's dismissal, congratulated the Canadian Slovak League on its 30th anniversary and remarked that it had become " more active" than the Slovak League of America. 87 He may have had in mind the fact that, on March 16th, 1953 (strategically close to the 14th anniversary of Slovak independence on March 14th), the First 84 See the letter of A. Ku cera to Jozef Siksa dated March 20, 1950 as well as the circ ul ar letter of Ferdinand Durcansky dated February 9, 1951, an undated letter from early 195 1, as well as letters from Michael Yargovic , president of the First Catholic Union , dated February 19, 1951 and Fi lip A. Hrobak, president of the Slovak League of America, dated February 20. 1951 , in the Papers of A. Kucera, Qlhci..!.; see also Kanadsky Slovak, January 17, 1952, p.3 and February 14, 1952, p.2, and November 5, 1955, p.2. See also l',udove zves ti. February I, 1958, p.6, and March I, 1958, p.4. 85 Kanadsky Slovak, October 11 , 1958, p.1 , March 2 1, 1959, p.1 , June 4, 1960, p.1 and June 18, 1960, p. I ; l',udove zvesti, September I, 1960, p.6 86 Kanadsky Slovak, June 8, 1950, p.1 , June 2 1, 1952, p.7 , June 27, 1959, p.1 ; I.:udove zvesti, June 17, 1950, p.2 ; for Konstantin Cu len's problems with Hletko and other American Slovak leaders see hi s V zajatf fa losnych legiend od nenavistneho srdca, 11 Vols. (Mim ieographed, New York, 1961). Frantisek Ynuk, in his Z ivotopis Konstantfna Culena (Cleveland: Slovak Institute, 1984), 190-93 also touched on this problem. 87 Kanadsky Slovak, December 15 , 1962, p. I. Filip A. Hrobak, a few years earlier, had expressed simi lar sentiments ; cf. Kanadsky S lovak, July 18, 1959, p. I. �32 SLOVAKIA District Assembly of the Canadian Slovak League had organized a gala banquet at the Chateau Laurier in Ottawa to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the founding of the Leag ue. Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent, four cabi net ministers and 25 mem bers of the Canadian Parliament attended! 88 Thi s diplomati c "coup" by the Canadian Slovak League was not matched by its American counterpart. The most the Slovak League of America was able to accomplish on the diplomatic front in the l 950's was to arrange a meeting with officials of Radio Free Europe in 1953 and wi th Secretary of State John Foster Dulles in October of 1956. 89 Nothing came of these meetings. Peter P. Hletko also noticed that the Canadian Slovak League was both younger than its parent organization and had more youthful members. In thi s respect he may have been thinking of Stephen B. Roman, who had come to Oshawa, Canada from Velky Ruskov, Slovakia as a 16 year-old in 1937. Through a seri es of shrewd investments in the 1940's and 1950's, Roman had become a multi-millionaire in Canada's uranium industry. Roman was an active member of the Canadi an Slovak League who had lobbied for the early adm ittance of Slovak post-war political refugees, and who supported the movement for Slovak independence.90 As a devout Greek Catholi c, in 1963 Roman took a leading role in the 1100th anniversary celebrations of the arri val of Sts. Cyril and Methodius on Slovak territory, he contributed to the establishment of the Institute of Sts. Cyril and Methodius in Rome in that same year, he was a lay observer to the Second Vatican Council (l 962-1965) and he successfull y lobbied the Vatican to appoint a Slovak Greek Catholic bishop in Canada ( 1965), as well as to create a Slovak Greek Catholic Eparchy (diocese) in Toronto in 1980. 9 1 88 The most comprehensive treatment of th is banquet can be found in " Historicky banket Kanad. Slov. Ligy v Ottawe," in lmrich Stolarik ed., Kanadska Slovenska Liga 35 rocna (Toronto: Canad ian Slovak League, 1967), 268-75. 89 Kanadsk f Slovak, Jul y 18, 1953, p.4 and November 10, 1956, p.5. 90 Slovenske bratstvo (Montreal), Apri l 25 , 1941 , p.3 ; Kanadskf Slovak, April 16, 1943, p.10, December 16, 1943, p.7, May 24, 1945 , p.5, October 4, 1945, September 3, 1955 , p.5, October 20, 1956, p.5, October 19, 1957 , p.3. For a sympathetic biography of Roman see Peter C. Newman, Th e Canadian Establishment, I (Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, I975), 269-72. 91 Kanadskf Slovak, November 25 , 1961 , p.2 , Jul y 6, 1963 , p.l, October 3, 1964, p.l, October 17, 1964, p. l , January 9, 196 1, p.l , January 3, 198 1, p. I and February �SLOVAKIA 33 Roman ' s greatest achievement, however, was to establish the Slovak World Congress. Even though he had been a member of the Canadian Slovak League since the early 1940's, Roman lamented the fact that Slovaks in the Western world were divided into so many different organizations.92 He first attempted to bring together the Canadian Slovak League and its rival Canadian Slovak Benefit Society in 1969 but failed .93 Then , angered by the Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968 , Roman decided to approach various individuals and organizations to issue an appeal to all Slovak organizations the world over to unite in the struggle to overthrow Communism in the homeland and to seek self-determination for the Slovak nation. The appeal was signed by the presidents of the Slovak League of America, the Canadian Slovak League, the National Slovak Society, Stephen B. Roman , three bishops and an abbot. As a result, in July of 1970 representatives of dozen s of Slovak organizations the world over, including the Slovak League of America and the Canadian Slovak League, met in New York City and created the Slovak World Congress.94 For the next twenty years the Slovak World Congress, led by Stephen B. Roman, worked to spread the good name of the Slovaks the world over. It held meetings in many of the major cities of the world, including Toronto, New York, Washington, Chicago, Munich and Rome; it sponsored scholarly conferences which published their proceedings; it organized Slovak world youth festival s and it published a monthly Bulletin. The two Slovak Leagues participated in most of these ventures. 95 Indeed , the two Slovak Leagues, at first independently, and later working within the Slovak World Congress, successfully lobbied the Vatican to create an independent archbis- 21, 198 1, p. I. Kanadsky Slovak, January 4, 1945, p. 3. 93 Kanadsky S lovak, Septe mber 20 , 1969 , p. I. Nove mber 15, 1969, p. I, June 6, 1970, p. l. 94 Kanadsky S lovak, March 2 1, 1970. p.l , June 26, 197 1, p. l , Jul y 4, 1970, p. l , Jul y 11 , 1970, p. l. 95 The first ten years of the Congress were described by J.M. Kirschbaum in Desa t' rokov cinnosti SKS (Toronto: Slovak World Congress, 1981 ); a short summary was written by Dusan T6th, the Sec retary-General of the Congress from 1971 to 1990 in Kanadsky Slovak , September 10, 2005, p.4. T here is not yet a scholarl y history of the entire period of the Congress's ex istence. 92 �34 SLOVAKIA hopric and church province in Slovakia. Their dream came true in 1977 , although the communist government blocked the appointment of an archbishop until 1988. 96 Thi s was a sy mbolic victory for the two Leagues and the Slovak World Congress because it gave Slovakia its own church jurisdiction, which implied that the Slovaks could also have their own state. Unfortunately for all concerned, Stephen B. Roman died in 1988, just one year before Czechoslovakia threw off its communist rulers.97 With its patron gone, the Slovak World Congress slowly withered away. The two Slovak Leagues, on the other hand , sprang into action. The Canadian Slovak League sent a delegation to Slovakia in February of 1990, to urge Slovak leaders to seek either more homerule or else complete independence. 98 The Slovak League of America likewise sent a delegation in May of 1990 for the same purpose.99 Both Slovak Leagues started a fund-raising campaign for various Slovak causes, and both rejoiced when Slovakia became independent in 1993. 100 Since then both Leagues have cooperated with the various Slovak governments to spread the good name of the Slovaks the world over and to help Slovakia in its transition from a communist dictatorship to a democratic and capitalist society. It should be apparent, therefore, that the Slovak League of America, and the Canadian Slovak League, remained dedicated to Slovak self-determination throughout the 20th century. During World War I 96 See, for instance, the Memorandum of the Central Assembly of the Canadian Slovak League to the Vati can requesting a Church Province and an Archbi shop for Slovaki a, Kanadsky Slovak, September 25, 1965, p. l . J. M. Kirschbaum had firs t suggested thi s move in 1959, Ibid. , and Peter Mulik, " Usilie o zriaden ie slovenskej cirkev nej provincie od roku 1939 a jej vyvoj po sucasnost:" in Mulik ed., Katolfcka cirkev a Slovaci: Us ilie Slovakov o samostatnti cirkevnti provinciu (Brati slava: Bernolakova spolocnost: 1997), 68. 97 See the special iss ue of the monthly Maria (Toronto), May, 1988 for many eulogies concerning the life and achievements of Stephen B. Roman. 98 Smer (Bratislava), February 15, 1990 and Praca (Brati slava), February 16, 1990. See also Rudolf Schu ster's Ultim atum (Bratislava, 1996), pp.101 -2 and the photo section between pages 96 and 97. 99 Slovak v Amerike, June, 1990. I happened to be a member of this del egation. We traveled all over Slovakia, met with governme nt officials, journalists and students and urged them to seek more self-determ ination or independence. See al so Schuster's Ultimatum, op. cit. , 224-5. 100 Kanadsky Slovak, January 2, 1993 ; Slovak v Amerike, January issue, 1993. �SLOVAKIA 35 the Slovak League of America spoke on behalf of its brethren in Slovakia when the latter could not do so. Since T. G. Masaryk had no mandate from Slovaks in Hungary to create a new state consisting of Czechs and Slovaks, the Slovak League of America gave him that mandate in the Cleveland and Pittsburgh Agreements. Since Masaryk and hi s followers did not respect the promises that they had made guaranteeing Slovaks home-rule in Czechoslovakia, both the Slovak Leag ue of America, and its Canadian offshoot, the Canadian Slovak League, demanded home-rule for the Slovaks in the inter-war period. When Slovakia unexpectedly became independent in 1939, both Leagues, after some hesitation, supported thi s independence. After Czechoslovakia was restored by the victorious Allies, both Slovak Leagues supported a return to Slovak independence, especiall y after the arrival in North America of several thou sa nd political refu gees . During the communist era (1948-1989) both Leagues denounced the communi st regime that ruled over their overseas cousins and they co ntinued to demand Slovak independence. After the Communists gave up their power in 1989, both Leagues urged the Slovaks to either demand more home-rule or else complete independence from the Czechs. When Slovakia finally became independent on January 1, 1993 , both Leagues rejoiced and pledged to help it grow and prosper. � 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 2007, Vol. 39 Description An account of the resource Vol. 39 (No. 72-73), 2007. 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 2007 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document SLOVAKIA 7 THE SLOVAK LEAGUE OF AMERICA AND THE CANADIAN SLOVAK LEAGUE IN THE STRUGGLE FOR THE SELF-DETERMINATION OF THE NATION, 1907-1992 M. Mark Stolarik 1 In the 20th century the American and Canadian Slovak Leagues pl ayed a major role in the struggle for the self-determination of the Slovak nation. Founded by immi grants who so ught a better li ve lyhood in the New World , the Slovak League of America played a leading ro le in the creation of Czecho-S lovakia during the Great War. In the inter-war years , the Slovak League of America, joined by its Canadian offshoot, bombard ed the central government in Prag ue with demands to grant the Slovaks in the newly-created state their promised autonom y. When the Slovaks achi eved autonomy in the fa ll of 1938, both Leagues rejoiced. When the Autonomous Diet procl aimed Slovak independence in March of 1939, both Leagues were caught by surpri se, but, after so me hesitation , they supported it. However, because Slovakia was allied with Nazi Germany , both Leagues had to te mper their support after Canada entered the war against Germany in September of 1939 and the U nited States followed sui t in December of 1941. After the war had ended , however, both the American and the Canadian Slovak Leagues demanded a plebiscite on the future of their countrymen in Europe. Having fai led to achieve thi s goal, both Leag ues, whi ch were buttressed by recently-arrived political emigres after 1945, decl ared their support for a new Slovak liberatio n movement which was first led by the Slovak National Council Abroad and, from 1970 on by the Slovak World 1 An earlier version of this paper was presented to the conference on "Emigration to the Engli sh Speaking world," Catho lic University of Rufo mberok, Slovakia, May 19, 2006. 8 SLOVAKIA Congress. After the Communist government gave up its monopol y of power in 1989, both Leagues sent fact-finding delegation s to Czechoslovakia and both supported the movement for Slova k independence, which became a reality in 1993. Since then , they have continued to help their countrymen to consolidate their independence. Between 1870 and 19 14 approx imate ly half a million Slovaks left their homeland in the Kingdom of Hungary and settled in North America in search of work. Once there, they established three pillars of their new communities- fraternal-benefit societies, parish churches and a newspaper press. Largely of peasant stock from eastern Slovaki a, they sought better wages in the coal mines, steel mills and oil refineries of the American Northeast and Midwest (Connec ti cut , New York, New Jersey, Pennsy lvania, Ohio, Indiana and lllinois). 2 The early arriva ls quickly di scovered that the United State s provided vi1tually no social services. Therefore, these immigrants establi shed their own fratern al-benefit societies which, from monthly membership dues, provided accident, illness or death benefits to their members or families , as well as a pl ace to socialize. By 1890 over fifty such fraternals existed and they then began to federate into nation al organizations such as the National Slovak Society , headquartered in Pittsburgh and the First Catholic Slovak Union, with its headquarters in Cleveland . Since the men initially excluded women from their organizations, Slovak women established the Zivena Beneficial Society in New York in 1891 and Catholic women established the First Catholic Slovak Ladies Union in Cleveland in 1892. Lutherans established their own Slovak Evangelical Union in 1893 and Calvini sts their Slovak Cal vin Presbyterian Union in 1902. Even the tiny group of socialists estab li shed their own Slovak Workers Society in 1916. By 1920 American Slovaks had enrolled over 200,000 members in these, and other, fraternal-benefit societies. 3 2 For more details on the process of Slovak migration and resettlement in the United States see my Immigration and Urbanization: Th e Slovak Experience, 1870- 191 8 (New York: AMS Press, I 989), I-7 1. 3 For the story of Slovak fratern al-benefit soc ieties in the United States see my "A Place fo r Everyo ne: Slovak Fratern al-Benefi t Societies," in Scott Cummings, ed ., Self-Help in Urban America: Patterns of Minority Business Enterprise (Port Washington, NY : Kennikat Press, 1980, 130-41 and "Slovak Fraternal-Benefit Societies in North America: An Overview ( 1883- 1993), in Matjaz Klemenc ic ed. , Etnicni fra- SLOVAKIA 9 Besides the need for social benefits , Slovak immigrants also yearned for religious services in their own language. The fraternalbenefit societies led the way in establishing pari sh churches , in recruiting their priests and in supporting (or not supporting) them. Slovak Roman Catholics established 241 parishes, Lutherans 68 , Calvinists 9 and Greek Catholics (mixed parishes of Rusins and Slovaks) 155 by 1930.4 At least half of the Roman Catholic parishes also established parochial schools which taught their children to read, write and sing in Slovak, while all other subjects were taught in English. The Roman Catholics also established several religious orders to teach their children, as well as Benedictine High School for boys in Cleveland and Danville Academy for girls in Danville, Pen. 5 nsy Ivama. Finally, most of the immigrants from Slovakia yearned for news from their homeland and were also curious about conditions in the New World. Therefore, a small number of intellectuals, who had followed them from Slovakia, established a very vigorous newspaper press. Starting with a mere Bulletin in 1885, American Slovaks developed a full-service press that consisted of dailies, weeklies and monthlies , and that varied in orientation from nationalist to Magyarone, from secular to religious, from socialist to capitalist. By 1914 the combined circulation of the Slovak-American press was over 150,000, which was four times the circulation of the Slovak-langu- terna/izem v priseljenskich deie/ach/Ethnic Fratemalism in Immigra nt Countries (Maribor: University of Maribor, 1996), 147-59. 4 For the process of the creation of parishes, see my Growing Up on the South Side: Three Generations of Slovaks in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, I 880- 1976 (Lewsiburg: Bucknell Uni vers ity Press, 1985), 44-62; for the number of parishes of various denominations see Filip Hrobak, comp., and ed. , Slovak Catholic Parishes and Institutions in the United States and Canada (Cleveland: First Catholic Slovak Union , 1955), 3 I- I65; George Dolak, A History of the Slovak Evangelical Lutheran Church in the United States of America, /902-1927 (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1955), 189-206; Jan Body & John Adam , comp. and ed .. History of the Slovak Zion Synod LCA (Pittsburgh: Zion Synod, 1976), 199-200; Kalendar pre slovenskych Kalvfnov, 1927 (P ittsburgh), 97- 147; and Paul R. Magocs i, Our People: CarpathoRusyns and Their Descendants in North America (Toron to: Multicultural History Society of Ontario, 1984), 14. 5 Hrobak, Parishes and institutions, 169-82. SLOVAKIA . Hungary. 6 age press m As they were building the pillars of the ir new co mmunities in America, Slovak immigrants did not fo rget their homeland . Indi vidual immigrants sent several hundred million doll ars to support their fa milies in Slovakia in the period 1870-1914. In addition , Slovak fraternal-benefit societies and their leaders rai sed fund s for the Slovak National Museum, for Slovak schools and churches in Hungary, they paid for and published in the ir Almanacs articles written by Slovak inte llectuals, and they established schol arship fund s to support Slovak high-school students in Bohe mi a and Moravia. Most important of all , they fi nancially supported Slovak candidates to the Hungarian Parli ament and rejo iced when, for the first time in hi story, seven nati onall y-conscious Slovaks were elected in 1906.7 Meanwhile, since the 1867 "Compromi se," whereby the ruling Habsburgs of Austri a and the Magyars of Hungary agreed to divide the empire into the Dual Monarchy of Au stri a-Hungary, the Magyars set out to forcibl y assimilate all the non-M agyar nationalities in Hungary. 8 American Slovak leaders were aware of thi s poli cy of "Magyari zation" and joined their counterparts in Slova ki a in trying to combat it. To thi s end American Slovaks, reacting to urgings from Slovak leaders in Europe, organized a " national congress" to be held in Cleveland on May 26, 1907 . On that day over l0,000 countrymen fro m across America packed into Greys Armory and established the Slovak Leag ue of Ameri ca, whi ch would be the cover organization fo r all nationall y-conscious Slovak organizations in the United States. Thi s sa me congress also e lected the Rev. Stefa n Furdek of Cleveland (originally from Trstena, Orava county), fo under of the First Catholic Slovak Union, as its president and Peter V. Rovnianek of Pittsburgh (originally fro m Doln y Hricov, Trencfn county), foun 6 For an over-view see my "The Slovak-American Press," in Sall y M. Miller ed. , The Ethnic Press in the United States: A Historical A nalysis and Handbook (Westport, CT: Gree nwood Press, 1987), 354-68 ; fo r the circul ation of the Slovak-Ameri can press in 19 14 see my " Slovak Nati onalism in the USA as Refl ected in th e Slovak-American Press, 1885- 1918 ," Canadian Review of Studies in Na tionalism, 3 1 (Nos. 1-2, 2004) , 65-76. 7 Stolarik, Immigration and Urbanization, 185-205 . 8 The best desc ripti on of " Magyarization" is still Scotus Viator (R.W. Seton-Watson), Racial Problems in Hungary (London: Archibald Constable, 1908 ; reprinted by Howard Ferti g, New York, 1972). SLOVAKIA 11 der of the National Slovak Society , as its first vice-president, as well as the presidents of all the other fraternals as vice-presidents. The League published its formal program of autonomy for the Slovaks in Hungary in September of 1914, just as the world was entering into the first of two world wars that would plague the 20th century. 9 While the League 's official program was autonomy for its countrymen in the Kingdom of Hungary , a small group of Slovaks dissented and called for the destruction of Austria-Hungary and the liberation of their people. These di ssidents were large ly organized in the Slovak Gymnastic Union Sokol , which had been established in New Jersey in 1896, and which adopted the program of the Czech professsor of philosophy T.G. Masaryk. ' 0 The latter had fled hi s homeland in the fall of 1914 and had started to organize a movement to liberate the linguistically-related Czechs and Slovaks from Au stria-Hungary and to create a new state on its ruin s. Masaryk was assisted in hi s quest by one of hi s form er students, the Paris-based Slovak astronomer, Milan R. Stefanik. Later, Masaryk was joined by another of hi s students, the sociologist Edvard Benes. This trio organized itself into a "Czech Committee" and hoped to persuade the western Allies, if they were victorious over the Central Powers, to dismember AustriaHungary and to allow the Czechs and Slovaks to establish their own state. 11 While Masaryk was an elected member of the Austrian Parliament, and in touch with hi s Czech colleagues, who approved of his plans, he had no mandate from the Slovaks in Hungary to include 9 Fo r the creation of the Slovak League see Jednota (C leveland), May 29, 1907; ~udove noviny (Ska lica), Jun e 4, 1907; Jan Pank uch, Dejiny Clevelandskych a Lakewoodskych Slovakov (C leveland: Jan Pankuch, 1930), 71-3 ; and Kon stantin Cul en, Dejiny Slovakov v A merike, JI (Bratislava: Slovenska Liga, 1942), 11 3-24 ; for the program of autonomy see " Memorandum Slovenskej Ligy v Amerike vydane menom americkyc h Slovakov," in Dr. Yacovsky [Milan Ivanka], Slovaci a Madari: Politicko-historicka uvaha (Pittsburgh: Slovak League of America, I 9 14), 10 I-7. 10 For the ac ti vities of the Slovak Gymnastic Union Sokol see Milan Getting, A merickf Slovaci a vyvin ceskoslovenskej myslienky v rokoch 19 14-1 9 /8 (Perth Amboy, NJ: Slovak Gymnastic Union Sokol , 1933) 11 Masaryk and Benes left us the ir memoirs: T.G . Masaryk, The Making of a State: Memories and Observations, 19 14-1 918 (London: Frederick A. Stokes, 1927; Edu ard Benes, Souvenirs de g uerre et de revolution (1914-1918), 2 Vols. (Paris: E. Lero ux , 1928). Stefanik left no memoirs but Jan Jurfcek wrote a sy mpathetic biography: M.R. Stefanik: t ivotopisny nacrt (Brati slava: Mlade !eta, 1968). 12 SLOVAKIA them in the proposed state. Therefore, Masaryk sought such a mandate from American Slovak immigrants, most of whom were not yet citizens of the United States, but whose leaders had been in close touch with Slovak leaders in Hungary before the war, and who had a mandate from them to speak on behalf of the Slovak nation . 12 As a result, Masaryk urged his Czech colleagues in the United States to seek out the Slovaks and try to persuade them to join in his liberation movement. American Czechs did so and on October 22, 1915 the Bohemian National Alliance, which was the cover organization of most American Czechs, and the Slovak League of America met and concluded the Cleveland Agreement, which was named after the city in which it was signed. In this Agreement, the two sides pledged to work for the destruction of Austria-Hungary and the creation of a new, federal state consisting "of the Czech and Slovak nations," with "complete national autonomy for Slovakia, with its own Diet, its own state administration, complete cultural freedom .. ..its own financial and political administration," and "with Slovak as the state language ." The Slovak League insisted upon these points because it knew that the Czechs would outnumber the Slovaks in the new state by three-to-one and the League did not want the Czechs to dominate the Slovaks as had the Magyars in Hungary. 13 Had the two sides respected the Cleveland Agreement, the liberation movement might have worked smoothly and led to a harmonious future for the Czechs and Slovaks. Unfortunately, T.G. Masaryk did not believe in the existence of separate Czech and Slovak nations. Perhaps because he was of mixed Slovak (father) and Czech (mother) origin, he believed that the Czechs and Slovaks 12 On August 6, 1906, political leaders in Slovakia sent their counterparts in the USA a letter in which they proposed to share the leadership of the Slovak natio n with them. The letter was published in lmrich Mazar, Dejiny Binghamtonskych Slovakov za dobu styridsat' rokov, I 879-19 I 9 (Bingha mton : Branch I04 of the Slovak League of America, 1919), 2 1-22 . The Czechs recog nized th at Slovak leaders in the USA were authorized to speak on behalf of the Slovaks in Hungary in an editorial that appeared in The Bohemian Review (Chicago), March, 19 18, p.47 . 13 Cleveland Plain Dealer, October 23 , 1915 , p.7 ; Jednota (M iddl etow n, PA ), November 24, 1915, p.4; Narodne noviny (Pittsburgh), November 25, 19 15, p.5 ; the original was published in Dokumenty slovenskej nardonej identity a statnosti, I (Bratislava: Narodne literarne centrum, 1998), 445-7; an English translation can be found in my "The Role of American Slovaks in the Creation of Czecho-S lovakia, 1914-1918," Slovak Studies, VIII (Rome, I 968), p.55. SLOVAKIA 13 formed one "Czechoslovak" nation and merely spoke two dialects of the same language. Therefore, when he arrived in the United States in the spring of 1918 to seek the recognition of the American government for the liberation movement and was shown the Cleveland Agreement, he proclaimed it "out of date" and proceeded to negotiate a new one with the Slovaks. On May 31st, 1918 Masaryk in Pittsburgh negotiated a weaker agreement with American Slovaks. According to thi s new "Pittsburgh Agreement," the two sides approved a "political program to unite the Czechs and Slovaks into an independent state of Czech and Slovak lands," in which " Slovakia will have its own administration, its own Diet and its own courts." Furthermore, "S lovak will be the official language in the school s, in offices and public life generally." And the "Czecho-Slovak state will be a republic and its Constitution will be a democratic one." Noticeably absent from this Agreement were the phrases "federal state" and "complete national autonomy for Slovakia," and there was no mention of the "Czech and Slovak nations," as there had been in the Cleveland Agreement. 14 Members of the Slovak League of America, led by its president Albert Mamatey of Pittsburgh (originall y from Klastor pod Znievom in Turiec county), signed the Pittsburgh Agreement because by then the liberation movement, led by Masaryk, was in high gear. The newly-formed Czechoslovak Legions in Russia revolted against the Bolsheviks and seized control over the entire Trans-Siberian Railway. These Legions had been organized from prisoners-of-war by Masaryk and Stefanik, and their seizure of the railroad greatly aided the Allied war effort, because they prevented hundreds of thousands of German and Austro-Hungarian prisoners-of-war from returning to fight on the western front. 15 In addition, si nce Masaryk himself had 14 Jednota, June 5, 191 8, p.5; N:irodne noviny, June 6, 1918 , p.5; Jozef Hu sek, "Prehl'ad vaznejsfch udalostf v hi storii I. Kat. Slovenskej Jednoty, Jednota Katolfcky Kalend:ir, 1931, (Middletown, PA), pp.58-9. Victor S. Mamatey pointed ou t that the date of the Pittsburgh Agreement was May 3 1, 191 8, not May 30 as the calligrapher erroneously wrote it. Cf "Este raz o Pittsburgskej dohode," Premeny (Flushing, NY), 20 (No.3 , 1983), 39. For the full text of the Pittsburgh Agreement see Dokumenty, QJ2&i.t. , 485-6 and for an English translation see my The Role of, QJ2,....ci_t., 56. 15 Cleveland Plain Dealer, June 20, 1918, p.5; New York Times, June 29, 1918, p.3 ; for a detailed di sc ussion of the Czechoslovak Leg ion see J.F.N. Bradley , "The Allies and the Czech Revolt aga inst the Bol sheviks in 191 8," Slavonic and East 14 SLOVAKIA drafted and signed the Pittsburgh Agreement, along with the Bohemian National Alliance and the Union of Czech Catholics, American Slovak leaders felt confident that Masaryk would honor it. Skeptics, such as Jozef Hu sek, editor of Jednota (originall y from Okolicne, Liptov county), the official organ of the First Catholic Slovak Union, the largest Slovak fraternal-benefit society in America, did not tru st Masaryk. lt was Husek who forced Masary k into drafting the Pittsburgh Agreement, and it was Husek who insisted that he sign a calligraphed copy of it on November 14, I 918 , the very day that the newly-created Czecho-Slovak government in Prague e lected Masaryk President of the Republic. After Masaryk signed it a second time, American Slovaks were sati sfied and hoped for the best for their people in the new Czecho-Slovak Republic, which was proclaimed by a gathering of Czec h deputies of the former Austrian Parli ament in Prague on October 28 , 191 8, just as the defeated Austria-Hungary was collapsing. 16 Unfortunately for the future of Czecho-Slovakia, the promi ses made to American Slovaks by T.G. Masary k in the Pittsburgh Agreement were not carried out. Once he had returned in triumph to the newl y-created Republic in Dece mber of 1918 , Masaryk promptl y forgot about the Pittsburgh Agreement. The Czec h deputies in Prague , meanwhile, formed themselves into a "Czechoslovak government" on November 14th and later appointed a Czech-dominated "Constitutional Committee" to draft a Constitution for the new Republic. 17 Hearing of these events, the Slovak League of America sent a five-person delegation to Czecho-Slovakia in the spring of 1919, to remind Masaryk of hi s promises and to demand that the Pittsburgh Agreement be included in the proposed Constitution . Upon their return to the United States, the Executive Board of the Slovak League passed a resolution at its quarterly meeting on October 24, 1919, Europea n Review, 43 (No. I OI , 1965), 175-92 . The lack of the word "S lovak" in Bradley ' s title testifi es to the pro-Czech bias of western hi storian s during the ex istence of Czechoslovakia. 16 Husek, " Prehl'ad," op.cit. , 58-9 ; Joze f Husek, " Pittsburghska Dohoda," Jednota Katolfcky K al endar, 1933, 11 I. 17 For more on these proceedings see Vaclav L. Benes , " Czechoslovak Democracy and Its Problems, 1918-1920," in Victor S. Mamatey & Radomir Lu za, eds. , A History of the Czechoslovak Republic. 19 18- 1948 (Princeton : Princeton University Press, 1973), 53-6. SLOVAKIA 15 calling for the incorporation of the Pittsburgh Agreement into the proposed Czecho-Slovak Constitution. 18 Indeed, at the last meeting of the Czecho-Slovak Nation al Council in America, which had been founded in 1917 to coordinate the work of the Leag ue and of the Bohemian National Alliance, the Slovak delegates asked their Czech colleagues to pass a similar resolution, and the latter gladly complied 19 on November 7, 1919. Thus, American Czechs recogni zed the validity of the Pittsburgh Agreement while the Constitutional Committee did not. Masaryk, on the other hand , when asked by Prime Mini ster Vl astimil Tu s:cir in January of 1920 to comment on the validity of the Pittsburgh Agreement, brushed it aside as " one of many pre-revolutionary program s made beyond the boundaries. It has its hi storical value." 20 As a result, in March of 1920 the Constitutional Committee drafted , and the Prague Parliament adopted , a very centrali st Constitution of the Czechoslovak Republic , which sy mboli ca ll y dropped the hyphen from its name , and proclaimed that " the Czechoslovak Republic is a unified, not a federative state ," that its official language was the "Czechoslovak language" (even thou gh no such lang uage existed) , and Slovakia did not receive its own administration, its own Diet and its own courts, nor did Slovak become the official language of administration, as promised in the Pittsburgh Agreement? In the inter-war period , after some hesitatio n, the Slovak League of America continued to demand the home-rule promi sed the Slovaks by T.G. Masaryk. Albert Mamatey, the president of the League, visited Slovakia with a copy of the Pittsburgh Agreement in the winter of 19 I 9-1920 and was reass ured by Mil an Hodfa, one of the leaders of the Czec hoslovak Agrarian Party, that the Slovaks had nothing to worry about. Indeed , in September of 1920 Mamatey was rewarded for hi s wartime services on behalf of Slovakia by being ap- 18 19 Jednota, October 29, I 9 I 9. p. l The Czechoslovak Review [Formerly the Bohemian Review], December, 1919, p. 394. T.G. Masaryk to Y lastimil Tu sar, February 5. I920 , as published in The Slovaks 20 and the Pittsburgh Pact (Chicago : Slovak Catholic Federation, 1934), p.34. Jii'i Hoetzl and V. Joachim ( Introd uction by) , The Constitution of the Czechoslo vak Republic (Prague: Ed ition de la Soc iete de I'effort de la T checoslovaqu ie. 1920), pp. I 2, 47 . 21 16 SLOVAKIA pointed the Czechoslo vak Consul in Pittsburgh. 22 He was succeeded as president of the League by hi s colleague Ivan Bielek, the former editor of the American Narodn e noviny, offici al organ of the National Slovak Society.23 Jan A. Kocur, a pre-war immigrant from 24 Turzovka, meanwhile, became the League ' s secretary. Under thi s new leadership the 14th Congress of the Slovak League, held in Pittsburgh, PA on June 28-29, 1922, sent a Memorandum to the National Assembly in Prague in which it demanded that the Pittsburgh Agreement be made a part of the Czechoslovak Constitution .25 Meanwhil e, after some prodding by Jozef Husek, editor of Jednota, as well as by the leadership of the First Catholic Slovak Union and the Slovak Catholic Federation, the 15th Congress of the Slovak League, held in Binghamton , New York on May 27-29, 1924, rejected the philosophy of "Czechoslovakism" as practiced by the Prague government and once again demanded that the provi sions of the Pittsburgh Agreem ent be carried out. 26 In addition , the Slovak League now openl y supported the Slovak People 's Party, led by the Reverend Andrej Hlinka, because that party had adopted the program of the Pittsburgh Agreement. Indeed , in 1926 the Slovak League made Hlinka an honorary member. 27 Interestingly enough, the League was so committed to the Pittsburgh Agreement th at, when the Slovak People ' s Party ag reed to join the center-right Czechoslovak coalition government in 1927-29, the League denounced this step! 28 On the other hand , it heartily approved of the People ' s Party 's withdrawal from the coalition after the October 1929 trial and conviction for treason of Yojtech Tuka, editor of Slo vak, the People 's Party ' s official organ .29 Furthermore, in 1928, on the l 0th anniver22 Joze f Paufo, 75. Rok ov Prvej K atolfckej Slovenskej Jednory (Cleveland: First Catholic Slovak Union, 1965), 160. For a short biograph y of A lbert M amatey see Joze f Paufo, Slovensk f priekopn fci v A merike (Cleveland: First Cath olic Slovak Union, 1972), 269-75. 23 For a short biograph y of Ivan Bielek see Paufo , Slovenskf priekopnfci, p. 25-28. 24 For hi s biography see ilii.d.. , 229. 25 M emorandum Slovenskej Ligy v A merike upravene na vladu a Narodne Shromai denie Cesko-Sl ovenskej Republiky v zaujme vte/enia Pittsburghskej Dohody do ustavy C.-S. Republiky (Pittsburgh: Slovak League of A meri ca, 1922). 26 " Z XV. Kongresu Slovenskej Ligy v A merike." Jednota, June 4, 1924, pp. 1-2, 4. 27 Paufo, 75 roko v, 21 I. 28 lb.id... 223 . 29 " Prehlas od Ivana Bieleka,'· Jednota, October 23 , 1929, p.4. SLOVAKIA 17 sary of the founding of Czechoslovakia, the League rejected a special commendation from the Czechoslovak government for its role in the liberation of the country.30 Thereafter the League continued to publish and send memoranda to the Czecho-Slovak government, as it had in the l 920's, demanding that it grant the Slovaks the home-rule that Masaryk had promised in the Pittsburgh Agreement. 3 1 During the 1930's the Slovak League and the People ' s Party closely cooperated for the benefit of both sides. At its 19th Congress held in Cleveland on November 19-20, 1934, the assembled delegates elected the American-born Chicago medical doctor Peter P. Hletko as their president and he and his executive board invited the nationalist cultural organization Matica slovenska to send a delegation of scholars and leaders to help American Slovaks to maintain their national identity. The Matica complied in 1935-1936 by sending its director, the writer J.C. Hronsky, the publicist Konstantin Culen, the art historian Jozef Cincfk, and the photographer Karel Plicka. They visited 98 of the largest Slovak-American communities, presented lectures, slides and films about Slovakia, and donated four large libraries to the Slovak communities of New York City, Pittsburgh, Cleveland and Chicago. This delegation also gathered a wealth of published and manuscript materials pertaining to the history of American Slovaks , which are now stored in the Slovak National Library.32 The People ' s Party, which was the main supporter of the Matica slovenska, reciprocated in 1938 when it invited the Slovak League to send a delegation to the mother country in order to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the signing of the Pittsburgh Agreement. The 20th congress of the League, held in Pittsburgh on April 28-29, 1938, elected a six-person delegation, which included Peter P. Hletko and Jozef Husek, to travel to Slovakia, and to bring with it the original of 30 "Kongres Slovenskej Ligy," Jednota, June 6, 1928, p. l. See, for example the, fo llow ing: Prehlas Slovenskej Ligy v Amerike upraveny na vsetkych politickych cinitelbv Cesko-Slovenskej Republiky (Pittsburgh: P. Jamriska & Co., 1925); V zaujme pra vdy ! (Pittsburgh: P. Jamriska & Co., 1930); and An Autonomi st [Peter P. Hletko], Slovakia's Plea for Autonomy (Middletown, PA: Slovak Literary Society, I 935). 32 J.C. Hronsky described the Matica's trip and its achieve ments in Cesta slovenskou Amerikou: Cestopisne crty z r. 1935-36. v dvoch dieloch (Turc. Sv. Martin : Matica slovenska, 1940). 31 18 SLOVAKIA the Pittsburgh Agreement. The delegation went via Poland, in order to first visit the Rev. Andrej Hlinka in Rufomberok, and only then did it proceed to Bratislava and Prague. In Bratislava on June 5th the Slovak League delegation appeared on the balcony of the Slovak National Theater on Hviezdoslav Square, along with Andrej Hlinka and other notables of the People 's Party. Peter P. Hletko then triumphantly held up the original of the Pittsburgh Agreement, to the cheers of over 100,000 people.33 Finally, on October 6, 1938, after the infamous Munich Agreement weakened Czechoslovakia and president Edvard Benes resigned his office and fled to the west, the Slovak People 's Party, with the support of the Agrarian and National Parties and the approval of Prague, proclaimed the autonomy of Slovakia and formed a six-man government headed by Dr. Jozef Tiso. He had succeeded Andrej Hlinka as party leader after the latter' s death on August 16th. The Prague Parliament formally approved Slovak autonomy on November 22nd and re-named the Republic as Czecho-Slovakia, to reflect thi s new reality. Needless to say, the Slovak League of America was overjoyed to see that, after 20 years of strugg le, the provisions of the Pittsburgh Agreement were finally carried out. 34 While the Slovak League was satisfied with the outcome of its efforts on behalf of the Pittsburgh Agreement, Adolph Hitler was not. The German Chancellor was determined to destroy Czecho-Slovakia and to incorporate Bohemia-Moravia into his "Third Reich." Therefore, he had his agents get in touch with the most radical individuals in the People 's Party, who were led by the recently-releasedfrom-prison Vojtech Tuka, and urged them to seek complete Slovak independence. Tuka and his followers began to plot against CzechoSlovakia and the Prague government reacted by declaring martial law on March 11th, by di ssolving the recently-elected Slovak Diet, 33 Hlas l'udu (Toronto), May 27, 1938, pp.l-2 , June 7, 1938, pp.1-4 ; Slovak v Kan ade (Montreal ), June 2, 1938, p. l; Osadne hlasy (Chicago), June 24, 1938, pp.12; Narodne noviny, Jul y 6, 1938, p.5. Photos of the delegation in Poland and in Slovakia can be found in J.M . Kirschbaum, Slovakia: Nation at the Crossroads of Central Europe (New York: Robert Speller & Sons, 1960), between pp.264-265. 34 New Yorksky dennfk (New York) , October 9, 1938 , p.1; Kato/icky Sokol (Passaic, NJ) , October 12, 1938, p.l; Narodne no viny, October 12, 1938, p.l; Osadne h/asy, October 14, 1938 , p.l and October 21 , 1938, pp. 1&3 ; Jednota, November 2, 1938, p.3 SLOVAKIA 19 and by arresting over 200 suspected "plotters" against the Republic. Meanwhile, Hitler's agents summoned the recently-dismissed Prime Minister Jozef Tiso to Berlin on March 13th and gave him an ultimatum: either proclaim independence or watch Slovakia be partitioned by Poland and Hungary. Tiso returned to Bratislava on March 14th, he persuaded President Emil Hacha to reconvene the Slovak Diet, and after Tiso passed on to the Diet Hitler's message, the Diet unanimously declared Slovak independence. Since Czecho-Slovakia no longer existed, Hitler ordered the German army to occupy BohemiaMoravia and turn it into a German " Protectorate." He also recognized the independence of the Slovak Republic, but forced it into a German alliance and put it under German protection. 35 When news of the declaration of Slovak Independence reached American Slovaks, they were at first puzzled and subsequently split into two camps-those who supported Slovak independence and those who did not. This split had first surfaced right after World War I, when certain American Slovaks chose to support the new, centralized Czechoslovak Republic, while others did not. Generally speaking, most Slovak Protestant societies in the USA, as well as those individuals organized in the militantly secular Slovak Gymnastic Union Sokol (founded in 1896) supported the new state because they agreed with its official philosophy of "Czechoslovakism," that is, that the Czechs and Slovaks formed one nation but spoke two dialects of the "Czechoslovak" language. 36 The majority of American Slovaks, who were Roman Catholics, and were represented by the First Catholic Slovak Union and the Slovak Catholic Federation, among others, did not. Between 1919 and 1924 the pro-Czechoslovak group controlled the Slovak League. 37 After 1924 the Slovak nationalists regained control over the League, and continue to do so. Therefore, the Protestants and the Sokols (as well as Slovak Communi sts), rejected the independent Slovak Republic and hoped that 35 The best description of this period in Czecho-Slovakia ' s hi story is by Theodor Prochazka, The Second Republic: Th e Disintegration of post-Munich Czechoslovakia (Boulder: East European Monographs, 198 1); for an alternative view see Frantisek Ynuk, " Slovakia' s Six Eventfu l Months," Slovak Studies, 4 ( 1964), 7- I 64. 36 Milan Getting best represented thi s group and described their act ivities in his Americki Slovaci, ~ 37 " Z XV . Kongresu Slovenskej Li gy v Amerike," Q)hci.t. 20 SLOVAKIA Czecho-Slovakia could be resurrected.38 To this end they supported ex-president Edvard Benes's new liberation movement during World War 11. 39 The leadership of the Slovak League, largely representing the majority Roman Catholics, on the other hand, supported the new state. Indeed, Jozef Husek, who was elected president of the League at its 21 st Congress in Cleveland on October 14th, 1938, form all y requested president Franklin Delano Roosevelt of the United States on April 24, 1939 to grant the Slovak Republic diplomatic recognition.40 Shortly thereafter the Slovak League was heartened by a message ("Posolstvo") sent by Prime Minister Jozef Tiso to American and Canadian Slovaks on May 23rd of 1939. Here Tiso explained in 38 A group of Slovak Protestants (Lutherans, Calvini sts and Congregationalists), led by the Baptist preac her A. P. Slabey, met in Duquesne, PA on May 30th, 1938 and denounced the Hletko- led delegati on of the Slovak League to Slovakja that spring. Cf. Narodne noviny, June 8, 1938 , p.3; In the fall Jan Pankuch, a Lutheran and fo rmer mem ber of the Delegati on, regretted the granting of autonomy to Slovakia. Cf. Hla s (C leveland), October 13, I 938, p. l ; after the Slovak Diet declared independence on Marc h 14th , 1939 . the Lutheran-dominated Nati onal Slovak Society denounced this act. Cf. Narodne noviny, March 15, 1939, p. l , as did the secul arist and Sokol-do minated New Yorksky dennik , March 15, 1939, p. l. Slovak communists also de nounced both Slovak auto no my and independence. Cf. I', udovy dennik (Chicago), October 7, 1938, p. l ; October 8, 1938, p. I; March I6, 1939, p. l 39 Those American Slovaks who opposed Slovak indepe ndence and wished to see Czecho-Slovakja res urrected after th e war initiall y organi zed the mselves into th e Slovak Nati onal Council of America. However, they soon split into fac tions th at either supported ex-president Benes or else Dr. Milan Hodfa or Dr. Stefan Osusky, both of whom had fl ed to the West after the fa ll of France in June of 1940, and both of whom broke with Benes over the future of a res urrected Czecho-S lovakia. While Be nes wanted a return to the cent ra lized pre-M un ich Czechoslovakia, Hodfa and Osusky wished to return to a federated Czecho-S lovilia. Cf. Letters of Jan Dend'ur, Secretary of the Slovak National Council to Vlad imir Hurban, ex-Ambassador of Czechos lovakia in Washington, Papers of Jan Dend'ur, Box I , File A-S , Balch Institute at th e Histori cal Society of Penn sy lvania, Philade lphia; those who supported Benes joined the Czechoslovak Nati onal Co un cil of America and we re led by the Lutheran Rev . Jaros lav Pelikan, Sr. of Chicago. Cf. New York sky dennik, Dece mber 11 , 1941 , p. I. For a descri ption of the Benes-led liberation move ment see Ed uard Taborsky, " Politics in Exile, 1939- 1945 ," in Mamatey & Lufa , A History , QP..ci.1. , 322-42. 40 Letter of Jozef Husek to Frank lin Delano Roosevelt, April 24, 1939, publ ished in Correspondence in re Slovakia and the Declaration of the Aim and Principles of the Slo vak League of A merica (Middletown? Slovak League of America, 1940?), 1718. Husek sent a similar letter to Secretary of State Corde ll Hull on August 4, 1939, ilii.d., 19-20. SLOVAKIA 21 great detail how and why the Slovak Republic came into being and he asked American and Canadian Slovaks to support it. 4 1 As a result, the 22nd Congress of the Slovak League, which was held on November 14-15 in Cleveland, and which re-elected Husek as its president, passed a resolution in which it fully supported the independent Slovak Republic. Furthermore, it called upon the United States government to grant Slovakia diplomatic recognition, and it deplored ex-president Edvard Benes's American speaking tour, in which he called for the restoration of pre-war Czechoslovakia.42 In the fo llowing October, president Franklin Delano Roosevelt received a IS-person delegation of the Slovak League led by Husek and Hletko during which they pledged their loyalty to the USA . They considered thi s meeting to be a moral victory, even though FDR refu sed to recognize the Slovak Republic. 43 On the other hand, because of attacks launched upon the Slovak League by the supporters of Edvard Benes, Husek and the Slovak League were investigated by the Dies Committee on Un-American Activities. Thereafter they were under FBI surveillance. 44 Since the United States entered the Second World War on the side of the Allies on December 7, 1941 , and since Prime Mini ster Vojtech Tuka of Slovakia foolishly declared war upon the United States shortly there41 Tiso was responding to a letter sent to him by Andrej Potocky, Supreme Secretary of the Canadian Slovak League, askin g for an ex planation as to why the Slovak Diet had declared independence. Cf. And rej Potocky to Jozef Tiso, April 20, 1939 and Tiso's reply, of June 2, 1939, with a copy of the " Posolstvo," in the Papers of Andrej Kucera, lmrich Stolarik Co ll ection, Box 576, fo lder 2, 1939, Slovak Archives, University of Ottawa, Archi ves and Spec ia l Collections, and in the Andrej Potocky Papers, box 282 , folder 4, I 939, lhid. Jozef Husek translated and published it as " Dr. Joseph Tiso to the Slovaks in America," in Correspondence in re Slovakia, QJ2,.Q!., 716. This " Posolstvo" was originall y published in Slovak in several pro-independence newspapers in the USA and Canada. Cf. S lovenske bratstvo (Montreal), Jul y 2 1, and July 31, 1939, p.3 . 42 Jednota, Novem ber 29, 1939, p. 3; H/as Judu, November 18 and 21 , p. I. 43 Jedno ta, October 30, 1940, p. I, November 6, 1940, p.2; Slo venske bratstvo, November I, 1940, p.2. 44 Hlas Judu , October 24, 1939 , p. l ; see also Jozef Husek's letters to Martin Dies, Chairman , Dies House Committee, October 6, 1939 and October 28, 1939, in Correspondence in re Slovakia, QJ2..ci.t. , 23-4. In the summer of 1970 I visited with Dr. Peter P. Hletko in Chi cago and he confi rmed that the FBI had him and Husek under survei llance throughout the war, a lthough Hletko struck up a friendship with those watching him . 22 SLOVAKIA after, the Slovak League had to become more circumspect m its pronouncements. It now pledged absolute loyalty to the United States, although it continued to passively support the Slovak Republic. 45 However, the United States Office of War Information arranged a meeting of all Slovak-American organizations in Pittsburgh on September 14, 1942, and urged them to sign a declaration in which they repudiated the Slovak Republic and pledged their loyalty to the United States and its Allies. 46 By December a dejected Jozef Husek resigned as president of the League.47 He was eventually replaced by the more cautious Msgr. Frantisek Du bosh of Lakewood, Ohio, at the 23rd Congress of the League held in Pittsburgh on February 25-26, 1943. 48 Since the Slovak League could no longer openly support Slovak independence, it had to lower its expectations. At its 23rd Congress it had to develop a new program for Slovakia and, at the same time, deal with the issue of accepting or rejecting two former hi gh-ranking Slovaks in the pre-war Czechoslovak government and bureaucracy who had come to America. One was the former Prime Minister of Czechoslovakia, Milan Hodz.a, and the other was the former Czechoslovak Minister to Paris, Stefan Osusky. Both had broken with Edvard Benes after the destruction of Czecho-Slovakia. Hodza now recognized the Slovaks as a distinct nation but favored the resurrection of a federated Czecho-Slovakia within a Central European Federation . Osu sky also recognized the Slovaks as an independent nation and favored the resurrection of a federated Czecho-Slovakia as stipul ated in the Cleveland Agreement of 1915 , which he had helped to draft. After much debate, the League rejected both Hodza and 45 Osadne h/asy, December 19, 194 1, p.2; Jednota , January 7, 1942 , p.8. Pavel Jamriska, the vice-president of the L eague, pledged that " American Slovaks never betrayed and never w ill betray the Slovak nation and Slovakia." Cf. Jednota, January 2 1, 1942, p.4. Jozef Husek president of the League, added that " Slovakia should retain its freedom ," in spite of the war. Jednota, February 25, 1942, p.4. 46 Jednota, September 23, 1942, p. l and October 14, 1942, p.2. Thi s " Resolution " was reprinted in Martin Kvetko and Miroslav J. Licko 's edited Zbornik tivah a osobnych spomienok o S/ovenskom narodnom povstanf (Toronto: Stala konferencia slovenskych demokratickych exu lantov, 1976), pp. 396-7 w ithout any explanation. 47 I.:udo ve zvesti (Toronto), December 12, 1942, p. I and January 16, 1943, p.5. 48 Kanadsky Slovak (Montrea l), March 11 , 1943, p. I ; I.:udove zves ti, March 20 , 1943 , p.5. SLOVAKIA 23 Osusky as former collaborators of the first Czechoslovak Republic and it returned to its pre-war program of "self-determination" for the Slovaks in the future. 49 When the Slovak National Uprising against the Germans broke out at the end of August, 1944, American Slovaks were once again divided. After some hesitation, the 26th Congress of the Slovak League, held in Pittsburgh on October 18-19, 1944, and most American Catholic organizations , rejected the leadership of the newlyformed Slovak National Council as too "Czechoslovak" and Communi st. 50 Most American Lutherans, National Sokols and Communi sts, on the other hand, cheered and recognized the leadership of the SNC. 51 To complicate matters even more, the People' s Party journali st Peter Prfdavok, who had initially rejected the Slovak Republic and had fled to France and Great Britain in 1939, al so broke with Edvard Benes and in 1943 establi shed a Slovak National Council in London . He immediately contacted the Slovak League of America and , after the 1944 uprising in Slovakia, counseled the Slovak League not to recognize the Slovak National Council in Slovakia. 52 The League did not do so until it heard of the promulgation of the Kosice Programme of April 5, 1945 , which recognized the Slovaks as a di stinct nation and which al so recognized the Slovak National Council as the government of Slovakia. Thi s was a major concession by representatives of Edvard Benes 's victorious government-in-exile, which by then had returned to Slovak ("Czechoslovak") territory on 49 Cudove z vesti, March 20, 1943 and Kanadsky Slovak, March 25 , 1943, p.4. After Osusky broke with Benes he publi shed a series of pamphlets in whi ch he denounced the latter: Pravda vfthzf 1 (Pohlhd do zrkadla druheho odboj a) (London : The Continental Publishers, 1942); Benes and Slovakia (Middletown, PA : First Catholi c Slovak Union, 1943) ; Triedenie duchov nastalo (L ondon : The Continental Publishers, 1943) ; Hodza ' s position was best reported in K anadsky Slovak, M ay 28, 1942, pp. 7 & 10. For Hodza ' s acti vities in the USA see Michal Mudry, Milan Hodi a v Amerike (Chicago: Geringer Press, 1949). For more on Benes's opponents during World War II see Jan Kuklfk and Jan Nemecek, Prati Beneso vi! Ceska a slovenska protibeneso vska opozice v Londy ne /939-1 945 (Praha: Karolinum , 2004). 50 Kanadsky Slovak, November 9, 1944, p.4; Jednota, N ovember 15, 1944, p.2. 51 Cudove zvesti, September 23 , 1944, pp. I & 4. 52 Slovenske bratst vo, M ay 24, 1940, p.2; Slo vensky priekopnfk, November 27, 1942, pp. I & 4; ~udove zvesti, M arch 18, 1944, p.5 ; Jednota, April 16, 1945, p.5; for a short biograph y of Prfdavok see Literarny almanach Slovaka v A merike, 1967 (Middletown, PA), 209- 10. 24 SLOVAKIA the heel s of the Red Army, and which by now included the Communist leader Klement Gottwald. 53 However, this "Washington Declaration" of April 6, 1945 by the Executive of the Slovak League of America was immediately denounced by Jozef Husek and Peter P. Hletko.54 Furthermore, the 27th Congress of the Slovak League, held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in October of 1945 also repudiated it. Instead, the Congress reaffirmed the right of the Slovaks in Europe to self-determination. This Congress, which elected the Amercanborn attorney Peter P. Yurchak as its president, also announced a new fund-rai sing campaign to help rebuild post-war Slovakia, as well as to help thousands of political refugees who had fled the resurrected post-war Czechoslovakia.55 Meanwhile, the Slovak League had also sent a three-person delegation to the San Francisco meeting of the newly-founded United Nations from April 25th to June 21st. It was led by the Rev. Jan J. Lach of Whiting, Indiana, in the company of the poet, the Rev . Milos Mlynarovic, and the young Americanborn attorney Edward J. Behuncfk. The League had hoped that its delegation could speak on behalf of the Slovak nation but Jan Masaryk, son of the former president of Czechoslovakia, registered himself as a Slovak (whic h he was not) and, in hi s capacity as Czechoslovakia's new Foreign Minister, claimed that the Slovaks were well-represented at the United Nations, and therefore, did not need the services of the League. Lach was given only the status of an observer and could not participate in the debates about the future of Europe. 56 Meanwhile, Slovaks who had emigrated to Canada also took an interest in the fate of their countrymen. Since the United States Congress had passed three Immigration Acts in the l 920's, which severely restricted further migration from east-central and southern Europe to the United States, about 40,000 Slovaks moved to Canada in search of work in the l 920's and 1930's. Even though the government of Canada wanted them to settle on farms on the Prairies, they 53 For the text of the Kosice Program see "Kosicky vlad ny program," in Dokumenty, II (1998), 407-8 . 54 Osadne hlasy, April 20, 1945 , p.4 and June I, 1945, p.2, June 30, I 945, p.2 ; Kanadsky Slovak, June 14, 1945, p.5. 55 Osadne hlasy, October 26, 1945, p. l ; Kanadsky Slovak, November I, 1945. 56 Jednota , May 23, I 945 , p. l; Osadne hlasy, May 25, 1945, p.4; I'.udove zvesti, June 9, 1945, p.4, and Jul y 2 1, 1945 , p.2. SLOVAKIA 25 largely headed to the metropolitan areas of Winnipeg, Fort William, Montreal and Toronto. There, they quickly copied their American countrymen and established fraternal-benefit societies, parishes and newspapers. Indeed, they originally joined American-Slovak organizations, subsc ribed to their newspapers and were served by SlovakAmerican priests and mini sters. 57 However, when the Great Depression broke out in 1929, SlovakCanadians di scovered that they had to look out for themselves. For instance, when the Slovak League of America announced that it was raising funds to provide food and clothing for its members who were in dire straits, Canadian members of the Slovak League , who had organized fifteen branches in Canada, applied for thi s " relief. " They were shocked when Jan A. Kocur, the Leag ue 's Secretary , replied that American Slovaks had only enough resources to help themselves, and could not afford to help Slovaks in Canada. 58 Therefore, led by Andrej Kucera of Winnipeg (ori ginall y from Radosovce, in Bratislava county) representatives of three Canadian branches of the Slovak League of America met in Winnipeg in 1932 and organized the Slovak League of Canada which, when it was officially incorporated by an Act of Parliament in 1934, had its name changed to the Canadian Slovak League. Meanwhile, in order to help its countrymen to survive the Great Depression, leaders of the Canadian Slovak League organized it into a fratern al-benefit society, as well as a nationalist organization. 59 The national orientation of the Canadian Slovak League mirrored that of its American parent. Thus, in November of 1933 the Central Assembly of the Canadian Slovak League sent president T . G. Masa57 For a brief history of the Slovaks in Canada see the entry by Elena Jakesova and M. Mark Stolarik in the Encyclopedia of Canada 's Peoples, ed. By Paul R. Magocsi (Toronto: Uni versity of Toronto Press, 1999), 11 68-79. For a longer treatment see J. M. Kirschbaum , Slovaks in Canada (Toronto: Canadian Eth ni c Press Association of Ontario, 1967). 58 See the correspondence between Kucera and Kocur in the Papers of Andrej Kucera, Lmrich Stolarik Collection, Box 575, fo lder 7, 1928- 1934, Slovak Archives in the Archives and Special Collections, Uni versity of Ottawa and Kucera 's article on the 10th an ni versary of the fo unding of the CSL, Kanadsky Slovak, December 17, 1942, pp. 1-2. For a fuller description see " Pociatky a rozvoj Kanadskej Slovenskej Ligy ," in lmrich Stolarik ed. , Kanadska Slovenska Liga: 35 rocna: Historicky nacrt (19321967) (Toronto: Kanadska Slovenska Liga, 1967), 18-20. 59 Ibid. 2 1-26. 26 SLOVAKIA ryk of Czechoslovakia a reso lution demanding that the Pittsburgh Agreement be incorporated into the Constitution of the Republic.6() Indeed, in 1935 the two Leagues sent a joint appeal to all voters in Slovaki a to support only those political parties that recognized the Pittsburgh Agreement. 61 After Slovakia achieved its autonomy in the fall of 1938, the Canadian Slovak League, like its American counterpart, welcomed this autonomy and congratulated Dr. Jozef Tiso, its first Prime Minister. 62 After the Slovak Diet proclaimed the independence of Slovakia on March 14th, 1939, Canadian Slovaks, like their American cousins, were initially caught off guard and divided over the issue. To clarify matters, Andrej Potocky (w ho hailed from Sedliacka Dubova, Orava county) , the secretary of the Canadian Slovak League, addressed a letter to Dr. Jozef Tiso and asked him for an explanation. Tiso replied in May in his already-mentioned "Posolstvo" and both Leagues published it in newspapers that supported their politics. 63 Thereafter, both Leagues supported the independent Slovak Republic as much as they could. The Canadian Slovak League, like its American counterpart, also rejected Edvard Benes's World War II liberation movement, as well as Milan Hodfa' s plans for a Central European federation. 64 It seriously considered sending a delegate to the San Francisco meeting of the United Nations in 1945 , but could not afford to do so. 65 Meanwhile, delegates to the 28th Congress of the Slovak League of America, held in Detroit on October 29-30th, 1946 and to the 7th Convention of the Canadian Slovak League held in neighboring Windsor on October 28-30th of the same year, iss ued a joint resolution wherein they rejected the resurrected post-war Cze60 See the "Ustredn a sprava Slov . Ligy v Kanade: Rezolucia" , dated November 6, 1933, Winnipeg, Manitoba, in the Papers of Andrej Kucera, QJlii1. 61 Kucera to Kocur, March 30, 1935, ibid 62 Centra l Assembly of the Canadian Slovak Leag ue to Dr. Jozef Tiso, January 2 1, 1939, i..b.id... 63 Andrej Potocky to Jozef Tiso, April 20, 1939 and Jozef Tiso to Andrej Potocky, June 2, 1939 plus the ' Posolstvo" dated May 23, 1939 in ilii..d. See also Slovenske bratstvo, Jul y 21 , 1939, p.3 and Jul y 28 , 1939, p.3. 64 S lovenske bratstvo, August 4, 1939 , p.4 ; March 15, 1940, p. I; Kanadsky Slovak, August 6, 1942, p.2 and December 9, 1943 , p.2 65 Letter of Msgr. F.J. Dubosh, president of the Slovak league of Ameri ca to Jan Ivan of the Canadian Slovak League, March 25 , 1945 , papers of Andrej Kucera, QJlii1. SLOVAKIA 27 choslovakia and instead declared their support for the re-establishment of an independent Slovak Republic. 66 This political stand by both Leagues was reinforced by the arrival of post-war political refugees from Slovakia. Several thou sand supporters of the independent Slovak Republic, consisting of government officials, bureaucrats, soldiers and intellectuals fled the advancing Red Army in the winter and spring of 1945 and settled in Upper Austria and, eventually, in the defeated Germany. From there they sent appea ls to both Slovak Leagues for financial and other assistance. The two Leagues responded by sending them material goods, by arranging for surplus Red Cross packages to be distributed among them and, most importantly, by persuading the International Refugee Organization to recognize them as refugees and to help them emigrate out of war-torn Europe.67 One of the Slovak League of America's first successes was the appointment of Dr. Jozef Kirsc hbaum as its official delegate to the IRO in September of 1947.68 Kirschbaum had been the Slovak Charge d ' Affaires in Switzerland for most of the 66 Indeed , the Canadian Slovak League had also deplored the April 6, 1945 "Washington Resolution" of the Slovak League of America. CF. Andrej Kucera to Msgr. F. Dubosh, October 12, 1945, Papers of Andrej Ku cera, lmrich Stolarik Fonds, Box 572, file 1945 , Slovak Archives, Archives and Special Collections, Morisset Library, University of Ottawa; Kanadsky Slov;:ik, November 16, 1946, p.2 and January 2, 1947, p.3. 67 See the " Memorandum" drafted by the writer Milo Urban to the Slovak League of America dated May 30 , 1945, as publi shed on its 20th an ni versary in K anadsky Slovak, May 29, 1965, p. 2 and September 4, 1965, p.3; see also Osadne hlasy, Jul y 6, 1945, p.2, Apri l 4, 1947, p.l and April 11 , 1947, p.2; see also Kanadsky Slovak, Jul y 12, 1945, p.2. A preliminary li st of these refugees in Austria was compiled by the Czechoslovak Ambassador to Switzerland and se nt to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Prague because the Czechoslovak government wished to " repatriate" some of them. Cf. Slove nsky narodn y arc hfv, PY , beop.- lll dov. , 1945, 6. Sept. , 1945, Ministerstvo zahrani cnfch veci. Praha, 26079/11-2/45 . No-one has yet written a schol arl y acco unt of this phenomenon as it pertains to the Slovaks. However. l:ubomfr Gleiman , one of these refugees, has penned hi s reminiscences in a manuscript entitled "Out of thi s Century ' s Mae lstro m: A Pilgrim 's Story of Disse nt and Surviva l," (Cary , NC: 200 I ). A co py of this manuscript, as well as his father' s diaries from 1944 to 1954, on whi ch the manuscript is partly based, can be found in the Slovak Archives, Archives and Special Collections, Morisset Library, University of Ottawa, Canada. For a general description of the plight of post-war refugees see Mark Wyman , DP: Europe 's Displaced Persons, 1945-1951 (Philadelphia: The Balch Institute Press, 1989). 68 Kanadsky Slovak, May 27, 1948, p.2 and June I 0, 1948, p. l. 28 SLOVAKIA war. Since he had acti vely supported the creation of the Slovak Republic , he refu sed to return to post-war Czechoslovakia. Instead, he worked vigorou sly with both Slovak Leagues to arrange for the emigration of hundreds of Slovaks to the USA and Canada, once these countries opened their borders to post-war refugees in 1947 and 1948. 69 As the refugees began to arrive in the United States and Canada, they quickly joined the two Slovak Leag ues and reinforced their commitment to Slovak independence. The first to come to the USA was the poet, the Rev . Mikul as Sprinc. He arrived in Jul y of 1946, settled in Cleveland, and immediate ly informed the executive of the Slovak League of what had actually transpired during the existence of the Slovak Republic.70 That is why the Slovak League, at its 28th Congress in Detroit called for a plebiscite to be held in Slovakia to decide its future and it also appealed for a fair trial for Dr. Jozef Tiso. 7 1 The latter had evacuated to Austria with the Slovak government in the dying days of the war but was turned over to Czechoslovak authorities by the victorious American Army. 72 Meanwhile, the historian Dr. Frantisek Hrusovsky arrived in the USA at the end of 1947 and he also joined the Slovak League. Indeed, after Jan A. Kocu r died , Hrusovsky was elected the Secretary of the League at its 30th Congress in Chicago in March of 1948. On September 15, 1952, largely on hi s initiative, the Slovak Institute was established at the Slovak Benedictine Abbey in Cleveland, Ohio, 73 and Hrusovsky became its first director. In 1950 Dr. Jozef Pauco gained admittance to the USA. Thi s former editor of the dail y Slovak, official organ of the Slovak Peo- 69 Author interview with J.M. Kirschbaum, November 7, 1998.He recorded his political views and activities in Nas boj o sam ostatnost' Slovenska (C leveland: Slovak Institute, 1958; reprinted and updated by the Matica slovenska, 2000). 70 Paufo , 75. Rokov QJU;lL 353; Sprinc described his trip to the USA in K slobodnym pobreiiam (Scranton, PA : Obrana Press, 1949). 71 See footnote 65 . 72 For Tiso' s activities during and after World War II , as penned by hi s forme r personal secretary, see Karo l Murin, Spomienky a svedectvo (Hami lton,Ontario: Zahranicna Matica slovenska, 1987). 73 Kanadsky Slovak, October 30, 1947 , pp.1 -2, November 6, 1947 , pp.I & 7, March 17, I949, p. 1. For a short biograph y see " Dr. Frantisek Hrusovsky ," in Literarny Almanach Slovaka v Amerik e, 1967 (Middletown, PA), 16 1-2. SLOVAKIA 29 pie' s Party , initially found employment as assistant editor of the weekly fraternal Jednota , which was published in Middletown, PA. In 1958 he became editor and in 1964 also publisher of the weekly Slovak v Amerike, the oldest Slovak newspaper in America. In 1962 Pauco was elected Secretary of the Slovak League of America, a 74 post which he held until his death in 1975. Finally, in 1952 Dr. Jozef A. Mikus came to the USA. This former Slovak Charge d ' Affaires in Spain fled his homeland after the Communist takeover of Czechoslovakia in 1948. He initi ally lived in Paris but after four years he moved to Washington , D.C. For the first five years of his life in the USA he was employed by the Slovak League as its Press Secretary. After that he taught at various American colleges until his retirement. He also remained active within the Slovak League and the Slovak World Congress. 75 While a few post-war Slovak refugees managed to gain entry into the United States after the war, the majority headed for Canada, because the latter opened its doors to refugees first. Among the most important to arrive in 1949 were Dr. Karol Murin, the former personal secretary of president Jozef Tiso, Dr. Jozef Kirschbaum (mentioned earlier) and the publicist and historian Konstantin Culen. 76 In 1950 Karol Sidor, former Slovak Ambassador to the Vatican, and the most prominent of all the emigres, made his way to Montreal. 77 All of them immediately joined the Canadian Slovak League and Culen even became editor of its weekly Kanadsky Slovak from 1952 to 74 Ibid. , 200-2. Kanadsky Slovak, May 18, 1950, p.2. Ibid., 188-9. Kanadsky Slovak, January 24, 1952, p.5 and June 21 , 1952, p.7. The complete life of Jozef Mikus can be reconstructed in "The Jozef Mikus Fonds" located in the Slovak Archives, Archives and Special Collections, Morisset Library , University of Ottawa. 76 Kanadsky S lovak, February 10, 1949, p. I; £udove zvesti, March 12. 1949, p.4, February 25, 1950, p.4. For biographies of Murin and Cu len see Literarny almanach S/ovaka v Amerike, / 967 (Middletown, PA), 129-30 and 194-95. 77 Andrej Kucera to Andrej Potocky, Apri l 6, 1950, Papers of A. Kucera, lmrich Stolarik Collec tion. Box 576, fo lder 7. 1950, Slovak Archives, Archives and Special Collections, Morisset Library , University of Ottawa; Kanadsky Slovak, April 20, 1950, p.5; letter of Karol Sidor to lmrich Stolarik, January 12, 1951 , Joseph Stasko Fonds, Slovenska narodna rada v zahranicf, Box 30, Series II , File 4, Subfile 4.1 , Folder 22, ARCS 92-3 , Slovak Archives, Archives and Special Collections, Mori sset Library, University of Ottawa. For more on Sidor see Literamy almanach I 967, 2212. 75 30 SLOVAKIA 1956. Needless to say, these emigres strengthened the League's commitment to promoting Slovak independence. Indeed, they and their American counterparts started to celebrate the anniversary of Slovak independence (Marc h 14th) as early as 1947.78 Both of the Slovak Leagues, meanwhile, denounced the execution of Dr. Jozef Tiso after he was found gui lty of treason by the Communist-dominated National Court in Bratislava in April of 1947. 79 After the Communist takeover of power in Czechoslovakia in February of 1948, a new wave of political refugees fled to the West. This was a mixture of Slovaks who favored independence and those who did not. Those refugees who had fled to the west after 1945 seized the initiative and re-established the Slovak National Council Abroad in the fall of 1948 and elected Karol Sidor as its president and Peter Pridavok of London as its secretary. 80 Those who wished Czechoslovakia to continue, but were opposed to its communist government, organized themselves into the Council for a Free Czechoslovakia, led by Dr. Jozef Lettrich , the former Chairman of the postwar Democratic Party in Slovakia. 81 Both Slovak Leagues rejected Lettrich and his followers as early as 1946 and instead supported the Slovak National Council Abroad .82 Indeed, both Slovak Leagues had previously also rejected the more radical Slovak Action Committee, founded in Rome in 1946 by Dr. Ferdinand Durcansky, the first Foreign Minister of the Slovak Republic .83 Rivalries between the leaders of the Slovak National Council Abroad and that of the Slovak Action Committee seeped into both Leagues and caused much in- 78 Osadne hlasy, March 14, 1947, p.l ; Kanadsky Slovak, April JO and 17, 1954, pp.2-4. 79 Osadne hlasy, April 25 , 1947, pp. I & 2; Kanadsky Slovak, May 8, 1947, p.l, October 30, 1947, pp. 1-2 and November 6, 1947, pp. I & 7; for the reminiscences of the chief prosecutor and the chief defense attorney at thi s trial see Proces s dr. 1. Tisom (Bratislava: Tatra Press, 1990). 8 Kanadsky Slovak, June 24, 1948 , p.3 , December I6, 1948 , p. I and December 30, 1948, p.3 ; Kirschbaum , Nas boj, QJ1.&iL (2000) , 370- 1. 81 Spetko, "Slovenska exi lova," QJ1.&iL 247-8. 82 Kanadsky Slovak, April 11 , 1946, p.5; Ferdinand Durcansky to Andrej Kucera, September 8, 1949, in Papers of A. Kucera, Correspondence with Refugees in Europe, Box 572, lmrich Stolarik Fonds, Slovak Archives, Archives and Special Collections, University of Ottawa. 83 Durcansky, Ibid. For more on Durcansky see Literarny almanach 1967 , 137-9. ° SLOVAKIA 31 fighting among both in the 1950's. 84 The matter was finally settled in 1960 when the two sides decided to merge into the Slovak Liberation Council, with two co-chairmen: Dr. Jozef Kirschbaum in Toronto (Sidor had died in 1953) and Dr. Ferdinand Durcansky in Munich. 85 Meanwhile, in 1962, Dr. Peter P. Hletko, once again became president of the Slovak League of America, which had undergone some turbulent times. Hletko had succeeded Filip A. Hrobak, editor of Jednota , who had become president in 1950 . The American-born Hrobak was an activist, who had established the Slovak League 's Information Office in Washington in 1952, as well as the Englishlanguage periodical Slovakia in 1950 to champion the independence of his cousins overseas. Meanwhile, Hrobak also had to referee an intense rivalry that broke out between various factions in the League, a rivalry that resulted in the di smissal of Konstantfn Culen from the directorship of the Slovak institute in Cleveland (he had come down from Canada in 1956 and was made director of the Institute shortly after the death of Hrusovsky in the same year) and his banishment from Slovak-American life. 86 Hletko, who had largely been responsible for Culen's dismissal, congratulated the Canadian Slovak League on its 30th anniversary and remarked that it had become " more active" than the Slovak League of America. 87 He may have had in mind the fact that, on March 16th, 1953 (strategically close to the 14th anniversary of Slovak independence on March 14th), the First 84 See the letter of A. Ku cera to Jozef Siksa dated March 20, 1950 as well as the circ ul ar letter of Ferdinand Durcansky dated February 9, 1951, an undated letter from early 195 1, as well as letters from Michael Yargovic , president of the First Catholic Union , dated February 19, 1951 and Fi lip A. Hrobak, president of the Slovak League of America, dated February 20. 1951 , in the Papers of A. Kucera, Qlhci..!.; see also Kanadsky Slovak, January 17, 1952, p.3 and February 14, 1952, p.2, and November 5, 1955, p.2. See also l',udove zves ti. February I, 1958, p.6, and March I, 1958, p.4. 85 Kanadsky Slovak, October 11 , 1958, p.1 , March 2 1, 1959, p.1 , June 4, 1960, p.1 and June 18, 1960, p. I ; l',udove zvesti, September I, 1960, p.6 86 Kanadsky Slovak, June 8, 1950, p.1 , June 2 1, 1952, p.7 , June 27, 1959, p.1 ; I.:udove zvesti, June 17, 1950, p.2 ; for Konstantin Cu len's problems with Hletko and other American Slovak leaders see hi s V zajatf fa losnych legiend od nenavistneho srdca, 11 Vols. (Mim ieographed, New York, 1961). Frantisek Ynuk, in his Z ivotopis Konstantfna Culena (Cleveland: Slovak Institute, 1984), 190-93 also touched on this problem. 87 Kanadsky Slovak, December 15 , 1962, p. I. Filip A. Hrobak, a few years earlier, had expressed simi lar sentiments ; cf. Kanadsky S lovak, July 18, 1959, p. I. 32 SLOVAKIA District Assembly of the Canadian Slovak League had organized a gala banquet at the Chateau Laurier in Ottawa to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the founding of the Leag ue. Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent, four cabi net ministers and 25 mem bers of the Canadian Parliament attended! 88 Thi s diplomati c "coup" by the Canadian Slovak League was not matched by its American counterpart. The most the Slovak League of America was able to accomplish on the diplomatic front in the l 950's was to arrange a meeting with officials of Radio Free Europe in 1953 and wi th Secretary of State John Foster Dulles in October of 1956. 89 Nothing came of these meetings. Peter P. Hletko also noticed that the Canadian Slovak League was both younger than its parent organization and had more youthful members. In thi s respect he may have been thinking of Stephen B. Roman, who had come to Oshawa, Canada from Velky Ruskov, Slovakia as a 16 year-old in 1937. Through a seri es of shrewd investments in the 1940's and 1950's, Roman had become a multi-millionaire in Canada's uranium industry. Roman was an active member of the Canadi an Slovak League who had lobbied for the early adm ittance of Slovak post-war political refugees, and who supported the movement for Slovak independence.90 As a devout Greek Catholi c, in 1963 Roman took a leading role in the 1100th anniversary celebrations of the arri val of Sts. Cyril and Methodius on Slovak territory, he contributed to the establishment of the Institute of Sts. Cyril and Methodius in Rome in that same year, he was a lay observer to the Second Vatican Council (l 962-1965) and he successfull y lobbied the Vatican to appoint a Slovak Greek Catholic bishop in Canada ( 1965), as well as to create a Slovak Greek Catholic Eparchy (diocese) in Toronto in 1980. 9 1 88 The most comprehensive treatment of th is banquet can be found in " Historicky banket Kanad. Slov. Ligy v Ottawe," in lmrich Stolarik ed., Kanadska Slovenska Liga 35 rocna (Toronto: Canad ian Slovak League, 1967), 268-75. 89 Kanadsk f Slovak, Jul y 18, 1953, p.4 and November 10, 1956, p.5. 90 Slovenske bratstvo (Montreal), Apri l 25 , 1941 , p.3 ; Kanadskf Slovak, April 16, 1943, p.10, December 16, 1943, p.7, May 24, 1945 , p.5, October 4, 1945, September 3, 1955 , p.5, October 20, 1956, p.5, October 19, 1957 , p.3. For a sympathetic biography of Roman see Peter C. Newman, Th e Canadian Establishment, I (Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, I975), 269-72. 91 Kanadskf Slovak, November 25 , 1961 , p.2 , Jul y 6, 1963 , p.l, October 3, 1964, p.l, October 17, 1964, p. l , January 9, 196 1, p.l , January 3, 198 1, p. I and February SLOVAKIA 33 Roman ' s greatest achievement, however, was to establish the Slovak World Congress. Even though he had been a member of the Canadian Slovak League since the early 1940's, Roman lamented the fact that Slovaks in the Western world were divided into so many different organizations.92 He first attempted to bring together the Canadian Slovak League and its rival Canadian Slovak Benefit Society in 1969 but failed .93 Then , angered by the Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968 , Roman decided to approach various individuals and organizations to issue an appeal to all Slovak organizations the world over to unite in the struggle to overthrow Communism in the homeland and to seek self-determination for the Slovak nation. The appeal was signed by the presidents of the Slovak League of America, the Canadian Slovak League, the National Slovak Society, Stephen B. Roman , three bishops and an abbot. As a result, in July of 1970 representatives of dozen s of Slovak organizations the world over, including the Slovak League of America and the Canadian Slovak League, met in New York City and created the Slovak World Congress.94 For the next twenty years the Slovak World Congress, led by Stephen B. Roman, worked to spread the good name of the Slovaks the world over. It held meetings in many of the major cities of the world, including Toronto, New York, Washington, Chicago, Munich and Rome; it sponsored scholarly conferences which published their proceedings; it organized Slovak world youth festival s and it published a monthly Bulletin. The two Slovak Leagues participated in most of these ventures. 95 Indeed , the two Slovak Leagues, at first independently, and later working within the Slovak World Congress, successfully lobbied the Vatican to create an independent archbis- 21, 198 1, p. I. Kanadsky Slovak, January 4, 1945, p. 3. 93 Kanadsky S lovak, Septe mber 20 , 1969 , p. I. Nove mber 15, 1969, p. I, June 6, 1970, p. l. 94 Kanadsky S lovak, March 2 1, 1970. p.l , June 26, 197 1, p. l , Jul y 4, 1970, p. l , Jul y 11 , 1970, p. l. 95 The first ten years of the Congress were described by J.M. Kirschbaum in Desa t' rokov cinnosti SKS (Toronto: Slovak World Congress, 1981 ); a short summary was written by Dusan T6th, the Sec retary-General of the Congress from 1971 to 1990 in Kanadsky Slovak , September 10, 2005, p.4. T here is not yet a scholarl y history of the entire period of the Congress's ex istence. 92 34 SLOVAKIA hopric and church province in Slovakia. Their dream came true in 1977 , although the communist government blocked the appointment of an archbishop until 1988. 96 Thi s was a sy mbolic victory for the two Leagues and the Slovak World Congress because it gave Slovakia its own church jurisdiction, which implied that the Slovaks could also have their own state. Unfortunately for all concerned, Stephen B. Roman died in 1988, just one year before Czechoslovakia threw off its communist rulers.97 With its patron gone, the Slovak World Congress slowly withered away. The two Slovak Leagues, on the other hand , sprang into action. The Canadian Slovak League sent a delegation to Slovakia in February of 1990, to urge Slovak leaders to seek either more homerule or else complete independence. 98 The Slovak League of America likewise sent a delegation in May of 1990 for the same purpose.99 Both Slovak Leagues started a fund-raising campaign for various Slovak causes, and both rejoiced when Slovakia became independent in 1993. 100 Since then both Leagues have cooperated with the various Slovak governments to spread the good name of the Slovaks the world over and to help Slovakia in its transition from a communist dictatorship to a democratic and capitalist society. It should be apparent, therefore, that the Slovak League of America, and the Canadian Slovak League, remained dedicated to Slovak self-determination throughout the 20th century. During World War I 96 See, for instance, the Memorandum of the Central Assembly of the Canadian Slovak League to the Vati can requesting a Church Province and an Archbi shop for Slovaki a, Kanadsky Slovak, September 25, 1965, p. l . J. M. Kirschbaum had firs t suggested thi s move in 1959, Ibid. , and Peter Mulik, " Usilie o zriaden ie slovenskej cirkev nej provincie od roku 1939 a jej vyvoj po sucasnost:" in Mulik ed., Katolfcka cirkev a Slovaci: Us ilie Slovakov o samostatnti cirkevnti provinciu (Brati slava: Bernolakova spolocnost: 1997), 68. 97 See the special iss ue of the monthly Maria (Toronto), May, 1988 for many eulogies concerning the life and achievements of Stephen B. Roman. 98 Smer (Bratislava), February 15, 1990 and Praca (Brati slava), February 16, 1990. See also Rudolf Schu ster's Ultim atum (Bratislava, 1996), pp.101 -2 and the photo section between pages 96 and 97. 99 Slovak v Amerike, June, 1990. I happened to be a member of this del egation. We traveled all over Slovakia, met with governme nt officials, journalists and students and urged them to seek more self-determ ination or independence. See al so Schuster's Ultimatum, op. cit. , 224-5. 100 Kanadsky Slovak, January 2, 1993 ; Slovak v Amerike, January issue, 1993. SLOVAKIA 35 the Slovak League of America spoke on behalf of its brethren in Slovakia when the latter could not do so. Since T. G. Masaryk had no mandate from Slovaks in Hungary to create a new state consisting of Czechs and Slovaks, the Slovak League of America gave him that mandate in the Cleveland and Pittsburgh Agreements. Since Masaryk and hi s followers did not respect the promises that they had made guaranteeing Slovaks home-rule in Czechoslovakia, both the Slovak Leag ue of America, and its Canadian offshoot, the Canadian Slovak League, demanded home-rule for the Slovaks in the inter-war period. When Slovakia unexpectedly became independent in 1939, both Leagues, after some hesitation, supported thi s independence. After Czechoslovakia was restored by the victorious Allies, both Slovak Leagues supported a return to Slovak independence, especiall y after the arrival in North America of several thou sa nd political refu gees . During the communist era (1948-1989) both Leagues denounced the communi st regime that ruled over their overseas cousins and they co ntinued to demand Slovak independence. After the Communists gave up their power in 1989, both Leagues urged the Slovaks to either demand more home-rule or else complete independence from the Czechs. When Slovakia finally became independent on January 1, 1993 , both Leagues rejoiced and pledged to help it grow and prosper.  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Slovak League of America and the Canadian Slovak League in the Struggle for the Self-Determination of the Nation, 1907-1992 Description An account of the resource M. Mark Stolarik Slovakia, Vol. 39 (No. 72-73), 2007 pp. 7-35 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Stolarik, M. Mark, 1943- Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2007 LCNAF https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/63749f7745c997602cee8d3af04af090.pdf e98eafb5dfbacbd626c3e9146b470a02 PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA 29 THE SLOVAK LEAGUE OF AMERICA AND THE SLOVAK NATION'S STRUGGLE FOR AUTONOMY By Karoi Sidor I have selected the quarter of a century of history of the Slovak League of America (1914-1939 ) as my topic for r eview and analysis in order to show its influence on the future destiny of the Slovak nation in its historic homeland. My work " Slovaci v zahranicnom odboji" (The Slovaks ±n the Struggle Abroad ), 264 pp., which was published in 1928 in Bratislava, serves me well in the present instance. My book, as I noted in the preface, proves that liberation of the Slovak nation from Magyar rule was not the work of the Czechs, nor was it a gift from them, but the main work in Slovakia's liberation in the first World War ( 19141918 ) was accomplished by the Slovaks under the auspices of the Slovak League of America. "It is impossible to evaluate the participation of the Slovaks in the fight for freedom in Czecho-Slovakia", I wrote in the preface, " without delving into the history of the Slovak League of America. During the war the Slovak League influenced the great majority of our emigrant Slovaks in America through membership, and its influence extended to other parts of the world wherever Slovaks had settled. For that reason I chose this title for my book to include all emigrant Slovaks instead of limiting it to t he Slovaks in America and their role in our fight for freedom. Nonetheless, it was the American Slovaks who were actually our liberators - without their assistance the claim that others gave the Slovak nation freedom on a silver platter would have been well founded on reality." The Slovaks in America were the real liberators of their fellow countrymen from Magyar oppression in their homeland beneath the Tatras. They formulated the modern political program for their fellow Slovaks in Cleveland (1915 ) and later in Pittsburgh (1918 ) . For two decades after World War I the Slovaks struggled for recognition of this program drawn up in America and they ultimately won their struggle with the moral and financial help of �30 SLOVAKIA the American Slovaks in 1938. Slovakia finally had its own parliament, its own government, courts, and schools. This phase of Slovak political activity is a bright chapter in the Slovak nation's history, and all those who were engaged in the movement, either directly or indirectly, are fortunate indeed to have been a part of the nationwide struggle for liberty. Memorandum of 1914-1915 No Slovak can remain unmoved as he reads the 'Slovak League Memorandum in behalf of the Slovaks of Hungary 1914-1915' in the name of the American Slovaks. It is truly an amazing political document which shows the vision, foresight and profound thinking of its authors. It placed the Slovak cause in the forefront of world politics and progress. Essentially, this historic memorandum demands "complete self-government and free self-determination in the political field , as well as in the cultural and economic spheres, with the Slovak nation as a legal and equal partner among all nations of the world." These identical ideas were adopted somewhat later in the official documents and statements of world statesmen who determined the destiny of the countries of the world. It is thrilling for us Slovaks to realize that fully three years elapsed before the ideas of self-determination, equality of nations, the right to self-government (as enunciated originally in this Slovak Memorandum) were at last accepted and repeated by world diplomats and statesmen until they became integral parts of a new political world order after World War I. Note the timing of the Slovak Memorandum. World War I had just begun and the roar of guns on the western and eastern fronts signalled initial German and AustroHungarian victories. There was not as yet an organized liberating force among the American Slovaks. America was flooded with favorable German propaganda, and it even penetrated into official circles. But the 'word' was already out at the outset of World War I. The Slovak statement "the right of self-determination for nations" was destined to play an important role in �SLOVAKIA 31 the development of the idea and its official expression in America. In full support of this 'word' (self-determination) the organized strength of the American Slovaks was arrayed behind the unified leadership of the Slovak League of America. All the Slovak organizations, both Catholic and nonCatholic, followed the lead of the Slovak League. All periodicals, weeklies and monthlies, were at its service and willingly propagated the 'word' and greatly influenced public opinion throughout the country. Rev. Anton Filkorn, a Catholic priest, was the president and Ivan Daxner, a prominent Lutheran member of the Slovak dynasty of national leaders, was the secretary of the Slovak League at this time. Six Slovak dailies currently indicate how vigorous and dynamic was Slovak Life in America. In Slovakia there was not one daily in 1914 or 1915. (In Budapest, however, the Hungarian government subsidized the Slovenske Noviny for its own propaganda purposes). In New York City the Slovdlc v Amerike daily was directed by an impressive editorial staff of Orbach, stiasny, Baran and Molitoris, in Chicago the Ndrodny Slovensky Dennik was in the capable hands of Editor Marsal-Petrovsky, Krizan, Laucik and Bzduch, in Pittsburgh the Ndrodny Dennik was edited by P . Kompis, Ignac Gessay and Jan culen were the editors of the Newyorksky Slovensky Dennik, Jan Kadlecik edited the Slovensky Dennik, while J. E. Chudatsik and Grigl'ak were at the helm of the Eudovy Dennik, the sixth Slovak Daily in America. These half-dozen Slovak dailies and a host of weeklies, particularly, the Jednota, the Ndrodne Noviny, Katolicky Sokol, Bratstvo, Slovenskd Obrana and many monthly publications kept the Slovaks in America well informed about political developments and helped to unite them around the central idea of the right to self-determination of the Slovak nation Jiving beneath the Tatras - in actual fact these were the spokesmen for the Slovak people who were silenced in their own native land. Only two Slovaks represented their nation in the Hungarian parliament at Budapest: Dr. Ferko Skycak, who had �32 SLOVAKIA been elected in his native Bobrov (Orava district), surrendered his mandate on the eve of World War I to Baron Ghillany, a Magyar. Dr. Ferdis Juriga and Dr. Pavol Blaha, however, courageously kept their seats in the Magyar diet in the capital city of Hungary, Budapest. It was perfectly clear that the Slovaks inside Hungary could not decide their future political destiny. Under such circumstances, it is evident that American Slovaks, well organized and having reached high political status in world opinion, must of necessity assume the responsibility of making their ideas of political liberty a reality. Albert Mamatej succeeded Father Filkorn as president of the Slovak League at the end of 1914. There were no changes, however, in the political ideology of the Slovak League . In December, 1914, Mamatej wrote to the Czechs in Paris : We seek self-government for Slovakia not as an individual state, but as a political administrati \'e unit without regards to what greater state is created provided it is assigned to it as a co-partner at the council table of diplomats and statesmen. Emphasis is unquestionably on the status of self-government for Slovakia as 'a special and integral part of an administrative whole' leaving to future developments ostensibly the unsolved questions of both what type and to what state-creation Slovakia would be attached in the immediate future. The Cleveland Agreement Later it became increasingly imperative that Mamatej's "zvlastny administrativno-politicky celok" (a special administrative-political whole ) be spelled out in detail. This was fully and clearly set forth in the Cleveland Agreement. This mutual agreement was made between the Czech National Alliance in America which represented the American Czechs and the Slovak League of America as the representative of the American Slovaks in political affairs. According to the testimony of Emanuel Vos, one of the Czech representatives said at the memorable meeting: "The text of this agreement is known to Professor Masaryk, president of the national council, and he agrees with it." �SLOVAKIA 33 Masaryk at that very moment represented the entire Czech emigration in Europe, even though the Allied powers did not recognize him as such. What was, in substance, the agreement between the American Slovaks and Czechs and the Czechs in Europe headed by T. G. Masaryk? On two points the two groups agreed as registered in the Cleveland Agreement of October 25, 1915: 1) Self-government of Czech lands and Slovakia. 2) Union of Czech and Slovak nations in a federation of states with full national autonomy for Slovakia, i.e., the country was to have its own parliament, its own state administrative system, complete cultural freedom with the exclusive use of the Slovak language offically in the Slovak schools, courts, etc., a separate financial and political administration with Slovak as the official language of the country. Again we are confronted with the question of what was meant by the term, "in a federative union of states." There are only two interpretations possible: 1) A federation of Slovak, Czech, Polish, perhaps Austrian, Magyar and Croatian states. 2) A federation of the Slovak and Czech states. It soon becomes clear that in both cases the creators and signers of the Cleveland Agreement had in mind the type of unity we have in the federal union of the American states, i.e., the U.S. For a union of states, therefore; there could not be the union of one state! It requires two or more to create a union. There remains no doubt whatsoever that they did not in any manner or form intend to create the state of Czecho-Slovakia to be centralized in one parliament in Prague and operate as a monopoly from the Czech capital. A parliament of its own, a state administration, complete cultural freedom , its own finances and its own official Slovak language - all these articles as incorporated in the Cleveland Agreement leave no alternative! It meant one thing and one thing only, namely, a self-governing Slovak state. This had been the goal of all Slovak fighters for freedom and it still remained an objective to be attained on �34 SLOVAKIA the basis of the agreement above. The means to the goal was the cooperation of the Slovaks and Czechs in America, and with the Czech emigrants in Europe led by T. G. Masaryk. Cooperation, not subjugation; equality of partnership, equality of rights, even as expressed so aptly in the financial field, a '50-50 proposition!' Exclusively with the Czechs The scintillating fact that the Slovaks in America drew up this agreement with the Czechs alone indicates rather ostensibly that they voluntarily renounced advantages that other nations, and nationality forces, fighting for the liberation of their fellow countrymen in Europe might have offered the Slovaks. I refer to the Poles, Croatians, Slovenians, Serbs, Ukrainians and Sub-Carpathian Rusenes, or Ruthenians. If the Slovaks in America at that moment had united their efforts with those of other Slavic nationality groups, the Slovak cause would certainly have increased its potentialities for a more complete development of its future destiny; in a word, it would not have become so enmeshed in the Czechoslovak maze. On the part of the other Slav groups, there was a real desire for cooperation with the Slovaks, especially on the part of the Poles. The "Polonia w Ameryce" newspaper favored a union of Poles and Slovaks: "The spirit of both nations is the same, the languages not much different. That would, indeed, be the most natural union we can imagine." And the influential "Tygodnik Polski" declared: "Polak Wenger two brothers? 0, what irony! Away from this so-called mad brother, Magyar! Brother Slovak is much closer to us than that so-called brother!" Aside from the religious motif, there existed, too, the mistaken notion of the Slavic ideal, which eventually nullified cooperation between the Slovaks and Poles. It was the attitude toward Czarist Russia. Czarism, orthodoxy and imperialism - those were the underlying causes of so many Polish sufferings and obstacles to Polish freedom . Among the Slovaks there was a feeling of affection for �SLOVAKlA 35 the 'bat'uska car' (a genial uncle), the father of all Slavdom and holy Russia. These would bring freedom to the Slovak nation. The Russian nation would be the liberator. Albert Mamatej, president of the Slovak League of America, under the obvious influence of this complex, made an indignant attack on the Poles at an All Slav conference jn Cleveland. That incident closed the doors to probably close friendship with the Poles and forever destroyed the possibility of an advantageous understanding between the Slovaks and Poles. Mamatej's statement was triggered by uncomplimentary remarks about the Russians, the Czar, etc. by a number of Polish leaders at the conference. It was this refusal to work with the Poles that narrowed the path that led straight into the Czech camp. This pathway was a dangerous one, for it gave the Czechs the upperhand and they took full advantage of it by assuming sole leadership, by the isolation of Slovak spokesmen, by intentionally and maliciously misrepresenting the Slovak political concept as set forth in the text of the Cleveland Agreement. Kosik and Osusky in Europe Two delegates with a precise program were authorized to go to Europe by the Congress of the Slovak League of America. The Congress selected Gustav Kosik, editor of the Katolicky Sokol weekly, and Dr. Stefan Osusky, a lawyer and Lutheran Minister. The purpose of the mission was expressed in the program thus: "To inform the civilized world about the demands of the Slovak nation and to secure positive aid for the realization of these demands." First, their journey led to London and then on to Paris in June, 1916. T. G. Masaryk and Dr. Eduard Benes, both Czech emigrants, were in Paris. "Their work" - as Dr. Lev Borsky, an emigrant, too, writes in his book, "Znovudobyti samostatnosti" (Winning Independence Again): "consisted of drawing up memoranda, writing articles and local news. As yet, they had not made any impact on the world nor had they penetrated the influential circles to present the Czech cause." Dr. Borsky writes further: �36 SLOVAKIA It was only when Milan Rastislav Stefanik ente.red the picture that their action took the first semblance of political leadership. It was through Stefanik's influence that members of the National Council got into prominent political circles. Stefanik's ability and influence 5 ot them both a hearing in high government circles and helped them a<:quire necessary experience in the delicate game of international r;olitics and diplomacy. stefanik's coming to the scene among Czech emigrants gave Masaryk's and Benes's memoranda, articles and news a certain importance. Out of ordinary propaganda efforts in which Masaryk and Benes had been engaged a serious form of political action now began taking shape. This was the logical development because the Slovak scientist was not a political emigrant but a French citizen, known in various diplomatic and international circles where diplomats, politicians, scientists and the elite met quite frequently. Stefanik had entre to the highest French circles. He moved in high society. He was well acquainted, highly respected and admired for his scientific achievements in astronomy. The cause which he represented gained tremendous prestige precisely because of his name. It is baffling to the human mind why Kosik and Osusky - later is still living in America and could tell us sincerely why they as delegates of the American Slovaks did not establish a closer relationship with M. R. Stefanik, a fellow Slovak countryman. At first they wanted to work jndependen\ly. T. G. Masaryk in a letter to the Czech National Alliance in America complained that neither Kosik nor Osusky would take orders from him: "They refused to work for me in London." He had been told by the American Czechs that the American Slovaks were sending him r Slovak secretary! Mamatej made a public statement that appeared in the newspapers during the month of August, 1916: This seemed rather strange to me. At the Congress of the Slovak League in Chicago , we American Slovaks at a united conference on April 12, 19il6, resolved to send two of our American Slovaks to Europe not as secretaries to Professor Masaryk but as our representatives who were assigned to go to England, France and especially to Russia to work for our cause in the spirit of our Cleveland Agreement and, therefore, in behalf of our common goal. How Professor Masaryk got the impression that we were forwarding him a Slovak secretary, I simply do not know. At the end, Gustav Kosik, who, together with Stef~nik went to Russia in August, 1916, accepted and signed the Kiev Agreement for �SLOVAKIA the Slovak League of America by which the Czecho-Slovak National Council in Paris (and dent) as the sole responsible and competent tion that was to cooperate with the official P owers and their associates. 37 League recognized the T. G. Masaryk as presirepresentative organizaagencies of the Allied Thus a delegate of the Slovak League of America formally confirmed the leading position to T. G. Masaryk and Dr. Benes and empowered the Czechs to meet directly "with the official agencies of the Allied Powers." In effect the American Slovaks in deference to the Czecho-Slovak National Council surrendered their right to meet directly with the rest of the nations and their spokesmen. From the contents of the Kiev Agreement (Kijevsky zapis-Kiev document) of August 16-19, 1916, the Czechoslovak nation is mentioned: The Czechs and Slovaks . . . wish to establish a united political and indivisible free Czechoslovak nation under the standard and protection of a four-power pact. Almost immediately Gustav Kosik became the prime target of the American Slovak press for having made this unilateral agreement. Cleveland's Denny Hlas asked: We would like to know who ordered our delegate to sign such a manifesto when we already have a complete and concise agreement that we are in no way working for a Czechoslovak nation but for the Czech and Slovak nations. We call attention to the fact that nowhere in the manifesto are the Slovaks mentioned. There is only the union with the Czechs. How is that? The Ndrodne Noviny observed: In the Cleveland Agreement there was talk of two nations, not of a united nation, an indivisible nation. We do not want to be hoodwinked by anyone. Our delegates in Europe were not admitted to the source of the right information by the 'b rother Czechs who are having conferences with high authorities and speak in our name while completely ignoring the cardinal points of our mutual Cleveland Agreement. We are aware of this, too, in our meetings with them. Our delegates remain outside of closed doors while inside unauthorized persons speak in our name. After a year in Europe, G. Kosik returned to America on May 13, 1917. Upon being asked whether he signed the Kiev Agreement, he answered that both he and Stefanik had signed it. Then he proceeded to explain his action as follows: �38 SLOVAKIA We have long observed in your newspapers the attacks on the point in the Kiev document, namely, that "The Czechs and Slovaks wish to develop into a united political, indivisible and free Czechoslovak nation under the standard and protection of a fourspower pact." Now, to this very day some of our radicals are disgruntled because Kosik signed that agreement. What if he did? By signing it did Stefanik and Kosik abandon anything from the Slovak program? It is necessary only to change the one word, "narod-nation," to "§tat-state" and everything will quiet down. From now on after the public announcement of the Agreement this may be re-written. Then, it was not expedient because we could not anticipate the development of present circumstances and that particular word, may I add, required hard work of both our diplomats and the Czechoslovak military forces. Kosik's explanation satisfied the majority of the American Slovaks, perhaps chiefly because it was Kosik who said it and reassured them, Kosik's reputation and personal integrity, as well as his Slovak patriotism were unquestioned. Essentially, however, there still remained the suspicion that while the Slovaks actually thought the word, "narod", was merely to be interpreted in the sense of "stat" ie., state, the Czechs really and secretly adhered to the literal meaning, ie., in fact it was to be a Czechoslovak nation, and not merely a Czechoslovak state! Dr. Stefan Osusky, the other delegate of the Slovak League, at first known to hold the line precisely to the Slovak national idea, did not return to America nor did he send any further reports to the American Slovaks who had paid his trip to Europe. In a formal sense Osusky was right. The head of the entire movement for the liberation of the Slovaks from the rule of Hungary became the Czecho-Slovak National Council in Paris with the agreement of the delegates of the Slovak League. Osusky made his reports to the Council and from now on followed its orders. He was no longer in the service of the Slovak League but of the Council in Paris. Milan R. Stefanik in America Freedom for the Slovaks and liberation was not possible without the destruction of Austro-Hungary. This monarchy had many influential friends not only in France, England and America but also at the imperial Czar's court in Russia. Economic conditions, as well as centuries-old diplo- �SLOVAKIA 39 matic, political, personal and family connections were on the side of retaining the empire, and it appeared that there were sufficient guarantees for its future existence after the war came to an end. Memorandas, articles and news bulletins of Czech and Slovak emigrants in opposition to this monarchial state would have remained worthless scraps of paper had not the war ended in victory over Austro-Hungary. This was the prelude to a radical turn-over of events. Only war could change an institution that had been created and buttressed by a series of wars. At the opening of the year, 1917, Russia dropped out of the war against Germany and Austro-Hungary. An internal revolution rocked the country and weakened the military resources of Russia, thereby, conveniently removing a formidable foe of Germany and the Central Powers. Accordingly, the Russians made a separate treaty with Germany. The Slovaks lost an ally upon whom they had counted on so heavily. Imperial Russia, the Czar and the army vanished as if in thin air. The Slovaks who had pinned all their hopes on this great power were suddenly disillusioned. They had never thought liberation and freedom could be won without the aid of Russia. For the moment they were stunned and did not know where to turn for much needed help in their struggle. America declared war on Germany on April 2, 1917, and began sending supplies and soldiers to the western front. This coincided with the withdrawal of Russia from the war. The balance of power was more than restored. It was now only a matter of time until one or the other side would triumph. Entry of the United States into the conflict was enthusiastically hailed by the Slovak League of America. President Wilson now replaced the fallen Czar as the Slovak nation's hope for the winning of freedom. M. R. Stefanik came to America in June, 1917, just as the U.S. began sending its military forces in strength to Europe. He came primarily to seek permission to enroll Slovak and Czech volunteers (legionaires) to fight along- �4-0 SLOVAKIA side the allies on the western front. At a meeting in New York City on September 17, 1917, he said: "Our struggle against Austria-Hungary will end only when both of our brother nations, the Czechs and Slovaks, united in an independent state will be rid of MagyarGerman rule." Stefanik succeeded in achieving his purpose of uniting the Slovaks in the final surge to victory. A group of Slovak Catholic priests who met with Stefanik at the Hotel Plaza in New York City on September 20, 1917, accepted a resolution in which they promised to work for the dissolution of Austria-Hungary and that "they would cooperate with the Slovak League, and the program of the Czecho-Slovak National Council, our supreme political institution." The Slovak League of America ceased to be "the supreme political institution for the Slovak nation", instead the national council of Masaryk, Stefanik and Benes was now the supreme political institution in Paris. And what was disastrous was the fact that its program did not include the concept of a free and individual Slovak nation but a Czechoslovak nation in a Czechoslovak state! Military Assistance and Support Incredible as it may seem, this is precisely the way the Slovak League of America came under the political control of the Czech and Slovak emigrants in Paris. Its executive power was usurped and it was exploited for conscription of volunteers and enlistments of Slovak legionaires for the Czechoslovak armed forces . Moreover, the Slovak League was used for raising funds for carrying on the international work of the council in Paris. To fight and pay the bills - that was the ultimate role of the Slovak League of America. It had been pushed aside from political leadership. American Slovaks answered the call to arms in great numbers. They willingly wanted to fight for the freedom of the Slovak nation. Milan Getting who had little faith in the resources of the Slovaks said on this occasion: Taking everything into consider ation, American Slovaks are surprising everybody by their r esponse. Our nation grasps the great im- �SLOVAKIA 41 portance of a corps of fighting men and has shown greater faith in the future destiny of the Slovaks than its leaders. So far, we have more than matched the number of Czech recruits. Each enlistment has brought in at least a half or more than half of Slovak young men ready to fight. Among these volunteers are many of our most respected and beloved young men in various Slovak communities. These are on their way to fight on the battlefields of France. In France, however, the officers' corps was limited to a very small Slovak minority. Father Slavo Moravek volunteered for military duty to serve with his fellow Slovak legionaires. Dr. Eduard Benes, the secretary of the CzechoSlovak National Council, replied from Paris : "I guess our army has no need for a priest." Slovak women in America, either in their own organizations or as members of the 'Vcielky' or 'Priadky' groups carried on a nation-wide campaign for supplies. Jano Jancek, Slovak emigrant soldier who was released from a Russian military camp, came to America and was elected Secretary of the Slovak League. He credited these women with a total amount of goods valued at more than a half-million dollars that was distributed to the armed forces overseas . Both the military and material ai_d by the Slovaks exceeded all expectations. The Million Dollar Campaign War funds were established in every Slovak organization which taxed males 10 cents and females 5 cents each month. A special committee of nine members: 3 Catholic priests, 3 Protestant ministers and 3 civilian leaders were named in the fall of 1917 to raise a million dollars for the financial support of political action in international affairs . Enthusiasm ran high: Two Catholic clergymen, Father Joseph Murgas and Father John Martvon, launched the campaign by each contributing $2,000 and Michael Bosak added his pledge of $5,000. This initial good example followed until approximately $1,000,000 was collected from Slovaks from all walks of life throughout America. This money was allocated by the Slovak League as follows (as Peter P. Jurcak, president of the Slovak League in 1946 records it in his, "The Slovaks", pp. 190-191): �SLOVAKIA 42 Year 1916 1917 1917 1918 1918 1918 1918 1919 1919 1919 1919 1920 1920 1920 1920 1920 1920 1920 1920 1921 1921 Name Amount Czecho-Slo vak National Council in Paris . $ 5,000.00 20,000 .00 ditto in Russia .......... . ....... .. 10,000.00 . ....... .......... ditto in America 120,000.00 .. Council Nat. T. G. Masaryk, Pres. C.S. 36,000.00 Czecho-Slo vak Council in America .... . 3,184.00 Slav Press Bureau .......... ......... . 19,631.00 Expenses of delegation to Slovakia .... . 55,000.00 Dr. Eduard Benes .......... . . ....... . 5,194.00 For Magyar Counter-Pr opaganda in U.S . . 44,500.00 Czecho-Slo vak Nat. Council in America .. Dr. Vavro srobar for propagand a publi10,000.00 cations ... . . . . . . . .... . ...... . ........ . vak Czecho-Slo for Hurban Col. Vladimir 25,000.00 Legionaire s returning from Russia .. .. . Czechothe of T. G. Masaryk, President Slovak Republic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200,000.00 Dr. Alice Masaryk, for Czecho-Slo vak Red 25,000.00 Cross . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Relief sent to Czecho-Slo vakia . . . . . . . . . . 126,000.00 For print. presses, etc., for Slovak Ministry 68,000.00 5,000.00 Bratislava University . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . For counteract ing Magyar propagand a and helping secure loan for Czecho-Slo 9,500.00 vak Republic . .... . .......... ... . . . . . . .00 4,572 Aid to disabled Czecho-Slo vak Veterans . 4,000.00 For High School in Petrovec . ........ . Czecho-Slo vak National Council in Amer5,000.00 ica .......... .......... .......... .... . Total ....... ... .......... . .... . ....... . $800,911.00 It is significant to note that not one dollar was given to M. R. Stefanik! Everything went to T . G. Masaryk, to his daughter or followers, Benes and srobar. The expenses of G. Kosik's and st. Osusky's trip to Europe are not listed. Nothing is recorded as aid to Slovak prisoners of war in Russia. This and other expenses for publicity in America, the pay of employees , press, etc., must have added up to an additional tidy sum. As the war came to an end there is a marked drop-off �SLOVAKIA 43 in donations, as also seen in the above report. This was quite in evidence in the political field, too. The Pittsburgh Pact Note that the United States, which declared war on Germany in April, 1917, did not declare hostilities upon Austria-Hungary. But the Slovaks in America from 1914 on openly declared themselves hostile to a monarchy that deprived the Slovaks of their freedom in their European homeland. The moment of decision for the Slovaks was based on their convictions, not on a calculated risk, as was the case of many American Czechs who could not be persuaded to accept the possibility of the destruction of the ancient Austro-Hungarian Empire. Even after the outbreak of war between America and Germany the position of Austria-Hungary in America was not hopeless. Defenders of the old Empire had high hopes of saving it. But these hopes were somewhat dimmed by President Wilson's recommendation to Congress on December 4, 1917, to declare war on Austria-Hungary. Yet, this act did not doom the Hapsburg Empire, for there was not any plan at the time to break up the ancient imperial state. Wilson, himself, on December 4, 1917, and on January 8, 1918, in his 14 points did not recommend the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In fact, he said: "We do not wish to weaken or reorganize the Austro-Hungarian Empire." Reaction of the allied powers to Wilson's speech in January, 1918, was of a general nature. Liberation on the Slovaks and Czechs from foreign rule did not necessarily mean the disintegration of the old empire and much less the creation of a new state of Czecho-Slovakia. Declaration of war on Austria-Hungary by the U.S. changed the situation quite radically, however. Demands for the break-up of the Hapsburg empire became more insistent. Foremost among the new states proposed was Czecho-Slovakia. As the movement for liberation became more certain, the more vociferously did the adherents of Czechoslovak- �44 SLOVAKIA ism push the Slovak League into Czech clutches. Accordingly, on February 9, 1918, in Chicago representatives of the Slovaks and Czechs organized a branch of the CzechoSlovak National Council in which eight Slovaks from the Slovak League and eight Czechs from the Bohemian National Alliance were enrolled. This eventually resulted in unity of action and organization, and in effect was a virtual recognition by the Slovak League that the Czecho-Slovak National Council in Paris was now the supreme agency for the struggle for freedom. T. G. Masaryk had waited for this development. He immediately announced that he would come to America. In six weeks he was here to lead the Czechs and Slovaks to victory . . . a triumph of his Czechoslovak ideology of a 'Czechoslovak nation' in a united Czechoslovak state! At first Masaryk was welcomed with great enthusiasm but this was short-lived. Jednota (May 22, 1918) had these comments: This activity, as Masaryk understands it, is only for the benefit of the Czechs, with the Slovaks helping, of course. If we are fighting and working for a Greater Bohemia, we are not fighting or working for our own interests but only for the Czechs. The struggle for a Greater Czechia is not worth one Slovak cent, nor one drop of Slovak blood. We want pure wine. We want to know whether we are fighting for a Greater Czechia or for a free, self-governing Slovakia and for a free, self-governing Czechia. T . G. Masaryk was informed of this challenge. In his subsequent remarks - as a wily tactician - he directed a few inane statements for the benefit of the Slovaks. These, oddly enough, inspired the Slovak League's press bureau to hail him as 'the greatest living Slovak' and as 'our great father and leader'! Moreover, all the Slovak newspapers got into the spirit of the moment and out did each other in an outburst of superlatives, expressing their affection, loyalty and trust in the hero of the moment, Masaryk himself. Nevertheless, the bulk of the American Slovaks was not taken in by this synthetic expression of admiration for Masaryk. What he said so nicely and smoothly they wanted down on paper, black on white, so to speak. Finally, on May 30, 1918, T. G. Masaryk picked up a copy of the Cleveland Agreement, read it, took a sheet �SLOVAKIA 45 of paper and wrote down in pencil a personal draft to be proposed as an "Agreement or Contract." Masaryk's original copy, announced the press bureau of the Slovak League of America, "firmly establishes the relationship between the two branches." (Not nations, as it stood properly in the Cleveland Agreement-my comment) . "One copy of this agreement," reported the bureau, "will be forwarded to Albert Mamatej , president of the Slovak League, who will officially make it public shortly. Professor Masaryk thus has completed his mission among the Slovaks with whom he met in a conference in Pittsburgh." Thomas Masaryk's agreement written and signed by him is called the Pittsburgh Pact, therefore as of May 30, 1918. Its main articles are these : Slovakia will have its own administration, its own parliament, its own courts. Slovak will be the official language in the schools, in the administration and in public life. Did Masaryk intend to abide by the agreement when he drew it up and personally signed it? This question was intriguing until he clarified it in his book, "World Revolution-Svetova revolucia," 1925, p. 262: "I signed the agreement," writes the author, "which was an agreement between American Slovaks and American Czechs. This was done to satisfy a small Slovak faction which dreamed of God knows what kind of independent Slovakia . . . the agreement was a local one . . . among the Czechs and Slovaks of America." According to Masaryk's testimony, therefore, the agreement was not between the Slovak and Czech nations, not even between a group of Slovak and Czech representatives of their respective societies in this country, but an ordinary local expedient agreement "to satisfy a small Slovak faction." Obviously, it was never meant to be considered in the planning of the foundation of the Czecho-Slovak state either by Masaryk or the Czechs themselves. Masaryk brushed aside the Slovaks rudely by this action, broke his word of honor and proclaimed his signature genuine but worthless, and in the same work (World Revolution-Svetova revolucia, 1925, page 105) he discounted the financial aid of the Slovaks as insignificant: �46 SLOVAKIA While I was in Russia. Dr. Benes received money in Paris. I estimate the amount at about $300,000. The cost of our activity did not reach the sum of a million Dollars. The money came from Czech sources. During the war Slovak contributions were very small. As president, after the war I received $200,000 but in this was included money from my personal American friends. What these 'very small' contributions actually were we have noted above in Jurcak's official report, as contained in his book, "The Slovaks". The fact is they were not 'very small' and the payment each time in sums of several hundred thousands dollars during and after the war to Masaryk directly or indirectly ( to the Czecho-Slovak National Council in Paris) were ear-marked from the Slovaks in America, and not from the Czechs. Masaryk's career as a statesman and his enduring fame would have been crowned by an aura of glory instead of being clouded by suspicion and disillusionment had he, as a man of honor, kept his word and publicly recognized the genuine contributions of the American Slovaks to the building of the Czecho-Slovak state. Delegates of the Slovak League in Slovakia Czecho-Slovakia as a free and independent republic was not proclaimed by the National Council in Paris but in the United States, and that by its branch, the CzechoSlovak National Council in America. It was on October 18, 1918, in Washington, D.C. in the form of a proclamation by Thomas G. Masaryk, provisional president, and for Dr. Milan R. Stefanik, minister of national defense, and Dr. Eduard Benes, minister of internal and foreign affairs. Neither Stefanik nor Benes were present but Masaryk signed for them by proxy. Thomas G. Masaryk compiled the proclamation but, as he writes later, he first submitted it to the scrutiny of American legal advisers. Then he presented a handwritten document to the State Department and the White House. "I presented the proclamation to the Secretary of State, Lansing, so that I would be assured of the approval of the American government," Masaryk explained in his memoirs. Official reference to the Slovaks in this historical document was unfortunate. indeed. He wrote: "The rights �SLOVAKIA 47 of the Czechs may be united with their Slovak brethren in Slovakia, once a part of our (Czech) state .. ." In effect, this meant that Slovakia was being re-united with the Czech state to which it had at one time been united as r. part of a whole. Not historically true at all. An agreement between the Czechs and Slovaks had been made as a 50-50 proposition but Masaryk ignored it completely. The new state was to be organized on his own terms. The Slovaks understood their fight was for their freedom but now Masaryk was saying they were shedding their blood for the right of the Czechs to rule the Slovaks. In one official declaration Masaryk had erased the rights of the Slovaks to their national freedom, the right of selfdetermination of the Slovak nation, the right to a federal union of states ( Slovakia and Bohemia in Czecho-Slovakia, a united state), the right to a Slovak law-making body in the Slovak capital, the right to Slovak schools and courts, the right to a Slovak political administration. ~tefanik was understandably displeased with the proclamation to which Masaryk appended his name by proxy. In his book, "My Role in the Czecho-Slovak Fiiht for Freedom," General Janin, who was in Russia with ~tefanik at the time, writes: Stefanik was greatly disturbed, he was indignant that the proclamation had been made under his name when he was not even informed of its contents. He showed me a long telegram addressed to Masaryk and Benes concerning the proclamation of October 18, 1918. Meanwhile, T . G. Masaryk after agreement with Benes and Kramat ( who was in Switzerland) became provisional president of the Czecho-Slovak Republic. As such, he signed the original draft of the Pittsburgh Agreement on November 18, 1918, which Albert Mamatej presented to him for his signature before Masaryk returned to Paris. In his farewell message, Masaryk said: "America will have a place of honor in the history of the liberation movement in behalf of Czecho-Slovakia." Unfortunately, we have already seen above what 'place of honor' Masaryk reserved for the American Slovaks who did so much meritorious work in the struggle, but received little credit for it. Masaryk left the U.S. as provisional president of the �SLOVAKIA proposed Czecho-Slovak Republic.. Soon afterwards reports from Slovakia came to America. American Slovaks were very much disturbed by the reports coming from post-war Slovakia. Slovak Catholic priests were especially aroused by news of Czech indignities against religion in Slovakia. They grasped now in what spirit the international policy of the Czecho-Slovak National Council had been inspired and they sensed what grave consequences it had brought in the Slovaks' homeland. Rev. Jan Liscinsky characterized the entire situation: "The Slovaks freed themselves from Magyar oppression only to be enslaved under a Czech banner." Father Dianiska, after studying the post-war situation carefully, wrote that srobar selected only as associates and delegates who had been educated and trained in Praha, hence the entire personnel was Czechophile and uncertain in matters of religion. Dr. Dianiska concluded rightfully that 'a period of misfortune was in store for the Slovak nation, both politically and religiously.' First-hand information was necessary. Accordingly, the Slovak League hastened to send a number of observers to Slovakia. A five-man delegation was designated, namely, Jozef Rusek, Dr. M. Francisci, Edo Kovach, M. Getting and J. Matloch. They left America on March 7, 1919, and Rev. Pavol Siska, a representative of the Jednota (First Catholic Slovak Union) accompanied them. Later Ignac Gessay joined the delegation. The mission was to investigate conditions and report to their Slovak League colleagues and the American Slovaks who had subscribed to the Pittsburgh Agreement, a photostatic copy of which they carried to 'liberated Slovakia.' Immediately upon their arrival in Slovakia in the spring of 1919, they sensed that the Slovak nation was in the thick of a struggle for its rights. But there was much confusion and they, too, were confused by the swift rush of events. The longer they stayed, however, the clearer insight they got into the real situation. Nevertheless, even Jozef Rusek was baffled for a time so that he leaned towards the corps of slick-talking Czechoslovak politicians who assured him they were doing the right thing for Slovakia! �SLOVAKIA 49 At the Scranton (Pa.) Congress of the Slovak League on May 29, 1919, Husek reported: The government people in Bratislava oppose autonomy, they favor instead a central parliament, a central government and they hold that the Czechs and Slovaks constitute one nation, the Slovak language being only a Czech dialect! Autonomy would prevent a lingiustic union with the Czechs. That is why we were not well received in Bratislava, nor was our Pittsburgh Agreement agreeable to them. We were received with joy in Ruzomberok, Hlinka's kingdom. So was our Pittsburgh document. Some of Hlinka's views I do not like, particularly his vociferous agitation against Dr. Srobar, a minister. And it is a fact that Magyar renegades are filtering into Hlinka's party. The Magyars praise Hlinka as a fine man because he demands autonomy for Slovakia, and because he is in opposition to the Czechs. Some of Husek's observations were true to the facts. It is true that Hlinka stood firmly behind the demand for autonomy for an independent Slovak nation while srobar advocated Czechoslovakism, amalgamation with the Czechs. srobar was against the Pittsburgh Agreement, Hlinka was for it. Husek was wrong, however, in claiming that Magyar elements joined Hlinka's party exclusively. As a matter of record, the 1920 parliamentary elections proved that the majority of Magyars were in parties led by Ivan Derer and srobar. This was acclaimed as a virtue if the 'mad'ar6ni' (Magyar sympathizers) belonged to their political parties, but a vice if they returned as prodigal sons to Hlinka's party. What policy did Husek advocate as a policy for the Slovak League of America? The less we speak of autonomy, the better for Slovakia and the new republic at this time. There is no need to be fearful. Autonomy will not vanish in thin air. To declare opposition now would be aiding the Magyar cause. When Slovakia becomes of age, it will take what rightfully belongs to it. And autonomy belongs by natural right to Siovakia. A reasonable statement of policy. Self-government or autonomy would not disappear. Slovakia would get it sometime in the future ... and it did, but only after a bitter struggle that lasted a full score years (1919-1938) ! Why, then, was it necessary to get the Slovaks to agree on a 50-50 proposition with the Czechs in the first place? What good were the Memorandum, the Cleveland Agreement and the Pittsburgh Pact? For what purpose did so many American Slovaks pour out their lifeblood on the �50 SLOVAKIA battlefield of France? Why was it necessary for the Slovak nation to carry on a 20-yr. struggle for the incorporation of the principles of the Pittsburgh Pact into the Constitution of Czecho-Slovakia when the American Slovaks could have readily put it into the Constitution, and even into the peace treaty as did the American Ruthenians ( Carpathian Rusins) under the leadership of zatkovic? And the Ruthenians were far from being as politically mature or developed as the Slovaks. From the very beginning the Slovak struggle abroad might well have been successfully completed if the American Slovaks had been allowed to incorporate their principles in the Constitution so that the Slovak nation would have had a constitutional right to self-rule in its own autonomous state, and their needless fight for autonomy would have been avoided. Moreover, there would have been an international basis and guarantee for their just rights, and the Slovak people would have had self-rule in their historic homeland. If American Slovaks had intervened in Washington and later had presented their case to the American delegation at the peace conference in Paris, it is certain that the right of the Slovaks to autonomy in Slovakia would have been seriously considered and debated as an international problem, and the outcome would surely have been the same as that of the Rusins whose demand for autonomy was officially registered in the Peace Treaty of St. Germaine, on September 10, 1919. But foes of Slovak freedom and Hlinka's party saw to it that every possible means was used to divide the Slovak League and Andrej Hlinka. Gradually the Slovak League began leaning to the view that Hlinka's fight in behalf of the Pittsburgh Pact was a cover-up for his personal feud with Srobar. It was becoming more and more apparent that strong pressure of Czechoslovak groups both in Slovakia and America was being applied to the Slovak League. Matters involved in this struggle became even more confusing when Milan Getting, a Slovak League delegate in Bratislava, persuaded the organization to finance a propaganda or press bureau in Bratislava to the tune of �SLOVAKIA 51 $68,000. srobar managed to buy a printing establishment in the Slovak capital for these funds and happily set up a propaganda center to fight Hlinka and oppose all autonomists in the country. Assuredly, this development did not bring Andrej Hlinka and the Slovak League of America to any mutual understanding or a friendly relationship. Andrej Hlinka's Delegates in America In memoirs, Z<ipisky z Mirova, Bratislava, 1941, Andrej Hlinka is quoted on page 31: I know the Slovak people, for I am one of their sons. All my life I have kept my finger on the Slovak nation's pulse. I have heard every beat of the Slovak heart. I aroused the Slovak people to action and I gave them hope. I sowed an idea in their minds. The people accepted all of my ideas but they did not relish the Czechoslovak idea of brotherhood. I did not sleep or rest. The idea troubled me. But for the sake of preserving the Slovak nation, I argued, I must give the people this bitter pill, yet in a sugar-coated form . It is better to live with somebody, I assured my troubled conscience, than to die alone. The people found it hard to swallow the bitter pill. Their natural instincts rebelled against it. It seems these were much wiser and stronger than my way of thinking. And so I find myself regretting a blunder committed against the primitive natural instincts of my own people. All I can pray and hope for is the chance to correct this grave error and redeem myself. If I fail in this, I feel certain the people will forgive me and will not hold it against me. A year ago I sinned because I was not sufficiently cautious or zealous enough in the struggle for the Slovak nation's right to liberty. I failed the people in a historical moment in the midst of my struggle ti) which I have devoted almost a lifetime of energy and sacrifice. First, I faltered because I went to Martin on October 30, 1918. Had I not gone there that day, I would not be conscience-stricken today. (This Hlinka wrote while held in prison by the Czechs in Mirov, October 16, 1919). Mistakes are made, even in politics. What is important is to realize one's erring ways and correct them in time. Andrej Hlinka, therefore, went to repair the damage by setting out for the peace conference in Paris during the month of August, 1919. His intention was to incorporate a guarantee of the Slovak nation's right to autonomy in the peace treaty. Hlinka's journey to Paris was in vain. The Slovak leader's venture would have been successful, perhaps, had the Slovak delegation joined him and �52 SLOVAKIA through the American representatives in Paris presented Hlinka's request at the peace conference. Paris was the logical place for the fusion of Hlinka's domestic program with the Slovak League's proposals and the official presentation of the united program at the Peace Conference. Instead, Andrej Hlinka, armed only with the Memorandum, and alone, sought entry to the Peace parley in Paris. This was not a vain gesture of an obscure adventurer seeking cheap publicity. There was history behind him. He was a prominent Slovak political leader at 55, his was a distinguished record as a patriotic leader with three years of prison because of his defense of the Slovak nation. The cernova affair that had taken the lives of 15 of his fellow countrymen was known all over the world. Thousands of articles in Slovak periodicals at home and in America alone made him famous. As founder of many societies and organizations he was a popular figure at home . . . and in the background he had the good will of eminent Polish leaders who were sympathetic to the Slovak cause. In Slovak history it remains a sad and regrettable fact that Hlinka and the Slovak League delegation did not join forces in Paris. They lacked mutual understanding of each other personally. This was the cockle that had been sown by Derer and srobar. The Slovak League confined its activity to writing memoranda for the Prague government. Here on October 24, 1919, its representatives did, however, express the desire for the gradual introduction of autonomy in Slovakia "according to the circumstances and possibilities," and they requested further "a guarantee for the incorporation of self-government into the basic state laws, namely, in the Constitution of Czecho-Slovakia, and along the lines drawn up in the Agreement between Masaryk and ourselves." In reality it was merely a paper request. Moreover, it was presented as a plea with the added proviso, "self-government need not be established or introduced immediately, there is no urgency for such action, however." Neither srobar nor his Czechoslovak associates paid any attention to so woefully weak a request. To achieve results at the time it was absolutely neces- �SLOVAKIA 53 sary for the personal appearance of Andrej Hlinka at the Paris Conference, but with the full backing of the moral and material resources of the Slovaks at home and abroad on the solid platform of Slovak autonomy. The time for mere Memoranda had passed. The time for dynamic action had arrived. Unfortunately, Andrej Hlinka found himself alone in Paris. He knew he had no official support, but somehow he kept faith and hoped for a miracle in the impending crisis. No miracle occured to save the situation. Hlinka, disappointed and defeated, returned home where he was immediately arrested and taken to prison by the Czechs because he had dared to go to Paris to re• present the Slovak nation personally. But he had not for. gotten the American Slovaks. While still in Paris, he dis• patched two emissaries to America, namely, Dr. Jozef Rudinsky and Jozef Kubala. Passports and visas for these two men were given by the Poles who had previously furnished Hlinka with a Polish passport to go to Paris. Precisely on October 13, 1919, when Hlinka was seized and taken to the Mirov prison by his Czech captors, the emissaries (Father Rudinsky and Kubala) arrived in America. On October 24, 1919, they addressed an extraordinary meeting of the executive council of the Slovak League in Pittsburgh, Pa. Dr. Jozef Rudinsky visualized clearly the aim of Slovak policy as the gradual realization of the Slovak nation's natural rights as guaranteed by the Pittsburgh Pact. The minutes of this special session reveal what Rudinsky said of Hlinka's party, namely, that 'the party wanted a gradual introduction of self-rule but demanded that this autonomy, ie., the agreement, be registered immediately in Paris.' After a long discussion at this executive meeting, nothing definite was decided upon. The Slovak League was still overshadowed by the Rusek report, ie., too much emphasis on autonomy at the time would only profit the Magyar side . This was contrary to the mission of Hlinka's emissaries who had been sent to America for the primary purpose of winning the American Slovaks to Andrej Hlinka and his party's policy of concentrating all their efforts on �54 SLOVAKIA winning autonomy as soon as possible, or at least have the guarantee approved and registered at the Peace Conference in Paris. Outcome of the meetings and subsequent conferences was the 'Statement and Public Testimony of the Slovak League' in which the League's spokesmen explained their negative stand in regards to the delegates sent to them by Andrej Hlinka. Three reasons were given for their attitude: 1) The delegates had sounded a discordant note in the existing harmony betw~en the Czechs and Slovaks abroad, as well as at home, by their publicized views. 2) They lacked a Czecho-Slovak passport; they had passports furnished by the Polish government in Paris. 3) Andrej Hlinka, the head of the Slovak People's Party (Slovenska 13udova Strana) had gone to Paris with a Polish passport and visa, not one from Czecho-Slovakia. Misunderstanding only widened the gulf between the real fighters for the Pittsburgh Pact: Hlinka's party in Slovakia and the Slovak League in America. This served only one purpose, ie., the prolonging of the struggle by 20 years until the common goal of Slovak freedom and selfrule was reached in 1938. Intervention i n behalf of the Pittsburgh Pact in vain Despite the manifest refusal to Andrej Hlinka's invitation to join him and the Slovak People's Party in the struggle for autonomy ( the Slovak League's brain-child) the Slovak League could not renounce the Pittsburgh Pact. Though publicly disavowing collaboration with Andrej Hlinka, the League on its own initiative began taking steps to put the Pittsburgh Agreement into actual practice in Slovakia. This gesture, though somewhat shaky and lacking the early confidence that had been solidly based on conviction, was made in the right direction, however. As late as 1919 a branch of the Czecho-Slovak National Council was still operating in America. On November 7, 1919, it announced that "the approved representatives of the American Slovaks requested that the Pittsburgh Agreement be considered for incorporation by the National �SLOVAKIA 55 Assembly in the Constitution of the Czecho-Slovak Republic." Armed with this request and with a resolution of the Slovak League in his pocket, Albert Mamatej, the president of the Slovak League, went to Czecho-Slovakia. He presented the Pittsburgh Agreement to srobar and Hodza, both of whom declared it was both bad and unnecessary. Milan Hodza openly stated: "Slovak autonomy - that is the motto of Magyar politicians. Slovak autonomy - that is the motto of Polish politicias. And that for us is a significant warning." That autonomy for Slovakia was the fulfillment of Slovak aspirations in America, as well as a good motto, and that the same program inspired Hlinka's policy in Slovakia designed for the Slovak nation's destiny as a selfgoverning state, did not occur either to Mamatej or his Slovak associates. srobar and Hodza simply refused to take cognizance of this reality. Mamatej returned to America with the resolution of srobar and Hodza, rejecting autonomy for Slovakia. He also brought the declaration of the Slovak representatives (Srobar's) at the Revolutionary National Assembly in Prague. They declared on February 6, 1920: "Autonomy would place an enormous financial burden on the Slovak nation but everything that is essentially in the Pittsburgh Agreement has been incorporated into the Constitution except a separate parliament, which under present circumstances, would be detrimental to Slovakia." Albert Mamatej was taken in. He believed all this and acted accordingly. Hence, he recommended what he was told in Praha, ie., the best future for the Slovak nation was to accept the status of 'Czechoslovakism' as part of a train pulled on the Czech main track and run by a Czech engineer . . . of course, the fireman was naturally a Slovak .. . and this, explained Mamatej naively, was in full accord with the Pittsburgh Pact! On the otherhand, it seemed that Mamatej feared that the Pittsburgh Pact would be exploited by the Magyars or Poles, nor did he have trust in the Czechoslovak group of �56 SLOVAKIA the Slovak ongm in Prague. Therefore, he felt that the Agreement was to be entrusted to Andrej Hlinka although the Slovak leader was still in prison at Mirov in Moravia. Ultimately, the Pittsburgh Agreement was to be incorporated in the Constitution of the Czecho-Slovak Republic. Such was the assurance given Mamatej by the Prague politicians. Yet, when the Constitution was approved by the national assembly on February 29, 1920, there was no reference to Slovak autonomy or self-government in Slovakia, and there was .no distinction made on the question of the 'Individuality of the Slovak nation'! To offset the success of the mission of Dr. Rudinsky and Kubala in America, the Prague government hastily sent its agents to this country. Rev. Ladislav Moys and Jan Pocisk, a Social Democratic leader, arrived in America on March 2, 1920. Father Liscinsky declared frankly that Father Moys, an old Slovak but totally unqualified in the game of political legerdemain, was 'a disgrace to the Slovak Catholics.' Moys' first report to his masters in Prague was that aside from a small faction, American Slovaks were "anti-autonomistic." . This statement was labelled publicly by the · Slovak Catholic Federation as a fabrication and a fable. The executive committee of the federation on October 12, 1920, made this declaration: We resent Rev. Moys' insinuation with abhorrence, and we reassure our brethren beneath the Tatras in Slovakia that American Slovaks now more than ever before adhere to the Pittsburgh Agreement because during the visit of Rev. Moys and Mr. Pocisk they had ample opportunity to become convinced that the foes of this documentary agreement consider every reasonable basis for mutual understanding presented by the Slovaks as useless. Unfortunately, Albert Mamatej, having been named a consul of Czecho-Slovakia in Pittsburgh, joined the Czechoslovak camp. In his letters, addressed to his chief, Benes in Prague, who was minister of foreign affairs, Mamatej attacked autonomism and its adherents and turned against the ideals he had represented so ably and so well during the war. He died suddenly, disillusioned and alone. His widow and three children received a monthly pension of $15.00 . Thus did Prague value a man who had �SLOVAKIA 57 carried out its wishes and had performed services contrary to his personal convictions and his fine wartime record in behalf of the Slovak cause of freedom. Mamatej, president of the Slovak League, was dead. But the ideal which had been the essence of Slovak political policy at home and in America was very much alive. Alongside the Slovak Catholic Federation the idea of an autonomous Slovakia took hold once again in the Slovak League of America, which after Mamatej's demise was directed by prominent American Slovaks who gave it the leadership it deserved. Wh~ the presidents were unable to devote full time to the Slovak League, it was that gallant secretary, Jan Kocur, who performed all necessary tasks with devotion and ability and kept the embers glowing in the old glorious tradition of self-government or autonomy for Slovakia. Andrej Blinka in America Slovak life in America slowly began losing its onetime vitality and ardor. It always happens that way ... in the lives of individuals and in the history of organizations. There is a time of development and progress followed by eclipse and eventual decline. Circumstances were unfavorable and decline was inevitable. Slovak daily newspapers in America suffered a sudden recession while many periodicals simply vanished. Old workers grew old or died, and aid from the old country was cut off as the energy of the Slovaks was directed to the defense of the Slovak nation's right to national survival. American Slovaks were in need of moral support at this time, for the new generation, though often possessing the Slovak spirit of its forebears, discovered it was far easier and more advantageous to speak English rather than the Slovak language of their parents. Nonetheless, even under increasing unfavorable circumstances, there were frequent instances of an unusual vital interest in the Slovak League and in the Slovak nation's struggle for freedom in its historic homeland. �58 SLOVAKIA By far, the majority of American Slovaks remained staunchly loyal to their ancient heritage and their ideals as expressed in the Pittsburgh Agreement to which they manifestly showed a deep attachment. A Committee of Friends of Slovak Freedom sprang up to keep alive the spirit of dedication to the Slovak cause. Contributions, moral, financial and cultural, of existing organizations throughout America did not cease completely. Undoubtedly the great event of this era in the midtwenties was the visit of Andrej Hlinka to America. The occasion was the Eucharistic Congress in Chicago. The heroic warrior came accompanied by Dr. Jozef Buday on June 5, 1926, and his visit lasted until October 13, ... a four months' stay among his fellow countrymen in America. Hlinka came to America in answer to the invitation of the Committee of Friends of Slovak Freedom, headed by .Jozef Husek, and the Slovak League, whose president was Ivan Bielek. Anticipated with great joy throughout America where Slovaks lived, Hlinka's visit was heralded by Jozef Husek's letter of April 25, 1926, assuring the Slovak leader of a warm welcome: You will not run into any trouble here, as there is only a handful of Czechoslovaks here and they are incapable of organizing any serious protest meeting. I personally guarantee your visit will be a great success. The people idolize you and your visit will fulfill their great desire to see you personally and welcome you. Ivan Bielek, president of the Slovak League, wrote in the American press that Hlinka was invited everywhere for a Sunday appearance. "Consider," reported Bielek, "that to date we have a total of 136 requests for a Sunday date. This means if we want to satisfy everyone, our distinguished guest, Andrej Hlinka, will have to remain here with us for more than two years ." Overflow crowds welcomed Andrej Hlinka and listened avidly to his addresses from the Atlantic to the midwest throughout the summer on weekends. In his final farewell to his fellow Slovak countrymen �SLOVAKIA 59 in America on October 11, 1926, Hlinka made this public statement: You received me as a national hero. I do not deserve this great honor. But if I have not as yet attained that eminent status, your affection and generosity have insipired me to aspire to rise to such noble stature. I am leaving you. I bid you farewell but not in tears or sorrow. Your success and happiness here fill me with national pride. I take with me your message in the words of the immortal Furdek: "O, thou blue Tatra . .. We, your children, have wandered far from thee. Weep not! Your clan even beyond the great ocean remains loyal to thee." God bless you, God keep you, God strengthen you. Do not forget that your cradle stood beneaith the Tatras, your beloved Motherland, our sorely-tried and suffering Slovakia. Goodbye my Slovak nation . . . Goodbye my fellow Slovak countrymen in America. The Slovak League Delegation in Slovakia Autonomy Achieved There had been a number of smaller or larger delegations sent from America to Slovakia and vice versa_ Among these were those sent by the Spolok sv. Vojtecha from Trnava and the Matica Slovenska from Turciansky Sv. Martin. Neither was the occasion for a mutual cultural exchange. The American Slovaks were on the receiving end on both occasions, they were passive recipients. They received a large number of Slovak works in literature, in return they were able to offer some two or three of their own books. Consequently, Slovak books from Slovakia found a ready market in America. But there were political delegations from America. One of these came to Trencin to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Pittsburgh Ag-reement. It joined Hlinka for the celebration. Perhaps the most important visit to America in 1937 was that of the Spolok sv. Vojtecha (among the delegates was Msgr. Jozef Tiso) that followed the earlier visit of a Matica Slovenska delegation. Of supreme importance politically was the visit of the Slovak League delegation to Slovakia in May, 1938. Members comprising the group were Dr. Peter P. Hletko, president, Josef Husek, one of the original signers of the Pittsburgh Pact, Dominik Sloboda, Michal Sincak and Rev. Jozef Rolik. The delegation brought with it the original draft of the Pittsburgh Agreement to the celebration which �60 SLOVAKIA was held on June 4, 1938, in commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the signing of the historic document in Pittsburgh, Pa. (May 30, 1918). As a symbolic act the first official visit of the Slovak League delegation in Czecho-Slovakia was to Andrej Hlinka ... symbolic in the sense of the mutual unity of ideals and purpose between the American Slovaks and their fellow countrymen in Slovakia. The Slovak League delegation, therefore, did not present itself with the Pittsburgh Agreement to its Slovak and Czech opponents in Bratislava or Prague, but went directly first to its great friend, champion and foremost associate, Andrej Hlinka, in Ruzomberok. This deliberate act manifestly emphasized the unity of thought and purpose of the Slovaks at home and in America. Thus, as the First Slovak League delegation which had brought the Pittsburgh Agreement to Czecho-Slovakia at the birth of that republic, so now, it was the last Slovak League delegation that had come with the self-same historic document at the eleventh hour to persuade the leaders of the Czecho-Slovak Republic to accept and put into practical operation the principles enunciated in the Pittsburgh Agreement. In vain had been the attempt of the first Slovak League delegation, and even more of a failure was the coming of the Slovak League delegation from America as far as the centralists in Prague or Bratislava were concerned. Though the Republic was threatened by foreign powers on every side, these stubbornly refused to accept the Pittsburgh Agreement as the basis for a mutual understanding between the Slovaks and the Czechs. At least this situation set the stage for the fulfillment of Husek's prophecy uttered at a meeting of the Slovak League in America upon his return from Slovakia in May, 1919: No need to be afraid. Autonomy will not run away. When Slovakia will grow up to maturity, it will take what rightfully belongs to the Slovak nation ... and autonomy belongs to it! As a matter of fact, autonomy did not run away in those 20 years. How could it? Andrej Hlinka had held it �SLOVAKIA 61 firmly in his noble and strong hands. It was his blood and his whole life. Hlinka, whom Martin Razus, a Protestant poet, patriot and clergyman, joined, made Slovakia his country. Hlinka and Razus in mind and heart by their work, industry and devotion nourished the spirit of Slovakia so that it grew out of its infancy, became strong and reached maturity. Prematurely, Martin Razus died in 1937; and Andrej Hlinka followed , though at the age of 74, in 1938, less than t wo months before Slovakia in October really took unto herself what had always been hers by natural right, and guaranteed by the Pittsburgh Agreement in 1918. The glorious day of self-government, or autonomy, for the Slovak nation dawned in the early fall of 1938 but neither was present to celebrate this long-awaited victory and hardwon triumph inside the Czecho-Slovak Republic. Hlinka died on August 15, 1938; and a member of the Slovak League delegation, Dominik Slaboda, bade farewell to the reverend warrior at his grave . Slaboda took up a handful of Slovak earth from Hlinka's graveside and carried it to America as a memento of the great Slovak leader and fighter for the sacred principles of the Pittsburgh Pact. Slovakia seised autonomy because in the year, 1938, it had grown out of childhood into adulthood, and autonomy rightfully belonged to her as a natural right. No one can deny that it was truly a crime to be attributed to the Czech, the Slovak, and Czechoslovak opponents of the Pittsburgh Pact that they blocked the incorporation of the articles of self-government for Slovakia in the Constitution of the Republic of Czecho-Slovakia until Martin Razus and Andrej Hlinka passed on into eternity. Upon opening page 1,161 of the 1938 annual "Sbirky zakonu a natizeni statu Cesko-Slovenskeh o" ( Collection of the laws and regulations of the Czecho-Slovak State) I read: Constitutional L aw of November 22, 1938 on the Autonomy for Slovakia The National Assembly on the premise that the Czecho-Slovak Republic was form ed on the basis of the agreement of the sovereign �62 SLOVAKIA will of two equal nations, that in the Pittsburgh Agreement the Slovak nation was promised complete autonomy, and motivated by the desire to bring the Slovak and Czech nations into a friendly relationship in the spirit of the 2ilina Agreement, approves the following law: (Then follow several paragraphs of this Constitutional Law) Paragraph after paragraph follow, the same as weeks and months and days, and years, that were spent in a prolonged, self-sacrificing struggle for the recognition of the Pittsburgh Pact so that finally, the words, "Pittsburghska dohoda," might be inserted in the Constitution of the Czecho-Slovak Republic! And the word, 'Autonomy,' became an actual fact: The word became flesh! Appreciation is due to the Slovak League of America for creating the Pittsburgh Pact and thanks to its staunch defender, Andrej Hlinka, who together with the Slovak League saw eye to eye in the matter so that eventually the Slovak nation was granted what was a natural right from the very beginning of time. As a final happy conclusion to a mutual understanding and a united effort in the struggle for the Slovak nation's freedom and self-government, the outcome was a triumph that marked a new phase in the history of the Slovak people in central Europe. The Slovak nation emerged victoriously as a self-governing, united people whose national destiny in the heart of Europe was assured because the Slovaks in their homeland and abroad had been willing to make sacrifices for their ideals, had cooperated with their leaders and had persevered in the struggle until final victory. THE SLOVAK LEAGUE OF AMERICA represents an overwhelming majority of organized Americans of Slovak descent; actively affiliated with it are the largest Slovak fraternals, religious organizations, Slovak Clubs and Slovak civic organizations in the United States. � SLOVAKIA 29 THE SLOVAK LEAGUE OF AMERICA AND THE SLOVAK NATION'S STRUGGLE FOR AUTONOMY By Karoi Sidor I have selected the quarter of a century of history of the Slovak League of America (1914-1939 ) as my topic for r eview and analysis in order to show its influence on the future destiny of the Slovak nation in its historic homeland. My work " Slovaci v zahranicnom odboji" (The Slovaks ±n the Struggle Abroad ), 264 pp., which was published in 1928 in Bratislava, serves me well in the present instance. My book, as I noted in the preface, proves that liberation of the Slovak nation from Magyar rule was not the work of the Czechs, nor was it a gift from them, but the main work in Slovakia's liberation in the first World War ( 19141918 ) was accomplished by the Slovaks under the auspices of the Slovak League of America. "It is impossible to evaluate the participation of the Slovaks in the fight for freedom in Czecho-Slovakia", I wrote in the preface, " without delving into the history of the Slovak League of America. During the war the Slovak League influenced the great majority of our emigrant Slovaks in America through membership, and its influence extended to other parts of the world wherever Slovaks had settled. For that reason I chose this title for my book to include all emigrant Slovaks instead of limiting it to t he Slovaks in America and their role in our fight for freedom. Nonetheless, it was the American Slovaks who were actually our liberators - without their assistance the claim that others gave the Slovak nation freedom on a silver platter would have been well founded on reality." The Slovaks in America were the real liberators of their fellow countrymen from Magyar oppression in their homeland beneath the Tatras. They formulated the modern political program for their fellow Slovaks in Cleveland (1915 ) and later in Pittsburgh (1918 ) . For two decades after World War I the Slovaks struggled for recognition of this program drawn up in America and they ultimately won their struggle with the moral and financial help of �30 SLOVAKIA the American Slovaks in 1938. Slovakia finally had its own parliament, its own government, courts, and schools. This phase of Slovak political activity is a bright chapter in the Slovak nation's history, and all those who were engaged in the movement, either directly or indirectly, are fortunate indeed to have been a part of the nationwide struggle for liberty. Memorandum of 1914-1915 No Slovak can remain unmoved as he reads the 'Slovak League Memorandum in behalf of the Slovaks of Hungary 1914-1915' in the name of the American Slovaks. It is truly an amazing political document which shows the vision, foresight and profound thinking of its authors. It placed the Slovak cause in the forefront of world politics and progress. Essentially, this historic memorandum demands "complete self-government and free self-determination in the political field , as well as in the cultural and economic spheres, with the Slovak nation as a legal and equal partner among all nations of the world." These identical ideas were adopted somewhat later in the official documents and statements of world statesmen who determined the destiny of the countries of the world. It is thrilling for us Slovaks to realize that fully three years elapsed before the ideas of self-determination, equality of nations, the right to self-government (as enunciated originally in this Slovak Memorandum) were at last accepted and repeated by world diplomats and statesmen until they became integral parts of a new political world order after World War I. Note the timing of the Slovak Memorandum. World War I had just begun and the roar of guns on the western and eastern fronts signalled initial German and AustroHungarian victories. There was not as yet an organized liberating force among the American Slovaks. America was flooded with favorable German propaganda, and it even penetrated into official circles. But the 'word' was already out at the outset of World War I. The Slovak statement "the right of self-determination for nations" was destined to play an important role in �SLOVAKIA 31 the development of the idea and its official expression in America. In full support of this 'word' (self-determination) the organized strength of the American Slovaks was arrayed behind the unified leadership of the Slovak League of America. All the Slovak organizations, both Catholic and nonCatholic, followed the lead of the Slovak League. All periodicals, weeklies and monthlies, were at its service and willingly propagated the 'word' and greatly influenced public opinion throughout the country. Rev. Anton Filkorn, a Catholic priest, was the president and Ivan Daxner, a prominent Lutheran member of the Slovak dynasty of national leaders, was the secretary of the Slovak League at this time. Six Slovak dailies currently indicate how vigorous and dynamic was Slovak Life in America. In Slovakia there was not one daily in 1914 or 1915. (In Budapest, however, the Hungarian government subsidized the Slovenske Noviny for its own propaganda purposes). In New York City the Slovdlc v Amerike daily was directed by an impressive editorial staff of Orbach, stiasny, Baran and Molitoris, in Chicago the Ndrodny Slovensky Dennik was in the capable hands of Editor Marsal-Petrovsky, Krizan, Laucik and Bzduch, in Pittsburgh the Ndrodny Dennik was edited by P . Kompis, Ignac Gessay and Jan culen were the editors of the Newyorksky Slovensky Dennik, Jan Kadlecik edited the Slovensky Dennik, while J. E. Chudatsik and Grigl'ak were at the helm of the Eudovy Dennik, the sixth Slovak Daily in America. These half-dozen Slovak dailies and a host of weeklies, particularly, the Jednota, the Ndrodne Noviny, Katolicky Sokol, Bratstvo, Slovenskd Obrana and many monthly publications kept the Slovaks in America well informed about political developments and helped to unite them around the central idea of the right to self-determination of the Slovak nation Jiving beneath the Tatras - in actual fact these were the spokesmen for the Slovak people who were silenced in their own native land. Only two Slovaks represented their nation in the Hungarian parliament at Budapest: Dr. Ferko Skycak, who had �32 SLOVAKIA been elected in his native Bobrov (Orava district), surrendered his mandate on the eve of World War I to Baron Ghillany, a Magyar. Dr. Ferdis Juriga and Dr. Pavol Blaha, however, courageously kept their seats in the Magyar diet in the capital city of Hungary, Budapest. It was perfectly clear that the Slovaks inside Hungary could not decide their future political destiny. Under such circumstances, it is evident that American Slovaks, well organized and having reached high political status in world opinion, must of necessity assume the responsibility of making their ideas of political liberty a reality. Albert Mamatej succeeded Father Filkorn as president of the Slovak League at the end of 1914. There were no changes, however, in the political ideology of the Slovak League . In December, 1914, Mamatej wrote to the Czechs in Paris : We seek self-government for Slovakia not as an individual state, but as a political administrati \'e unit without regards to what greater state is created provided it is assigned to it as a co-partner at the council table of diplomats and statesmen. Emphasis is unquestionably on the status of self-government for Slovakia as 'a special and integral part of an administrative whole' leaving to future developments ostensibly the unsolved questions of both what type and to what state-creation Slovakia would be attached in the immediate future. The Cleveland Agreement Later it became increasingly imperative that Mamatej's "zvlastny administrativno-politicky celok" (a special administrative-political whole ) be spelled out in detail. This was fully and clearly set forth in the Cleveland Agreement. This mutual agreement was made between the Czech National Alliance in America which represented the American Czechs and the Slovak League of America as the representative of the American Slovaks in political affairs. According to the testimony of Emanuel Vos, one of the Czech representatives said at the memorable meeting: "The text of this agreement is known to Professor Masaryk, president of the national council, and he agrees with it." �SLOVAKIA 33 Masaryk at that very moment represented the entire Czech emigration in Europe, even though the Allied powers did not recognize him as such. What was, in substance, the agreement between the American Slovaks and Czechs and the Czechs in Europe headed by T. G. Masaryk? On two points the two groups agreed as registered in the Cleveland Agreement of October 25, 1915: 1) Self-government of Czech lands and Slovakia. 2) Union of Czech and Slovak nations in a federation of states with full national autonomy for Slovakia, i.e., the country was to have its own parliament, its own state administrative system, complete cultural freedom with the exclusive use of the Slovak language offically in the Slovak schools, courts, etc., a separate financial and political administration with Slovak as the official language of the country. Again we are confronted with the question of what was meant by the term, "in a federative union of states." There are only two interpretations possible: 1) A federation of Slovak, Czech, Polish, perhaps Austrian, Magyar and Croatian states. 2) A federation of the Slovak and Czech states. It soon becomes clear that in both cases the creators and signers of the Cleveland Agreement had in mind the type of unity we have in the federal union of the American states, i.e., the U.S. For a union of states, therefore; there could not be the union of one state! It requires two or more to create a union. There remains no doubt whatsoever that they did not in any manner or form intend to create the state of Czecho-Slovakia to be centralized in one parliament in Prague and operate as a monopoly from the Czech capital. A parliament of its own, a state administration, complete cultural freedom , its own finances and its own official Slovak language - all these articles as incorporated in the Cleveland Agreement leave no alternative! It meant one thing and one thing only, namely, a self-governing Slovak state. This had been the goal of all Slovak fighters for freedom and it still remained an objective to be attained on �34 SLOVAKIA the basis of the agreement above. The means to the goal was the cooperation of the Slovaks and Czechs in America, and with the Czech emigrants in Europe led by T. G. Masaryk. Cooperation, not subjugation; equality of partnership, equality of rights, even as expressed so aptly in the financial field, a '50-50 proposition!' Exclusively with the Czechs The scintillating fact that the Slovaks in America drew up this agreement with the Czechs alone indicates rather ostensibly that they voluntarily renounced advantages that other nations, and nationality forces, fighting for the liberation of their fellow countrymen in Europe might have offered the Slovaks. I refer to the Poles, Croatians, Slovenians, Serbs, Ukrainians and Sub-Carpathian Rusenes, or Ruthenians. If the Slovaks in America at that moment had united their efforts with those of other Slavic nationality groups, the Slovak cause would certainly have increased its potentialities for a more complete development of its future destiny; in a word, it would not have become so enmeshed in the Czechoslovak maze. On the part of the other Slav groups, there was a real desire for cooperation with the Slovaks, especially on the part of the Poles. The "Polonia w Ameryce" newspaper favored a union of Poles and Slovaks: "The spirit of both nations is the same, the languages not much different. That would, indeed, be the most natural union we can imagine." And the influential "Tygodnik Polski" declared: "Polak Wenger two brothers? 0, what irony! Away from this so-called mad brother, Magyar! Brother Slovak is much closer to us than that so-called brother!" Aside from the religious motif, there existed, too, the mistaken notion of the Slavic ideal, which eventually nullified cooperation between the Slovaks and Poles. It was the attitude toward Czarist Russia. Czarism, orthodoxy and imperialism - those were the underlying causes of so many Polish sufferings and obstacles to Polish freedom . Among the Slovaks there was a feeling of affection for �SLOVAKlA 35 the 'bat'uska car' (a genial uncle), the father of all Slavdom and holy Russia. These would bring freedom to the Slovak nation. The Russian nation would be the liberator. Albert Mamatej, president of the Slovak League of America, under the obvious influence of this complex, made an indignant attack on the Poles at an All Slav conference jn Cleveland. That incident closed the doors to probably close friendship with the Poles and forever destroyed the possibility of an advantageous understanding between the Slovaks and Poles. Mamatej's statement was triggered by uncomplimentary remarks about the Russians, the Czar, etc. by a number of Polish leaders at the conference. It was this refusal to work with the Poles that narrowed the path that led straight into the Czech camp. This pathway was a dangerous one, for it gave the Czechs the upperhand and they took full advantage of it by assuming sole leadership, by the isolation of Slovak spokesmen, by intentionally and maliciously misrepresenting the Slovak political concept as set forth in the text of the Cleveland Agreement. Kosik and Osusky in Europe Two delegates with a precise program were authorized to go to Europe by the Congress of the Slovak League of America. The Congress selected Gustav Kosik, editor of the Katolicky Sokol weekly, and Dr. Stefan Osusky, a lawyer and Lutheran Minister. The purpose of the mission was expressed in the program thus: "To inform the civilized world about the demands of the Slovak nation and to secure positive aid for the realization of these demands." First, their journey led to London and then on to Paris in June, 1916. T. G. Masaryk and Dr. Eduard Benes, both Czech emigrants, were in Paris. "Their work" - as Dr. Lev Borsky, an emigrant, too, writes in his book, "Znovudobyti samostatnosti" (Winning Independence Again): "consisted of drawing up memoranda, writing articles and local news. As yet, they had not made any impact on the world nor had they penetrated the influential circles to present the Czech cause." Dr. Borsky writes further: �36 SLOVAKIA It was only when Milan Rastislav Stefanik ente.red the picture that their action took the first semblance of political leadership. It was through Stefanik's influence that members of the National Council got into prominent political circles. Stefanik's ability and influence 5 ot them both a hearing in high government circles and helped them a<:quire necessary experience in the delicate game of international r;olitics and diplomacy. stefanik's coming to the scene among Czech emigrants gave Masaryk's and Benes's memoranda, articles and news a certain importance. Out of ordinary propaganda efforts in which Masaryk and Benes had been engaged a serious form of political action now began taking shape. This was the logical development because the Slovak scientist was not a political emigrant but a French citizen, known in various diplomatic and international circles where diplomats, politicians, scientists and the elite met quite frequently. Stefanik had entre to the highest French circles. He moved in high society. He was well acquainted, highly respected and admired for his scientific achievements in astronomy. The cause which he represented gained tremendous prestige precisely because of his name. It is baffling to the human mind why Kosik and Osusky - later is still living in America and could tell us sincerely why they as delegates of the American Slovaks did not establish a closer relationship with M. R. Stefanik, a fellow Slovak countryman. At first they wanted to work jndependen\ly. T. G. Masaryk in a letter to the Czech National Alliance in America complained that neither Kosik nor Osusky would take orders from him: "They refused to work for me in London." He had been told by the American Czechs that the American Slovaks were sending him r Slovak secretary! Mamatej made a public statement that appeared in the newspapers during the month of August, 1916: This seemed rather strange to me. At the Congress of the Slovak League in Chicago , we American Slovaks at a united conference on April 12, 19il6, resolved to send two of our American Slovaks to Europe not as secretaries to Professor Masaryk but as our representatives who were assigned to go to England, France and especially to Russia to work for our cause in the spirit of our Cleveland Agreement and, therefore, in behalf of our common goal. How Professor Masaryk got the impression that we were forwarding him a Slovak secretary, I simply do not know. At the end, Gustav Kosik, who, together with Stef~nik went to Russia in August, 1916, accepted and signed the Kiev Agreement for �SLOVAKIA the Slovak League of America by which the Czecho-Slovak National Council in Paris (and dent) as the sole responsible and competent tion that was to cooperate with the official P owers and their associates. 37 League recognized the T. G. Masaryk as presirepresentative organizaagencies of the Allied Thus a delegate of the Slovak League of America formally confirmed the leading position to T. G. Masaryk and Dr. Benes and empowered the Czechs to meet directly "with the official agencies of the Allied Powers." In effect the American Slovaks in deference to the Czecho-Slovak National Council surrendered their right to meet directly with the rest of the nations and their spokesmen. From the contents of the Kiev Agreement (Kijevsky zapis-Kiev document) of August 16-19, 1916, the Czechoslovak nation is mentioned: The Czechs and Slovaks . . . wish to establish a united political and indivisible free Czechoslovak nation under the standard and protection of a four-power pact. Almost immediately Gustav Kosik became the prime target of the American Slovak press for having made this unilateral agreement. Cleveland's Denny Hlas asked: We would like to know who ordered our delegate to sign such a manifesto when we already have a complete and concise agreement that we are in no way working for a Czechoslovak nation but for the Czech and Slovak nations. We call attention to the fact that nowhere in the manifesto are the Slovaks mentioned. There is only the union with the Czechs. How is that? The Ndrodne Noviny observed: In the Cleveland Agreement there was talk of two nations, not of a united nation, an indivisible nation. We do not want to be hoodwinked by anyone. Our delegates in Europe were not admitted to the source of the right information by the 'b rother Czechs who are having conferences with high authorities and speak in our name while completely ignoring the cardinal points of our mutual Cleveland Agreement. We are aware of this, too, in our meetings with them. Our delegates remain outside of closed doors while inside unauthorized persons speak in our name. After a year in Europe, G. Kosik returned to America on May 13, 1917. Upon being asked whether he signed the Kiev Agreement, he answered that both he and Stefanik had signed it. Then he proceeded to explain his action as follows: �38 SLOVAKIA We have long observed in your newspapers the attacks on the point in the Kiev document, namely, that "The Czechs and Slovaks wish to develop into a united political, indivisible and free Czechoslovak nation under the standard and protection of a fourspower pact." Now, to this very day some of our radicals are disgruntled because Kosik signed that agreement. What if he did? By signing it did Stefanik and Kosik abandon anything from the Slovak program? It is necessary only to change the one word, "narod-nation," to "§tat-state" and everything will quiet down. From now on after the public announcement of the Agreement this may be re-written. Then, it was not expedient because we could not anticipate the development of present circumstances and that particular word, may I add, required hard work of both our diplomats and the Czechoslovak military forces. Kosik's explanation satisfied the majority of the American Slovaks, perhaps chiefly because it was Kosik who said it and reassured them, Kosik's reputation and personal integrity, as well as his Slovak patriotism were unquestioned. Essentially, however, there still remained the suspicion that while the Slovaks actually thought the word, "narod", was merely to be interpreted in the sense of "stat" ie., state, the Czechs really and secretly adhered to the literal meaning, ie., in fact it was to be a Czechoslovak nation, and not merely a Czechoslovak state! Dr. Stefan Osusky, the other delegate of the Slovak League, at first known to hold the line precisely to the Slovak national idea, did not return to America nor did he send any further reports to the American Slovaks who had paid his trip to Europe. In a formal sense Osusky was right. The head of the entire movement for the liberation of the Slovaks from the rule of Hungary became the Czecho-Slovak National Council in Paris with the agreement of the delegates of the Slovak League. Osusky made his reports to the Council and from now on followed its orders. He was no longer in the service of the Slovak League but of the Council in Paris. Milan R. Stefanik in America Freedom for the Slovaks and liberation was not possible without the destruction of Austro-Hungary. This monarchy had many influential friends not only in France, England and America but also at the imperial Czar's court in Russia. Economic conditions, as well as centuries-old diplo- �SLOVAKIA 39 matic, political, personal and family connections were on the side of retaining the empire, and it appeared that there were sufficient guarantees for its future existence after the war came to an end. Memorandas, articles and news bulletins of Czech and Slovak emigrants in opposition to this monarchial state would have remained worthless scraps of paper had not the war ended in victory over Austro-Hungary. This was the prelude to a radical turn-over of events. Only war could change an institution that had been created and buttressed by a series of wars. At the opening of the year, 1917, Russia dropped out of the war against Germany and Austro-Hungary. An internal revolution rocked the country and weakened the military resources of Russia, thereby, conveniently removing a formidable foe of Germany and the Central Powers. Accordingly, the Russians made a separate treaty with Germany. The Slovaks lost an ally upon whom they had counted on so heavily. Imperial Russia, the Czar and the army vanished as if in thin air. The Slovaks who had pinned all their hopes on this great power were suddenly disillusioned. They had never thought liberation and freedom could be won without the aid of Russia. For the moment they were stunned and did not know where to turn for much needed help in their struggle. America declared war on Germany on April 2, 1917, and began sending supplies and soldiers to the western front. This coincided with the withdrawal of Russia from the war. The balance of power was more than restored. It was now only a matter of time until one or the other side would triumph. Entry of the United States into the conflict was enthusiastically hailed by the Slovak League of America. President Wilson now replaced the fallen Czar as the Slovak nation's hope for the winning of freedom. M. R. Stefanik came to America in June, 1917, just as the U.S. began sending its military forces in strength to Europe. He came primarily to seek permission to enroll Slovak and Czech volunteers (legionaires) to fight along- �4-0 SLOVAKIA side the allies on the western front. At a meeting in New York City on September 17, 1917, he said: "Our struggle against Austria-Hungary will end only when both of our brother nations, the Czechs and Slovaks, united in an independent state will be rid of MagyarGerman rule." Stefanik succeeded in achieving his purpose of uniting the Slovaks in the final surge to victory. A group of Slovak Catholic priests who met with Stefanik at the Hotel Plaza in New York City on September 20, 1917, accepted a resolution in which they promised to work for the dissolution of Austria-Hungary and that "they would cooperate with the Slovak League, and the program of the Czecho-Slovak National Council, our supreme political institution." The Slovak League of America ceased to be "the supreme political institution for the Slovak nation", instead the national council of Masaryk, Stefanik and Benes was now the supreme political institution in Paris. And what was disastrous was the fact that its program did not include the concept of a free and individual Slovak nation but a Czechoslovak nation in a Czechoslovak state! Military Assistance and Support Incredible as it may seem, this is precisely the way the Slovak League of America came under the political control of the Czech and Slovak emigrants in Paris. Its executive power was usurped and it was exploited for conscription of volunteers and enlistments of Slovak legionaires for the Czechoslovak armed forces . Moreover, the Slovak League was used for raising funds for carrying on the international work of the council in Paris. To fight and pay the bills - that was the ultimate role of the Slovak League of America. It had been pushed aside from political leadership. American Slovaks answered the call to arms in great numbers. They willingly wanted to fight for the freedom of the Slovak nation. Milan Getting who had little faith in the resources of the Slovaks said on this occasion: Taking everything into consider ation, American Slovaks are surprising everybody by their r esponse. Our nation grasps the great im- �SLOVAKIA 41 portance of a corps of fighting men and has shown greater faith in the future destiny of the Slovaks than its leaders. So far, we have more than matched the number of Czech recruits. Each enlistment has brought in at least a half or more than half of Slovak young men ready to fight. Among these volunteers are many of our most respected and beloved young men in various Slovak communities. These are on their way to fight on the battlefields of France. In France, however, the officers' corps was limited to a very small Slovak minority. Father Slavo Moravek volunteered for military duty to serve with his fellow Slovak legionaires. Dr. Eduard Benes, the secretary of the CzechoSlovak National Council, replied from Paris : "I guess our army has no need for a priest." Slovak women in America, either in their own organizations or as members of the 'Vcielky' or 'Priadky' groups carried on a nation-wide campaign for supplies. Jano Jancek, Slovak emigrant soldier who was released from a Russian military camp, came to America and was elected Secretary of the Slovak League. He credited these women with a total amount of goods valued at more than a half-million dollars that was distributed to the armed forces overseas . Both the military and material ai_d by the Slovaks exceeded all expectations. The Million Dollar Campaign War funds were established in every Slovak organization which taxed males 10 cents and females 5 cents each month. A special committee of nine members: 3 Catholic priests, 3 Protestant ministers and 3 civilian leaders were named in the fall of 1917 to raise a million dollars for the financial support of political action in international affairs . Enthusiasm ran high: Two Catholic clergymen, Father Joseph Murgas and Father John Martvon, launched the campaign by each contributing $2,000 and Michael Bosak added his pledge of $5,000. This initial good example followed until approximately $1,000,000 was collected from Slovaks from all walks of life throughout America. This money was allocated by the Slovak League as follows (as Peter P. Jurcak, president of the Slovak League in 1946 records it in his, "The Slovaks", pp. 190-191): �SLOVAKIA 42 Year 1916 1917 1917 1918 1918 1918 1918 1919 1919 1919 1919 1920 1920 1920 1920 1920 1920 1920 1920 1921 1921 Name Amount Czecho-Slo vak National Council in Paris . $ 5,000.00 20,000 .00 ditto in Russia .......... . ....... .. 10,000.00 . ....... .......... ditto in America 120,000.00 .. Council Nat. T. G. Masaryk, Pres. C.S. 36,000.00 Czecho-Slo vak Council in America .... . 3,184.00 Slav Press Bureau .......... ......... . 19,631.00 Expenses of delegation to Slovakia .... . 55,000.00 Dr. Eduard Benes .......... . . ....... . 5,194.00 For Magyar Counter-Pr opaganda in U.S . . 44,500.00 Czecho-Slo vak Nat. Council in America .. Dr. Vavro srobar for propagand a publi10,000.00 cations ... . . . . . . . .... . ...... . ........ . vak Czecho-Slo for Hurban Col. Vladimir 25,000.00 Legionaire s returning from Russia .. .. . Czechothe of T. G. Masaryk, President Slovak Republic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200,000.00 Dr. Alice Masaryk, for Czecho-Slo vak Red 25,000.00 Cross . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Relief sent to Czecho-Slo vakia . . . . . . . . . . 126,000.00 For print. presses, etc., for Slovak Ministry 68,000.00 5,000.00 Bratislava University . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . For counteract ing Magyar propagand a and helping secure loan for Czecho-Slo 9,500.00 vak Republic . .... . .......... ... . . . . . . .00 4,572 Aid to disabled Czecho-Slo vak Veterans . 4,000.00 For High School in Petrovec . ........ . Czecho-Slo vak National Council in Amer5,000.00 ica .......... .......... .......... .... . Total ....... ... .......... . .... . ....... . $800,911.00 It is significant to note that not one dollar was given to M. R. Stefanik! Everything went to T . G. Masaryk, to his daughter or followers, Benes and srobar. The expenses of G. Kosik's and st. Osusky's trip to Europe are not listed. Nothing is recorded as aid to Slovak prisoners of war in Russia. This and other expenses for publicity in America, the pay of employees , press, etc., must have added up to an additional tidy sum. As the war came to an end there is a marked drop-off �SLOVAKIA 43 in donations, as also seen in the above report. This was quite in evidence in the political field, too. The Pittsburgh Pact Note that the United States, which declared war on Germany in April, 1917, did not declare hostilities upon Austria-Hungary. But the Slovaks in America from 1914 on openly declared themselves hostile to a monarchy that deprived the Slovaks of their freedom in their European homeland. The moment of decision for the Slovaks was based on their convictions, not on a calculated risk, as was the case of many American Czechs who could not be persuaded to accept the possibility of the destruction of the ancient Austro-Hungarian Empire. Even after the outbreak of war between America and Germany the position of Austria-Hungary in America was not hopeless. Defenders of the old Empire had high hopes of saving it. But these hopes were somewhat dimmed by President Wilson's recommendation to Congress on December 4, 1917, to declare war on Austria-Hungary. Yet, this act did not doom the Hapsburg Empire, for there was not any plan at the time to break up the ancient imperial state. Wilson, himself, on December 4, 1917, and on January 8, 1918, in his 14 points did not recommend the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In fact, he said: "We do not wish to weaken or reorganize the Austro-Hungarian Empire." Reaction of the allied powers to Wilson's speech in January, 1918, was of a general nature. Liberation on the Slovaks and Czechs from foreign rule did not necessarily mean the disintegration of the old empire and much less the creation of a new state of Czecho-Slovakia. Declaration of war on Austria-Hungary by the U.S. changed the situation quite radically, however. Demands for the break-up of the Hapsburg empire became more insistent. Foremost among the new states proposed was Czecho-Slovakia. As the movement for liberation became more certain, the more vociferously did the adherents of Czechoslovak- �44 SLOVAKIA ism push the Slovak League into Czech clutches. Accordingly, on February 9, 1918, in Chicago representatives of the Slovaks and Czechs organized a branch of the CzechoSlovak National Council in which eight Slovaks from the Slovak League and eight Czechs from the Bohemian National Alliance were enrolled. This eventually resulted in unity of action and organization, and in effect was a virtual recognition by the Slovak League that the Czecho-Slovak National Council in Paris was now the supreme agency for the struggle for freedom. T. G. Masaryk had waited for this development. He immediately announced that he would come to America. In six weeks he was here to lead the Czechs and Slovaks to victory . . . a triumph of his Czechoslovak ideology of a 'Czechoslovak nation' in a united Czechoslovak state! At first Masaryk was welcomed with great enthusiasm but this was short-lived. Jednota (May 22, 1918) had these comments: This activity, as Masaryk understands it, is only for the benefit of the Czechs, with the Slovaks helping, of course. If we are fighting and working for a Greater Bohemia, we are not fighting or working for our own interests but only for the Czechs. The struggle for a Greater Czechia is not worth one Slovak cent, nor one drop of Slovak blood. We want pure wine. We want to know whether we are fighting for a Greater Czechia or for a free, self-governing Slovakia and for a free, self-governing Czechia. T . G. Masaryk was informed of this challenge. In his subsequent remarks - as a wily tactician - he directed a few inane statements for the benefit of the Slovaks. These, oddly enough, inspired the Slovak League's press bureau to hail him as 'the greatest living Slovak' and as 'our great father and leader'! Moreover, all the Slovak newspapers got into the spirit of the moment and out did each other in an outburst of superlatives, expressing their affection, loyalty and trust in the hero of the moment, Masaryk himself. Nevertheless, the bulk of the American Slovaks was not taken in by this synthetic expression of admiration for Masaryk. What he said so nicely and smoothly they wanted down on paper, black on white, so to speak. Finally, on May 30, 1918, T. G. Masaryk picked up a copy of the Cleveland Agreement, read it, took a sheet �SLOVAKIA 45 of paper and wrote down in pencil a personal draft to be proposed as an "Agreement or Contract." Masaryk's original copy, announced the press bureau of the Slovak League of America, "firmly establishes the relationship between the two branches." (Not nations, as it stood properly in the Cleveland Agreement-my comment) . "One copy of this agreement," reported the bureau, "will be forwarded to Albert Mamatej , president of the Slovak League, who will officially make it public shortly. Professor Masaryk thus has completed his mission among the Slovaks with whom he met in a conference in Pittsburgh." Thomas Masaryk's agreement written and signed by him is called the Pittsburgh Pact, therefore as of May 30, 1918. Its main articles are these : Slovakia will have its own administration, its own parliament, its own courts. Slovak will be the official language in the schools, in the administration and in public life. Did Masaryk intend to abide by the agreement when he drew it up and personally signed it? This question was intriguing until he clarified it in his book, "World Revolution-Svetova revolucia," 1925, p. 262: "I signed the agreement," writes the author, "which was an agreement between American Slovaks and American Czechs. This was done to satisfy a small Slovak faction which dreamed of God knows what kind of independent Slovakia . . . the agreement was a local one . . . among the Czechs and Slovaks of America." According to Masaryk's testimony, therefore, the agreement was not between the Slovak and Czech nations, not even between a group of Slovak and Czech representatives of their respective societies in this country, but an ordinary local expedient agreement "to satisfy a small Slovak faction." Obviously, it was never meant to be considered in the planning of the foundation of the Czecho-Slovak state either by Masaryk or the Czechs themselves. Masaryk brushed aside the Slovaks rudely by this action, broke his word of honor and proclaimed his signature genuine but worthless, and in the same work (World Revolution-Svetova revolucia, 1925, page 105) he discounted the financial aid of the Slovaks as insignificant: �46 SLOVAKIA While I was in Russia. Dr. Benes received money in Paris. I estimate the amount at about $300,000. The cost of our activity did not reach the sum of a million Dollars. The money came from Czech sources. During the war Slovak contributions were very small. As president, after the war I received $200,000 but in this was included money from my personal American friends. What these 'very small' contributions actually were we have noted above in Jurcak's official report, as contained in his book, "The Slovaks". The fact is they were not 'very small' and the payment each time in sums of several hundred thousands dollars during and after the war to Masaryk directly or indirectly ( to the Czecho-Slovak National Council in Paris) were ear-marked from the Slovaks in America, and not from the Czechs. Masaryk's career as a statesman and his enduring fame would have been crowned by an aura of glory instead of being clouded by suspicion and disillusionment had he, as a man of honor, kept his word and publicly recognized the genuine contributions of the American Slovaks to the building of the Czecho-Slovak state. Delegates of the Slovak League in Slovakia Czecho-Slovakia as a free and independent republic was not proclaimed by the National Council in Paris but in the United States, and that by its branch, the CzechoSlovak National Council in America. It was on October 18, 1918, in Washington, D.C. in the form of a proclamation by Thomas G. Masaryk, provisional president, and for Dr. Milan R. Stefanik, minister of national defense, and Dr. Eduard Benes, minister of internal and foreign affairs. Neither Stefanik nor Benes were present but Masaryk signed for them by proxy. Thomas G. Masaryk compiled the proclamation but, as he writes later, he first submitted it to the scrutiny of American legal advisers. Then he presented a handwritten document to the State Department and the White House. "I presented the proclamation to the Secretary of State, Lansing, so that I would be assured of the approval of the American government," Masaryk explained in his memoirs. Official reference to the Slovaks in this historical document was unfortunate. indeed. He wrote: "The rights �SLOVAKIA 47 of the Czechs may be united with their Slovak brethren in Slovakia, once a part of our (Czech) state .. ." In effect, this meant that Slovakia was being re-united with the Czech state to which it had at one time been united as r. part of a whole. Not historically true at all. An agreement between the Czechs and Slovaks had been made as a 50-50 proposition but Masaryk ignored it completely. The new state was to be organized on his own terms. The Slovaks understood their fight was for their freedom but now Masaryk was saying they were shedding their blood for the right of the Czechs to rule the Slovaks. In one official declaration Masaryk had erased the rights of the Slovaks to their national freedom, the right of selfdetermination of the Slovak nation, the right to a federal union of states ( Slovakia and Bohemia in Czecho-Slovakia, a united state), the right to a Slovak law-making body in the Slovak capital, the right to Slovak schools and courts, the right to a Slovak political administration. ~tefanik was understandably displeased with the proclamation to which Masaryk appended his name by proxy. In his book, "My Role in the Czecho-Slovak Fiiht for Freedom," General Janin, who was in Russia with ~tefanik at the time, writes: Stefanik was greatly disturbed, he was indignant that the proclamation had been made under his name when he was not even informed of its contents. He showed me a long telegram addressed to Masaryk and Benes concerning the proclamation of October 18, 1918. Meanwhile, T . G. Masaryk after agreement with Benes and Kramat ( who was in Switzerland) became provisional president of the Czecho-Slovak Republic. As such, he signed the original draft of the Pittsburgh Agreement on November 18, 1918, which Albert Mamatej presented to him for his signature before Masaryk returned to Paris. In his farewell message, Masaryk said: "America will have a place of honor in the history of the liberation movement in behalf of Czecho-Slovakia." Unfortunately, we have already seen above what 'place of honor' Masaryk reserved for the American Slovaks who did so much meritorious work in the struggle, but received little credit for it. Masaryk left the U.S. as provisional president of the �SLOVAKIA proposed Czecho-Slovak Republic.. Soon afterwards reports from Slovakia came to America. American Slovaks were very much disturbed by the reports coming from post-war Slovakia. Slovak Catholic priests were especially aroused by news of Czech indignities against religion in Slovakia. They grasped now in what spirit the international policy of the Czecho-Slovak National Council had been inspired and they sensed what grave consequences it had brought in the Slovaks' homeland. Rev. Jan Liscinsky characterized the entire situation: "The Slovaks freed themselves from Magyar oppression only to be enslaved under a Czech banner." Father Dianiska, after studying the post-war situation carefully, wrote that srobar selected only as associates and delegates who had been educated and trained in Praha, hence the entire personnel was Czechophile and uncertain in matters of religion. Dr. Dianiska concluded rightfully that 'a period of misfortune was in store for the Slovak nation, both politically and religiously.' First-hand information was necessary. Accordingly, the Slovak League hastened to send a number of observers to Slovakia. A five-man delegation was designated, namely, Jozef Rusek, Dr. M. Francisci, Edo Kovach, M. Getting and J. Matloch. They left America on March 7, 1919, and Rev. Pavol Siska, a representative of the Jednota (First Catholic Slovak Union) accompanied them. Later Ignac Gessay joined the delegation. The mission was to investigate conditions and report to their Slovak League colleagues and the American Slovaks who had subscribed to the Pittsburgh Agreement, a photostatic copy of which they carried to 'liberated Slovakia.' Immediately upon their arrival in Slovakia in the spring of 1919, they sensed that the Slovak nation was in the thick of a struggle for its rights. But there was much confusion and they, too, were confused by the swift rush of events. The longer they stayed, however, the clearer insight they got into the real situation. Nevertheless, even Jozef Rusek was baffled for a time so that he leaned towards the corps of slick-talking Czechoslovak politicians who assured him they were doing the right thing for Slovakia! �SLOVAKIA 49 At the Scranton (Pa.) Congress of the Slovak League on May 29, 1919, Husek reported: The government people in Bratislava oppose autonomy, they favor instead a central parliament, a central government and they hold that the Czechs and Slovaks constitute one nation, the Slovak language being only a Czech dialect! Autonomy would prevent a lingiustic union with the Czechs. That is why we were not well received in Bratislava, nor was our Pittsburgh Agreement agreeable to them. We were received with joy in Ruzomberok, Hlinka's kingdom. So was our Pittsburgh document. Some of Hlinka's views I do not like, particularly his vociferous agitation against Dr. Srobar, a minister. And it is a fact that Magyar renegades are filtering into Hlinka's party. The Magyars praise Hlinka as a fine man because he demands autonomy for Slovakia, and because he is in opposition to the Czechs. Some of Husek's observations were true to the facts. It is true that Hlinka stood firmly behind the demand for autonomy for an independent Slovak nation while srobar advocated Czechoslovakism, amalgamation with the Czechs. srobar was against the Pittsburgh Agreement, Hlinka was for it. Husek was wrong, however, in claiming that Magyar elements joined Hlinka's party exclusively. As a matter of record, the 1920 parliamentary elections proved that the majority of Magyars were in parties led by Ivan Derer and srobar. This was acclaimed as a virtue if the 'mad'ar6ni' (Magyar sympathizers) belonged to their political parties, but a vice if they returned as prodigal sons to Hlinka's party. What policy did Husek advocate as a policy for the Slovak League of America? The less we speak of autonomy, the better for Slovakia and the new republic at this time. There is no need to be fearful. Autonomy will not vanish in thin air. To declare opposition now would be aiding the Magyar cause. When Slovakia becomes of age, it will take what rightfully belongs to it. And autonomy belongs by natural right to Siovakia. A reasonable statement of policy. Self-government or autonomy would not disappear. Slovakia would get it sometime in the future ... and it did, but only after a bitter struggle that lasted a full score years (1919-1938) ! Why, then, was it necessary to get the Slovaks to agree on a 50-50 proposition with the Czechs in the first place? What good were the Memorandum, the Cleveland Agreement and the Pittsburgh Pact? For what purpose did so many American Slovaks pour out their lifeblood on the �50 SLOVAKIA battlefield of France? Why was it necessary for the Slovak nation to carry on a 20-yr. struggle for the incorporation of the principles of the Pittsburgh Pact into the Constitution of Czecho-Slovakia when the American Slovaks could have readily put it into the Constitution, and even into the peace treaty as did the American Ruthenians ( Carpathian Rusins) under the leadership of zatkovic? And the Ruthenians were far from being as politically mature or developed as the Slovaks. From the very beginning the Slovak struggle abroad might well have been successfully completed if the American Slovaks had been allowed to incorporate their principles in the Constitution so that the Slovak nation would have had a constitutional right to self-rule in its own autonomous state, and their needless fight for autonomy would have been avoided. Moreover, there would have been an international basis and guarantee for their just rights, and the Slovak people would have had self-rule in their historic homeland. If American Slovaks had intervened in Washington and later had presented their case to the American delegation at the peace conference in Paris, it is certain that the right of the Slovaks to autonomy in Slovakia would have been seriously considered and debated as an international problem, and the outcome would surely have been the same as that of the Rusins whose demand for autonomy was officially registered in the Peace Treaty of St. Germaine, on September 10, 1919. But foes of Slovak freedom and Hlinka's party saw to it that every possible means was used to divide the Slovak League and Andrej Hlinka. Gradually the Slovak League began leaning to the view that Hlinka's fight in behalf of the Pittsburgh Pact was a cover-up for his personal feud with Srobar. It was becoming more and more apparent that strong pressure of Czechoslovak groups both in Slovakia and America was being applied to the Slovak League. Matters involved in this struggle became even more confusing when Milan Getting, a Slovak League delegate in Bratislava, persuaded the organization to finance a propaganda or press bureau in Bratislava to the tune of �SLOVAKIA 51 $68,000. srobar managed to buy a printing establishment in the Slovak capital for these funds and happily set up a propaganda center to fight Hlinka and oppose all autonomists in the country. Assuredly, this development did not bring Andrej Hlinka and the Slovak League of America to any mutual understanding or a friendly relationship. Andrej Hlinka's Delegates in America In memoirs, Z<ipisky z Mirova, Bratislava, 1941, Andrej Hlinka is quoted on page 31: I know the Slovak people, for I am one of their sons. All my life I have kept my finger on the Slovak nation's pulse. I have heard every beat of the Slovak heart. I aroused the Slovak people to action and I gave them hope. I sowed an idea in their minds. The people accepted all of my ideas but they did not relish the Czechoslovak idea of brotherhood. I did not sleep or rest. The idea troubled me. But for the sake of preserving the Slovak nation, I argued, I must give the people this bitter pill, yet in a sugar-coated form . It is better to live with somebody, I assured my troubled conscience, than to die alone. The people found it hard to swallow the bitter pill. Their natural instincts rebelled against it. It seems these were much wiser and stronger than my way of thinking. And so I find myself regretting a blunder committed against the primitive natural instincts of my own people. All I can pray and hope for is the chance to correct this grave error and redeem myself. If I fail in this, I feel certain the people will forgive me and will not hold it against me. A year ago I sinned because I was not sufficiently cautious or zealous enough in the struggle for the Slovak nation's right to liberty. I failed the people in a historical moment in the midst of my struggle ti) which I have devoted almost a lifetime of energy and sacrifice. First, I faltered because I went to Martin on October 30, 1918. Had I not gone there that day, I would not be conscience-stricken today. (This Hlinka wrote while held in prison by the Czechs in Mirov, October 16, 1919). Mistakes are made, even in politics. What is important is to realize one's erring ways and correct them in time. Andrej Hlinka, therefore, went to repair the damage by setting out for the peace conference in Paris during the month of August, 1919. His intention was to incorporate a guarantee of the Slovak nation's right to autonomy in the peace treaty. Hlinka's journey to Paris was in vain. The Slovak leader's venture would have been successful, perhaps, had the Slovak delegation joined him and �52 SLOVAKIA through the American representatives in Paris presented Hlinka's request at the peace conference. Paris was the logical place for the fusion of Hlinka's domestic program with the Slovak League's proposals and the official presentation of the united program at the Peace Conference. Instead, Andrej Hlinka, armed only with the Memorandum, and alone, sought entry to the Peace parley in Paris. This was not a vain gesture of an obscure adventurer seeking cheap publicity. There was history behind him. He was a prominent Slovak political leader at 55, his was a distinguished record as a patriotic leader with three years of prison because of his defense of the Slovak nation. The cernova affair that had taken the lives of 15 of his fellow countrymen was known all over the world. Thousands of articles in Slovak periodicals at home and in America alone made him famous. As founder of many societies and organizations he was a popular figure at home . . . and in the background he had the good will of eminent Polish leaders who were sympathetic to the Slovak cause. In Slovak history it remains a sad and regrettable fact that Hlinka and the Slovak League delegation did not join forces in Paris. They lacked mutual understanding of each other personally. This was the cockle that had been sown by Derer and srobar. The Slovak League confined its activity to writing memoranda for the Prague government. Here on October 24, 1919, its representatives did, however, express the desire for the gradual introduction of autonomy in Slovakia "according to the circumstances and possibilities," and they requested further "a guarantee for the incorporation of self-government into the basic state laws, namely, in the Constitution of Czecho-Slovakia, and along the lines drawn up in the Agreement between Masaryk and ourselves." In reality it was merely a paper request. Moreover, it was presented as a plea with the added proviso, "self-government need not be established or introduced immediately, there is no urgency for such action, however." Neither srobar nor his Czechoslovak associates paid any attention to so woefully weak a request. To achieve results at the time it was absolutely neces- �SLOVAKIA 53 sary for the personal appearance of Andrej Hlinka at the Paris Conference, but with the full backing of the moral and material resources of the Slovaks at home and abroad on the solid platform of Slovak autonomy. The time for mere Memoranda had passed. The time for dynamic action had arrived. Unfortunately, Andrej Hlinka found himself alone in Paris. He knew he had no official support, but somehow he kept faith and hoped for a miracle in the impending crisis. No miracle occured to save the situation. Hlinka, disappointed and defeated, returned home where he was immediately arrested and taken to prison by the Czechs because he had dared to go to Paris to re• present the Slovak nation personally. But he had not for. gotten the American Slovaks. While still in Paris, he dis• patched two emissaries to America, namely, Dr. Jozef Rudinsky and Jozef Kubala. Passports and visas for these two men were given by the Poles who had previously furnished Hlinka with a Polish passport to go to Paris. Precisely on October 13, 1919, when Hlinka was seized and taken to the Mirov prison by his Czech captors, the emissaries (Father Rudinsky and Kubala) arrived in America. On October 24, 1919, they addressed an extraordinary meeting of the executive council of the Slovak League in Pittsburgh, Pa. Dr. Jozef Rudinsky visualized clearly the aim of Slovak policy as the gradual realization of the Slovak nation's natural rights as guaranteed by the Pittsburgh Pact. The minutes of this special session reveal what Rudinsky said of Hlinka's party, namely, that 'the party wanted a gradual introduction of self-rule but demanded that this autonomy, ie., the agreement, be registered immediately in Paris.' After a long discussion at this executive meeting, nothing definite was decided upon. The Slovak League was still overshadowed by the Rusek report, ie., too much emphasis on autonomy at the time would only profit the Magyar side . This was contrary to the mission of Hlinka's emissaries who had been sent to America for the primary purpose of winning the American Slovaks to Andrej Hlinka and his party's policy of concentrating all their efforts on �54 SLOVAKIA winning autonomy as soon as possible, or at least have the guarantee approved and registered at the Peace Conference in Paris. Outcome of the meetings and subsequent conferences was the 'Statement and Public Testimony of the Slovak League' in which the League's spokesmen explained their negative stand in regards to the delegates sent to them by Andrej Hlinka. Three reasons were given for their attitude: 1) The delegates had sounded a discordant note in the existing harmony betw~en the Czechs and Slovaks abroad, as well as at home, by their publicized views. 2) They lacked a Czecho-Slovak passport; they had passports furnished by the Polish government in Paris. 3) Andrej Hlinka, the head of the Slovak People's Party (Slovenska 13udova Strana) had gone to Paris with a Polish passport and visa, not one from Czecho-Slovakia. Misunderstanding only widened the gulf between the real fighters for the Pittsburgh Pact: Hlinka's party in Slovakia and the Slovak League in America. This served only one purpose, ie., the prolonging of the struggle by 20 years until the common goal of Slovak freedom and selfrule was reached in 1938. Intervention i n behalf of the Pittsburgh Pact in vain Despite the manifest refusal to Andrej Hlinka's invitation to join him and the Slovak People's Party in the struggle for autonomy ( the Slovak League's brain-child) the Slovak League could not renounce the Pittsburgh Pact. Though publicly disavowing collaboration with Andrej Hlinka, the League on its own initiative began taking steps to put the Pittsburgh Agreement into actual practice in Slovakia. This gesture, though somewhat shaky and lacking the early confidence that had been solidly based on conviction, was made in the right direction, however. As late as 1919 a branch of the Czecho-Slovak National Council was still operating in America. On November 7, 1919, it announced that "the approved representatives of the American Slovaks requested that the Pittsburgh Agreement be considered for incorporation by the National �SLOVAKIA 55 Assembly in the Constitution of the Czecho-Slovak Republic." Armed with this request and with a resolution of the Slovak League in his pocket, Albert Mamatej, the president of the Slovak League, went to Czecho-Slovakia. He presented the Pittsburgh Agreement to srobar and Hodza, both of whom declared it was both bad and unnecessary. Milan Hodza openly stated: "Slovak autonomy - that is the motto of Magyar politicians. Slovak autonomy - that is the motto of Polish politicias. And that for us is a significant warning." That autonomy for Slovakia was the fulfillment of Slovak aspirations in America, as well as a good motto, and that the same program inspired Hlinka's policy in Slovakia designed for the Slovak nation's destiny as a selfgoverning state, did not occur either to Mamatej or his Slovak associates. srobar and Hodza simply refused to take cognizance of this reality. Mamatej returned to America with the resolution of srobar and Hodza, rejecting autonomy for Slovakia. He also brought the declaration of the Slovak representatives (Srobar's) at the Revolutionary National Assembly in Prague. They declared on February 6, 1920: "Autonomy would place an enormous financial burden on the Slovak nation but everything that is essentially in the Pittsburgh Agreement has been incorporated into the Constitution except a separate parliament, which under present circumstances, would be detrimental to Slovakia." Albert Mamatej was taken in. He believed all this and acted accordingly. Hence, he recommended what he was told in Praha, ie., the best future for the Slovak nation was to accept the status of 'Czechoslovakism' as part of a train pulled on the Czech main track and run by a Czech engineer . . . of course, the fireman was naturally a Slovak .. . and this, explained Mamatej naively, was in full accord with the Pittsburgh Pact! On the otherhand, it seemed that Mamatej feared that the Pittsburgh Pact would be exploited by the Magyars or Poles, nor did he have trust in the Czechoslovak group of �56 SLOVAKIA the Slovak ongm in Prague. Therefore, he felt that the Agreement was to be entrusted to Andrej Hlinka although the Slovak leader was still in prison at Mirov in Moravia. Ultimately, the Pittsburgh Agreement was to be incorporated in the Constitution of the Czecho-Slovak Republic. Such was the assurance given Mamatej by the Prague politicians. Yet, when the Constitution was approved by the national assembly on February 29, 1920, there was no reference to Slovak autonomy or self-government in Slovakia, and there was .no distinction made on the question of the 'Individuality of the Slovak nation'! To offset the success of the mission of Dr. Rudinsky and Kubala in America, the Prague government hastily sent its agents to this country. Rev. Ladislav Moys and Jan Pocisk, a Social Democratic leader, arrived in America on March 2, 1920. Father Liscinsky declared frankly that Father Moys, an old Slovak but totally unqualified in the game of political legerdemain, was 'a disgrace to the Slovak Catholics.' Moys' first report to his masters in Prague was that aside from a small faction, American Slovaks were "anti-autonomistic." . This statement was labelled publicly by the · Slovak Catholic Federation as a fabrication and a fable. The executive committee of the federation on October 12, 1920, made this declaration: We resent Rev. Moys' insinuation with abhorrence, and we reassure our brethren beneath the Tatras in Slovakia that American Slovaks now more than ever before adhere to the Pittsburgh Agreement because during the visit of Rev. Moys and Mr. Pocisk they had ample opportunity to become convinced that the foes of this documentary agreement consider every reasonable basis for mutual understanding presented by the Slovaks as useless. Unfortunately, Albert Mamatej, having been named a consul of Czecho-Slovakia in Pittsburgh, joined the Czechoslovak camp. In his letters, addressed to his chief, Benes in Prague, who was minister of foreign affairs, Mamatej attacked autonomism and its adherents and turned against the ideals he had represented so ably and so well during the war. He died suddenly, disillusioned and alone. His widow and three children received a monthly pension of $15.00 . Thus did Prague value a man who had �SLOVAKIA 57 carried out its wishes and had performed services contrary to his personal convictions and his fine wartime record in behalf of the Slovak cause of freedom. Mamatej, president of the Slovak League, was dead. But the ideal which had been the essence of Slovak political policy at home and in America was very much alive. Alongside the Slovak Catholic Federation the idea of an autonomous Slovakia took hold once again in the Slovak League of America, which after Mamatej's demise was directed by prominent American Slovaks who gave it the leadership it deserved. Wh~ the presidents were unable to devote full time to the Slovak League, it was that gallant secretary, Jan Kocur, who performed all necessary tasks with devotion and ability and kept the embers glowing in the old glorious tradition of self-government or autonomy for Slovakia. Andrej Blinka in America Slovak life in America slowly began losing its onetime vitality and ardor. It always happens that way ... in the lives of individuals and in the history of organizations. There is a time of development and progress followed by eclipse and eventual decline. Circumstances were unfavorable and decline was inevitable. Slovak daily newspapers in America suffered a sudden recession while many periodicals simply vanished. Old workers grew old or died, and aid from the old country was cut off as the energy of the Slovaks was directed to the defense of the Slovak nation's right to national survival. American Slovaks were in need of moral support at this time, for the new generation, though often possessing the Slovak spirit of its forebears, discovered it was far easier and more advantageous to speak English rather than the Slovak language of their parents. Nonetheless, even under increasing unfavorable circumstances, there were frequent instances of an unusual vital interest in the Slovak League and in the Slovak nation's struggle for freedom in its historic homeland. �58 SLOVAKIA By far, the majority of American Slovaks remained staunchly loyal to their ancient heritage and their ideals as expressed in the Pittsburgh Agreement to which they manifestly showed a deep attachment. A Committee of Friends of Slovak Freedom sprang up to keep alive the spirit of dedication to the Slovak cause. Contributions, moral, financial and cultural, of existing organizations throughout America did not cease completely. Undoubtedly the great event of this era in the midtwenties was the visit of Andrej Hlinka to America. The occasion was the Eucharistic Congress in Chicago. The heroic warrior came accompanied by Dr. Jozef Buday on June 5, 1926, and his visit lasted until October 13, ... a four months' stay among his fellow countrymen in America. Hlinka came to America in answer to the invitation of the Committee of Friends of Slovak Freedom, headed by .Jozef Husek, and the Slovak League, whose president was Ivan Bielek. Anticipated with great joy throughout America where Slovaks lived, Hlinka's visit was heralded by Jozef Husek's letter of April 25, 1926, assuring the Slovak leader of a warm welcome: You will not run into any trouble here, as there is only a handful of Czechoslovaks here and they are incapable of organizing any serious protest meeting. I personally guarantee your visit will be a great success. The people idolize you and your visit will fulfill their great desire to see you personally and welcome you. Ivan Bielek, president of the Slovak League, wrote in the American press that Hlinka was invited everywhere for a Sunday appearance. "Consider," reported Bielek, "that to date we have a total of 136 requests for a Sunday date. This means if we want to satisfy everyone, our distinguished guest, Andrej Hlinka, will have to remain here with us for more than two years ." Overflow crowds welcomed Andrej Hlinka and listened avidly to his addresses from the Atlantic to the midwest throughout the summer on weekends. In his final farewell to his fellow Slovak countrymen �SLOVAKIA 59 in America on October 11, 1926, Hlinka made this public statement: You received me as a national hero. I do not deserve this great honor. But if I have not as yet attained that eminent status, your affection and generosity have insipired me to aspire to rise to such noble stature. I am leaving you. I bid you farewell but not in tears or sorrow. Your success and happiness here fill me with national pride. I take with me your message in the words of the immortal Furdek: "O, thou blue Tatra . .. We, your children, have wandered far from thee. Weep not! Your clan even beyond the great ocean remains loyal to thee." God bless you, God keep you, God strengthen you. Do not forget that your cradle stood beneaith the Tatras, your beloved Motherland, our sorely-tried and suffering Slovakia. Goodbye my Slovak nation . . . Goodbye my fellow Slovak countrymen in America. The Slovak League Delegation in Slovakia Autonomy Achieved There had been a number of smaller or larger delegations sent from America to Slovakia and vice versa_ Among these were those sent by the Spolok sv. Vojtecha from Trnava and the Matica Slovenska from Turciansky Sv. Martin. Neither was the occasion for a mutual cultural exchange. The American Slovaks were on the receiving end on both occasions, they were passive recipients. They received a large number of Slovak works in literature, in return they were able to offer some two or three of their own books. Consequently, Slovak books from Slovakia found a ready market in America. But there were political delegations from America. One of these came to Trencin to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Pittsburgh Ag-reement. It joined Hlinka for the celebration. Perhaps the most important visit to America in 1937 was that of the Spolok sv. Vojtecha (among the delegates was Msgr. Jozef Tiso) that followed the earlier visit of a Matica Slovenska delegation. Of supreme importance politically was the visit of the Slovak League delegation to Slovakia in May, 1938. Members comprising the group were Dr. Peter P. Hletko, president, Josef Husek, one of the original signers of the Pittsburgh Pact, Dominik Sloboda, Michal Sincak and Rev. Jozef Rolik. The delegation brought with it the original draft of the Pittsburgh Agreement to the celebration which �60 SLOVAKIA was held on June 4, 1938, in commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the signing of the historic document in Pittsburgh, Pa. (May 30, 1918). As a symbolic act the first official visit of the Slovak League delegation in Czecho-Slovakia was to Andrej Hlinka ... symbolic in the sense of the mutual unity of ideals and purpose between the American Slovaks and their fellow countrymen in Slovakia. The Slovak League delegation, therefore, did not present itself with the Pittsburgh Agreement to its Slovak and Czech opponents in Bratislava or Prague, but went directly first to its great friend, champion and foremost associate, Andrej Hlinka, in Ruzomberok. This deliberate act manifestly emphasized the unity of thought and purpose of the Slovaks at home and in America. Thus, as the First Slovak League delegation which had brought the Pittsburgh Agreement to Czecho-Slovakia at the birth of that republic, so now, it was the last Slovak League delegation that had come with the self-same historic document at the eleventh hour to persuade the leaders of the Czecho-Slovak Republic to accept and put into practical operation the principles enunciated in the Pittsburgh Agreement. In vain had been the attempt of the first Slovak League delegation, and even more of a failure was the coming of the Slovak League delegation from America as far as the centralists in Prague or Bratislava were concerned. Though the Republic was threatened by foreign powers on every side, these stubbornly refused to accept the Pittsburgh Agreement as the basis for a mutual understanding between the Slovaks and the Czechs. At least this situation set the stage for the fulfillment of Husek's prophecy uttered at a meeting of the Slovak League in America upon his return from Slovakia in May, 1919: No need to be afraid. Autonomy will not run away. When Slovakia will grow up to maturity, it will take what rightfully belongs to the Slovak nation ... and autonomy belongs to it! As a matter of fact, autonomy did not run away in those 20 years. How could it? Andrej Hlinka had held it �SLOVAKIA 61 firmly in his noble and strong hands. It was his blood and his whole life. Hlinka, whom Martin Razus, a Protestant poet, patriot and clergyman, joined, made Slovakia his country. Hlinka and Razus in mind and heart by their work, industry and devotion nourished the spirit of Slovakia so that it grew out of its infancy, became strong and reached maturity. Prematurely, Martin Razus died in 1937; and Andrej Hlinka followed , though at the age of 74, in 1938, less than t wo months before Slovakia in October really took unto herself what had always been hers by natural right, and guaranteed by the Pittsburgh Agreement in 1918. The glorious day of self-government, or autonomy, for the Slovak nation dawned in the early fall of 1938 but neither was present to celebrate this long-awaited victory and hardwon triumph inside the Czecho-Slovak Republic. Hlinka died on August 15, 1938; and a member of the Slovak League delegation, Dominik Slaboda, bade farewell to the reverend warrior at his grave . Slaboda took up a handful of Slovak earth from Hlinka's graveside and carried it to America as a memento of the great Slovak leader and fighter for the sacred principles of the Pittsburgh Pact. Slovakia seised autonomy because in the year, 1938, it had grown out of childhood into adulthood, and autonomy rightfully belonged to her as a natural right. No one can deny that it was truly a crime to be attributed to the Czech, the Slovak, and Czechoslovak opponents of the Pittsburgh Pact that they blocked the incorporation of the articles of self-government for Slovakia in the Constitution of the Republic of Czecho-Slovakia until Martin Razus and Andrej Hlinka passed on into eternity. Upon opening page 1,161 of the 1938 annual "Sbirky zakonu a natizeni statu Cesko-Slovenskeh o" ( Collection of the laws and regulations of the Czecho-Slovak State) I read: Constitutional L aw of November 22, 1938 on the Autonomy for Slovakia The National Assembly on the premise that the Czecho-Slovak Republic was form ed on the basis of the agreement of the sovereign �62 SLOVAKIA will of two equal nations, that in the Pittsburgh Agreement the Slovak nation was promised complete autonomy, and motivated by the desire to bring the Slovak and Czech nations into a friendly relationship in the spirit of the 2ilina Agreement, approves the following law: (Then follow several paragraphs of this Constitutional Law) Paragraph after paragraph follow, the same as weeks and months and days, and years, that were spent in a prolonged, self-sacrificing struggle for the recognition of the Pittsburgh Pact so that finally, the words, "Pittsburghska dohoda," might be inserted in the Constitution of the Czecho-Slovak Republic! And the word, 'Autonomy,' became an actual fact: The word became flesh! Appreciation is due to the Slovak League of America for creating the Pittsburgh Pact and thanks to its staunch defender, Andrej Hlinka, who together with the Slovak League saw eye to eye in the matter so that eventually the Slovak nation was granted what was a natural right from the very beginning of time. As a final happy conclusion to a mutual understanding and a united effort in the struggle for the Slovak nation's freedom and self-government, the outcome was a triumph that marked a new phase in the history of the Slovak people in central Europe. The Slovak nation emerged victoriously as a self-governing, united people whose national destiny in the heart of Europe was assured because the Slovaks in their homeland and abroad had been willing to make sacrifices for their ideals, had cooperated with their leaders and had persevered in the struggle until final victory. THE SLOVAK LEAGUE OF AMERICA represents an overwhelming majority of organized Americans of Slovak descent; actively affiliated with it are the largest Slovak fraternals, religious organizations, Slovak Clubs and Slovak civic organizations in the United States. � 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 1967, Vol. 17 Description An account of the resource Special Issue: Sixty Years of the Slovak League of America Vol. 17 (No. 40), 1967. 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 1967 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 29 THE SLOVAK LEAGUE OF AMERICA AND THE SLOVAK NATION'S STRUGGLE FOR AUTONOMY By Karoi Sidor I have selected the quarter of a century of history of the Slovak League of America (1914-1939 ) as my topic for r eview and analysis in order to show its influence on the future destiny of the Slovak nation in its historic homeland. My work " Slovaci v zahranicnom odboji" (The Slovaks ±n the Struggle Abroad ), 264 pp., which was published in 1928 in Bratislava, serves me well in the present instance. My book, as I noted in the preface, proves that liberation of the Slovak nation from Magyar rule was not the work of the Czechs, nor was it a gift from them, but the main work in Slovakia's liberation in the first World War ( 19141918 ) was accomplished by the Slovaks under the auspices of the Slovak League of America. "It is impossible to evaluate the participation of the Slovaks in the fight for freedom in Czecho-Slovakia", I wrote in the preface, " without delving into the history of the Slovak League of America. During the war the Slovak League influenced the great majority of our emigrant Slovaks in America through membership, and its influence extended to other parts of the world wherever Slovaks had settled. For that reason I chose this title for my book to include all emigrant Slovaks instead of limiting it to t he Slovaks in America and their role in our fight for freedom. Nonetheless, it was the American Slovaks who were actually our liberators - without their assistance the claim that others gave the Slovak nation freedom on a silver platter would have been well founded on reality." The Slovaks in America were the real liberators of their fellow countrymen from Magyar oppression in their homeland beneath the Tatras. They formulated the modern political program for their fellow Slovaks in Cleveland (1915 ) and later in Pittsburgh (1918 ) . For two decades after World War I the Slovaks struggled for recognition of this program drawn up in America and they ultimately won their struggle with the moral and financial help of 30 SLOVAKIA the American Slovaks in 1938. Slovakia finally had its own parliament, its own government, courts, and schools. This phase of Slovak political activity is a bright chapter in the Slovak nation's history, and all those who were engaged in the movement, either directly or indirectly, are fortunate indeed to have been a part of the nationwide struggle for liberty. Memorandum of 1914-1915 No Slovak can remain unmoved as he reads the 'Slovak League Memorandum in behalf of the Slovaks of Hungary 1914-1915' in the name of the American Slovaks. It is truly an amazing political document which shows the vision, foresight and profound thinking of its authors. It placed the Slovak cause in the forefront of world politics and progress. Essentially, this historic memorandum demands "complete self-government and free self-determination in the political field , as well as in the cultural and economic spheres, with the Slovak nation as a legal and equal partner among all nations of the world." These identical ideas were adopted somewhat later in the official documents and statements of world statesmen who determined the destiny of the countries of the world. It is thrilling for us Slovaks to realize that fully three years elapsed before the ideas of self-determination, equality of nations, the right to self-government (as enunciated originally in this Slovak Memorandum) were at last accepted and repeated by world diplomats and statesmen until they became integral parts of a new political world order after World War I. Note the timing of the Slovak Memorandum. World War I had just begun and the roar of guns on the western and eastern fronts signalled initial German and AustroHungarian victories. There was not as yet an organized liberating force among the American Slovaks. America was flooded with favorable German propaganda, and it even penetrated into official circles. But the 'word' was already out at the outset of World War I. The Slovak statement "the right of self-determination for nations" was destined to play an important role in SLOVAKIA 31 the development of the idea and its official expression in America. In full support of this 'word' (self-determination) the organized strength of the American Slovaks was arrayed behind the unified leadership of the Slovak League of America. All the Slovak organizations, both Catholic and nonCatholic, followed the lead of the Slovak League. All periodicals, weeklies and monthlies, were at its service and willingly propagated the 'word' and greatly influenced public opinion throughout the country. Rev. Anton Filkorn, a Catholic priest, was the president and Ivan Daxner, a prominent Lutheran member of the Slovak dynasty of national leaders, was the secretary of the Slovak League at this time. Six Slovak dailies currently indicate how vigorous and dynamic was Slovak Life in America. In Slovakia there was not one daily in 1914 or 1915. (In Budapest, however, the Hungarian government subsidized the Slovenske Noviny for its own propaganda purposes). In New York City the Slovdlc v Amerike daily was directed by an impressive editorial staff of Orbach, stiasny, Baran and Molitoris, in Chicago the Ndrodny Slovensky Dennik was in the capable hands of Editor Marsal-Petrovsky, Krizan, Laucik and Bzduch, in Pittsburgh the Ndrodny Dennik was edited by P . Kompis, Ignac Gessay and Jan culen were the editors of the Newyorksky Slovensky Dennik, Jan Kadlecik edited the Slovensky Dennik, while J. E. Chudatsik and Grigl'ak were at the helm of the Eudovy Dennik, the sixth Slovak Daily in America. These half-dozen Slovak dailies and a host of weeklies, particularly, the Jednota, the Ndrodne Noviny, Katolicky Sokol, Bratstvo, Slovenskd Obrana and many monthly publications kept the Slovaks in America well informed about political developments and helped to unite them around the central idea of the right to self-determination of the Slovak nation Jiving beneath the Tatras - in actual fact these were the spokesmen for the Slovak people who were silenced in their own native land. Only two Slovaks represented their nation in the Hungarian parliament at Budapest: Dr. Ferko Skycak, who had 32 SLOVAKIA been elected in his native Bobrov (Orava district), surrendered his mandate on the eve of World War I to Baron Ghillany, a Magyar. Dr. Ferdis Juriga and Dr. Pavol Blaha, however, courageously kept their seats in the Magyar diet in the capital city of Hungary, Budapest. It was perfectly clear that the Slovaks inside Hungary could not decide their future political destiny. Under such circumstances, it is evident that American Slovaks, well organized and having reached high political status in world opinion, must of necessity assume the responsibility of making their ideas of political liberty a reality. Albert Mamatej succeeded Father Filkorn as president of the Slovak League at the end of 1914. There were no changes, however, in the political ideology of the Slovak League . In December, 1914, Mamatej wrote to the Czechs in Paris : We seek self-government for Slovakia not as an individual state, but as a political administrati \'e unit without regards to what greater state is created provided it is assigned to it as a co-partner at the council table of diplomats and statesmen. Emphasis is unquestionably on the status of self-government for Slovakia as 'a special and integral part of an administrative whole' leaving to future developments ostensibly the unsolved questions of both what type and to what state-creation Slovakia would be attached in the immediate future. The Cleveland Agreement Later it became increasingly imperative that Mamatej's "zvlastny administrativno-politicky celok" (a special administrative-political whole ) be spelled out in detail. This was fully and clearly set forth in the Cleveland Agreement. This mutual agreement was made between the Czech National Alliance in America which represented the American Czechs and the Slovak League of America as the representative of the American Slovaks in political affairs. According to the testimony of Emanuel Vos, one of the Czech representatives said at the memorable meeting: "The text of this agreement is known to Professor Masaryk, president of the national council, and he agrees with it." SLOVAKIA 33 Masaryk at that very moment represented the entire Czech emigration in Europe, even though the Allied powers did not recognize him as such. What was, in substance, the agreement between the American Slovaks and Czechs and the Czechs in Europe headed by T. G. Masaryk? On two points the two groups agreed as registered in the Cleveland Agreement of October 25, 1915: 1) Self-government of Czech lands and Slovakia. 2) Union of Czech and Slovak nations in a federation of states with full national autonomy for Slovakia, i.e., the country was to have its own parliament, its own state administrative system, complete cultural freedom with the exclusive use of the Slovak language offically in the Slovak schools, courts, etc., a separate financial and political administration with Slovak as the official language of the country. Again we are confronted with the question of what was meant by the term, "in a federative union of states." There are only two interpretations possible: 1) A federation of Slovak, Czech, Polish, perhaps Austrian, Magyar and Croatian states. 2) A federation of the Slovak and Czech states. It soon becomes clear that in both cases the creators and signers of the Cleveland Agreement had in mind the type of unity we have in the federal union of the American states, i.e., the U.S. For a union of states, therefore; there could not be the union of one state! It requires two or more to create a union. There remains no doubt whatsoever that they did not in any manner or form intend to create the state of Czecho-Slovakia to be centralized in one parliament in Prague and operate as a monopoly from the Czech capital. A parliament of its own, a state administration, complete cultural freedom , its own finances and its own official Slovak language - all these articles as incorporated in the Cleveland Agreement leave no alternative! It meant one thing and one thing only, namely, a self-governing Slovak state. This had been the goal of all Slovak fighters for freedom and it still remained an objective to be attained on 34 SLOVAKIA the basis of the agreement above. The means to the goal was the cooperation of the Slovaks and Czechs in America, and with the Czech emigrants in Europe led by T. G. Masaryk. Cooperation, not subjugation; equality of partnership, equality of rights, even as expressed so aptly in the financial field, a '50-50 proposition!' Exclusively with the Czechs The scintillating fact that the Slovaks in America drew up this agreement with the Czechs alone indicates rather ostensibly that they voluntarily renounced advantages that other nations, and nationality forces, fighting for the liberation of their fellow countrymen in Europe might have offered the Slovaks. I refer to the Poles, Croatians, Slovenians, Serbs, Ukrainians and Sub-Carpathian Rusenes, or Ruthenians. If the Slovaks in America at that moment had united their efforts with those of other Slavic nationality groups, the Slovak cause would certainly have increased its potentialities for a more complete development of its future destiny; in a word, it would not have become so enmeshed in the Czechoslovak maze. On the part of the other Slav groups, there was a real desire for cooperation with the Slovaks, especially on the part of the Poles. The "Polonia w Ameryce" newspaper favored a union of Poles and Slovaks: "The spirit of both nations is the same, the languages not much different. That would, indeed, be the most natural union we can imagine." And the influential "Tygodnik Polski" declared: "Polak Wenger two brothers? 0, what irony! Away from this so-called mad brother, Magyar! Brother Slovak is much closer to us than that so-called brother!" Aside from the religious motif, there existed, too, the mistaken notion of the Slavic ideal, which eventually nullified cooperation between the Slovaks and Poles. It was the attitude toward Czarist Russia. Czarism, orthodoxy and imperialism - those were the underlying causes of so many Polish sufferings and obstacles to Polish freedom . Among the Slovaks there was a feeling of affection for SLOVAKlA 35 the 'bat'uska car' (a genial uncle), the father of all Slavdom and holy Russia. These would bring freedom to the Slovak nation. The Russian nation would be the liberator. Albert Mamatej, president of the Slovak League of America, under the obvious influence of this complex, made an indignant attack on the Poles at an All Slav conference jn Cleveland. That incident closed the doors to probably close friendship with the Poles and forever destroyed the possibility of an advantageous understanding between the Slovaks and Poles. Mamatej's statement was triggered by uncomplimentary remarks about the Russians, the Czar, etc. by a number of Polish leaders at the conference. It was this refusal to work with the Poles that narrowed the path that led straight into the Czech camp. This pathway was a dangerous one, for it gave the Czechs the upperhand and they took full advantage of it by assuming sole leadership, by the isolation of Slovak spokesmen, by intentionally and maliciously misrepresenting the Slovak political concept as set forth in the text of the Cleveland Agreement. Kosik and Osusky in Europe Two delegates with a precise program were authorized to go to Europe by the Congress of the Slovak League of America. The Congress selected Gustav Kosik, editor of the Katolicky Sokol weekly, and Dr. Stefan Osusky, a lawyer and Lutheran Minister. The purpose of the mission was expressed in the program thus: "To inform the civilized world about the demands of the Slovak nation and to secure positive aid for the realization of these demands." First, their journey led to London and then on to Paris in June, 1916. T. G. Masaryk and Dr. Eduard Benes, both Czech emigrants, were in Paris. "Their work" - as Dr. Lev Borsky, an emigrant, too, writes in his book, "Znovudobyti samostatnosti" (Winning Independence Again): "consisted of drawing up memoranda, writing articles and local news. As yet, they had not made any impact on the world nor had they penetrated the influential circles to present the Czech cause." Dr. Borsky writes further: 36 SLOVAKIA It was only when Milan Rastislav Stefanik ente.red the picture that their action took the first semblance of political leadership. It was through Stefanik's influence that members of the National Council got into prominent political circles. Stefanik's ability and influence 5 ot them both a hearing in high government circles and helped them a<:quire necessary experience in the delicate game of international r;olitics and diplomacy. stefanik's coming to the scene among Czech emigrants gave Masaryk's and Benes's memoranda, articles and news a certain importance. Out of ordinary propaganda efforts in which Masaryk and Benes had been engaged a serious form of political action now began taking shape. This was the logical development because the Slovak scientist was not a political emigrant but a French citizen, known in various diplomatic and international circles where diplomats, politicians, scientists and the elite met quite frequently. Stefanik had entre to the highest French circles. He moved in high society. He was well acquainted, highly respected and admired for his scientific achievements in astronomy. The cause which he represented gained tremendous prestige precisely because of his name. It is baffling to the human mind why Kosik and Osusky - later is still living in America and could tell us sincerely why they as delegates of the American Slovaks did not establish a closer relationship with M. R. Stefanik, a fellow Slovak countryman. At first they wanted to work jndependen\ly. T. G. Masaryk in a letter to the Czech National Alliance in America complained that neither Kosik nor Osusky would take orders from him: "They refused to work for me in London." He had been told by the American Czechs that the American Slovaks were sending him r Slovak secretary! Mamatej made a public statement that appeared in the newspapers during the month of August, 1916: This seemed rather strange to me. At the Congress of the Slovak League in Chicago , we American Slovaks at a united conference on April 12, 19il6, resolved to send two of our American Slovaks to Europe not as secretaries to Professor Masaryk but as our representatives who were assigned to go to England, France and especially to Russia to work for our cause in the spirit of our Cleveland Agreement and, therefore, in behalf of our common goal. How Professor Masaryk got the impression that we were forwarding him a Slovak secretary, I simply do not know. At the end, Gustav Kosik, who, together with Stef~nik went to Russia in August, 1916, accepted and signed the Kiev Agreement for SLOVAKIA the Slovak League of America by which the Czecho-Slovak National Council in Paris (and dent) as the sole responsible and competent tion that was to cooperate with the official P owers and their associates. 37 League recognized the T. G. Masaryk as presirepresentative organizaagencies of the Allied Thus a delegate of the Slovak League of America formally confirmed the leading position to T. G. Masaryk and Dr. Benes and empowered the Czechs to meet directly "with the official agencies of the Allied Powers." In effect the American Slovaks in deference to the Czecho-Slovak National Council surrendered their right to meet directly with the rest of the nations and their spokesmen. From the contents of the Kiev Agreement (Kijevsky zapis-Kiev document) of August 16-19, 1916, the Czechoslovak nation is mentioned: The Czechs and Slovaks . . . wish to establish a united political and indivisible free Czechoslovak nation under the standard and protection of a four-power pact. Almost immediately Gustav Kosik became the prime target of the American Slovak press for having made this unilateral agreement. Cleveland's Denny Hlas asked: We would like to know who ordered our delegate to sign such a manifesto when we already have a complete and concise agreement that we are in no way working for a Czechoslovak nation but for the Czech and Slovak nations. We call attention to the fact that nowhere in the manifesto are the Slovaks mentioned. There is only the union with the Czechs. How is that? The Ndrodne Noviny observed: In the Cleveland Agreement there was talk of two nations, not of a united nation, an indivisible nation. We do not want to be hoodwinked by anyone. Our delegates in Europe were not admitted to the source of the right information by the 'b rother Czechs who are having conferences with high authorities and speak in our name while completely ignoring the cardinal points of our mutual Cleveland Agreement. We are aware of this, too, in our meetings with them. Our delegates remain outside of closed doors while inside unauthorized persons speak in our name. After a year in Europe, G. Kosik returned to America on May 13, 1917. Upon being asked whether he signed the Kiev Agreement, he answered that both he and Stefanik had signed it. Then he proceeded to explain his action as follows: 38 SLOVAKIA We have long observed in your newspapers the attacks on the point in the Kiev document, namely, that "The Czechs and Slovaks wish to develop into a united political, indivisible and free Czechoslovak nation under the standard and protection of a fourspower pact." Now, to this very day some of our radicals are disgruntled because Kosik signed that agreement. What if he did? By signing it did Stefanik and Kosik abandon anything from the Slovak program? It is necessary only to change the one word, "narod-nation," to "§tat-state" and everything will quiet down. From now on after the public announcement of the Agreement this may be re-written. Then, it was not expedient because we could not anticipate the development of present circumstances and that particular word, may I add, required hard work of both our diplomats and the Czechoslovak military forces. Kosik's explanation satisfied the majority of the American Slovaks, perhaps chiefly because it was Kosik who said it and reassured them, Kosik's reputation and personal integrity, as well as his Slovak patriotism were unquestioned. Essentially, however, there still remained the suspicion that while the Slovaks actually thought the word, "narod", was merely to be interpreted in the sense of "stat" ie., state, the Czechs really and secretly adhered to the literal meaning, ie., in fact it was to be a Czechoslovak nation, and not merely a Czechoslovak state! Dr. Stefan Osusky, the other delegate of the Slovak League, at first known to hold the line precisely to the Slovak national idea, did not return to America nor did he send any further reports to the American Slovaks who had paid his trip to Europe. In a formal sense Osusky was right. The head of the entire movement for the liberation of the Slovaks from the rule of Hungary became the Czecho-Slovak National Council in Paris with the agreement of the delegates of the Slovak League. Osusky made his reports to the Council and from now on followed its orders. He was no longer in the service of the Slovak League but of the Council in Paris. Milan R. Stefanik in America Freedom for the Slovaks and liberation was not possible without the destruction of Austro-Hungary. This monarchy had many influential friends not only in France, England and America but also at the imperial Czar's court in Russia. Economic conditions, as well as centuries-old diplo- SLOVAKIA 39 matic, political, personal and family connections were on the side of retaining the empire, and it appeared that there were sufficient guarantees for its future existence after the war came to an end. Memorandas, articles and news bulletins of Czech and Slovak emigrants in opposition to this monarchial state would have remained worthless scraps of paper had not the war ended in victory over Austro-Hungary. This was the prelude to a radical turn-over of events. Only war could change an institution that had been created and buttressed by a series of wars. At the opening of the year, 1917, Russia dropped out of the war against Germany and Austro-Hungary. An internal revolution rocked the country and weakened the military resources of Russia, thereby, conveniently removing a formidable foe of Germany and the Central Powers. Accordingly, the Russians made a separate treaty with Germany. The Slovaks lost an ally upon whom they had counted on so heavily. Imperial Russia, the Czar and the army vanished as if in thin air. The Slovaks who had pinned all their hopes on this great power were suddenly disillusioned. They had never thought liberation and freedom could be won without the aid of Russia. For the moment they were stunned and did not know where to turn for much needed help in their struggle. America declared war on Germany on April 2, 1917, and began sending supplies and soldiers to the western front. This coincided with the withdrawal of Russia from the war. The balance of power was more than restored. It was now only a matter of time until one or the other side would triumph. Entry of the United States into the conflict was enthusiastically hailed by the Slovak League of America. President Wilson now replaced the fallen Czar as the Slovak nation's hope for the winning of freedom. M. R. Stefanik came to America in June, 1917, just as the U.S. began sending its military forces in strength to Europe. He came primarily to seek permission to enroll Slovak and Czech volunteers (legionaires) to fight along- 4-0 SLOVAKIA side the allies on the western front. At a meeting in New York City on September 17, 1917, he said: "Our struggle against Austria-Hungary will end only when both of our brother nations, the Czechs and Slovaks, united in an independent state will be rid of MagyarGerman rule." Stefanik succeeded in achieving his purpose of uniting the Slovaks in the final surge to victory. A group of Slovak Catholic priests who met with Stefanik at the Hotel Plaza in New York City on September 20, 1917, accepted a resolution in which they promised to work for the dissolution of Austria-Hungary and that "they would cooperate with the Slovak League, and the program of the Czecho-Slovak National Council, our supreme political institution." The Slovak League of America ceased to be "the supreme political institution for the Slovak nation", instead the national council of Masaryk, Stefanik and Benes was now the supreme political institution in Paris. And what was disastrous was the fact that its program did not include the concept of a free and individual Slovak nation but a Czechoslovak nation in a Czechoslovak state! Military Assistance and Support Incredible as it may seem, this is precisely the way the Slovak League of America came under the political control of the Czech and Slovak emigrants in Paris. Its executive power was usurped and it was exploited for conscription of volunteers and enlistments of Slovak legionaires for the Czechoslovak armed forces . Moreover, the Slovak League was used for raising funds for carrying on the international work of the council in Paris. To fight and pay the bills - that was the ultimate role of the Slovak League of America. It had been pushed aside from political leadership. American Slovaks answered the call to arms in great numbers. They willingly wanted to fight for the freedom of the Slovak nation. Milan Getting who had little faith in the resources of the Slovaks said on this occasion: Taking everything into consider ation, American Slovaks are surprising everybody by their r esponse. Our nation grasps the great im- SLOVAKIA 41 portance of a corps of fighting men and has shown greater faith in the future destiny of the Slovaks than its leaders. So far, we have more than matched the number of Czech recruits. Each enlistment has brought in at least a half or more than half of Slovak young men ready to fight. Among these volunteers are many of our most respected and beloved young men in various Slovak communities. These are on their way to fight on the battlefields of France. In France, however, the officers' corps was limited to a very small Slovak minority. Father Slavo Moravek volunteered for military duty to serve with his fellow Slovak legionaires. Dr. Eduard Benes, the secretary of the CzechoSlovak National Council, replied from Paris : "I guess our army has no need for a priest." Slovak women in America, either in their own organizations or as members of the 'Vcielky' or 'Priadky' groups carried on a nation-wide campaign for supplies. Jano Jancek, Slovak emigrant soldier who was released from a Russian military camp, came to America and was elected Secretary of the Slovak League. He credited these women with a total amount of goods valued at more than a half-million dollars that was distributed to the armed forces overseas . Both the military and material ai_d by the Slovaks exceeded all expectations. The Million Dollar Campaign War funds were established in every Slovak organization which taxed males 10 cents and females 5 cents each month. A special committee of nine members: 3 Catholic priests, 3 Protestant ministers and 3 civilian leaders were named in the fall of 1917 to raise a million dollars for the financial support of political action in international affairs . Enthusiasm ran high: Two Catholic clergymen, Father Joseph Murgas and Father John Martvon, launched the campaign by each contributing $2,000 and Michael Bosak added his pledge of $5,000. This initial good example followed until approximately $1,000,000 was collected from Slovaks from all walks of life throughout America. This money was allocated by the Slovak League as follows (as Peter P. Jurcak, president of the Slovak League in 1946 records it in his, "The Slovaks", pp. 190-191): SLOVAKIA 42 Year 1916 1917 1917 1918 1918 1918 1918 1919 1919 1919 1919 1920 1920 1920 1920 1920 1920 1920 1920 1921 1921 Name Amount Czecho-Slo vak National Council in Paris . $ 5,000.00 20,000 .00 ditto in Russia .......... . ....... .. 10,000.00 . ....... .......... ditto in America 120,000.00 .. Council Nat. T. G. Masaryk, Pres. C.S. 36,000.00 Czecho-Slo vak Council in America .... . 3,184.00 Slav Press Bureau .......... ......... . 19,631.00 Expenses of delegation to Slovakia .... . 55,000.00 Dr. Eduard Benes .......... . . ....... . 5,194.00 For Magyar Counter-Pr opaganda in U.S . . 44,500.00 Czecho-Slo vak Nat. Council in America .. Dr. Vavro srobar for propagand a publi10,000.00 cations ... . . . . . . . .... . ...... . ........ . vak Czecho-Slo for Hurban Col. Vladimir 25,000.00 Legionaire s returning from Russia .. .. . Czechothe of T. G. Masaryk, President Slovak Republic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200,000.00 Dr. Alice Masaryk, for Czecho-Slo vak Red 25,000.00 Cross . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Relief sent to Czecho-Slo vakia . . . . . . . . . . 126,000.00 For print. presses, etc., for Slovak Ministry 68,000.00 5,000.00 Bratislava University . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . For counteract ing Magyar propagand a and helping secure loan for Czecho-Slo 9,500.00 vak Republic . .... . .......... ... . . . . . . .00 4,572 Aid to disabled Czecho-Slo vak Veterans . 4,000.00 For High School in Petrovec . ........ . Czecho-Slo vak National Council in Amer5,000.00 ica .......... .......... .......... .... . Total ....... ... .......... . .... . ....... . $800,911.00 It is significant to note that not one dollar was given to M. R. Stefanik! Everything went to T . G. Masaryk, to his daughter or followers, Benes and srobar. The expenses of G. Kosik's and st. Osusky's trip to Europe are not listed. Nothing is recorded as aid to Slovak prisoners of war in Russia. This and other expenses for publicity in America, the pay of employees , press, etc., must have added up to an additional tidy sum. As the war came to an end there is a marked drop-off SLOVAKIA 43 in donations, as also seen in the above report. This was quite in evidence in the political field, too. The Pittsburgh Pact Note that the United States, which declared war on Germany in April, 1917, did not declare hostilities upon Austria-Hungary. But the Slovaks in America from 1914 on openly declared themselves hostile to a monarchy that deprived the Slovaks of their freedom in their European homeland. The moment of decision for the Slovaks was based on their convictions, not on a calculated risk, as was the case of many American Czechs who could not be persuaded to accept the possibility of the destruction of the ancient Austro-Hungarian Empire. Even after the outbreak of war between America and Germany the position of Austria-Hungary in America was not hopeless. Defenders of the old Empire had high hopes of saving it. But these hopes were somewhat dimmed by President Wilson's recommendation to Congress on December 4, 1917, to declare war on Austria-Hungary. Yet, this act did not doom the Hapsburg Empire, for there was not any plan at the time to break up the ancient imperial state. Wilson, himself, on December 4, 1917, and on January 8, 1918, in his 14 points did not recommend the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In fact, he said: "We do not wish to weaken or reorganize the Austro-Hungarian Empire." Reaction of the allied powers to Wilson's speech in January, 1918, was of a general nature. Liberation on the Slovaks and Czechs from foreign rule did not necessarily mean the disintegration of the old empire and much less the creation of a new state of Czecho-Slovakia. Declaration of war on Austria-Hungary by the U.S. changed the situation quite radically, however. Demands for the break-up of the Hapsburg empire became more insistent. Foremost among the new states proposed was Czecho-Slovakia. As the movement for liberation became more certain, the more vociferously did the adherents of Czechoslovak- 44 SLOVAKIA ism push the Slovak League into Czech clutches. Accordingly, on February 9, 1918, in Chicago representatives of the Slovaks and Czechs organized a branch of the CzechoSlovak National Council in which eight Slovaks from the Slovak League and eight Czechs from the Bohemian National Alliance were enrolled. This eventually resulted in unity of action and organization, and in effect was a virtual recognition by the Slovak League that the Czecho-Slovak National Council in Paris was now the supreme agency for the struggle for freedom. T. G. Masaryk had waited for this development. He immediately announced that he would come to America. In six weeks he was here to lead the Czechs and Slovaks to victory . . . a triumph of his Czechoslovak ideology of a 'Czechoslovak nation' in a united Czechoslovak state! At first Masaryk was welcomed with great enthusiasm but this was short-lived. Jednota (May 22, 1918) had these comments: This activity, as Masaryk understands it, is only for the benefit of the Czechs, with the Slovaks helping, of course. If we are fighting and working for a Greater Bohemia, we are not fighting or working for our own interests but only for the Czechs. The struggle for a Greater Czechia is not worth one Slovak cent, nor one drop of Slovak blood. We want pure wine. We want to know whether we are fighting for a Greater Czechia or for a free, self-governing Slovakia and for a free, self-governing Czechia. T . G. Masaryk was informed of this challenge. In his subsequent remarks - as a wily tactician - he directed a few inane statements for the benefit of the Slovaks. These, oddly enough, inspired the Slovak League's press bureau to hail him as 'the greatest living Slovak' and as 'our great father and leader'! Moreover, all the Slovak newspapers got into the spirit of the moment and out did each other in an outburst of superlatives, expressing their affection, loyalty and trust in the hero of the moment, Masaryk himself. Nevertheless, the bulk of the American Slovaks was not taken in by this synthetic expression of admiration for Masaryk. What he said so nicely and smoothly they wanted down on paper, black on white, so to speak. Finally, on May 30, 1918, T. G. Masaryk picked up a copy of the Cleveland Agreement, read it, took a sheet SLOVAKIA 45 of paper and wrote down in pencil a personal draft to be proposed as an "Agreement or Contract." Masaryk's original copy, announced the press bureau of the Slovak League of America, "firmly establishes the relationship between the two branches." (Not nations, as it stood properly in the Cleveland Agreement-my comment) . "One copy of this agreement," reported the bureau, "will be forwarded to Albert Mamatej , president of the Slovak League, who will officially make it public shortly. Professor Masaryk thus has completed his mission among the Slovaks with whom he met in a conference in Pittsburgh." Thomas Masaryk's agreement written and signed by him is called the Pittsburgh Pact, therefore as of May 30, 1918. Its main articles are these : Slovakia will have its own administration, its own parliament, its own courts. Slovak will be the official language in the schools, in the administration and in public life. Did Masaryk intend to abide by the agreement when he drew it up and personally signed it? This question was intriguing until he clarified it in his book, "World Revolution-Svetova revolucia," 1925, p. 262: "I signed the agreement," writes the author, "which was an agreement between American Slovaks and American Czechs. This was done to satisfy a small Slovak faction which dreamed of God knows what kind of independent Slovakia . . . the agreement was a local one . . . among the Czechs and Slovaks of America." According to Masaryk's testimony, therefore, the agreement was not between the Slovak and Czech nations, not even between a group of Slovak and Czech representatives of their respective societies in this country, but an ordinary local expedient agreement "to satisfy a small Slovak faction." Obviously, it was never meant to be considered in the planning of the foundation of the Czecho-Slovak state either by Masaryk or the Czechs themselves. Masaryk brushed aside the Slovaks rudely by this action, broke his word of honor and proclaimed his signature genuine but worthless, and in the same work (World Revolution-Svetova revolucia, 1925, page 105) he discounted the financial aid of the Slovaks as insignificant: 46 SLOVAKIA While I was in Russia. Dr. Benes received money in Paris. I estimate the amount at about $300,000. The cost of our activity did not reach the sum of a million Dollars. The money came from Czech sources. During the war Slovak contributions were very small. As president, after the war I received $200,000 but in this was included money from my personal American friends. What these 'very small' contributions actually were we have noted above in Jurcak's official report, as contained in his book, "The Slovaks". The fact is they were not 'very small' and the payment each time in sums of several hundred thousands dollars during and after the war to Masaryk directly or indirectly ( to the Czecho-Slovak National Council in Paris) were ear-marked from the Slovaks in America, and not from the Czechs. Masaryk's career as a statesman and his enduring fame would have been crowned by an aura of glory instead of being clouded by suspicion and disillusionment had he, as a man of honor, kept his word and publicly recognized the genuine contributions of the American Slovaks to the building of the Czecho-Slovak state. Delegates of the Slovak League in Slovakia Czecho-Slovakia as a free and independent republic was not proclaimed by the National Council in Paris but in the United States, and that by its branch, the CzechoSlovak National Council in America. It was on October 18, 1918, in Washington, D.C. in the form of a proclamation by Thomas G. Masaryk, provisional president, and for Dr. Milan R. Stefanik, minister of national defense, and Dr. Eduard Benes, minister of internal and foreign affairs. Neither Stefanik nor Benes were present but Masaryk signed for them by proxy. Thomas G. Masaryk compiled the proclamation but, as he writes later, he first submitted it to the scrutiny of American legal advisers. Then he presented a handwritten document to the State Department and the White House. "I presented the proclamation to the Secretary of State, Lansing, so that I would be assured of the approval of the American government," Masaryk explained in his memoirs. Official reference to the Slovaks in this historical document was unfortunate. indeed. He wrote: "The rights SLOVAKIA 47 of the Czechs may be united with their Slovak brethren in Slovakia, once a part of our (Czech) state .. ." In effect, this meant that Slovakia was being re-united with the Czech state to which it had at one time been united as r. part of a whole. Not historically true at all. An agreement between the Czechs and Slovaks had been made as a 50-50 proposition but Masaryk ignored it completely. The new state was to be organized on his own terms. The Slovaks understood their fight was for their freedom but now Masaryk was saying they were shedding their blood for the right of the Czechs to rule the Slovaks. In one official declaration Masaryk had erased the rights of the Slovaks to their national freedom, the right of selfdetermination of the Slovak nation, the right to a federal union of states ( Slovakia and Bohemia in Czecho-Slovakia, a united state), the right to a Slovak law-making body in the Slovak capital, the right to Slovak schools and courts, the right to a Slovak political administration. ~tefanik was understandably displeased with the proclamation to which Masaryk appended his name by proxy. In his book, "My Role in the Czecho-Slovak Fiiht for Freedom," General Janin, who was in Russia with ~tefanik at the time, writes: Stefanik was greatly disturbed, he was indignant that the proclamation had been made under his name when he was not even informed of its contents. He showed me a long telegram addressed to Masaryk and Benes concerning the proclamation of October 18, 1918. Meanwhile, T . G. Masaryk after agreement with Benes and Kramat ( who was in Switzerland) became provisional president of the Czecho-Slovak Republic. As such, he signed the original draft of the Pittsburgh Agreement on November 18, 1918, which Albert Mamatej presented to him for his signature before Masaryk returned to Paris. In his farewell message, Masaryk said: "America will have a place of honor in the history of the liberation movement in behalf of Czecho-Slovakia." Unfortunately, we have already seen above what 'place of honor' Masaryk reserved for the American Slovaks who did so much meritorious work in the struggle, but received little credit for it. Masaryk left the U.S. as provisional president of the SLOVAKIA proposed Czecho-Slovak Republic.. Soon afterwards reports from Slovakia came to America. American Slovaks were very much disturbed by the reports coming from post-war Slovakia. Slovak Catholic priests were especially aroused by news of Czech indignities against religion in Slovakia. They grasped now in what spirit the international policy of the Czecho-Slovak National Council had been inspired and they sensed what grave consequences it had brought in the Slovaks' homeland. Rev. Jan Liscinsky characterized the entire situation: "The Slovaks freed themselves from Magyar oppression only to be enslaved under a Czech banner." Father Dianiska, after studying the post-war situation carefully, wrote that srobar selected only as associates and delegates who had been educated and trained in Praha, hence the entire personnel was Czechophile and uncertain in matters of religion. Dr. Dianiska concluded rightfully that 'a period of misfortune was in store for the Slovak nation, both politically and religiously.' First-hand information was necessary. Accordingly, the Slovak League hastened to send a number of observers to Slovakia. A five-man delegation was designated, namely, Jozef Rusek, Dr. M. Francisci, Edo Kovach, M. Getting and J. Matloch. They left America on March 7, 1919, and Rev. Pavol Siska, a representative of the Jednota (First Catholic Slovak Union) accompanied them. Later Ignac Gessay joined the delegation. The mission was to investigate conditions and report to their Slovak League colleagues and the American Slovaks who had subscribed to the Pittsburgh Agreement, a photostatic copy of which they carried to 'liberated Slovakia.' Immediately upon their arrival in Slovakia in the spring of 1919, they sensed that the Slovak nation was in the thick of a struggle for its rights. But there was much confusion and they, too, were confused by the swift rush of events. The longer they stayed, however, the clearer insight they got into the real situation. Nevertheless, even Jozef Rusek was baffled for a time so that he leaned towards the corps of slick-talking Czechoslovak politicians who assured him they were doing the right thing for Slovakia! SLOVAKIA 49 At the Scranton (Pa.) Congress of the Slovak League on May 29, 1919, Husek reported: The government people in Bratislava oppose autonomy, they favor instead a central parliament, a central government and they hold that the Czechs and Slovaks constitute one nation, the Slovak language being only a Czech dialect! Autonomy would prevent a lingiustic union with the Czechs. That is why we were not well received in Bratislava, nor was our Pittsburgh Agreement agreeable to them. We were received with joy in Ruzomberok, Hlinka's kingdom. So was our Pittsburgh document. Some of Hlinka's views I do not like, particularly his vociferous agitation against Dr. Srobar, a minister. And it is a fact that Magyar renegades are filtering into Hlinka's party. The Magyars praise Hlinka as a fine man because he demands autonomy for Slovakia, and because he is in opposition to the Czechs. Some of Husek's observations were true to the facts. It is true that Hlinka stood firmly behind the demand for autonomy for an independent Slovak nation while srobar advocated Czechoslovakism, amalgamation with the Czechs. srobar was against the Pittsburgh Agreement, Hlinka was for it. Husek was wrong, however, in claiming that Magyar elements joined Hlinka's party exclusively. As a matter of record, the 1920 parliamentary elections proved that the majority of Magyars were in parties led by Ivan Derer and srobar. This was acclaimed as a virtue if the 'mad'ar6ni' (Magyar sympathizers) belonged to their political parties, but a vice if they returned as prodigal sons to Hlinka's party. What policy did Husek advocate as a policy for the Slovak League of America? The less we speak of autonomy, the better for Slovakia and the new republic at this time. There is no need to be fearful. Autonomy will not vanish in thin air. To declare opposition now would be aiding the Magyar cause. When Slovakia becomes of age, it will take what rightfully belongs to it. And autonomy belongs by natural right to Siovakia. A reasonable statement of policy. Self-government or autonomy would not disappear. Slovakia would get it sometime in the future ... and it did, but only after a bitter struggle that lasted a full score years (1919-1938) ! Why, then, was it necessary to get the Slovaks to agree on a 50-50 proposition with the Czechs in the first place? What good were the Memorandum, the Cleveland Agreement and the Pittsburgh Pact? For what purpose did so many American Slovaks pour out their lifeblood on the 50 SLOVAKIA battlefield of France? Why was it necessary for the Slovak nation to carry on a 20-yr. struggle for the incorporation of the principles of the Pittsburgh Pact into the Constitution of Czecho-Slovakia when the American Slovaks could have readily put it into the Constitution, and even into the peace treaty as did the American Ruthenians ( Carpathian Rusins) under the leadership of zatkovic? And the Ruthenians were far from being as politically mature or developed as the Slovaks. From the very beginning the Slovak struggle abroad might well have been successfully completed if the American Slovaks had been allowed to incorporate their principles in the Constitution so that the Slovak nation would have had a constitutional right to self-rule in its own autonomous state, and their needless fight for autonomy would have been avoided. Moreover, there would have been an international basis and guarantee for their just rights, and the Slovak people would have had self-rule in their historic homeland. If American Slovaks had intervened in Washington and later had presented their case to the American delegation at the peace conference in Paris, it is certain that the right of the Slovaks to autonomy in Slovakia would have been seriously considered and debated as an international problem, and the outcome would surely have been the same as that of the Rusins whose demand for autonomy was officially registered in the Peace Treaty of St. Germaine, on September 10, 1919. But foes of Slovak freedom and Hlinka's party saw to it that every possible means was used to divide the Slovak League and Andrej Hlinka. Gradually the Slovak League began leaning to the view that Hlinka's fight in behalf of the Pittsburgh Pact was a cover-up for his personal feud with Srobar. It was becoming more and more apparent that strong pressure of Czechoslovak groups both in Slovakia and America was being applied to the Slovak League. Matters involved in this struggle became even more confusing when Milan Getting, a Slovak League delegate in Bratislava, persuaded the organization to finance a propaganda or press bureau in Bratislava to the tune of SLOVAKIA 51 $68,000. srobar managed to buy a printing establishment in the Slovak capital for these funds and happily set up a propaganda center to fight Hlinka and oppose all autonomists in the country. Assuredly, this development did not bring Andrej Hlinka and the Slovak League of America to any mutual understanding or a friendly relationship. Andrej Hlinka's Delegates in America In memoirs, Z<ipisky z Mirova, Bratislava, 1941, Andrej Hlinka is quoted on page 31: I know the Slovak people, for I am one of their sons. All my life I have kept my finger on the Slovak nation's pulse. I have heard every beat of the Slovak heart. I aroused the Slovak people to action and I gave them hope. I sowed an idea in their minds. The people accepted all of my ideas but they did not relish the Czechoslovak idea of brotherhood. I did not sleep or rest. The idea troubled me. But for the sake of preserving the Slovak nation, I argued, I must give the people this bitter pill, yet in a sugar-coated form . It is better to live with somebody, I assured my troubled conscience, than to die alone. The people found it hard to swallow the bitter pill. Their natural instincts rebelled against it. It seems these were much wiser and stronger than my way of thinking. And so I find myself regretting a blunder committed against the primitive natural instincts of my own people. All I can pray and hope for is the chance to correct this grave error and redeem myself. If I fail in this, I feel certain the people will forgive me and will not hold it against me. A year ago I sinned because I was not sufficiently cautious or zealous enough in the struggle for the Slovak nation's right to liberty. I failed the people in a historical moment in the midst of my struggle ti) which I have devoted almost a lifetime of energy and sacrifice. First, I faltered because I went to Martin on October 30, 1918. Had I not gone there that day, I would not be conscience-stricken today. (This Hlinka wrote while held in prison by the Czechs in Mirov, October 16, 1919). Mistakes are made, even in politics. What is important is to realize one's erring ways and correct them in time. Andrej Hlinka, therefore, went to repair the damage by setting out for the peace conference in Paris during the month of August, 1919. His intention was to incorporate a guarantee of the Slovak nation's right to autonomy in the peace treaty. Hlinka's journey to Paris was in vain. The Slovak leader's venture would have been successful, perhaps, had the Slovak delegation joined him and 52 SLOVAKIA through the American representatives in Paris presented Hlinka's request at the peace conference. Paris was the logical place for the fusion of Hlinka's domestic program with the Slovak League's proposals and the official presentation of the united program at the Peace Conference. Instead, Andrej Hlinka, armed only with the Memorandum, and alone, sought entry to the Peace parley in Paris. This was not a vain gesture of an obscure adventurer seeking cheap publicity. There was history behind him. He was a prominent Slovak political leader at 55, his was a distinguished record as a patriotic leader with three years of prison because of his defense of the Slovak nation. The cernova affair that had taken the lives of 15 of his fellow countrymen was known all over the world. Thousands of articles in Slovak periodicals at home and in America alone made him famous. As founder of many societies and organizations he was a popular figure at home . . . and in the background he had the good will of eminent Polish leaders who were sympathetic to the Slovak cause. In Slovak history it remains a sad and regrettable fact that Hlinka and the Slovak League delegation did not join forces in Paris. They lacked mutual understanding of each other personally. This was the cockle that had been sown by Derer and srobar. The Slovak League confined its activity to writing memoranda for the Prague government. Here on October 24, 1919, its representatives did, however, express the desire for the gradual introduction of autonomy in Slovakia "according to the circumstances and possibilities," and they requested further "a guarantee for the incorporation of self-government into the basic state laws, namely, in the Constitution of Czecho-Slovakia, and along the lines drawn up in the Agreement between Masaryk and ourselves." In reality it was merely a paper request. Moreover, it was presented as a plea with the added proviso, "self-government need not be established or introduced immediately, there is no urgency for such action, however." Neither srobar nor his Czechoslovak associates paid any attention to so woefully weak a request. To achieve results at the time it was absolutely neces- SLOVAKIA 53 sary for the personal appearance of Andrej Hlinka at the Paris Conference, but with the full backing of the moral and material resources of the Slovaks at home and abroad on the solid platform of Slovak autonomy. The time for mere Memoranda had passed. The time for dynamic action had arrived. Unfortunately, Andrej Hlinka found himself alone in Paris. He knew he had no official support, but somehow he kept faith and hoped for a miracle in the impending crisis. No miracle occured to save the situation. Hlinka, disappointed and defeated, returned home where he was immediately arrested and taken to prison by the Czechs because he had dared to go to Paris to re• present the Slovak nation personally. But he had not for. gotten the American Slovaks. While still in Paris, he dis• patched two emissaries to America, namely, Dr. Jozef Rudinsky and Jozef Kubala. Passports and visas for these two men were given by the Poles who had previously furnished Hlinka with a Polish passport to go to Paris. Precisely on October 13, 1919, when Hlinka was seized and taken to the Mirov prison by his Czech captors, the emissaries (Father Rudinsky and Kubala) arrived in America. On October 24, 1919, they addressed an extraordinary meeting of the executive council of the Slovak League in Pittsburgh, Pa. Dr. Jozef Rudinsky visualized clearly the aim of Slovak policy as the gradual realization of the Slovak nation's natural rights as guaranteed by the Pittsburgh Pact. The minutes of this special session reveal what Rudinsky said of Hlinka's party, namely, that 'the party wanted a gradual introduction of self-rule but demanded that this autonomy, ie., the agreement, be registered immediately in Paris.' After a long discussion at this executive meeting, nothing definite was decided upon. The Slovak League was still overshadowed by the Rusek report, ie., too much emphasis on autonomy at the time would only profit the Magyar side . This was contrary to the mission of Hlinka's emissaries who had been sent to America for the primary purpose of winning the American Slovaks to Andrej Hlinka and his party's policy of concentrating all their efforts on 54 SLOVAKIA winning autonomy as soon as possible, or at least have the guarantee approved and registered at the Peace Conference in Paris. Outcome of the meetings and subsequent conferences was the 'Statement and Public Testimony of the Slovak League' in which the League's spokesmen explained their negative stand in regards to the delegates sent to them by Andrej Hlinka. Three reasons were given for their attitude: 1) The delegates had sounded a discordant note in the existing harmony betw~en the Czechs and Slovaks abroad, as well as at home, by their publicized views. 2) They lacked a Czecho-Slovak passport; they had passports furnished by the Polish government in Paris. 3) Andrej Hlinka, the head of the Slovak People's Party (Slovenska 13udova Strana) had gone to Paris with a Polish passport and visa, not one from Czecho-Slovakia. Misunderstanding only widened the gulf between the real fighters for the Pittsburgh Pact: Hlinka's party in Slovakia and the Slovak League in America. This served only one purpose, ie., the prolonging of the struggle by 20 years until the common goal of Slovak freedom and selfrule was reached in 1938. Intervention i n behalf of the Pittsburgh Pact in vain Despite the manifest refusal to Andrej Hlinka's invitation to join him and the Slovak People's Party in the struggle for autonomy ( the Slovak League's brain-child) the Slovak League could not renounce the Pittsburgh Pact. Though publicly disavowing collaboration with Andrej Hlinka, the League on its own initiative began taking steps to put the Pittsburgh Agreement into actual practice in Slovakia. This gesture, though somewhat shaky and lacking the early confidence that had been solidly based on conviction, was made in the right direction, however. As late as 1919 a branch of the Czecho-Slovak National Council was still operating in America. On November 7, 1919, it announced that "the approved representatives of the American Slovaks requested that the Pittsburgh Agreement be considered for incorporation by the National SLOVAKIA 55 Assembly in the Constitution of the Czecho-Slovak Republic." Armed with this request and with a resolution of the Slovak League in his pocket, Albert Mamatej, the president of the Slovak League, went to Czecho-Slovakia. He presented the Pittsburgh Agreement to srobar and Hodza, both of whom declared it was both bad and unnecessary. Milan Hodza openly stated: "Slovak autonomy - that is the motto of Magyar politicians. Slovak autonomy - that is the motto of Polish politicias. And that for us is a significant warning." That autonomy for Slovakia was the fulfillment of Slovak aspirations in America, as well as a good motto, and that the same program inspired Hlinka's policy in Slovakia designed for the Slovak nation's destiny as a selfgoverning state, did not occur either to Mamatej or his Slovak associates. srobar and Hodza simply refused to take cognizance of this reality. Mamatej returned to America with the resolution of srobar and Hodza, rejecting autonomy for Slovakia. He also brought the declaration of the Slovak representatives (Srobar's) at the Revolutionary National Assembly in Prague. They declared on February 6, 1920: "Autonomy would place an enormous financial burden on the Slovak nation but everything that is essentially in the Pittsburgh Agreement has been incorporated into the Constitution except a separate parliament, which under present circumstances, would be detrimental to Slovakia." Albert Mamatej was taken in. He believed all this and acted accordingly. Hence, he recommended what he was told in Praha, ie., the best future for the Slovak nation was to accept the status of 'Czechoslovakism' as part of a train pulled on the Czech main track and run by a Czech engineer . . . of course, the fireman was naturally a Slovak .. . and this, explained Mamatej naively, was in full accord with the Pittsburgh Pact! On the otherhand, it seemed that Mamatej feared that the Pittsburgh Pact would be exploited by the Magyars or Poles, nor did he have trust in the Czechoslovak group of 56 SLOVAKIA the Slovak ongm in Prague. Therefore, he felt that the Agreement was to be entrusted to Andrej Hlinka although the Slovak leader was still in prison at Mirov in Moravia. Ultimately, the Pittsburgh Agreement was to be incorporated in the Constitution of the Czecho-Slovak Republic. Such was the assurance given Mamatej by the Prague politicians. Yet, when the Constitution was approved by the national assembly on February 29, 1920, there was no reference to Slovak autonomy or self-government in Slovakia, and there was .no distinction made on the question of the 'Individuality of the Slovak nation'! To offset the success of the mission of Dr. Rudinsky and Kubala in America, the Prague government hastily sent its agents to this country. Rev. Ladislav Moys and Jan Pocisk, a Social Democratic leader, arrived in America on March 2, 1920. Father Liscinsky declared frankly that Father Moys, an old Slovak but totally unqualified in the game of political legerdemain, was 'a disgrace to the Slovak Catholics.' Moys' first report to his masters in Prague was that aside from a small faction, American Slovaks were "anti-autonomistic." . This statement was labelled publicly by the · Slovak Catholic Federation as a fabrication and a fable. The executive committee of the federation on October 12, 1920, made this declaration: We resent Rev. Moys' insinuation with abhorrence, and we reassure our brethren beneath the Tatras in Slovakia that American Slovaks now more than ever before adhere to the Pittsburgh Agreement because during the visit of Rev. Moys and Mr. Pocisk they had ample opportunity to become convinced that the foes of this documentary agreement consider every reasonable basis for mutual understanding presented by the Slovaks as useless. Unfortunately, Albert Mamatej, having been named a consul of Czecho-Slovakia in Pittsburgh, joined the Czechoslovak camp. In his letters, addressed to his chief, Benes in Prague, who was minister of foreign affairs, Mamatej attacked autonomism and its adherents and turned against the ideals he had represented so ably and so well during the war. He died suddenly, disillusioned and alone. His widow and three children received a monthly pension of $15.00 . Thus did Prague value a man who had SLOVAKIA 57 carried out its wishes and had performed services contrary to his personal convictions and his fine wartime record in behalf of the Slovak cause of freedom. Mamatej, president of the Slovak League, was dead. But the ideal which had been the essence of Slovak political policy at home and in America was very much alive. Alongside the Slovak Catholic Federation the idea of an autonomous Slovakia took hold once again in the Slovak League of America, which after Mamatej's demise was directed by prominent American Slovaks who gave it the leadership it deserved. Wh~ the presidents were unable to devote full time to the Slovak League, it was that gallant secretary, Jan Kocur, who performed all necessary tasks with devotion and ability and kept the embers glowing in the old glorious tradition of self-government or autonomy for Slovakia. Andrej Blinka in America Slovak life in America slowly began losing its onetime vitality and ardor. It always happens that way ... in the lives of individuals and in the history of organizations. There is a time of development and progress followed by eclipse and eventual decline. Circumstances were unfavorable and decline was inevitable. Slovak daily newspapers in America suffered a sudden recession while many periodicals simply vanished. Old workers grew old or died, and aid from the old country was cut off as the energy of the Slovaks was directed to the defense of the Slovak nation's right to national survival. American Slovaks were in need of moral support at this time, for the new generation, though often possessing the Slovak spirit of its forebears, discovered it was far easier and more advantageous to speak English rather than the Slovak language of their parents. Nonetheless, even under increasing unfavorable circumstances, there were frequent instances of an unusual vital interest in the Slovak League and in the Slovak nation's struggle for freedom in its historic homeland. 58 SLOVAKIA By far, the majority of American Slovaks remained staunchly loyal to their ancient heritage and their ideals as expressed in the Pittsburgh Agreement to which they manifestly showed a deep attachment. A Committee of Friends of Slovak Freedom sprang up to keep alive the spirit of dedication to the Slovak cause. Contributions, moral, financial and cultural, of existing organizations throughout America did not cease completely. Undoubtedly the great event of this era in the midtwenties was the visit of Andrej Hlinka to America. The occasion was the Eucharistic Congress in Chicago. The heroic warrior came accompanied by Dr. Jozef Buday on June 5, 1926, and his visit lasted until October 13, ... a four months' stay among his fellow countrymen in America. Hlinka came to America in answer to the invitation of the Committee of Friends of Slovak Freedom, headed by .Jozef Husek, and the Slovak League, whose president was Ivan Bielek. Anticipated with great joy throughout America where Slovaks lived, Hlinka's visit was heralded by Jozef Husek's letter of April 25, 1926, assuring the Slovak leader of a warm welcome: You will not run into any trouble here, as there is only a handful of Czechoslovaks here and they are incapable of organizing any serious protest meeting. I personally guarantee your visit will be a great success. The people idolize you and your visit will fulfill their great desire to see you personally and welcome you. Ivan Bielek, president of the Slovak League, wrote in the American press that Hlinka was invited everywhere for a Sunday appearance. "Consider," reported Bielek, "that to date we have a total of 136 requests for a Sunday date. This means if we want to satisfy everyone, our distinguished guest, Andrej Hlinka, will have to remain here with us for more than two years ." Overflow crowds welcomed Andrej Hlinka and listened avidly to his addresses from the Atlantic to the midwest throughout the summer on weekends. In his final farewell to his fellow Slovak countrymen SLOVAKIA 59 in America on October 11, 1926, Hlinka made this public statement: You received me as a national hero. I do not deserve this great honor. But if I have not as yet attained that eminent status, your affection and generosity have insipired me to aspire to rise to such noble stature. I am leaving you. I bid you farewell but not in tears or sorrow. Your success and happiness here fill me with national pride. I take with me your message in the words of the immortal Furdek: "O, thou blue Tatra . .. We, your children, have wandered far from thee. Weep not! Your clan even beyond the great ocean remains loyal to thee." God bless you, God keep you, God strengthen you. Do not forget that your cradle stood beneaith the Tatras, your beloved Motherland, our sorely-tried and suffering Slovakia. Goodbye my Slovak nation . . . Goodbye my fellow Slovak countrymen in America. The Slovak League Delegation in Slovakia Autonomy Achieved There had been a number of smaller or larger delegations sent from America to Slovakia and vice versa_ Among these were those sent by the Spolok sv. Vojtecha from Trnava and the Matica Slovenska from Turciansky Sv. Martin. Neither was the occasion for a mutual cultural exchange. The American Slovaks were on the receiving end on both occasions, they were passive recipients. They received a large number of Slovak works in literature, in return they were able to offer some two or three of their own books. Consequently, Slovak books from Slovakia found a ready market in America. But there were political delegations from America. One of these came to Trencin to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Pittsburgh Ag-reement. It joined Hlinka for the celebration. Perhaps the most important visit to America in 1937 was that of the Spolok sv. Vojtecha (among the delegates was Msgr. Jozef Tiso) that followed the earlier visit of a Matica Slovenska delegation. Of supreme importance politically was the visit of the Slovak League delegation to Slovakia in May, 1938. Members comprising the group were Dr. Peter P. Hletko, president, Josef Husek, one of the original signers of the Pittsburgh Pact, Dominik Sloboda, Michal Sincak and Rev. Jozef Rolik. The delegation brought with it the original draft of the Pittsburgh Agreement to the celebration which 60 SLOVAKIA was held on June 4, 1938, in commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the signing of the historic document in Pittsburgh, Pa. (May 30, 1918). As a symbolic act the first official visit of the Slovak League delegation in Czecho-Slovakia was to Andrej Hlinka ... symbolic in the sense of the mutual unity of ideals and purpose between the American Slovaks and their fellow countrymen in Slovakia. The Slovak League delegation, therefore, did not present itself with the Pittsburgh Agreement to its Slovak and Czech opponents in Bratislava or Prague, but went directly first to its great friend, champion and foremost associate, Andrej Hlinka, in Ruzomberok. This deliberate act manifestly emphasized the unity of thought and purpose of the Slovaks at home and in America. Thus, as the First Slovak League delegation which had brought the Pittsburgh Agreement to Czecho-Slovakia at the birth of that republic, so now, it was the last Slovak League delegation that had come with the self-same historic document at the eleventh hour to persuade the leaders of the Czecho-Slovak Republic to accept and put into practical operation the principles enunciated in the Pittsburgh Agreement. In vain had been the attempt of the first Slovak League delegation, and even more of a failure was the coming of the Slovak League delegation from America as far as the centralists in Prague or Bratislava were concerned. Though the Republic was threatened by foreign powers on every side, these stubbornly refused to accept the Pittsburgh Agreement as the basis for a mutual understanding between the Slovaks and the Czechs. At least this situation set the stage for the fulfillment of Husek's prophecy uttered at a meeting of the Slovak League in America upon his return from Slovakia in May, 1919: No need to be afraid. Autonomy will not run away. When Slovakia will grow up to maturity, it will take what rightfully belongs to the Slovak nation ... and autonomy belongs to it! As a matter of fact, autonomy did not run away in those 20 years. How could it? Andrej Hlinka had held it SLOVAKIA 61 firmly in his noble and strong hands. It was his blood and his whole life. Hlinka, whom Martin Razus, a Protestant poet, patriot and clergyman, joined, made Slovakia his country. Hlinka and Razus in mind and heart by their work, industry and devotion nourished the spirit of Slovakia so that it grew out of its infancy, became strong and reached maturity. Prematurely, Martin Razus died in 1937; and Andrej Hlinka followed , though at the age of 74, in 1938, less than t wo months before Slovakia in October really took unto herself what had always been hers by natural right, and guaranteed by the Pittsburgh Agreement in 1918. The glorious day of self-government, or autonomy, for the Slovak nation dawned in the early fall of 1938 but neither was present to celebrate this long-awaited victory and hardwon triumph inside the Czecho-Slovak Republic. Hlinka died on August 15, 1938; and a member of the Slovak League delegation, Dominik Slaboda, bade farewell to the reverend warrior at his grave . Slaboda took up a handful of Slovak earth from Hlinka's graveside and carried it to America as a memento of the great Slovak leader and fighter for the sacred principles of the Pittsburgh Pact. Slovakia seised autonomy because in the year, 1938, it had grown out of childhood into adulthood, and autonomy rightfully belonged to her as a natural right. No one can deny that it was truly a crime to be attributed to the Czech, the Slovak, and Czechoslovak opponents of the Pittsburgh Pact that they blocked the incorporation of the articles of self-government for Slovakia in the Constitution of the Republic of Czecho-Slovakia until Martin Razus and Andrej Hlinka passed on into eternity. Upon opening page 1,161 of the 1938 annual "Sbirky zakonu a natizeni statu Cesko-Slovenskeh o" ( Collection of the laws and regulations of the Czecho-Slovak State) I read: Constitutional L aw of November 22, 1938 on the Autonomy for Slovakia The National Assembly on the premise that the Czecho-Slovak Republic was form ed on the basis of the agreement of the sovereign 62 SLOVAKIA will of two equal nations, that in the Pittsburgh Agreement the Slovak nation was promised complete autonomy, and motivated by the desire to bring the Slovak and Czech nations into a friendly relationship in the spirit of the 2ilina Agreement, approves the following law: (Then follow several paragraphs of this Constitutional Law) Paragraph after paragraph follow, the same as weeks and months and days, and years, that were spent in a prolonged, self-sacrificing struggle for the recognition of the Pittsburgh Pact so that finally, the words, "Pittsburghska dohoda," might be inserted in the Constitution of the Czecho-Slovak Republic! And the word, 'Autonomy,' became an actual fact: The word became flesh! Appreciation is due to the Slovak League of America for creating the Pittsburgh Pact and thanks to its staunch defender, Andrej Hlinka, who together with the Slovak League saw eye to eye in the matter so that eventually the Slovak nation was granted what was a natural right from the very beginning of time. As a final happy conclusion to a mutual understanding and a united effort in the struggle for the Slovak nation's freedom and self-government, the outcome was a triumph that marked a new phase in the history of the Slovak people in central Europe. The Slovak nation emerged victoriously as a self-governing, united people whose national destiny in the heart of Europe was assured because the Slovaks in their homeland and abroad had been willing to make sacrifices for their ideals, had cooperated with their leaders and had persevered in the struggle until final victory. THE SLOVAK LEAGUE OF AMERICA represents an overwhelming majority of organized Americans of Slovak descent; actively affiliated with it are the largest Slovak fraternals, religious organizations, Slovak Clubs and Slovak civic organizations in the United States.  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Slovak League of America and the Slovak Nation's Struggle for Autonomy Description An account of the resource Karol Sidor Slovakia, Vol. 17 (No. 40), 1967 pp. 29-62 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Sidor, Karol, 1901-1953 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1967 Relation A related resource This article is one of five from this special issue republished as a monograph: Paučo, Jozef, ed. 1967. <em>Sixty Years of the Slovak League of America.</em> Middletown Pennsylvania: Slovak League of America. <a href="https://worldcat.org/en/title/36616" target="_blank" title="Link to WorldCat" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://worldcat.org/en/title/36616</a> 60years LCNAF https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/adfa3c760fa984f80ae9d956da0d118c.pdf 80c2f053e604d8071a064bb2658a3c70 PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA 85 The Slovak National Awakening By Edward A. Tuleya Since the Congress of Vienna in 1815 democratic principles and nationalism had been suppressed by the joint efforts of the great powers. However, by 1848 the dream of freedom could no longer be contained, and throughout the continent of Europe, except for Russia, the revolution spread. Revolts in Palermo, Paris, Vienna, and Prague were like huge cannon aimed to destroy the fortress of reaction. 1 The time that Prince Metternich feared had come, and on March 14th he was forced to flee Vienna. Hope for the oppressed ran high. 2 Within the framework of the Austrian Empire dissatisfied nations now saw the opportunity to gain rights which had long been denied them. Magyars Would Deny Others Freedom Napoleon's downfall had created a dilemma for Vienna and she reacted by adopting a policy which relegated the Slavs to an inferior status within the Empire, especially those living in Hungary. The Russian more than any other army was responsible for the defeat of Napoleon. Gratitude quickly gave way to suspicion as to what the Russian Tsar might do now that he had the strongest fighting force in Europe. Vienna feared that Russia would use her power to back up the demands of the Slav nations in Empire, for the improvement of their political position or more alarming for breaking away from Hapsburg control. Instead of turning to a rational policy for her Slav subjects, she opted for a diametrical course by seeking the co-operation of the Magyars who were in complete sympathy with Vienna, at least on that overriding issue. Vienna gave the Magyars more than tacit support to do whatever was necessary in Hungary to preserve the Empire's internal security. What the Magyars had in mind was something more, greater independence from Vienna. For centuries the Magyars ruled a population three fourths of which was made up of nonMagyar peoples, such as Germans, Slovaks, Croats, Serbs, �86 SLOVAKIA Ruthenians, and Rumanians. But the Magyar leaders had no sympathy for others when the latter called for equal rights. 3 Thus, while the Magyars were pressing Vienna for more rights, the non-Magyar nations were being refused those very same rights and others by the Magyars. 4 The lot of the subject races in Hungary was difficult, particularly for the Slovaks, a Slavic people, numbering close to three million and living in northern Hungary. Unlike the Croats, Serbs, and Rumanians, the Slovaks did not enjoy favor in Vienna, representation in Parliament, nor the right to cultivate their own language. 5 It was not, however, until the end of the eighteenth century that the Magyars began to accelerate the Magyarization of the Slovaks and other ·non-Magyar nations. The greatest contributing factor to their plan was Joseph II's policy to centralize and Germanize the Empire. In 1784 Joseph II ordered that in place of the dead language, Latin, German would be the official language in Hungary. From that time on there was a strong reawakening of the people.6 "Just as the encroachments of German had awakened the susceptibilities of the Magyars", writes A. Patterson, "so did the encroachments of Hungarian (Magyar) awaken those of the Croats and Slovaks."7 Effect of Joseph's Policy on Magyarization The policy of Joseph II, instead of unifying the Empire through Germanization, only aroused the subject nations to take further steps to defend their national identity.8 The awakened spirit affected the Magyar nationalists to adhere to the belief that the security of Hungary as a Magyar nation could only be assured if all its inhabitants were Magyars. 9 In opposition to this, Michael Hodza, ardent fighter for Slovak people, exclaimed, "We don't want Magyar as our language. If you fought against Germanization of Joseph II, we also fight against your Magyarization."10 Therefore, the Slovaks who had enjoyed some linguistic tolerance were now to feel the pains of a denaturalization program. Lack of concern on the part of the Magyars and their feeling of superiority and arrogance can be best expressed in a; Magyar proverb: "Toth ember nem ember." (The Slovak is not a man).11 �SLOVAKIA 87 The first Magyarization laws were passed in 1791-92 by the County councils.12 For several years the laws. were poorly enforced and not too much concern was paid to the activities of the non-Magyar groups or their resistance to assimilation. This apathy, however, was not the rule in all quarters. In some cities in Hungary it was calculated that in 1798 the Magyar and the Slovak population was equal, and because of the manner in which the Germans had been absorbed by the Slovaks, the Magyars could not expect a better fate .13 Reaction to this fear took different forms on the part of the Magyars. In many cases Magyar priests unable to speak Slovak were sent to Slovak churches. In the village of :r.udovilovo-Komarno police were posted outside the doors of the church to keep the people from leaving. Those who protasted were placed on the deres and beaten. Me;:i,nwhile Slovak priests were not allowed to perform services and Magyars were appointed. 14 This could have had a disastrous affect on the Slovaks, for the Catholic priests and Protestant ministers were looked upon as leaders by the people. With few exceptions, the clergy were the only national-minded Slovaks possessing a higher education. They used their learning to better the lives of the people through writing and organizing schools. The Slovak aristocracy, on the other hand, were pro-Magyar in their sympathies and looked with indifference on their own countrymen. Influ ence of Anton B ernolak In 1787, Anton Bernolak, a Catholic priest, published his Slovak grammar. His work laid the foundations for a Slovak literary language and contributed to a growing national consciousness. 15 Heretofore, Slovak writers had used Czech as a medium of written expression, but now they had, based on the West Sl@vak dialect, the beginning of their own literary language. Slovak writers now turned to the distant p ast in Slovak history, and using the new idiom, wrote about her past glory and achievements in an effort to inspire the people. Not long afterwards, in 1793, Bernolak and his followers founded the Slovak Education Society for the purpose of publishing and distributing Slovak books. A �88 SLOVAKIA generous patron and member of the Trnava Literary circle was Alexander Rudnay, Archbishop Cardinal of Ostrihom, who openly proclaimed, "Slovak I am and if I were a Pope I would still be a Slovak."16 For the Slovak people, Bernolak and his followers had taken the first stride toward the preservation of their language, heritage, and nation. 17 "Had it not been for those who in the 1790's were awake, as true Slovaks, by the year 1867 we would have been smothered by Magyarization," were the words used by Skultety to stress the importance of the school of Bernolak.18 Before the Slovaks could present a more united front against the Magyars, however, it was necessary to close the ranks among their own people. One of the greate$t obstacles which confronted the Slovak leaders was the selection of a literary language which would be accepted by both Catholic and Protestant groups. Centered in Trnava, the Catholics continued on their new course by using the Western Slovak vernacular as their vehicle for development of a literary language. The Bernolak group was steering away from the Czech which until this time had been used by the educated class as the literary language in Slovakia. On the other hand, the Protestants remained adherents of the Czech. They in turn began to gather around the Lutheran Lycee in Bratislava. In 1801, they founded the "Society for Slovak Literature," and two years later they established a chair for the study of the Slovak language and literature at the Lycee. 19 Eudovit Stur And The Defense of Slovak Rights For the Slovaks much good emanated from the Lycee in the years that followed. In the circles of the young students, Eudovit sttir from 1836 became prominent. Born in the small town of Uhrovec, the son of a school teacher, :Cudovit was destined to devote his life to his people. He succeeded in getting the chair of Slovak as substitute of the superannuated Professor George Palkovic.20 In order to prepare himself for the cause of his nation, sttir, in 1838, departed for Germany to take up studies at the University of Halle. During his sojourn at Halle he continued to keep contact with his homeland by �SLOVAKIA 89 exchanging letters witl1 his literary associates in Slovakia and Bohemia. Before returning home $tur visited the Lusatians, an island of the Western Slavic people located in the "German Sea." He hoped to find the purest type of Slavic character and racial purity. He came upon a village which except for the name of the community had lost all its Slavic identity. $tur wa.s moved by this experience and in a poem called "The Pagan Priest" expressed with sadness the eventual loss of these people to the Slavic world. On his way home he lingered in Prague at the home of a dear friend, Jaroslav Pospisil. Unfortunately, $tur fell down the steps and was forced to remain. 21 During his convalescence he fell in love with his host's daughter, Maria. After great deliberation, $tur decided against placing his own personal feelings before those of his people. It may, be said by some that a marriage at this time by $tur would have meant his loss to the Slovak cause. There is no doubt that during his marital adjustment he may have neglected his life'is work, but one must not forget his burning desire to fulfill his mission for the welfare of his people. It must also be remembered that $tur's prospective father-in-law was a man steeped in the Slavic cause which in itself would certainly have not been a deterring factor towards $tur's continued efforts in the Slovak cause. Indeed, the Slovak people came much closer to losing their great son in 1833 and from an entirely different quarter. After completing his studies in that year at the Lycee in Bratislava, $tur was employed at the office on the estate of Count Zay. Such a position would have been cherished by most young men, yet $tur resigned. His mission and work lay elsewhere. When his mother protested and pleaded that he remain, $tur in a voice full of love and emotion said, "Mommy dear, as you see today, I will still be a student. I must be a student." $tur returned to Bratislava where he gave himself to his people. 22 Few will deny that Jan Kollar's "Slavy Dcera" (The Daughter of Slava) and Paul Joseph $afarik's "Slavonic Antiquities" had influenced $tur's decision. 23 The Lycee attracted not only Slovaks but also Serbian �90 SLOVAKIA and Croatian youth. 24 Replicas of the society at the Lycee were found in other schools in Slovakia. Stimulating contacts among the Catholic and Lutheran Slovak students was established through correspondence. They were preparing each other for future duties in life. Acceleration of Magyarization It was not until the 1830's that-the non-Magyar nations began to rise and defend themselves against the accelerated Magyarization program. 25 By 1820, in some counties, Magyar was advocated as the language in non-Magyar schools. 26 A terrible blow was dealt to Slovak people by the Hungarian Diet in 1825-27. Seemingly, the only purpose of the Diet body at the time was to replace Latin with Magyar as the official language. Consequently this meant that all citizens of Hungary would be forced to use the Magyar language in schools, civil service, army and public life as well. To further the cause of Magyarization, Count Stefan Szechenyi, prominent Magyar nobleman, offered to donate his yearly income towards the building of a Magyar academy. A member of the parliament explained that the chief reason for such aims was for the defense against Russian pressure. 27 The constant fear of Russia led the Magyars to look upon a strong Poland as a likely ally. Professor Daniel Rapant explains that Felsobukki Nagy Pal in his Parliamentary speech in 1833 called for the need of a resurrected Poland and a widening of Magyarization to the remotest frontiers of Hungary. He emphasized a common frontier with Poland. 28 Needless to say, much of this fear can be attributed to the cleverness of the Magyars in their defense against the Slavic nations. Both German and Magyar publishers used "Pan-Slavism" extensively as their propaganda weapon. With their careful program of assimilating other nations, the Magyars themselves made blunders which were to turn the Slovak people further away from them. M. Rey wrote: "The Magyar nobles had often made generous sacrifices in the defense of their own interests but they had always shown the most deplorable selfishness as regards the condition of the peasants." 29 All this in turn gave the �SLOVAKIA 91 Austrian crown an opportunity to play the part of the oppressed peasants' friend. 30 The Slovak peasant from the middle of the 16th to the middle of the 19th century bore the main burden of taxation in Hungary, paying fifty per cent of what he produced to his lord and to the crown.31 There is no question that the conditiorts of the peasantry in Slovakia were pitiful. 32 Therefore, it is understandable that occasionally open peasant rebellions took place against their lords. One of the latest to occur was in 1831 which took place in the counties of saris, Zemplin, Spis, Abauj, and Gerner with the outbreak of cholera. Some of the lords were put to death by the people who accused them of having poisoned the wells. 33 According t:o Bakes, the disease had spread across the frontier from Poland where Russian soldiers had been encamped.34 rt is estimated that 56,000 died, and one writer claims that Russian agents incited the people to revolt against their lords. 35 The brutality with which the revolt was put down left hatred in the hearts of those who survived. In this state of affairs the Emperor in 1833 invited the Diet to meet at Bratislava to discuss agrarian reforms which he claimed were drawn up by himself. 36 Among the people there was great hope that such interest on the part of the Emperor would mean the gradual alleviation of their terrible conditions. Actually, the congress did not concern itself with such matters and instead they were put aside to be dealt with at later sessions. Something more important now commanded their attention, the coronation of Francis's son, Ferdinand, as kin of Hungary. As Magyars they were won over to the new king when he contributed his coronation gift to the Magyar Scientific Academy. Ferdinand, who claimed to be Magyar at heart, became a strong supporter for the Magyarization program. In 1830, the Diet passed a series of laws which extended the reaches of the Magyar language. By 1836, Magyar was elevated to equal stature with Latin as a language to be used in courts and documents. As a result of the Diet of 1839, Magyar now became the official language of Hungary . Now Magyarization would need only time. What �92 SLOVAKIA would St. Stephen, Hungary's greatest king, have said of this? The Magyars had revered their king and maybe they would have been wiser had they paid heed to his words of wisdom. In a letter written by St. Stephen to his son, St. Emerich, we find him saying: "For as guests some from various parts of the provinces, they bring different languages and customs, knowledge, and arms, all of which adorn the royal court; and make it more magnificent. All this shakes the self-confidence of foreigners. A country with one language and one morality is weak and fragile. Therefore I exhort you, my son, to accept them with benevolence and hold them in esteem in order that they may prefer staying with you in the kingdom."37 Thus, the Magyars were taking their ship on a different course than that charted by their great captam, St. Stephen. At this time, Uudovit stur returned to the Lycee in Bratislava from Germany where he had been studying for the last two years. Much had taken place in his absence; however, he was the man destined to lead his people during their great trial in 1848-49. An effective weapon t,o be used against stur and his followers was the Pesti Hirlap, the first political newspaper in Hungary and edited by Louis Kossuth in 1841. The "forties" were to see the Magyars, "champions" of the newly-won freedom of the press acting quickly to refuse its benefits to their weaker fellow nations. Although some assurances were given that racial tolerance would be honored to all, it was not long before the true character of the journal became evident. Kossuth was very free in his attacks on the Slovaks and answers to his attacks were never allowed space in his "democratic" paper. 38 The Pesti Hirlap became the voice of Magyarization. The Magyars in their search for every technique and new approach did not overlook the possibilities of using the religious issue as a vehicle toward their goal of assimilation. This only served to strengthen Slovak resistance. On September 10, 1840, Count Zay was appointed chief inspector of the Protestant Congregations and schools.39 In his acceptance speech he called for the promotion of Magyarization as the only salvation for the Protestant confession in Slovakia. Zay's goal was to unify the Lutheran �SLOVAKIA 93 and Calvinist Churches. Of all the Lutherans in Hungary, five eights were Slovaks, the rest were Germans. On the other hand, the Calvinists were Magyars and were greater in number. This in itself added to Slovak suspicions that such a union was not in the interest of the faith as proclaimed, but actually a chauvinistic design on the part of the Magyars to absorb the Slovak people.40 Zay openly announced in a public circular, September 26, 1840, his determination to Magyarize the Slovaks. Moreover, he stated that the Slovak language would prevent the Slovaks from being good stolid Protestants, and the Magyarization of the Slavs was the holiest duty of every genuine patriot:u Hungary, according to Zay, could only be strong if she were welded into one nation, for she could then defend herself from the danger in the north, Russia. 42 Slovak leaders were not tardy in answering Zay. Sttir's rebuttal was so intelligently plain that Zay became firmly convinced Sttir was behind all the protestations that were being made. He was determined to have Stlir removed from the chair of Slovak Studies at the Lycee. This appeared to be quite difficult to do inasmuch as i:ittir was very popUllar. Nevertheless, supporters of Zay's plan proclaimed that the Lycee's at Bratislava and Levoca were the hotbeds of all Slovak societies at Lutheran schools and colleges in Slovakia. For the time being, however, Magyar plans were not successful. Jan Seberini answered Zay on April 2, 1841, by stating that he, Zay, professed to Magyarize in the name of Protestantism; yet that is not only contrary to the Protestant beliefs, but also to all Christian teachings. "Who has the right to say what language a man must speak?" he continued, " I am a Slovak not because of glory and honor but according to Christian teachings, for God wanted that I be born Slovak. Therefore, I am not ashamed of my origin nor my tongue just as any German, Frenchman, Magyar need not to be ashamed." 43 It must be remembered that not all of the Protestant clergy sensed danger in the union; nevertheless, Zay's program eventually became evident even to those idealists. At Nitra, where some believed that union of the two �94 SLOVAKIA Protestant groups was in good faith, Jozef Miloslav Hurban warned them to be more realistic and not to be taken in. The part that Hurban was to play in the revolt of 1848-49 was second to none but his great friend and comrade in arms, Jjudovit Stlir. Jozef Miloslav Hurban Born on the 19th of March, 1817, in Beckov, Jozef Hurban was educated by his father, Pavol, a Lutheran Minister of that place. His father was timid and wished not to implicate himself in national problems. Therefore, under these circumstances, the youthful Hurban while at home was not exposed to Slovak national consciousness.44 After spending his lower grades at Trencin, he went in 1830 to study at the Lycee at Bratislava. He was there for six years before he met Shir. Prior to this time Hurban had not taken part in Slovak aspirations at the Lycee. One evening, while taking a walk in the streets of Bratislava, he met stlir who asked him whether he was studying and practicing in the Slovak language. This stur explained, was the duty of all Slovaks. Hurban at the moment was embarrassed and could not answer. stur then said, "You are a Slovak, is that correct? And is not your friend George Zaborsky?" Hurban replied that he was a Slovak and that his friend was George Zabo11sky. 45 stur complimented Hurban for his selection of such a good, able friend and recommended that he continue to cultivate Zaborsky's friendship. Before the two had departed, Hurban was invited to visit stur. That meeting was to have far-reaching effects on Hurban; for, when he arrived home, his mind was full of thought. The lamp in his room burned past midnight, while Hurban wrote hils first verse in Slovak. This he presented to stur the next morning and from that time on the Slovak Institute in Bratislava, as well as the Slovak nation, did not have a more zealous member nor a more deserving son than Hurban. A trip to Devin was planned for April 24, 1836, by the members of the Slovak Society at the Lycee in order to initiate and plan more definite activities. The ruins �SLOVAKIA 95 of Devin, reminders of a rich history, stood majestic on her pedestal of massive rock guarding the confluence of the Morava and Danube rivers. This place recalled the Great Moravian Empire in the 9th century and her ceaseless struggles against German and Magyar. For the new Slovak generation this was a setting best suited for the revival of Slovak national feeling. 46 On this day filled with bright spring sunshine, lectures were given, prose recited, and songs were sung. Everyone participated in the theme of awakening Slovak consciousness. 47 In a further expression of loyalty to their beloved cause, they adopted Slavic names which they pledged to carry forever. sttir was the first to announce that he was to take the name of Velislav and others followed suit, taking different Slavic names. Hurban took the name Miloslav, a name which was to live in Slovak history. 48 Below the fortress of Devin rested a small town by the same name, and there in a tavern the young Slovaks gathered after an eventful day. Conversation, according to Hurban, had to be carried on in Latin so that waiters might not learn and betray their information.49 Just as stur and others had taken trips to broaden their views and get better acquainted with affairs which might influence their actions, Hurban also traveled. 50 His opportunity was afforded during a vacation 1839 when he visited Vienna, Bohemia and Moravia. 51 In 1841, a book relating his experiences was published: Trip of a Slovak to his Slav Brothers in Moravia and Bohemia. 52 When he completed his studies in 1840, Hurban became town chaplain at Brezova. For Hurban, the post at Brezova was a fortunate one, for here his work was to be understood and appreciated. Even before his arrival, the people of Brezova had had experiences in the struggle against the landed gentry. The peasants were aware of their rights and were prepared to defend them. They, too, had been effected by stur and showed a keen interest in his work. 53 Although Hurban knew that the upper classes would hold it against him, he, nevertheless, set about to reach the less fortunate classes. 54 Within himself there was a shining spiritual fire that others felt, and with his expressive face, warm kind eyes, and strong thundering �96 SLOVAKIA voice, he imparted to others the knowledge he had. Through talks and writings, he began to create among the uneducated people an interest in how they could better themselves. Out of this grew a Sunday school and Moderation and Temperance Society, both of which were to help in strengthening his people. The Sunday school was designed for those living in Brezova and it met on Sundays and holidays and on other days when time permitted. Those who attended were taught the arts and sciences. The Moderation and Temperance Society was just as important. Drunkenness came to Slovakia not through a habit developed from pleasure, but as a medium of escape from the extreme hardships of life. Not anywhere in Hungary was misery so great as in Slovakia, nor was drunkenness more widespread. Besides education, there was a dire need for bettering the lot of these people who lived under such deplorable conditions.55 The enlightened Slovak leaders knew that in order to lift up their nation they must first of all remove this scourge of alcoholism. 56 Throughout Slovakia, Moderation Societies were set up which were similar to those in America, but were chiefly modeled after those in Ireland where conditions were unfortunately similar to those found in Slovakia. However, the obstacle to legislation which would have curbed, if not eliminated, the sale of liquor came from the great landowners and Jews. 57 They owned the distilleries as well as the village taverns. The latter were frequented by those who could not pay and high rates of interest were charged them. 58 Agricultural schools had been established, but they were more for the middle class: townsmen, tradesmen, and prosperous farmers who were able to save their earnings.59 But for the less fortunate people of the lower classes, the Moderation and Temperance Societies had greater meaning and importance.6 1, Its founders believed that Slovak patriotism must be aroused, for a poor and drunken nation could achieve nothing but death. In the field of literary activitieis Hurban felt there was a strong need for a journal to help to direct Slovak literary life. In fact, when in May, 1840, Hurban grieved that there was no journal which could serve the interest �SLOVAKIA 97 of defending national rights, he made this comparison: "A journal is to the life of a nation what hands are to a clock to indicate the time; therefore, as conditions exist we do not even have a clock."61 Putting forth all his efforts, he managed, by 1842, to produce a yearly almanac, Nitra, written in Czech, consisting of some three hundred pages.62 Included in the first edition were songs, poems, and prose from members of the young Slovak generation. Nitra's title page was consecrated to "The daughters and sons of Slovakia, Moravia, Bohemia and Silesia." Hurban dedicated the introductory poem of this first issue of Nitra to Jan Caplovic, landowner and great lover of books and literature. All this was done purposefully so that he might join the Slovak cause more actively .63 There was some speculation among the Magyars as to Hurban's purpose of editing the Nitra. Some claimed that the almanac was given the name Nitra so that Slovakia might arise around the glory that surrounded that name. Prior to this time any open discussion about historic Nitra was forbidden. However, friends of Hurban came to his rescue by tactfully assuring the Magyars there was nothing to fear from Hurban who was but a young man and as such should be excused for his actions. 64 A weaker man would have sensed the danger but Hurban stayed on to put out three more almanacs until 1848 when he was forced to flee for his life. In the year 1843, Hurban was called as pastor to Hlboke and there he edited his second issue of Nitra, but this time in the new Slovak literary language, and censors played havoc with this issue.65 The Magyars also hindered in every way the realization of a Slovak newspaper. stur, with the help of Kollar, had petitioned in 1842 for permission to publish a newspaper, but approval was denied. There was no telling how long this condition would last. In the meantime, something had to be done to draw the Slovak people together into a unified body. It was for this purpose in 1843 that the Slovak leaders stur and Hodza met in Hurban's residence in Hlboke.66 Here they decided that if they were not free to edit a newspaper, a society formed along national lines might help achieve the same results. �98 SLOVAKIA Slovak Literary Language The triumvirate agreed that Czech should no longer be used by the Lutherans in their churches and writings. Therefore, the adoption of the Central Slovak dialect by this body brought the Lutherans and Catholics closer to the goal of having one dialect as a base for their literary language. There was a great need to reach the people, but in a language that was dear to them and one which they understood. Not all people could read the Czech, only the educated; it seemed so foreign to the common people. The society planned for in Hlboke paved the way for the achievement of a common langu&ge.67 Near the beautiful High Tatra mountains on the 27th of August, 1844, in Liptovsky Sv. Mikulas, the Tatrin Society was organized. In the words of Rapant, "It was the culminating point of cultural organization in Slovakia at that time; and it was the most important organ for the stur generation."68 A factor of far reaching consequences for Slovakia was that it was the first national Slovak organization and it encompassed all of the sides and segments of the nation, Catholic and Lutheran.69 Along with unity of language, it concerned itself with the cultural needs of the Slovaks.70 The Tatrin gave financial support to young Catholic and Protestant men who were studying in higher schools of education. Peter Bohun, the famous Slovak artist who painted portraits and scenes of the revolution of 1848-1849, was given such assistance by the Tatrin, so that he was able to publish a book of national costumes. 71 The third meeting of the Tatrin was held at cachtice in the Catholic parish house chiefly to resolve the language issue.72 On this memorial occasion the Catholics and Lutherans on the 10th of August, 1847, agreed to adopt the Central Slovak as the common literary language. The effect of this meeting meant the rupture with the Czechs. As was expected, it drew exclamations of disapproval from Palkovic, Kollar, and others who felt the only salvation for the Slovaks was in their tie with the Czechs. On the part of the Czechs there was great anger, and claims were made that such a move only strengthened the German influence about them. �SLOVAKIA 99 The Czech nationals could not understand the Slovak problem,73 for the vernacular is the natural medium and the truest heartbeat of the people. It, the vernacular, only could help enlighten and lift the Slovak people from their death sleep. Not all Czechs, however, were against the founding of a new literary language. This group argued that a Slovak literature would enrich the whole of Slavic literature. On the other hand, the agreement reached in Cachtice was celebrated throughout Slovakia by Protestants and Catholics alike. stl1r's former students who now served as Protestant clergymen were filled with joy. It seemed that at once Slovak was elevated to a literary language bringing with it a new life which surged into the land. Slavic historians claim that had not such a step been taken it is doubtful whether the Slovaks could have withstood the pressure of Magyarization. 74 It seemed that every,.vhere nobles, townscitizens, and people of the villages began to proclaim that they were Slovaks. The poor classes were not able to understand most of what was written. Time was needed so they might completely understand. Along with Sunday schools which had been established new ones sprang up, and, in addition, writing and reading rooms were opened. People began to realize that through learning and enlightenment they could be helped out of their misery. In Brezova, peasants who had long been held under the nobles' yoke began their attempt to free themselves by purchasing the land. Now that it was their land they worked it as never before. 75 Books and articles were not written to adorn libraries but to serve the people. Advice on practical matters in the written medium was beginning to evidence itself in the lives of the Slovak people. The societies which already existed in the cultural, social, and economic field were given a tremendous impetus by the new language. In the meantime, all protests against Zay had not been aired. The inroads of Magyarization aroused superintendent Dr. Paul Jozeffy 76 to protest at the Lutheran general convention on September 10, 1841. He warned that if they continued forcing Magyarization into Slovak churches and schools, he himself would present these �100 SLOVAKIA ~ievances to the court.77 Needless to say, Magyar ambitions were not deterred, for when in 1840 the Jittenka (Morning Star), a student journal, was first issued at Levoca the Magyar press vehemently attacked it as a tool of PanSlavism. By 1841 the young students were forced to cease its publication.78 Paul Jozeffy Heads Delegation to Vienna, June, 1842 Every move by the Slovaks the Magyars suspected as intrigues against their kingdom and made use of the strongest propaganda weapon by crying "Pan-Slavism." They claimed Pan-Slavism was nc.t only dangerous to the Magyars but also politically perilous to the Empire; therefore, it was necessary that the Magyars and Germans fight this menace. 79 All candidates for Slovak pastorates were barred unless they could speak Magyar fluently. It was under these conditions that 200 ministers under the supervision of Jozeffy signed a petition demanding rights for the Slovaks. Jozeffy and his delegation went to Vienna in early June 1842 where they presented their grievances before Ferdinand V. The petition began by stating that the Slovaks are an individual nation which can progress only when it fosters its own tongue. Furthermore, for many centuries the Slovaks had made sacrifices along with other nations . of Hungary for the preservation of the Empire. They had been able to use their own language, but now the Slovak priests were being humiliated by having to adopt another tongue. _Because of this, the Slovak language and its literature was suffering, while in business transactions Slovak was no longer used. They, therefore, petitioned: 1) that the King should declare officially as false all testimony against the Slovaks that had been so proven, 2) that proper authority be granted ·so that two censors for Slovak literature be assigned to interpret and defend Slovak works, 3) that the seat of language and literature at the Lycee at Bratislava be confirmed and fully certified, 4') that at the University of Pest there be established a seat of Slavic language and literature, 5) that for matriculation records and church protocol Latin be put in use again, 6) that churches and schools be defended against �SLOVAKIA 101 fanatic, self styled patriots who seek to Magyarize everything.80 This petition was signed by Paul Jozeffy, John Seberini, John Chalupka, Michael Hodza, Samuel Ferjencik, George Palkovic and 200 ministers, teachers and men of all stations in life.81 Although the Slovak delegation did not get very far w:.th its request, it served as a morale booster for the Slovaks. From the outset, promises were made and it looked as though something might be accomplished. The delegation had an audience with Metternich who assured them their request would be studied. After leaving Metternich they saw Count Kolowrat, a Czech nobleman and member of the Emperor's entourage. Although he greeted them with great warmth and is reported to have said, "Slav must help Slav," the delegation felt that they were being sidetracked. Kolowrat sensed this lack of confidence and assured them that he would lend them his support. When they left Vienna, the delegation felt something would be achieved. Now it seemed necessary only to wait. Upon their return home the delegation was shocked by the Magyar's overt reaction. The Slovak delegation had gone to Vienna with nothing but peaceful intentions in mind. But now the chauvinistic Magyars were infuriated and began to reel off in their papers and journals diatribes against the deputation headed by Jozeffy. Amidst this growing fervor a climax was reached when Kossuth delivered his flailing message at the General Convention on June 15th in Pest. In his attack, Kossuth, capable orator that he was, spared no words and vehemently described the deputation as a shame for the Protestant church and the betrayal of the best interest of the kingdom of Hungary. Kossuth demanded the punishment and resignation of Jozeffy from his superintendency. By the end of October, 1842, the petition was sent from Vienna to Buda to Palatine Joseph for his study and recommendations. When Kollar got wind of this he wrote a letter in November advising Jozeffy to come to Buda and intercede with the Palatine. Jozeffy arrived in Buda at the end of November and brought with him data and other materials with which he could strengthen his �102 SLOVAKIA position before the Pa1atine.82 But all proved futile, for prior to his arrival Joseph had been prepared by the Magyars for such an audience. Already on the 16th of April, 1843, Kollar had warned Jozeffy that the Palatine was Magyar in his symphaties. Moreover, according to Kollar, the Palatine Joseph had been oriented and advised by Vienna to disregard the Slovak demands. Vienna had no desire to strengthen the Slavs whether they be Slovak, Czech, or Serb, for in their union and strength she saw jeopardy to her position. At the same time she knew she could depend upon the support of the Slavs in case the Magyars caused trouble. And yet because of rumblings in Germany and Italy she could not afford to offend the Magyars. This policy of "cat and mouse" by Vienna was reaffirmed when in his letter to Jozeffy dated April 25th, 184J, the Palatine urged him to be patient, thus leaving Jozeffy to hope that all was not in vain. Hodza summed up the situation: "We cannot expect help from the Magyars but we must look to the Empire which is far away; and God is too high to help." 83 Other attempts were made to present Slovak grievances before the Emperor but they likewise proved fruitless . The Slovaks now more than ever realized that they must fight alone. s tur Leaves Bratislava As a result of Kossuth's charges at the General Convention an inquiry was held to det ermine for the Magyars the real reason for Jozeffy's trip to Vienna. Through their cunning, Zay and Kossuth at last felt they had a way of removing s tur from his position as professor of Slovak Studies at the Lycee. With it they hoped that if they could not remove the chair of studies completely, they could at least render it harmless through an appointee of their choice. The Slovaks called his investigation an inquisition, but in spite of all the false charges and doctored methods the inquiry ended in an acquittal of the charges made. Zay, however, insisted upon action which in the future would prevent stur from making lectures. Unheard-of pressure brought the removal of stur in December 1843. �SLOVAKIA 103 A petition initiated by his beloved students was circulated for signatures. From all over Slovakia protests came from clergy and laity for the restoration of stur to his post.84 This did not, however, bring the result desired. In a feeling of indignation the young students left Bratislava. While most of them stopped at Levoca, others continued on to Presov, Kezmarok, stiavnica and Jelenova. 85 On their way, with heavy hearts but no resignation, they composed a song "Nad Tatrou sa blyska" (Over Tatra's Peaks Lightning Flashes) .86 The Magyars, blinded by their recent victory, did not realize that they had ironically rendered a great service to the Slovak cause. Previously the young Slovak students were centered in Bratislava where observation could be made of their every move, but they now were being scattered throughout Slovakia. Like so many seeds the ideals of stur and other Slovak leadership, knowledge, national pride, betterment and unity of purpose began to sprout and grow. The Slovak National News For st\ir his removal meant that his next fight would not be in the schools as before but among the masses of the Slovak people. To help reach the people a newspaper was needed. It was not until 1845, however, that the first issue of the Slovenske N<irodne Noviny (Slovak National News) was published.87 The paper, written in Slovak, was to become the most important vehicle in presenting stur's platform, and in fighting for Slovak rights. 88 Though criticized by some for lacking more aggressive action, stur stuck to his conservative approach, for he knew that if the Magyars were irritated the paper would not have long to live. stur believed that in order that the Slovak people might better preserve their nation they must be first educated in politics as well as home affairs. Some of his articles seemingly were written for the benefit of the Magyars to whom stur wished to prove that the Slovaks desired only peace and what was rightfully theirs. Through his paper, stur hoped to modernize his people, therefore he discussed their schools, institutions, libraries, and �104 SLOVAKIA societies. His words gave new hope to those who long suffered under the burden of serfdom. As a result of the appearance of the Slovak National News, there blossomed in all corners of Slovakia in 1845 a great number of Literary, Social, Agricultural, Economic, Woman's, and Moderation and Temperance societies. They were modeled after those which had been found in previous years, but now they seemed to grow everywhere. To reach national unity and purpose every facet was tried. As with her fighting sons, the role women were to play became apparent. Articles appeared in st1.1r's newspaper stressing the point that being good mother was no longer sufficient, for all women now must take on additional responsibilities and become interested in the affairs of their nation. 89 Other writers called for the establishment of a girls' institute where industry and devotion to the Slovak cause would be taught.90 Readers of the Slovak newspapers were reproached for not helping themselves and were given sound advice that jealousy of others will not get them ahead. stur wrote that, "In order for the Slovaks to be more fortunate, they must be concerned about themselves and must get a 'common soul.'" He stated further, "Authough the mark of a nation is her language, the Slovak tongue is completely neglected in schools; it does not have social and constitutional rights for its cultivation. This is due to the fact that the Slovaks have not lived like a nation but as an individual. He has hidden his tongue only for use in the home and therefore it has no chance of blossoming forth into reality." 91 Hodza in his Dobruo slovo (Good Word) proclaimed that the Slovaks must recognize their own nation and then others will do likewise. The program of sttir as outlined in the Slovak National News was but the continuation of demands placed before Vienna and Pest by the Slovaks for the past twenty years. Aside from the need of economic reforms the major issue was that of language. stur's paper was read in towns and villages. Hurban wrote, "The voice of that national organ under stur was really strong, one which had to be considered." 92 The Slovak National News had awakened the Slovak people and helped prepare them for the moment for which everyone waited. �SLOVAKIA 105 FOOTNOTES 1) Charles E. Maurice, The Rev olutionary Movements of 1848-1849, p . vi. 2 ) Daniel Rapant, Slov enske Pov stanie, ( Slovak Uprising) Vol. I, Bk. I, p. 18. 3) Milan Hodfa, "Political Evolution of Slovakia," Slov akia Then and Now, ed. R. W . Seton-Watson, p . 71. 4 ) Alphonse M. Lamarune, "Past, Present and Future," North Ameri can Revi ew, LXXII, (Jan. 1851) , p . 206. 5) Rapant, op. cit. , pp. 75, 88, 89; " Austria and Germany," Quarterly Review, LXXXIV, (Dec. 1849), p. 198. 6 ) Julius Botto, Slovcici , (Slovaks) , I, 23 ; Arnost Dennis, Slov cici: Otcizka Rakouskci, (Slovaks : The Austrian Question), p. 134; C. J . C. Street, Slov akia Past and Present, p. 9; Rapant, op. cit., p. 84. 7) Arthur Patterson, The Magyars, II, 70. 8) Jozef Cieker, Slovenskci Otcizka, (Slovak Question) , pp. 19, 20; E. L. Miyatovich, "Panslavism: Its Rise and Decline", Fortnightly Revi ew, XIV (1873) , p. 96. 9 ) Michael Hodza, Der Slowake, (The Slovak), p . 10; Rapant, op. cit., p . 4. 10) Htjdza, op. cit., p. 16. 11 ) Louis Leger, A History of Austro-Hungary, p. 520; Geoffrey Drage, Austria-Hungary, p. 200 ; Harold W. Ternperley, "Racial Strife in Hungary," Westminster Review, C. XIX (Jan. 1908) , p. 4. 12) Daniel Rapant, Ileqalna Mad'arizcicia: 1790-1840, (Illegal Magyarization) , p. 3. 13 ) Cieker, op. cit ., p. 39. 14) Hodza, op. ci t ., p. 10. 15) Ernest Flachbarth, Companion to Hungarian Studies, p. 372. 16 ) Michael Hodza, Der Slowake, (The Slovak), p. 41. 17) Frantisek Hrusovsky, Slovenske D ej iny, (Slovak History) , p. 248. 18) Skultety, op. cit., p. 62. 19) Julius Bodnar, Dr. Jozef Miloslav Hurban, p. 12. 20) Jozef Skultety, Sketches from Slo·va.lc History, trans. 0 . D. Koreff, p. 184; Bodnar, Zoe. cit.; Albert Prazak, Dejiny Spisovne Slovenstiny po Dobu sturovu , (History of Literary Slovak Before the Time of Stur) p. 163; Miss Parooe, an English lady who traveled throughout Hungary in the late 1830's w110te, "It is said that in the whole k!ingdom there is not so high and liberal an academic spirit in any scholastic establishment as in that of the Lycee of Bratislava" (City of the Magyar and Hungary) , JI, 281. 21 ) Frantisek Frydecky, Dopisy .fudev ita Stura Jaroslavu Pospisilovi, (Letters of Cudovit Stur to Jaroslav Pospisil) , pp. 31, 73. �SLOVAKIA 106 22) Jozef Hurban, I!udovit Stur, I, 38,39. 23) See R. W. Seton-Watson, A H istory of the Czechs m# Slovaks, pp. 173-176. 24) There were, in aj:ldition, German and Magyar societies at the Lycee at Bratislava. 25) Daniel Rapant, llegalna Mad'arizacia: 1790-1840, (Illegal Magyarization), p. v. 26) Ibid., p. 23; Pardoe, op. cit., III, 78-80. 27) Rapant, op. cit., p. 24. 28) Daniel Rapant, Slovenske Povstanie, (Slovak Uprising), Vol. I., Bk. I ., p. 66. 29) M. Rey in his study of this period described the privileges of the nobility: " The rights of the nobles were as vast as a privileged race of conquerors could possibly enjoy ... Neither the noble himself nor his servants paid any tax, real or personal, to the king or the counties; neither his horse nor his men could be required to work on the roald or the dykes. The peasant alone was the person who paid the tax termed 'domestical' for the expense of the Diet and the county administration. The peasant paid the salary of the school master, the notary, the priest, the patrol. The peasant constructed and maintained either with his ,o wn money or his labor, the roads, bridges, churches, schools, public bui~dings, dykes, canals; and it was the peasant and the townsman who drained the marshes, turned the course of rivers, etc. The peasant and the townspeople paid the war tax and furnished recruits." (Autriche, Hongrie, et Turquie on 1839-48, p. 126, cited by Corvinus, Hungary: Its Constitutions and the Catastrophe, p. 17) ; Louis Leger, A History of Austro-Hungary, p. 493. 30 ) Peter E. Turnbull, Austria: Social a111:l Political Conditions, II, 21, 22. 31 ) Stefan Jansak, "The Land Question in Slovakia," The Slav onic Review, (March, 1930), p. 620. 32) As a result of the Diet of 1764 a law was passed restricting the power of inflicting corporal punishment to the bestowing of twentyfive lashes. (Lord Henry Brougham, Political Philosophy, II, 9.3 ). 33 ) Leger, op. cit., pp. 493, 494. 34) Frantisek Bokes, Dejiny Slovakov a Slovenska, (History of the Slovaks and Slovakia ); Vol. IV, Slovenska Vlastiveda, p. 146. 35 ) Arthur Yolland, Hungary, p. 253. 36) Leger, op. cit., p. 494. 37) Ernest Flachbarth, History of Hungcry's Nati onalities, pp. 5, 6. 38) Arminius Vambery, Hungary, p. 417. 39) Hurban, op. cit., II, 118. 40 ) Arnost Dennis, Slovaci: Otazka Rakouska, p. 155. �SLOVAKIA 107 41) ~udovit Stur, Stary i Novy Vek Slovaku, (Old and New Slovak Age), p. 39. 42) Stur writes the Magyars feel that they can only be safe from Russia by Magyarizing the Slovaks. "Was there a time," he asked, "when the Slovaks have not ·prov~d faithful? We have fought for our country, Hungary, and thousands have shed their blood." (Ibid. , p . 42) . 43) Julius Botto, Slovaci, pp. 53, 54. 44) Hurban, op. cit., III, 228. 45) Dr. Luidvik Ktihn, Buditelia v zupe bratislavskej, p. 66 . 46) Nitra had been considered. 47) Hurban, op. cit., I, 94-106. 48)\ Ibid., 102. 49) Ibid., 103. 50) Ibid., 155. 51) Hurban visited the Rajhrad Cloister in Moravia and made the following entry in the visitors' book on July 10, 1839: "Miloslav Jozef Hurban, a traveling Slovak, visited .this famous cloister with the motto, 'Long Live Czecho-Slovak' " (Author in 1948 humbly ~dded his name to the same visitors' book at the Rajhrad Cloister). 52) Cesta Slovaka ku b1·atrum slavenskym na Morave av techach. 53) Julius Bodnar, Dr. Jozef Miloslav Hurban, p. 17. 54) Ibid., p . 16. 55) See Stefan Jansak, Les Conditions Sociales dans l'Anciene Hongrie et la Situation de la Slovaquie. 56 ) Rapant, op. cit., p. 159. 57 ) Ibid., p. 160; Max Schlesinger, The War in Hungary, 1848-1849, II, 218, 2l9. 58) G. R. Gleig, Germany_. Bohemia, arlji Hungary, III, 59-62. 59) Rapant, op. cit., p. 158. 60) Rapant relates that many of 't hese people would spend their last earnings for liquor, and that in some areas between one thiDd to one half of the population on certain days were intoxicated; even children in the nursing stages were given alcohol L-Oc. cit. 61) Karol Golan, Rok so Sturovcami, p. 11. 62) At that time there were practically no printing facilities available in Slovakia. 63) Vendelin Jankovic, Jan taplovic: Zivot, Osobnost', Dielo, p. 24. 64) Bodnar, op. cit., p. 20. 65) J . Skultety, 0 Slovakoch (About the Slovaks), p. 254. 66) Hurban, op. cit., II, 302; Hurban wrote : "Tatrin's function was to the nation what Stur's was to the Slovak youth." Loe. cit. �108 SLOVAKIA 67) Prazak, op. cit., p. 304. 68) Rapant, op. cit., p. 156. 69) Mikulas Dohnany, Historia Povstanja Slovenskjeho z Roku 1848, (History of the Slovak Uprising in 1848), p. 21. 70) Hodza, op. cit., p. 54. 71) Hurban, op. cit., p. 298; Dohnany, op. cit., p. 21 . 72) Botto, op. cit., p. 62. 73) Dohnany, op. cit., p. 22. 74) Albert Prazak, "Czechs and Slovaks in Revolution of 1848," The Slavonic Review, V (March, 1927), p. 573. 75) Dohnany, op. cit., p. 20. 76) In ~::ldition to his fine qualities his contemporaries described Dr. Jozeffy as being timid and lacking ,t he firmness and obstinancy needed for his time. One can well imagine that when such a man is roused to make a protest of this order it generally must be for reason. (Botto, op. cit., p. 55) . 77) Hurban, op. cit., p. 115. 78) Ibid. , p. 116. 79) Jozef Cieker, Slovenska Otazka, p. 72. 80) Botto, op. cit., pp. 57, 58; Hurban, op. cit., pp. 166-168. 81) Ibid. , p. 164. 82) Ibid., p. 171. cit., p. 32. 84) Skultety, op. cit., p. 200. 83) Hodza, op. 85) Prazak, Dejiny Spisovne Slovenstiny, op. cit., pp. 285, 286. 86) Jan Matuska ( 1821-1877) was the writer of that song. 87) It may be interesting to note that Zay was commission~ by his government to study Stur's request for a Slovak paper. To the surprise of Stur and his followers the request was granted. The rejoicing which took place was not to last for any great length of time for when the Magyars saw fit, they deprived the Slovaks of their news organ. 88) Bokes, op. cit., p. 158. 89) Rapant, op. cit., p. 155. 90) Cieker, op. cit., p. 210. 91) Rapant, op. cit., p. 148. 92) Hurban, op. cit., III, 80, 81. • THE SLOVAK LEAGUE OF AMERICA is interest.eel primarily in promoting the welfare and security of the Unit.eel States of America. � SLOVAKIA 85 The Slovak National Awakening By Edward A. Tuleya Since the Congress of Vienna in 1815 democratic principles and nationalism had been suppressed by the joint efforts of the great powers. However, by 1848 the dream of freedom could no longer be contained, and throughout the continent of Europe, except for Russia, the revolution spread. Revolts in Palermo, Paris, Vienna, and Prague were like huge cannon aimed to destroy the fortress of reaction. 1 The time that Prince Metternich feared had come, and on March 14th he was forced to flee Vienna. Hope for the oppressed ran high. 2 Within the framework of the Austrian Empire dissatisfied nations now saw the opportunity to gain rights which had long been denied them. Magyars Would Deny Others Freedom Napoleon's downfall had created a dilemma for Vienna and she reacted by adopting a policy which relegated the Slavs to an inferior status within the Empire, especially those living in Hungary. The Russian more than any other army was responsible for the defeat of Napoleon. Gratitude quickly gave way to suspicion as to what the Russian Tsar might do now that he had the strongest fighting force in Europe. Vienna feared that Russia would use her power to back up the demands of the Slav nations in Empire, for the improvement of their political position or more alarming for breaking away from Hapsburg control. Instead of turning to a rational policy for her Slav subjects, she opted for a diametrical course by seeking the co-operation of the Magyars who were in complete sympathy with Vienna, at least on that overriding issue. Vienna gave the Magyars more than tacit support to do whatever was necessary in Hungary to preserve the Empire's internal security. What the Magyars had in mind was something more, greater independence from Vienna. For centuries the Magyars ruled a population three fourths of which was made up of nonMagyar peoples, such as Germans, Slovaks, Croats, Serbs, �86 SLOVAKIA Ruthenians, and Rumanians. But the Magyar leaders had no sympathy for others when the latter called for equal rights. 3 Thus, while the Magyars were pressing Vienna for more rights, the non-Magyar nations were being refused those very same rights and others by the Magyars. 4 The lot of the subject races in Hungary was difficult, particularly for the Slovaks, a Slavic people, numbering close to three million and living in northern Hungary. Unlike the Croats, Serbs, and Rumanians, the Slovaks did not enjoy favor in Vienna, representation in Parliament, nor the right to cultivate their own language. 5 It was not, however, until the end of the eighteenth century that the Magyars began to accelerate the Magyarization of the Slovaks and other ·non-Magyar nations. The greatest contributing factor to their plan was Joseph II's policy to centralize and Germanize the Empire. In 1784 Joseph II ordered that in place of the dead language, Latin, German would be the official language in Hungary. From that time on there was a strong reawakening of the people.6 "Just as the encroachments of German had awakened the susceptibilities of the Magyars", writes A. Patterson, "so did the encroachments of Hungarian (Magyar) awaken those of the Croats and Slovaks."7 Effect of Joseph's Policy on Magyarization The policy of Joseph II, instead of unifying the Empire through Germanization, only aroused the subject nations to take further steps to defend their national identity.8 The awakened spirit affected the Magyar nationalists to adhere to the belief that the security of Hungary as a Magyar nation could only be assured if all its inhabitants were Magyars. 9 In opposition to this, Michael Hodza, ardent fighter for Slovak people, exclaimed, "We don't want Magyar as our language. If you fought against Germanization of Joseph II, we also fight against your Magyarization."10 Therefore, the Slovaks who had enjoyed some linguistic tolerance were now to feel the pains of a denaturalization program. Lack of concern on the part of the Magyars and their feeling of superiority and arrogance can be best expressed in a; Magyar proverb: "Toth ember nem ember." (The Slovak is not a man).11 �SLOVAKIA 87 The first Magyarization laws were passed in 1791-92 by the County councils.12 For several years the laws. were poorly enforced and not too much concern was paid to the activities of the non-Magyar groups or their resistance to assimilation. This apathy, however, was not the rule in all quarters. In some cities in Hungary it was calculated that in 1798 the Magyar and the Slovak population was equal, and because of the manner in which the Germans had been absorbed by the Slovaks, the Magyars could not expect a better fate .13 Reaction to this fear took different forms on the part of the Magyars. In many cases Magyar priests unable to speak Slovak were sent to Slovak churches. In the village of :r.udovilovo-Komarno police were posted outside the doors of the church to keep the people from leaving. Those who protasted were placed on the deres and beaten. Me;:i,nwhile Slovak priests were not allowed to perform services and Magyars were appointed. 14 This could have had a disastrous affect on the Slovaks, for the Catholic priests and Protestant ministers were looked upon as leaders by the people. With few exceptions, the clergy were the only national-minded Slovaks possessing a higher education. They used their learning to better the lives of the people through writing and organizing schools. The Slovak aristocracy, on the other hand, were pro-Magyar in their sympathies and looked with indifference on their own countrymen. Influ ence of Anton B ernolak In 1787, Anton Bernolak, a Catholic priest, published his Slovak grammar. His work laid the foundations for a Slovak literary language and contributed to a growing national consciousness. 15 Heretofore, Slovak writers had used Czech as a medium of written expression, but now they had, based on the West Sl@vak dialect, the beginning of their own literary language. Slovak writers now turned to the distant p ast in Slovak history, and using the new idiom, wrote about her past glory and achievements in an effort to inspire the people. Not long afterwards, in 1793, Bernolak and his followers founded the Slovak Education Society for the purpose of publishing and distributing Slovak books. A �88 SLOVAKIA generous patron and member of the Trnava Literary circle was Alexander Rudnay, Archbishop Cardinal of Ostrihom, who openly proclaimed, "Slovak I am and if I were a Pope I would still be a Slovak."16 For the Slovak people, Bernolak and his followers had taken the first stride toward the preservation of their language, heritage, and nation. 17 "Had it not been for those who in the 1790's were awake, as true Slovaks, by the year 1867 we would have been smothered by Magyarization," were the words used by Skultety to stress the importance of the school of Bernolak.18 Before the Slovaks could present a more united front against the Magyars, however, it was necessary to close the ranks among their own people. One of the greate$t obstacles which confronted the Slovak leaders was the selection of a literary language which would be accepted by both Catholic and Protestant groups. Centered in Trnava, the Catholics continued on their new course by using the Western Slovak vernacular as their vehicle for development of a literary language. The Bernolak group was steering away from the Czech which until this time had been used by the educated class as the literary language in Slovakia. On the other hand, the Protestants remained adherents of the Czech. They in turn began to gather around the Lutheran Lycee in Bratislava. In 1801, they founded the "Society for Slovak Literature," and two years later they established a chair for the study of the Slovak language and literature at the Lycee. 19 Eudovit Stur And The Defense of Slovak Rights For the Slovaks much good emanated from the Lycee in the years that followed. In the circles of the young students, Eudovit sttir from 1836 became prominent. Born in the small town of Uhrovec, the son of a school teacher, :Cudovit was destined to devote his life to his people. He succeeded in getting the chair of Slovak as substitute of the superannuated Professor George Palkovic.20 In order to prepare himself for the cause of his nation, sttir, in 1838, departed for Germany to take up studies at the University of Halle. During his sojourn at Halle he continued to keep contact with his homeland by �SLOVAKIA 89 exchanging letters witl1 his literary associates in Slovakia and Bohemia. Before returning home $tur visited the Lusatians, an island of the Western Slavic people located in the "German Sea." He hoped to find the purest type of Slavic character and racial purity. He came upon a village which except for the name of the community had lost all its Slavic identity. $tur wa.s moved by this experience and in a poem called "The Pagan Priest" expressed with sadness the eventual loss of these people to the Slavic world. On his way home he lingered in Prague at the home of a dear friend, Jaroslav Pospisil. Unfortunately, $tur fell down the steps and was forced to remain. 21 During his convalescence he fell in love with his host's daughter, Maria. After great deliberation, $tur decided against placing his own personal feelings before those of his people. It may, be said by some that a marriage at this time by $tur would have meant his loss to the Slovak cause. There is no doubt that during his marital adjustment he may have neglected his life'is work, but one must not forget his burning desire to fulfill his mission for the welfare of his people. It must also be remembered that $tur's prospective father-in-law was a man steeped in the Slavic cause which in itself would certainly have not been a deterring factor towards $tur's continued efforts in the Slovak cause. Indeed, the Slovak people came much closer to losing their great son in 1833 and from an entirely different quarter. After completing his studies in that year at the Lycee in Bratislava, $tur was employed at the office on the estate of Count Zay. Such a position would have been cherished by most young men, yet $tur resigned. His mission and work lay elsewhere. When his mother protested and pleaded that he remain, $tur in a voice full of love and emotion said, "Mommy dear, as you see today, I will still be a student. I must be a student." $tur returned to Bratislava where he gave himself to his people. 22 Few will deny that Jan Kollar's "Slavy Dcera" (The Daughter of Slava) and Paul Joseph $afarik's "Slavonic Antiquities" had influenced $tur's decision. 23 The Lycee attracted not only Slovaks but also Serbian �90 SLOVAKIA and Croatian youth. 24 Replicas of the society at the Lycee were found in other schools in Slovakia. Stimulating contacts among the Catholic and Lutheran Slovak students was established through correspondence. They were preparing each other for future duties in life. Acceleration of Magyarization It was not until the 1830's that-the non-Magyar nations began to rise and defend themselves against the accelerated Magyarization program. 25 By 1820, in some counties, Magyar was advocated as the language in non-Magyar schools. 26 A terrible blow was dealt to Slovak people by the Hungarian Diet in 1825-27. Seemingly, the only purpose of the Diet body at the time was to replace Latin with Magyar as the official language. Consequently this meant that all citizens of Hungary would be forced to use the Magyar language in schools, civil service, army and public life as well. To further the cause of Magyarization, Count Stefan Szechenyi, prominent Magyar nobleman, offered to donate his yearly income towards the building of a Magyar academy. A member of the parliament explained that the chief reason for such aims was for the defense against Russian pressure. 27 The constant fear of Russia led the Magyars to look upon a strong Poland as a likely ally. Professor Daniel Rapant explains that Felsobukki Nagy Pal in his Parliamentary speech in 1833 called for the need of a resurrected Poland and a widening of Magyarization to the remotest frontiers of Hungary. He emphasized a common frontier with Poland. 28 Needless to say, much of this fear can be attributed to the cleverness of the Magyars in their defense against the Slavic nations. Both German and Magyar publishers used "Pan-Slavism" extensively as their propaganda weapon. With their careful program of assimilating other nations, the Magyars themselves made blunders which were to turn the Slovak people further away from them. M. Rey wrote: "The Magyar nobles had often made generous sacrifices in the defense of their own interests but they had always shown the most deplorable selfishness as regards the condition of the peasants." 29 All this in turn gave the �SLOVAKIA 91 Austrian crown an opportunity to play the part of the oppressed peasants' friend. 30 The Slovak peasant from the middle of the 16th to the middle of the 19th century bore the main burden of taxation in Hungary, paying fifty per cent of what he produced to his lord and to the crown.31 There is no question that the conditiorts of the peasantry in Slovakia were pitiful. 32 Therefore, it is understandable that occasionally open peasant rebellions took place against their lords. One of the latest to occur was in 1831 which took place in the counties of saris, Zemplin, Spis, Abauj, and Gerner with the outbreak of cholera. Some of the lords were put to death by the people who accused them of having poisoned the wells. 33 According t:o Bakes, the disease had spread across the frontier from Poland where Russian soldiers had been encamped.34 rt is estimated that 56,000 died, and one writer claims that Russian agents incited the people to revolt against their lords. 35 The brutality with which the revolt was put down left hatred in the hearts of those who survived. In this state of affairs the Emperor in 1833 invited the Diet to meet at Bratislava to discuss agrarian reforms which he claimed were drawn up by himself. 36 Among the people there was great hope that such interest on the part of the Emperor would mean the gradual alleviation of their terrible conditions. Actually, the congress did not concern itself with such matters and instead they were put aside to be dealt with at later sessions. Something more important now commanded their attention, the coronation of Francis's son, Ferdinand, as kin of Hungary. As Magyars they were won over to the new king when he contributed his coronation gift to the Magyar Scientific Academy. Ferdinand, who claimed to be Magyar at heart, became a strong supporter for the Magyarization program. In 1830, the Diet passed a series of laws which extended the reaches of the Magyar language. By 1836, Magyar was elevated to equal stature with Latin as a language to be used in courts and documents. As a result of the Diet of 1839, Magyar now became the official language of Hungary . Now Magyarization would need only time. What �92 SLOVAKIA would St. Stephen, Hungary's greatest king, have said of this? The Magyars had revered their king and maybe they would have been wiser had they paid heed to his words of wisdom. In a letter written by St. Stephen to his son, St. Emerich, we find him saying: "For as guests some from various parts of the provinces, they bring different languages and customs, knowledge, and arms, all of which adorn the royal court; and make it more magnificent. All this shakes the self-confidence of foreigners. A country with one language and one morality is weak and fragile. Therefore I exhort you, my son, to accept them with benevolence and hold them in esteem in order that they may prefer staying with you in the kingdom."37 Thus, the Magyars were taking their ship on a different course than that charted by their great captam, St. Stephen. At this time, Uudovit stur returned to the Lycee in Bratislava from Germany where he had been studying for the last two years. Much had taken place in his absence; however, he was the man destined to lead his people during their great trial in 1848-49. An effective weapon t,o be used against stur and his followers was the Pesti Hirlap, the first political newspaper in Hungary and edited by Louis Kossuth in 1841. The "forties" were to see the Magyars, "champions" of the newly-won freedom of the press acting quickly to refuse its benefits to their weaker fellow nations. Although some assurances were given that racial tolerance would be honored to all, it was not long before the true character of the journal became evident. Kossuth was very free in his attacks on the Slovaks and answers to his attacks were never allowed space in his "democratic" paper. 38 The Pesti Hirlap became the voice of Magyarization. The Magyars in their search for every technique and new approach did not overlook the possibilities of using the religious issue as a vehicle toward their goal of assimilation. This only served to strengthen Slovak resistance. On September 10, 1840, Count Zay was appointed chief inspector of the Protestant Congregations and schools.39 In his acceptance speech he called for the promotion of Magyarization as the only salvation for the Protestant confession in Slovakia. Zay's goal was to unify the Lutheran �SLOVAKIA 93 and Calvinist Churches. Of all the Lutherans in Hungary, five eights were Slovaks, the rest were Germans. On the other hand, the Calvinists were Magyars and were greater in number. This in itself added to Slovak suspicions that such a union was not in the interest of the faith as proclaimed, but actually a chauvinistic design on the part of the Magyars to absorb the Slovak people.40 Zay openly announced in a public circular, September 26, 1840, his determination to Magyarize the Slovaks. Moreover, he stated that the Slovak language would prevent the Slovaks from being good stolid Protestants, and the Magyarization of the Slavs was the holiest duty of every genuine patriot:u Hungary, according to Zay, could only be strong if she were welded into one nation, for she could then defend herself from the danger in the north, Russia. 42 Slovak leaders were not tardy in answering Zay. Sttir's rebuttal was so intelligently plain that Zay became firmly convinced Sttir was behind all the protestations that were being made. He was determined to have Stlir removed from the chair of Slovak Studies at the Lycee. This appeared to be quite difficult to do inasmuch as i:ittir was very popUllar. Nevertheless, supporters of Zay's plan proclaimed that the Lycee's at Bratislava and Levoca were the hotbeds of all Slovak societies at Lutheran schools and colleges in Slovakia. For the time being, however, Magyar plans were not successful. Jan Seberini answered Zay on April 2, 1841, by stating that he, Zay, professed to Magyarize in the name of Protestantism; yet that is not only contrary to the Protestant beliefs, but also to all Christian teachings. "Who has the right to say what language a man must speak?" he continued, " I am a Slovak not because of glory and honor but according to Christian teachings, for God wanted that I be born Slovak. Therefore, I am not ashamed of my origin nor my tongue just as any German, Frenchman, Magyar need not to be ashamed." 43 It must be remembered that not all of the Protestant clergy sensed danger in the union; nevertheless, Zay's program eventually became evident even to those idealists. At Nitra, where some believed that union of the two �94 SLOVAKIA Protestant groups was in good faith, Jozef Miloslav Hurban warned them to be more realistic and not to be taken in. The part that Hurban was to play in the revolt of 1848-49 was second to none but his great friend and comrade in arms, Jjudovit Stlir. Jozef Miloslav Hurban Born on the 19th of March, 1817, in Beckov, Jozef Hurban was educated by his father, Pavol, a Lutheran Minister of that place. His father was timid and wished not to implicate himself in national problems. Therefore, under these circumstances, the youthful Hurban while at home was not exposed to Slovak national consciousness.44 After spending his lower grades at Trencin, he went in 1830 to study at the Lycee at Bratislava. He was there for six years before he met Shir. Prior to this time Hurban had not taken part in Slovak aspirations at the Lycee. One evening, while taking a walk in the streets of Bratislava, he met stlir who asked him whether he was studying and practicing in the Slovak language. This stur explained, was the duty of all Slovaks. Hurban at the moment was embarrassed and could not answer. stur then said, "You are a Slovak, is that correct? And is not your friend George Zaborsky?" Hurban replied that he was a Slovak and that his friend was George Zabo11sky. 45 stur complimented Hurban for his selection of such a good, able friend and recommended that he continue to cultivate Zaborsky's friendship. Before the two had departed, Hurban was invited to visit stur. That meeting was to have far-reaching effects on Hurban; for, when he arrived home, his mind was full of thought. The lamp in his room burned past midnight, while Hurban wrote hils first verse in Slovak. This he presented to stur the next morning and from that time on the Slovak Institute in Bratislava, as well as the Slovak nation, did not have a more zealous member nor a more deserving son than Hurban. A trip to Devin was planned for April 24, 1836, by the members of the Slovak Society at the Lycee in order to initiate and plan more definite activities. The ruins �SLOVAKIA 95 of Devin, reminders of a rich history, stood majestic on her pedestal of massive rock guarding the confluence of the Morava and Danube rivers. This place recalled the Great Moravian Empire in the 9th century and her ceaseless struggles against German and Magyar. For the new Slovak generation this was a setting best suited for the revival of Slovak national feeling. 46 On this day filled with bright spring sunshine, lectures were given, prose recited, and songs were sung. Everyone participated in the theme of awakening Slovak consciousness. 47 In a further expression of loyalty to their beloved cause, they adopted Slavic names which they pledged to carry forever. sttir was the first to announce that he was to take the name of Velislav and others followed suit, taking different Slavic names. Hurban took the name Miloslav, a name which was to live in Slovak history. 48 Below the fortress of Devin rested a small town by the same name, and there in a tavern the young Slovaks gathered after an eventful day. Conversation, according to Hurban, had to be carried on in Latin so that waiters might not learn and betray their information.49 Just as stur and others had taken trips to broaden their views and get better acquainted with affairs which might influence their actions, Hurban also traveled. 50 His opportunity was afforded during a vacation 1839 when he visited Vienna, Bohemia and Moravia. 51 In 1841, a book relating his experiences was published: Trip of a Slovak to his Slav Brothers in Moravia and Bohemia. 52 When he completed his studies in 1840, Hurban became town chaplain at Brezova. For Hurban, the post at Brezova was a fortunate one, for here his work was to be understood and appreciated. Even before his arrival, the people of Brezova had had experiences in the struggle against the landed gentry. The peasants were aware of their rights and were prepared to defend them. They, too, had been effected by stur and showed a keen interest in his work. 53 Although Hurban knew that the upper classes would hold it against him, he, nevertheless, set about to reach the less fortunate classes. 54 Within himself there was a shining spiritual fire that others felt, and with his expressive face, warm kind eyes, and strong thundering �96 SLOVAKIA voice, he imparted to others the knowledge he had. Through talks and writings, he began to create among the uneducated people an interest in how they could better themselves. Out of this grew a Sunday school and Moderation and Temperance Society, both of which were to help in strengthening his people. The Sunday school was designed for those living in Brezova and it met on Sundays and holidays and on other days when time permitted. Those who attended were taught the arts and sciences. The Moderation and Temperance Society was just as important. Drunkenness came to Slovakia not through a habit developed from pleasure, but as a medium of escape from the extreme hardships of life. Not anywhere in Hungary was misery so great as in Slovakia, nor was drunkenness more widespread. Besides education, there was a dire need for bettering the lot of these people who lived under such deplorable conditions.55 The enlightened Slovak leaders knew that in order to lift up their nation they must first of all remove this scourge of alcoholism. 56 Throughout Slovakia, Moderation Societies were set up which were similar to those in America, but were chiefly modeled after those in Ireland where conditions were unfortunately similar to those found in Slovakia. However, the obstacle to legislation which would have curbed, if not eliminated, the sale of liquor came from the great landowners and Jews. 57 They owned the distilleries as well as the village taverns. The latter were frequented by those who could not pay and high rates of interest were charged them. 58 Agricultural schools had been established, but they were more for the middle class: townsmen, tradesmen, and prosperous farmers who were able to save their earnings.59 But for the less fortunate people of the lower classes, the Moderation and Temperance Societies had greater meaning and importance.6 1, Its founders believed that Slovak patriotism must be aroused, for a poor and drunken nation could achieve nothing but death. In the field of literary activitieis Hurban felt there was a strong need for a journal to help to direct Slovak literary life. In fact, when in May, 1840, Hurban grieved that there was no journal which could serve the interest �SLOVAKIA 97 of defending national rights, he made this comparison: "A journal is to the life of a nation what hands are to a clock to indicate the time; therefore, as conditions exist we do not even have a clock."61 Putting forth all his efforts, he managed, by 1842, to produce a yearly almanac, Nitra, written in Czech, consisting of some three hundred pages.62 Included in the first edition were songs, poems, and prose from members of the young Slovak generation. Nitra's title page was consecrated to "The daughters and sons of Slovakia, Moravia, Bohemia and Silesia." Hurban dedicated the introductory poem of this first issue of Nitra to Jan Caplovic, landowner and great lover of books and literature. All this was done purposefully so that he might join the Slovak cause more actively .63 There was some speculation among the Magyars as to Hurban's purpose of editing the Nitra. Some claimed that the almanac was given the name Nitra so that Slovakia might arise around the glory that surrounded that name. Prior to this time any open discussion about historic Nitra was forbidden. However, friends of Hurban came to his rescue by tactfully assuring the Magyars there was nothing to fear from Hurban who was but a young man and as such should be excused for his actions. 64 A weaker man would have sensed the danger but Hurban stayed on to put out three more almanacs until 1848 when he was forced to flee for his life. In the year 1843, Hurban was called as pastor to Hlboke and there he edited his second issue of Nitra, but this time in the new Slovak literary language, and censors played havoc with this issue.65 The Magyars also hindered in every way the realization of a Slovak newspaper. stur, with the help of Kollar, had petitioned in 1842 for permission to publish a newspaper, but approval was denied. There was no telling how long this condition would last. In the meantime, something had to be done to draw the Slovak people together into a unified body. It was for this purpose in 1843 that the Slovak leaders stur and Hodza met in Hurban's residence in Hlboke.66 Here they decided that if they were not free to edit a newspaper, a society formed along national lines might help achieve the same results. �98 SLOVAKIA Slovak Literary Language The triumvirate agreed that Czech should no longer be used by the Lutherans in their churches and writings. Therefore, the adoption of the Central Slovak dialect by this body brought the Lutherans and Catholics closer to the goal of having one dialect as a base for their literary language. There was a great need to reach the people, but in a language that was dear to them and one which they understood. Not all people could read the Czech, only the educated; it seemed so foreign to the common people. The society planned for in Hlboke paved the way for the achievement of a common langu&ge.67 Near the beautiful High Tatra mountains on the 27th of August, 1844, in Liptovsky Sv. Mikulas, the Tatrin Society was organized. In the words of Rapant, "It was the culminating point of cultural organization in Slovakia at that time; and it was the most important organ for the stur generation."68 A factor of far reaching consequences for Slovakia was that it was the first national Slovak organization and it encompassed all of the sides and segments of the nation, Catholic and Lutheran.69 Along with unity of language, it concerned itself with the cultural needs of the Slovaks.70 The Tatrin gave financial support to young Catholic and Protestant men who were studying in higher schools of education. Peter Bohun, the famous Slovak artist who painted portraits and scenes of the revolution of 1848-1849, was given such assistance by the Tatrin, so that he was able to publish a book of national costumes. 71 The third meeting of the Tatrin was held at cachtice in the Catholic parish house chiefly to resolve the language issue.72 On this memorial occasion the Catholics and Lutherans on the 10th of August, 1847, agreed to adopt the Central Slovak as the common literary language. The effect of this meeting meant the rupture with the Czechs. As was expected, it drew exclamations of disapproval from Palkovic, Kollar, and others who felt the only salvation for the Slovaks was in their tie with the Czechs. On the part of the Czechs there was great anger, and claims were made that such a move only strengthened the German influence about them. �SLOVAKIA 99 The Czech nationals could not understand the Slovak problem,73 for the vernacular is the natural medium and the truest heartbeat of the people. It, the vernacular, only could help enlighten and lift the Slovak people from their death sleep. Not all Czechs, however, were against the founding of a new literary language. This group argued that a Slovak literature would enrich the whole of Slavic literature. On the other hand, the agreement reached in Cachtice was celebrated throughout Slovakia by Protestants and Catholics alike. stl1r's former students who now served as Protestant clergymen were filled with joy. It seemed that at once Slovak was elevated to a literary language bringing with it a new life which surged into the land. Slavic historians claim that had not such a step been taken it is doubtful whether the Slovaks could have withstood the pressure of Magyarization. 74 It seemed that every,.vhere nobles, townscitizens, and people of the villages began to proclaim that they were Slovaks. The poor classes were not able to understand most of what was written. Time was needed so they might completely understand. Along with Sunday schools which had been established new ones sprang up, and, in addition, writing and reading rooms were opened. People began to realize that through learning and enlightenment they could be helped out of their misery. In Brezova, peasants who had long been held under the nobles' yoke began their attempt to free themselves by purchasing the land. Now that it was their land they worked it as never before. 75 Books and articles were not written to adorn libraries but to serve the people. Advice on practical matters in the written medium was beginning to evidence itself in the lives of the Slovak people. The societies which already existed in the cultural, social, and economic field were given a tremendous impetus by the new language. In the meantime, all protests against Zay had not been aired. The inroads of Magyarization aroused superintendent Dr. Paul Jozeffy 76 to protest at the Lutheran general convention on September 10, 1841. He warned that if they continued forcing Magyarization into Slovak churches and schools, he himself would present these �100 SLOVAKIA ~ievances to the court.77 Needless to say, Magyar ambitions were not deterred, for when in 1840 the Jittenka (Morning Star), a student journal, was first issued at Levoca the Magyar press vehemently attacked it as a tool of PanSlavism. By 1841 the young students were forced to cease its publication.78 Paul Jozeffy Heads Delegation to Vienna, June, 1842 Every move by the Slovaks the Magyars suspected as intrigues against their kingdom and made use of the strongest propaganda weapon by crying "Pan-Slavism." They claimed Pan-Slavism was nc.t only dangerous to the Magyars but also politically perilous to the Empire; therefore, it was necessary that the Magyars and Germans fight this menace. 79 All candidates for Slovak pastorates were barred unless they could speak Magyar fluently. It was under these conditions that 200 ministers under the supervision of Jozeffy signed a petition demanding rights for the Slovaks. Jozeffy and his delegation went to Vienna in early June 1842 where they presented their grievances before Ferdinand V. The petition began by stating that the Slovaks are an individual nation which can progress only when it fosters its own tongue. Furthermore, for many centuries the Slovaks had made sacrifices along with other nations . of Hungary for the preservation of the Empire. They had been able to use their own language, but now the Slovak priests were being humiliated by having to adopt another tongue. _Because of this, the Slovak language and its literature was suffering, while in business transactions Slovak was no longer used. They, therefore, petitioned: 1) that the King should declare officially as false all testimony against the Slovaks that had been so proven, 2) that proper authority be granted ·so that two censors for Slovak literature be assigned to interpret and defend Slovak works, 3) that the seat of language and literature at the Lycee at Bratislava be confirmed and fully certified, 4') that at the University of Pest there be established a seat of Slavic language and literature, 5) that for matriculation records and church protocol Latin be put in use again, 6) that churches and schools be defended against �SLOVAKIA 101 fanatic, self styled patriots who seek to Magyarize everything.80 This petition was signed by Paul Jozeffy, John Seberini, John Chalupka, Michael Hodza, Samuel Ferjencik, George Palkovic and 200 ministers, teachers and men of all stations in life.81 Although the Slovak delegation did not get very far w:.th its request, it served as a morale booster for the Slovaks. From the outset, promises were made and it looked as though something might be accomplished. The delegation had an audience with Metternich who assured them their request would be studied. After leaving Metternich they saw Count Kolowrat, a Czech nobleman and member of the Emperor's entourage. Although he greeted them with great warmth and is reported to have said, "Slav must help Slav," the delegation felt that they were being sidetracked. Kolowrat sensed this lack of confidence and assured them that he would lend them his support. When they left Vienna, the delegation felt something would be achieved. Now it seemed necessary only to wait. Upon their return home the delegation was shocked by the Magyar's overt reaction. The Slovak delegation had gone to Vienna with nothing but peaceful intentions in mind. But now the chauvinistic Magyars were infuriated and began to reel off in their papers and journals diatribes against the deputation headed by Jozeffy. Amidst this growing fervor a climax was reached when Kossuth delivered his flailing message at the General Convention on June 15th in Pest. In his attack, Kossuth, capable orator that he was, spared no words and vehemently described the deputation as a shame for the Protestant church and the betrayal of the best interest of the kingdom of Hungary. Kossuth demanded the punishment and resignation of Jozeffy from his superintendency. By the end of October, 1842, the petition was sent from Vienna to Buda to Palatine Joseph for his study and recommendations. When Kollar got wind of this he wrote a letter in November advising Jozeffy to come to Buda and intercede with the Palatine. Jozeffy arrived in Buda at the end of November and brought with him data and other materials with which he could strengthen his �102 SLOVAKIA position before the Pa1atine.82 But all proved futile, for prior to his arrival Joseph had been prepared by the Magyars for such an audience. Already on the 16th of April, 1843, Kollar had warned Jozeffy that the Palatine was Magyar in his symphaties. Moreover, according to Kollar, the Palatine Joseph had been oriented and advised by Vienna to disregard the Slovak demands. Vienna had no desire to strengthen the Slavs whether they be Slovak, Czech, or Serb, for in their union and strength she saw jeopardy to her position. At the same time she knew she could depend upon the support of the Slavs in case the Magyars caused trouble. And yet because of rumblings in Germany and Italy she could not afford to offend the Magyars. This policy of "cat and mouse" by Vienna was reaffirmed when in his letter to Jozeffy dated April 25th, 184J, the Palatine urged him to be patient, thus leaving Jozeffy to hope that all was not in vain. Hodza summed up the situation: "We cannot expect help from the Magyars but we must look to the Empire which is far away; and God is too high to help." 83 Other attempts were made to present Slovak grievances before the Emperor but they likewise proved fruitless . The Slovaks now more than ever realized that they must fight alone. s tur Leaves Bratislava As a result of Kossuth's charges at the General Convention an inquiry was held to det ermine for the Magyars the real reason for Jozeffy's trip to Vienna. Through their cunning, Zay and Kossuth at last felt they had a way of removing s tur from his position as professor of Slovak Studies at the Lycee. With it they hoped that if they could not remove the chair of studies completely, they could at least render it harmless through an appointee of their choice. The Slovaks called his investigation an inquisition, but in spite of all the false charges and doctored methods the inquiry ended in an acquittal of the charges made. Zay, however, insisted upon action which in the future would prevent stur from making lectures. Unheard-of pressure brought the removal of stur in December 1843. �SLOVAKIA 103 A petition initiated by his beloved students was circulated for signatures. From all over Slovakia protests came from clergy and laity for the restoration of stur to his post.84 This did not, however, bring the result desired. In a feeling of indignation the young students left Bratislava. While most of them stopped at Levoca, others continued on to Presov, Kezmarok, stiavnica and Jelenova. 85 On their way, with heavy hearts but no resignation, they composed a song "Nad Tatrou sa blyska" (Over Tatra's Peaks Lightning Flashes) .86 The Magyars, blinded by their recent victory, did not realize that they had ironically rendered a great service to the Slovak cause. Previously the young Slovak students were centered in Bratislava where observation could be made of their every move, but they now were being scattered throughout Slovakia. Like so many seeds the ideals of stur and other Slovak leadership, knowledge, national pride, betterment and unity of purpose began to sprout and grow. The Slovak National News For st\ir his removal meant that his next fight would not be in the schools as before but among the masses of the Slovak people. To help reach the people a newspaper was needed. It was not until 1845, however, that the first issue of the Slovenske N<irodne Noviny (Slovak National News) was published.87 The paper, written in Slovak, was to become the most important vehicle in presenting stur's platform, and in fighting for Slovak rights. 88 Though criticized by some for lacking more aggressive action, stur stuck to his conservative approach, for he knew that if the Magyars were irritated the paper would not have long to live. stur believed that in order that the Slovak people might better preserve their nation they must be first educated in politics as well as home affairs. Some of his articles seemingly were written for the benefit of the Magyars to whom stur wished to prove that the Slovaks desired only peace and what was rightfully theirs. Through his paper, stur hoped to modernize his people, therefore he discussed their schools, institutions, libraries, and �104 SLOVAKIA societies. His words gave new hope to those who long suffered under the burden of serfdom. As a result of the appearance of the Slovak National News, there blossomed in all corners of Slovakia in 1845 a great number of Literary, Social, Agricultural, Economic, Woman's, and Moderation and Temperance societies. They were modeled after those which had been found in previous years, but now they seemed to grow everywhere. To reach national unity and purpose every facet was tried. As with her fighting sons, the role women were to play became apparent. Articles appeared in st1.1r's newspaper stressing the point that being good mother was no longer sufficient, for all women now must take on additional responsibilities and become interested in the affairs of their nation. 89 Other writers called for the establishment of a girls' institute where industry and devotion to the Slovak cause would be taught.90 Readers of the Slovak newspapers were reproached for not helping themselves and were given sound advice that jealousy of others will not get them ahead. stur wrote that, "In order for the Slovaks to be more fortunate, they must be concerned about themselves and must get a 'common soul.'" He stated further, "Authough the mark of a nation is her language, the Slovak tongue is completely neglected in schools; it does not have social and constitutional rights for its cultivation. This is due to the fact that the Slovaks have not lived like a nation but as an individual. He has hidden his tongue only for use in the home and therefore it has no chance of blossoming forth into reality." 91 Hodza in his Dobruo slovo (Good Word) proclaimed that the Slovaks must recognize their own nation and then others will do likewise. The program of sttir as outlined in the Slovak National News was but the continuation of demands placed before Vienna and Pest by the Slovaks for the past twenty years. Aside from the need of economic reforms the major issue was that of language. stur's paper was read in towns and villages. Hurban wrote, "The voice of that national organ under stur was really strong, one which had to be considered." 92 The Slovak National News had awakened the Slovak people and helped prepare them for the moment for which everyone waited. �SLOVAKIA 105 FOOTNOTES 1) Charles E. Maurice, The Rev olutionary Movements of 1848-1849, p . vi. 2 ) Daniel Rapant, Slov enske Pov stanie, ( Slovak Uprising) Vol. I, Bk. I, p. 18. 3) Milan Hodfa, "Political Evolution of Slovakia," Slov akia Then and Now, ed. R. W . Seton-Watson, p . 71. 4 ) Alphonse M. Lamarune, "Past, Present and Future," North Ameri can Revi ew, LXXII, (Jan. 1851) , p . 206. 5) Rapant, op. cit. , pp. 75, 88, 89; " Austria and Germany," Quarterly Review, LXXXIV, (Dec. 1849), p. 198. 6 ) Julius Botto, Slovcici , (Slovaks) , I, 23 ; Arnost Dennis, Slov cici: Otcizka Rakouskci, (Slovaks : The Austrian Question), p. 134; C. J . C. Street, Slov akia Past and Present, p. 9; Rapant, op. cit., p. 84. 7) Arthur Patterson, The Magyars, II, 70. 8) Jozef Cieker, Slovenskci Otcizka, (Slovak Question) , pp. 19, 20; E. L. Miyatovich, "Panslavism: Its Rise and Decline", Fortnightly Revi ew, XIV (1873) , p. 96. 9 ) Michael Hodza, Der Slowake, (The Slovak), p . 10; Rapant, op. cit., p . 4. 10) Htjdza, op. cit., p. 16. 11 ) Louis Leger, A History of Austro-Hungary, p. 520; Geoffrey Drage, Austria-Hungary, p. 200 ; Harold W. Ternperley, "Racial Strife in Hungary," Westminster Review, C. XIX (Jan. 1908) , p. 4. 12) Daniel Rapant, Ileqalna Mad'arizcicia: 1790-1840, (Illegal Magyarization) , p. 3. 13 ) Cieker, op. cit ., p. 39. 14) Hodza, op. ci t ., p. 10. 15) Ernest Flachbarth, Companion to Hungarian Studies, p. 372. 16 ) Michael Hodza, Der Slowake, (The Slovak), p. 41. 17) Frantisek Hrusovsky, Slovenske D ej iny, (Slovak History) , p. 248. 18) Skultety, op. cit., p. 62. 19) Julius Bodnar, Dr. Jozef Miloslav Hurban, p. 12. 20) Jozef Skultety, Sketches from Slo·va.lc History, trans. 0 . D. Koreff, p. 184; Bodnar, Zoe. cit.; Albert Prazak, Dejiny Spisovne Slovenstiny po Dobu sturovu , (History of Literary Slovak Before the Time of Stur) p. 163; Miss Parooe, an English lady who traveled throughout Hungary in the late 1830's w110te, "It is said that in the whole k!ingdom there is not so high and liberal an academic spirit in any scholastic establishment as in that of the Lycee of Bratislava" (City of the Magyar and Hungary) , JI, 281. 21 ) Frantisek Frydecky, Dopisy .fudev ita Stura Jaroslavu Pospisilovi, (Letters of Cudovit Stur to Jaroslav Pospisil) , pp. 31, 73. �SLOVAKIA 106 22) Jozef Hurban, I!udovit Stur, I, 38,39. 23) See R. W. Seton-Watson, A H istory of the Czechs m# Slovaks, pp. 173-176. 24) There were, in aj:ldition, German and Magyar societies at the Lycee at Bratislava. 25) Daniel Rapant, llegalna Mad'arizacia: 1790-1840, (Illegal Magyarization), p. v. 26) Ibid., p. 23; Pardoe, op. cit., III, 78-80. 27) Rapant, op. cit., p. 24. 28) Daniel Rapant, Slovenske Povstanie, (Slovak Uprising), Vol. I., Bk. I ., p. 66. 29) M. Rey in his study of this period described the privileges of the nobility: " The rights of the nobles were as vast as a privileged race of conquerors could possibly enjoy ... Neither the noble himself nor his servants paid any tax, real or personal, to the king or the counties; neither his horse nor his men could be required to work on the roald or the dykes. The peasant alone was the person who paid the tax termed 'domestical' for the expense of the Diet and the county administration. The peasant paid the salary of the school master, the notary, the priest, the patrol. The peasant constructed and maintained either with his ,o wn money or his labor, the roads, bridges, churches, schools, public bui~dings, dykes, canals; and it was the peasant and the townsman who drained the marshes, turned the course of rivers, etc. The peasant and the townspeople paid the war tax and furnished recruits." (Autriche, Hongrie, et Turquie on 1839-48, p. 126, cited by Corvinus, Hungary: Its Constitutions and the Catastrophe, p. 17) ; Louis Leger, A History of Austro-Hungary, p. 493. 30 ) Peter E. Turnbull, Austria: Social a111:l Political Conditions, II, 21, 22. 31 ) Stefan Jansak, "The Land Question in Slovakia," The Slav onic Review, (March, 1930), p. 620. 32) As a result of the Diet of 1764 a law was passed restricting the power of inflicting corporal punishment to the bestowing of twentyfive lashes. (Lord Henry Brougham, Political Philosophy, II, 9.3 ). 33 ) Leger, op. cit., pp. 493, 494. 34) Frantisek Bokes, Dejiny Slovakov a Slovenska, (History of the Slovaks and Slovakia ); Vol. IV, Slovenska Vlastiveda, p. 146. 35 ) Arthur Yolland, Hungary, p. 253. 36) Leger, op. cit., p. 494. 37) Ernest Flachbarth, History of Hungcry's Nati onalities, pp. 5, 6. 38) Arminius Vambery, Hungary, p. 417. 39) Hurban, op. cit., II, 118. 40 ) Arnost Dennis, Slovaci: Otazka Rakouska, p. 155. �SLOVAKIA 107 41) ~udovit Stur, Stary i Novy Vek Slovaku, (Old and New Slovak Age), p. 39. 42) Stur writes the Magyars feel that they can only be safe from Russia by Magyarizing the Slovaks. "Was there a time," he asked, "when the Slovaks have not ·prov~d faithful? We have fought for our country, Hungary, and thousands have shed their blood." (Ibid. , p . 42) . 43) Julius Botto, Slovaci, pp. 53, 54. 44) Hurban, op. cit., III, 228. 45) Dr. Luidvik Ktihn, Buditelia v zupe bratislavskej, p. 66 . 46) Nitra had been considered. 47) Hurban, op. cit., I, 94-106. 48)\ Ibid., 102. 49) Ibid., 103. 50) Ibid., 155. 51) Hurban visited the Rajhrad Cloister in Moravia and made the following entry in the visitors' book on July 10, 1839: "Miloslav Jozef Hurban, a traveling Slovak, visited .this famous cloister with the motto, 'Long Live Czecho-Slovak' " (Author in 1948 humbly ~dded his name to the same visitors' book at the Rajhrad Cloister). 52) Cesta Slovaka ku b1·atrum slavenskym na Morave av techach. 53) Julius Bodnar, Dr. Jozef Miloslav Hurban, p. 17. 54) Ibid., p . 16. 55) See Stefan Jansak, Les Conditions Sociales dans l'Anciene Hongrie et la Situation de la Slovaquie. 56 ) Rapant, op. cit., p. 159. 57 ) Ibid., p. 160; Max Schlesinger, The War in Hungary, 1848-1849, II, 218, 2l9. 58) G. R. Gleig, Germany_. Bohemia, arlji Hungary, III, 59-62. 59) Rapant, op. cit., p. 158. 60) Rapant relates that many of 't hese people would spend their last earnings for liquor, and that in some areas between one thiDd to one half of the population on certain days were intoxicated; even children in the nursing stages were given alcohol L-Oc. cit. 61) Karol Golan, Rok so Sturovcami, p. 11. 62) At that time there were practically no printing facilities available in Slovakia. 63) Vendelin Jankovic, Jan taplovic: Zivot, Osobnost', Dielo, p. 24. 64) Bodnar, op. cit., p. 20. 65) J . Skultety, 0 Slovakoch (About the Slovaks), p. 254. 66) Hurban, op. cit., II, 302; Hurban wrote : "Tatrin's function was to the nation what Stur's was to the Slovak youth." Loe. cit. �108 SLOVAKIA 67) Prazak, op. cit., p. 304. 68) Rapant, op. cit., p. 156. 69) Mikulas Dohnany, Historia Povstanja Slovenskjeho z Roku 1848, (History of the Slovak Uprising in 1848), p. 21. 70) Hodza, op. cit., p. 54. 71) Hurban, op. cit., p. 298; Dohnany, op. cit., p. 21 . 72) Botto, op. cit., p. 62. 73) Dohnany, op. cit., p. 22. 74) Albert Prazak, "Czechs and Slovaks in Revolution of 1848," The Slavonic Review, V (March, 1927), p. 573. 75) Dohnany, op. cit., p. 20. 76) In ~::ldition to his fine qualities his contemporaries described Dr. Jozeffy as being timid and lacking ,t he firmness and obstinancy needed for his time. One can well imagine that when such a man is roused to make a protest of this order it generally must be for reason. (Botto, op. cit., p. 55) . 77) Hurban, op. cit., p. 115. 78) Ibid. , p. 116. 79) Jozef Cieker, Slovenska Otazka, p. 72. 80) Botto, op. cit., pp. 57, 58; Hurban, op. cit., pp. 166-168. 81) Ibid. , p. 164. 82) Ibid., p. 171. cit., p. 32. 84) Skultety, op. cit., p. 200. 83) Hodza, op. 85) Prazak, Dejiny Spisovne Slovenstiny, op. cit., pp. 285, 286. 86) Jan Matuska ( 1821-1877) was the writer of that song. 87) It may be interesting to note that Zay was commission~ by his government to study Stur's request for a Slovak paper. To the surprise of Stur and his followers the request was granted. The rejoicing which took place was not to last for any great length of time for when the Magyars saw fit, they deprived the Slovaks of their news organ. 88) Bokes, op. cit., p. 158. 89) Rapant, op. cit., p. 155. 90) Cieker, op. cit., p. 210. 91) Rapant, op. cit., p. 148. 92) Hurban, op. cit., III, 80, 81. • THE SLOVAK LEAGUE OF AMERICA is interest.eel primarily in promoting the welfare and security of the Unit.eel States of America. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 1971, Vol. 21 Description An account of the resource Vol. 21 (No. 44), 1971. 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 1971 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 85 The Slovak National Awakening By Edward A. Tuleya Since the Congress of Vienna in 1815 democratic principles and nationalism had been suppressed by the joint efforts of the great powers. However, by 1848 the dream of freedom could no longer be contained, and throughout the continent of Europe, except for Russia, the revolution spread. Revolts in Palermo, Paris, Vienna, and Prague were like huge cannon aimed to destroy the fortress of reaction. 1 The time that Prince Metternich feared had come, and on March 14th he was forced to flee Vienna. Hope for the oppressed ran high. 2 Within the framework of the Austrian Empire dissatisfied nations now saw the opportunity to gain rights which had long been denied them. Magyars Would Deny Others Freedom Napoleon's downfall had created a dilemma for Vienna and she reacted by adopting a policy which relegated the Slavs to an inferior status within the Empire, especially those living in Hungary. The Russian more than any other army was responsible for the defeat of Napoleon. Gratitude quickly gave way to suspicion as to what the Russian Tsar might do now that he had the strongest fighting force in Europe. Vienna feared that Russia would use her power to back up the demands of the Slav nations in Empire, for the improvement of their political position or more alarming for breaking away from Hapsburg control. Instead of turning to a rational policy for her Slav subjects, she opted for a diametrical course by seeking the co-operation of the Magyars who were in complete sympathy with Vienna, at least on that overriding issue. Vienna gave the Magyars more than tacit support to do whatever was necessary in Hungary to preserve the Empire's internal security. What the Magyars had in mind was something more, greater independence from Vienna. For centuries the Magyars ruled a population three fourths of which was made up of nonMagyar peoples, such as Germans, Slovaks, Croats, Serbs, 86 SLOVAKIA Ruthenians, and Rumanians. But the Magyar leaders had no sympathy for others when the latter called for equal rights. 3 Thus, while the Magyars were pressing Vienna for more rights, the non-Magyar nations were being refused those very same rights and others by the Magyars. 4 The lot of the subject races in Hungary was difficult, particularly for the Slovaks, a Slavic people, numbering close to three million and living in northern Hungary. Unlike the Croats, Serbs, and Rumanians, the Slovaks did not enjoy favor in Vienna, representation in Parliament, nor the right to cultivate their own language. 5 It was not, however, until the end of the eighteenth century that the Magyars began to accelerate the Magyarization of the Slovaks and other ·non-Magyar nations. The greatest contributing factor to their plan was Joseph II's policy to centralize and Germanize the Empire. In 1784 Joseph II ordered that in place of the dead language, Latin, German would be the official language in Hungary. From that time on there was a strong reawakening of the people.6 "Just as the encroachments of German had awakened the susceptibilities of the Magyars", writes A. Patterson, "so did the encroachments of Hungarian (Magyar) awaken those of the Croats and Slovaks."7 Effect of Joseph's Policy on Magyarization The policy of Joseph II, instead of unifying the Empire through Germanization, only aroused the subject nations to take further steps to defend their national identity.8 The awakened spirit affected the Magyar nationalists to adhere to the belief that the security of Hungary as a Magyar nation could only be assured if all its inhabitants were Magyars. 9 In opposition to this, Michael Hodza, ardent fighter for Slovak people, exclaimed, "We don't want Magyar as our language. If you fought against Germanization of Joseph II, we also fight against your Magyarization."10 Therefore, the Slovaks who had enjoyed some linguistic tolerance were now to feel the pains of a denaturalization program. Lack of concern on the part of the Magyars and their feeling of superiority and arrogance can be best expressed in a; Magyar proverb: "Toth ember nem ember." (The Slovak is not a man).11 SLOVAKIA 87 The first Magyarization laws were passed in 1791-92 by the County councils.12 For several years the laws. were poorly enforced and not too much concern was paid to the activities of the non-Magyar groups or their resistance to assimilation. This apathy, however, was not the rule in all quarters. In some cities in Hungary it was calculated that in 1798 the Magyar and the Slovak population was equal, and because of the manner in which the Germans had been absorbed by the Slovaks, the Magyars could not expect a better fate .13 Reaction to this fear took different forms on the part of the Magyars. In many cases Magyar priests unable to speak Slovak were sent to Slovak churches. In the village of :r.udovilovo-Komarno police were posted outside the doors of the church to keep the people from leaving. Those who protasted were placed on the deres and beaten. Me;:i,nwhile Slovak priests were not allowed to perform services and Magyars were appointed. 14 This could have had a disastrous affect on the Slovaks, for the Catholic priests and Protestant ministers were looked upon as leaders by the people. With few exceptions, the clergy were the only national-minded Slovaks possessing a higher education. They used their learning to better the lives of the people through writing and organizing schools. The Slovak aristocracy, on the other hand, were pro-Magyar in their sympathies and looked with indifference on their own countrymen. Influ ence of Anton B ernolak In 1787, Anton Bernolak, a Catholic priest, published his Slovak grammar. His work laid the foundations for a Slovak literary language and contributed to a growing national consciousness. 15 Heretofore, Slovak writers had used Czech as a medium of written expression, but now they had, based on the West Sl@vak dialect, the beginning of their own literary language. Slovak writers now turned to the distant p ast in Slovak history, and using the new idiom, wrote about her past glory and achievements in an effort to inspire the people. Not long afterwards, in 1793, Bernolak and his followers founded the Slovak Education Society for the purpose of publishing and distributing Slovak books. A 88 SLOVAKIA generous patron and member of the Trnava Literary circle was Alexander Rudnay, Archbishop Cardinal of Ostrihom, who openly proclaimed, "Slovak I am and if I were a Pope I would still be a Slovak."16 For the Slovak people, Bernolak and his followers had taken the first stride toward the preservation of their language, heritage, and nation. 17 "Had it not been for those who in the 1790's were awake, as true Slovaks, by the year 1867 we would have been smothered by Magyarization," were the words used by Skultety to stress the importance of the school of Bernolak.18 Before the Slovaks could present a more united front against the Magyars, however, it was necessary to close the ranks among their own people. One of the greate$t obstacles which confronted the Slovak leaders was the selection of a literary language which would be accepted by both Catholic and Protestant groups. Centered in Trnava, the Catholics continued on their new course by using the Western Slovak vernacular as their vehicle for development of a literary language. The Bernolak group was steering away from the Czech which until this time had been used by the educated class as the literary language in Slovakia. On the other hand, the Protestants remained adherents of the Czech. They in turn began to gather around the Lutheran Lycee in Bratislava. In 1801, they founded the "Society for Slovak Literature," and two years later they established a chair for the study of the Slovak language and literature at the Lycee. 19 Eudovit Stur And The Defense of Slovak Rights For the Slovaks much good emanated from the Lycee in the years that followed. In the circles of the young students, Eudovit sttir from 1836 became prominent. Born in the small town of Uhrovec, the son of a school teacher, :Cudovit was destined to devote his life to his people. He succeeded in getting the chair of Slovak as substitute of the superannuated Professor George Palkovic.20 In order to prepare himself for the cause of his nation, sttir, in 1838, departed for Germany to take up studies at the University of Halle. During his sojourn at Halle he continued to keep contact with his homeland by SLOVAKIA 89 exchanging letters witl1 his literary associates in Slovakia and Bohemia. Before returning home $tur visited the Lusatians, an island of the Western Slavic people located in the "German Sea." He hoped to find the purest type of Slavic character and racial purity. He came upon a village which except for the name of the community had lost all its Slavic identity. $tur wa.s moved by this experience and in a poem called "The Pagan Priest" expressed with sadness the eventual loss of these people to the Slavic world. On his way home he lingered in Prague at the home of a dear friend, Jaroslav Pospisil. Unfortunately, $tur fell down the steps and was forced to remain. 21 During his convalescence he fell in love with his host's daughter, Maria. After great deliberation, $tur decided against placing his own personal feelings before those of his people. It may, be said by some that a marriage at this time by $tur would have meant his loss to the Slovak cause. There is no doubt that during his marital adjustment he may have neglected his life'is work, but one must not forget his burning desire to fulfill his mission for the welfare of his people. It must also be remembered that $tur's prospective father-in-law was a man steeped in the Slavic cause which in itself would certainly have not been a deterring factor towards $tur's continued efforts in the Slovak cause. Indeed, the Slovak people came much closer to losing their great son in 1833 and from an entirely different quarter. After completing his studies in that year at the Lycee in Bratislava, $tur was employed at the office on the estate of Count Zay. Such a position would have been cherished by most young men, yet $tur resigned. His mission and work lay elsewhere. When his mother protested and pleaded that he remain, $tur in a voice full of love and emotion said, "Mommy dear, as you see today, I will still be a student. I must be a student." $tur returned to Bratislava where he gave himself to his people. 22 Few will deny that Jan Kollar's "Slavy Dcera" (The Daughter of Slava) and Paul Joseph $afarik's "Slavonic Antiquities" had influenced $tur's decision. 23 The Lycee attracted not only Slovaks but also Serbian 90 SLOVAKIA and Croatian youth. 24 Replicas of the society at the Lycee were found in other schools in Slovakia. Stimulating contacts among the Catholic and Lutheran Slovak students was established through correspondence. They were preparing each other for future duties in life. Acceleration of Magyarization It was not until the 1830's that-the non-Magyar nations began to rise and defend themselves against the accelerated Magyarization program. 25 By 1820, in some counties, Magyar was advocated as the language in non-Magyar schools. 26 A terrible blow was dealt to Slovak people by the Hungarian Diet in 1825-27. Seemingly, the only purpose of the Diet body at the time was to replace Latin with Magyar as the official language. Consequently this meant that all citizens of Hungary would be forced to use the Magyar language in schools, civil service, army and public life as well. To further the cause of Magyarization, Count Stefan Szechenyi, prominent Magyar nobleman, offered to donate his yearly income towards the building of a Magyar academy. A member of the parliament explained that the chief reason for such aims was for the defense against Russian pressure. 27 The constant fear of Russia led the Magyars to look upon a strong Poland as a likely ally. Professor Daniel Rapant explains that Felsobukki Nagy Pal in his Parliamentary speech in 1833 called for the need of a resurrected Poland and a widening of Magyarization to the remotest frontiers of Hungary. He emphasized a common frontier with Poland. 28 Needless to say, much of this fear can be attributed to the cleverness of the Magyars in their defense against the Slavic nations. Both German and Magyar publishers used "Pan-Slavism" extensively as their propaganda weapon. With their careful program of assimilating other nations, the Magyars themselves made blunders which were to turn the Slovak people further away from them. M. Rey wrote: "The Magyar nobles had often made generous sacrifices in the defense of their own interests but they had always shown the most deplorable selfishness as regards the condition of the peasants." 29 All this in turn gave the SLOVAKIA 91 Austrian crown an opportunity to play the part of the oppressed peasants' friend. 30 The Slovak peasant from the middle of the 16th to the middle of the 19th century bore the main burden of taxation in Hungary, paying fifty per cent of what he produced to his lord and to the crown.31 There is no question that the conditiorts of the peasantry in Slovakia were pitiful. 32 Therefore, it is understandable that occasionally open peasant rebellions took place against their lords. One of the latest to occur was in 1831 which took place in the counties of saris, Zemplin, Spis, Abauj, and Gerner with the outbreak of cholera. Some of the lords were put to death by the people who accused them of having poisoned the wells. 33 According t:o Bakes, the disease had spread across the frontier from Poland where Russian soldiers had been encamped.34 rt is estimated that 56,000 died, and one writer claims that Russian agents incited the people to revolt against their lords. 35 The brutality with which the revolt was put down left hatred in the hearts of those who survived. In this state of affairs the Emperor in 1833 invited the Diet to meet at Bratislava to discuss agrarian reforms which he claimed were drawn up by himself. 36 Among the people there was great hope that such interest on the part of the Emperor would mean the gradual alleviation of their terrible conditions. Actually, the congress did not concern itself with such matters and instead they were put aside to be dealt with at later sessions. Something more important now commanded their attention, the coronation of Francis's son, Ferdinand, as kin of Hungary. As Magyars they were won over to the new king when he contributed his coronation gift to the Magyar Scientific Academy. Ferdinand, who claimed to be Magyar at heart, became a strong supporter for the Magyarization program. In 1830, the Diet passed a series of laws which extended the reaches of the Magyar language. By 1836, Magyar was elevated to equal stature with Latin as a language to be used in courts and documents. As a result of the Diet of 1839, Magyar now became the official language of Hungary . Now Magyarization would need only time. What 92 SLOVAKIA would St. Stephen, Hungary's greatest king, have said of this? The Magyars had revered their king and maybe they would have been wiser had they paid heed to his words of wisdom. In a letter written by St. Stephen to his son, St. Emerich, we find him saying: "For as guests some from various parts of the provinces, they bring different languages and customs, knowledge, and arms, all of which adorn the royal court; and make it more magnificent. All this shakes the self-confidence of foreigners. A country with one language and one morality is weak and fragile. Therefore I exhort you, my son, to accept them with benevolence and hold them in esteem in order that they may prefer staying with you in the kingdom."37 Thus, the Magyars were taking their ship on a different course than that charted by their great captam, St. Stephen. At this time, Uudovit stur returned to the Lycee in Bratislava from Germany where he had been studying for the last two years. Much had taken place in his absence; however, he was the man destined to lead his people during their great trial in 1848-49. An effective weapon t,o be used against stur and his followers was the Pesti Hirlap, the first political newspaper in Hungary and edited by Louis Kossuth in 1841. The "forties" were to see the Magyars, "champions" of the newly-won freedom of the press acting quickly to refuse its benefits to their weaker fellow nations. Although some assurances were given that racial tolerance would be honored to all, it was not long before the true character of the journal became evident. Kossuth was very free in his attacks on the Slovaks and answers to his attacks were never allowed space in his "democratic" paper. 38 The Pesti Hirlap became the voice of Magyarization. The Magyars in their search for every technique and new approach did not overlook the possibilities of using the religious issue as a vehicle toward their goal of assimilation. This only served to strengthen Slovak resistance. On September 10, 1840, Count Zay was appointed chief inspector of the Protestant Congregations and schools.39 In his acceptance speech he called for the promotion of Magyarization as the only salvation for the Protestant confession in Slovakia. Zay's goal was to unify the Lutheran SLOVAKIA 93 and Calvinist Churches. Of all the Lutherans in Hungary, five eights were Slovaks, the rest were Germans. On the other hand, the Calvinists were Magyars and were greater in number. This in itself added to Slovak suspicions that such a union was not in the interest of the faith as proclaimed, but actually a chauvinistic design on the part of the Magyars to absorb the Slovak people.40 Zay openly announced in a public circular, September 26, 1840, his determination to Magyarize the Slovaks. Moreover, he stated that the Slovak language would prevent the Slovaks from being good stolid Protestants, and the Magyarization of the Slavs was the holiest duty of every genuine patriot:u Hungary, according to Zay, could only be strong if she were welded into one nation, for she could then defend herself from the danger in the north, Russia. 42 Slovak leaders were not tardy in answering Zay. Sttir's rebuttal was so intelligently plain that Zay became firmly convinced Sttir was behind all the protestations that were being made. He was determined to have Stlir removed from the chair of Slovak Studies at the Lycee. This appeared to be quite difficult to do inasmuch as i:ittir was very popUllar. Nevertheless, supporters of Zay's plan proclaimed that the Lycee's at Bratislava and Levoca were the hotbeds of all Slovak societies at Lutheran schools and colleges in Slovakia. For the time being, however, Magyar plans were not successful. Jan Seberini answered Zay on April 2, 1841, by stating that he, Zay, professed to Magyarize in the name of Protestantism; yet that is not only contrary to the Protestant beliefs, but also to all Christian teachings. "Who has the right to say what language a man must speak?" he continued, " I am a Slovak not because of glory and honor but according to Christian teachings, for God wanted that I be born Slovak. Therefore, I am not ashamed of my origin nor my tongue just as any German, Frenchman, Magyar need not to be ashamed." 43 It must be remembered that not all of the Protestant clergy sensed danger in the union; nevertheless, Zay's program eventually became evident even to those idealists. At Nitra, where some believed that union of the two 94 SLOVAKIA Protestant groups was in good faith, Jozef Miloslav Hurban warned them to be more realistic and not to be taken in. The part that Hurban was to play in the revolt of 1848-49 was second to none but his great friend and comrade in arms, Jjudovit Stlir. Jozef Miloslav Hurban Born on the 19th of March, 1817, in Beckov, Jozef Hurban was educated by his father, Pavol, a Lutheran Minister of that place. His father was timid and wished not to implicate himself in national problems. Therefore, under these circumstances, the youthful Hurban while at home was not exposed to Slovak national consciousness.44 After spending his lower grades at Trencin, he went in 1830 to study at the Lycee at Bratislava. He was there for six years before he met Shir. Prior to this time Hurban had not taken part in Slovak aspirations at the Lycee. One evening, while taking a walk in the streets of Bratislava, he met stlir who asked him whether he was studying and practicing in the Slovak language. This stur explained, was the duty of all Slovaks. Hurban at the moment was embarrassed and could not answer. stur then said, "You are a Slovak, is that correct? And is not your friend George Zaborsky?" Hurban replied that he was a Slovak and that his friend was George Zabo11sky. 45 stur complimented Hurban for his selection of such a good, able friend and recommended that he continue to cultivate Zaborsky's friendship. Before the two had departed, Hurban was invited to visit stur. That meeting was to have far-reaching effects on Hurban; for, when he arrived home, his mind was full of thought. The lamp in his room burned past midnight, while Hurban wrote hils first verse in Slovak. This he presented to stur the next morning and from that time on the Slovak Institute in Bratislava, as well as the Slovak nation, did not have a more zealous member nor a more deserving son than Hurban. A trip to Devin was planned for April 24, 1836, by the members of the Slovak Society at the Lycee in order to initiate and plan more definite activities. The ruins SLOVAKIA 95 of Devin, reminders of a rich history, stood majestic on her pedestal of massive rock guarding the confluence of the Morava and Danube rivers. This place recalled the Great Moravian Empire in the 9th century and her ceaseless struggles against German and Magyar. For the new Slovak generation this was a setting best suited for the revival of Slovak national feeling. 46 On this day filled with bright spring sunshine, lectures were given, prose recited, and songs were sung. Everyone participated in the theme of awakening Slovak consciousness. 47 In a further expression of loyalty to their beloved cause, they adopted Slavic names which they pledged to carry forever. sttir was the first to announce that he was to take the name of Velislav and others followed suit, taking different Slavic names. Hurban took the name Miloslav, a name which was to live in Slovak history. 48 Below the fortress of Devin rested a small town by the same name, and there in a tavern the young Slovaks gathered after an eventful day. Conversation, according to Hurban, had to be carried on in Latin so that waiters might not learn and betray their information.49 Just as stur and others had taken trips to broaden their views and get better acquainted with affairs which might influence their actions, Hurban also traveled. 50 His opportunity was afforded during a vacation 1839 when he visited Vienna, Bohemia and Moravia. 51 In 1841, a book relating his experiences was published: Trip of a Slovak to his Slav Brothers in Moravia and Bohemia. 52 When he completed his studies in 1840, Hurban became town chaplain at Brezova. For Hurban, the post at Brezova was a fortunate one, for here his work was to be understood and appreciated. Even before his arrival, the people of Brezova had had experiences in the struggle against the landed gentry. The peasants were aware of their rights and were prepared to defend them. They, too, had been effected by stur and showed a keen interest in his work. 53 Although Hurban knew that the upper classes would hold it against him, he, nevertheless, set about to reach the less fortunate classes. 54 Within himself there was a shining spiritual fire that others felt, and with his expressive face, warm kind eyes, and strong thundering 96 SLOVAKIA voice, he imparted to others the knowledge he had. Through talks and writings, he began to create among the uneducated people an interest in how they could better themselves. Out of this grew a Sunday school and Moderation and Temperance Society, both of which were to help in strengthening his people. The Sunday school was designed for those living in Brezova and it met on Sundays and holidays and on other days when time permitted. Those who attended were taught the arts and sciences. The Moderation and Temperance Society was just as important. Drunkenness came to Slovakia not through a habit developed from pleasure, but as a medium of escape from the extreme hardships of life. Not anywhere in Hungary was misery so great as in Slovakia, nor was drunkenness more widespread. Besides education, there was a dire need for bettering the lot of these people who lived under such deplorable conditions.55 The enlightened Slovak leaders knew that in order to lift up their nation they must first of all remove this scourge of alcoholism. 56 Throughout Slovakia, Moderation Societies were set up which were similar to those in America, but were chiefly modeled after those in Ireland where conditions were unfortunately similar to those found in Slovakia. However, the obstacle to legislation which would have curbed, if not eliminated, the sale of liquor came from the great landowners and Jews. 57 They owned the distilleries as well as the village taverns. The latter were frequented by those who could not pay and high rates of interest were charged them. 58 Agricultural schools had been established, but they were more for the middle class: townsmen, tradesmen, and prosperous farmers who were able to save their earnings.59 But for the less fortunate people of the lower classes, the Moderation and Temperance Societies had greater meaning and importance.6 1, Its founders believed that Slovak patriotism must be aroused, for a poor and drunken nation could achieve nothing but death. In the field of literary activitieis Hurban felt there was a strong need for a journal to help to direct Slovak literary life. In fact, when in May, 1840, Hurban grieved that there was no journal which could serve the interest SLOVAKIA 97 of defending national rights, he made this comparison: "A journal is to the life of a nation what hands are to a clock to indicate the time; therefore, as conditions exist we do not even have a clock."61 Putting forth all his efforts, he managed, by 1842, to produce a yearly almanac, Nitra, written in Czech, consisting of some three hundred pages.62 Included in the first edition were songs, poems, and prose from members of the young Slovak generation. Nitra's title page was consecrated to "The daughters and sons of Slovakia, Moravia, Bohemia and Silesia." Hurban dedicated the introductory poem of this first issue of Nitra to Jan Caplovic, landowner and great lover of books and literature. All this was done purposefully so that he might join the Slovak cause more actively .63 There was some speculation among the Magyars as to Hurban's purpose of editing the Nitra. Some claimed that the almanac was given the name Nitra so that Slovakia might arise around the glory that surrounded that name. Prior to this time any open discussion about historic Nitra was forbidden. However, friends of Hurban came to his rescue by tactfully assuring the Magyars there was nothing to fear from Hurban who was but a young man and as such should be excused for his actions. 64 A weaker man would have sensed the danger but Hurban stayed on to put out three more almanacs until 1848 when he was forced to flee for his life. In the year 1843, Hurban was called as pastor to Hlboke and there he edited his second issue of Nitra, but this time in the new Slovak literary language, and censors played havoc with this issue.65 The Magyars also hindered in every way the realization of a Slovak newspaper. stur, with the help of Kollar, had petitioned in 1842 for permission to publish a newspaper, but approval was denied. There was no telling how long this condition would last. In the meantime, something had to be done to draw the Slovak people together into a unified body. It was for this purpose in 1843 that the Slovak leaders stur and Hodza met in Hurban's residence in Hlboke.66 Here they decided that if they were not free to edit a newspaper, a society formed along national lines might help achieve the same results. 98 SLOVAKIA Slovak Literary Language The triumvirate agreed that Czech should no longer be used by the Lutherans in their churches and writings. Therefore, the adoption of the Central Slovak dialect by this body brought the Lutherans and Catholics closer to the goal of having one dialect as a base for their literary language. There was a great need to reach the people, but in a language that was dear to them and one which they understood. Not all people could read the Czech, only the educated; it seemed so foreign to the common people. The society planned for in Hlboke paved the way for the achievement of a common langu&ge.67 Near the beautiful High Tatra mountains on the 27th of August, 1844, in Liptovsky Sv. Mikulas, the Tatrin Society was organized. In the words of Rapant, "It was the culminating point of cultural organization in Slovakia at that time; and it was the most important organ for the stur generation."68 A factor of far reaching consequences for Slovakia was that it was the first national Slovak organization and it encompassed all of the sides and segments of the nation, Catholic and Lutheran.69 Along with unity of language, it concerned itself with the cultural needs of the Slovaks.70 The Tatrin gave financial support to young Catholic and Protestant men who were studying in higher schools of education. Peter Bohun, the famous Slovak artist who painted portraits and scenes of the revolution of 1848-1849, was given such assistance by the Tatrin, so that he was able to publish a book of national costumes. 71 The third meeting of the Tatrin was held at cachtice in the Catholic parish house chiefly to resolve the language issue.72 On this memorial occasion the Catholics and Lutherans on the 10th of August, 1847, agreed to adopt the Central Slovak as the common literary language. The effect of this meeting meant the rupture with the Czechs. As was expected, it drew exclamations of disapproval from Palkovic, Kollar, and others who felt the only salvation for the Slovaks was in their tie with the Czechs. On the part of the Czechs there was great anger, and claims were made that such a move only strengthened the German influence about them. SLOVAKIA 99 The Czech nationals could not understand the Slovak problem,73 for the vernacular is the natural medium and the truest heartbeat of the people. It, the vernacular, only could help enlighten and lift the Slovak people from their death sleep. Not all Czechs, however, were against the founding of a new literary language. This group argued that a Slovak literature would enrich the whole of Slavic literature. On the other hand, the agreement reached in Cachtice was celebrated throughout Slovakia by Protestants and Catholics alike. stl1r's former students who now served as Protestant clergymen were filled with joy. It seemed that at once Slovak was elevated to a literary language bringing with it a new life which surged into the land. Slavic historians claim that had not such a step been taken it is doubtful whether the Slovaks could have withstood the pressure of Magyarization. 74 It seemed that every,.vhere nobles, townscitizens, and people of the villages began to proclaim that they were Slovaks. The poor classes were not able to understand most of what was written. Time was needed so they might completely understand. Along with Sunday schools which had been established new ones sprang up, and, in addition, writing and reading rooms were opened. People began to realize that through learning and enlightenment they could be helped out of their misery. In Brezova, peasants who had long been held under the nobles' yoke began their attempt to free themselves by purchasing the land. Now that it was their land they worked it as never before. 75 Books and articles were not written to adorn libraries but to serve the people. Advice on practical matters in the written medium was beginning to evidence itself in the lives of the Slovak people. The societies which already existed in the cultural, social, and economic field were given a tremendous impetus by the new language. In the meantime, all protests against Zay had not been aired. The inroads of Magyarization aroused superintendent Dr. Paul Jozeffy 76 to protest at the Lutheran general convention on September 10, 1841. He warned that if they continued forcing Magyarization into Slovak churches and schools, he himself would present these 100 SLOVAKIA ~ievances to the court.77 Needless to say, Magyar ambitions were not deterred, for when in 1840 the Jittenka (Morning Star), a student journal, was first issued at Levoca the Magyar press vehemently attacked it as a tool of PanSlavism. By 1841 the young students were forced to cease its publication.78 Paul Jozeffy Heads Delegation to Vienna, June, 1842 Every move by the Slovaks the Magyars suspected as intrigues against their kingdom and made use of the strongest propaganda weapon by crying "Pan-Slavism." They claimed Pan-Slavism was nc.t only dangerous to the Magyars but also politically perilous to the Empire; therefore, it was necessary that the Magyars and Germans fight this menace. 79 All candidates for Slovak pastorates were barred unless they could speak Magyar fluently. It was under these conditions that 200 ministers under the supervision of Jozeffy signed a petition demanding rights for the Slovaks. Jozeffy and his delegation went to Vienna in early June 1842 where they presented their grievances before Ferdinand V. The petition began by stating that the Slovaks are an individual nation which can progress only when it fosters its own tongue. Furthermore, for many centuries the Slovaks had made sacrifices along with other nations . of Hungary for the preservation of the Empire. They had been able to use their own language, but now the Slovak priests were being humiliated by having to adopt another tongue. _Because of this, the Slovak language and its literature was suffering, while in business transactions Slovak was no longer used. They, therefore, petitioned: 1) that the King should declare officially as false all testimony against the Slovaks that had been so proven, 2) that proper authority be granted ·so that two censors for Slovak literature be assigned to interpret and defend Slovak works, 3) that the seat of language and literature at the Lycee at Bratislava be confirmed and fully certified, 4') that at the University of Pest there be established a seat of Slavic language and literature, 5) that for matriculation records and church protocol Latin be put in use again, 6) that churches and schools be defended against SLOVAKIA 101 fanatic, self styled patriots who seek to Magyarize everything.80 This petition was signed by Paul Jozeffy, John Seberini, John Chalupka, Michael Hodza, Samuel Ferjencik, George Palkovic and 200 ministers, teachers and men of all stations in life.81 Although the Slovak delegation did not get very far w:.th its request, it served as a morale booster for the Slovaks. From the outset, promises were made and it looked as though something might be accomplished. The delegation had an audience with Metternich who assured them their request would be studied. After leaving Metternich they saw Count Kolowrat, a Czech nobleman and member of the Emperor's entourage. Although he greeted them with great warmth and is reported to have said, "Slav must help Slav," the delegation felt that they were being sidetracked. Kolowrat sensed this lack of confidence and assured them that he would lend them his support. When they left Vienna, the delegation felt something would be achieved. Now it seemed necessary only to wait. Upon their return home the delegation was shocked by the Magyar's overt reaction. The Slovak delegation had gone to Vienna with nothing but peaceful intentions in mind. But now the chauvinistic Magyars were infuriated and began to reel off in their papers and journals diatribes against the deputation headed by Jozeffy. Amidst this growing fervor a climax was reached when Kossuth delivered his flailing message at the General Convention on June 15th in Pest. In his attack, Kossuth, capable orator that he was, spared no words and vehemently described the deputation as a shame for the Protestant church and the betrayal of the best interest of the kingdom of Hungary. Kossuth demanded the punishment and resignation of Jozeffy from his superintendency. By the end of October, 1842, the petition was sent from Vienna to Buda to Palatine Joseph for his study and recommendations. When Kollar got wind of this he wrote a letter in November advising Jozeffy to come to Buda and intercede with the Palatine. Jozeffy arrived in Buda at the end of November and brought with him data and other materials with which he could strengthen his 102 SLOVAKIA position before the Pa1atine.82 But all proved futile, for prior to his arrival Joseph had been prepared by the Magyars for such an audience. Already on the 16th of April, 1843, Kollar had warned Jozeffy that the Palatine was Magyar in his symphaties. Moreover, according to Kollar, the Palatine Joseph had been oriented and advised by Vienna to disregard the Slovak demands. Vienna had no desire to strengthen the Slavs whether they be Slovak, Czech, or Serb, for in their union and strength she saw jeopardy to her position. At the same time she knew she could depend upon the support of the Slavs in case the Magyars caused trouble. And yet because of rumblings in Germany and Italy she could not afford to offend the Magyars. This policy of "cat and mouse" by Vienna was reaffirmed when in his letter to Jozeffy dated April 25th, 184J, the Palatine urged him to be patient, thus leaving Jozeffy to hope that all was not in vain. Hodza summed up the situation: "We cannot expect help from the Magyars but we must look to the Empire which is far away; and God is too high to help." 83 Other attempts were made to present Slovak grievances before the Emperor but they likewise proved fruitless . The Slovaks now more than ever realized that they must fight alone. s tur Leaves Bratislava As a result of Kossuth's charges at the General Convention an inquiry was held to det ermine for the Magyars the real reason for Jozeffy's trip to Vienna. Through their cunning, Zay and Kossuth at last felt they had a way of removing s tur from his position as professor of Slovak Studies at the Lycee. With it they hoped that if they could not remove the chair of studies completely, they could at least render it harmless through an appointee of their choice. The Slovaks called his investigation an inquisition, but in spite of all the false charges and doctored methods the inquiry ended in an acquittal of the charges made. Zay, however, insisted upon action which in the future would prevent stur from making lectures. Unheard-of pressure brought the removal of stur in December 1843. SLOVAKIA 103 A petition initiated by his beloved students was circulated for signatures. From all over Slovakia protests came from clergy and laity for the restoration of stur to his post.84 This did not, however, bring the result desired. In a feeling of indignation the young students left Bratislava. While most of them stopped at Levoca, others continued on to Presov, Kezmarok, stiavnica and Jelenova. 85 On their way, with heavy hearts but no resignation, they composed a song "Nad Tatrou sa blyska" (Over Tatra's Peaks Lightning Flashes) .86 The Magyars, blinded by their recent victory, did not realize that they had ironically rendered a great service to the Slovak cause. Previously the young Slovak students were centered in Bratislava where observation could be made of their every move, but they now were being scattered throughout Slovakia. Like so many seeds the ideals of stur and other Slovak leadership, knowledge, national pride, betterment and unity of purpose began to sprout and grow. The Slovak National News For st\ir his removal meant that his next fight would not be in the schools as before but among the masses of the Slovak people. To help reach the people a newspaper was needed. It was not until 1845, however, that the first issue of the Slovenske N<irodne Noviny (Slovak National News) was published.87 The paper, written in Slovak, was to become the most important vehicle in presenting stur's platform, and in fighting for Slovak rights. 88 Though criticized by some for lacking more aggressive action, stur stuck to his conservative approach, for he knew that if the Magyars were irritated the paper would not have long to live. stur believed that in order that the Slovak people might better preserve their nation they must be first educated in politics as well as home affairs. Some of his articles seemingly were written for the benefit of the Magyars to whom stur wished to prove that the Slovaks desired only peace and what was rightfully theirs. Through his paper, stur hoped to modernize his people, therefore he discussed their schools, institutions, libraries, and 104 SLOVAKIA societies. His words gave new hope to those who long suffered under the burden of serfdom. As a result of the appearance of the Slovak National News, there blossomed in all corners of Slovakia in 1845 a great number of Literary, Social, Agricultural, Economic, Woman's, and Moderation and Temperance societies. They were modeled after those which had been found in previous years, but now they seemed to grow everywhere. To reach national unity and purpose every facet was tried. As with her fighting sons, the role women were to play became apparent. Articles appeared in st1.1r's newspaper stressing the point that being good mother was no longer sufficient, for all women now must take on additional responsibilities and become interested in the affairs of their nation. 89 Other writers called for the establishment of a girls' institute where industry and devotion to the Slovak cause would be taught.90 Readers of the Slovak newspapers were reproached for not helping themselves and were given sound advice that jealousy of others will not get them ahead. stur wrote that, "In order for the Slovaks to be more fortunate, they must be concerned about themselves and must get a 'common soul.'" He stated further, "Authough the mark of a nation is her language, the Slovak tongue is completely neglected in schools; it does not have social and constitutional rights for its cultivation. This is due to the fact that the Slovaks have not lived like a nation but as an individual. He has hidden his tongue only for use in the home and therefore it has no chance of blossoming forth into reality." 91 Hodza in his Dobruo slovo (Good Word) proclaimed that the Slovaks must recognize their own nation and then others will do likewise. The program of sttir as outlined in the Slovak National News was but the continuation of demands placed before Vienna and Pest by the Slovaks for the past twenty years. Aside from the need of economic reforms the major issue was that of language. stur's paper was read in towns and villages. Hurban wrote, "The voice of that national organ under stur was really strong, one which had to be considered." 92 The Slovak National News had awakened the Slovak people and helped prepare them for the moment for which everyone waited. SLOVAKIA 105 FOOTNOTES 1) Charles E. Maurice, The Rev olutionary Movements of 1848-1849, p . vi. 2 ) Daniel Rapant, Slov enske Pov stanie, ( Slovak Uprising) Vol. I, Bk. I, p. 18. 3) Milan Hodfa, "Political Evolution of Slovakia," Slov akia Then and Now, ed. R. W . Seton-Watson, p . 71. 4 ) Alphonse M. Lamarune, "Past, Present and Future," North Ameri can Revi ew, LXXII, (Jan. 1851) , p . 206. 5) Rapant, op. cit. , pp. 75, 88, 89; " Austria and Germany," Quarterly Review, LXXXIV, (Dec. 1849), p. 198. 6 ) Julius Botto, Slovcici , (Slovaks) , I, 23 ; Arnost Dennis, Slov cici: Otcizka Rakouskci, (Slovaks : The Austrian Question), p. 134; C. J . C. Street, Slov akia Past and Present, p. 9; Rapant, op. cit., p. 84. 7) Arthur Patterson, The Magyars, II, 70. 8) Jozef Cieker, Slovenskci Otcizka, (Slovak Question) , pp. 19, 20; E. L. Miyatovich, "Panslavism: Its Rise and Decline", Fortnightly Revi ew, XIV (1873) , p. 96. 9 ) Michael Hodza, Der Slowake, (The Slovak), p . 10; Rapant, op. cit., p . 4. 10) Htjdza, op. cit., p. 16. 11 ) Louis Leger, A History of Austro-Hungary, p. 520; Geoffrey Drage, Austria-Hungary, p. 200 ; Harold W. Ternperley, "Racial Strife in Hungary," Westminster Review, C. XIX (Jan. 1908) , p. 4. 12) Daniel Rapant, Ileqalna Mad'arizcicia: 1790-1840, (Illegal Magyarization) , p. 3. 13 ) Cieker, op. cit ., p. 39. 14) Hodza, op. ci t ., p. 10. 15) Ernest Flachbarth, Companion to Hungarian Studies, p. 372. 16 ) Michael Hodza, Der Slowake, (The Slovak), p. 41. 17) Frantisek Hrusovsky, Slovenske D ej iny, (Slovak History) , p. 248. 18) Skultety, op. cit., p. 62. 19) Julius Bodnar, Dr. Jozef Miloslav Hurban, p. 12. 20) Jozef Skultety, Sketches from Slo·va.lc History, trans. 0 . D. Koreff, p. 184; Bodnar, Zoe. cit.; Albert Prazak, Dejiny Spisovne Slovenstiny po Dobu sturovu , (History of Literary Slovak Before the Time of Stur) p. 163; Miss Parooe, an English lady who traveled throughout Hungary in the late 1830's w110te, "It is said that in the whole k!ingdom there is not so high and liberal an academic spirit in any scholastic establishment as in that of the Lycee of Bratislava" (City of the Magyar and Hungary) , JI, 281. 21 ) Frantisek Frydecky, Dopisy .fudev ita Stura Jaroslavu Pospisilovi, (Letters of Cudovit Stur to Jaroslav Pospisil) , pp. 31, 73. SLOVAKIA 106 22) Jozef Hurban, I!udovit Stur, I, 38,39. 23) See R. W. Seton-Watson, A H istory of the Czechs m# Slovaks, pp. 173-176. 24) There were, in aj:ldition, German and Magyar societies at the Lycee at Bratislava. 25) Daniel Rapant, llegalna Mad'arizacia: 1790-1840, (Illegal Magyarization), p. v. 26) Ibid., p. 23; Pardoe, op. cit., III, 78-80. 27) Rapant, op. cit., p. 24. 28) Daniel Rapant, Slovenske Povstanie, (Slovak Uprising), Vol. I., Bk. I ., p. 66. 29) M. Rey in his study of this period described the privileges of the nobility: " The rights of the nobles were as vast as a privileged race of conquerors could possibly enjoy ... Neither the noble himself nor his servants paid any tax, real or personal, to the king or the counties; neither his horse nor his men could be required to work on the roald or the dykes. The peasant alone was the person who paid the tax termed 'domestical' for the expense of the Diet and the county administration. The peasant paid the salary of the school master, the notary, the priest, the patrol. The peasant constructed and maintained either with his ,o wn money or his labor, the roads, bridges, churches, schools, public bui~dings, dykes, canals; and it was the peasant and the townsman who drained the marshes, turned the course of rivers, etc. The peasant and the townspeople paid the war tax and furnished recruits." (Autriche, Hongrie, et Turquie on 1839-48, p. 126, cited by Corvinus, Hungary: Its Constitutions and the Catastrophe, p. 17) ; Louis Leger, A History of Austro-Hungary, p. 493. 30 ) Peter E. Turnbull, Austria: Social a111:l Political Conditions, II, 21, 22. 31 ) Stefan Jansak, "The Land Question in Slovakia," The Slav onic Review, (March, 1930), p. 620. 32) As a result of the Diet of 1764 a law was passed restricting the power of inflicting corporal punishment to the bestowing of twentyfive lashes. (Lord Henry Brougham, Political Philosophy, II, 9.3 ). 33 ) Leger, op. cit., pp. 493, 494. 34) Frantisek Bokes, Dejiny Slovakov a Slovenska, (History of the Slovaks and Slovakia ); Vol. IV, Slovenska Vlastiveda, p. 146. 35 ) Arthur Yolland, Hungary, p. 253. 36) Leger, op. cit., p. 494. 37) Ernest Flachbarth, History of Hungcry's Nati onalities, pp. 5, 6. 38) Arminius Vambery, Hungary, p. 417. 39) Hurban, op. cit., II, 118. 40 ) Arnost Dennis, Slovaci: Otazka Rakouska, p. 155. SLOVAKIA 107 41) ~udovit Stur, Stary i Novy Vek Slovaku, (Old and New Slovak Age), p. 39. 42) Stur writes the Magyars feel that they can only be safe from Russia by Magyarizing the Slovaks. "Was there a time," he asked, "when the Slovaks have not ·prov~d faithful? We have fought for our country, Hungary, and thousands have shed their blood." (Ibid. , p . 42) . 43) Julius Botto, Slovaci, pp. 53, 54. 44) Hurban, op. cit., III, 228. 45) Dr. Luidvik Ktihn, Buditelia v zupe bratislavskej, p. 66 . 46) Nitra had been considered. 47) Hurban, op. cit., I, 94-106. 48)\ Ibid., 102. 49) Ibid., 103. 50) Ibid., 155. 51) Hurban visited the Rajhrad Cloister in Moravia and made the following entry in the visitors' book on July 10, 1839: "Miloslav Jozef Hurban, a traveling Slovak, visited .this famous cloister with the motto, 'Long Live Czecho-Slovak' " (Author in 1948 humbly ~dded his name to the same visitors' book at the Rajhrad Cloister). 52) Cesta Slovaka ku b1·atrum slavenskym na Morave av techach. 53) Julius Bodnar, Dr. Jozef Miloslav Hurban, p. 17. 54) Ibid., p . 16. 55) See Stefan Jansak, Les Conditions Sociales dans l'Anciene Hongrie et la Situation de la Slovaquie. 56 ) Rapant, op. cit., p. 159. 57 ) Ibid., p. 160; Max Schlesinger, The War in Hungary, 1848-1849, II, 218, 2l9. 58) G. R. Gleig, Germany_. Bohemia, arlji Hungary, III, 59-62. 59) Rapant, op. cit., p. 158. 60) Rapant relates that many of 't hese people would spend their last earnings for liquor, and that in some areas between one thiDd to one half of the population on certain days were intoxicated; even children in the nursing stages were given alcohol L-Oc. cit. 61) Karol Golan, Rok so Sturovcami, p. 11. 62) At that time there were practically no printing facilities available in Slovakia. 63) Vendelin Jankovic, Jan taplovic: Zivot, Osobnost', Dielo, p. 24. 64) Bodnar, op. cit., p. 20. 65) J . Skultety, 0 Slovakoch (About the Slovaks), p. 254. 66) Hurban, op. cit., II, 302; Hurban wrote : "Tatrin's function was to the nation what Stur's was to the Slovak youth." Loe. cit. 108 SLOVAKIA 67) Prazak, op. cit., p. 304. 68) Rapant, op. cit., p. 156. 69) Mikulas Dohnany, Historia Povstanja Slovenskjeho z Roku 1848, (History of the Slovak Uprising in 1848), p. 21. 70) Hodza, op. cit., p. 54. 71) Hurban, op. cit., p. 298; Dohnany, op. cit., p. 21 . 72) Botto, op. cit., p. 62. 73) Dohnany, op. cit., p. 22. 74) Albert Prazak, "Czechs and Slovaks in Revolution of 1848," The Slavonic Review, V (March, 1927), p. 573. 75) Dohnany, op. cit., p. 20. 76) In ~::ldition to his fine qualities his contemporaries described Dr. Jozeffy as being timid and lacking ,t he firmness and obstinancy needed for his time. One can well imagine that when such a man is roused to make a protest of this order it generally must be for reason. (Botto, op. cit., p. 55) . 77) Hurban, op. cit., p. 115. 78) Ibid. , p. 116. 79) Jozef Cieker, Slovenska Otazka, p. 72. 80) Botto, op. cit., pp. 57, 58; Hurban, op. cit., pp. 166-168. 81) Ibid. , p. 164. 82) Ibid., p. 171. cit., p. 32. 84) Skultety, op. cit., p. 200. 83) Hodza, op. 85) Prazak, Dejiny Spisovne Slovenstiny, op. cit., pp. 285, 286. 86) Jan Matuska ( 1821-1877) was the writer of that song. 87) It may be interesting to note that Zay was commission~ by his government to study Stur's request for a Slovak paper. To the surprise of Stur and his followers the request was granted. The rejoicing which took place was not to last for any great length of time for when the Magyars saw fit, they deprived the Slovaks of their news organ. 88) Bokes, op. cit., p. 158. 89) Rapant, op. cit., p. 155. 90) Cieker, op. cit., p. 210. 91) Rapant, op. cit., p. 148. 92) Hurban, op. cit., III, 80, 81. • THE SLOVAK LEAGUE OF AMERICA is interest.eel primarily in promoting the welfare and security of the Unit.eel States of America.  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Slovak National Awakening Description An account of the resource Edward A. Tuleya Slovakia, Vol. 21 (No. 44), 1971 pp. 85-108 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Tuleya, Edward Andrew, 1919-2008 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1971 LCNAF https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/7b28796157f335b7485f91e81b9a5d80.pdf 4ea3688ccc978289b70d269be7047464 PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA 63 The Slovak National Catholic Church, Passaic, New Jersey, and the Jeczusko Affair RAYMOND J. KUPKE INTRODUCTION In the Dundee section of Passaic, New Jersey there are four churches in an area of nine city blocks : Holy Name Slovak National Catholic Cathedral, St. Mary 's Roman Catholic Church, St. Michael the Archangel Ruthenian Catholic Cathedral , and Sts. Peter and Paul Russian Orthodox Cathedral. Although this listing represents four diverse denominations, the members of the four parishes are descended from immigrants from the same villages in what are today Czechoslovakia and the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic , and indeed family ties run across all four congregations. 1 Commenting on an article about Our Lady of Mercy Slovak Parish in Cleveland, Ohio, which existed in a schismatic state from the Roman Catholic Church from 1917 to 1922 , Slovak historian Mark Stolarik observes, It is interesting to note that in the spirit of "consensus" history a recent article infednota (January 19, 1972 , p. 1) about Our Lady of Mercy Church, makes no mention of this schism. Contemporary Slovak editors avoid religious controversy at all costs. 2 When one delves into the Slovak religious history of Passaic , Stolarik's observation is amply born out. Upon reading the available jubilee books 3 one hardly notices a mention of the year 1922. Yet in 1922 , just as the rupture in Cleveland's Slovak community was being healed, a schism developed in Passaic's Slovak �64 SLOVAKIA community which would effect a permanent division in the community, and create an unusual footnote in American religious history - a cathedral without a diocese, a one-parish "denomination'' with Roman Catholic usages and Polish National Catholic affiliation. 4 The religious history of Passaic is amazingly complex. It is caught up in currents on both sides of the Atlantic and involves merchants and politicians, popes and bishops, patriarchs and czars. This study attempts to examine one facet of that history, the dispute in the Slovak community of Passaic which divided St. Mary's Parish and led to the formation of Holy Name Slovak National Catholic Church. THE SETTING Located on the Passaic River fifteen miles upstream from Newark, Passaic was first settled by the Dutch in 1678. It remained a small commercial village until after the Civil War when railroads and the textile industry began to change its character. Incorporated as a city in 18 73, Passaic welcomed its first Eastern European immigrants six years later. They were brought in by George B. Waterhouse to work in the Waterhouse Brothers Mills . The initial seven immigrants recruited by Waterhouse in 1879 soon turned into a flood from Eastern and Southern Europe. The 1910 census showed Passaic's foreign born comprising 52 % of the total population. 5 The 1920 census registered a population of 63,824 with 74% o( that total being foreign born, the greatest percentage of any city (over 50,000) in the United States. 6 The Slovak population at the time was estimated to be 7,400.7 The WPA Guide to New Jersey describes the area: East of Main Avenue , a progressively shabbier area stretches down to the river. Here the streets are narrow , with frame swellings and congested tenements crowded beside huge factories . This is the " Dundee Section," where one-half the population is crammed into one-sixth of the city' s area. Living in this section are most of the foreign-born who comprise about one-third of the total population. Numerically the Poles are first , followed in �SLOVAKIA 65 turn by the Italians, Russians , Hungarians , Slovaks, Germans , Austrians, Dutch, Scotch, English and Irish. 8 The initial seven Eastern Europeans whom George Waterhouse brought from Castle Garden to Passaic in December 1879 were all from the Eastern part of Slovakia. They were: Andrew Pastor, John Socha, John Kostisin, and George Slivka from Saris County; John Pochlod and John Salasovic from Zemplin County; and Edward Geiger from Spis County. 9 The initial seven immigrants were quickly joined by their fellow countrymen from Slovakia. When asked what was the inducement to come to America , one of the original seven Slovak immigrants quickly answered "money. " 1 Certainly the poor economic conditions in Eastern Europe were a major inducement for European emigrati~n. But Slovaks had another incentive as well . Beginning in the 1870's the government of Hungary, which included Slovakia, embarked on a program of "Magyarization" in the non-Magyar parts of the kingdom. The three Slovak ''gymnasia'' (high schools) were closed, and most of the religious primary schools were nationalized. The use of Slovak was prohibited in the schools and teachers were awarded a bonus if they were successful Magyarizers. 11 Even to study for the priesthood a Slovak must pass through the Magyar seminary, and there any study of the language of the future flock is treated as ground for expulsion.12 This process created divisions among Slovaks in America between those who were educated by the Hungarians and those who were not. A dispute broke out in 1902 at St. Stephen's Slovak Parish in Newark between the non-Magyarized parishioners and their pastor, Father Alexander Kovacs. In a solicited letter (Written in Latin) , Father Emery ("Imrich" in Slovak, " Imre " in Magyar) Haitinger, Slovak pastor in Passaic , attempted to explain the distinction between the two groups to a confused Bishop John J. O'Connor of Newark. SLAVICS are a peaceful people, who have built the church and maintain it well: they are the basis of the Slavonic congregation because they pay their debts; SLOVAKS are an ambitious people who desire to lead , ° �66 SLOVAKIA to rule, but they do not like to pay debts, nor will they pay them, as their custom is in the free manner of the Italians ... These Slovaks are a troublesome people, POLITICAL AGITATORS against the Hungarian fatherland, whose political machinations are not needed in America. 13 Because of these economic and cultural reasons the number of Slovak immigrants grew rapidly. In 1880 there were 292 foreignborn "Hungarians" in New Jersey. By 1900 that figure grew to 8,404 just in the seven northern counties that comprised the Newark Catholic Diocese.1 4 Most of the immigrants to Passaic were Catholic and between 1890 and 1920 the territorial "Irish" parish of St. Nicholas was joined by nine new "national" parishes for Polish, Italian, Slovak, German, Hungarian, Ukrainian and Ruthenian immigrants. 15 The first of the national churches to be organized was St. Michael the Archangel in 1890. This church served Catholics of the Byzantine Rite who were in communion with Rome. Since many of these Ruthenians or "Rusins" lived in the same villages as the Latin Rite Slovaks, the Passaic Slovaks assisted their neighbors in building St. Michael's. This experience may have provided the spark the Slovak community needed for the following year St. Mary's Slovak Parish was organized on April 1. 16 Initially the congregation met in the basement of St. Nicholas' Church, but by 1893 they were able to construct a church of their own on the corner of Monroe and Second Streets. The absence of a stable Slovak clergy in th~ United States hampered the growth of the new parish. Between 1891 and 1898 the parish was served by a rapid succession of pastors including Fathers Samuel Belja, Bernard Skulik, Benjamin Kwiatkowski, Joseph Ligday, John Pollakovics, and Ignatius Jaskovits, with Father John Sheppard of St. Nicholas often filling in the gaps. On September 2, 1898 Bishop Winand Wigger of Newark appointed Father Emery A. Haitinger, recently arrived in the diocese, as pastor of St.Mary's and he remained for nearly a quarter of a century.17 Father Haitinger supervised the construction of a new stone church which was completed in 1904. By 1920 the parish numbered between 1200 and 1500 families comprising about 600 individuals. 18 �SLOVAKIA 67 Passaic was not free from strife in those years. Many Passaic workers participated in the "Great Strike of 1913 " in which 25 ,000 mill workers organized by the Industrial Workers of the World struck throughout northern New Jersey.19 Religious dissension was also not unheard of. In 1910 Sts. Peter and Paul Byzantine Catholic Parish, which had developed from St. Michael's in 1902, defected from the Catholic Church and embraced Russian Orthodoxy. Also in 1918, a rupture in Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Italian parish resulted in the formation of St. Anthony of Padua Independent Italian Catholic Church.20 On March 13, 1921, Bishop O'Connor, at Father Haitinger's request, appointed Father Emery Jeczusko, recently arrived from Europe, to be curate at St. Mary's .21 This would seem to have been a routine assignment, but in the highly charged atmosphere of Passaic it was an appointment that would have far-reaching consequences . THE DISPUTE Emery A. Haitinger was born in Slovakia, then a part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, in 1873 just at the time that the government's Magyarization policy was beginning. Haitinger began his seminary training at Arad in the southeastern part of Hungary in what is today Romania, but he emigrated to the United States during his seminary years and completed his training at St. Bonaventure's Seminary in Allegheny, New York. He was ordained a priest by Bishop Michael Hoban at Scranton, Pennsylvania in 1896. For two years Haitinger worked as a missionary among Slovak immigrants in northeastern Pennsylvania. In 1898 Bishop Winand Wigger accepted him for service in the Newark Diocese , and on September 2 of that year the twenty-five year old priest was appointed pastor of St. Mary's Parish in Passaic. 22 Doubtless Haitinger was considered a great asset to a diocese hard pressed to deal with a rapidly growing ethnic group . He was the first stable Slovak priest to work in the diocese , and he was pastorally effective in six languages. He not only supervised the construction of a new church in Passaic , but also was instrumental in the development of new parishes in Boonton, Rockaway, Elizabeth, and Linden. Through his connections in Europe he was �68 SLOVAKIA able to bring other Slovak priests to work in the Newark Diocese . However, Father Haitinger's twenty-four years in Passaic were not entirely peaceful. He considered himself a "gr6f" or member of the aristocracy , and sometimes styled himself " van Haitinger," as did his doctor brother.23 He did nothing to hide his bias for the Magyarized elements of his congregation and his parishioners called him a "Magyarone ," a title used for those who supported the Magyarizing of Slovak language and culture .24 There were also more serious charges of moral misconduct and of diverting church funds , particularly for the purchase of property for himself and his family. 25 While it is impossible to document these charges , there is a letter from Bishop John Duffy , then Chancellor of the Newark Diocese, to Haitinger on May 20, 1925 indicating some confusion between the personal property of Haitinger and the parish property. I am writing in reference to the lot owned by you adjoining the school of St. Mary's Parish, Passaic. I am sure that when the lot was purchased by you that you had in mind the future needs of St. Mary's Parish. Conditions there now require that the lot should belong to the church property. I remember hearing that the purchase price at which you bought this peace of property was very small, and I have heard that your present price is extremely large. In the interest of the Church for which you feel as deeply concerned as I do , I would suggest that you fix a price for this property within reason, and let me know what the amount is .26 Haitinger's reply is also interesting. In my first reply I wrote that I do not possess any lot in Passaic , and I emphasize it again. The pastor of St. Mary's knows it; he rented the lot in 1922 not from me , but from Miss Julia Tereschak, who is the owner since 1907. Before I disposed of the lot, I gave a preference to my congregation; but in a stormy meeting they refused to buy it. 27 �SLOVAKIA 69 These controversies about Haiting er' s pastorate festered for at least a decade prior to 1922. 2a Emery A. Jeczusko was born on February 18 , 1888 at Presov in Slovakia, but he came from Vel'ky Saris, the same town that three of the original Slovak immigrants and many of their successors hailed from . Jeczusko attended the seminary at Kosice and was ordained there by Bishop Augustine Fischer-Colbrie on November 30, 1911. Bishop Fischer-Colbrie released him to come to America and work among the Slovaks on November 30, 1920 , 29 and on Father Haitinger's request , Bishop O'Connor of Newark received him and assigned him as curate at St. Mary's, Passaic on March 13 , 1921.30 · Father Jeczusko was well received in Passaic. He is described as an eloquent orator, who was able to sight translate Latin into Slovak. 31 He endeared himself to the people not only by his brilliant sermons , but also by his ability to sing High Mass. 32 " Anything happen, the people want to see Father Jeczusko .. . and Father Haitinger didn't like that.' ' 33 Father Jeczusko was also socially attached to his parishioners . Unable to speak English, he naturally gravitated to people from his native area. He would often visit the Hungarian Social Club, a few blocks from the rectory, to play cards and have a few beers with his friends. 34 On March 11, 1922, Haitinger wrote the following letter to Bishop O'Connor, Herewith is enclosed my financial statement of 1921. Also in these lines I ask Your Lordship to be so kind as to renew the Faculties of my Assistant , the Rev. Emery Jeczusko, which expires within the coming few days. 35 O'Connor replied immediately on March 14. From what I have learned of Father Jeczusko's habits, I do not wish to renew his faculties in this diocese. Tell him he must seek some other diocese . I enclose a letter testifying that he is not under censure. I will write to Father Miklus and tell him to go to you. 36 Meanwhile on April 19, O'Connor received a letter from Bishop Fischer-Colbrie in Kos ice. �70 SLO VAKIA I received the telegram of Your Excellency, and by your request I recall my priest Emery Jeczusko . .. I also ask that Your Excellency favor me by communicating the causes of your desire , that I may have direction in my agenda with Emery Jeczusko .37 On April 20 O'Connor again communicated with Haitinger. The enclosed letter for Father Jeczusko is from Bishop Fischer-Colbrie of Cassovia recalling him to his diocese. Oblige me by handing it to him. The Bishop requires him to return at once. It is the result of the cablegram sent sometime ago. 38 Bishop O'Connor does not elaborate on the offensive habits of Father Jeczusko , but presumably he did not find it acceptable for priests to fraternize with the laity in social clubs. He also does not elaborate on where he received the information on Father Jeczusko's habits. Popular opinion held that Haitinger himself, and his friends, had informed O 'Connor. While there is no conclusive evidence of this , it would appear from O'Connor's second communication to Haitinger that Haitinger was previously aware of the cablegram sent to Europe. On Sunday, April 23 , 1922, Father Jeczusko mounted the pulpit during the 10:30 A.M. Mass and explained his recall and bade the people farewell. He was followed by Father Haitinger who expressed his sorrow at Jeczusko 's recall. It appears that this announcement was not a surprise because a demonstration took place outside the church after Mass , and handbills were circulated calling for a mass meeting that night at Hama's Hall in Passaic. 39 The hall was filled to capacity, and the meeting was chaired by John J. Labash, an undertaker, and Steven Kollar, a cobbler. Demands were made for Jeczusko's reinstatement and the removal of Hai ting er. Even at this early date, the organizers of the dispute were talking about the possibility of a new parish. Messrs. Labash and Kollar speaking to a Daily News man said that the people were going to carry the fight to the bitter end. They felt that they were justified in even organizing an independent parish, if only to carry out what they figured was right .40 �SLOVAKIA 71 A second meeting was held on April 27 at Mokrai's Hall in Passaic, and as a result of this meeting ten parish organizations forwarded identical petitions to Bishop O 'Connor over the signatures of their officers: ... adopted a resolution seeking for the reinstatement of Father Emery Jeczusko in our church of St. Marie's of the Assumption, of Passaic, N.J. and that: The Rev. Emery A. Haitinger, now rector of the church be removed at once for the future good of our parish. This action is based on the wish of more than 600 people who attended a Mass meeting on Sunday, April 23, in a public hall at 108 Third Street, of our city. It is felt that a great deal of harm to our church, Faith and religion has come from the procrastinated action, or deferred action in this regard on your part. More than 90% of the people of our parish have literally refused to further attend the services of our church and we fear that a separation within the parish and a possible establishment of an Independent Church is threatening. It is honestly felt by most of the members of our parish that Father Haitinger must go. 41 The societies claimed a combined membership of 1200. The arguments against Haitinger centered around three issues: jealousy, finances , and patriotism. Mr. Kollar, a former trustee of the parish, claimed to have proof of serious discrepancies between the amount of money collected in the parish, the amount spent on parish expenses, and the amount in parish accounts.42 The patriotism charges were on two different levels. On the one hand Haiting er was accused of ''un-Americanism'' because he was alleged to have preached in favor of Austria-Hungary during World War I, and also that he had greeted the Hungarian Premier Husar as a Hungarian. 43 On the other hand Haitinger was also accused of "Magyarone" tendencies opposed to Slovak culture. 44 Haitinger's supporters countered by claiming that Haitinger was a true American, while Jeczusko was a retrogressive force in the community . . . . he was progressive in the matter of organizing a Slavish Federation which carried with it a spirit of the �72 SLOVAKIA fatherland and did not conform with the more modern spirit of working for things American. 45 All through April and May charges and countercharges were exchanged in the local newspapers, meetings were held , petitions were circulated. The atmosphere was further charged by an article in New Yorksky Dennfk, a Slovak newspaper in New York entitled "Battle of Slovak Catholics in Passaic." The article, widely circulated in Passaic, vilified Haitinger, and both the Hungarian and American hierarchy. Describing Haitinger the article commented: With abuse , cursings, laughter, lies and force more and more the Slovak people were literally chased from God's church merely that he might attain his aim and to make foreign the parish and bring it to the bishop , so to speak, on a silver platter, saying, "Here you have, august dictator, a new Irish parish." This hellish thought of Rev . Haitinger's has found a strong set-back in the face of the Slovak curate. The parson became afraid of his Judas recompense, and the bishop was afraid he would soon lose the Irished parish, which was builded through for Slovak blisters , and so the parson and the bishop got together and in short adjudged the Slovak curate to exile he must go.46 The tension was further heightened when one of the dissidents , a Mrs. Theresa Sisko, went to the rectory after Mass on Sunday, May 7 to reclaim at last a portion of a previous donation of $4,000 . Haitinger told her she would have to sue the parish, told her to get out, and then forcibly evicted her from the rectory, causing her to fall down the stairs and sustain many bruises. 47 Within a few days Mrs. Sisko brought suit against Haitinger for $30,000. The reports of the Sisko incident circulating through the ciy brought out a record crowd of 2,000 to a meeting that same night at Mokrai's Hall. During the meeting Labash and Kollar reiterated the history of their grievances. They claimed that petitions to the bishop in previous years had been destroyed before reaching him, that a committee sent to the bishop and the Apostolic Delegate in 1919 had failed to get a hearing, and that each time Bishop �SLOVAKIA 73 O'Connor was approached "he always sent us away with a promise to consider the matter.' ' 48 They then told the assembly of the bishop's final decision not allow Jenczusko to remain in the diocese. The allegations of financial mismanagement were repeated , and Mrs. Frank Matisovsky produced laughter among the audience when she related incidents of Haitinger's improprieties and her lack of satisfaction when these were related to the bishop .49 The assembly was unanimous in its· determination to replace Haitinger with another priest, have Jeczusko reinstated , and if necessary , form a new parish and even secede from the Catholic Church. For the first time the finances of a new church were discussed, and the name "Holy Name Parish" was used. 50 On Saturday the committee went to South Orange to approach Bishop O'Connor. This time they took Mrs. Sisko with them and she spoke to the bishop's secretary. Also during the week the committee met with Msgr. John A. Sheppard of Jersey City, formerly pastor of St. Nicholas, Passaic, and later Vicar General of the diocese. Acting on Sheppard's advice the committee formally presented a request to Haitinger to resign the pastorate with a copy of the request sent to O'Connor. 51 Rumors of Haitinger's removal were rampant in the city when he did not appear at Masses on Sunday, May 21. Instead the Masses were celebrated by Father John Salamon, a native son of the parish, and curate at St. Joseph's Parish in Elizabeth. It was reported that Haitinger had celebrated Mass in Elizabeth and returned to Passaic in the afternoon. The Saturday edition of the Passaic Daily News for May 27 carried the following article: As forecast by The Daily News Monday evening, the Rev. Father John D. Salamon, rector of St. Joseph's Church in Elizabeth, and formerly a pupil at St. Marie's Parochial School , of this city, has been designated as the new rector for the local Slovak Catholic Church, thus ending the controversy which threatened for a time to disrupt the entire St. Marie's Parish. Announcement was made by the Right Rev. Monsignor John A. Duffy, chancellor of the Catholic diocese of Newark, Thursday evening, to the effect that the Right Rev. Bishop John �74 SLOVAKIA J. O'Connor had decided upon the change being made. Meanwhile the Rev. Father Emery A. Haitinger, rector of St. Marie's Church since 1898, will be unattached for a while. He will visit temporarily with the Rev. Father Andrew Adzima, his former curate , and now rector of St. Joseph's in Bayonne.52 However the happy conclusion to the controversy forecast by the Passaic Daily News was premature. Having accomplished the first of their goals, the committee pressed on to insist on the reinstatement of Father Jeczusko as curate . The dissidents crystallized around Labash, Kollar, Marcel Sherman, a painter, Victor Chirip , a former locksmith in the Austrian royal palace , and Paul Skvarla, an architect. 53 The committee continued to treat with O'Connor about Jeczusko throughout the summer, but O'Connor was adamant. Jeczusko himself meanwhile did not participate in the controversy, but stayed with his brother in Connecticut. He did not reappear in Pasaaic until the middle of August. 54 The committee enlisted the help of Father Salamon to intervene with the bishop on Jeczusko's behalf, but this was to no avail. During the first week of August the committee met with O'Connor in Newark and was once again told that Jeczusko would not be reinstated. The mood of the committee can be summed up in the comment of Marcel Sherman, "We're not going to have that Irish bishop telling us what to do. " 55 At a mass meeting on Monday, August 6, the committee reported the bishop's refusal to the parishioners and the break with St. Mary's was made final. Labash and Kollar were elected chairman and vice chairman respectively of the new parish. Pledges were received for $14,000 and $550 was collected that first night. Still, Labash held out the possibility of reconciliation: The new church, it was explained, would not necessarily become detached from the Roman Catholic Church in this country, provided, of course, Bishop O 'Connor accepted their action as being a logical expression of the feelings of a people who were hurt, and agreed to treat them on a par with the other congregations within his �SLOVAKIA 75 diocese , but with the understanding that Father Jeczusko would be rector of the church and the mode of carrying on the business affairs of the parish put in the hands of the parishioners rather than the clergymen. 56 At a mass meeting on Saturday, August 20 at Hama's Hall with Father Jeczusko present, the priest was formally offered the post of pastor of Holy Name Slovak Church. Jeczusko's reply is indicative of his personal turmoil in this situation: "I am facing a difficult situation, my friends," he stated, ''having my passpost all ready, I have merely to engage passage to leave for my home country. Your apparent sincerity of purpose, however, and your zeal in the endeavor to carry out the true significance of Catholicism, prompt me to heed your call. ' ' He then asked that the people not try to set aside the Roman Catholic authority. He intimated that serious things might happen to him. "And after all ," he exclaimed, '' our work is in the name of God above , the name of our newly formed parish implies that, and with His aid we shall conquer all things. By the memory of my sweet little mother , whose greatest ambition in life was to see me at the Altar of the Almighty, serving with honor, serving with a dignified fear of Him above , and fulfilling all that is prescribed by the authorities of the Roman Catholic Church, I accept this call to serve you, my people. But I implore you not to give up your traditions, the traditions of the Roman Catholic Church. Let us call unto ourselves the leadership of this great church with its authority. "57 Father Jeczusko celebrated the first Mass for the new parish on Sunday , August 27 , 1922 at Hama's Hall where many of the organizational meetings had been held. 58 On August 29 Bishop O'Connor wrote to Father Salamon explaining Father Jeczusko's excommunicated status and the fact that the new congregation was not a Catholic church.59 He asked that this letter be read at all Masses the following Sunday, September 2 . Approximately one third of the parishioners of St. Mary's �SLOVAKIA 76 joined Holy Name Parish. In his 1922 report to the diocese, Haitinger listed 1260 men, 1810 women, and 2600 children at St. Mary's for a total of 5760. This report was signed by trustees Michael Novak and Steven Kollar, both of whom would later join Holy Name Parish. The 1924 report submitted by Father Salamon showed a drop in all three categories, for a total decrease of 1323 people. However these figures are approximations. The 1922 Sunday and Holyday Collections amounted to $9,794,67 , while the same collections in the 1926 report amounted to $6 ,621.22 60 Perhaps the best guage for the extent of the split are the baptismal and marriage records for both churches. 61 BAPTISMS St. Mary's Holy Name 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1920 1921 192·2 1923 1924 1925 1926 108 149 160 105 111 104 99 21 58 34 55 36 MARRIAGES St. Mary's Holy Name 36 40 31 40 45 37 34 2 15 25 12 19 If St. Mary's listed between 1200 and 1500 families in its 1922 report, Holy Name in its 1937 report to the parish listed 517 contributing families. 62 From all these sources the figure of one third of the Slovak community of Passaic belonging to Holy Name Parish seems reliable. The parishioners set about the task of securing property on Fourth Street, five blocks away from St. Mary's and contracted for the erection of a new church and rectory costing $100,000. �SLOVAKIA 77 Father Jeczusko , meanwhile , stayed at the home of Andrew Singlary on Fourth Street. In the Spring of 1925 the cornerstone was ready to be blessed. On May 5 , 1925 Steven Kollar wrote to Bishop O 'Connor on behalf of the parish committee to request a meeting with the bishop .63 The chancellor of the Newark Diocese, Msgr. John A. Duffy, responded to the letter and the meeting was held on May 11. This appears to be the one time that Father Jeczusko was present for a meeting of this type. 64 The committee asked that Bishop O'Connor come to bless the cornerstone of the new church. Monsignor Duffy agreed to present the proposal to O'Connor. In the meantime Duffy requested Fathe:r Salamon to send a letter to Bishop Fischer-Colbrie in Slovakia asking him to send Jeczusko a specific "mandatum" to return to Slovakia. 65 On May 20 , 1925 , Monsignor Duffy responded to Kollar in the name of Bishop O'Connor. In very blunt terms Duffy informed Kollar that the church would have to be turned directly over to the bishop, who would then have it incorporated under New Jersey law with himself as the president, the pastor as secretary-treasurer, and with two lay trustees appointed by the bishop. The pastor would administer the parish and its temporalities. With regard to Father Jeczusko , he would have to submit to Canon Law, reject his schism, and his future status would have to be decided by Rome. Nothing could be promised for him. Duffy concluded, ''It will be impossible therefore , for us to negotiate with you any further except on the terms laid down above,' ' 66 and exhorted them to abandon their schism. On May 30 , 1925 the cornerstone of Holy Name Church was solemnly blessed by the Right Rev. Monsignor Louis Rusko of Philadelphia, 67 in the presence of many clergymen of the area. The newspapers reported the fact that the parish committee had " waited on the Rt. Rev. Bishop John O'Connor of the Catholic Diocese of Newark in an effort to have him send a representative to take part in the ceremonies. " 68 No Catholic representative was present at the ceremonies, and that marked the effective end of the relationship between Holy Name Slovak Church and the Roman Catholic Church. On November 27 , 1925, the Right Rev. Bishop Francis Hodur of Scranton, Pennsylvania, founder of the Polish National Catholic Church, solemnly blessed Holy Name �78 SLOVAKIA Church. 69 From that time on Holy Name Parish held its ecclesial communion with the Polish National Catholic Church. THE AFTERMATH In 1926 , now nearing the end of his lengthy episcopate, O'Connor responded to an inquiry about Holy Name Church from the Apostolic Delegate , Pietro Fumasoni-Biondi: Through one of the Slovak priests I have requested Father Jeczusko 's bishop , who will be here for the Eucharistic Congress , to visit Passaic and see his subject personally. I hope that as a result of this visit Father Jeczusko will return to his diocese and that the financial difficulties of the Holy Name Parish will force the remaining members to turn the property over to legitimate authority. I beg to assure Your Excellency that this matter is settling itself and within a short time the so called Independent Church will be but a name.7° Whether the visit from the Bishop of Kosice took place is unknown. However , the situation did not settle itself. A year later the chancellor of the Newark Diocese wrote to Father Jeczusko on behalf of Bishop O'Connor to correct a statement that Jeczusko had made in a court case alleging that he was not an excommunicated priest.1 1 In the ensuing years a number of inquiries and attempts at reconciliation were initiated , primarily by Slovak priests , but nothing came of them . In the summer of 1938 Father Jeczusko died , just a matter of weeks after the installation of the Most Rev . Thomas H. McLaughlin as first Bishop of Paterson, a new diocese cut off from Newark and including the city of Passaic . A committee including Marcel Sherman, John Tomecko, George Nemec and John Rusnak approached Bishop McLaughlin concerning a reconciliation. McLaughlin was hopeful and asked the Apostolic Delegate for instructions in handling the matter.7 2 However, nothing came of the discussion principally because of the diocesan requirement to have the church incorporated with the bishop as president. The trustees were unwilling to turn over the property to the bishop , even a new friendly bishop .7 3 The committee engaged as their new pastor the Reverend Eugene Magyar, a native �SLOVAKIA 79 of Palmerton, Pennsylvania, and a Slovak despite his name, who had been assisting Father Jeczusko. In 1945 a new pastor, Andrew J. Romanak, was named for St. Mary's Parish after Father Salamon's death. Through his offices another attempt at reconciliation was made late in 1946 just a few months before Bishop McLaughlin's death. McLaughlin received instructions and assurances from the Apostolic Delegate concerning proceeding in the various questions concerning reconciliation, and McLaughlin addressed a letter to the congregation through its president Stephen Matthias in January, 1947.74 However, again nothing came of the attempt.7 5 In 1963 Father Magyar was ordained by the Polish National Catholic Church as a bishop for the Slovak National Catholics. At this time Holy Name acquired the title ''cathedra), '' although it is not the see church of a specific diocese. Bishop·Magyar died in 1968 and was briefly succeeded by a priest of the Polish National Catholic Church, Father John Hrencewicz. After Father Hrencewicz's departure, Father William Chromey, a Polish National Catholic priest of Slovak descent, who had served previously as an associate to Bishop Magyar, came to Holy Name and remains pastor there to this day. From the beginning there have been defections from Holy Name back to St. Mary's. Many of these occurred on an individual basis over the years. As it became apparent that the split was going to be a permanent one, the people faced various hardships. The split cut across family lines, and no longer considered "Catholic," members of Holy Name were denied burial in St. Mary's Cemetery where their parents and other relatives were buried. No longer considered ''Catholic,'' the Holy Name parishioners were dropped from membership in the First Catholic Slovak Union and subsequently lost its benefits. 76 Sometimes the occasion of a marriage to a Roman Catholic provided the opportunity to return to that faith. After the ever-popular Father Jeczusko's death in 1938, still more members of the congregation returned to St. Mary's. The financial obligations incurred by the congregation too, were a factor in inducing some members to leave. 77 Eventually both John Labash and Steven Kollar, as well �80 SLOVAKIA as a number of the other early organizers , returned to St. Mary 's and the Roman Catholic Church. 78 However, a sizeable number of families remained faithful to the parish. The ideals for which the congregation had fought: independence from hierarchical control , and lay control of parish affairs; remained an attractive reality to many of the people . Today Holy Name Parish continues to be supported by some 250 families .79 The parish that Father Jeczusko shepherded remained, as he promised in his acceptance speech, faithful to its Catholic traditions . While embracing Polish National Catholicism in an organizational sense, the parish never severed its ties with Roman Catholic usages. While the Polish National Church introduced the vernacular at an early date, both Father Jeczusko and Bishop Magyar continued to use Latin until a few months before the Roman Catholic church changed to the vernacular. 80 The liturgical books of the Roman Church were used and Father Jecuszko continued to pray his Divine Office in the church each day. 81 At Mass he prayed for the pope and the bishop of Newark , and on Good Friday he joined the rest of the Roman Catholic Church in its solemn orations "for schismatics and heretics," even if the rest of the Church felt it was praying for him. 82 The Baltimore Catechism continued to be in use throughout Father Jeczusko 's pastorate. 83 The people were adamant in their desire for a celibate clergy in the manner of the Roman Church, even though the Polish National Church has had a married clergy for years. Part of the impetus for the 1947 reconciliation attempt was the suspicion among many parishioners that Father Magyar was married. 84 Father Jeczusko himself seems to have become something of a pathetic figure toward the end of his life. As it became apparent · that the split was permanent, he seemed to some to become more despondent. Although happy with his situation among his beloved people, he was not content with his situation in the wider Church. "I know I didn 't do right. I'll pay for it somewhere ," he commented to a friend .85 Unable to speak English even at the end of his life, Jeczusko was in some ways a hostage of his congregation, dependent on them for his dealings with the wider world, including medical attention. He died in the summer of 1938, not �SLOVAKIA 81 yet fifty-one years old, perhaps of a heart attack brought on by emphysema. 86 Perhaps his real state of mind is best revealed by his will, which , after a few bequests to close friends, left his entire estate to the seminary at Kos ice. 8 7 After leaving Passaic Emery Haitinger was named pastor of the much smaller parish of St. Joseph in Elizabeth. He remained there for the rest of his life, dying on November 14 , 1959 at the age of eighty-six. 88 There is no documentary evidence that any responsibility was ever attached to him for the debacle is Passaic in 1922, except for the Duffy letter and one other incident that occurred much later in his life. On April 10, 1946, Pope Pius XII honored Haitinger by making him a monsignor at the request of his seminary classmate, Thomas J. Walsh, who was now the Archbishop of Newark. This occurred on the fiftieth anniversary of Haitinger's ordination. For the senior Slovak pastor in an ethnically conscious diocese, who had built two churches and actively participated in the formation of at least four congregations, this was an unusually long time to wait for that honor. CONCLUSION Bishop Thomas H. McLaughlin, the first Bishop of Paterson perhaps best summed up the situation that led to Holy Name Slovak National Catholic Church in several observations made over the years: Investigations which were made by me . . . have led me to the conclusion that the differences existing among the Slovak people of Passaic and Clifton have been and were due to misunderstandings . . . 89 I often felt , even before becoming Bishop of Paterson, that this man (Father Jeczusko) unfamiliar with the English language and American customs was to some extent the unwitting victim of a situation that got out of control. 90 I have always felt that the congregation as a whole was not completely at fault , and that good Father Jeczusko, not being familiar with American legal conditions and canonical procedure, erred somewhat through misunderstanding rather than through malice. 91 �82 SLOVAKIA At the time of the 1922 conflict McLaughlin was president of Seton Hall College and rector of the Newark-diocesan theologate , and therefore not totally removed from the situation. That he should maintain such an opinion puts him in stark contrast to Bishop O'Connor. Another observer commented from a different viewpoint: ''The trustees were feeling their oats. If the bishop had cooperated it could have been different. But he always felt 'I'm the boss.' '' 92 Certainly Bishop McLaughlin's observations of Father Jeczusko seem accurate . He was more a catalyst for the revolt, rather than a cause for it. The dissatisfaction in St. Mary's had been festering for years. At the same time the Slovak community in Passaic was becoming more and more successful and less willing to be treated with the Old World domination of Father Haitinger or the paternalism of Bishop O'Connor. In this sense Father Jeczusko 's popularity was more a lightning rod for the fire to strike. Mr. Labash 's comments on Bishop O'Connor also seem accurate. He certainly was an unwavering figure in the controversy , preferring to back up established authority (Haitinger) even when his position was untenable, and even then refusing to compromise on any point. It must be remembered that the dissidents never asked for Jeczusko to replace Haitinger, but merely to be able to remain at St. Mary's. Certainly by 1922 there was enough evidence from situations around the country over the years that Slovak and other eastern European congregations were capable of carrying disputes to the point of schism. 93 Perhaps his successful handling of a similar situation among the Italians earlier in his administration made O 'Connor feel that this situation could be similarly handled from a position of strength.94 Bishop O'Connor was also something of a distant figure in this dispute, preferring to deal through Salamon and Duffy. Indeed there is no evidence that O'Connor and Jeczusko ever met face to face through the whole five years they were both involved in the controversy. Whatever O 'Connor's reasons for his handling of the affair, his methods were unsuccessful and things did not " settle down." Holy Name Church still stands today within what was once the Newark Diocese of Bishop O'Connor, one of the only two surviv- �SLOVAKIA 83 ing Slovak National Catholic Churches in the United States , an unusual monument to the unwavering determination of many people. NOTES 1 Holy Trinity Slovak Lutheran Church, a short distance across the river in Garfield, N.J. could easily be a fifth partner in this description. 2 Mark Stolarik, "Lay Initiative in American-Slovak Parishes : 1880-1930," Records of the American Catholic Historical Society of Philadelphia , 83 (1972) p . 158 . 3 See Tenth Anniversary of the Holy Name Slovak Catholic Church (1932). Diamond Jubilee Journal, St . Mary 's Church (1968). and Slovaks in America (Middletown , Pa.: Slovak League of America, 1978.) 4 There is a Sts. Cyril and Methodius Slovak National Catholic Church in Perth Amboy , N.J. but the two congregations are not directly connected , nor has Holy Name ever been connected with the Czechoslovak National Church which developed in Europe . 5 Rudolph J. Vecoli , The People of New Jersey (Princeton: D. Van Nostrand Co. , 1965) , p. 213 . 6 William W. Scott, Passaic and Its Environs (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Co ., 1922). p . 496. 7 Ibid .• p . 496. 8 Works Progress Administration, New Jersey: A Guide to its Present and Past (New York: Hastings House , 1946), pp. 345-346. 9 10 11 Scott, Op. cit., p. 494. Ibid. M. Mark Stolarik, "Immigration, Education and the Social Mobility of Slovaks, 1870-1930, " in Immigrants and Religion in Urban America, Randall M. Miller and Thomas D. Marzik, eds. (Philadelphia : Temple University Press , 1977) pp. 105-106. 12 Emily Greene Balch, Our Slavic Fellow Citizens (New York: Charities Publication Committee , 1910). p. 111 . 13 Rev. Emery Haitinger to Bishop John O'Connor, Feast of St. Emery, 1902, Archives of the Archdiocese of Newark (hereafter AAN), Haitinger Personnel File. Accused of being a "Magyarone" himself, Haitinger in this letter sets down his own biases two decades before the similar controversy which would engulf him. 14 New Jersey Catholic Historical Records Commission, The Bishops of Newark 1853-1978 (South Orange , N.J.: Seton Hall University Press , 1978). p. 64 . 15 In 1954 an eleventh parish would be added in Passaic with the establishment of Our Lady of Fatima Church for the new wave of Hispanic immigrants . 16 The parish is variously referred to as St . Mary's , St. Marie's (an affectation that seems to have developed after the construction of the " French Gothic" new church) , and Assumpion. The incorporated name of the parish is ' •Slavonian Catholic Church of the Assumption. '' �SLOVAKIA 84 17 Elizabeth Daily Journal , November 14 , 1959 , AAN, Haitinger Personnel File . 18 AAN , Parish Reports , 1922 . 19 Vecoli, op. cit., p. 196. 20 Archives of the Diocese of Paterson (hereafter ADP), St. Anthony 's , Passaic fil e . This schism was resolved in 1924. 21 ADP, Holy Name Slovak Church file . 22 For background information on Haitinger see AAN , Haitinger Personnel File. 23 Interview with Albin Stolarik , November 23 , 1983 , ADP. Ibid . 24 25 Interview with John Labash , October 31, 1983, ADP. 26 AAN , John A. Duffy to Emery A. Haitinger May 20 , 1925 , Haitinger Personnel File . 27 Emery Haitinger to John Duffy , 1925 , AAN. Miss Julia Tereschak was Haitinger's housekeeper. 28 Passaic Daily News, August 7, 1922 . p. 1. 29 Testimonial of Bishop Augustine Fischer-Colbrie, November 30, 1920, ADP, Holy Name Slovak Church File . 30 Personnel Record, ADP, Holy Name Slovak Church File. 31 Albin Stolarik, Op . cit. 32 Labash , Op. cit. 33 Interview with Stephen Matthias , November 7, 1983 , ADP. Ibid., and Labash , Op . cit. 34 35 John O'Connor to Emery Haitinger, March 14, 1922, ADP, Holy Name Slovak Church File. 37 Augustine Fischer-Colbrie to John O 'Connor, April 1, 1922 , APO, Holy Name Slovak Church File. 38 John O'Conno~.to Emery Haitinger, April 20 , 1922 , ADP, Holy Name Slovak Church File. 39 Passaic Daily News, April 24 , 1922 , p. 1. 40 Passaic Daily News , April 24 , 1922 , p. 2. 41 Petition of Branch 192 of the First Catholic Slovak Union , and Branch 2 of the Slovak Union of Passaic , N.J., April 29, 1922 , ADP , Holy Name Slovak Church File . 42 Passaic Daily Herald, April 24, 1922 , p. 1. 43 Passaic Daily News , April 28, 1922 , p. 1. 44 Passaic Daily News , April 29 , 1922, p. 1. 45 Passaic Daily News , April 24, 1922 , p . 1. 46 Passaic Daily News , May 1, 1922, p . 2. 47 Passaic Daily N ews, May 8 , 1922 , p. 1. 48 Passaic Daily Herald, May 8, 1922, pp . 1-2 . Passaic Daily Herald, May 8, 1922, pp. 1-2 . Mrs . Matisovsky related that Haitinger had offered her money to accompany him to Coney Island . 50 One of the complaints against Haitinger was his inattention to the needs of the 49 �SLOVAKIA 85 parishioners , particularly his refusal to allow the formation of a Holy Name Society for the men of the parish. 51 Passaic Daily News , May 25 , 1922, p. 1. 52 Passaic Daily News, May 27, 1922 , p. 1. Both Kollar 's son and Skvarla 's nephew would eventually become Roman Catholic priests . 53 54 Passaic Daily News, August 15, 1922, pp . 1-2. 55 Albin Stolarik, Op. cit. 56 Passaic Daily News , August 7, 1922 , p . 1. 57 Passaic Daily News , August 21, 1922 , pp. 1, 3. 58 The fact that Hama 's Hall was attached to a tavern was constantly brought up by the opposition as an indication of the dissidents' lack of religiosity. 59 John O'Connor to John Salamon, August 29 , 1922, ADP, Holy Name Slovak Church File. 60 AAN, Parish Reports , 1922 , 1924, 1926. 61 Father Haitinger kept poor sacramental records , with baptisms and marriages being recorded in batches , and some years later. 62 Financial Report of the Holy Name Slovak Catholic Church of Passaic, N .J. for the year 1937 , ADP , Holy Name Slovak Church File. 63 Steven Kollar to John O'Connor, May 5, 1925, ADP, Holy Name Slovak Church File. 64 Duffy and Jeczusko were unable to communicate directly, since Jeczusko could not speak English , and Dufy was unable to communicate in Latin when Jeczusko tried that language. Matthias , Op. cit. 65 John Salamon to Augustine Fischer-Colbrie, May 14, 1925 , ADP, Holy Name Slovak Church File. Salamon was unaware that Fischer-Colbrie had already died . 66 John Duffy to Steven Kollar, May 20, 1925, ADP, Holy Name Slovak Church File. 67 There is some confusion about Msgr. Rusko's status . He is described as a Roman Catholic and "Apostolic Visitator" for Slovaks in America. However his name does not appear in any Catholic Directories in the 1920's . Another source said he was actually an Anglican. See Albin Stolarik, Op. cit. 68 Passaic Daily News, May 29 , 1925, p . 1. 69 Passaic Daily News, November 27 , 1925, p . 1. This was not Bishop Hodur's first visit to Passaic. He had previously presided at the cornerstone blessing and Confirmation for St. Anthony of Padua Independent Italian Catholic Church on May 11, 1919. 70 John O'Connor to Pietro Fumasoni-Biondi, June 16, 1926, ADP , Holy Name Slovak Church File. 71 John Duffy to Emery Jeczusko , March 11, 1927, ADP, Holy Name Slovak Church File. 72 Thomas McLaughlin to Amleto Cicognani , August 11 , 1938, ADP, Holy Name Slovak Church File. 73 Labash, Op . cit. 14 Thomas McLaughlin to Stephen Matthias et al., January 16, 1947, ADP, Holy Name Slovak Church File. 75 This time the difficulty centered around the fate of Father Magyar. The trustees real- �86 SLOVAKIA ized that he would have to leave ifreconciliation was accomp lished , but they did not wish to s imply "abandon " Magyar. They felt that it was necessary to find some work or provide some financial se ttlement for him . Bishop McLaughlin balked at this , and before the matter could be settled , McLaughlin died on March 17, 1947. Labash, Op . cit. 76 John Salamon to Augustine Fisc her-Colbri e , May 14, 1925 , ADP , Holy Name Slovak Church File. See also M. Mark Stolarik, " Building Slovak Co mmunities in America " in Ke ith P. Dyrud , et al. Th e Other Ca th olics (New York : Arno Press, 1978), p . 106. n Matthias, Op . cit. 78 Ibid. 79 Interview with William Chromey, October 14, 1983, ADP. 80 81 Matthias , Op. cit. Ibid . 82 Albin Stolarik, Op . cit. 83 Ibid. 84 Andrew Romanak to Thomas McLaughlin, July 23 , 1946, ADP, Holy Name Slovak Church File. It was not until Magyar's will was probated in 1968 that the congregation at large finall y learned that he was indeed married to his housekeeper , Isabelle. 85 Labash , Op . cit. as Matthias , Op . cit. 87 Thomas McLaughlin to Amleto Cicognani , December 13, 1946, APO, Holy Name Slovak Church File . 88 AAN , Haitinger Personnel Fi le. 89 Thomas McLaughlin to Stephen Matthias et al. , January 16, 1947, ADP , Holy Name Slovak Church File. 90 Thomas McLaughlin to Amleto Cicognani , December 13 , 1946, ADP, Holy Name Slovak Church File. 91 Thomas McLaughlin to Andrew Romanak , May 28 , 1946, ADP, Hol y Name Slovak Church File. 92 Labash , Op . cit. 93 M. Mark Stolarik, " Lay Initiative ... " Op . cit. 94 ADP, St. Anthony, Passaic , Parish File. � SLOVAKIA 63 The Slovak National Catholic Church, Passaic, New Jersey, and the Jeczusko Affair RAYMOND J. KUPKE INTRODUCTION In the Dundee section of Passaic, New Jersey there are four churches in an area of nine city blocks : Holy Name Slovak National Catholic Cathedral, St. Mary 's Roman Catholic Church, St. Michael the Archangel Ruthenian Catholic Cathedral , and Sts. Peter and Paul Russian Orthodox Cathedral. Although this listing represents four diverse denominations, the members of the four parishes are descended from immigrants from the same villages in what are today Czechoslovakia and the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic , and indeed family ties run across all four congregations. 1 Commenting on an article about Our Lady of Mercy Slovak Parish in Cleveland, Ohio, which existed in a schismatic state from the Roman Catholic Church from 1917 to 1922 , Slovak historian Mark Stolarik observes, It is interesting to note that in the spirit of "consensus" history a recent article infednota (January 19, 1972 , p. 1) about Our Lady of Mercy Church, makes no mention of this schism. Contemporary Slovak editors avoid religious controversy at all costs. 2 When one delves into the Slovak religious history of Passaic , Stolarik's observation is amply born out. Upon reading the available jubilee books 3 one hardly notices a mention of the year 1922. Yet in 1922 , just as the rupture in Cleveland's Slovak community was being healed, a schism developed in Passaic's Slovak �64 SLOVAKIA community which would effect a permanent division in the community, and create an unusual footnote in American religious history - a cathedral without a diocese, a one-parish "denomination'' with Roman Catholic usages and Polish National Catholic affiliation. 4 The religious history of Passaic is amazingly complex. It is caught up in currents on both sides of the Atlantic and involves merchants and politicians, popes and bishops, patriarchs and czars. This study attempts to examine one facet of that history, the dispute in the Slovak community of Passaic which divided St. Mary's Parish and led to the formation of Holy Name Slovak National Catholic Church. THE SETTING Located on the Passaic River fifteen miles upstream from Newark, Passaic was first settled by the Dutch in 1678. It remained a small commercial village until after the Civil War when railroads and the textile industry began to change its character. Incorporated as a city in 18 73, Passaic welcomed its first Eastern European immigrants six years later. They were brought in by George B. Waterhouse to work in the Waterhouse Brothers Mills . The initial seven immigrants recruited by Waterhouse in 1879 soon turned into a flood from Eastern and Southern Europe. The 1910 census showed Passaic's foreign born comprising 52 % of the total population. 5 The 1920 census registered a population of 63,824 with 74% o( that total being foreign born, the greatest percentage of any city (over 50,000) in the United States. 6 The Slovak population at the time was estimated to be 7,400.7 The WPA Guide to New Jersey describes the area: East of Main Avenue , a progressively shabbier area stretches down to the river. Here the streets are narrow , with frame swellings and congested tenements crowded beside huge factories . This is the " Dundee Section," where one-half the population is crammed into one-sixth of the city' s area. Living in this section are most of the foreign-born who comprise about one-third of the total population. Numerically the Poles are first , followed in �SLOVAKIA 65 turn by the Italians, Russians , Hungarians , Slovaks, Germans , Austrians, Dutch, Scotch, English and Irish. 8 The initial seven Eastern Europeans whom George Waterhouse brought from Castle Garden to Passaic in December 1879 were all from the Eastern part of Slovakia. They were: Andrew Pastor, John Socha, John Kostisin, and George Slivka from Saris County; John Pochlod and John Salasovic from Zemplin County; and Edward Geiger from Spis County. 9 The initial seven immigrants were quickly joined by their fellow countrymen from Slovakia. When asked what was the inducement to come to America , one of the original seven Slovak immigrants quickly answered "money. " 1 Certainly the poor economic conditions in Eastern Europe were a major inducement for European emigrati~n. But Slovaks had another incentive as well . Beginning in the 1870's the government of Hungary, which included Slovakia, embarked on a program of "Magyarization" in the non-Magyar parts of the kingdom. The three Slovak ''gymnasia'' (high schools) were closed, and most of the religious primary schools were nationalized. The use of Slovak was prohibited in the schools and teachers were awarded a bonus if they were successful Magyarizers. 11 Even to study for the priesthood a Slovak must pass through the Magyar seminary, and there any study of the language of the future flock is treated as ground for expulsion.12 This process created divisions among Slovaks in America between those who were educated by the Hungarians and those who were not. A dispute broke out in 1902 at St. Stephen's Slovak Parish in Newark between the non-Magyarized parishioners and their pastor, Father Alexander Kovacs. In a solicited letter (Written in Latin) , Father Emery ("Imrich" in Slovak, " Imre " in Magyar) Haitinger, Slovak pastor in Passaic , attempted to explain the distinction between the two groups to a confused Bishop John J. O'Connor of Newark. SLAVICS are a peaceful people, who have built the church and maintain it well: they are the basis of the Slavonic congregation because they pay their debts; SLOVAKS are an ambitious people who desire to lead , ° �66 SLOVAKIA to rule, but they do not like to pay debts, nor will they pay them, as their custom is in the free manner of the Italians ... These Slovaks are a troublesome people, POLITICAL AGITATORS against the Hungarian fatherland, whose political machinations are not needed in America. 13 Because of these economic and cultural reasons the number of Slovak immigrants grew rapidly. In 1880 there were 292 foreignborn "Hungarians" in New Jersey. By 1900 that figure grew to 8,404 just in the seven northern counties that comprised the Newark Catholic Diocese.1 4 Most of the immigrants to Passaic were Catholic and between 1890 and 1920 the territorial "Irish" parish of St. Nicholas was joined by nine new "national" parishes for Polish, Italian, Slovak, German, Hungarian, Ukrainian and Ruthenian immigrants. 15 The first of the national churches to be organized was St. Michael the Archangel in 1890. This church served Catholics of the Byzantine Rite who were in communion with Rome. Since many of these Ruthenians or "Rusins" lived in the same villages as the Latin Rite Slovaks, the Passaic Slovaks assisted their neighbors in building St. Michael's. This experience may have provided the spark the Slovak community needed for the following year St. Mary's Slovak Parish was organized on April 1. 16 Initially the congregation met in the basement of St. Nicholas' Church, but by 1893 they were able to construct a church of their own on the corner of Monroe and Second Streets. The absence of a stable Slovak clergy in th~ United States hampered the growth of the new parish. Between 1891 and 1898 the parish was served by a rapid succession of pastors including Fathers Samuel Belja, Bernard Skulik, Benjamin Kwiatkowski, Joseph Ligday, John Pollakovics, and Ignatius Jaskovits, with Father John Sheppard of St. Nicholas often filling in the gaps. On September 2, 1898 Bishop Winand Wigger of Newark appointed Father Emery A. Haitinger, recently arrived in the diocese, as pastor of St.Mary's and he remained for nearly a quarter of a century.17 Father Haitinger supervised the construction of a new stone church which was completed in 1904. By 1920 the parish numbered between 1200 and 1500 families comprising about 600 individuals. 18 �SLOVAKIA 67 Passaic was not free from strife in those years. Many Passaic workers participated in the "Great Strike of 1913 " in which 25 ,000 mill workers organized by the Industrial Workers of the World struck throughout northern New Jersey.19 Religious dissension was also not unheard of. In 1910 Sts. Peter and Paul Byzantine Catholic Parish, which had developed from St. Michael's in 1902, defected from the Catholic Church and embraced Russian Orthodoxy. Also in 1918, a rupture in Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Italian parish resulted in the formation of St. Anthony of Padua Independent Italian Catholic Church.20 On March 13, 1921, Bishop O'Connor, at Father Haitinger's request, appointed Father Emery Jeczusko, recently arrived from Europe, to be curate at St. Mary's .21 This would seem to have been a routine assignment, but in the highly charged atmosphere of Passaic it was an appointment that would have far-reaching consequences . THE DISPUTE Emery A. Haitinger was born in Slovakia, then a part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, in 1873 just at the time that the government's Magyarization policy was beginning. Haitinger began his seminary training at Arad in the southeastern part of Hungary in what is today Romania, but he emigrated to the United States during his seminary years and completed his training at St. Bonaventure's Seminary in Allegheny, New York. He was ordained a priest by Bishop Michael Hoban at Scranton, Pennsylvania in 1896. For two years Haitinger worked as a missionary among Slovak immigrants in northeastern Pennsylvania. In 1898 Bishop Winand Wigger accepted him for service in the Newark Diocese , and on September 2 of that year the twenty-five year old priest was appointed pastor of St. Mary's Parish in Passaic. 22 Doubtless Haitinger was considered a great asset to a diocese hard pressed to deal with a rapidly growing ethnic group . He was the first stable Slovak priest to work in the diocese , and he was pastorally effective in six languages. He not only supervised the construction of a new church in Passaic , but also was instrumental in the development of new parishes in Boonton, Rockaway, Elizabeth, and Linden. Through his connections in Europe he was �68 SLOVAKIA able to bring other Slovak priests to work in the Newark Diocese . However, Father Haitinger's twenty-four years in Passaic were not entirely peaceful. He considered himself a "gr6f" or member of the aristocracy , and sometimes styled himself " van Haitinger," as did his doctor brother.23 He did nothing to hide his bias for the Magyarized elements of his congregation and his parishioners called him a "Magyarone ," a title used for those who supported the Magyarizing of Slovak language and culture .24 There were also more serious charges of moral misconduct and of diverting church funds , particularly for the purchase of property for himself and his family. 25 While it is impossible to document these charges , there is a letter from Bishop John Duffy , then Chancellor of the Newark Diocese, to Haitinger on May 20, 1925 indicating some confusion between the personal property of Haitinger and the parish property. I am writing in reference to the lot owned by you adjoining the school of St. Mary's Parish, Passaic. I am sure that when the lot was purchased by you that you had in mind the future needs of St. Mary's Parish. Conditions there now require that the lot should belong to the church property. I remember hearing that the purchase price at which you bought this peace of property was very small, and I have heard that your present price is extremely large. In the interest of the Church for which you feel as deeply concerned as I do , I would suggest that you fix a price for this property within reason, and let me know what the amount is .26 Haitinger's reply is also interesting. In my first reply I wrote that I do not possess any lot in Passaic , and I emphasize it again. The pastor of St. Mary's knows it; he rented the lot in 1922 not from me , but from Miss Julia Tereschak, who is the owner since 1907. Before I disposed of the lot, I gave a preference to my congregation; but in a stormy meeting they refused to buy it. 27 �SLOVAKIA 69 These controversies about Haiting er' s pastorate festered for at least a decade prior to 1922. 2a Emery A. Jeczusko was born on February 18 , 1888 at Presov in Slovakia, but he came from Vel'ky Saris, the same town that three of the original Slovak immigrants and many of their successors hailed from . Jeczusko attended the seminary at Kosice and was ordained there by Bishop Augustine Fischer-Colbrie on November 30, 1911. Bishop Fischer-Colbrie released him to come to America and work among the Slovaks on November 30, 1920 , 29 and on Father Haitinger's request , Bishop O'Connor of Newark received him and assigned him as curate at St. Mary's, Passaic on March 13 , 1921.30 · Father Jeczusko was well received in Passaic. He is described as an eloquent orator, who was able to sight translate Latin into Slovak. 31 He endeared himself to the people not only by his brilliant sermons , but also by his ability to sing High Mass. 32 " Anything happen, the people want to see Father Jeczusko .. . and Father Haitinger didn't like that.' ' 33 Father Jeczusko was also socially attached to his parishioners . Unable to speak English, he naturally gravitated to people from his native area. He would often visit the Hungarian Social Club, a few blocks from the rectory, to play cards and have a few beers with his friends. 34 On March 11, 1922, Haitinger wrote the following letter to Bishop O'Connor, Herewith is enclosed my financial statement of 1921. Also in these lines I ask Your Lordship to be so kind as to renew the Faculties of my Assistant , the Rev. Emery Jeczusko, which expires within the coming few days. 35 O'Connor replied immediately on March 14. From what I have learned of Father Jeczusko's habits, I do not wish to renew his faculties in this diocese. Tell him he must seek some other diocese . I enclose a letter testifying that he is not under censure. I will write to Father Miklus and tell him to go to you. 36 Meanwhile on April 19, O'Connor received a letter from Bishop Fischer-Colbrie in Kos ice. �70 SLO VAKIA I received the telegram of Your Excellency, and by your request I recall my priest Emery Jeczusko . .. I also ask that Your Excellency favor me by communicating the causes of your desire , that I may have direction in my agenda with Emery Jeczusko .37 On April 20 O'Connor again communicated with Haitinger. The enclosed letter for Father Jeczusko is from Bishop Fischer-Colbrie of Cassovia recalling him to his diocese. Oblige me by handing it to him. The Bishop requires him to return at once. It is the result of the cablegram sent sometime ago. 38 Bishop O'Connor does not elaborate on the offensive habits of Father Jeczusko , but presumably he did not find it acceptable for priests to fraternize with the laity in social clubs. He also does not elaborate on where he received the information on Father Jeczusko's habits. Popular opinion held that Haitinger himself, and his friends, had informed O 'Connor. While there is no conclusive evidence of this , it would appear from O'Connor's second communication to Haitinger that Haitinger was previously aware of the cablegram sent to Europe. On Sunday, April 23 , 1922, Father Jeczusko mounted the pulpit during the 10:30 A.M. Mass and explained his recall and bade the people farewell. He was followed by Father Haitinger who expressed his sorrow at Jeczusko 's recall. It appears that this announcement was not a surprise because a demonstration took place outside the church after Mass , and handbills were circulated calling for a mass meeting that night at Hama's Hall in Passaic. 39 The hall was filled to capacity, and the meeting was chaired by John J. Labash, an undertaker, and Steven Kollar, a cobbler. Demands were made for Jeczusko's reinstatement and the removal of Hai ting er. Even at this early date, the organizers of the dispute were talking about the possibility of a new parish. Messrs. Labash and Kollar speaking to a Daily News man said that the people were going to carry the fight to the bitter end. They felt that they were justified in even organizing an independent parish, if only to carry out what they figured was right .40 �SLOVAKIA 71 A second meeting was held on April 27 at Mokrai's Hall in Passaic, and as a result of this meeting ten parish organizations forwarded identical petitions to Bishop O 'Connor over the signatures of their officers: ... adopted a resolution seeking for the reinstatement of Father Emery Jeczusko in our church of St. Marie's of the Assumption, of Passaic, N.J. and that: The Rev. Emery A. Haitinger, now rector of the church be removed at once for the future good of our parish. This action is based on the wish of more than 600 people who attended a Mass meeting on Sunday, April 23, in a public hall at 108 Third Street, of our city. It is felt that a great deal of harm to our church, Faith and religion has come from the procrastinated action, or deferred action in this regard on your part. More than 90% of the people of our parish have literally refused to further attend the services of our church and we fear that a separation within the parish and a possible establishment of an Independent Church is threatening. It is honestly felt by most of the members of our parish that Father Haitinger must go. 41 The societies claimed a combined membership of 1200. The arguments against Haitinger centered around three issues: jealousy, finances , and patriotism. Mr. Kollar, a former trustee of the parish, claimed to have proof of serious discrepancies between the amount of money collected in the parish, the amount spent on parish expenses, and the amount in parish accounts.42 The patriotism charges were on two different levels. On the one hand Haiting er was accused of ''un-Americanism'' because he was alleged to have preached in favor of Austria-Hungary during World War I, and also that he had greeted the Hungarian Premier Husar as a Hungarian. 43 On the other hand Haitinger was also accused of "Magyarone" tendencies opposed to Slovak culture. 44 Haitinger's supporters countered by claiming that Haitinger was a true American, while Jeczusko was a retrogressive force in the community . . . . he was progressive in the matter of organizing a Slavish Federation which carried with it a spirit of the �72 SLOVAKIA fatherland and did not conform with the more modern spirit of working for things American. 45 All through April and May charges and countercharges were exchanged in the local newspapers, meetings were held , petitions were circulated. The atmosphere was further charged by an article in New Yorksky Dennfk, a Slovak newspaper in New York entitled "Battle of Slovak Catholics in Passaic." The article, widely circulated in Passaic, vilified Haitinger, and both the Hungarian and American hierarchy. Describing Haitinger the article commented: With abuse , cursings, laughter, lies and force more and more the Slovak people were literally chased from God's church merely that he might attain his aim and to make foreign the parish and bring it to the bishop , so to speak, on a silver platter, saying, "Here you have, august dictator, a new Irish parish." This hellish thought of Rev . Haitinger's has found a strong set-back in the face of the Slovak curate. The parson became afraid of his Judas recompense, and the bishop was afraid he would soon lose the Irished parish, which was builded through for Slovak blisters , and so the parson and the bishop got together and in short adjudged the Slovak curate to exile he must go.46 The tension was further heightened when one of the dissidents , a Mrs. Theresa Sisko, went to the rectory after Mass on Sunday, May 7 to reclaim at last a portion of a previous donation of $4,000 . Haitinger told her she would have to sue the parish, told her to get out, and then forcibly evicted her from the rectory, causing her to fall down the stairs and sustain many bruises. 47 Within a few days Mrs. Sisko brought suit against Haitinger for $30,000. The reports of the Sisko incident circulating through the ciy brought out a record crowd of 2,000 to a meeting that same night at Mokrai's Hall. During the meeting Labash and Kollar reiterated the history of their grievances. They claimed that petitions to the bishop in previous years had been destroyed before reaching him, that a committee sent to the bishop and the Apostolic Delegate in 1919 had failed to get a hearing, and that each time Bishop �SLOVAKIA 73 O'Connor was approached "he always sent us away with a promise to consider the matter.' ' 48 They then told the assembly of the bishop's final decision not allow Jenczusko to remain in the diocese. The allegations of financial mismanagement were repeated , and Mrs. Frank Matisovsky produced laughter among the audience when she related incidents of Haitinger's improprieties and her lack of satisfaction when these were related to the bishop .49 The assembly was unanimous in its· determination to replace Haitinger with another priest, have Jeczusko reinstated , and if necessary , form a new parish and even secede from the Catholic Church. For the first time the finances of a new church were discussed, and the name "Holy Name Parish" was used. 50 On Saturday the committee went to South Orange to approach Bishop O'Connor. This time they took Mrs. Sisko with them and she spoke to the bishop's secretary. Also during the week the committee met with Msgr. John A. Sheppard of Jersey City, formerly pastor of St. Nicholas, Passaic, and later Vicar General of the diocese. Acting on Sheppard's advice the committee formally presented a request to Haitinger to resign the pastorate with a copy of the request sent to O'Connor. 51 Rumors of Haitinger's removal were rampant in the city when he did not appear at Masses on Sunday, May 21. Instead the Masses were celebrated by Father John Salamon, a native son of the parish, and curate at St. Joseph's Parish in Elizabeth. It was reported that Haitinger had celebrated Mass in Elizabeth and returned to Passaic in the afternoon. The Saturday edition of the Passaic Daily News for May 27 carried the following article: As forecast by The Daily News Monday evening, the Rev. Father John D. Salamon, rector of St. Joseph's Church in Elizabeth, and formerly a pupil at St. Marie's Parochial School , of this city, has been designated as the new rector for the local Slovak Catholic Church, thus ending the controversy which threatened for a time to disrupt the entire St. Marie's Parish. Announcement was made by the Right Rev. Monsignor John A. Duffy, chancellor of the Catholic diocese of Newark, Thursday evening, to the effect that the Right Rev. Bishop John �74 SLOVAKIA J. O'Connor had decided upon the change being made. Meanwhile the Rev. Father Emery A. Haitinger, rector of St. Marie's Church since 1898, will be unattached for a while. He will visit temporarily with the Rev. Father Andrew Adzima, his former curate , and now rector of St. Joseph's in Bayonne.52 However the happy conclusion to the controversy forecast by the Passaic Daily News was premature. Having accomplished the first of their goals, the committee pressed on to insist on the reinstatement of Father Jeczusko as curate . The dissidents crystallized around Labash, Kollar, Marcel Sherman, a painter, Victor Chirip , a former locksmith in the Austrian royal palace , and Paul Skvarla, an architect. 53 The committee continued to treat with O'Connor about Jeczusko throughout the summer, but O'Connor was adamant. Jeczusko himself meanwhile did not participate in the controversy, but stayed with his brother in Connecticut. He did not reappear in Pasaaic until the middle of August. 54 The committee enlisted the help of Father Salamon to intervene with the bishop on Jeczusko's behalf, but this was to no avail. During the first week of August the committee met with O'Connor in Newark and was once again told that Jeczusko would not be reinstated. The mood of the committee can be summed up in the comment of Marcel Sherman, "We're not going to have that Irish bishop telling us what to do. " 55 At a mass meeting on Monday, August 6, the committee reported the bishop's refusal to the parishioners and the break with St. Mary's was made final. Labash and Kollar were elected chairman and vice chairman respectively of the new parish. Pledges were received for $14,000 and $550 was collected that first night. Still, Labash held out the possibility of reconciliation: The new church, it was explained, would not necessarily become detached from the Roman Catholic Church in this country, provided, of course, Bishop O 'Connor accepted their action as being a logical expression of the feelings of a people who were hurt, and agreed to treat them on a par with the other congregations within his �SLOVAKIA 75 diocese , but with the understanding that Father Jeczusko would be rector of the church and the mode of carrying on the business affairs of the parish put in the hands of the parishioners rather than the clergymen. 56 At a mass meeting on Saturday, August 20 at Hama's Hall with Father Jeczusko present, the priest was formally offered the post of pastor of Holy Name Slovak Church. Jeczusko's reply is indicative of his personal turmoil in this situation: "I am facing a difficult situation, my friends," he stated, ''having my passpost all ready, I have merely to engage passage to leave for my home country. Your apparent sincerity of purpose, however, and your zeal in the endeavor to carry out the true significance of Catholicism, prompt me to heed your call. ' ' He then asked that the people not try to set aside the Roman Catholic authority. He intimated that serious things might happen to him. "And after all ," he exclaimed, '' our work is in the name of God above , the name of our newly formed parish implies that, and with His aid we shall conquer all things. By the memory of my sweet little mother , whose greatest ambition in life was to see me at the Altar of the Almighty, serving with honor, serving with a dignified fear of Him above , and fulfilling all that is prescribed by the authorities of the Roman Catholic Church, I accept this call to serve you, my people. But I implore you not to give up your traditions, the traditions of the Roman Catholic Church. Let us call unto ourselves the leadership of this great church with its authority. "57 Father Jeczusko celebrated the first Mass for the new parish on Sunday , August 27 , 1922 at Hama's Hall where many of the organizational meetings had been held. 58 On August 29 Bishop O'Connor wrote to Father Salamon explaining Father Jeczusko's excommunicated status and the fact that the new congregation was not a Catholic church.59 He asked that this letter be read at all Masses the following Sunday, September 2 . Approximately one third of the parishioners of St. Mary's �SLOVAKIA 76 joined Holy Name Parish. In his 1922 report to the diocese, Haitinger listed 1260 men, 1810 women, and 2600 children at St. Mary's for a total of 5760. This report was signed by trustees Michael Novak and Steven Kollar, both of whom would later join Holy Name Parish. The 1924 report submitted by Father Salamon showed a drop in all three categories, for a total decrease of 1323 people. However these figures are approximations. The 1922 Sunday and Holyday Collections amounted to $9,794,67 , while the same collections in the 1926 report amounted to $6 ,621.22 60 Perhaps the best guage for the extent of the split are the baptismal and marriage records for both churches. 61 BAPTISMS St. Mary's Holy Name 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1920 1921 192·2 1923 1924 1925 1926 108 149 160 105 111 104 99 21 58 34 55 36 MARRIAGES St. Mary's Holy Name 36 40 31 40 45 37 34 2 15 25 12 19 If St. Mary's listed between 1200 and 1500 families in its 1922 report, Holy Name in its 1937 report to the parish listed 517 contributing families. 62 From all these sources the figure of one third of the Slovak community of Passaic belonging to Holy Name Parish seems reliable. The parishioners set about the task of securing property on Fourth Street, five blocks away from St. Mary's and contracted for the erection of a new church and rectory costing $100,000. �SLOVAKIA 77 Father Jeczusko , meanwhile , stayed at the home of Andrew Singlary on Fourth Street. In the Spring of 1925 the cornerstone was ready to be blessed. On May 5 , 1925 Steven Kollar wrote to Bishop O 'Connor on behalf of the parish committee to request a meeting with the bishop .63 The chancellor of the Newark Diocese, Msgr. John A. Duffy, responded to the letter and the meeting was held on May 11. This appears to be the one time that Father Jeczusko was present for a meeting of this type. 64 The committee asked that Bishop O'Connor come to bless the cornerstone of the new church. Monsignor Duffy agreed to present the proposal to O'Connor. In the meantime Duffy requested Fathe:r Salamon to send a letter to Bishop Fischer-Colbrie in Slovakia asking him to send Jeczusko a specific "mandatum" to return to Slovakia. 65 On May 20 , 1925 , Monsignor Duffy responded to Kollar in the name of Bishop O'Connor. In very blunt terms Duffy informed Kollar that the church would have to be turned directly over to the bishop, who would then have it incorporated under New Jersey law with himself as the president, the pastor as secretary-treasurer, and with two lay trustees appointed by the bishop. The pastor would administer the parish and its temporalities. With regard to Father Jeczusko , he would have to submit to Canon Law, reject his schism, and his future status would have to be decided by Rome. Nothing could be promised for him. Duffy concluded, ''It will be impossible therefore , for us to negotiate with you any further except on the terms laid down above,' ' 66 and exhorted them to abandon their schism. On May 30 , 1925 the cornerstone of Holy Name Church was solemnly blessed by the Right Rev. Monsignor Louis Rusko of Philadelphia, 67 in the presence of many clergymen of the area. The newspapers reported the fact that the parish committee had " waited on the Rt. Rev. Bishop John O'Connor of the Catholic Diocese of Newark in an effort to have him send a representative to take part in the ceremonies. " 68 No Catholic representative was present at the ceremonies, and that marked the effective end of the relationship between Holy Name Slovak Church and the Roman Catholic Church. On November 27 , 1925, the Right Rev. Bishop Francis Hodur of Scranton, Pennsylvania, founder of the Polish National Catholic Church, solemnly blessed Holy Name �78 SLOVAKIA Church. 69 From that time on Holy Name Parish held its ecclesial communion with the Polish National Catholic Church. THE AFTERMATH In 1926 , now nearing the end of his lengthy episcopate, O'Connor responded to an inquiry about Holy Name Church from the Apostolic Delegate , Pietro Fumasoni-Biondi: Through one of the Slovak priests I have requested Father Jeczusko 's bishop , who will be here for the Eucharistic Congress , to visit Passaic and see his subject personally. I hope that as a result of this visit Father Jeczusko will return to his diocese and that the financial difficulties of the Holy Name Parish will force the remaining members to turn the property over to legitimate authority. I beg to assure Your Excellency that this matter is settling itself and within a short time the so called Independent Church will be but a name.7° Whether the visit from the Bishop of Kosice took place is unknown. However , the situation did not settle itself. A year later the chancellor of the Newark Diocese wrote to Father Jeczusko on behalf of Bishop O'Connor to correct a statement that Jeczusko had made in a court case alleging that he was not an excommunicated priest.1 1 In the ensuing years a number of inquiries and attempts at reconciliation were initiated , primarily by Slovak priests , but nothing came of them . In the summer of 1938 Father Jeczusko died , just a matter of weeks after the installation of the Most Rev . Thomas H. McLaughlin as first Bishop of Paterson, a new diocese cut off from Newark and including the city of Passaic . A committee including Marcel Sherman, John Tomecko, George Nemec and John Rusnak approached Bishop McLaughlin concerning a reconciliation. McLaughlin was hopeful and asked the Apostolic Delegate for instructions in handling the matter.7 2 However, nothing came of the discussion principally because of the diocesan requirement to have the church incorporated with the bishop as president. The trustees were unwilling to turn over the property to the bishop , even a new friendly bishop .7 3 The committee engaged as their new pastor the Reverend Eugene Magyar, a native �SLOVAKIA 79 of Palmerton, Pennsylvania, and a Slovak despite his name, who had been assisting Father Jeczusko. In 1945 a new pastor, Andrew J. Romanak, was named for St. Mary's Parish after Father Salamon's death. Through his offices another attempt at reconciliation was made late in 1946 just a few months before Bishop McLaughlin's death. McLaughlin received instructions and assurances from the Apostolic Delegate concerning proceeding in the various questions concerning reconciliation, and McLaughlin addressed a letter to the congregation through its president Stephen Matthias in January, 1947.74 However, again nothing came of the attempt.7 5 In 1963 Father Magyar was ordained by the Polish National Catholic Church as a bishop for the Slovak National Catholics. At this time Holy Name acquired the title ''cathedra), '' although it is not the see church of a specific diocese. Bishop·Magyar died in 1968 and was briefly succeeded by a priest of the Polish National Catholic Church, Father John Hrencewicz. After Father Hrencewicz's departure, Father William Chromey, a Polish National Catholic priest of Slovak descent, who had served previously as an associate to Bishop Magyar, came to Holy Name and remains pastor there to this day. From the beginning there have been defections from Holy Name back to St. Mary's. Many of these occurred on an individual basis over the years. As it became apparent that the split was going to be a permanent one, the people faced various hardships. The split cut across family lines, and no longer considered "Catholic," members of Holy Name were denied burial in St. Mary's Cemetery where their parents and other relatives were buried. No longer considered ''Catholic,'' the Holy Name parishioners were dropped from membership in the First Catholic Slovak Union and subsequently lost its benefits. 76 Sometimes the occasion of a marriage to a Roman Catholic provided the opportunity to return to that faith. After the ever-popular Father Jeczusko's death in 1938, still more members of the congregation returned to St. Mary's. The financial obligations incurred by the congregation too, were a factor in inducing some members to leave. 77 Eventually both John Labash and Steven Kollar, as well �80 SLOVAKIA as a number of the other early organizers , returned to St. Mary 's and the Roman Catholic Church. 78 However, a sizeable number of families remained faithful to the parish. The ideals for which the congregation had fought: independence from hierarchical control , and lay control of parish affairs; remained an attractive reality to many of the people . Today Holy Name Parish continues to be supported by some 250 families .79 The parish that Father Jeczusko shepherded remained, as he promised in his acceptance speech, faithful to its Catholic traditions . While embracing Polish National Catholicism in an organizational sense, the parish never severed its ties with Roman Catholic usages. While the Polish National Church introduced the vernacular at an early date, both Father Jeczusko and Bishop Magyar continued to use Latin until a few months before the Roman Catholic church changed to the vernacular. 80 The liturgical books of the Roman Church were used and Father Jecuszko continued to pray his Divine Office in the church each day. 81 At Mass he prayed for the pope and the bishop of Newark , and on Good Friday he joined the rest of the Roman Catholic Church in its solemn orations "for schismatics and heretics," even if the rest of the Church felt it was praying for him. 82 The Baltimore Catechism continued to be in use throughout Father Jeczusko 's pastorate. 83 The people were adamant in their desire for a celibate clergy in the manner of the Roman Church, even though the Polish National Church has had a married clergy for years. Part of the impetus for the 1947 reconciliation attempt was the suspicion among many parishioners that Father Magyar was married. 84 Father Jeczusko himself seems to have become something of a pathetic figure toward the end of his life. As it became apparent · that the split was permanent, he seemed to some to become more despondent. Although happy with his situation among his beloved people, he was not content with his situation in the wider Church. "I know I didn 't do right. I'll pay for it somewhere ," he commented to a friend .85 Unable to speak English even at the end of his life, Jeczusko was in some ways a hostage of his congregation, dependent on them for his dealings with the wider world, including medical attention. He died in the summer of 1938, not �SLOVAKIA 81 yet fifty-one years old, perhaps of a heart attack brought on by emphysema. 86 Perhaps his real state of mind is best revealed by his will, which , after a few bequests to close friends, left his entire estate to the seminary at Kos ice. 8 7 After leaving Passaic Emery Haitinger was named pastor of the much smaller parish of St. Joseph in Elizabeth. He remained there for the rest of his life, dying on November 14 , 1959 at the age of eighty-six. 88 There is no documentary evidence that any responsibility was ever attached to him for the debacle is Passaic in 1922, except for the Duffy letter and one other incident that occurred much later in his life. On April 10, 1946, Pope Pius XII honored Haitinger by making him a monsignor at the request of his seminary classmate, Thomas J. Walsh, who was now the Archbishop of Newark. This occurred on the fiftieth anniversary of Haitinger's ordination. For the senior Slovak pastor in an ethnically conscious diocese, who had built two churches and actively participated in the formation of at least four congregations, this was an unusually long time to wait for that honor. CONCLUSION Bishop Thomas H. McLaughlin, the first Bishop of Paterson perhaps best summed up the situation that led to Holy Name Slovak National Catholic Church in several observations made over the years: Investigations which were made by me . . . have led me to the conclusion that the differences existing among the Slovak people of Passaic and Clifton have been and were due to misunderstandings . . . 89 I often felt , even before becoming Bishop of Paterson, that this man (Father Jeczusko) unfamiliar with the English language and American customs was to some extent the unwitting victim of a situation that got out of control. 90 I have always felt that the congregation as a whole was not completely at fault , and that good Father Jeczusko, not being familiar with American legal conditions and canonical procedure, erred somewhat through misunderstanding rather than through malice. 91 �82 SLOVAKIA At the time of the 1922 conflict McLaughlin was president of Seton Hall College and rector of the Newark-diocesan theologate , and therefore not totally removed from the situation. That he should maintain such an opinion puts him in stark contrast to Bishop O'Connor. Another observer commented from a different viewpoint: ''The trustees were feeling their oats. If the bishop had cooperated it could have been different. But he always felt 'I'm the boss.' '' 92 Certainly Bishop McLaughlin's observations of Father Jeczusko seem accurate . He was more a catalyst for the revolt, rather than a cause for it. The dissatisfaction in St. Mary's had been festering for years. At the same time the Slovak community in Passaic was becoming more and more successful and less willing to be treated with the Old World domination of Father Haitinger or the paternalism of Bishop O'Connor. In this sense Father Jeczusko 's popularity was more a lightning rod for the fire to strike. Mr. Labash 's comments on Bishop O'Connor also seem accurate. He certainly was an unwavering figure in the controversy , preferring to back up established authority (Haitinger) even when his position was untenable, and even then refusing to compromise on any point. It must be remembered that the dissidents never asked for Jeczusko to replace Haitinger, but merely to be able to remain at St. Mary's. Certainly by 1922 there was enough evidence from situations around the country over the years that Slovak and other eastern European congregations were capable of carrying disputes to the point of schism. 93 Perhaps his successful handling of a similar situation among the Italians earlier in his administration made O 'Connor feel that this situation could be similarly handled from a position of strength.94 Bishop O'Connor was also something of a distant figure in this dispute, preferring to deal through Salamon and Duffy. Indeed there is no evidence that O'Connor and Jeczusko ever met face to face through the whole five years they were both involved in the controversy. Whatever O 'Connor's reasons for his handling of the affair, his methods were unsuccessful and things did not " settle down." Holy Name Church still stands today within what was once the Newark Diocese of Bishop O'Connor, one of the only two surviv- �SLOVAKIA 83 ing Slovak National Catholic Churches in the United States , an unusual monument to the unwavering determination of many people. NOTES 1 Holy Trinity Slovak Lutheran Church, a short distance across the river in Garfield, N.J. could easily be a fifth partner in this description. 2 Mark Stolarik, "Lay Initiative in American-Slovak Parishes : 1880-1930," Records of the American Catholic Historical Society of Philadelphia , 83 (1972) p . 158 . 3 See Tenth Anniversary of the Holy Name Slovak Catholic Church (1932). Diamond Jubilee Journal, St . Mary 's Church (1968). and Slovaks in America (Middletown , Pa.: Slovak League of America, 1978.) 4 There is a Sts. Cyril and Methodius Slovak National Catholic Church in Perth Amboy , N.J. but the two congregations are not directly connected , nor has Holy Name ever been connected with the Czechoslovak National Church which developed in Europe . 5 Rudolph J. Vecoli , The People of New Jersey (Princeton: D. Van Nostrand Co. , 1965) , p. 213 . 6 William W. Scott, Passaic and Its Environs (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Co ., 1922). p . 496. 7 Ibid .• p . 496. 8 Works Progress Administration, New Jersey: A Guide to its Present and Past (New York: Hastings House , 1946), pp. 345-346. 9 10 11 Scott, Op. cit., p. 494. Ibid. M. Mark Stolarik, "Immigration, Education and the Social Mobility of Slovaks, 1870-1930, " in Immigrants and Religion in Urban America, Randall M. Miller and Thomas D. Marzik, eds. (Philadelphia : Temple University Press , 1977) pp. 105-106. 12 Emily Greene Balch, Our Slavic Fellow Citizens (New York: Charities Publication Committee , 1910). p. 111 . 13 Rev. Emery Haitinger to Bishop John O'Connor, Feast of St. Emery, 1902, Archives of the Archdiocese of Newark (hereafter AAN), Haitinger Personnel File. Accused of being a "Magyarone" himself, Haitinger in this letter sets down his own biases two decades before the similar controversy which would engulf him. 14 New Jersey Catholic Historical Records Commission, The Bishops of Newark 1853-1978 (South Orange , N.J.: Seton Hall University Press , 1978). p. 64 . 15 In 1954 an eleventh parish would be added in Passaic with the establishment of Our Lady of Fatima Church for the new wave of Hispanic immigrants . 16 The parish is variously referred to as St . Mary's , St. Marie's (an affectation that seems to have developed after the construction of the " French Gothic" new church) , and Assumpion. The incorporated name of the parish is ' •Slavonian Catholic Church of the Assumption. '' �SLOVAKIA 84 17 Elizabeth Daily Journal , November 14 , 1959 , AAN, Haitinger Personnel File . 18 AAN , Parish Reports , 1922 . 19 Vecoli, op. cit., p. 196. 20 Archives of the Diocese of Paterson (hereafter ADP), St. Anthony 's , Passaic fil e . This schism was resolved in 1924. 21 ADP, Holy Name Slovak Church file . 22 For background information on Haitinger see AAN , Haitinger Personnel File. 23 Interview with Albin Stolarik , November 23 , 1983 , ADP. Ibid . 24 25 Interview with John Labash , October 31, 1983, ADP. 26 AAN , John A. Duffy to Emery A. Haitinger May 20 , 1925 , Haitinger Personnel File . 27 Emery Haitinger to John Duffy , 1925 , AAN. Miss Julia Tereschak was Haitinger's housekeeper. 28 Passaic Daily News, August 7, 1922 . p. 1. 29 Testimonial of Bishop Augustine Fischer-Colbrie, November 30, 1920, ADP, Holy Name Slovak Church File . 30 Personnel Record, ADP, Holy Name Slovak Church File. 31 Albin Stolarik, Op . cit. 32 Labash , Op. cit. 33 Interview with Stephen Matthias , November 7, 1983 , ADP. Ibid., and Labash , Op . cit. 34 35 John O'Connor to Emery Haitinger, March 14, 1922, ADP, Holy Name Slovak Church File. 37 Augustine Fischer-Colbrie to John O 'Connor, April 1, 1922 , APO, Holy Name Slovak Church File. 38 John O'Conno~.to Emery Haitinger, April 20 , 1922 , ADP, Holy Name Slovak Church File. 39 Passaic Daily News, April 24 , 1922 , p. 1. 40 Passaic Daily News , April 24 , 1922 , p. 2. 41 Petition of Branch 192 of the First Catholic Slovak Union , and Branch 2 of the Slovak Union of Passaic , N.J., April 29, 1922 , ADP , Holy Name Slovak Church File . 42 Passaic Daily Herald, April 24, 1922 , p. 1. 43 Passaic Daily News , April 28, 1922 , p. 1. 44 Passaic Daily News , April 29 , 1922, p. 1. 45 Passaic Daily News , April 24, 1922 , p . 1. 46 Passaic Daily News , May 1, 1922, p . 2. 47 Passaic Daily N ews, May 8 , 1922 , p. 1. 48 Passaic Daily Herald, May 8, 1922, pp . 1-2 . Passaic Daily Herald, May 8, 1922, pp. 1-2 . Mrs . Matisovsky related that Haitinger had offered her money to accompany him to Coney Island . 50 One of the complaints against Haitinger was his inattention to the needs of the 49 �SLOVAKIA 85 parishioners , particularly his refusal to allow the formation of a Holy Name Society for the men of the parish. 51 Passaic Daily News , May 25 , 1922, p. 1. 52 Passaic Daily News, May 27, 1922 , p. 1. Both Kollar 's son and Skvarla 's nephew would eventually become Roman Catholic priests . 53 54 Passaic Daily News, August 15, 1922, pp . 1-2. 55 Albin Stolarik, Op. cit. 56 Passaic Daily News , August 7, 1922 , p . 1. 57 Passaic Daily News , August 21, 1922 , pp. 1, 3. 58 The fact that Hama 's Hall was attached to a tavern was constantly brought up by the opposition as an indication of the dissidents' lack of religiosity. 59 John O'Connor to John Salamon, August 29 , 1922, ADP, Holy Name Slovak Church File. 60 AAN, Parish Reports , 1922 , 1924, 1926. 61 Father Haitinger kept poor sacramental records , with baptisms and marriages being recorded in batches , and some years later. 62 Financial Report of the Holy Name Slovak Catholic Church of Passaic, N .J. for the year 1937 , ADP , Holy Name Slovak Church File. 63 Steven Kollar to John O'Connor, May 5, 1925, ADP, Holy Name Slovak Church File. 64 Duffy and Jeczusko were unable to communicate directly, since Jeczusko could not speak English , and Dufy was unable to communicate in Latin when Jeczusko tried that language. Matthias , Op. cit. 65 John Salamon to Augustine Fischer-Colbrie, May 14, 1925 , ADP, Holy Name Slovak Church File. Salamon was unaware that Fischer-Colbrie had already died . 66 John Duffy to Steven Kollar, May 20, 1925, ADP, Holy Name Slovak Church File. 67 There is some confusion about Msgr. Rusko's status . He is described as a Roman Catholic and "Apostolic Visitator" for Slovaks in America. However his name does not appear in any Catholic Directories in the 1920's . Another source said he was actually an Anglican. See Albin Stolarik, Op. cit. 68 Passaic Daily News, May 29 , 1925, p . 1. 69 Passaic Daily News, November 27 , 1925, p . 1. This was not Bishop Hodur's first visit to Passaic. He had previously presided at the cornerstone blessing and Confirmation for St. Anthony of Padua Independent Italian Catholic Church on May 11, 1919. 70 John O'Connor to Pietro Fumasoni-Biondi, June 16, 1926, ADP , Holy Name Slovak Church File. 71 John Duffy to Emery Jeczusko , March 11, 1927, ADP, Holy Name Slovak Church File. 72 Thomas McLaughlin to Amleto Cicognani , August 11 , 1938, ADP, Holy Name Slovak Church File. 73 Labash, Op . cit. 14 Thomas McLaughlin to Stephen Matthias et al., January 16, 1947, ADP, Holy Name Slovak Church File. 75 This time the difficulty centered around the fate of Father Magyar. The trustees real- �86 SLOVAKIA ized that he would have to leave ifreconciliation was accomp lished , but they did not wish to s imply "abandon " Magyar. They felt that it was necessary to find some work or provide some financial se ttlement for him . Bishop McLaughlin balked at this , and before the matter could be settled , McLaughlin died on March 17, 1947. Labash, Op . cit. 76 John Salamon to Augustine Fisc her-Colbri e , May 14, 1925 , ADP , Holy Name Slovak Church File. See also M. Mark Stolarik, " Building Slovak Co mmunities in America " in Ke ith P. Dyrud , et al. Th e Other Ca th olics (New York : Arno Press, 1978), p . 106. n Matthias, Op . cit. 78 Ibid. 79 Interview with William Chromey, October 14, 1983, ADP. 80 81 Matthias , Op. cit. Ibid . 82 Albin Stolarik, Op . cit. 83 Ibid. 84 Andrew Romanak to Thomas McLaughlin, July 23 , 1946, ADP, Holy Name Slovak Church File. It was not until Magyar's will was probated in 1968 that the congregation at large finall y learned that he was indeed married to his housekeeper , Isabelle. 85 Labash , Op . cit. as Matthias , Op . cit. 87 Thomas McLaughlin to Amleto Cicognani , December 13, 1946, APO, Holy Name Slovak Church File . 88 AAN , Haitinger Personnel Fi le. 89 Thomas McLaughlin to Stephen Matthias et al. , January 16, 1947, ADP , Holy Name Slovak Church File. 90 Thomas McLaughlin to Amleto Cicognani , December 13 , 1946, ADP, Holy Name Slovak Church File. 91 Thomas McLaughlin to Andrew Romanak , May 28 , 1946, ADP, Hol y Name Slovak Church File. 92 Labash , Op . cit. 93 M. Mark Stolarik, " Lay Initiative ... " Op . cit. 94 ADP, St. Anthony, Passaic , Parish File. � 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 1987-88, Vol. 33 Description An account of the resource Vol. 33 (No. 60-61), 1987-88. 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 1987-88 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 The Slovak National Catholic Church, Passaic, New Jersey, and the Jeczusko Affair RAYMOND J. KUPKE INTRODUCTION In the Dundee section of Passaic, New Jersey there are four churches in an area of nine city blocks : Holy Name Slovak National Catholic Cathedral, St. Mary 's Roman Catholic Church, St. Michael the Archangel Ruthenian Catholic Cathedral , and Sts. Peter and Paul Russian Orthodox Cathedral. Although this listing represents four diverse denominations, the members of the four parishes are descended from immigrants from the same villages in what are today Czechoslovakia and the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic , and indeed family ties run across all four congregations. 1 Commenting on an article about Our Lady of Mercy Slovak Parish in Cleveland, Ohio, which existed in a schismatic state from the Roman Catholic Church from 1917 to 1922 , Slovak historian Mark Stolarik observes, It is interesting to note that in the spirit of "consensus" history a recent article infednota (January 19, 1972 , p. 1) about Our Lady of Mercy Church, makes no mention of this schism. Contemporary Slovak editors avoid religious controversy at all costs. 2 When one delves into the Slovak religious history of Passaic , Stolarik's observation is amply born out. Upon reading the available jubilee books 3 one hardly notices a mention of the year 1922. Yet in 1922 , just as the rupture in Cleveland's Slovak community was being healed, a schism developed in Passaic's Slovak 64 SLOVAKIA community which would effect a permanent division in the community, and create an unusual footnote in American religious history - a cathedral without a diocese, a one-parish "denomination'' with Roman Catholic usages and Polish National Catholic affiliation. 4 The religious history of Passaic is amazingly complex. It is caught up in currents on both sides of the Atlantic and involves merchants and politicians, popes and bishops, patriarchs and czars. This study attempts to examine one facet of that history, the dispute in the Slovak community of Passaic which divided St. Mary's Parish and led to the formation of Holy Name Slovak National Catholic Church. THE SETTING Located on the Passaic River fifteen miles upstream from Newark, Passaic was first settled by the Dutch in 1678. It remained a small commercial village until after the Civil War when railroads and the textile industry began to change its character. Incorporated as a city in 18 73, Passaic welcomed its first Eastern European immigrants six years later. They were brought in by George B. Waterhouse to work in the Waterhouse Brothers Mills . The initial seven immigrants recruited by Waterhouse in 1879 soon turned into a flood from Eastern and Southern Europe. The 1910 census showed Passaic's foreign born comprising 52 % of the total population. 5 The 1920 census registered a population of 63,824 with 74% o( that total being foreign born, the greatest percentage of any city (over 50,000) in the United States. 6 The Slovak population at the time was estimated to be 7,400.7 The WPA Guide to New Jersey describes the area: East of Main Avenue , a progressively shabbier area stretches down to the river. Here the streets are narrow , with frame swellings and congested tenements crowded beside huge factories . This is the " Dundee Section," where one-half the population is crammed into one-sixth of the city' s area. Living in this section are most of the foreign-born who comprise about one-third of the total population. Numerically the Poles are first , followed in SLOVAKIA 65 turn by the Italians, Russians , Hungarians , Slovaks, Germans , Austrians, Dutch, Scotch, English and Irish. 8 The initial seven Eastern Europeans whom George Waterhouse brought from Castle Garden to Passaic in December 1879 were all from the Eastern part of Slovakia. They were: Andrew Pastor, John Socha, John Kostisin, and George Slivka from Saris County; John Pochlod and John Salasovic from Zemplin County; and Edward Geiger from Spis County. 9 The initial seven immigrants were quickly joined by their fellow countrymen from Slovakia. When asked what was the inducement to come to America , one of the original seven Slovak immigrants quickly answered "money. " 1 Certainly the poor economic conditions in Eastern Europe were a major inducement for European emigrati~n. But Slovaks had another incentive as well . Beginning in the 1870's the government of Hungary, which included Slovakia, embarked on a program of "Magyarization" in the non-Magyar parts of the kingdom. The three Slovak ''gymnasia'' (high schools) were closed, and most of the religious primary schools were nationalized. The use of Slovak was prohibited in the schools and teachers were awarded a bonus if they were successful Magyarizers. 11 Even to study for the priesthood a Slovak must pass through the Magyar seminary, and there any study of the language of the future flock is treated as ground for expulsion.12 This process created divisions among Slovaks in America between those who were educated by the Hungarians and those who were not. A dispute broke out in 1902 at St. Stephen's Slovak Parish in Newark between the non-Magyarized parishioners and their pastor, Father Alexander Kovacs. In a solicited letter (Written in Latin) , Father Emery ("Imrich" in Slovak, " Imre " in Magyar) Haitinger, Slovak pastor in Passaic , attempted to explain the distinction between the two groups to a confused Bishop John J. O'Connor of Newark. SLAVICS are a peaceful people, who have built the church and maintain it well: they are the basis of the Slavonic congregation because they pay their debts; SLOVAKS are an ambitious people who desire to lead , ° 66 SLOVAKIA to rule, but they do not like to pay debts, nor will they pay them, as their custom is in the free manner of the Italians ... These Slovaks are a troublesome people, POLITICAL AGITATORS against the Hungarian fatherland, whose political machinations are not needed in America. 13 Because of these economic and cultural reasons the number of Slovak immigrants grew rapidly. In 1880 there were 292 foreignborn "Hungarians" in New Jersey. By 1900 that figure grew to 8,404 just in the seven northern counties that comprised the Newark Catholic Diocese.1 4 Most of the immigrants to Passaic were Catholic and between 1890 and 1920 the territorial "Irish" parish of St. Nicholas was joined by nine new "national" parishes for Polish, Italian, Slovak, German, Hungarian, Ukrainian and Ruthenian immigrants. 15 The first of the national churches to be organized was St. Michael the Archangel in 1890. This church served Catholics of the Byzantine Rite who were in communion with Rome. Since many of these Ruthenians or "Rusins" lived in the same villages as the Latin Rite Slovaks, the Passaic Slovaks assisted their neighbors in building St. Michael's. This experience may have provided the spark the Slovak community needed for the following year St. Mary's Slovak Parish was organized on April 1. 16 Initially the congregation met in the basement of St. Nicholas' Church, but by 1893 they were able to construct a church of their own on the corner of Monroe and Second Streets. The absence of a stable Slovak clergy in th~ United States hampered the growth of the new parish. Between 1891 and 1898 the parish was served by a rapid succession of pastors including Fathers Samuel Belja, Bernard Skulik, Benjamin Kwiatkowski, Joseph Ligday, John Pollakovics, and Ignatius Jaskovits, with Father John Sheppard of St. Nicholas often filling in the gaps. On September 2, 1898 Bishop Winand Wigger of Newark appointed Father Emery A. Haitinger, recently arrived in the diocese, as pastor of St.Mary's and he remained for nearly a quarter of a century.17 Father Haitinger supervised the construction of a new stone church which was completed in 1904. By 1920 the parish numbered between 1200 and 1500 families comprising about 600 individuals. 18 SLOVAKIA 67 Passaic was not free from strife in those years. Many Passaic workers participated in the "Great Strike of 1913 " in which 25 ,000 mill workers organized by the Industrial Workers of the World struck throughout northern New Jersey.19 Religious dissension was also not unheard of. In 1910 Sts. Peter and Paul Byzantine Catholic Parish, which had developed from St. Michael's in 1902, defected from the Catholic Church and embraced Russian Orthodoxy. Also in 1918, a rupture in Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Italian parish resulted in the formation of St. Anthony of Padua Independent Italian Catholic Church.20 On March 13, 1921, Bishop O'Connor, at Father Haitinger's request, appointed Father Emery Jeczusko, recently arrived from Europe, to be curate at St. Mary's .21 This would seem to have been a routine assignment, but in the highly charged atmosphere of Passaic it was an appointment that would have far-reaching consequences . THE DISPUTE Emery A. Haitinger was born in Slovakia, then a part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, in 1873 just at the time that the government's Magyarization policy was beginning. Haitinger began his seminary training at Arad in the southeastern part of Hungary in what is today Romania, but he emigrated to the United States during his seminary years and completed his training at St. Bonaventure's Seminary in Allegheny, New York. He was ordained a priest by Bishop Michael Hoban at Scranton, Pennsylvania in 1896. For two years Haitinger worked as a missionary among Slovak immigrants in northeastern Pennsylvania. In 1898 Bishop Winand Wigger accepted him for service in the Newark Diocese , and on September 2 of that year the twenty-five year old priest was appointed pastor of St. Mary's Parish in Passaic. 22 Doubtless Haitinger was considered a great asset to a diocese hard pressed to deal with a rapidly growing ethnic group . He was the first stable Slovak priest to work in the diocese , and he was pastorally effective in six languages. He not only supervised the construction of a new church in Passaic , but also was instrumental in the development of new parishes in Boonton, Rockaway, Elizabeth, and Linden. Through his connections in Europe he was 68 SLOVAKIA able to bring other Slovak priests to work in the Newark Diocese . However, Father Haitinger's twenty-four years in Passaic were not entirely peaceful. He considered himself a "gr6f" or member of the aristocracy , and sometimes styled himself " van Haitinger," as did his doctor brother.23 He did nothing to hide his bias for the Magyarized elements of his congregation and his parishioners called him a "Magyarone ," a title used for those who supported the Magyarizing of Slovak language and culture .24 There were also more serious charges of moral misconduct and of diverting church funds , particularly for the purchase of property for himself and his family. 25 While it is impossible to document these charges , there is a letter from Bishop John Duffy , then Chancellor of the Newark Diocese, to Haitinger on May 20, 1925 indicating some confusion between the personal property of Haitinger and the parish property. I am writing in reference to the lot owned by you adjoining the school of St. Mary's Parish, Passaic. I am sure that when the lot was purchased by you that you had in mind the future needs of St. Mary's Parish. Conditions there now require that the lot should belong to the church property. I remember hearing that the purchase price at which you bought this peace of property was very small, and I have heard that your present price is extremely large. In the interest of the Church for which you feel as deeply concerned as I do , I would suggest that you fix a price for this property within reason, and let me know what the amount is .26 Haitinger's reply is also interesting. In my first reply I wrote that I do not possess any lot in Passaic , and I emphasize it again. The pastor of St. Mary's knows it; he rented the lot in 1922 not from me , but from Miss Julia Tereschak, who is the owner since 1907. Before I disposed of the lot, I gave a preference to my congregation; but in a stormy meeting they refused to buy it. 27 SLOVAKIA 69 These controversies about Haiting er' s pastorate festered for at least a decade prior to 1922. 2a Emery A. Jeczusko was born on February 18 , 1888 at Presov in Slovakia, but he came from Vel'ky Saris, the same town that three of the original Slovak immigrants and many of their successors hailed from . Jeczusko attended the seminary at Kosice and was ordained there by Bishop Augustine Fischer-Colbrie on November 30, 1911. Bishop Fischer-Colbrie released him to come to America and work among the Slovaks on November 30, 1920 , 29 and on Father Haitinger's request , Bishop O'Connor of Newark received him and assigned him as curate at St. Mary's, Passaic on March 13 , 1921.30 · Father Jeczusko was well received in Passaic. He is described as an eloquent orator, who was able to sight translate Latin into Slovak. 31 He endeared himself to the people not only by his brilliant sermons , but also by his ability to sing High Mass. 32 " Anything happen, the people want to see Father Jeczusko .. . and Father Haitinger didn't like that.' ' 33 Father Jeczusko was also socially attached to his parishioners . Unable to speak English, he naturally gravitated to people from his native area. He would often visit the Hungarian Social Club, a few blocks from the rectory, to play cards and have a few beers with his friends. 34 On March 11, 1922, Haitinger wrote the following letter to Bishop O'Connor, Herewith is enclosed my financial statement of 1921. Also in these lines I ask Your Lordship to be so kind as to renew the Faculties of my Assistant , the Rev. Emery Jeczusko, which expires within the coming few days. 35 O'Connor replied immediately on March 14. From what I have learned of Father Jeczusko's habits, I do not wish to renew his faculties in this diocese. Tell him he must seek some other diocese . I enclose a letter testifying that he is not under censure. I will write to Father Miklus and tell him to go to you. 36 Meanwhile on April 19, O'Connor received a letter from Bishop Fischer-Colbrie in Kos ice. 70 SLO VAKIA I received the telegram of Your Excellency, and by your request I recall my priest Emery Jeczusko . .. I also ask that Your Excellency favor me by communicating the causes of your desire , that I may have direction in my agenda with Emery Jeczusko .37 On April 20 O'Connor again communicated with Haitinger. The enclosed letter for Father Jeczusko is from Bishop Fischer-Colbrie of Cassovia recalling him to his diocese. Oblige me by handing it to him. The Bishop requires him to return at once. It is the result of the cablegram sent sometime ago. 38 Bishop O'Connor does not elaborate on the offensive habits of Father Jeczusko , but presumably he did not find it acceptable for priests to fraternize with the laity in social clubs. He also does not elaborate on where he received the information on Father Jeczusko's habits. Popular opinion held that Haitinger himself, and his friends, had informed O 'Connor. While there is no conclusive evidence of this , it would appear from O'Connor's second communication to Haitinger that Haitinger was previously aware of the cablegram sent to Europe. On Sunday, April 23 , 1922, Father Jeczusko mounted the pulpit during the 10:30 A.M. Mass and explained his recall and bade the people farewell. He was followed by Father Haitinger who expressed his sorrow at Jeczusko 's recall. It appears that this announcement was not a surprise because a demonstration took place outside the church after Mass , and handbills were circulated calling for a mass meeting that night at Hama's Hall in Passaic. 39 The hall was filled to capacity, and the meeting was chaired by John J. Labash, an undertaker, and Steven Kollar, a cobbler. Demands were made for Jeczusko's reinstatement and the removal of Hai ting er. Even at this early date, the organizers of the dispute were talking about the possibility of a new parish. Messrs. Labash and Kollar speaking to a Daily News man said that the people were going to carry the fight to the bitter end. They felt that they were justified in even organizing an independent parish, if only to carry out what they figured was right .40 SLOVAKIA 71 A second meeting was held on April 27 at Mokrai's Hall in Passaic, and as a result of this meeting ten parish organizations forwarded identical petitions to Bishop O 'Connor over the signatures of their officers: ... adopted a resolution seeking for the reinstatement of Father Emery Jeczusko in our church of St. Marie's of the Assumption, of Passaic, N.J. and that: The Rev. Emery A. Haitinger, now rector of the church be removed at once for the future good of our parish. This action is based on the wish of more than 600 people who attended a Mass meeting on Sunday, April 23, in a public hall at 108 Third Street, of our city. It is felt that a great deal of harm to our church, Faith and religion has come from the procrastinated action, or deferred action in this regard on your part. More than 90% of the people of our parish have literally refused to further attend the services of our church and we fear that a separation within the parish and a possible establishment of an Independent Church is threatening. It is honestly felt by most of the members of our parish that Father Haitinger must go. 41 The societies claimed a combined membership of 1200. The arguments against Haitinger centered around three issues: jealousy, finances , and patriotism. Mr. Kollar, a former trustee of the parish, claimed to have proof of serious discrepancies between the amount of money collected in the parish, the amount spent on parish expenses, and the amount in parish accounts.42 The patriotism charges were on two different levels. On the one hand Haiting er was accused of ''un-Americanism'' because he was alleged to have preached in favor of Austria-Hungary during World War I, and also that he had greeted the Hungarian Premier Husar as a Hungarian. 43 On the other hand Haitinger was also accused of "Magyarone" tendencies opposed to Slovak culture. 44 Haitinger's supporters countered by claiming that Haitinger was a true American, while Jeczusko was a retrogressive force in the community . . . . he was progressive in the matter of organizing a Slavish Federation which carried with it a spirit of the 72 SLOVAKIA fatherland and did not conform with the more modern spirit of working for things American. 45 All through April and May charges and countercharges were exchanged in the local newspapers, meetings were held , petitions were circulated. The atmosphere was further charged by an article in New Yorksky Dennfk, a Slovak newspaper in New York entitled "Battle of Slovak Catholics in Passaic." The article, widely circulated in Passaic, vilified Haitinger, and both the Hungarian and American hierarchy. Describing Haitinger the article commented: With abuse , cursings, laughter, lies and force more and more the Slovak people were literally chased from God's church merely that he might attain his aim and to make foreign the parish and bring it to the bishop , so to speak, on a silver platter, saying, "Here you have, august dictator, a new Irish parish." This hellish thought of Rev . Haitinger's has found a strong set-back in the face of the Slovak curate. The parson became afraid of his Judas recompense, and the bishop was afraid he would soon lose the Irished parish, which was builded through for Slovak blisters , and so the parson and the bishop got together and in short adjudged the Slovak curate to exile he must go.46 The tension was further heightened when one of the dissidents , a Mrs. Theresa Sisko, went to the rectory after Mass on Sunday, May 7 to reclaim at last a portion of a previous donation of $4,000 . Haitinger told her she would have to sue the parish, told her to get out, and then forcibly evicted her from the rectory, causing her to fall down the stairs and sustain many bruises. 47 Within a few days Mrs. Sisko brought suit against Haitinger for $30,000. The reports of the Sisko incident circulating through the ciy brought out a record crowd of 2,000 to a meeting that same night at Mokrai's Hall. During the meeting Labash and Kollar reiterated the history of their grievances. They claimed that petitions to the bishop in previous years had been destroyed before reaching him, that a committee sent to the bishop and the Apostolic Delegate in 1919 had failed to get a hearing, and that each time Bishop SLOVAKIA 73 O'Connor was approached "he always sent us away with a promise to consider the matter.' ' 48 They then told the assembly of the bishop's final decision not allow Jenczusko to remain in the diocese. The allegations of financial mismanagement were repeated , and Mrs. Frank Matisovsky produced laughter among the audience when she related incidents of Haitinger's improprieties and her lack of satisfaction when these were related to the bishop .49 The assembly was unanimous in its· determination to replace Haitinger with another priest, have Jeczusko reinstated , and if necessary , form a new parish and even secede from the Catholic Church. For the first time the finances of a new church were discussed, and the name "Holy Name Parish" was used. 50 On Saturday the committee went to South Orange to approach Bishop O'Connor. This time they took Mrs. Sisko with them and she spoke to the bishop's secretary. Also during the week the committee met with Msgr. John A. Sheppard of Jersey City, formerly pastor of St. Nicholas, Passaic, and later Vicar General of the diocese. Acting on Sheppard's advice the committee formally presented a request to Haitinger to resign the pastorate with a copy of the request sent to O'Connor. 51 Rumors of Haitinger's removal were rampant in the city when he did not appear at Masses on Sunday, May 21. Instead the Masses were celebrated by Father John Salamon, a native son of the parish, and curate at St. Joseph's Parish in Elizabeth. It was reported that Haitinger had celebrated Mass in Elizabeth and returned to Passaic in the afternoon. The Saturday edition of the Passaic Daily News for May 27 carried the following article: As forecast by The Daily News Monday evening, the Rev. Father John D. Salamon, rector of St. Joseph's Church in Elizabeth, and formerly a pupil at St. Marie's Parochial School , of this city, has been designated as the new rector for the local Slovak Catholic Church, thus ending the controversy which threatened for a time to disrupt the entire St. Marie's Parish. Announcement was made by the Right Rev. Monsignor John A. Duffy, chancellor of the Catholic diocese of Newark, Thursday evening, to the effect that the Right Rev. Bishop John 74 SLOVAKIA J. O'Connor had decided upon the change being made. Meanwhile the Rev. Father Emery A. Haitinger, rector of St. Marie's Church since 1898, will be unattached for a while. He will visit temporarily with the Rev. Father Andrew Adzima, his former curate , and now rector of St. Joseph's in Bayonne.52 However the happy conclusion to the controversy forecast by the Passaic Daily News was premature. Having accomplished the first of their goals, the committee pressed on to insist on the reinstatement of Father Jeczusko as curate . The dissidents crystallized around Labash, Kollar, Marcel Sherman, a painter, Victor Chirip , a former locksmith in the Austrian royal palace , and Paul Skvarla, an architect. 53 The committee continued to treat with O'Connor about Jeczusko throughout the summer, but O'Connor was adamant. Jeczusko himself meanwhile did not participate in the controversy, but stayed with his brother in Connecticut. He did not reappear in Pasaaic until the middle of August. 54 The committee enlisted the help of Father Salamon to intervene with the bishop on Jeczusko's behalf, but this was to no avail. During the first week of August the committee met with O'Connor in Newark and was once again told that Jeczusko would not be reinstated. The mood of the committee can be summed up in the comment of Marcel Sherman, "We're not going to have that Irish bishop telling us what to do. " 55 At a mass meeting on Monday, August 6, the committee reported the bishop's refusal to the parishioners and the break with St. Mary's was made final. Labash and Kollar were elected chairman and vice chairman respectively of the new parish. Pledges were received for $14,000 and $550 was collected that first night. Still, Labash held out the possibility of reconciliation: The new church, it was explained, would not necessarily become detached from the Roman Catholic Church in this country, provided, of course, Bishop O 'Connor accepted their action as being a logical expression of the feelings of a people who were hurt, and agreed to treat them on a par with the other congregations within his SLOVAKIA 75 diocese , but with the understanding that Father Jeczusko would be rector of the church and the mode of carrying on the business affairs of the parish put in the hands of the parishioners rather than the clergymen. 56 At a mass meeting on Saturday, August 20 at Hama's Hall with Father Jeczusko present, the priest was formally offered the post of pastor of Holy Name Slovak Church. Jeczusko's reply is indicative of his personal turmoil in this situation: "I am facing a difficult situation, my friends," he stated, ''having my passpost all ready, I have merely to engage passage to leave for my home country. Your apparent sincerity of purpose, however, and your zeal in the endeavor to carry out the true significance of Catholicism, prompt me to heed your call. ' ' He then asked that the people not try to set aside the Roman Catholic authority. He intimated that serious things might happen to him. "And after all ," he exclaimed, '' our work is in the name of God above , the name of our newly formed parish implies that, and with His aid we shall conquer all things. By the memory of my sweet little mother , whose greatest ambition in life was to see me at the Altar of the Almighty, serving with honor, serving with a dignified fear of Him above , and fulfilling all that is prescribed by the authorities of the Roman Catholic Church, I accept this call to serve you, my people. But I implore you not to give up your traditions, the traditions of the Roman Catholic Church. Let us call unto ourselves the leadership of this great church with its authority. "57 Father Jeczusko celebrated the first Mass for the new parish on Sunday , August 27 , 1922 at Hama's Hall where many of the organizational meetings had been held. 58 On August 29 Bishop O'Connor wrote to Father Salamon explaining Father Jeczusko's excommunicated status and the fact that the new congregation was not a Catholic church.59 He asked that this letter be read at all Masses the following Sunday, September 2 . Approximately one third of the parishioners of St. Mary's SLOVAKIA 76 joined Holy Name Parish. In his 1922 report to the diocese, Haitinger listed 1260 men, 1810 women, and 2600 children at St. Mary's for a total of 5760. This report was signed by trustees Michael Novak and Steven Kollar, both of whom would later join Holy Name Parish. The 1924 report submitted by Father Salamon showed a drop in all three categories, for a total decrease of 1323 people. However these figures are approximations. The 1922 Sunday and Holyday Collections amounted to $9,794,67 , while the same collections in the 1926 report amounted to $6 ,621.22 60 Perhaps the best guage for the extent of the split are the baptismal and marriage records for both churches. 61 BAPTISMS St. Mary's Holy Name 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1920 1921 192·2 1923 1924 1925 1926 108 149 160 105 111 104 99 21 58 34 55 36 MARRIAGES St. Mary's Holy Name 36 40 31 40 45 37 34 2 15 25 12 19 If St. Mary's listed between 1200 and 1500 families in its 1922 report, Holy Name in its 1937 report to the parish listed 517 contributing families. 62 From all these sources the figure of one third of the Slovak community of Passaic belonging to Holy Name Parish seems reliable. The parishioners set about the task of securing property on Fourth Street, five blocks away from St. Mary's and contracted for the erection of a new church and rectory costing $100,000. SLOVAKIA 77 Father Jeczusko , meanwhile , stayed at the home of Andrew Singlary on Fourth Street. In the Spring of 1925 the cornerstone was ready to be blessed. On May 5 , 1925 Steven Kollar wrote to Bishop O 'Connor on behalf of the parish committee to request a meeting with the bishop .63 The chancellor of the Newark Diocese, Msgr. John A. Duffy, responded to the letter and the meeting was held on May 11. This appears to be the one time that Father Jeczusko was present for a meeting of this type. 64 The committee asked that Bishop O'Connor come to bless the cornerstone of the new church. Monsignor Duffy agreed to present the proposal to O'Connor. In the meantime Duffy requested Fathe:r Salamon to send a letter to Bishop Fischer-Colbrie in Slovakia asking him to send Jeczusko a specific "mandatum" to return to Slovakia. 65 On May 20 , 1925 , Monsignor Duffy responded to Kollar in the name of Bishop O'Connor. In very blunt terms Duffy informed Kollar that the church would have to be turned directly over to the bishop, who would then have it incorporated under New Jersey law with himself as the president, the pastor as secretary-treasurer, and with two lay trustees appointed by the bishop. The pastor would administer the parish and its temporalities. With regard to Father Jeczusko , he would have to submit to Canon Law, reject his schism, and his future status would have to be decided by Rome. Nothing could be promised for him. Duffy concluded, ''It will be impossible therefore , for us to negotiate with you any further except on the terms laid down above,' ' 66 and exhorted them to abandon their schism. On May 30 , 1925 the cornerstone of Holy Name Church was solemnly blessed by the Right Rev. Monsignor Louis Rusko of Philadelphia, 67 in the presence of many clergymen of the area. The newspapers reported the fact that the parish committee had " waited on the Rt. Rev. Bishop John O'Connor of the Catholic Diocese of Newark in an effort to have him send a representative to take part in the ceremonies. " 68 No Catholic representative was present at the ceremonies, and that marked the effective end of the relationship between Holy Name Slovak Church and the Roman Catholic Church. On November 27 , 1925, the Right Rev. Bishop Francis Hodur of Scranton, Pennsylvania, founder of the Polish National Catholic Church, solemnly blessed Holy Name 78 SLOVAKIA Church. 69 From that time on Holy Name Parish held its ecclesial communion with the Polish National Catholic Church. THE AFTERMATH In 1926 , now nearing the end of his lengthy episcopate, O'Connor responded to an inquiry about Holy Name Church from the Apostolic Delegate , Pietro Fumasoni-Biondi: Through one of the Slovak priests I have requested Father Jeczusko 's bishop , who will be here for the Eucharistic Congress , to visit Passaic and see his subject personally. I hope that as a result of this visit Father Jeczusko will return to his diocese and that the financial difficulties of the Holy Name Parish will force the remaining members to turn the property over to legitimate authority. I beg to assure Your Excellency that this matter is settling itself and within a short time the so called Independent Church will be but a name.7° Whether the visit from the Bishop of Kosice took place is unknown. However , the situation did not settle itself. A year later the chancellor of the Newark Diocese wrote to Father Jeczusko on behalf of Bishop O'Connor to correct a statement that Jeczusko had made in a court case alleging that he was not an excommunicated priest.1 1 In the ensuing years a number of inquiries and attempts at reconciliation were initiated , primarily by Slovak priests , but nothing came of them . In the summer of 1938 Father Jeczusko died , just a matter of weeks after the installation of the Most Rev . Thomas H. McLaughlin as first Bishop of Paterson, a new diocese cut off from Newark and including the city of Passaic . A committee including Marcel Sherman, John Tomecko, George Nemec and John Rusnak approached Bishop McLaughlin concerning a reconciliation. McLaughlin was hopeful and asked the Apostolic Delegate for instructions in handling the matter.7 2 However, nothing came of the discussion principally because of the diocesan requirement to have the church incorporated with the bishop as president. The trustees were unwilling to turn over the property to the bishop , even a new friendly bishop .7 3 The committee engaged as their new pastor the Reverend Eugene Magyar, a native SLOVAKIA 79 of Palmerton, Pennsylvania, and a Slovak despite his name, who had been assisting Father Jeczusko. In 1945 a new pastor, Andrew J. Romanak, was named for St. Mary's Parish after Father Salamon's death. Through his offices another attempt at reconciliation was made late in 1946 just a few months before Bishop McLaughlin's death. McLaughlin received instructions and assurances from the Apostolic Delegate concerning proceeding in the various questions concerning reconciliation, and McLaughlin addressed a letter to the congregation through its president Stephen Matthias in January, 1947.74 However, again nothing came of the attempt.7 5 In 1963 Father Magyar was ordained by the Polish National Catholic Church as a bishop for the Slovak National Catholics. At this time Holy Name acquired the title ''cathedra), '' although it is not the see church of a specific diocese. Bishop·Magyar died in 1968 and was briefly succeeded by a priest of the Polish National Catholic Church, Father John Hrencewicz. After Father Hrencewicz's departure, Father William Chromey, a Polish National Catholic priest of Slovak descent, who had served previously as an associate to Bishop Magyar, came to Holy Name and remains pastor there to this day. From the beginning there have been defections from Holy Name back to St. Mary's. Many of these occurred on an individual basis over the years. As it became apparent that the split was going to be a permanent one, the people faced various hardships. The split cut across family lines, and no longer considered "Catholic," members of Holy Name were denied burial in St. Mary's Cemetery where their parents and other relatives were buried. No longer considered ''Catholic,'' the Holy Name parishioners were dropped from membership in the First Catholic Slovak Union and subsequently lost its benefits. 76 Sometimes the occasion of a marriage to a Roman Catholic provided the opportunity to return to that faith. After the ever-popular Father Jeczusko's death in 1938, still more members of the congregation returned to St. Mary's. The financial obligations incurred by the congregation too, were a factor in inducing some members to leave. 77 Eventually both John Labash and Steven Kollar, as well 80 SLOVAKIA as a number of the other early organizers , returned to St. Mary 's and the Roman Catholic Church. 78 However, a sizeable number of families remained faithful to the parish. The ideals for which the congregation had fought: independence from hierarchical control , and lay control of parish affairs; remained an attractive reality to many of the people . Today Holy Name Parish continues to be supported by some 250 families .79 The parish that Father Jeczusko shepherded remained, as he promised in his acceptance speech, faithful to its Catholic traditions . While embracing Polish National Catholicism in an organizational sense, the parish never severed its ties with Roman Catholic usages. While the Polish National Church introduced the vernacular at an early date, both Father Jeczusko and Bishop Magyar continued to use Latin until a few months before the Roman Catholic church changed to the vernacular. 80 The liturgical books of the Roman Church were used and Father Jecuszko continued to pray his Divine Office in the church each day. 81 At Mass he prayed for the pope and the bishop of Newark , and on Good Friday he joined the rest of the Roman Catholic Church in its solemn orations "for schismatics and heretics," even if the rest of the Church felt it was praying for him. 82 The Baltimore Catechism continued to be in use throughout Father Jeczusko 's pastorate. 83 The people were adamant in their desire for a celibate clergy in the manner of the Roman Church, even though the Polish National Church has had a married clergy for years. Part of the impetus for the 1947 reconciliation attempt was the suspicion among many parishioners that Father Magyar was married. 84 Father Jeczusko himself seems to have become something of a pathetic figure toward the end of his life. As it became apparent · that the split was permanent, he seemed to some to become more despondent. Although happy with his situation among his beloved people, he was not content with his situation in the wider Church. "I know I didn 't do right. I'll pay for it somewhere ," he commented to a friend .85 Unable to speak English even at the end of his life, Jeczusko was in some ways a hostage of his congregation, dependent on them for his dealings with the wider world, including medical attention. He died in the summer of 1938, not SLOVAKIA 81 yet fifty-one years old, perhaps of a heart attack brought on by emphysema. 86 Perhaps his real state of mind is best revealed by his will, which , after a few bequests to close friends, left his entire estate to the seminary at Kos ice. 8 7 After leaving Passaic Emery Haitinger was named pastor of the much smaller parish of St. Joseph in Elizabeth. He remained there for the rest of his life, dying on November 14 , 1959 at the age of eighty-six. 88 There is no documentary evidence that any responsibility was ever attached to him for the debacle is Passaic in 1922, except for the Duffy letter and one other incident that occurred much later in his life. On April 10, 1946, Pope Pius XII honored Haitinger by making him a monsignor at the request of his seminary classmate, Thomas J. Walsh, who was now the Archbishop of Newark. This occurred on the fiftieth anniversary of Haitinger's ordination. For the senior Slovak pastor in an ethnically conscious diocese, who had built two churches and actively participated in the formation of at least four congregations, this was an unusually long time to wait for that honor. CONCLUSION Bishop Thomas H. McLaughlin, the first Bishop of Paterson perhaps best summed up the situation that led to Holy Name Slovak National Catholic Church in several observations made over the years: Investigations which were made by me . . . have led me to the conclusion that the differences existing among the Slovak people of Passaic and Clifton have been and were due to misunderstandings . . . 89 I often felt , even before becoming Bishop of Paterson, that this man (Father Jeczusko) unfamiliar with the English language and American customs was to some extent the unwitting victim of a situation that got out of control. 90 I have always felt that the congregation as a whole was not completely at fault , and that good Father Jeczusko, not being familiar with American legal conditions and canonical procedure, erred somewhat through misunderstanding rather than through malice. 91 82 SLOVAKIA At the time of the 1922 conflict McLaughlin was president of Seton Hall College and rector of the Newark-diocesan theologate , and therefore not totally removed from the situation. That he should maintain such an opinion puts him in stark contrast to Bishop O'Connor. Another observer commented from a different viewpoint: ''The trustees were feeling their oats. If the bishop had cooperated it could have been different. But he always felt 'I'm the boss.' '' 92 Certainly Bishop McLaughlin's observations of Father Jeczusko seem accurate . He was more a catalyst for the revolt, rather than a cause for it. The dissatisfaction in St. Mary's had been festering for years. At the same time the Slovak community in Passaic was becoming more and more successful and less willing to be treated with the Old World domination of Father Haitinger or the paternalism of Bishop O'Connor. In this sense Father Jeczusko 's popularity was more a lightning rod for the fire to strike. Mr. Labash 's comments on Bishop O'Connor also seem accurate. He certainly was an unwavering figure in the controversy , preferring to back up established authority (Haitinger) even when his position was untenable, and even then refusing to compromise on any point. It must be remembered that the dissidents never asked for Jeczusko to replace Haitinger, but merely to be able to remain at St. Mary's. Certainly by 1922 there was enough evidence from situations around the country over the years that Slovak and other eastern European congregations were capable of carrying disputes to the point of schism. 93 Perhaps his successful handling of a similar situation among the Italians earlier in his administration made O 'Connor feel that this situation could be similarly handled from a position of strength.94 Bishop O'Connor was also something of a distant figure in this dispute, preferring to deal through Salamon and Duffy. Indeed there is no evidence that O'Connor and Jeczusko ever met face to face through the whole five years they were both involved in the controversy. Whatever O 'Connor's reasons for his handling of the affair, his methods were unsuccessful and things did not " settle down." Holy Name Church still stands today within what was once the Newark Diocese of Bishop O'Connor, one of the only two surviv- SLOVAKIA 83 ing Slovak National Catholic Churches in the United States , an unusual monument to the unwavering determination of many people. NOTES 1 Holy Trinity Slovak Lutheran Church, a short distance across the river in Garfield, N.J. could easily be a fifth partner in this description. 2 Mark Stolarik, "Lay Initiative in American-Slovak Parishes : 1880-1930," Records of the American Catholic Historical Society of Philadelphia , 83 (1972) p . 158 . 3 See Tenth Anniversary of the Holy Name Slovak Catholic Church (1932). Diamond Jubilee Journal, St . Mary 's Church (1968). and Slovaks in America (Middletown , Pa.: Slovak League of America, 1978.) 4 There is a Sts. Cyril and Methodius Slovak National Catholic Church in Perth Amboy , N.J. but the two congregations are not directly connected , nor has Holy Name ever been connected with the Czechoslovak National Church which developed in Europe . 5 Rudolph J. Vecoli , The People of New Jersey (Princeton: D. Van Nostrand Co. , 1965) , p. 213 . 6 William W. Scott, Passaic and Its Environs (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Co ., 1922). p . 496. 7 Ibid .• p . 496. 8 Works Progress Administration, New Jersey: A Guide to its Present and Past (New York: Hastings House , 1946), pp. 345-346. 9 10 11 Scott, Op. cit., p. 494. Ibid. M. Mark Stolarik, "Immigration, Education and the Social Mobility of Slovaks, 1870-1930, " in Immigrants and Religion in Urban America, Randall M. Miller and Thomas D. Marzik, eds. (Philadelphia : Temple University Press , 1977) pp. 105-106. 12 Emily Greene Balch, Our Slavic Fellow Citizens (New York: Charities Publication Committee , 1910). p. 111 . 13 Rev. Emery Haitinger to Bishop John O'Connor, Feast of St. Emery, 1902, Archives of the Archdiocese of Newark (hereafter AAN), Haitinger Personnel File. Accused of being a "Magyarone" himself, Haitinger in this letter sets down his own biases two decades before the similar controversy which would engulf him. 14 New Jersey Catholic Historical Records Commission, The Bishops of Newark 1853-1978 (South Orange , N.J.: Seton Hall University Press , 1978). p. 64 . 15 In 1954 an eleventh parish would be added in Passaic with the establishment of Our Lady of Fatima Church for the new wave of Hispanic immigrants . 16 The parish is variously referred to as St . Mary's , St. Marie's (an affectation that seems to have developed after the construction of the " French Gothic" new church) , and Assumpion. The incorporated name of the parish is ' •Slavonian Catholic Church of the Assumption. '' SLOVAKIA 84 17 Elizabeth Daily Journal , November 14 , 1959 , AAN, Haitinger Personnel File . 18 AAN , Parish Reports , 1922 . 19 Vecoli, op. cit., p. 196. 20 Archives of the Diocese of Paterson (hereafter ADP), St. Anthony 's , Passaic fil e . This schism was resolved in 1924. 21 ADP, Holy Name Slovak Church file . 22 For background information on Haitinger see AAN , Haitinger Personnel File. 23 Interview with Albin Stolarik , November 23 , 1983 , ADP. Ibid . 24 25 Interview with John Labash , October 31, 1983, ADP. 26 AAN , John A. Duffy to Emery A. Haitinger May 20 , 1925 , Haitinger Personnel File . 27 Emery Haitinger to John Duffy , 1925 , AAN. Miss Julia Tereschak was Haitinger's housekeeper. 28 Passaic Daily News, August 7, 1922 . p. 1. 29 Testimonial of Bishop Augustine Fischer-Colbrie, November 30, 1920, ADP, Holy Name Slovak Church File . 30 Personnel Record, ADP, Holy Name Slovak Church File. 31 Albin Stolarik, Op . cit. 32 Labash , Op. cit. 33 Interview with Stephen Matthias , November 7, 1983 , ADP. Ibid., and Labash , Op . cit. 34 35 John O'Connor to Emery Haitinger, March 14, 1922, ADP, Holy Name Slovak Church File. 37 Augustine Fischer-Colbrie to John O 'Connor, April 1, 1922 , APO, Holy Name Slovak Church File. 38 John O'Conno~.to Emery Haitinger, April 20 , 1922 , ADP, Holy Name Slovak Church File. 39 Passaic Daily News, April 24 , 1922 , p. 1. 40 Passaic Daily News , April 24 , 1922 , p. 2. 41 Petition of Branch 192 of the First Catholic Slovak Union , and Branch 2 of the Slovak Union of Passaic , N.J., April 29, 1922 , ADP , Holy Name Slovak Church File . 42 Passaic Daily Herald, April 24, 1922 , p. 1. 43 Passaic Daily News , April 28, 1922 , p. 1. 44 Passaic Daily News , April 29 , 1922, p. 1. 45 Passaic Daily News , April 24, 1922 , p . 1. 46 Passaic Daily News , May 1, 1922, p . 2. 47 Passaic Daily N ews, May 8 , 1922 , p. 1. 48 Passaic Daily Herald, May 8, 1922, pp . 1-2 . Passaic Daily Herald, May 8, 1922, pp. 1-2 . Mrs . Matisovsky related that Haitinger had offered her money to accompany him to Coney Island . 50 One of the complaints against Haitinger was his inattention to the needs of the 49 SLOVAKIA 85 parishioners , particularly his refusal to allow the formation of a Holy Name Society for the men of the parish. 51 Passaic Daily News , May 25 , 1922, p. 1. 52 Passaic Daily News, May 27, 1922 , p. 1. Both Kollar 's son and Skvarla 's nephew would eventually become Roman Catholic priests . 53 54 Passaic Daily News, August 15, 1922, pp . 1-2. 55 Albin Stolarik, Op. cit. 56 Passaic Daily News , August 7, 1922 , p . 1. 57 Passaic Daily News , August 21, 1922 , pp. 1, 3. 58 The fact that Hama 's Hall was attached to a tavern was constantly brought up by the opposition as an indication of the dissidents' lack of religiosity. 59 John O'Connor to John Salamon, August 29 , 1922, ADP, Holy Name Slovak Church File. 60 AAN, Parish Reports , 1922 , 1924, 1926. 61 Father Haitinger kept poor sacramental records , with baptisms and marriages being recorded in batches , and some years later. 62 Financial Report of the Holy Name Slovak Catholic Church of Passaic, N .J. for the year 1937 , ADP , Holy Name Slovak Church File. 63 Steven Kollar to John O'Connor, May 5, 1925, ADP, Holy Name Slovak Church File. 64 Duffy and Jeczusko were unable to communicate directly, since Jeczusko could not speak English , and Dufy was unable to communicate in Latin when Jeczusko tried that language. Matthias , Op. cit. 65 John Salamon to Augustine Fischer-Colbrie, May 14, 1925 , ADP, Holy Name Slovak Church File. Salamon was unaware that Fischer-Colbrie had already died . 66 John Duffy to Steven Kollar, May 20, 1925, ADP, Holy Name Slovak Church File. 67 There is some confusion about Msgr. Rusko's status . He is described as a Roman Catholic and "Apostolic Visitator" for Slovaks in America. However his name does not appear in any Catholic Directories in the 1920's . Another source said he was actually an Anglican. See Albin Stolarik, Op. cit. 68 Passaic Daily News, May 29 , 1925, p . 1. 69 Passaic Daily News, November 27 , 1925, p . 1. This was not Bishop Hodur's first visit to Passaic. He had previously presided at the cornerstone blessing and Confirmation for St. Anthony of Padua Independent Italian Catholic Church on May 11, 1919. 70 John O'Connor to Pietro Fumasoni-Biondi, June 16, 1926, ADP , Holy Name Slovak Church File. 71 John Duffy to Emery Jeczusko , March 11, 1927, ADP, Holy Name Slovak Church File. 72 Thomas McLaughlin to Amleto Cicognani , August 11 , 1938, ADP, Holy Name Slovak Church File. 73 Labash, Op . cit. 14 Thomas McLaughlin to Stephen Matthias et al., January 16, 1947, ADP, Holy Name Slovak Church File. 75 This time the difficulty centered around the fate of Father Magyar. The trustees real- 86 SLOVAKIA ized that he would have to leave ifreconciliation was accomp lished , but they did not wish to s imply "abandon " Magyar. They felt that it was necessary to find some work or provide some financial se ttlement for him . Bishop McLaughlin balked at this , and before the matter could be settled , McLaughlin died on March 17, 1947. Labash, Op . cit. 76 John Salamon to Augustine Fisc her-Colbri e , May 14, 1925 , ADP , Holy Name Slovak Church File. See also M. Mark Stolarik, " Building Slovak Co mmunities in America " in Ke ith P. Dyrud , et al. Th e Other Ca th olics (New York : Arno Press, 1978), p . 106. n Matthias, Op . cit. 78 Ibid. 79 Interview with William Chromey, October 14, 1983, ADP. 80 81 Matthias , Op. cit. Ibid . 82 Albin Stolarik, Op . cit. 83 Ibid. 84 Andrew Romanak to Thomas McLaughlin, July 23 , 1946, ADP, Holy Name Slovak Church File. It was not until Magyar's will was probated in 1968 that the congregation at large finall y learned that he was indeed married to his housekeeper , Isabelle. 85 Labash , Op . cit. as Matthias , Op . cit. 87 Thomas McLaughlin to Amleto Cicognani , December 13, 1946, APO, Holy Name Slovak Church File . 88 AAN , Haitinger Personnel Fi le. 89 Thomas McLaughlin to Stephen Matthias et al. , January 16, 1947, ADP , Holy Name Slovak Church File. 90 Thomas McLaughlin to Amleto Cicognani , December 13 , 1946, ADP, Holy Name Slovak Church File. 91 Thomas McLaughlin to Andrew Romanak , May 28 , 1946, ADP, Hol y Name Slovak Church File. 92 Labash , Op . cit. 93 M. Mark Stolarik, " Lay Initiative ... " Op . cit. 94 ADP, St. Anthony, Passaic , Parish File.  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Slovak National Catholic Church, Passaic, New Jersey, and the Jeczusko Affair Description An account of the resource Raymond J. Kupke Slovakia, Vol. 33 (No. 60-61), 1987-88 pp. 63-86 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Kupke, Raymond J. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1987-88 LCNAF https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/9ab8bdc821106ca98e9d57d4e79d69c2.pdf c1230fbe992a969dfabe930b35feb5d5 PDF Text Text 78 SLOVAKIA THE SLOVAK PRESS IN CANADA J. M. Kirschbaum, Ph.D. For a long time the Slovak press in Canada was unknown even to such prominent experts on the life of the ethnic groups in Canada as Prof. Watson Kirkconnell. Writing in 1939 about the European-Canadians and their attitudes towards European problems during the 1938-1939 period, he made the following observation: The last census showed 30,401 Czechs and Slovaks, but did not subdivide these two distinct groups further. Until last spring there was a Czech weekly paper, ceske Noviny ("The Czech News"), published in Montreal, but it gave up the ghost about the time that Germany seized Bohemia, apparently expiring as a result of the withdrawal of financial support through the Czech Consulate-General, The Slovaks had no separate press, but there were many Canadian members of the Slovak League of America, which claims a membership of 300,000 and is bitterly anti-Czech and anti-Benesh.1 In fact, before 1939 there had existed, for shorter or longer periods of time, at least fourteen Slovak newspapers2 and periodicals. The first almanac of Canadian Slovaks, which included a short history of Slovak organizations in Canada had been published five years before the appearance of Prof. Kirkconnell's book; it seems, however, that Slovak newspapers and publications apparently had not come to the attention of Canadians. Speaking later to the annual meeting of the Canadian Historical Association, in his survey of the foreign language press, Prof. Kirkconnell drew quite a favorable picture of the Slovak press in Canada.3 It had existed, according to his report, before the Czechs or the Baltic peoples had their press in Canada and in "per capita" circulation before the Second World War, it ranked sixth among the foreign language newspapers. With 1.04 papers per home of four persons, it was ahead of Ukrainian, Polish, Russian, German, Italian press, and high above the national average. Prof. Kirkconnell explained this by remarking that "the height of the Finnish, Hungarian and Slovak figures is due to the fact that the bulk of these communities consist of post-war emigres, who brought with them political grievances that tend, at this short removal in time, to preserve their sense of identity." 4 He also pointed out that �SLOVAKIA 79 "in some cases the foreign language press reflected in Canada the political divisions within the European countries, and that that many of these papers were edited here by political exiles who are men of considerable education."5 Although Slovak newspapers and periodicals from the United States were available for the small and scattered Slovak ethnic group, it did not prevent Slovak immigrants from publishing their own newspapers, periodicals and almanacs. In fact the first Slovak newspaper appeared in Canada in 19106 when the number of Slovaks in Canada was still very small and practically no Canadian Slovak fraternal organization existed yet on Canadian soil. With the influx of immigrants after the First World War not only the number of newspapers increased, but also the quality of the Slovak language press constantly improved. There were not less than 13 newspapers and periodicals published for shorter or longer periods, before the Second World War. Altogether 30 newspapers and periodicals in the Slovak language appeared in Canada between 1910 and 1967.7 This certainly contradicts the myth that the Slovaks who came to Canada before the Second World War were mostly illiterate8 and uninterested in public affairs. While some of the newspapers were of little importance or service to the Slovak community in Canada, others performed very useful tasks. In many respects the Slovak language press is the only source of information for history of Slovaks in Canada. It relates the struggles, hardships, successes and political divisions of the Slovak ethnic group i.n this country. Many problems of the first groups of Slovak immigrants in Canada were recorded perhaps in a crude but sincere manner in these newspapers or monthlies. They were founded to serve the needs of the immigrants who did not read the English or French press, and reflected the problems of a community, struggling with difficulties created by the language barrier and unfamiliar surroundings. The papers were also the principal source of information on the activities of the associations, parishes as well as on the political views on Slovak and Canadian affairs. Slovak immigrants to Canada came divided along political, as well as religious lines, and continued to fight their old battles on Canadian soil in their press and in their associations. Unfortunately, it is impossible to find �80 SLOVAKIA a copy of some of the thirty periodicals and newspapers published in various parts of Canada during the past 57 years. It is only through indirect sources that the existence and political orientation of some periodicals has been known, for neither the Slovak organizations nor the Canadian libraries were interested in collecting them. In fact , Canadian libraries and press directories showed a lack of interest in the foreign language press and confined their attention to newspapers alone, neglecting minor publications. The need for a Slovak press in Canada, where vast distances separated the small, scattered communities of Slovak farmers and miners, is understandable. Their desire to communicate with their countrymen and the fear of loneliness and isolation explain why so many newspapers, publications, printed or mimeographed have appeared during the last 57 years . This also explains why the first Slovak newspaper, and even some later ones, started in Alberta's mining towns. Only from the 1930's on, when the second wave of Slovak immigrants moved from farms and mining towns to the industrial centres, Toronto and Montreal became the centres of the Slovak language press. The largest Slovak newspaper, Kanadsky Slovak began its publication in Montreal in 1942, then in 1952 it was moved for a few years to Winnipeg and finally settled in 1958, in Toronto. Of the thirty Slovak newspapers, periodicals and publications, fourteen were founded in Toronto and the three existing newspapers, the present almanacs and the monthly Maria, as well as books, have been published for the past eight years in Toronto. Seven Slovak publications were founded and published for some time in Montreal. The three existing newspapers are sponsored by the Slovak Canadian fraternal organizations; the Canadian Slovak League publishes Kanadsky Slovak; the Canadian Slovak Benefit Society publishes Slovensky Hlas, and the leftist Slovak Benefit Society of Canada publishes Eudove Zvesti. All three newspapers promote the aims of their association, however, they also perform certain other tasks, and each of them has a distinct political line in Slovak and Canadian affairs. We can apply to the Slovak . language press what has been said of the ethnic press in Canada in general: �SLOVAKIA 81 While the ethnic periodicals, by keeping up the reader's interest of his native country, emphasize his national consciousness and separate national identity, they help him at the same time to familiarize himself with the new country of his residence.9 From their modest beginning· when Slovak newspapers aimed at informing the scattered groups of miners or farmers of their problems and whereabouts, the Slovak language press progressed with years to more important and more diversified tasks. If the prime concern of the early Slovak newspapers was to make the life of immigrants, unfamiliar with their new country, its people, language and institutions, less lonely, by giving them information about their countrymen and opportunities for work in other parts of the country, the later newspapers helped to establish associations, parishes and became an important instrument of integration. At the same time the newspapers kept Slovak immigrants informed about their country of origin, by printing information which they could not find in Canadian press, and kept them also informed on Canada, because many did not read either English or French. In fact for a long time Slovak newspapers remained the principal source of information for Slovak immigrants about Canadian matters. Following the example of Slovak newspapers in the United States, the Slovak press in Canada began very soon to dedicate a substantial part of each newspaper to two issues: 1) the desire to keep alive or awaken national consciousness of Slovak immigrants, and 2) the necessity to fight the battles in which the Slovak people were involved in Czecho-Slovakia. The absence of censorship, which in Czecho-Slovakia silenced Slovak newspapers or permitted their publication with half-pages white 10 allowed Slovak newspapers in Canada to voice freely the grievances of the Slovak people and to fight vehemently for the political or social equality of Slovaks in their homeland. The feeling that they were allowed to express their views without hindrance, is reflected in all Slovak newspapers in Canada and one has to admire the warm patriotism and interest in cultural and political problems shown by the editors and contributors, whose education rarely went beyond high-school level. As was the case of the Slovak newspapers in the United States, the Slovak language press in Canada became an instrument which helped the immigrants to find more �82 SLOVAKIA comfortable places of living in their new country. On the other hand some Canadian Slovak newspapers also became advocates of autonomy and self-determination for Slovakia, while others followed the official policy of Prague governments or voiced their leanings to communism. In view of the role which Slovak associations and newspapers played in promoting the liberation of Slovakia from foreign domination, the publication and support of newspapers abroad was regarded by the Slovak people as a mark of patriotism, and to take a stand or to write in favor of freedom or equality of political rights for Slovakia was considered the moral duty of every Slovak abroad. This can partly explain the sacrifices which the Slovaks in Canada or in other parts of the world were willing to make to publish and maintain their press, and it also explains their continuous interest in the affairs of their country of origin. Long considered the free spokesmen of the Slovak nation, Slovaks abroad, including those in Canada, could not remain silent, especially after the Second World War when a communist system was imposed on the Slovak people. As a result, the Slovak press in Canada has reacted vehemently against the enslavement of their country of origin in the belief that by fighting communism it defended at the same time, freedom and democracy in Canada. Political involvement of Slovak language press in Canada after the Second World War became stronger than ever before, for another reason. Among the Slovak immigrants who came to Canada in the post-war period, many were not only interested in politics, but also left Slovakia for political reasons. Many of these new immigrants began to contribute political articles to the existing newspapers, and in both non-communist newspapers the new immigrants became editors (K. culen, J. Zvonar, J. Kutka and S. Reistetter in Kanadsky Slovak, M. Ferik, L. Gorekand, 0. M. Debnarkin in Slovensky Hlas). Slovak language press in Canada acquired more and more political character, and with the intensification of the Cold War and with the rising furror of the communist terror in Slovakia it became, once again, a spokesman for Slovakia. The influx of educated immigrants gave the Slovak newspapers at the same time, a higher level in cultural �SLOVAKIA 83 matters, since some of the known Slovak writers, poets and scholars used the newspapers for publishing their poetry, short novels and essays. Although not all immigrants of the previous waves liked the new face of their papers, the leaders and delegates of the Canadian Slovak League always approved the new line. During the past few years the Slovak newspapers and the almanacs or kalendars, published by the associations which sponsor the newspapers as well, have dedicated, however, more and more space to Canadian or organizational issues, and in order to interest the Canadian-born generations, the Kanadsky Slovak has regularly published an English corner. At times there have been articles in English even on the front page, if the issue treated was supposed to interest or to be brought to the attention of the Government or of other ethnic groups. This tendency to pay more attention to the problems of the community is a general trend among the ethnic press in Canada. 11 While conserving the right to speak for the countries enslaved by communism and to criticise the communist regimes, many ethnic newspapers acknowledged the fact that the ethnic groups are becoming closer to Canada than to their countries of origin. Some of them try to help their homelands by stressing their loyalty to Canada and by making appeals to the Canadian Government to voice their aspirations. 12 The Slovak language press assumed certain other duties-such as helping its readers to overcome educational shortcomings resulting from the political situation in Slovakia during the period of foreign rule, and also trying to preserve cultural values threatened by hostile pressures. The Slovak-Canadian periodicals performed these duties conscientiously, in addition to the standard functions of newspapers serving a certain area. This duality of function is perhaps the most striking feature of the Slovak-Canadian press. Practically all the newspapers and almanacs contained not only information, but also articles on cultural and historical matters as well as poetry, short novels, epigrams and other writings. For several Slovak writers, poets and politicians the Slovak language press has been the tribune for their ideas and has helped them to overcome the feelings of futility and discouragement, which many immig- �84 SLOVAKIA rant intellectuals have experienced after their arrival in Canada. And since the Slovak people in Slovakia expected that their countrymen everywhere, especially on the American continent, would not only maintain their national heritage but also help Slovakia to obtain political freedom, and after the Second World War to regain national independence, the newspapers and almanacs have been giving· much space to the general problems of communism and democracy and to specific Slovak problems. From the very beginning the Slovak press was kept alive mostly by the sacrifices and selfless dedication of editors and contributors, and by the generous support of its readers. Only later, it was maintained or subsidized by the Slovak associations. At that point, however, Slovak newspapers and periodicals became less independent and more differentiated in their political leanings, so that according to its political colouring and character, the Slovak language press can be divided into the following categories: (a ) The early informatory, non-political Slovak pubcations; (b ) Newspapers collaborating with the Czech group and favouring close ties with Prague, but autonomy for Slovakia; ( c ) Slovak press rejecting co-operation with the Czechs and advocating Slovak independence; (d) Pro-communist publications; (e) Economic, cultural and other short-lived publications; ( f) Religious publications. No doubt a lesser number of newspapers and fewer political divisions would have been preferable, but Slovaks came to Canada divided along political and religious lines. Furthermore, the political developments in Slovakia, the economic and social difficulties of the years of the economic depression and the communist take-over after World War II, perpetuated their disunity. Needless to say, the adversaries of the Slovaks' aspirations for autonomy and later for independence, supported by the consular and diplomatic representatives of Czechoslovakia, used all available means to keep them divided and fighting among themselves, and used the Slovak language press to this end. �SLOVAKIA 85 Newspapers and Periodicals The history of the Slovak language press in Canada begins with a newspaper called Slovenske Slovo (The Slovak Word ), published in Blairmore, Alta., by Andrew Lukca and Juraj Klesken13 in 1910. There is no evidence that the early Slovak immigrants in Canada published their own newspaper before this date. Slovak newspapers from the United States apparently satisfied the need of the scattered Slovak communities to read in their own language about Canada or Slovakia. Later, however, there was publishing activity which may surprise anyone who is acquainted with the difficulties of the Slovak immigrants in Canada, and with their small numbers. We can divide the survey of the Slovak newspapers into three periods, each corresponding with the individual waves of immigration. The first period was limited to the Canadian West and the Slovak Word is the only newspaper which was published and edited by Canadian Slovaks in that period. Modest in appearance and published at irregular intervals in a small tabloid form, the first issue of the Slovenske Slovo appeared in May 1910. Both the publisher and the editor came to Blairmore from Chicago, Ill., to join hundreds of Slovak miners who at that time worked in coal mines of the Crow's Nest Pass area. It was impossible to find out how long this first Slovak newspaper was published or how many issues appeared. As for the contents, the publication was written in a strong patriotic spirit, similar to that of Slovak newspapers in the United States before the First World War. The second period was not limited g·e ographically. Montreal and Toronto became the centres of Slovak publishing activity as well as of the successive disappearance of newspapers which had started with more enthusiasm than financial backing. Some of these newspapers, such as Kanadske Noviny for instance, ceased publication, but the newspapers which replaced them, did not start as new ones, but as a continuation of previous publications. As a result we find that Slovak v Kanade started as Volume VI, or Slovenske Bratstvo as Volume XII. The second period extends from 1928 to the end of the Second World War and was also marked by the birth of numerous religious periodicals, almanacs and tabloids. Juraj Klesken himself �86 SLOVAKIA made two more attempts at reviving a newspaper in the Canadian West, but failed, as did all individual undertakings in this field in Montreal or Toronto. The newspapers achieved more stability only when they became official organs of the fraternal organizations. At that time Slovak newspapers and periodicals also became divided along the political lines, and the divisions survive to this day. The second, as later the third period, was turbulent at times, full of polemics, bitter invective and in some instances even law suits resulting from partisan polemics and attacks. The atmosphere in the Slovak press was particularly poisoned by hate, denunciations and invectives in 1939 and during the war years, and again from 1948, when the Slovak and Czech political refugees arrived in Canada. In spite of denunciations by the Czech, communist and Czechoslovak press, no Canadian Slovak newspaper was prohibited by the Canadian Government except the communist one. The prohibition of the circulation of Slovak American newspapers, which was imposed upon the weekly Jednota and the bi-weekly Slovenskd Obrana as a result of false accusations, by the Czech and Czechoslovak newspapers, that they spread or advocated Nazism, was suspended14 shortly after it was put into effect. It created, however, an atmosphere of bitterness, and mutual accusations which divided the Slovak community for the entire period of the war. However, a positive result was forthcoming as far as Slovaks in Canada were concerned, as the Government authorities were skeptical from then on about subsequent denunciations of Slovaks by the Czech or communist newspapers. The First World War and the limited immigration to Canada from Slovakia until 1926 interrupted the publishing activity among Slovaks. Only the influx of Slovak immigrants around 1928, among whom many were involved in the post-war political and social clashes in Slovakia, led to the founding of new Slovak newspapers. The strongest centres for publishing activity in the period were Montreal, where from 1928 to 1939 five newspapers and one periodical were founded, and Toronto, where the small group of Slovak communists made three successive attempts at pub- �SLOVAKIA 87 lishing newspapers. All these newspapers represented political and ideological differentiation of Slovak immigrants and can be divided into three categories: ( 1) Newspapers with Slovak patriotic leanings, defending the right of the Slovak people to political autonomy and their own cultural development; (2) Newspapers supporting the official ideology of Prague governments and advocating Czechoslovak national, linguistic and cultural unity; (3) Newspapers with socialist and communist tendencies. Some newspapers changed their original political orientation, while others stood firmly on their ideological ground. Kanadske Noviny (Canadian News) was the first newspaper of this period. Published in Montreal from 1928 to 1933, the newspaper changed publishers, editors and political lines several times. The founder, J . Pribil, was the owner of a travel and colonization agency, and when faced with a deficit, he sold the newspaper to his employees. They in turn sold it to the publishers of New Yorksky Dennik and the last owner was Gabriel Kurdel, whom we mentioned in connection with the first Slovak organization in Canada. Originally the newspaper advocated a close political union between Slovaks and Czechs along the lines of the official policy of Prague's government and its subtitle was: "Czechoslovak Weekly". G. Kurdel, after taking over the ownership, changed not only the political orientation of the newspaper, but also its name, to Slovak v Kanade. The editors, Stanislav Zuber and Martin Dudak, were also replaced. Slovak v Kanade (The Slovak in Canada) was published in Montreal from 1933 to 1939 and in some way it may be considered as a forerunner of Kanadsky Slovak. 1~ Kurdel, the publisher as well as the editor, Frantisek Kvetan, endeavoured to give the Slovak immigrants in Canada a newspaper which would reflect their political orientation and clear the confusion created by the official Czechoslovak propaganda in the ranks of Slovak Canadians. Unfortunately the financial burden was too heavy on the publisher, and the newspaper ceased publication on the threshold of the Second World War. Slovensky Priekopnik (The Slovak Pioneer) was, according to some sources,16 the successor of Slovak v Kana- �88 SLOVAKIA de and its editor, Stanislav Zuber, tried to keep its con- tents in line with the feelings and thinking of the majority of Slovak immigrants, who were not willing to support blindly the Czecho-Slovak National Association, which served the aims of the Czechoslovak government-in-exile. A legal suit against the newspaper by the President of the Association added to its financial difficulties and the newspaper discontinued publication in October 1943.17 A tabloid called Obeznik Slovenskeho Priekopnika (The circular of the Slovak Pioneer) also ceased to exist after a few issues. Slovenske Bratstvo (Slovak Brotherhood) was also published in Montreal as "The Democratic organ of the Slovaks in Canada" and it claimed in its subtitle to be the successor to the weekly Slovak in Canada. For a short time the Canadian Slovak League used Slovenske Bratstvo as its official newspaper. The newspaper and its editor, Stefan Hreha, however, were unscrupulously attacked by the newspaper Nova Vlast' and denounced in Ottawa. The apparent aim of the newspaper Nova Vlast' as well as of the former Consul General of Czechoslovakia in Canada, was to obtain the prohibition of Slovenske Bratstvo as well as the suspension of the circulation of all Slovak newspapers from the United States which did not support the political program of Dr. Benes. 18 Nova Vlast' (New Homeland) was founded in 1934 with the apparent aim of fostering the official Czechoslovak ideology among Slovak and Czech immigrants in Canada. From 1928 there was among Slovak immigrants a clear political differentiation, and not only the large group of those who adhered to the Slovak autonomist movement, but also the communist group, were sometimes critical of Prague's official policy. Backed by the consular and diplomatic representatives of Czechoslovakia Nova Vlast' sought to keep Slovak immigrants "faithful" to the concept of the ethnic and linguistic unity of the Czechs and Slovaks and resulting assimilation of the Slovak people. For some time Nova Vlast' avoided an open clash and published the official news of the First Slovak Mutual Benefit Society of Kirkland Lake .19 From 1939 however, the newspaper became aggressive toward everyone who did not agree with the political program of the Czech and Slovak exiled groups in England. The members of the Canadian Slovak League �SLOVAKIA 89 and the editors of the newspapers which defended the right of Slovaks to self-determination were particularly attacked and unscrupulously denounced by Nova Vlast'. Until 1936 the newspaper had been edited by Stanislav Zuber, who for some time had been the editor of The Slovak Pioneer, But from 1936, an employee of the Bank of Commerce, Martin Dudak, was the responsible editor, and was helped by the former Consul General of Czechoslovakia, Dr. F. Pavlasek. In 1932 Juraj Kleskefl made another attempt at publishing a newspaper in the west. It was called Hlas Naroda (The Voice of the Nation) and was published in Blairmore, Alberta, from 1932 to 1934. Hlas Naroda was a small-sized publication on 4 pages, which included a supplement called Nasa Mladez (Our Youth). Financial difficulties caused the disappearance of both in 1934. However, Klesken was not a man to be easily discouraged. Since from 1934 not only the Czechoslovak newspaper Nova Vlast', but also the communist newspaper had attacked the patriotic group of Slovak immigrants, Kleskefl started publication in 1940, of Slovenske Slovo (The Slovak Word). The leading articles were written in English by well-known Slovaks from the United States and Canada: Dr. P. P. Hletko, S. Palickar and F . Zeman. The articles shed new light not only on the Slovak leaders of the pre-war period but also on the Slovak Republic and its President, Dr. J. Tiso, which the adversaries of Slovakia used as a pretext to accuse the publisher of spreading and advocating nazism. Kleskefl was cleared by Canadian authorities, but he discontinued publication of his newspaper. This was the third and last attempt at publishing a Slovak newspaper in the Canadian West. The small group of Slovak communists started publication of their first newspaper in 1931. The name of the mimeographed publication was Nase Slovo (Our Word) and it was published in Toronto. According to one of the editors of the Communist press in Canada, J . f>uriancik, this "labour-progressive" newspaper looked miserable, as miserable as those who contributed their last nickels for its first issue. It was mimeographed on simple sheets and not in newspaper size." 20 A year later its name was changed to Robotnicke Slovo (Workers' Word) and was printed as a regular newspaper. The publisher and editor of the Work- �90 SLOVAKIA ers' Word was J. Huska. These two first leftist newspapers were socialist rather than communist in their contents and orientation. When the Slovak communists organized their Slovenske Kulturne Sdruzenie (Slovak Cultural Association), the newspaper Robotnicke Slovo changed its name to Hlas Eudu (The People's Voice). It was published twice a week and both the Slovak Cultural Association and the newspapers adhered to communist ideology. The communist movement has never had many supporters among Slovak immigrants in Canada. To attract members they formed front organizations like Slovenske Kulturne Sdruzenie or various clubs 21 and used slogans of social justice, progress, peace and democracy. Around 1939 the newspaper Hlas Eudu edited by Cyprian Slimak, became, however, an agressive tool of communist propaganda among Slovak immigrants in Canada22 and as a result, the Canadian authorities ordered its suspension in 1940. The Canadian Government, using its war-time emergency powers, prohibited all communist newspapers and dissolved communist organizations. When the Soviet Union joined the camp of the Western Allies in 1941, Slovak leftist groups started publication of Nase Slovo (Our Word) as a continuation of Hlas Eudu. At the end of the war the newspaper changed its name to Eudove Zvesti ( People's News ) and has survived until the present time, edited by J. f>uriancik for the past two decades. The newspaper remained faithful to its program and to the Prague government even in the period of the socalled cult of personality, when the most prominent Slovak communists were either hanged or sent to jail for life by the Czechoslovakian leaders of the Communist Party. Unlike the other Slovak newspapers, the Slovak communist press in Canada did not gain any of the post-war educated immigrants as contributors or editors. Slovak communist newspapers were published and edited by devoted organizers of the communist movement whose partisan zeal overshadowed their education. How much financial help or how many articles for printing the communist press received from Czechoslovakia, is hard to say. Yet many articles seem to indicate that they were written by educated people. Eudove Zvesti never failed to publish �SLOVAKIA 91 attacks and smear propaganda, originated in Prague, against Slovaks in Canada who disagreed either with the communist or the Czech rule in Slovakia, which would indicate that the newspaper is more concerned with how to please the Prague government than to serve the interest of the Slovak immigrants in Canada. We may say about the Slovak language communist press what Turek recorded on the Polish language press in Canada, that: The Polish-language communist press in Canada, as well as the whole party organization, were always characterized by strict discipline, efficient organization and fanatical dedication on the part of the leaders. Needless to add, the general policy was always dictated from outside, and the local leadership was charged only with its execution. Thanks to this rigid organization and discipline, the communist group managed to maintain for thirty years its own press, even though it never had a wide circulation and could not rely on any substantial advertising revenue.23 The founding of Kanadsky Slovak in 1942 was the result of political struggles within the Slovak cummunity in Canada. After the communist group established its press and the Czechoslovak group received strong support from the Czech representatives of the exiled Czech politicians in London, the large part of Canadian Slovaks who were neither pro-communist nor pro-Czech felt an urgent need for their own newspaper. The leaders and members of the Canadian Slovak League were particularly anxious to have an instrument of defense against the combined attacks of the pro-communist and pro-Czech press. Not only did some of them suffer as a result of denunciations by the proCzech and pro-communist newspapers, but also they could not look on, inactive, at the political confusion created among Canadian Slovaks by portraying inaccurately the situation in Slovakia. The decision to publish their own newspaper was taken at the Fifth Congress of the Canadian Slovak League, held on September 8-10, 1941.24 The first issue was published on March 5, 1942 in Montreal and, as evidenced by its contents, there was no doubt that it was published in order to defend the members of the League against accusations by the leftist and Czechoslovak newspapers. It was decided that the newspaper should be published in Slovak "national and �92 SLOVAKIA Christian spirit",25 which the publication has endeavoured to do for the past 26 years. The first editor of Kanadsky Slovak was a young, courageous newspaperman, Stefan Hreha, who had previously edited Slovenske Bratstvo. During his military service he was replaced by Frantisek Kvetan until 1946, when Hreha again took up his duties. 26 In 1949 the Eight Congress of the League elected Konstantin Culen, a well-known journalist and author of numerous works on cultural and political history, 27 as assistant editor. In 1952 the newspaper was transferred to Winnipeg, where the League purchased a printing shop, and Culen became the editor-inchief of the newspaper, as well as of the Kalendar Kanadskej Slovenskej Ligy, which began publication in 1953. From Winnipeg and from 1958 in Toronto, Kanadsky Slovak was edited exclusively by the political refugees. Among those in Winnipeg were the poet Jozef Zvonar-Tien, Jozef Kutka and for a decade now, Stefan Reistetter, whose original profession was teaching, but who had been attracted by politics and journalism in Slovakia. Also among the contributors for the past 20 years were mostly the postwar immigrants, even though the "old guard" - Andrew Kucera, Andrew Potocky, Pavol Blaho and others - regularly sent contributions on special occasions. The founding of Kanadsky Slovak closed the second period of the Slovak language press in Canada. A new period opened in 1949 when the second largest Slovak organization, the Canadian Slovak Benefit Society began publishing its official organ, Slovensky Hlas in Windsor. 2 " In the third period several periodicals started publication and some survived. The number of newspapers was stabilized, as were their political and ideological leanings and programs. The standards of the newspapers improved, except for the communist weekly, owing to a large number of contributors from among the political refugees . At the outset, Slovensky Hlas was published on four pages and was concerned primarily with organizational matters. In 1951 it was transferred to Toronto and enlarged to eight pages with varied contents, and has been published monthly. Without fighting party politics it informs its readers in an objective way on Canadian and Slovak problems. Rooted in tradition of Slovak newspapers �SLOVAKIA 93 as they originally appeared in Canada or in the United States, it dedicates a substantial part to Slovak cultural and national issues, in order to keep Slovak national consciousness alive, then to the matters of the association which is its sponsor and publisher. Slovensky Hlas was edited in Windsor by J.M. Gerez, Jr. , and :r.udovft Garek. After its transfer to Toronto, Mikulas Ferik and the poet Ondrej M. Debnarkin29 took over the editorial duties. Debnarkin also edited the almanacs published by the Canadian Slovak Benefit Soci ety while Garek became Secretary General of the Societ y . Both are postwar immigrants to Canada. Apart from Slovensky Hlas several short-lived mimeographed monthlies were published in the post-war period. In 1948 Stanislav Zuber began publishing a monthly under the name E konomia. According to cul en the original plan of Zuber was to put into the hands of Slovak immigrants a periodical dedicated to economic problems, but there was not enough interest for such an undertaking and the experiment did not prove successful. E konomia ceased to appear in its second year. 30 The second monthly was published in Toronto by Dr. Paul Fundarek, another member of the group of young educated Slovaks who preferred exile to the submission to communism. The name of the publication was Nds zivot ( Our Life) and it was considered an official organ of the Slovak Liberation Committee in Canada. Born of enthusiasm, but without funds, it was short-lived, ceasing publication with its tenth issue. In 1952 the group of members of the Slovak Liberation Committee in Toronto began to publish a mimeographed periodical Domovina ( Homeland ) . Its editor was a young lawyer, Julius Ksinan, who made a name for himsef in Slovakia in the post-war years by courageously defending one of the members of the Slovak government, Alexander Mach. His attempts at making a career in journalism were not, however, very successful. The publication reflected the turbulent period among Slovak exiles but without contributing positively to political or cultural activities of Slovaks in Canada, it suffered the fate of its predecessor Nds zivot and ceased to exist in 1954. In 1953 the Union of Slovak Combattants made an at- �94 SLOVAKIA tempt at founding a new periodical in a mimeographed form. The publication was called Domobrana (Home Defense) and was edited by the poet Jan Doransky in Montreal. Later it was transferred to Toronto and published at irregular intervals, in a printed form. After its transfer to Toronto Domobrana was even more intolerant and defamatory than Domovina in its attacks on the leaders of the Slovak exiles who disagreed with the methods and views of the Union of Slovak Combattants. It was later transferred to the United States. As A. R. Boyd wrote on ethnic press in Canada, the Slovak language press "has had a chequered career. The rates of birth and mortality have been high. [But] it was inevitable that [it] should have made its appearance." 31 It was kept alive mostly by idealism and unpaid work as well as monetary contributions by its readers, leaders of the associations and underpaid editors. Fund raising on every possible occasion, such as weddings, banquets, picnics, was for a long time one of the main sources of revenue for covering the publishing expenses. With a few exceptions all the editors had to have another job in order to earn enough money to live. Almanacs and Religious and Cultural Periodicals Among Slovak language publications in Canada, almanac or "kalendar", published by Slovak organizations, and religious monthlies or souvenir books published by parishes played an important part socially and in education. Both monthlies and almanacs were favoured reading of the Slovak rural population in Europe, and the habit of having something to read for the long winter evenings, was brought to Canada and preserved. It was, perhaps, even more important in Canada because the almanacs and souvenir books as well as the religious monthlies published information not only on the Slovak communities in Canada, but also articles and pictures about the life of Canadian Slovaks, in addition to the educational articles, short novels and patriotics, moralistic or religious poetry. If this kind of publication appeared in Canada in the Slovak language comparatively late (the first in 1934) or if it was not numerous, the reason can be found in the distribution of well-established publications of a similar type �SLOVAKIA 95 from the United States. Some Slovak immigrants also received almanacs and religious monthlies from Slovakia. As a result their publication in Canada began only after the Slovak associations and parishes were established. In their appearance and content, they followed the pattern of their Slovak American counterparts as well as that of almanacs published in Slovakia. The first almanac was published in 1934 under the title Prvy Kalenddr Kanadskych Slovdkov na rok 1934. It approached its readers with the slogan "May brotherhood and concord prevail among us" and was edited by a group of well-known organizers of Slovak community life: G. Kurdel, F. Zeman, J. Pavlovic, F. Kvetan and Rev. Urban Koval. According to the introductory note, the almanac was not sponsored by any fraternal organization, as was the case later, but by a "Slovak Publishing Company". This first almanac contains valuable information on the life and organizational activities of Slovak immigrants in Canada before 1934. There are articles from practically all provinces on the founding and activities of fraternal societies and parishes, with pictures of their leaders and members. The almanac also published a survey of the history of Canada with photographs of the Parliament Buildings in Ottawa, Regina and Victoria and several general views of the cities of Montreal, Toronto, Winnipeg, Edmonton and Vancouver, in addition to short novels and verses written either by poets in Slovakia or by Slovak immigrants in Canada. The contributions, even though written by people with limited education, except for F. Zeman, were written in a spirit of idealism and patriotism towards Slovakia but with a strong sense of attachment to Canada. Unfortunately, the Kalenddr was published only twice and several years passed before new almanacs appeared. The next almanac was published in 1939 by the leftist group under the name Eudovy Kalenddr pre Kanadu, ( People's Almanac for Canada) but died out with the first issue. It was concerned mainly with communism and Russia but also dealt with Slovaks and Canada, and contained some useful information on the small group of Slovaks who drifted away from the bulk of Slovak immigrants in Canada, as well as on the first leftist organizations. Slovak almanacs began to appear �96 SLOVAKIA as regular annual publications only after the Second World War. The largest Slovak fraternal organization in Canada, the Canadian Slovak League, began to publish its Kalendar Kanadskej Slovenskej Ligy in 1952. The place of publishing this time was in the west, in Winnipeg. The number of contributors from among the "older" immigrants was comparatively limited in the first issues of the Kalendar since there were already many Slovak writers of the post-war immigration who wrote for newspapers and almanacs published in Canada, the United States and elsewhere.32 The editor, Konstantin Culen, wrote a good deal of the material himself. The contents of the Kalendar were of an informative and educational nature and referred to the organizational life of Slovaks in Canada, as well as to cultural and political problems of Slovakia and Canada. The almanac was later transferred to Toronto and besides the leaders of the Canadian Slovak League many known Slovak writers and publicists regularly contributed articles on cultural or political matters as well as verses and short novels, making the Kalendar an interesting and valuable symposium. At the same time the Kalendar published articles on the hi.story of Slovaks in Canada in Slovak as well as in English and the first survey of the Slovak language press. 33 The Kalendar at all times manifested loyalty to Canada and interest in the fate of the Slovak people whose freedom and independence it strongly advocated. After Culen left for the United States, the Kalendar was edited by ~tefan Reistetter and an anonymous editorial board, composed of the main contributors. The administrative duties and problems with publication and distribution of the Kalendar were in Toronto, mostly in the hands of the Publishing Committee of the Canadian Slovak League. In 1957 the second largest Slovak fraternal organization, the Canadian Slovak Benefit Society, began to publish its yearly almanac. The first issue was published under the name Pamatnica Kanadskeho Slovenskeho Podporneho Spolku a Kalendar Slovenskeho Hlasu (Souvenir Book of the Canadian Slovak Benefit Society and Almanac of the Slovak Voice for the year 1957 ). It seems to have been edited by 0 . M. Debnarkin, although a notice on the front page states that it was prepared by the editorial board of �SLOVAKIA 97 the newspaper Slovensky Hlas. The contents of the Pamiitnica deal mostly with the achievements and problems of the Canadian Slovak Benefit Society which in 1952 celebrated its 25th anniversary. It contains articles and pictures of the founders and main leaders of the Society and its branches, and several verses by the editor. The following issues dedicated more space to literary and cultural contributions, though articles on the goals and achievements of the sponsoring society, and contributions by the leaders and members, were always more numerous than in the almanac of the Canadian Slovak League, whose contributors were predominantly the post-war immigrants. Conservative and educational rather than political and literary, the almanac of the Canadian Slovak Benefit Society has fulfilled among its readers, the function of an organizational publication. The leftist Slovak Benefit Society did not issue any regular publication of the type of almanac except for one issue of Eudovy Kalenddr pre Kanadu in 1939 as previously mentioned. Slovak almanacs or "kalendars" in Canada had to compete with similar publications distributed by the Slovak fraternal organizations in the United States. The Canadian members of the First Catholic Slovak Union, have been receiving yearly a well-edited Kalenddr Jednota which, in its 200-300 pages brings articles and pictures from the life of Slovaks in both countries and many educational, literary and political articles referring to Slovakia and to the new homelands of Slovak immigrants. The gymnastical fraternal organization Slovak Catholic Sokol also provides its Canadian members with a yearly almanac of comparatively high literary value, as does the National Slo1Yak Society, which sends to its Canadian members not only a newspaper, but also an almanac, called Ndrodny Kalenddr, which was founded in 1893 and is considered one of the best Slovak almanacs. Slovak religious publications in Canada were not numerous and in view of the religious consciousness of the Slovak people, need some explanation. Basically it was for the same reason mentioned in connection with the religious organization of Canadian Slovaks: immigrants from Slovakia to Canada were either unmarried young men or those �98 SLOVAKIA who were married left their families at home. They moved from one mining camp to another or from the West to the East looking for jobs, and established their permanent home and place of residence very slowly. Another reason was the lack of Slovak priests who would have organized parishes and taken care of the religious needs of Slovak immigrants.34 As a result of this situation, the first Slovak Canadian religious monthly appeared only in 1938. It was published in Montreal, under the name Ave Maria, by J. Skoda, and was in elaborate form and large size, containing many pictures. J. skoda was assisted by an anonymous board of editors. Also called the Slovak Catholic Rosary News in English, it contained religious articles and news on Slovak Catholics in Canada. A new monthly was not published until 1955 when the Slovak priests of the Byzantine Rite came to Canada and began to organize Slovak Greek Catholic parishes. The founders of the monthly, published under the name Maria, were Rev. M. Rusnak, and Rev. Francis Fuga, pastor of the Slovak Greek Catholic parish in Hamilton.35 The publication found a generous supporter in Stephen B. Roman and survived all difficulties over the past eleven years. The circulation amounts to 1,500 copies and it has subscribers also in the United States and other parts of the free world. As all religious foreign language publications in Canada, these two monthlies served not only the religious needs of the Slovak immigrants, but also fulfilled cultural and social functions. They have recorded important events among Slovaks in Canada and in the world, but their main goal remains religious. Nearly all Slovak parishes published on the occasion of their inauguration, or for anniversaries, souvenir books, some of which, as the Souv enir Book of the Fifth Anniversary of the Church of the Visitation in Winnipeg, (Winnipeg, 1955) contained valuable information, not only on the church and its community, but also a short history of Slovak immigrants in Manitoba. Souvenir book of the dedication of the Slovak Greek Catholic Church of Ascension i n Montreal (Montreal, 1962), with many photographs, re- corded the history of the parish as well as of the building of the church. Pamiitnik Tridsat'rocneho Jubilea Zalozenia �SLOVAKIA 99 Slovenskej Evanjelickej Lutherdnskej Cirkvi vo Windsore, Ontario, ( Souvenir Book of the Thirtieth Anniversary of the Nativity Slovak Evangelical Lutheran Church in Windsor, Ontario) published in 1958 also brings a short his- torical outline of the life, organization and activities of the Slovak Lutheran community. The "Memorial Book" of the Slovak Lutheran Church of Ascension in Montreal was published in 1954 and contains a short history of the congregation in Slovak and English, as well as pictures from the life of the congregation. The inauguration of the Slovak Junior Seminary in Sarnia was also recorded by the publication of a Souvenir Book as were the inauguration of parishes or churches in Hamilton, Welland and others. The 25th Anniversary of Sts. Cyril and Methodius Roman Catholic parish in Toronto recorded in 1959 in a special souvenir book, also records the history of the parish with many pictures, and is considered to be one of the best publications of its kind. The Slovak Jesuit missionary centre in Galt has produced, since 1958, an annual publication called Slovenski Jezuiti v Kanade, ( Slovak Jesuits in Canada). The publication contains mainly reports on the activities of Slovak Jesuits in Canada and the United States. There have also been, however, articles on general religious problems and in the issue for 1966, Rev. J. Moravsky published a valuable survey of the religious life and organizations of Slovak Catholics in Canada. The value of the publication for the history of Slovaks in Canada, may one day be considerable. In conclusion we may say about the Slovak religious press in Canada what is generally said of the ethnic religious press: The Slovak Canadian and Slovak religious press aimed at serving the religious needs of Slovak communities of various denominations and the papers are very similar to their French, English and other ethnic counterparts. Although some of these religious papers are small, unpretentious and at times published irregularly, their importance is far in excess of their physical characteristics. Like the foreign language press in general, the religious papers provide a link with the past life of the immigrants and thus serve as a stabilizing force in their new environment, particularly with regard to moral standards. 36 As for cultural publications, there was only one attempt at establishing a Slovak non-political, cultural and literary periodical in Canada. The young educated post-war �100 SLOVAKIA immigrants, whose university studies were interrupted by the communist occupation of Slovakia, began to publish in Montreal, in 1949, a monthly called Rozvoj (Progress ) of long standing among university students. 37 It was published in a large-size on 90 pages, and among its contributors were some of the most outstanding intellectuals, poets and writers. After a year the publication ceased to exist. The main reason for its disappearance was the hard beginning of the educated Slovak newcomers to Canada and to other countries. On the other hand, the newspapers and almanacs available in Canada were willing to publish any literary or cultural contribution and there was, therefore, no particular need for a new publication. 38 Along with Rozvoj publication was also discontinued of a series of literary works by young Slovak writers in exile, called Edicia Rozvoja, which started with a drama Krvavy Kriz (Bloody Cross), written by a Slovak poet, Karol Strmefl, under the nom de plume Milan Novak. Slovak-Czech Relations in the Slovak Press in Canada Analyzing the reasons for the founding of the foreign language newspapers in Canada, Allan R. Boyd writes, that primary factor in the establishment of an ethnic press was the growing national consciousness of certain groups whose European territories were under the rule of what they regarded as foreign powers. The pervading nationalism which germinated and grew throughout Europe during the nineteenth century had its reflection in the press established abroad. Ethnic groups abroad always have been concerned with events affecting their homeland, even when that homeland is not engaged in a struggle for liberation or independence. Thus one of the 'raison d'etre' of the press which came into being was the preoccupation with, and propagation of, ideals of national independence." 39 The Slovak language press has been no exception in this regard. Since 1928, when the first Slovak newspaper of the inter-war period appeared in Canada, the Slovak-language press was divided in its attitude towards the policy of Prague government with regard to Slovakia as well as toward the Czech emigrants in Canada. There were many attempts at keeping alive the false pretension that Czechs and Slovaks were one ethnic group and a few newspapers, �SLOVAKIA 101 published in the Slovak language, called themselves "Czecho-Slovak weeklies". Those papers, were, however, not many and there was usually behind them either Czech financial support or they served at the same time the needs of the Czech community in Canada. 40 These "Czechoslovak" newspapers defended the Czech policy in Slovakia and systematically wrote against Canadian Slovaks who were on the side of the Slovak political movement which aimed at autonomy and self-rule in Slovakia and stressed that Slovaks were a distinct ethnic and cultural entity. The debates on these subjects were often conducted in strong terms and with little respect for the facts and feelings. Shortly before and during the Second World War some "Czechoslovak" newspapers used demagogy and denunciations41 against those Slovaks who differed in their opinions from the Czech views on the policy of Prague or from the political aims of the Czech exiles in London. The controversy was fought not only in Slovak papers in Canada, but also in the United States, particularly when the Slovaks, who did not agree with the "Czechoslovak" political line, were accused of disloyalty towards Canada.42 As the War progressed the relations between the Slovaks and Czechs in Canada were more tense, and the polemics more heated in the Slovak language press. The continuous attacks by the Czech oriented and pro-Communist Slovak newspapers on the leaders and members of the Canadian Slovak League led finally to the founding of the Kanadsky Slovak, which reflects, from 1942, the other side of the tense Slovak - Czech relations. The fact that Slovakia after the War, instead of receiving independence, not only was returned under the Czech rule but also the Communist system was imposed upon the Slovak people, contributed to an increase of the proportion of space devoted by the Slovak language press in Canada to the problems of the "old country" or in other words to the Slovak-Czech relations. Moreover, the new enslavement of the Slovak people led to the foundation of some periodicals, devoted to the political objectives of Slovak exiles and refugees who arrived in Canada around 1950. They were, however, all short-lived and some of them appeared at irregular intervals, mostly when their anonymous contributors and editors felt the need to attack and slander other Slovak emigres or Slovak organizations. �102 SLOVAKIA Particularly, the contributions of the new immigrants to the older Slovak newspapers concentrated mainly on national problems and on the defence of the Slovak people's right to independence explaining the situation in Slovakia during the war, which has constantly been misrepresented abroad. They were the "forced migrants" about whom R. A. Boyd writes that "naturally their own fate and that of their homeland deeply concerns them." 43 The Slovak language press in Canada has strongly reflected this new situation. As always before, it helped the integration of Slovaks with the mainstream of Canadian life, as well as with other ethnic groups. Some post-war immigrants endeavored even to strengthen the positive attitude of the Slovak press in Canada toward other ethnic groups, which except for the Czechs, had always been friendly and most co-operative in their relations with Canadian Slovaks. This is especially true with regard to other Slavic groups with whom the Slovaks in Canada felt kinship, and basically understood their language. Polish, Ukrainian, Slovenian, Croatian, and other Slavic events in Canada have been registered in the Slovak Canadian press and Slovak representatives occupied the highest offices in the Canadian Ethnic Press Association or Canada Ethnic Press Federation. 44 The negative attitude toward the Czech group, which appeared in the 1930's and became stronger during and after the Second World War, as mentioned before, was mostly caused by the tendency of some Canadian Czechs, and later of their newspapers, to speak on behalf and in the name of Canadian Slovaks, which the Slovaks resented; secondly, it was caused by the difference of opinions on the policy of Prague governments and Slovak aspirations for self-government; thirdly, by vicious attacks on Slovaks who disagreed with Czechs. 45 Even before the Second World War, when the Slovak newspapers regarded Czechoslovakia as their motherland, they were opposed to the policy of the Prague government which aimed at assimilation of Slovaks and domination of Slovakia by Czechs. Since the Czech and Czechoslovak Communist papers in Canada stood behind the Prague government and opposed the aspirations of the Slovak people for autonomy within Czechoslovakia, denying the existence of a culturally and ethnically distinct Slovak entity, conflicts flared up and were discussed with vehemence in the Slovak press. �SLOVAKIA 103 The animosity and attacks were intensified especially during and after the Second World War. The proclamation of Slovakia's independence was considered by the Czech and Czechoslovak-oriented press as a treason, while for many Slovaks in Canada it was an achievement of national ideals. And because, soon after the proclamation of independence, Great Britain (and twenty-eight other states ) recognized the Slovak Republic and not only appointed a Consul of Her Majesty in Slovakia but also received a Slovak Consul-General in London, 46 many Canadian Slovaks and their press did not see anything wrong in looking favourably at the establishment of the Slovak Republic or did not see any reason to be against it. When the war started, the new Slovak government did not have, in their views, any choice and was therefore unwillingly on the side of Germany. Czech and Czechoslovak newspapers and organizations used however, this against the Slovaks in Canada and caused to many of them personal difficulties with Canadian authorities and a lot of injustice. 47 In fact, denunciations of Slovaks by some Czech newspapers and leftist Czechoslovak newspapers went too far not to be rejected or counter-acted. As a result, a part of the Slovak Canadian press was forced into the defensive and into a fight with the Czech and so-called Czechoslovak newspapers .48 If one wants to judge the relations between the Slovaks and the Czechs from these polemics or from the attacks by some Czech papers on Slovaks and, particularly on the Slovak aspirations for self-government, he will easily come to the conclusion that there is hardly any possibility for co-operation between these two groups in Canada, and that Slovaks and Czechs at home and abroad have little reason to support the further existence of Czechoslovakia. On this brief outline of the Slovak press in Canada in relation to the political, social and cultural needs of the Slovak ethnic group which it serves, we can apply what Victor Turek said about the Polish press, that "it cannot be accurately interpreted without constantly bearing in mind that it has been a press of an oppressed nation struggling for its full freedom. It may be that other ethnic groups, originating from more fortunate countries, enjoying more stability and security, have created in Canada a different type of press - with different aims and duties. �104 SLOVAKIA It may be that for such other groups the importance of maintaining their native language and national traditions was not as paramount."49 FOOTNOTES 1. Kirkconnell, Canada, Europe and Hitier, (Toronto, 1939), p. 187. 2. The Canadian Almanac (1931) listed for the first time Slovak press in Canada with a circulation of 9,000. See Slavs in Canada, (Edmonton, 1966), p. 149. 3. See his contribution "The European-Canadians in their Press" in the Report of the annual meeting of the Canadian Historical Association, (Toronto, 1940), p. 86-87. 4. Ibid., p. 88. 5. Ibid., p. 91. 6. The first newspaper was published in Blairmore, Alta., under the name Slovenske Slovo (The Slovak Word). See K. culen, "Strucny prehl'ad dejin slovenskeho casopisectva v Kanade", Kalendar Kanadskej Slovenskej Ligy ( 1953), p. 98. 7. See the list of Slovak newspapers. 8. J. T. M. Anderson, The Education of the New Canadian, p. 84. 9. V. Turek, Polish-Language Press in Canada (Toronto, 1952), p. 22. 10. See E. Urban, "Censorship policies in Czecho-Slovakia," Slovakia, Vol. XV, p. 93-133. 11. See V. Turek, Polish-Language Press, Op. cit., p. 22. 12. Among the Slovak newspapers in Canada, Kanadsky Slovak was one of the main ones to adopt this line. 13. On Klesken, whose publishing activity spread also into the 1930's and 1940's, see K. culen, "Zomrel Juraj Klesken", Kalendar Kanadskej Slovenskej Ligy, ( 1960), p. 168-70. 14. See Slovenske Bratstvo, December 22, 1939. 15. See K. culen, "Strucny prehl'ad dejin slovenskeho casopisectva v Kanade," (A brief survey of the history of Slovak journalism in Canada), Kalendar Kanadskej Slovenskej Ligy (1953), p. 104. 16. See "Zaznam o krajanskej tlaci v Kanade," Narodniarsky Kalendar (1966), p. 78. It seems that Slovenske Bratstvo was the real successor. 17. According to Narodniarsky Kalendar, loc. cit., it ceased to exist in 1941. K. Culen, "Strucny prehl'ad dejin slovenskeho casopisectva v Kanade," Zoe. cit., gives the date October 1943. culen also comments on the legal action in which a Czech Consul Gardavsky was used as an expert in Slovak language even though he did not speak Slovak. �SLOVAKIA 105 18. See Slovenske Bratstvo "Este zije duch slovensky" (The Slovak spirit still lives) , December 29, 1939. 19. Ncirodniarsky Kalendcir, loc. cit., p. 79. The National Slovak Benefit Society also published a mimeographed publication Ncirodne Noviny (National News) on 4-6 pages, and edited by G. Surovsky. 20. J . f>uriancik, "Nase l'udove hnutie a jeho vznik", 13udovy Kalendcir pre Kanadu (1939), p . 22. 21. See 13udovy Kalendcir pre Kanadu (1939), p. 66-75. 22. Admiration for the Soviet Union, Spanish communists and hatred of capitalist countries, mixed with Slovak patriotism is apparent also in the calendar published by Hlas 13udu and called .Cudovy Kalendcir pre Kanadu . 23. V. Turek, Polish-Language Press, op. cit., p. 118. On the pro-communist ethnic press in Canada, A. R. Boyd, "The Foreign Language Press in Canada" in John Kosa (ed.) Immigrants in Canada (Montreal, 1955), p. 45. 24. See Pavol Blaho, "Ako doslo k zalozeniu Kanadskeho Slovaka" (How the Canadian Slovak was founded) Kalendcir Kanadskej Slovenskej Ligy (1953), p. 111-4. 25. Ibid. , p. 112. 26. Ibid. 27. Both Hreha and Kvetan wrote plays and verseSI and Hreha was the author of the account on Slovaks in Canada published by the Encyclopedia Canadiana. 28. See Ncirodniarsky Kalendcir, (1966), p. 78. 29. On Debnarkin see the account on Slovak literature in Canada by Prof. Yaroslav Slawutych in the symposium Slavs in Canada; op. cit., p. 96. 30. K. culen, "Strucny prehl'ad dejin slovenskeho casopisectva v Kanade," Zoe. cit., p. 108. 31. R. A. Boyd, in Kosa, Immigrants, op. cit., p. 44-45. 32. See list of Slovak publications outside Canada. 33. See K. Culen, "Strucny prehl'ad dejin slovenskeho casopisectva v Kanade," Zoe. cit., p. 98-110. 34. See chapter on religious organization of Canadian Slovaks in SZovenski jezuiti v Kanade (1967). 35. See the chapter on Slovak religious organization in Canada; On Rev. Fuga see also Litercirny AZmanach SZovcika v Amerike (1967). �106 SLOVAKIA 36. See "The Foreign Language Press in Canada," Citizen, Vol. IV, No. 4. 37. The editor of Rozvoj was Kornel Piacek. 38. "All foreign language newspapers in Canada," according to the Citizen, "while they serve to introduce newcomers to life in Canada, also have an interest in keeping alive the native cultures of their readers. With this end in view, the papers encourage, publicize and promote cultural activities among the members of their respective ethnic groups and provide a medium of expression for literary and other cultural efforts. The editors believe that in this way their papers are making a contribution towards the enrichment of Canadian life." Citizen, Vol. IV, 4, p. 12. 39. A. R. Boyd, Zoe. cit. , p. 45. 40. Such was for instance the case of Nova Vlast' (Montreal, 1934-1948) replaced by the Czech weekly Novy Domov. 41. The favorite accusation was that of fascism and nazism. Unscrupulous attacks on the publisher of the Slovenske Slovo, led to investigations by Canadian authorities in 1940. The publisher, Juraj Kleskeii, was cleared, but refrained from further publishing of the newspaper. See K. culen, Zoe. cit., p. 101. 42. See Slovenska Obrana (Scranton, Pa.) , Nov. 3, 1939, Nov. 10, 1939, and Nov. 14, 1939, articles by Andrew Potocky, Secretary general of the Canadian Slovak League, M. Cano and Stefan J esenak as well as editorials. The newpapers which did not shy away from denunciations were according to Slovenska Obrana, Nova Vlast' and the leftist Hlas nudu. 43. Boyd, Zoe. cit., p. 46. 44. The author was for two terms President of the Canadian Ethnic Press Association and First Vice-President of the Canada Ethnic Press Federation, J. Novak, and others served on the board. 45. There were two cases of legal action as a result of these struggles. See K. culen "Slovaci v Kanade," Kalendar KSL for 1953, p. 102, Slovenske Bratstvo, Dec. 29, 1939 and Kanadsky Slovak, March 17, 1962 and fall . 46. See Kirschbaum, Slovakia - Nation at the Crossroads of Central Europe, p. 130-144 and p. 268-270. 47. See K. culen, Zoe. cit. , p. 101. 48. At the beginning of the War it was mainly the Slovak weekly Slovenske Bratstvo and from 1942 the Kanadsky Slovak which defended the Slovak point of view. The Czech and Czechoslovak point of view was advocated before and during the War by the weeklies Nova Vlast' and later by Nase Hlasy. 49. Cf. V. Turek, Op. cit., p. 27. �SLOVAKIA 107 SLOVAK LANGUAGE PRESS IN CANADA Newspapers (1910). Published by Andrew Lukca and Juraj Klesken in Blairmore, Alberta. Kanadske Noviny (Canadian News) (1928-1933). Published in Montreal. The newspaper changed publishers, editors and political lines several times. It was founded by J. Pribil. Nase Slovo (Our Word) (1931-1932). Published in Toronto, it was the first newspaper of Slovak communists. Robotnicke Slovo (Workers' Word) (1931-1932). Successor to Nase Slavo, it was published and edited by J. Huska. Hlas Dudu (The People's Voice) (1932-1940). Successor to Robotnicke Slovo, it was suspended in 1940 by Canadian authorities. Hlas Naroda (The Voice of the Nation) (1932-1934). I,t was published by Juraj Klesken in Blairmore. Nasa Mladez (Our Youth) (1932-1934). A supplement to Hlas Naroda and also published in Blairmore. Slovak v Kanade (The Slovak in Canada) (1933-1939). Published in Montreal by G. Kurdel and edited by F. Kvetan, it aimed at reflecting the political orientation of Slovak immigrants in Canada and opposed "Czechoslovak" theses. Nova Vlasf (New Homeland) (1934-1948). Founded in Montreal, its aims was to foster the official Czechoslovak ideology among Slovak and Czech immigrants in Canada. Slovensky Priekopnik (The Slovak Pioneer) (1939-1943). Edited by S. Zuber, it was considered by some to be the successor to Slovak Slovenske Slovo (The Slovak Word) v Kanade. Obeznik Slovenskeho Priekopnika (The Circular of the Slovak Pioneer) (1939). A tabloid which ceased to exist after a few issues. Slovenske Bratstvo (Slovak Brotherhood). Edited by Stefan Hreha, in its subtitle, it claimed to be the successor to Slovak v Kanade and for a short time was the official newspaper of the Canadian Slovak League. Slovenske Slovo (The Slovak Word) (1940-19 ). Published anew by Klesken in Blairmore, its purpose was to refute the attacks against the Slovak Republic made by Nova Vlast' and some communist newspapers. Nase Slovo (Our Word) (1941-1945). It succeeded Hlas Dudu when the Soviet Union joined the camp of the Allies. Dudove Zvesti (The People's News) (1945). Its present editor is J. f>uriancik and it is the mouthpiece of Slovak communists. Kanadsky Slovak (The Slovak Canadian) (1942). Founded during the war, it became the official organ of the Canadian Slovak League. It was founded in Montreal. In 1952 it was transferred to Winnipeg and in 1958 to Toronto. �108 SLOVAKIA Slovensky Hlas (The Slovak Voice) (1949). Founded in Windsor, Ontario, as the organ of the Canadian Slovak Benefit Society. In 1951 it was transferred to Toronto. It is politically independent. Almanacs and Periodicals Prvy Kalendar Kanadskych Slovcikov (First Almanac of Slovak Canadians) (1934-1939) . It had only two issues. Cudovy Kalendar pre Kanadu (People's Almanac for Canada) (1939) . Died with the first issue. Neis Zivot (Our Life) (1950). Organ of the Slovak Liberation Committee in Canada, it was published by Dr. Paul Fundarek. Ekonomi ka ( Economics ) (1948-1949). Published by Stanislav Zuber in Toronto, this monthly's aim was to inform Slovaks in Canada on economic problems. Rozvoj (Progress) (1950-1951). A mimeographed monthly under the direction of K. Piacek for cultural and literary works. Domovina (Homeland) (1952-1954). Mimeographed periodical of the Slovak Liberation Committee in Toronto, it was edited by Julius Ksinan. Kalendar Kanadskej Slovenskej Ligy ( Almanac of the Canadian Slovak League) (1952). Published in Winnipeg, its first editor was Konstantin culen. Domobrana (Home Defense) (1953) . Organ of the Union of Slovak Combattants, it was first edited by Jan Doransky in Montreal, later transferred to Toronto and then to the United States. Pamiitnica Kanadskeho Slovenskeho Podporneho Spolku a Kalendar Slovenskeho Hlasu ( Souvenir Book of the Canadian Slovak Benefit Society and Almanac of the Slovak Voice) (1957) . Edited by 0 . M. Debnarkin. Nase Snahy (Our Goals) (1965). Bi-monthly published in Toronto and sponsored by The Permanent Conference of Slovak Democratic Exiles. Religious Publications Ave Maria (1938-1939) . Published in Montreal by J . Skoda and an anonymous board of editors. Maria (1955- ) . Founded by Rev. M. Rusnak and Rev. F. Fuga, it serves the religious needs of Greek Catholic Slovaks in Canada and the U.S.A. Slovenski Jezuiti v Kanade (Slovak Jesuits in Canada) (1958). Published annually by the Slovak Jesuit Missionary Centre in Galt, Ontario. � 78 SLOVAKIA THE SLOVAK PRESS IN CANADA J. M. Kirschbaum, Ph.D. For a long time the Slovak press in Canada was unknown even to such prominent experts on the life of the ethnic groups in Canada as Prof. Watson Kirkconnell. Writing in 1939 about the European-Canadians and their attitudes towards European problems during the 1938-1939 period, he made the following observation: The last census showed 30,401 Czechs and Slovaks, but did not subdivide these two distinct groups further. Until last spring there was a Czech weekly paper, ceske Noviny ("The Czech News"), published in Montreal, but it gave up the ghost about the time that Germany seized Bohemia, apparently expiring as a result of the withdrawal of financial support through the Czech Consulate-General, The Slovaks had no separate press, but there were many Canadian members of the Slovak League of America, which claims a membership of 300,000 and is bitterly anti-Czech and anti-Benesh.1 In fact, before 1939 there had existed, for shorter or longer periods of time, at least fourteen Slovak newspapers2 and periodicals. The first almanac of Canadian Slovaks, which included a short history of Slovak organizations in Canada had been published five years before the appearance of Prof. Kirkconnell's book; it seems, however, that Slovak newspapers and publications apparently had not come to the attention of Canadians. Speaking later to the annual meeting of the Canadian Historical Association, in his survey of the foreign language press, Prof. Kirkconnell drew quite a favorable picture of the Slovak press in Canada.3 It had existed, according to his report, before the Czechs or the Baltic peoples had their press in Canada and in "per capita" circulation before the Second World War, it ranked sixth among the foreign language newspapers. With 1.04 papers per home of four persons, it was ahead of Ukrainian, Polish, Russian, German, Italian press, and high above the national average. Prof. Kirkconnell explained this by remarking that "the height of the Finnish, Hungarian and Slovak figures is due to the fact that the bulk of these communities consist of post-war emigres, who brought with them political grievances that tend, at this short removal in time, to preserve their sense of identity." 4 He also pointed out that �SLOVAKIA 79 "in some cases the foreign language press reflected in Canada the political divisions within the European countries, and that that many of these papers were edited here by political exiles who are men of considerable education."5 Although Slovak newspapers and periodicals from the United States were available for the small and scattered Slovak ethnic group, it did not prevent Slovak immigrants from publishing their own newspapers, periodicals and almanacs. In fact the first Slovak newspaper appeared in Canada in 19106 when the number of Slovaks in Canada was still very small and practically no Canadian Slovak fraternal organization existed yet on Canadian soil. With the influx of immigrants after the First World War not only the number of newspapers increased, but also the quality of the Slovak language press constantly improved. There were not less than 13 newspapers and periodicals published for shorter or longer periods, before the Second World War. Altogether 30 newspapers and periodicals in the Slovak language appeared in Canada between 1910 and 1967.7 This certainly contradicts the myth that the Slovaks who came to Canada before the Second World War were mostly illiterate8 and uninterested in public affairs. While some of the newspapers were of little importance or service to the Slovak community in Canada, others performed very useful tasks. In many respects the Slovak language press is the only source of information for history of Slovaks in Canada. It relates the struggles, hardships, successes and political divisions of the Slovak ethnic group i.n this country. Many problems of the first groups of Slovak immigrants in Canada were recorded perhaps in a crude but sincere manner in these newspapers or monthlies. They were founded to serve the needs of the immigrants who did not read the English or French press, and reflected the problems of a community, struggling with difficulties created by the language barrier and unfamiliar surroundings. The papers were also the principal source of information on the activities of the associations, parishes as well as on the political views on Slovak and Canadian affairs. Slovak immigrants to Canada came divided along political, as well as religious lines, and continued to fight their old battles on Canadian soil in their press and in their associations. Unfortunately, it is impossible to find �80 SLOVAKIA a copy of some of the thirty periodicals and newspapers published in various parts of Canada during the past 57 years. It is only through indirect sources that the existence and political orientation of some periodicals has been known, for neither the Slovak organizations nor the Canadian libraries were interested in collecting them. In fact , Canadian libraries and press directories showed a lack of interest in the foreign language press and confined their attention to newspapers alone, neglecting minor publications. The need for a Slovak press in Canada, where vast distances separated the small, scattered communities of Slovak farmers and miners, is understandable. Their desire to communicate with their countrymen and the fear of loneliness and isolation explain why so many newspapers, publications, printed or mimeographed have appeared during the last 57 years . This also explains why the first Slovak newspaper, and even some later ones, started in Alberta's mining towns. Only from the 1930's on, when the second wave of Slovak immigrants moved from farms and mining towns to the industrial centres, Toronto and Montreal became the centres of the Slovak language press. The largest Slovak newspaper, Kanadsky Slovak began its publication in Montreal in 1942, then in 1952 it was moved for a few years to Winnipeg and finally settled in 1958, in Toronto. Of the thirty Slovak newspapers, periodicals and publications, fourteen were founded in Toronto and the three existing newspapers, the present almanacs and the monthly Maria, as well as books, have been published for the past eight years in Toronto. Seven Slovak publications were founded and published for some time in Montreal. The three existing newspapers are sponsored by the Slovak Canadian fraternal organizations; the Canadian Slovak League publishes Kanadsky Slovak; the Canadian Slovak Benefit Society publishes Slovensky Hlas, and the leftist Slovak Benefit Society of Canada publishes Eudove Zvesti. All three newspapers promote the aims of their association, however, they also perform certain other tasks, and each of them has a distinct political line in Slovak and Canadian affairs. We can apply to the Slovak . language press what has been said of the ethnic press in Canada in general: �SLOVAKIA 81 While the ethnic periodicals, by keeping up the reader's interest of his native country, emphasize his national consciousness and separate national identity, they help him at the same time to familiarize himself with the new country of his residence.9 From their modest beginning· when Slovak newspapers aimed at informing the scattered groups of miners or farmers of their problems and whereabouts, the Slovak language press progressed with years to more important and more diversified tasks. If the prime concern of the early Slovak newspapers was to make the life of immigrants, unfamiliar with their new country, its people, language and institutions, less lonely, by giving them information about their countrymen and opportunities for work in other parts of the country, the later newspapers helped to establish associations, parishes and became an important instrument of integration. At the same time the newspapers kept Slovak immigrants informed about their country of origin, by printing information which they could not find in Canadian press, and kept them also informed on Canada, because many did not read either English or French. In fact for a long time Slovak newspapers remained the principal source of information for Slovak immigrants about Canadian matters. Following the example of Slovak newspapers in the United States, the Slovak press in Canada began very soon to dedicate a substantial part of each newspaper to two issues: 1) the desire to keep alive or awaken national consciousness of Slovak immigrants, and 2) the necessity to fight the battles in which the Slovak people were involved in Czecho-Slovakia. The absence of censorship, which in Czecho-Slovakia silenced Slovak newspapers or permitted their publication with half-pages white 10 allowed Slovak newspapers in Canada to voice freely the grievances of the Slovak people and to fight vehemently for the political or social equality of Slovaks in their homeland. The feeling that they were allowed to express their views without hindrance, is reflected in all Slovak newspapers in Canada and one has to admire the warm patriotism and interest in cultural and political problems shown by the editors and contributors, whose education rarely went beyond high-school level. As was the case of the Slovak newspapers in the United States, the Slovak language press in Canada became an instrument which helped the immigrants to find more �82 SLOVAKIA comfortable places of living in their new country. On the other hand some Canadian Slovak newspapers also became advocates of autonomy and self-determination for Slovakia, while others followed the official policy of Prague governments or voiced their leanings to communism. In view of the role which Slovak associations and newspapers played in promoting the liberation of Slovakia from foreign domination, the publication and support of newspapers abroad was regarded by the Slovak people as a mark of patriotism, and to take a stand or to write in favor of freedom or equality of political rights for Slovakia was considered the moral duty of every Slovak abroad. This can partly explain the sacrifices which the Slovaks in Canada or in other parts of the world were willing to make to publish and maintain their press, and it also explains their continuous interest in the affairs of their country of origin. Long considered the free spokesmen of the Slovak nation, Slovaks abroad, including those in Canada, could not remain silent, especially after the Second World War when a communist system was imposed on the Slovak people. As a result, the Slovak press in Canada has reacted vehemently against the enslavement of their country of origin in the belief that by fighting communism it defended at the same time, freedom and democracy in Canada. Political involvement of Slovak language press in Canada after the Second World War became stronger than ever before, for another reason. Among the Slovak immigrants who came to Canada in the post-war period, many were not only interested in politics, but also left Slovakia for political reasons. Many of these new immigrants began to contribute political articles to the existing newspapers, and in both non-communist newspapers the new immigrants became editors (K. culen, J. Zvonar, J. Kutka and S. Reistetter in Kanadsky Slovak, M. Ferik, L. Gorekand, 0. M. Debnarkin in Slovensky Hlas). Slovak language press in Canada acquired more and more political character, and with the intensification of the Cold War and with the rising furror of the communist terror in Slovakia it became, once again, a spokesman for Slovakia. The influx of educated immigrants gave the Slovak newspapers at the same time, a higher level in cultural �SLOVAKIA 83 matters, since some of the known Slovak writers, poets and scholars used the newspapers for publishing their poetry, short novels and essays. Although not all immigrants of the previous waves liked the new face of their papers, the leaders and delegates of the Canadian Slovak League always approved the new line. During the past few years the Slovak newspapers and the almanacs or kalendars, published by the associations which sponsor the newspapers as well, have dedicated, however, more and more space to Canadian or organizational issues, and in order to interest the Canadian-born generations, the Kanadsky Slovak has regularly published an English corner. At times there have been articles in English even on the front page, if the issue treated was supposed to interest or to be brought to the attention of the Government or of other ethnic groups. This tendency to pay more attention to the problems of the community is a general trend among the ethnic press in Canada. 11 While conserving the right to speak for the countries enslaved by communism and to criticise the communist regimes, many ethnic newspapers acknowledged the fact that the ethnic groups are becoming closer to Canada than to their countries of origin. Some of them try to help their homelands by stressing their loyalty to Canada and by making appeals to the Canadian Government to voice their aspirations. 12 The Slovak language press assumed certain other duties-such as helping its readers to overcome educational shortcomings resulting from the political situation in Slovakia during the period of foreign rule, and also trying to preserve cultural values threatened by hostile pressures. The Slovak-Canadian periodicals performed these duties conscientiously, in addition to the standard functions of newspapers serving a certain area. This duality of function is perhaps the most striking feature of the Slovak-Canadian press. Practically all the newspapers and almanacs contained not only information, but also articles on cultural and historical matters as well as poetry, short novels, epigrams and other writings. For several Slovak writers, poets and politicians the Slovak language press has been the tribune for their ideas and has helped them to overcome the feelings of futility and discouragement, which many immig- �84 SLOVAKIA rant intellectuals have experienced after their arrival in Canada. And since the Slovak people in Slovakia expected that their countrymen everywhere, especially on the American continent, would not only maintain their national heritage but also help Slovakia to obtain political freedom, and after the Second World War to regain national independence, the newspapers and almanacs have been giving· much space to the general problems of communism and democracy and to specific Slovak problems. From the very beginning the Slovak press was kept alive mostly by the sacrifices and selfless dedication of editors and contributors, and by the generous support of its readers. Only later, it was maintained or subsidized by the Slovak associations. At that point, however, Slovak newspapers and periodicals became less independent and more differentiated in their political leanings, so that according to its political colouring and character, the Slovak language press can be divided into the following categories: (a ) The early informatory, non-political Slovak pubcations; (b ) Newspapers collaborating with the Czech group and favouring close ties with Prague, but autonomy for Slovakia; ( c ) Slovak press rejecting co-operation with the Czechs and advocating Slovak independence; (d) Pro-communist publications; (e) Economic, cultural and other short-lived publications; ( f) Religious publications. No doubt a lesser number of newspapers and fewer political divisions would have been preferable, but Slovaks came to Canada divided along political and religious lines. Furthermore, the political developments in Slovakia, the economic and social difficulties of the years of the economic depression and the communist take-over after World War II, perpetuated their disunity. Needless to say, the adversaries of the Slovaks' aspirations for autonomy and later for independence, supported by the consular and diplomatic representatives of Czechoslovakia, used all available means to keep them divided and fighting among themselves, and used the Slovak language press to this end. �SLOVAKIA 85 Newspapers and Periodicals The history of the Slovak language press in Canada begins with a newspaper called Slovenske Slovo (The Slovak Word ), published in Blairmore, Alta., by Andrew Lukca and Juraj Klesken13 in 1910. There is no evidence that the early Slovak immigrants in Canada published their own newspaper before this date. Slovak newspapers from the United States apparently satisfied the need of the scattered Slovak communities to read in their own language about Canada or Slovakia. Later, however, there was publishing activity which may surprise anyone who is acquainted with the difficulties of the Slovak immigrants in Canada, and with their small numbers. We can divide the survey of the Slovak newspapers into three periods, each corresponding with the individual waves of immigration. The first period was limited to the Canadian West and the Slovak Word is the only newspaper which was published and edited by Canadian Slovaks in that period. Modest in appearance and published at irregular intervals in a small tabloid form, the first issue of the Slovenske Slovo appeared in May 1910. Both the publisher and the editor came to Blairmore from Chicago, Ill., to join hundreds of Slovak miners who at that time worked in coal mines of the Crow's Nest Pass area. It was impossible to find out how long this first Slovak newspaper was published or how many issues appeared. As for the contents, the publication was written in a strong patriotic spirit, similar to that of Slovak newspapers in the United States before the First World War. The second period was not limited g·e ographically. Montreal and Toronto became the centres of Slovak publishing activity as well as of the successive disappearance of newspapers which had started with more enthusiasm than financial backing. Some of these newspapers, such as Kanadske Noviny for instance, ceased publication, but the newspapers which replaced them, did not start as new ones, but as a continuation of previous publications. As a result we find that Slovak v Kanade started as Volume VI, or Slovenske Bratstvo as Volume XII. The second period extends from 1928 to the end of the Second World War and was also marked by the birth of numerous religious periodicals, almanacs and tabloids. Juraj Klesken himself �86 SLOVAKIA made two more attempts at reviving a newspaper in the Canadian West, but failed, as did all individual undertakings in this field in Montreal or Toronto. The newspapers achieved more stability only when they became official organs of the fraternal organizations. At that time Slovak newspapers and periodicals also became divided along the political lines, and the divisions survive to this day. The second, as later the third period, was turbulent at times, full of polemics, bitter invective and in some instances even law suits resulting from partisan polemics and attacks. The atmosphere in the Slovak press was particularly poisoned by hate, denunciations and invectives in 1939 and during the war years, and again from 1948, when the Slovak and Czech political refugees arrived in Canada. In spite of denunciations by the Czech, communist and Czechoslovak press, no Canadian Slovak newspaper was prohibited by the Canadian Government except the communist one. The prohibition of the circulation of Slovak American newspapers, which was imposed upon the weekly Jednota and the bi-weekly Slovenskd Obrana as a result of false accusations, by the Czech and Czechoslovak newspapers, that they spread or advocated Nazism, was suspended14 shortly after it was put into effect. It created, however, an atmosphere of bitterness, and mutual accusations which divided the Slovak community for the entire period of the war. However, a positive result was forthcoming as far as Slovaks in Canada were concerned, as the Government authorities were skeptical from then on about subsequent denunciations of Slovaks by the Czech or communist newspapers. The First World War and the limited immigration to Canada from Slovakia until 1926 interrupted the publishing activity among Slovaks. Only the influx of Slovak immigrants around 1928, among whom many were involved in the post-war political and social clashes in Slovakia, led to the founding of new Slovak newspapers. The strongest centres for publishing activity in the period were Montreal, where from 1928 to 1939 five newspapers and one periodical were founded, and Toronto, where the small group of Slovak communists made three successive attempts at pub- �SLOVAKIA 87 lishing newspapers. All these newspapers represented political and ideological differentiation of Slovak immigrants and can be divided into three categories: ( 1) Newspapers with Slovak patriotic leanings, defending the right of the Slovak people to political autonomy and their own cultural development; (2) Newspapers supporting the official ideology of Prague governments and advocating Czechoslovak national, linguistic and cultural unity; (3) Newspapers with socialist and communist tendencies. Some newspapers changed their original political orientation, while others stood firmly on their ideological ground. Kanadske Noviny (Canadian News) was the first newspaper of this period. Published in Montreal from 1928 to 1933, the newspaper changed publishers, editors and political lines several times. The founder, J . Pribil, was the owner of a travel and colonization agency, and when faced with a deficit, he sold the newspaper to his employees. They in turn sold it to the publishers of New Yorksky Dennik and the last owner was Gabriel Kurdel, whom we mentioned in connection with the first Slovak organization in Canada. Originally the newspaper advocated a close political union between Slovaks and Czechs along the lines of the official policy of Prague's government and its subtitle was: "Czechoslovak Weekly". G. Kurdel, after taking over the ownership, changed not only the political orientation of the newspaper, but also its name, to Slovak v Kanade. The editors, Stanislav Zuber and Martin Dudak, were also replaced. Slovak v Kanade (The Slovak in Canada) was published in Montreal from 1933 to 1939 and in some way it may be considered as a forerunner of Kanadsky Slovak. 1~ Kurdel, the publisher as well as the editor, Frantisek Kvetan, endeavoured to give the Slovak immigrants in Canada a newspaper which would reflect their political orientation and clear the confusion created by the official Czechoslovak propaganda in the ranks of Slovak Canadians. Unfortunately the financial burden was too heavy on the publisher, and the newspaper ceased publication on the threshold of the Second World War. Slovensky Priekopnik (The Slovak Pioneer) was, according to some sources,16 the successor of Slovak v Kana- �88 SLOVAKIA de and its editor, Stanislav Zuber, tried to keep its con- tents in line with the feelings and thinking of the majority of Slovak immigrants, who were not willing to support blindly the Czecho-Slovak National Association, which served the aims of the Czechoslovak government-in-exile. A legal suit against the newspaper by the President of the Association added to its financial difficulties and the newspaper discontinued publication in October 1943.17 A tabloid called Obeznik Slovenskeho Priekopnika (The circular of the Slovak Pioneer) also ceased to exist after a few issues. Slovenske Bratstvo (Slovak Brotherhood) was also published in Montreal as "The Democratic organ of the Slovaks in Canada" and it claimed in its subtitle to be the successor to the weekly Slovak in Canada. For a short time the Canadian Slovak League used Slovenske Bratstvo as its official newspaper. The newspaper and its editor, Stefan Hreha, however, were unscrupulously attacked by the newspaper Nova Vlast' and denounced in Ottawa. The apparent aim of the newspaper Nova Vlast' as well as of the former Consul General of Czechoslovakia in Canada, was to obtain the prohibition of Slovenske Bratstvo as well as the suspension of the circulation of all Slovak newspapers from the United States which did not support the political program of Dr. Benes. 18 Nova Vlast' (New Homeland) was founded in 1934 with the apparent aim of fostering the official Czechoslovak ideology among Slovak and Czech immigrants in Canada. From 1928 there was among Slovak immigrants a clear political differentiation, and not only the large group of those who adhered to the Slovak autonomist movement, but also the communist group, were sometimes critical of Prague's official policy. Backed by the consular and diplomatic representatives of Czechoslovakia Nova Vlast' sought to keep Slovak immigrants "faithful" to the concept of the ethnic and linguistic unity of the Czechs and Slovaks and resulting assimilation of the Slovak people. For some time Nova Vlast' avoided an open clash and published the official news of the First Slovak Mutual Benefit Society of Kirkland Lake .19 From 1939 however, the newspaper became aggressive toward everyone who did not agree with the political program of the Czech and Slovak exiled groups in England. The members of the Canadian Slovak League �SLOVAKIA 89 and the editors of the newspapers which defended the right of Slovaks to self-determination were particularly attacked and unscrupulously denounced by Nova Vlast'. Until 1936 the newspaper had been edited by Stanislav Zuber, who for some time had been the editor of The Slovak Pioneer, But from 1936, an employee of the Bank of Commerce, Martin Dudak, was the responsible editor, and was helped by the former Consul General of Czechoslovakia, Dr. F. Pavlasek. In 1932 Juraj Kleskefl made another attempt at publishing a newspaper in the west. It was called Hlas Naroda (The Voice of the Nation) and was published in Blairmore, Alberta, from 1932 to 1934. Hlas Naroda was a small-sized publication on 4 pages, which included a supplement called Nasa Mladez (Our Youth). Financial difficulties caused the disappearance of both in 1934. However, Klesken was not a man to be easily discouraged. Since from 1934 not only the Czechoslovak newspaper Nova Vlast', but also the communist newspaper had attacked the patriotic group of Slovak immigrants, Kleskefl started publication in 1940, of Slovenske Slovo (The Slovak Word). The leading articles were written in English by well-known Slovaks from the United States and Canada: Dr. P. P. Hletko, S. Palickar and F . Zeman. The articles shed new light not only on the Slovak leaders of the pre-war period but also on the Slovak Republic and its President, Dr. J. Tiso, which the adversaries of Slovakia used as a pretext to accuse the publisher of spreading and advocating nazism. Kleskefl was cleared by Canadian authorities, but he discontinued publication of his newspaper. This was the third and last attempt at publishing a Slovak newspaper in the Canadian West. The small group of Slovak communists started publication of their first newspaper in 1931. The name of the mimeographed publication was Nase Slovo (Our Word) and it was published in Toronto. According to one of the editors of the Communist press in Canada, J . f>uriancik, this "labour-progressive" newspaper looked miserable, as miserable as those who contributed their last nickels for its first issue. It was mimeographed on simple sheets and not in newspaper size." 20 A year later its name was changed to Robotnicke Slovo (Workers' Word) and was printed as a regular newspaper. The publisher and editor of the Work- �90 SLOVAKIA ers' Word was J. Huska. These two first leftist newspapers were socialist rather than communist in their contents and orientation. When the Slovak communists organized their Slovenske Kulturne Sdruzenie (Slovak Cultural Association), the newspaper Robotnicke Slovo changed its name to Hlas Eudu (The People's Voice). It was published twice a week and both the Slovak Cultural Association and the newspapers adhered to communist ideology. The communist movement has never had many supporters among Slovak immigrants in Canada. To attract members they formed front organizations like Slovenske Kulturne Sdruzenie or various clubs 21 and used slogans of social justice, progress, peace and democracy. Around 1939 the newspaper Hlas Eudu edited by Cyprian Slimak, became, however, an agressive tool of communist propaganda among Slovak immigrants in Canada22 and as a result, the Canadian authorities ordered its suspension in 1940. The Canadian Government, using its war-time emergency powers, prohibited all communist newspapers and dissolved communist organizations. When the Soviet Union joined the camp of the Western Allies in 1941, Slovak leftist groups started publication of Nase Slovo (Our Word) as a continuation of Hlas Eudu. At the end of the war the newspaper changed its name to Eudove Zvesti ( People's News ) and has survived until the present time, edited by J. f>uriancik for the past two decades. The newspaper remained faithful to its program and to the Prague government even in the period of the socalled cult of personality, when the most prominent Slovak communists were either hanged or sent to jail for life by the Czechoslovakian leaders of the Communist Party. Unlike the other Slovak newspapers, the Slovak communist press in Canada did not gain any of the post-war educated immigrants as contributors or editors. Slovak communist newspapers were published and edited by devoted organizers of the communist movement whose partisan zeal overshadowed their education. How much financial help or how many articles for printing the communist press received from Czechoslovakia, is hard to say. Yet many articles seem to indicate that they were written by educated people. Eudove Zvesti never failed to publish �SLOVAKIA 91 attacks and smear propaganda, originated in Prague, against Slovaks in Canada who disagreed either with the communist or the Czech rule in Slovakia, which would indicate that the newspaper is more concerned with how to please the Prague government than to serve the interest of the Slovak immigrants in Canada. We may say about the Slovak language communist press what Turek recorded on the Polish language press in Canada, that: The Polish-language communist press in Canada, as well as the whole party organization, were always characterized by strict discipline, efficient organization and fanatical dedication on the part of the leaders. Needless to add, the general policy was always dictated from outside, and the local leadership was charged only with its execution. Thanks to this rigid organization and discipline, the communist group managed to maintain for thirty years its own press, even though it never had a wide circulation and could not rely on any substantial advertising revenue.23 The founding of Kanadsky Slovak in 1942 was the result of political struggles within the Slovak cummunity in Canada. After the communist group established its press and the Czechoslovak group received strong support from the Czech representatives of the exiled Czech politicians in London, the large part of Canadian Slovaks who were neither pro-communist nor pro-Czech felt an urgent need for their own newspaper. The leaders and members of the Canadian Slovak League were particularly anxious to have an instrument of defense against the combined attacks of the pro-communist and pro-Czech press. Not only did some of them suffer as a result of denunciations by the proCzech and pro-communist newspapers, but also they could not look on, inactive, at the political confusion created among Canadian Slovaks by portraying inaccurately the situation in Slovakia. The decision to publish their own newspaper was taken at the Fifth Congress of the Canadian Slovak League, held on September 8-10, 1941.24 The first issue was published on March 5, 1942 in Montreal and, as evidenced by its contents, there was no doubt that it was published in order to defend the members of the League against accusations by the leftist and Czechoslovak newspapers. It was decided that the newspaper should be published in Slovak "national and �92 SLOVAKIA Christian spirit",25 which the publication has endeavoured to do for the past 26 years. The first editor of Kanadsky Slovak was a young, courageous newspaperman, Stefan Hreha, who had previously edited Slovenske Bratstvo. During his military service he was replaced by Frantisek Kvetan until 1946, when Hreha again took up his duties. 26 In 1949 the Eight Congress of the League elected Konstantin Culen, a well-known journalist and author of numerous works on cultural and political history, 27 as assistant editor. In 1952 the newspaper was transferred to Winnipeg, where the League purchased a printing shop, and Culen became the editor-inchief of the newspaper, as well as of the Kalendar Kanadskej Slovenskej Ligy, which began publication in 1953. From Winnipeg and from 1958 in Toronto, Kanadsky Slovak was edited exclusively by the political refugees. Among those in Winnipeg were the poet Jozef Zvonar-Tien, Jozef Kutka and for a decade now, Stefan Reistetter, whose original profession was teaching, but who had been attracted by politics and journalism in Slovakia. Also among the contributors for the past 20 years were mostly the postwar immigrants, even though the "old guard" - Andrew Kucera, Andrew Potocky, Pavol Blaho and others - regularly sent contributions on special occasions. The founding of Kanadsky Slovak closed the second period of the Slovak language press in Canada. A new period opened in 1949 when the second largest Slovak organization, the Canadian Slovak Benefit Society began publishing its official organ, Slovensky Hlas in Windsor. 2 " In the third period several periodicals started publication and some survived. The number of newspapers was stabilized, as were their political and ideological leanings and programs. The standards of the newspapers improved, except for the communist weekly, owing to a large number of contributors from among the political refugees . At the outset, Slovensky Hlas was published on four pages and was concerned primarily with organizational matters. In 1951 it was transferred to Toronto and enlarged to eight pages with varied contents, and has been published monthly. Without fighting party politics it informs its readers in an objective way on Canadian and Slovak problems. Rooted in tradition of Slovak newspapers �SLOVAKIA 93 as they originally appeared in Canada or in the United States, it dedicates a substantial part to Slovak cultural and national issues, in order to keep Slovak national consciousness alive, then to the matters of the association which is its sponsor and publisher. Slovensky Hlas was edited in Windsor by J.M. Gerez, Jr. , and :r.udovft Garek. After its transfer to Toronto, Mikulas Ferik and the poet Ondrej M. Debnarkin29 took over the editorial duties. Debnarkin also edited the almanacs published by the Canadian Slovak Benefit Soci ety while Garek became Secretary General of the Societ y . Both are postwar immigrants to Canada. Apart from Slovensky Hlas several short-lived mimeographed monthlies were published in the post-war period. In 1948 Stanislav Zuber began publishing a monthly under the name E konomia. According to cul en the original plan of Zuber was to put into the hands of Slovak immigrants a periodical dedicated to economic problems, but there was not enough interest for such an undertaking and the experiment did not prove successful. E konomia ceased to appear in its second year. 30 The second monthly was published in Toronto by Dr. Paul Fundarek, another member of the group of young educated Slovaks who preferred exile to the submission to communism. The name of the publication was Nds zivot ( Our Life) and it was considered an official organ of the Slovak Liberation Committee in Canada. Born of enthusiasm, but without funds, it was short-lived, ceasing publication with its tenth issue. In 1952 the group of members of the Slovak Liberation Committee in Toronto began to publish a mimeographed periodical Domovina ( Homeland ) . Its editor was a young lawyer, Julius Ksinan, who made a name for himsef in Slovakia in the post-war years by courageously defending one of the members of the Slovak government, Alexander Mach. His attempts at making a career in journalism were not, however, very successful. The publication reflected the turbulent period among Slovak exiles but without contributing positively to political or cultural activities of Slovaks in Canada, it suffered the fate of its predecessor Nds zivot and ceased to exist in 1954. In 1953 the Union of Slovak Combattants made an at- �94 SLOVAKIA tempt at founding a new periodical in a mimeographed form. The publication was called Domobrana (Home Defense) and was edited by the poet Jan Doransky in Montreal. Later it was transferred to Toronto and published at irregular intervals, in a printed form. After its transfer to Toronto Domobrana was even more intolerant and defamatory than Domovina in its attacks on the leaders of the Slovak exiles who disagreed with the methods and views of the Union of Slovak Combattants. It was later transferred to the United States. As A. R. Boyd wrote on ethnic press in Canada, the Slovak language press "has had a chequered career. The rates of birth and mortality have been high. [But] it was inevitable that [it] should have made its appearance." 31 It was kept alive mostly by idealism and unpaid work as well as monetary contributions by its readers, leaders of the associations and underpaid editors. Fund raising on every possible occasion, such as weddings, banquets, picnics, was for a long time one of the main sources of revenue for covering the publishing expenses. With a few exceptions all the editors had to have another job in order to earn enough money to live. Almanacs and Religious and Cultural Periodicals Among Slovak language publications in Canada, almanac or "kalendar", published by Slovak organizations, and religious monthlies or souvenir books published by parishes played an important part socially and in education. Both monthlies and almanacs were favoured reading of the Slovak rural population in Europe, and the habit of having something to read for the long winter evenings, was brought to Canada and preserved. It was, perhaps, even more important in Canada because the almanacs and souvenir books as well as the religious monthlies published information not only on the Slovak communities in Canada, but also articles and pictures about the life of Canadian Slovaks, in addition to the educational articles, short novels and patriotics, moralistic or religious poetry. If this kind of publication appeared in Canada in the Slovak language comparatively late (the first in 1934) or if it was not numerous, the reason can be found in the distribution of well-established publications of a similar type �SLOVAKIA 95 from the United States. Some Slovak immigrants also received almanacs and religious monthlies from Slovakia. As a result their publication in Canada began only after the Slovak associations and parishes were established. In their appearance and content, they followed the pattern of their Slovak American counterparts as well as that of almanacs published in Slovakia. The first almanac was published in 1934 under the title Prvy Kalenddr Kanadskych Slovdkov na rok 1934. It approached its readers with the slogan "May brotherhood and concord prevail among us" and was edited by a group of well-known organizers of Slovak community life: G. Kurdel, F. Zeman, J. Pavlovic, F. Kvetan and Rev. Urban Koval. According to the introductory note, the almanac was not sponsored by any fraternal organization, as was the case later, but by a "Slovak Publishing Company". This first almanac contains valuable information on the life and organizational activities of Slovak immigrants in Canada before 1934. There are articles from practically all provinces on the founding and activities of fraternal societies and parishes, with pictures of their leaders and members. The almanac also published a survey of the history of Canada with photographs of the Parliament Buildings in Ottawa, Regina and Victoria and several general views of the cities of Montreal, Toronto, Winnipeg, Edmonton and Vancouver, in addition to short novels and verses written either by poets in Slovakia or by Slovak immigrants in Canada. The contributions, even though written by people with limited education, except for F. Zeman, were written in a spirit of idealism and patriotism towards Slovakia but with a strong sense of attachment to Canada. Unfortunately, the Kalenddr was published only twice and several years passed before new almanacs appeared. The next almanac was published in 1939 by the leftist group under the name Eudovy Kalenddr pre Kanadu, ( People's Almanac for Canada) but died out with the first issue. It was concerned mainly with communism and Russia but also dealt with Slovaks and Canada, and contained some useful information on the small group of Slovaks who drifted away from the bulk of Slovak immigrants in Canada, as well as on the first leftist organizations. Slovak almanacs began to appear �96 SLOVAKIA as regular annual publications only after the Second World War. The largest Slovak fraternal organization in Canada, the Canadian Slovak League, began to publish its Kalendar Kanadskej Slovenskej Ligy in 1952. The place of publishing this time was in the west, in Winnipeg. The number of contributors from among the "older" immigrants was comparatively limited in the first issues of the Kalendar since there were already many Slovak writers of the post-war immigration who wrote for newspapers and almanacs published in Canada, the United States and elsewhere.32 The editor, Konstantin Culen, wrote a good deal of the material himself. The contents of the Kalendar were of an informative and educational nature and referred to the organizational life of Slovaks in Canada, as well as to cultural and political problems of Slovakia and Canada. The almanac was later transferred to Toronto and besides the leaders of the Canadian Slovak League many known Slovak writers and publicists regularly contributed articles on cultural or political matters as well as verses and short novels, making the Kalendar an interesting and valuable symposium. At the same time the Kalendar published articles on the hi.story of Slovaks in Canada in Slovak as well as in English and the first survey of the Slovak language press. 33 The Kalendar at all times manifested loyalty to Canada and interest in the fate of the Slovak people whose freedom and independence it strongly advocated. After Culen left for the United States, the Kalendar was edited by ~tefan Reistetter and an anonymous editorial board, composed of the main contributors. The administrative duties and problems with publication and distribution of the Kalendar were in Toronto, mostly in the hands of the Publishing Committee of the Canadian Slovak League. In 1957 the second largest Slovak fraternal organization, the Canadian Slovak Benefit Society, began to publish its yearly almanac. The first issue was published under the name Pamatnica Kanadskeho Slovenskeho Podporneho Spolku a Kalendar Slovenskeho Hlasu (Souvenir Book of the Canadian Slovak Benefit Society and Almanac of the Slovak Voice for the year 1957 ). It seems to have been edited by 0 . M. Debnarkin, although a notice on the front page states that it was prepared by the editorial board of �SLOVAKIA 97 the newspaper Slovensky Hlas. The contents of the Pamiitnica deal mostly with the achievements and problems of the Canadian Slovak Benefit Society which in 1952 celebrated its 25th anniversary. It contains articles and pictures of the founders and main leaders of the Society and its branches, and several verses by the editor. The following issues dedicated more space to literary and cultural contributions, though articles on the goals and achievements of the sponsoring society, and contributions by the leaders and members, were always more numerous than in the almanac of the Canadian Slovak League, whose contributors were predominantly the post-war immigrants. Conservative and educational rather than political and literary, the almanac of the Canadian Slovak Benefit Society has fulfilled among its readers, the function of an organizational publication. The leftist Slovak Benefit Society did not issue any regular publication of the type of almanac except for one issue of Eudovy Kalenddr pre Kanadu in 1939 as previously mentioned. Slovak almanacs or "kalendars" in Canada had to compete with similar publications distributed by the Slovak fraternal organizations in the United States. The Canadian members of the First Catholic Slovak Union, have been receiving yearly a well-edited Kalenddr Jednota which, in its 200-300 pages brings articles and pictures from the life of Slovaks in both countries and many educational, literary and political articles referring to Slovakia and to the new homelands of Slovak immigrants. The gymnastical fraternal organization Slovak Catholic Sokol also provides its Canadian members with a yearly almanac of comparatively high literary value, as does the National Slo1Yak Society, which sends to its Canadian members not only a newspaper, but also an almanac, called Ndrodny Kalenddr, which was founded in 1893 and is considered one of the best Slovak almanacs. Slovak religious publications in Canada were not numerous and in view of the religious consciousness of the Slovak people, need some explanation. Basically it was for the same reason mentioned in connection with the religious organization of Canadian Slovaks: immigrants from Slovakia to Canada were either unmarried young men or those �98 SLOVAKIA who were married left their families at home. They moved from one mining camp to another or from the West to the East looking for jobs, and established their permanent home and place of residence very slowly. Another reason was the lack of Slovak priests who would have organized parishes and taken care of the religious needs of Slovak immigrants.34 As a result of this situation, the first Slovak Canadian religious monthly appeared only in 1938. It was published in Montreal, under the name Ave Maria, by J. Skoda, and was in elaborate form and large size, containing many pictures. J. skoda was assisted by an anonymous board of editors. Also called the Slovak Catholic Rosary News in English, it contained religious articles and news on Slovak Catholics in Canada. A new monthly was not published until 1955 when the Slovak priests of the Byzantine Rite came to Canada and began to organize Slovak Greek Catholic parishes. The founders of the monthly, published under the name Maria, were Rev. M. Rusnak, and Rev. Francis Fuga, pastor of the Slovak Greek Catholic parish in Hamilton.35 The publication found a generous supporter in Stephen B. Roman and survived all difficulties over the past eleven years. The circulation amounts to 1,500 copies and it has subscribers also in the United States and other parts of the free world. As all religious foreign language publications in Canada, these two monthlies served not only the religious needs of the Slovak immigrants, but also fulfilled cultural and social functions. They have recorded important events among Slovaks in Canada and in the world, but their main goal remains religious. Nearly all Slovak parishes published on the occasion of their inauguration, or for anniversaries, souvenir books, some of which, as the Souv enir Book of the Fifth Anniversary of the Church of the Visitation in Winnipeg, (Winnipeg, 1955) contained valuable information, not only on the church and its community, but also a short history of Slovak immigrants in Manitoba. Souvenir book of the dedication of the Slovak Greek Catholic Church of Ascension i n Montreal (Montreal, 1962), with many photographs, re- corded the history of the parish as well as of the building of the church. Pamiitnik Tridsat'rocneho Jubilea Zalozenia �SLOVAKIA 99 Slovenskej Evanjelickej Lutherdnskej Cirkvi vo Windsore, Ontario, ( Souvenir Book of the Thirtieth Anniversary of the Nativity Slovak Evangelical Lutheran Church in Windsor, Ontario) published in 1958 also brings a short his- torical outline of the life, organization and activities of the Slovak Lutheran community. The "Memorial Book" of the Slovak Lutheran Church of Ascension in Montreal was published in 1954 and contains a short history of the congregation in Slovak and English, as well as pictures from the life of the congregation. The inauguration of the Slovak Junior Seminary in Sarnia was also recorded by the publication of a Souvenir Book as were the inauguration of parishes or churches in Hamilton, Welland and others. The 25th Anniversary of Sts. Cyril and Methodius Roman Catholic parish in Toronto recorded in 1959 in a special souvenir book, also records the history of the parish with many pictures, and is considered to be one of the best publications of its kind. The Slovak Jesuit missionary centre in Galt has produced, since 1958, an annual publication called Slovenski Jezuiti v Kanade, ( Slovak Jesuits in Canada). The publication contains mainly reports on the activities of Slovak Jesuits in Canada and the United States. There have also been, however, articles on general religious problems and in the issue for 1966, Rev. J. Moravsky published a valuable survey of the religious life and organizations of Slovak Catholics in Canada. The value of the publication for the history of Slovaks in Canada, may one day be considerable. In conclusion we may say about the Slovak religious press in Canada what is generally said of the ethnic religious press: The Slovak Canadian and Slovak religious press aimed at serving the religious needs of Slovak communities of various denominations and the papers are very similar to their French, English and other ethnic counterparts. Although some of these religious papers are small, unpretentious and at times published irregularly, their importance is far in excess of their physical characteristics. Like the foreign language press in general, the religious papers provide a link with the past life of the immigrants and thus serve as a stabilizing force in their new environment, particularly with regard to moral standards. 36 As for cultural publications, there was only one attempt at establishing a Slovak non-political, cultural and literary periodical in Canada. The young educated post-war �100 SLOVAKIA immigrants, whose university studies were interrupted by the communist occupation of Slovakia, began to publish in Montreal, in 1949, a monthly called Rozvoj (Progress ) of long standing among university students. 37 It was published in a large-size on 90 pages, and among its contributors were some of the most outstanding intellectuals, poets and writers. After a year the publication ceased to exist. The main reason for its disappearance was the hard beginning of the educated Slovak newcomers to Canada and to other countries. On the other hand, the newspapers and almanacs available in Canada were willing to publish any literary or cultural contribution and there was, therefore, no particular need for a new publication. 38 Along with Rozvoj publication was also discontinued of a series of literary works by young Slovak writers in exile, called Edicia Rozvoja, which started with a drama Krvavy Kriz (Bloody Cross), written by a Slovak poet, Karol Strmefl, under the nom de plume Milan Novak. Slovak-Czech Relations in the Slovak Press in Canada Analyzing the reasons for the founding of the foreign language newspapers in Canada, Allan R. Boyd writes, that primary factor in the establishment of an ethnic press was the growing national consciousness of certain groups whose European territories were under the rule of what they regarded as foreign powers. The pervading nationalism which germinated and grew throughout Europe during the nineteenth century had its reflection in the press established abroad. Ethnic groups abroad always have been concerned with events affecting their homeland, even when that homeland is not engaged in a struggle for liberation or independence. Thus one of the 'raison d'etre' of the press which came into being was the preoccupation with, and propagation of, ideals of national independence." 39 The Slovak language press has been no exception in this regard. Since 1928, when the first Slovak newspaper of the inter-war period appeared in Canada, the Slovak-language press was divided in its attitude towards the policy of Prague government with regard to Slovakia as well as toward the Czech emigrants in Canada. There were many attempts at keeping alive the false pretension that Czechs and Slovaks were one ethnic group and a few newspapers, �SLOVAKIA 101 published in the Slovak language, called themselves "Czecho-Slovak weeklies". Those papers, were, however, not many and there was usually behind them either Czech financial support or they served at the same time the needs of the Czech community in Canada. 40 These "Czechoslovak" newspapers defended the Czech policy in Slovakia and systematically wrote against Canadian Slovaks who were on the side of the Slovak political movement which aimed at autonomy and self-rule in Slovakia and stressed that Slovaks were a distinct ethnic and cultural entity. The debates on these subjects were often conducted in strong terms and with little respect for the facts and feelings. Shortly before and during the Second World War some "Czechoslovak" newspapers used demagogy and denunciations41 against those Slovaks who differed in their opinions from the Czech views on the policy of Prague or from the political aims of the Czech exiles in London. The controversy was fought not only in Slovak papers in Canada, but also in the United States, particularly when the Slovaks, who did not agree with the "Czechoslovak" political line, were accused of disloyalty towards Canada.42 As the War progressed the relations between the Slovaks and Czechs in Canada were more tense, and the polemics more heated in the Slovak language press. The continuous attacks by the Czech oriented and pro-Communist Slovak newspapers on the leaders and members of the Canadian Slovak League led finally to the founding of the Kanadsky Slovak, which reflects, from 1942, the other side of the tense Slovak - Czech relations. The fact that Slovakia after the War, instead of receiving independence, not only was returned under the Czech rule but also the Communist system was imposed upon the Slovak people, contributed to an increase of the proportion of space devoted by the Slovak language press in Canada to the problems of the "old country" or in other words to the Slovak-Czech relations. Moreover, the new enslavement of the Slovak people led to the foundation of some periodicals, devoted to the political objectives of Slovak exiles and refugees who arrived in Canada around 1950. They were, however, all short-lived and some of them appeared at irregular intervals, mostly when their anonymous contributors and editors felt the need to attack and slander other Slovak emigres or Slovak organizations. �102 SLOVAKIA Particularly, the contributions of the new immigrants to the older Slovak newspapers concentrated mainly on national problems and on the defence of the Slovak people's right to independence explaining the situation in Slovakia during the war, which has constantly been misrepresented abroad. They were the "forced migrants" about whom R. A. Boyd writes that "naturally their own fate and that of their homeland deeply concerns them." 43 The Slovak language press in Canada has strongly reflected this new situation. As always before, it helped the integration of Slovaks with the mainstream of Canadian life, as well as with other ethnic groups. Some post-war immigrants endeavored even to strengthen the positive attitude of the Slovak press in Canada toward other ethnic groups, which except for the Czechs, had always been friendly and most co-operative in their relations with Canadian Slovaks. This is especially true with regard to other Slavic groups with whom the Slovaks in Canada felt kinship, and basically understood their language. Polish, Ukrainian, Slovenian, Croatian, and other Slavic events in Canada have been registered in the Slovak Canadian press and Slovak representatives occupied the highest offices in the Canadian Ethnic Press Association or Canada Ethnic Press Federation. 44 The negative attitude toward the Czech group, which appeared in the 1930's and became stronger during and after the Second World War, as mentioned before, was mostly caused by the tendency of some Canadian Czechs, and later of their newspapers, to speak on behalf and in the name of Canadian Slovaks, which the Slovaks resented; secondly, it was caused by the difference of opinions on the policy of Prague governments and Slovak aspirations for self-government; thirdly, by vicious attacks on Slovaks who disagreed with Czechs. 45 Even before the Second World War, when the Slovak newspapers regarded Czechoslovakia as their motherland, they were opposed to the policy of the Prague government which aimed at assimilation of Slovaks and domination of Slovakia by Czechs. Since the Czech and Czechoslovak Communist papers in Canada stood behind the Prague government and opposed the aspirations of the Slovak people for autonomy within Czechoslovakia, denying the existence of a culturally and ethnically distinct Slovak entity, conflicts flared up and were discussed with vehemence in the Slovak press. �SLOVAKIA 103 The animosity and attacks were intensified especially during and after the Second World War. The proclamation of Slovakia's independence was considered by the Czech and Czechoslovak-oriented press as a treason, while for many Slovaks in Canada it was an achievement of national ideals. And because, soon after the proclamation of independence, Great Britain (and twenty-eight other states ) recognized the Slovak Republic and not only appointed a Consul of Her Majesty in Slovakia but also received a Slovak Consul-General in London, 46 many Canadian Slovaks and their press did not see anything wrong in looking favourably at the establishment of the Slovak Republic or did not see any reason to be against it. When the war started, the new Slovak government did not have, in their views, any choice and was therefore unwillingly on the side of Germany. Czech and Czechoslovak newspapers and organizations used however, this against the Slovaks in Canada and caused to many of them personal difficulties with Canadian authorities and a lot of injustice. 47 In fact, denunciations of Slovaks by some Czech newspapers and leftist Czechoslovak newspapers went too far not to be rejected or counter-acted. As a result, a part of the Slovak Canadian press was forced into the defensive and into a fight with the Czech and so-called Czechoslovak newspapers .48 If one wants to judge the relations between the Slovaks and the Czechs from these polemics or from the attacks by some Czech papers on Slovaks and, particularly on the Slovak aspirations for self-government, he will easily come to the conclusion that there is hardly any possibility for co-operation between these two groups in Canada, and that Slovaks and Czechs at home and abroad have little reason to support the further existence of Czechoslovakia. On this brief outline of the Slovak press in Canada in relation to the political, social and cultural needs of the Slovak ethnic group which it serves, we can apply what Victor Turek said about the Polish press, that "it cannot be accurately interpreted without constantly bearing in mind that it has been a press of an oppressed nation struggling for its full freedom. It may be that other ethnic groups, originating from more fortunate countries, enjoying more stability and security, have created in Canada a different type of press - with different aims and duties. �104 SLOVAKIA It may be that for such other groups the importance of maintaining their native language and national traditions was not as paramount."49 FOOTNOTES 1. Kirkconnell, Canada, Europe and Hitier, (Toronto, 1939), p. 187. 2. The Canadian Almanac (1931) listed for the first time Slovak press in Canada with a circulation of 9,000. See Slavs in Canada, (Edmonton, 1966), p. 149. 3. See his contribution "The European-Canadians in their Press" in the Report of the annual meeting of the Canadian Historical Association, (Toronto, 1940), p. 86-87. 4. Ibid., p. 88. 5. Ibid., p. 91. 6. The first newspaper was published in Blairmore, Alta., under the name Slovenske Slovo (The Slovak Word). See K. culen, "Strucny prehl'ad dejin slovenskeho casopisectva v Kanade", Kalendar Kanadskej Slovenskej Ligy ( 1953), p. 98. 7. See the list of Slovak newspapers. 8. J. T. M. Anderson, The Education of the New Canadian, p. 84. 9. V. Turek, Polish-Language Press in Canada (Toronto, 1952), p. 22. 10. See E. Urban, "Censorship policies in Czecho-Slovakia," Slovakia, Vol. XV, p. 93-133. 11. See V. Turek, Polish-Language Press, Op. cit., p. 22. 12. Among the Slovak newspapers in Canada, Kanadsky Slovak was one of the main ones to adopt this line. 13. On Klesken, whose publishing activity spread also into the 1930's and 1940's, see K. culen, "Zomrel Juraj Klesken", Kalendar Kanadskej Slovenskej Ligy, ( 1960), p. 168-70. 14. See Slovenske Bratstvo, December 22, 1939. 15. See K. culen, "Strucny prehl'ad dejin slovenskeho casopisectva v Kanade," (A brief survey of the history of Slovak journalism in Canada), Kalendar Kanadskej Slovenskej Ligy (1953), p. 104. 16. See "Zaznam o krajanskej tlaci v Kanade," Narodniarsky Kalendar (1966), p. 78. It seems that Slovenske Bratstvo was the real successor. 17. According to Narodniarsky Kalendar, loc. cit., it ceased to exist in 1941. K. Culen, "Strucny prehl'ad dejin slovenskeho casopisectva v Kanade," Zoe. cit., gives the date October 1943. culen also comments on the legal action in which a Czech Consul Gardavsky was used as an expert in Slovak language even though he did not speak Slovak. �SLOVAKIA 105 18. See Slovenske Bratstvo "Este zije duch slovensky" (The Slovak spirit still lives) , December 29, 1939. 19. Ncirodniarsky Kalendcir, loc. cit., p. 79. The National Slovak Benefit Society also published a mimeographed publication Ncirodne Noviny (National News) on 4-6 pages, and edited by G. Surovsky. 20. J . f>uriancik, "Nase l'udove hnutie a jeho vznik", 13udovy Kalendcir pre Kanadu (1939), p . 22. 21. See 13udovy Kalendcir pre Kanadu (1939), p. 66-75. 22. Admiration for the Soviet Union, Spanish communists and hatred of capitalist countries, mixed with Slovak patriotism is apparent also in the calendar published by Hlas 13udu and called .Cudovy Kalendcir pre Kanadu . 23. V. Turek, Polish-Language Press, op. cit., p. 118. On the pro-communist ethnic press in Canada, A. R. Boyd, "The Foreign Language Press in Canada" in John Kosa (ed.) Immigrants in Canada (Montreal, 1955), p. 45. 24. See Pavol Blaho, "Ako doslo k zalozeniu Kanadskeho Slovaka" (How the Canadian Slovak was founded) Kalendcir Kanadskej Slovenskej Ligy (1953), p. 111-4. 25. Ibid. , p. 112. 26. Ibid. 27. Both Hreha and Kvetan wrote plays and verseSI and Hreha was the author of the account on Slovaks in Canada published by the Encyclopedia Canadiana. 28. See Ncirodniarsky Kalendcir, (1966), p. 78. 29. On Debnarkin see the account on Slovak literature in Canada by Prof. Yaroslav Slawutych in the symposium Slavs in Canada; op. cit., p. 96. 30. K. culen, "Strucny prehl'ad dejin slovenskeho casopisectva v Kanade," Zoe. cit., p. 108. 31. R. A. Boyd, in Kosa, Immigrants, op. cit., p. 44-45. 32. See list of Slovak publications outside Canada. 33. See K. Culen, "Strucny prehl'ad dejin slovenskeho casopisectva v Kanade," Zoe. cit., p. 98-110. 34. See chapter on religious organization of Canadian Slovaks in SZovenski jezuiti v Kanade (1967). 35. See the chapter on Slovak religious organization in Canada; On Rev. Fuga see also Litercirny AZmanach SZovcika v Amerike (1967). �106 SLOVAKIA 36. See "The Foreign Language Press in Canada," Citizen, Vol. IV, No. 4. 37. The editor of Rozvoj was Kornel Piacek. 38. "All foreign language newspapers in Canada," according to the Citizen, "while they serve to introduce newcomers to life in Canada, also have an interest in keeping alive the native cultures of their readers. With this end in view, the papers encourage, publicize and promote cultural activities among the members of their respective ethnic groups and provide a medium of expression for literary and other cultural efforts. The editors believe that in this way their papers are making a contribution towards the enrichment of Canadian life." Citizen, Vol. IV, 4, p. 12. 39. A. R. Boyd, Zoe. cit. , p. 45. 40. Such was for instance the case of Nova Vlast' (Montreal, 1934-1948) replaced by the Czech weekly Novy Domov. 41. The favorite accusation was that of fascism and nazism. Unscrupulous attacks on the publisher of the Slovenske Slovo, led to investigations by Canadian authorities in 1940. The publisher, Juraj Kleskeii, was cleared, but refrained from further publishing of the newspaper. See K. culen, Zoe. cit., p. 101. 42. See Slovenska Obrana (Scranton, Pa.) , Nov. 3, 1939, Nov. 10, 1939, and Nov. 14, 1939, articles by Andrew Potocky, Secretary general of the Canadian Slovak League, M. Cano and Stefan J esenak as well as editorials. The newpapers which did not shy away from denunciations were according to Slovenska Obrana, Nova Vlast' and the leftist Hlas nudu. 43. Boyd, Zoe. cit., p. 46. 44. The author was for two terms President of the Canadian Ethnic Press Association and First Vice-President of the Canada Ethnic Press Federation, J. Novak, and others served on the board. 45. There were two cases of legal action as a result of these struggles. See K. culen "Slovaci v Kanade," Kalendar KSL for 1953, p. 102, Slovenske Bratstvo, Dec. 29, 1939 and Kanadsky Slovak, March 17, 1962 and fall . 46. See Kirschbaum, Slovakia - Nation at the Crossroads of Central Europe, p. 130-144 and p. 268-270. 47. See K. culen, Zoe. cit. , p. 101. 48. At the beginning of the War it was mainly the Slovak weekly Slovenske Bratstvo and from 1942 the Kanadsky Slovak which defended the Slovak point of view. The Czech and Czechoslovak point of view was advocated before and during the War by the weeklies Nova Vlast' and later by Nase Hlasy. 49. Cf. V. Turek, Op. cit., p. 27. �SLOVAKIA 107 SLOVAK LANGUAGE PRESS IN CANADA Newspapers (1910). Published by Andrew Lukca and Juraj Klesken in Blairmore, Alberta. Kanadske Noviny (Canadian News) (1928-1933). Published in Montreal. The newspaper changed publishers, editors and political lines several times. It was founded by J. Pribil. Nase Slovo (Our Word) (1931-1932). Published in Toronto, it was the first newspaper of Slovak communists. Robotnicke Slovo (Workers' Word) (1931-1932). Successor to Nase Slavo, it was published and edited by J. Huska. Hlas Dudu (The People's Voice) (1932-1940). Successor to Robotnicke Slovo, it was suspended in 1940 by Canadian authorities. Hlas Naroda (The Voice of the Nation) (1932-1934). I,t was published by Juraj Klesken in Blairmore. Nasa Mladez (Our Youth) (1932-1934). A supplement to Hlas Naroda and also published in Blairmore. Slovak v Kanade (The Slovak in Canada) (1933-1939). Published in Montreal by G. Kurdel and edited by F. Kvetan, it aimed at reflecting the political orientation of Slovak immigrants in Canada and opposed "Czechoslovak" theses. Nova Vlasf (New Homeland) (1934-1948). Founded in Montreal, its aims was to foster the official Czechoslovak ideology among Slovak and Czech immigrants in Canada. Slovensky Priekopnik (The Slovak Pioneer) (1939-1943). Edited by S. Zuber, it was considered by some to be the successor to Slovak Slovenske Slovo (The Slovak Word) v Kanade. Obeznik Slovenskeho Priekopnika (The Circular of the Slovak Pioneer) (1939). A tabloid which ceased to exist after a few issues. Slovenske Bratstvo (Slovak Brotherhood). Edited by Stefan Hreha, in its subtitle, it claimed to be the successor to Slovak v Kanade and for a short time was the official newspaper of the Canadian Slovak League. Slovenske Slovo (The Slovak Word) (1940-19 ). Published anew by Klesken in Blairmore, its purpose was to refute the attacks against the Slovak Republic made by Nova Vlast' and some communist newspapers. Nase Slovo (Our Word) (1941-1945). It succeeded Hlas Dudu when the Soviet Union joined the camp of the Allies. Dudove Zvesti (The People's News) (1945). Its present editor is J. f>uriancik and it is the mouthpiece of Slovak communists. Kanadsky Slovak (The Slovak Canadian) (1942). Founded during the war, it became the official organ of the Canadian Slovak League. It was founded in Montreal. In 1952 it was transferred to Winnipeg and in 1958 to Toronto. �108 SLOVAKIA Slovensky Hlas (The Slovak Voice) (1949). Founded in Windsor, Ontario, as the organ of the Canadian Slovak Benefit Society. In 1951 it was transferred to Toronto. It is politically independent. Almanacs and Periodicals Prvy Kalendar Kanadskych Slovcikov (First Almanac of Slovak Canadians) (1934-1939) . It had only two issues. Cudovy Kalendar pre Kanadu (People's Almanac for Canada) (1939) . Died with the first issue. Neis Zivot (Our Life) (1950). Organ of the Slovak Liberation Committee in Canada, it was published by Dr. Paul Fundarek. Ekonomi ka ( Economics ) (1948-1949). Published by Stanislav Zuber in Toronto, this monthly's aim was to inform Slovaks in Canada on economic problems. Rozvoj (Progress) (1950-1951). A mimeographed monthly under the direction of K. Piacek for cultural and literary works. Domovina (Homeland) (1952-1954). Mimeographed periodical of the Slovak Liberation Committee in Toronto, it was edited by Julius Ksinan. Kalendar Kanadskej Slovenskej Ligy ( Almanac of the Canadian Slovak League) (1952). Published in Winnipeg, its first editor was Konstantin culen. Domobrana (Home Defense) (1953) . Organ of the Union of Slovak Combattants, it was first edited by Jan Doransky in Montreal, later transferred to Toronto and then to the United States. Pamiitnica Kanadskeho Slovenskeho Podporneho Spolku a Kalendar Slovenskeho Hlasu ( Souvenir Book of the Canadian Slovak Benefit Society and Almanac of the Slovak Voice) (1957) . Edited by 0 . M. Debnarkin. Nase Snahy (Our Goals) (1965). Bi-monthly published in Toronto and sponsored by The Permanent Conference of Slovak Democratic Exiles. Religious Publications Ave Maria (1938-1939) . Published in Montreal by J . Skoda and an anonymous board of editors. Maria (1955- ) . Founded by Rev. M. Rusnak and Rev. F. Fuga, it serves the religious needs of Greek Catholic Slovaks in Canada and the U.S.A. Slovenski Jezuiti v Kanade (Slovak Jesuits in Canada) (1958). Published annually by the Slovak Jesuit Missionary Centre in Galt, Ontario. � 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 1968, Vol. 18 Description An account of the resource Vol. 18 (No. 41), 1968. 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 1968 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 78 SLOVAKIA THE SLOVAK PRESS IN CANADA J. M. Kirschbaum, Ph.D. For a long time the Slovak press in Canada was unknown even to such prominent experts on the life of the ethnic groups in Canada as Prof. Watson Kirkconnell. Writing in 1939 about the European-Canadians and their attitudes towards European problems during the 1938-1939 period, he made the following observation: The last census showed 30,401 Czechs and Slovaks, but did not subdivide these two distinct groups further. Until last spring there was a Czech weekly paper, ceske Noviny ("The Czech News"), published in Montreal, but it gave up the ghost about the time that Germany seized Bohemia, apparently expiring as a result of the withdrawal of financial support through the Czech Consulate-General, The Slovaks had no separate press, but there were many Canadian members of the Slovak League of America, which claims a membership of 300,000 and is bitterly anti-Czech and anti-Benesh.1 In fact, before 1939 there had existed, for shorter or longer periods of time, at least fourteen Slovak newspapers2 and periodicals. The first almanac of Canadian Slovaks, which included a short history of Slovak organizations in Canada had been published five years before the appearance of Prof. Kirkconnell's book; it seems, however, that Slovak newspapers and publications apparently had not come to the attention of Canadians. Speaking later to the annual meeting of the Canadian Historical Association, in his survey of the foreign language press, Prof. Kirkconnell drew quite a favorable picture of the Slovak press in Canada.3 It had existed, according to his report, before the Czechs or the Baltic peoples had their press in Canada and in "per capita" circulation before the Second World War, it ranked sixth among the foreign language newspapers. With 1.04 papers per home of four persons, it was ahead of Ukrainian, Polish, Russian, German, Italian press, and high above the national average. Prof. Kirkconnell explained this by remarking that "the height of the Finnish, Hungarian and Slovak figures is due to the fact that the bulk of these communities consist of post-war emigres, who brought with them political grievances that tend, at this short removal in time, to preserve their sense of identity." 4 He also pointed out that SLOVAKIA 79 "in some cases the foreign language press reflected in Canada the political divisions within the European countries, and that that many of these papers were edited here by political exiles who are men of considerable education."5 Although Slovak newspapers and periodicals from the United States were available for the small and scattered Slovak ethnic group, it did not prevent Slovak immigrants from publishing their own newspapers, periodicals and almanacs. In fact the first Slovak newspaper appeared in Canada in 19106 when the number of Slovaks in Canada was still very small and practically no Canadian Slovak fraternal organization existed yet on Canadian soil. With the influx of immigrants after the First World War not only the number of newspapers increased, but also the quality of the Slovak language press constantly improved. There were not less than 13 newspapers and periodicals published for shorter or longer periods, before the Second World War. Altogether 30 newspapers and periodicals in the Slovak language appeared in Canada between 1910 and 1967.7 This certainly contradicts the myth that the Slovaks who came to Canada before the Second World War were mostly illiterate8 and uninterested in public affairs. While some of the newspapers were of little importance or service to the Slovak community in Canada, others performed very useful tasks. In many respects the Slovak language press is the only source of information for history of Slovaks in Canada. It relates the struggles, hardships, successes and political divisions of the Slovak ethnic group i.n this country. Many problems of the first groups of Slovak immigrants in Canada were recorded perhaps in a crude but sincere manner in these newspapers or monthlies. They were founded to serve the needs of the immigrants who did not read the English or French press, and reflected the problems of a community, struggling with difficulties created by the language barrier and unfamiliar surroundings. The papers were also the principal source of information on the activities of the associations, parishes as well as on the political views on Slovak and Canadian affairs. Slovak immigrants to Canada came divided along political, as well as religious lines, and continued to fight their old battles on Canadian soil in their press and in their associations. Unfortunately, it is impossible to find 80 SLOVAKIA a copy of some of the thirty periodicals and newspapers published in various parts of Canada during the past 57 years. It is only through indirect sources that the existence and political orientation of some periodicals has been known, for neither the Slovak organizations nor the Canadian libraries were interested in collecting them. In fact , Canadian libraries and press directories showed a lack of interest in the foreign language press and confined their attention to newspapers alone, neglecting minor publications. The need for a Slovak press in Canada, where vast distances separated the small, scattered communities of Slovak farmers and miners, is understandable. Their desire to communicate with their countrymen and the fear of loneliness and isolation explain why so many newspapers, publications, printed or mimeographed have appeared during the last 57 years . This also explains why the first Slovak newspaper, and even some later ones, started in Alberta's mining towns. Only from the 1930's on, when the second wave of Slovak immigrants moved from farms and mining towns to the industrial centres, Toronto and Montreal became the centres of the Slovak language press. The largest Slovak newspaper, Kanadsky Slovak began its publication in Montreal in 1942, then in 1952 it was moved for a few years to Winnipeg and finally settled in 1958, in Toronto. Of the thirty Slovak newspapers, periodicals and publications, fourteen were founded in Toronto and the three existing newspapers, the present almanacs and the monthly Maria, as well as books, have been published for the past eight years in Toronto. Seven Slovak publications were founded and published for some time in Montreal. The three existing newspapers are sponsored by the Slovak Canadian fraternal organizations; the Canadian Slovak League publishes Kanadsky Slovak; the Canadian Slovak Benefit Society publishes Slovensky Hlas, and the leftist Slovak Benefit Society of Canada publishes Eudove Zvesti. All three newspapers promote the aims of their association, however, they also perform certain other tasks, and each of them has a distinct political line in Slovak and Canadian affairs. We can apply to the Slovak . language press what has been said of the ethnic press in Canada in general: SLOVAKIA 81 While the ethnic periodicals, by keeping up the reader's interest of his native country, emphasize his national consciousness and separate national identity, they help him at the same time to familiarize himself with the new country of his residence.9 From their modest beginning· when Slovak newspapers aimed at informing the scattered groups of miners or farmers of their problems and whereabouts, the Slovak language press progressed with years to more important and more diversified tasks. If the prime concern of the early Slovak newspapers was to make the life of immigrants, unfamiliar with their new country, its people, language and institutions, less lonely, by giving them information about their countrymen and opportunities for work in other parts of the country, the later newspapers helped to establish associations, parishes and became an important instrument of integration. At the same time the newspapers kept Slovak immigrants informed about their country of origin, by printing information which they could not find in Canadian press, and kept them also informed on Canada, because many did not read either English or French. In fact for a long time Slovak newspapers remained the principal source of information for Slovak immigrants about Canadian matters. Following the example of Slovak newspapers in the United States, the Slovak press in Canada began very soon to dedicate a substantial part of each newspaper to two issues: 1) the desire to keep alive or awaken national consciousness of Slovak immigrants, and 2) the necessity to fight the battles in which the Slovak people were involved in Czecho-Slovakia. The absence of censorship, which in Czecho-Slovakia silenced Slovak newspapers or permitted their publication with half-pages white 10 allowed Slovak newspapers in Canada to voice freely the grievances of the Slovak people and to fight vehemently for the political or social equality of Slovaks in their homeland. The feeling that they were allowed to express their views without hindrance, is reflected in all Slovak newspapers in Canada and one has to admire the warm patriotism and interest in cultural and political problems shown by the editors and contributors, whose education rarely went beyond high-school level. As was the case of the Slovak newspapers in the United States, the Slovak language press in Canada became an instrument which helped the immigrants to find more 82 SLOVAKIA comfortable places of living in their new country. On the other hand some Canadian Slovak newspapers also became advocates of autonomy and self-determination for Slovakia, while others followed the official policy of Prague governments or voiced their leanings to communism. In view of the role which Slovak associations and newspapers played in promoting the liberation of Slovakia from foreign domination, the publication and support of newspapers abroad was regarded by the Slovak people as a mark of patriotism, and to take a stand or to write in favor of freedom or equality of political rights for Slovakia was considered the moral duty of every Slovak abroad. This can partly explain the sacrifices which the Slovaks in Canada or in other parts of the world were willing to make to publish and maintain their press, and it also explains their continuous interest in the affairs of their country of origin. Long considered the free spokesmen of the Slovak nation, Slovaks abroad, including those in Canada, could not remain silent, especially after the Second World War when a communist system was imposed on the Slovak people. As a result, the Slovak press in Canada has reacted vehemently against the enslavement of their country of origin in the belief that by fighting communism it defended at the same time, freedom and democracy in Canada. Political involvement of Slovak language press in Canada after the Second World War became stronger than ever before, for another reason. Among the Slovak immigrants who came to Canada in the post-war period, many were not only interested in politics, but also left Slovakia for political reasons. Many of these new immigrants began to contribute political articles to the existing newspapers, and in both non-communist newspapers the new immigrants became editors (K. culen, J. Zvonar, J. Kutka and S. Reistetter in Kanadsky Slovak, M. Ferik, L. Gorekand, 0. M. Debnarkin in Slovensky Hlas). Slovak language press in Canada acquired more and more political character, and with the intensification of the Cold War and with the rising furror of the communist terror in Slovakia it became, once again, a spokesman for Slovakia. The influx of educated immigrants gave the Slovak newspapers at the same time, a higher level in cultural SLOVAKIA 83 matters, since some of the known Slovak writers, poets and scholars used the newspapers for publishing their poetry, short novels and essays. Although not all immigrants of the previous waves liked the new face of their papers, the leaders and delegates of the Canadian Slovak League always approved the new line. During the past few years the Slovak newspapers and the almanacs or kalendars, published by the associations which sponsor the newspapers as well, have dedicated, however, more and more space to Canadian or organizational issues, and in order to interest the Canadian-born generations, the Kanadsky Slovak has regularly published an English corner. At times there have been articles in English even on the front page, if the issue treated was supposed to interest or to be brought to the attention of the Government or of other ethnic groups. This tendency to pay more attention to the problems of the community is a general trend among the ethnic press in Canada. 11 While conserving the right to speak for the countries enslaved by communism and to criticise the communist regimes, many ethnic newspapers acknowledged the fact that the ethnic groups are becoming closer to Canada than to their countries of origin. Some of them try to help their homelands by stressing their loyalty to Canada and by making appeals to the Canadian Government to voice their aspirations. 12 The Slovak language press assumed certain other duties-such as helping its readers to overcome educational shortcomings resulting from the political situation in Slovakia during the period of foreign rule, and also trying to preserve cultural values threatened by hostile pressures. The Slovak-Canadian periodicals performed these duties conscientiously, in addition to the standard functions of newspapers serving a certain area. This duality of function is perhaps the most striking feature of the Slovak-Canadian press. Practically all the newspapers and almanacs contained not only information, but also articles on cultural and historical matters as well as poetry, short novels, epigrams and other writings. For several Slovak writers, poets and politicians the Slovak language press has been the tribune for their ideas and has helped them to overcome the feelings of futility and discouragement, which many immig- 84 SLOVAKIA rant intellectuals have experienced after their arrival in Canada. And since the Slovak people in Slovakia expected that their countrymen everywhere, especially on the American continent, would not only maintain their national heritage but also help Slovakia to obtain political freedom, and after the Second World War to regain national independence, the newspapers and almanacs have been giving· much space to the general problems of communism and democracy and to specific Slovak problems. From the very beginning the Slovak press was kept alive mostly by the sacrifices and selfless dedication of editors and contributors, and by the generous support of its readers. Only later, it was maintained or subsidized by the Slovak associations. At that point, however, Slovak newspapers and periodicals became less independent and more differentiated in their political leanings, so that according to its political colouring and character, the Slovak language press can be divided into the following categories: (a ) The early informatory, non-political Slovak pubcations; (b ) Newspapers collaborating with the Czech group and favouring close ties with Prague, but autonomy for Slovakia; ( c ) Slovak press rejecting co-operation with the Czechs and advocating Slovak independence; (d) Pro-communist publications; (e) Economic, cultural and other short-lived publications; ( f) Religious publications. No doubt a lesser number of newspapers and fewer political divisions would have been preferable, but Slovaks came to Canada divided along political and religious lines. Furthermore, the political developments in Slovakia, the economic and social difficulties of the years of the economic depression and the communist take-over after World War II, perpetuated their disunity. Needless to say, the adversaries of the Slovaks' aspirations for autonomy and later for independence, supported by the consular and diplomatic representatives of Czechoslovakia, used all available means to keep them divided and fighting among themselves, and used the Slovak language press to this end. SLOVAKIA 85 Newspapers and Periodicals The history of the Slovak language press in Canada begins with a newspaper called Slovenske Slovo (The Slovak Word ), published in Blairmore, Alta., by Andrew Lukca and Juraj Klesken13 in 1910. There is no evidence that the early Slovak immigrants in Canada published their own newspaper before this date. Slovak newspapers from the United States apparently satisfied the need of the scattered Slovak communities to read in their own language about Canada or Slovakia. Later, however, there was publishing activity which may surprise anyone who is acquainted with the difficulties of the Slovak immigrants in Canada, and with their small numbers. We can divide the survey of the Slovak newspapers into three periods, each corresponding with the individual waves of immigration. The first period was limited to the Canadian West and the Slovak Word is the only newspaper which was published and edited by Canadian Slovaks in that period. Modest in appearance and published at irregular intervals in a small tabloid form, the first issue of the Slovenske Slovo appeared in May 1910. Both the publisher and the editor came to Blairmore from Chicago, Ill., to join hundreds of Slovak miners who at that time worked in coal mines of the Crow's Nest Pass area. It was impossible to find out how long this first Slovak newspaper was published or how many issues appeared. As for the contents, the publication was written in a strong patriotic spirit, similar to that of Slovak newspapers in the United States before the First World War. The second period was not limited g·e ographically. Montreal and Toronto became the centres of Slovak publishing activity as well as of the successive disappearance of newspapers which had started with more enthusiasm than financial backing. Some of these newspapers, such as Kanadske Noviny for instance, ceased publication, but the newspapers which replaced them, did not start as new ones, but as a continuation of previous publications. As a result we find that Slovak v Kanade started as Volume VI, or Slovenske Bratstvo as Volume XII. The second period extends from 1928 to the end of the Second World War and was also marked by the birth of numerous religious periodicals, almanacs and tabloids. Juraj Klesken himself 86 SLOVAKIA made two more attempts at reviving a newspaper in the Canadian West, but failed, as did all individual undertakings in this field in Montreal or Toronto. The newspapers achieved more stability only when they became official organs of the fraternal organizations. At that time Slovak newspapers and periodicals also became divided along the political lines, and the divisions survive to this day. The second, as later the third period, was turbulent at times, full of polemics, bitter invective and in some instances even law suits resulting from partisan polemics and attacks. The atmosphere in the Slovak press was particularly poisoned by hate, denunciations and invectives in 1939 and during the war years, and again from 1948, when the Slovak and Czech political refugees arrived in Canada. In spite of denunciations by the Czech, communist and Czechoslovak press, no Canadian Slovak newspaper was prohibited by the Canadian Government except the communist one. The prohibition of the circulation of Slovak American newspapers, which was imposed upon the weekly Jednota and the bi-weekly Slovenskd Obrana as a result of false accusations, by the Czech and Czechoslovak newspapers, that they spread or advocated Nazism, was suspended14 shortly after it was put into effect. It created, however, an atmosphere of bitterness, and mutual accusations which divided the Slovak community for the entire period of the war. However, a positive result was forthcoming as far as Slovaks in Canada were concerned, as the Government authorities were skeptical from then on about subsequent denunciations of Slovaks by the Czech or communist newspapers. The First World War and the limited immigration to Canada from Slovakia until 1926 interrupted the publishing activity among Slovaks. Only the influx of Slovak immigrants around 1928, among whom many were involved in the post-war political and social clashes in Slovakia, led to the founding of new Slovak newspapers. The strongest centres for publishing activity in the period were Montreal, where from 1928 to 1939 five newspapers and one periodical were founded, and Toronto, where the small group of Slovak communists made three successive attempts at pub- SLOVAKIA 87 lishing newspapers. All these newspapers represented political and ideological differentiation of Slovak immigrants and can be divided into three categories: ( 1) Newspapers with Slovak patriotic leanings, defending the right of the Slovak people to political autonomy and their own cultural development; (2) Newspapers supporting the official ideology of Prague governments and advocating Czechoslovak national, linguistic and cultural unity; (3) Newspapers with socialist and communist tendencies. Some newspapers changed their original political orientation, while others stood firmly on their ideological ground. Kanadske Noviny (Canadian News) was the first newspaper of this period. Published in Montreal from 1928 to 1933, the newspaper changed publishers, editors and political lines several times. The founder, J . Pribil, was the owner of a travel and colonization agency, and when faced with a deficit, he sold the newspaper to his employees. They in turn sold it to the publishers of New Yorksky Dennik and the last owner was Gabriel Kurdel, whom we mentioned in connection with the first Slovak organization in Canada. Originally the newspaper advocated a close political union between Slovaks and Czechs along the lines of the official policy of Prague's government and its subtitle was: "Czechoslovak Weekly". G. Kurdel, after taking over the ownership, changed not only the political orientation of the newspaper, but also its name, to Slovak v Kanade. The editors, Stanislav Zuber and Martin Dudak, were also replaced. Slovak v Kanade (The Slovak in Canada) was published in Montreal from 1933 to 1939 and in some way it may be considered as a forerunner of Kanadsky Slovak. 1~ Kurdel, the publisher as well as the editor, Frantisek Kvetan, endeavoured to give the Slovak immigrants in Canada a newspaper which would reflect their political orientation and clear the confusion created by the official Czechoslovak propaganda in the ranks of Slovak Canadians. Unfortunately the financial burden was too heavy on the publisher, and the newspaper ceased publication on the threshold of the Second World War. Slovensky Priekopnik (The Slovak Pioneer) was, according to some sources,16 the successor of Slovak v Kana- 88 SLOVAKIA de and its editor, Stanislav Zuber, tried to keep its con- tents in line with the feelings and thinking of the majority of Slovak immigrants, who were not willing to support blindly the Czecho-Slovak National Association, which served the aims of the Czechoslovak government-in-exile. A legal suit against the newspaper by the President of the Association added to its financial difficulties and the newspaper discontinued publication in October 1943.17 A tabloid called Obeznik Slovenskeho Priekopnika (The circular of the Slovak Pioneer) also ceased to exist after a few issues. Slovenske Bratstvo (Slovak Brotherhood) was also published in Montreal as "The Democratic organ of the Slovaks in Canada" and it claimed in its subtitle to be the successor to the weekly Slovak in Canada. For a short time the Canadian Slovak League used Slovenske Bratstvo as its official newspaper. The newspaper and its editor, Stefan Hreha, however, were unscrupulously attacked by the newspaper Nova Vlast' and denounced in Ottawa. The apparent aim of the newspaper Nova Vlast' as well as of the former Consul General of Czechoslovakia in Canada, was to obtain the prohibition of Slovenske Bratstvo as well as the suspension of the circulation of all Slovak newspapers from the United States which did not support the political program of Dr. Benes. 18 Nova Vlast' (New Homeland) was founded in 1934 with the apparent aim of fostering the official Czechoslovak ideology among Slovak and Czech immigrants in Canada. From 1928 there was among Slovak immigrants a clear political differentiation, and not only the large group of those who adhered to the Slovak autonomist movement, but also the communist group, were sometimes critical of Prague's official policy. Backed by the consular and diplomatic representatives of Czechoslovakia Nova Vlast' sought to keep Slovak immigrants "faithful" to the concept of the ethnic and linguistic unity of the Czechs and Slovaks and resulting assimilation of the Slovak people. For some time Nova Vlast' avoided an open clash and published the official news of the First Slovak Mutual Benefit Society of Kirkland Lake .19 From 1939 however, the newspaper became aggressive toward everyone who did not agree with the political program of the Czech and Slovak exiled groups in England. The members of the Canadian Slovak League SLOVAKIA 89 and the editors of the newspapers which defended the right of Slovaks to self-determination were particularly attacked and unscrupulously denounced by Nova Vlast'. Until 1936 the newspaper had been edited by Stanislav Zuber, who for some time had been the editor of The Slovak Pioneer, But from 1936, an employee of the Bank of Commerce, Martin Dudak, was the responsible editor, and was helped by the former Consul General of Czechoslovakia, Dr. F. Pavlasek. In 1932 Juraj Kleskefl made another attempt at publishing a newspaper in the west. It was called Hlas Naroda (The Voice of the Nation) and was published in Blairmore, Alberta, from 1932 to 1934. Hlas Naroda was a small-sized publication on 4 pages, which included a supplement called Nasa Mladez (Our Youth). Financial difficulties caused the disappearance of both in 1934. However, Klesken was not a man to be easily discouraged. Since from 1934 not only the Czechoslovak newspaper Nova Vlast', but also the communist newspaper had attacked the patriotic group of Slovak immigrants, Kleskefl started publication in 1940, of Slovenske Slovo (The Slovak Word). The leading articles were written in English by well-known Slovaks from the United States and Canada: Dr. P. P. Hletko, S. Palickar and F . Zeman. The articles shed new light not only on the Slovak leaders of the pre-war period but also on the Slovak Republic and its President, Dr. J. Tiso, which the adversaries of Slovakia used as a pretext to accuse the publisher of spreading and advocating nazism. Kleskefl was cleared by Canadian authorities, but he discontinued publication of his newspaper. This was the third and last attempt at publishing a Slovak newspaper in the Canadian West. The small group of Slovak communists started publication of their first newspaper in 1931. The name of the mimeographed publication was Nase Slovo (Our Word) and it was published in Toronto. According to one of the editors of the Communist press in Canada, J . f>uriancik, this "labour-progressive" newspaper looked miserable, as miserable as those who contributed their last nickels for its first issue. It was mimeographed on simple sheets and not in newspaper size." 20 A year later its name was changed to Robotnicke Slovo (Workers' Word) and was printed as a regular newspaper. The publisher and editor of the Work- 90 SLOVAKIA ers' Word was J. Huska. These two first leftist newspapers were socialist rather than communist in their contents and orientation. When the Slovak communists organized their Slovenske Kulturne Sdruzenie (Slovak Cultural Association), the newspaper Robotnicke Slovo changed its name to Hlas Eudu (The People's Voice). It was published twice a week and both the Slovak Cultural Association and the newspapers adhered to communist ideology. The communist movement has never had many supporters among Slovak immigrants in Canada. To attract members they formed front organizations like Slovenske Kulturne Sdruzenie or various clubs 21 and used slogans of social justice, progress, peace and democracy. Around 1939 the newspaper Hlas Eudu edited by Cyprian Slimak, became, however, an agressive tool of communist propaganda among Slovak immigrants in Canada22 and as a result, the Canadian authorities ordered its suspension in 1940. The Canadian Government, using its war-time emergency powers, prohibited all communist newspapers and dissolved communist organizations. When the Soviet Union joined the camp of the Western Allies in 1941, Slovak leftist groups started publication of Nase Slovo (Our Word) as a continuation of Hlas Eudu. At the end of the war the newspaper changed its name to Eudove Zvesti ( People's News ) and has survived until the present time, edited by J. f>uriancik for the past two decades. The newspaper remained faithful to its program and to the Prague government even in the period of the socalled cult of personality, when the most prominent Slovak communists were either hanged or sent to jail for life by the Czechoslovakian leaders of the Communist Party. Unlike the other Slovak newspapers, the Slovak communist press in Canada did not gain any of the post-war educated immigrants as contributors or editors. Slovak communist newspapers were published and edited by devoted organizers of the communist movement whose partisan zeal overshadowed their education. How much financial help or how many articles for printing the communist press received from Czechoslovakia, is hard to say. Yet many articles seem to indicate that they were written by educated people. Eudove Zvesti never failed to publish SLOVAKIA 91 attacks and smear propaganda, originated in Prague, against Slovaks in Canada who disagreed either with the communist or the Czech rule in Slovakia, which would indicate that the newspaper is more concerned with how to please the Prague government than to serve the interest of the Slovak immigrants in Canada. We may say about the Slovak language communist press what Turek recorded on the Polish language press in Canada, that: The Polish-language communist press in Canada, as well as the whole party organization, were always characterized by strict discipline, efficient organization and fanatical dedication on the part of the leaders. Needless to add, the general policy was always dictated from outside, and the local leadership was charged only with its execution. Thanks to this rigid organization and discipline, the communist group managed to maintain for thirty years its own press, even though it never had a wide circulation and could not rely on any substantial advertising revenue.23 The founding of Kanadsky Slovak in 1942 was the result of political struggles within the Slovak cummunity in Canada. After the communist group established its press and the Czechoslovak group received strong support from the Czech representatives of the exiled Czech politicians in London, the large part of Canadian Slovaks who were neither pro-communist nor pro-Czech felt an urgent need for their own newspaper. The leaders and members of the Canadian Slovak League were particularly anxious to have an instrument of defense against the combined attacks of the pro-communist and pro-Czech press. Not only did some of them suffer as a result of denunciations by the proCzech and pro-communist newspapers, but also they could not look on, inactive, at the political confusion created among Canadian Slovaks by portraying inaccurately the situation in Slovakia. The decision to publish their own newspaper was taken at the Fifth Congress of the Canadian Slovak League, held on September 8-10, 1941.24 The first issue was published on March 5, 1942 in Montreal and, as evidenced by its contents, there was no doubt that it was published in order to defend the members of the League against accusations by the leftist and Czechoslovak newspapers. It was decided that the newspaper should be published in Slovak "national and 92 SLOVAKIA Christian spirit",25 which the publication has endeavoured to do for the past 26 years. The first editor of Kanadsky Slovak was a young, courageous newspaperman, Stefan Hreha, who had previously edited Slovenske Bratstvo. During his military service he was replaced by Frantisek Kvetan until 1946, when Hreha again took up his duties. 26 In 1949 the Eight Congress of the League elected Konstantin Culen, a well-known journalist and author of numerous works on cultural and political history, 27 as assistant editor. In 1952 the newspaper was transferred to Winnipeg, where the League purchased a printing shop, and Culen became the editor-inchief of the newspaper, as well as of the Kalendar Kanadskej Slovenskej Ligy, which began publication in 1953. From Winnipeg and from 1958 in Toronto, Kanadsky Slovak was edited exclusively by the political refugees. Among those in Winnipeg were the poet Jozef Zvonar-Tien, Jozef Kutka and for a decade now, Stefan Reistetter, whose original profession was teaching, but who had been attracted by politics and journalism in Slovakia. Also among the contributors for the past 20 years were mostly the postwar immigrants, even though the "old guard" - Andrew Kucera, Andrew Potocky, Pavol Blaho and others - regularly sent contributions on special occasions. The founding of Kanadsky Slovak closed the second period of the Slovak language press in Canada. A new period opened in 1949 when the second largest Slovak organization, the Canadian Slovak Benefit Society began publishing its official organ, Slovensky Hlas in Windsor. 2 " In the third period several periodicals started publication and some survived. The number of newspapers was stabilized, as were their political and ideological leanings and programs. The standards of the newspapers improved, except for the communist weekly, owing to a large number of contributors from among the political refugees . At the outset, Slovensky Hlas was published on four pages and was concerned primarily with organizational matters. In 1951 it was transferred to Toronto and enlarged to eight pages with varied contents, and has been published monthly. Without fighting party politics it informs its readers in an objective way on Canadian and Slovak problems. Rooted in tradition of Slovak newspapers SLOVAKIA 93 as they originally appeared in Canada or in the United States, it dedicates a substantial part to Slovak cultural and national issues, in order to keep Slovak national consciousness alive, then to the matters of the association which is its sponsor and publisher. Slovensky Hlas was edited in Windsor by J.M. Gerez, Jr. , and :r.udovft Garek. After its transfer to Toronto, Mikulas Ferik and the poet Ondrej M. Debnarkin29 took over the editorial duties. Debnarkin also edited the almanacs published by the Canadian Slovak Benefit Soci ety while Garek became Secretary General of the Societ y . Both are postwar immigrants to Canada. Apart from Slovensky Hlas several short-lived mimeographed monthlies were published in the post-war period. In 1948 Stanislav Zuber began publishing a monthly under the name E konomia. According to cul en the original plan of Zuber was to put into the hands of Slovak immigrants a periodical dedicated to economic problems, but there was not enough interest for such an undertaking and the experiment did not prove successful. E konomia ceased to appear in its second year. 30 The second monthly was published in Toronto by Dr. Paul Fundarek, another member of the group of young educated Slovaks who preferred exile to the submission to communism. The name of the publication was Nds zivot ( Our Life) and it was considered an official organ of the Slovak Liberation Committee in Canada. Born of enthusiasm, but without funds, it was short-lived, ceasing publication with its tenth issue. In 1952 the group of members of the Slovak Liberation Committee in Toronto began to publish a mimeographed periodical Domovina ( Homeland ) . Its editor was a young lawyer, Julius Ksinan, who made a name for himsef in Slovakia in the post-war years by courageously defending one of the members of the Slovak government, Alexander Mach. His attempts at making a career in journalism were not, however, very successful. The publication reflected the turbulent period among Slovak exiles but without contributing positively to political or cultural activities of Slovaks in Canada, it suffered the fate of its predecessor Nds zivot and ceased to exist in 1954. In 1953 the Union of Slovak Combattants made an at- 94 SLOVAKIA tempt at founding a new periodical in a mimeographed form. The publication was called Domobrana (Home Defense) and was edited by the poet Jan Doransky in Montreal. Later it was transferred to Toronto and published at irregular intervals, in a printed form. After its transfer to Toronto Domobrana was even more intolerant and defamatory than Domovina in its attacks on the leaders of the Slovak exiles who disagreed with the methods and views of the Union of Slovak Combattants. It was later transferred to the United States. As A. R. Boyd wrote on ethnic press in Canada, the Slovak language press "has had a chequered career. The rates of birth and mortality have been high. [But] it was inevitable that [it] should have made its appearance." 31 It was kept alive mostly by idealism and unpaid work as well as monetary contributions by its readers, leaders of the associations and underpaid editors. Fund raising on every possible occasion, such as weddings, banquets, picnics, was for a long time one of the main sources of revenue for covering the publishing expenses. With a few exceptions all the editors had to have another job in order to earn enough money to live. Almanacs and Religious and Cultural Periodicals Among Slovak language publications in Canada, almanac or "kalendar", published by Slovak organizations, and religious monthlies or souvenir books published by parishes played an important part socially and in education. Both monthlies and almanacs were favoured reading of the Slovak rural population in Europe, and the habit of having something to read for the long winter evenings, was brought to Canada and preserved. It was, perhaps, even more important in Canada because the almanacs and souvenir books as well as the religious monthlies published information not only on the Slovak communities in Canada, but also articles and pictures about the life of Canadian Slovaks, in addition to the educational articles, short novels and patriotics, moralistic or religious poetry. If this kind of publication appeared in Canada in the Slovak language comparatively late (the first in 1934) or if it was not numerous, the reason can be found in the distribution of well-established publications of a similar type SLOVAKIA 95 from the United States. Some Slovak immigrants also received almanacs and religious monthlies from Slovakia. As a result their publication in Canada began only after the Slovak associations and parishes were established. In their appearance and content, they followed the pattern of their Slovak American counterparts as well as that of almanacs published in Slovakia. The first almanac was published in 1934 under the title Prvy Kalenddr Kanadskych Slovdkov na rok 1934. It approached its readers with the slogan "May brotherhood and concord prevail among us" and was edited by a group of well-known organizers of Slovak community life: G. Kurdel, F. Zeman, J. Pavlovic, F. Kvetan and Rev. Urban Koval. According to the introductory note, the almanac was not sponsored by any fraternal organization, as was the case later, but by a "Slovak Publishing Company". This first almanac contains valuable information on the life and organizational activities of Slovak immigrants in Canada before 1934. There are articles from practically all provinces on the founding and activities of fraternal societies and parishes, with pictures of their leaders and members. The almanac also published a survey of the history of Canada with photographs of the Parliament Buildings in Ottawa, Regina and Victoria and several general views of the cities of Montreal, Toronto, Winnipeg, Edmonton and Vancouver, in addition to short novels and verses written either by poets in Slovakia or by Slovak immigrants in Canada. The contributions, even though written by people with limited education, except for F. Zeman, were written in a spirit of idealism and patriotism towards Slovakia but with a strong sense of attachment to Canada. Unfortunately, the Kalenddr was published only twice and several years passed before new almanacs appeared. The next almanac was published in 1939 by the leftist group under the name Eudovy Kalenddr pre Kanadu, ( People's Almanac for Canada) but died out with the first issue. It was concerned mainly with communism and Russia but also dealt with Slovaks and Canada, and contained some useful information on the small group of Slovaks who drifted away from the bulk of Slovak immigrants in Canada, as well as on the first leftist organizations. Slovak almanacs began to appear 96 SLOVAKIA as regular annual publications only after the Second World War. The largest Slovak fraternal organization in Canada, the Canadian Slovak League, began to publish its Kalendar Kanadskej Slovenskej Ligy in 1952. The place of publishing this time was in the west, in Winnipeg. The number of contributors from among the "older" immigrants was comparatively limited in the first issues of the Kalendar since there were already many Slovak writers of the post-war immigration who wrote for newspapers and almanacs published in Canada, the United States and elsewhere.32 The editor, Konstantin Culen, wrote a good deal of the material himself. The contents of the Kalendar were of an informative and educational nature and referred to the organizational life of Slovaks in Canada, as well as to cultural and political problems of Slovakia and Canada. The almanac was later transferred to Toronto and besides the leaders of the Canadian Slovak League many known Slovak writers and publicists regularly contributed articles on cultural or political matters as well as verses and short novels, making the Kalendar an interesting and valuable symposium. At the same time the Kalendar published articles on the hi.story of Slovaks in Canada in Slovak as well as in English and the first survey of the Slovak language press. 33 The Kalendar at all times manifested loyalty to Canada and interest in the fate of the Slovak people whose freedom and independence it strongly advocated. After Culen left for the United States, the Kalendar was edited by ~tefan Reistetter and an anonymous editorial board, composed of the main contributors. The administrative duties and problems with publication and distribution of the Kalendar were in Toronto, mostly in the hands of the Publishing Committee of the Canadian Slovak League. In 1957 the second largest Slovak fraternal organization, the Canadian Slovak Benefit Society, began to publish its yearly almanac. The first issue was published under the name Pamatnica Kanadskeho Slovenskeho Podporneho Spolku a Kalendar Slovenskeho Hlasu (Souvenir Book of the Canadian Slovak Benefit Society and Almanac of the Slovak Voice for the year 1957 ). It seems to have been edited by 0 . M. Debnarkin, although a notice on the front page states that it was prepared by the editorial board of SLOVAKIA 97 the newspaper Slovensky Hlas. The contents of the Pamiitnica deal mostly with the achievements and problems of the Canadian Slovak Benefit Society which in 1952 celebrated its 25th anniversary. It contains articles and pictures of the founders and main leaders of the Society and its branches, and several verses by the editor. The following issues dedicated more space to literary and cultural contributions, though articles on the goals and achievements of the sponsoring society, and contributions by the leaders and members, were always more numerous than in the almanac of the Canadian Slovak League, whose contributors were predominantly the post-war immigrants. Conservative and educational rather than political and literary, the almanac of the Canadian Slovak Benefit Society has fulfilled among its readers, the function of an organizational publication. The leftist Slovak Benefit Society did not issue any regular publication of the type of almanac except for one issue of Eudovy Kalenddr pre Kanadu in 1939 as previously mentioned. Slovak almanacs or "kalendars" in Canada had to compete with similar publications distributed by the Slovak fraternal organizations in the United States. The Canadian members of the First Catholic Slovak Union, have been receiving yearly a well-edited Kalenddr Jednota which, in its 200-300 pages brings articles and pictures from the life of Slovaks in both countries and many educational, literary and political articles referring to Slovakia and to the new homelands of Slovak immigrants. The gymnastical fraternal organization Slovak Catholic Sokol also provides its Canadian members with a yearly almanac of comparatively high literary value, as does the National Slo1Yak Society, which sends to its Canadian members not only a newspaper, but also an almanac, called Ndrodny Kalenddr, which was founded in 1893 and is considered one of the best Slovak almanacs. Slovak religious publications in Canada were not numerous and in view of the religious consciousness of the Slovak people, need some explanation. Basically it was for the same reason mentioned in connection with the religious organization of Canadian Slovaks: immigrants from Slovakia to Canada were either unmarried young men or those 98 SLOVAKIA who were married left their families at home. They moved from one mining camp to another or from the West to the East looking for jobs, and established their permanent home and place of residence very slowly. Another reason was the lack of Slovak priests who would have organized parishes and taken care of the religious needs of Slovak immigrants.34 As a result of this situation, the first Slovak Canadian religious monthly appeared only in 1938. It was published in Montreal, under the name Ave Maria, by J. Skoda, and was in elaborate form and large size, containing many pictures. J. skoda was assisted by an anonymous board of editors. Also called the Slovak Catholic Rosary News in English, it contained religious articles and news on Slovak Catholics in Canada. A new monthly was not published until 1955 when the Slovak priests of the Byzantine Rite came to Canada and began to organize Slovak Greek Catholic parishes. The founders of the monthly, published under the name Maria, were Rev. M. Rusnak, and Rev. Francis Fuga, pastor of the Slovak Greek Catholic parish in Hamilton.35 The publication found a generous supporter in Stephen B. Roman and survived all difficulties over the past eleven years. The circulation amounts to 1,500 copies and it has subscribers also in the United States and other parts of the free world. As all religious foreign language publications in Canada, these two monthlies served not only the religious needs of the Slovak immigrants, but also fulfilled cultural and social functions. They have recorded important events among Slovaks in Canada and in the world, but their main goal remains religious. Nearly all Slovak parishes published on the occasion of their inauguration, or for anniversaries, souvenir books, some of which, as the Souv enir Book of the Fifth Anniversary of the Church of the Visitation in Winnipeg, (Winnipeg, 1955) contained valuable information, not only on the church and its community, but also a short history of Slovak immigrants in Manitoba. Souvenir book of the dedication of the Slovak Greek Catholic Church of Ascension i n Montreal (Montreal, 1962), with many photographs, re- corded the history of the parish as well as of the building of the church. Pamiitnik Tridsat'rocneho Jubilea Zalozenia SLOVAKIA 99 Slovenskej Evanjelickej Lutherdnskej Cirkvi vo Windsore, Ontario, ( Souvenir Book of the Thirtieth Anniversary of the Nativity Slovak Evangelical Lutheran Church in Windsor, Ontario) published in 1958 also brings a short his- torical outline of the life, organization and activities of the Slovak Lutheran community. The "Memorial Book" of the Slovak Lutheran Church of Ascension in Montreal was published in 1954 and contains a short history of the congregation in Slovak and English, as well as pictures from the life of the congregation. The inauguration of the Slovak Junior Seminary in Sarnia was also recorded by the publication of a Souvenir Book as were the inauguration of parishes or churches in Hamilton, Welland and others. The 25th Anniversary of Sts. Cyril and Methodius Roman Catholic parish in Toronto recorded in 1959 in a special souvenir book, also records the history of the parish with many pictures, and is considered to be one of the best publications of its kind. The Slovak Jesuit missionary centre in Galt has produced, since 1958, an annual publication called Slovenski Jezuiti v Kanade, ( Slovak Jesuits in Canada). The publication contains mainly reports on the activities of Slovak Jesuits in Canada and the United States. There have also been, however, articles on general religious problems and in the issue for 1966, Rev. J. Moravsky published a valuable survey of the religious life and organizations of Slovak Catholics in Canada. The value of the publication for the history of Slovaks in Canada, may one day be considerable. In conclusion we may say about the Slovak religious press in Canada what is generally said of the ethnic religious press: The Slovak Canadian and Slovak religious press aimed at serving the religious needs of Slovak communities of various denominations and the papers are very similar to their French, English and other ethnic counterparts. Although some of these religious papers are small, unpretentious and at times published irregularly, their importance is far in excess of their physical characteristics. Like the foreign language press in general, the religious papers provide a link with the past life of the immigrants and thus serve as a stabilizing force in their new environment, particularly with regard to moral standards. 36 As for cultural publications, there was only one attempt at establishing a Slovak non-political, cultural and literary periodical in Canada. The young educated post-war 100 SLOVAKIA immigrants, whose university studies were interrupted by the communist occupation of Slovakia, began to publish in Montreal, in 1949, a monthly called Rozvoj (Progress ) of long standing among university students. 37 It was published in a large-size on 90 pages, and among its contributors were some of the most outstanding intellectuals, poets and writers. After a year the publication ceased to exist. The main reason for its disappearance was the hard beginning of the educated Slovak newcomers to Canada and to other countries. On the other hand, the newspapers and almanacs available in Canada were willing to publish any literary or cultural contribution and there was, therefore, no particular need for a new publication. 38 Along with Rozvoj publication was also discontinued of a series of literary works by young Slovak writers in exile, called Edicia Rozvoja, which started with a drama Krvavy Kriz (Bloody Cross), written by a Slovak poet, Karol Strmefl, under the nom de plume Milan Novak. Slovak-Czech Relations in the Slovak Press in Canada Analyzing the reasons for the founding of the foreign language newspapers in Canada, Allan R. Boyd writes, that primary factor in the establishment of an ethnic press was the growing national consciousness of certain groups whose European territories were under the rule of what they regarded as foreign powers. The pervading nationalism which germinated and grew throughout Europe during the nineteenth century had its reflection in the press established abroad. Ethnic groups abroad always have been concerned with events affecting their homeland, even when that homeland is not engaged in a struggle for liberation or independence. Thus one of the 'raison d'etre' of the press which came into being was the preoccupation with, and propagation of, ideals of national independence." 39 The Slovak language press has been no exception in this regard. Since 1928, when the first Slovak newspaper of the inter-war period appeared in Canada, the Slovak-language press was divided in its attitude towards the policy of Prague government with regard to Slovakia as well as toward the Czech emigrants in Canada. There were many attempts at keeping alive the false pretension that Czechs and Slovaks were one ethnic group and a few newspapers, SLOVAKIA 101 published in the Slovak language, called themselves "Czecho-Slovak weeklies". Those papers, were, however, not many and there was usually behind them either Czech financial support or they served at the same time the needs of the Czech community in Canada. 40 These "Czechoslovak" newspapers defended the Czech policy in Slovakia and systematically wrote against Canadian Slovaks who were on the side of the Slovak political movement which aimed at autonomy and self-rule in Slovakia and stressed that Slovaks were a distinct ethnic and cultural entity. The debates on these subjects were often conducted in strong terms and with little respect for the facts and feelings. Shortly before and during the Second World War some "Czechoslovak" newspapers used demagogy and denunciations41 against those Slovaks who differed in their opinions from the Czech views on the policy of Prague or from the political aims of the Czech exiles in London. The controversy was fought not only in Slovak papers in Canada, but also in the United States, particularly when the Slovaks, who did not agree with the "Czechoslovak" political line, were accused of disloyalty towards Canada.42 As the War progressed the relations between the Slovaks and Czechs in Canada were more tense, and the polemics more heated in the Slovak language press. The continuous attacks by the Czech oriented and pro-Communist Slovak newspapers on the leaders and members of the Canadian Slovak League led finally to the founding of the Kanadsky Slovak, which reflects, from 1942, the other side of the tense Slovak - Czech relations. The fact that Slovakia after the War, instead of receiving independence, not only was returned under the Czech rule but also the Communist system was imposed upon the Slovak people, contributed to an increase of the proportion of space devoted by the Slovak language press in Canada to the problems of the "old country" or in other words to the Slovak-Czech relations. Moreover, the new enslavement of the Slovak people led to the foundation of some periodicals, devoted to the political objectives of Slovak exiles and refugees who arrived in Canada around 1950. They were, however, all short-lived and some of them appeared at irregular intervals, mostly when their anonymous contributors and editors felt the need to attack and slander other Slovak emigres or Slovak organizations. 102 SLOVAKIA Particularly, the contributions of the new immigrants to the older Slovak newspapers concentrated mainly on national problems and on the defence of the Slovak people's right to independence explaining the situation in Slovakia during the war, which has constantly been misrepresented abroad. They were the "forced migrants" about whom R. A. Boyd writes that "naturally their own fate and that of their homeland deeply concerns them." 43 The Slovak language press in Canada has strongly reflected this new situation. As always before, it helped the integration of Slovaks with the mainstream of Canadian life, as well as with other ethnic groups. Some post-war immigrants endeavored even to strengthen the positive attitude of the Slovak press in Canada toward other ethnic groups, which except for the Czechs, had always been friendly and most co-operative in their relations with Canadian Slovaks. This is especially true with regard to other Slavic groups with whom the Slovaks in Canada felt kinship, and basically understood their language. Polish, Ukrainian, Slovenian, Croatian, and other Slavic events in Canada have been registered in the Slovak Canadian press and Slovak representatives occupied the highest offices in the Canadian Ethnic Press Association or Canada Ethnic Press Federation. 44 The negative attitude toward the Czech group, which appeared in the 1930's and became stronger during and after the Second World War, as mentioned before, was mostly caused by the tendency of some Canadian Czechs, and later of their newspapers, to speak on behalf and in the name of Canadian Slovaks, which the Slovaks resented; secondly, it was caused by the difference of opinions on the policy of Prague governments and Slovak aspirations for self-government; thirdly, by vicious attacks on Slovaks who disagreed with Czechs. 45 Even before the Second World War, when the Slovak newspapers regarded Czechoslovakia as their motherland, they were opposed to the policy of the Prague government which aimed at assimilation of Slovaks and domination of Slovakia by Czechs. Since the Czech and Czechoslovak Communist papers in Canada stood behind the Prague government and opposed the aspirations of the Slovak people for autonomy within Czechoslovakia, denying the existence of a culturally and ethnically distinct Slovak entity, conflicts flared up and were discussed with vehemence in the Slovak press. SLOVAKIA 103 The animosity and attacks were intensified especially during and after the Second World War. The proclamation of Slovakia's independence was considered by the Czech and Czechoslovak-oriented press as a treason, while for many Slovaks in Canada it was an achievement of national ideals. And because, soon after the proclamation of independence, Great Britain (and twenty-eight other states ) recognized the Slovak Republic and not only appointed a Consul of Her Majesty in Slovakia but also received a Slovak Consul-General in London, 46 many Canadian Slovaks and their press did not see anything wrong in looking favourably at the establishment of the Slovak Republic or did not see any reason to be against it. When the war started, the new Slovak government did not have, in their views, any choice and was therefore unwillingly on the side of Germany. Czech and Czechoslovak newspapers and organizations used however, this against the Slovaks in Canada and caused to many of them personal difficulties with Canadian authorities and a lot of injustice. 47 In fact, denunciations of Slovaks by some Czech newspapers and leftist Czechoslovak newspapers went too far not to be rejected or counter-acted. As a result, a part of the Slovak Canadian press was forced into the defensive and into a fight with the Czech and so-called Czechoslovak newspapers .48 If one wants to judge the relations between the Slovaks and the Czechs from these polemics or from the attacks by some Czech papers on Slovaks and, particularly on the Slovak aspirations for self-government, he will easily come to the conclusion that there is hardly any possibility for co-operation between these two groups in Canada, and that Slovaks and Czechs at home and abroad have little reason to support the further existence of Czechoslovakia. On this brief outline of the Slovak press in Canada in relation to the political, social and cultural needs of the Slovak ethnic group which it serves, we can apply what Victor Turek said about the Polish press, that "it cannot be accurately interpreted without constantly bearing in mind that it has been a press of an oppressed nation struggling for its full freedom. It may be that other ethnic groups, originating from more fortunate countries, enjoying more stability and security, have created in Canada a different type of press - with different aims and duties. 104 SLOVAKIA It may be that for such other groups the importance of maintaining their native language and national traditions was not as paramount."49 FOOTNOTES 1. Kirkconnell, Canada, Europe and Hitier, (Toronto, 1939), p. 187. 2. The Canadian Almanac (1931) listed for the first time Slovak press in Canada with a circulation of 9,000. See Slavs in Canada, (Edmonton, 1966), p. 149. 3. See his contribution "The European-Canadians in their Press" in the Report of the annual meeting of the Canadian Historical Association, (Toronto, 1940), p. 86-87. 4. Ibid., p. 88. 5. Ibid., p. 91. 6. The first newspaper was published in Blairmore, Alta., under the name Slovenske Slovo (The Slovak Word). See K. culen, "Strucny prehl'ad dejin slovenskeho casopisectva v Kanade", Kalendar Kanadskej Slovenskej Ligy ( 1953), p. 98. 7. See the list of Slovak newspapers. 8. J. T. M. Anderson, The Education of the New Canadian, p. 84. 9. V. Turek, Polish-Language Press in Canada (Toronto, 1952), p. 22. 10. See E. Urban, "Censorship policies in Czecho-Slovakia," Slovakia, Vol. XV, p. 93-133. 11. See V. Turek, Polish-Language Press, Op. cit., p. 22. 12. Among the Slovak newspapers in Canada, Kanadsky Slovak was one of the main ones to adopt this line. 13. On Klesken, whose publishing activity spread also into the 1930's and 1940's, see K. culen, "Zomrel Juraj Klesken", Kalendar Kanadskej Slovenskej Ligy, ( 1960), p. 168-70. 14. See Slovenske Bratstvo, December 22, 1939. 15. See K. culen, "Strucny prehl'ad dejin slovenskeho casopisectva v Kanade," (A brief survey of the history of Slovak journalism in Canada), Kalendar Kanadskej Slovenskej Ligy (1953), p. 104. 16. See "Zaznam o krajanskej tlaci v Kanade," Narodniarsky Kalendar (1966), p. 78. It seems that Slovenske Bratstvo was the real successor. 17. According to Narodniarsky Kalendar, loc. cit., it ceased to exist in 1941. K. Culen, "Strucny prehl'ad dejin slovenskeho casopisectva v Kanade," Zoe. cit., gives the date October 1943. culen also comments on the legal action in which a Czech Consul Gardavsky was used as an expert in Slovak language even though he did not speak Slovak. SLOVAKIA 105 18. See Slovenske Bratstvo "Este zije duch slovensky" (The Slovak spirit still lives) , December 29, 1939. 19. Ncirodniarsky Kalendcir, loc. cit., p. 79. The National Slovak Benefit Society also published a mimeographed publication Ncirodne Noviny (National News) on 4-6 pages, and edited by G. Surovsky. 20. J . f>uriancik, "Nase l'udove hnutie a jeho vznik", 13udovy Kalendcir pre Kanadu (1939), p . 22. 21. See 13udovy Kalendcir pre Kanadu (1939), p. 66-75. 22. Admiration for the Soviet Union, Spanish communists and hatred of capitalist countries, mixed with Slovak patriotism is apparent also in the calendar published by Hlas 13udu and called .Cudovy Kalendcir pre Kanadu . 23. V. Turek, Polish-Language Press, op. cit., p. 118. On the pro-communist ethnic press in Canada, A. R. Boyd, "The Foreign Language Press in Canada" in John Kosa (ed.) Immigrants in Canada (Montreal, 1955), p. 45. 24. See Pavol Blaho, "Ako doslo k zalozeniu Kanadskeho Slovaka" (How the Canadian Slovak was founded) Kalendcir Kanadskej Slovenskej Ligy (1953), p. 111-4. 25. Ibid. , p. 112. 26. Ibid. 27. Both Hreha and Kvetan wrote plays and verseSI and Hreha was the author of the account on Slovaks in Canada published by the Encyclopedia Canadiana. 28. See Ncirodniarsky Kalendcir, (1966), p. 78. 29. On Debnarkin see the account on Slovak literature in Canada by Prof. Yaroslav Slawutych in the symposium Slavs in Canada; op. cit., p. 96. 30. K. culen, "Strucny prehl'ad dejin slovenskeho casopisectva v Kanade," Zoe. cit., p. 108. 31. R. A. Boyd, in Kosa, Immigrants, op. cit., p. 44-45. 32. See list of Slovak publications outside Canada. 33. See K. Culen, "Strucny prehl'ad dejin slovenskeho casopisectva v Kanade," Zoe. cit., p. 98-110. 34. See chapter on religious organization of Canadian Slovaks in SZovenski jezuiti v Kanade (1967). 35. See the chapter on Slovak religious organization in Canada; On Rev. Fuga see also Litercirny AZmanach SZovcika v Amerike (1967). 106 SLOVAKIA 36. See "The Foreign Language Press in Canada," Citizen, Vol. IV, No. 4. 37. The editor of Rozvoj was Kornel Piacek. 38. "All foreign language newspapers in Canada," according to the Citizen, "while they serve to introduce newcomers to life in Canada, also have an interest in keeping alive the native cultures of their readers. With this end in view, the papers encourage, publicize and promote cultural activities among the members of their respective ethnic groups and provide a medium of expression for literary and other cultural efforts. The editors believe that in this way their papers are making a contribution towards the enrichment of Canadian life." Citizen, Vol. IV, 4, p. 12. 39. A. R. Boyd, Zoe. cit. , p. 45. 40. Such was for instance the case of Nova Vlast' (Montreal, 1934-1948) replaced by the Czech weekly Novy Domov. 41. The favorite accusation was that of fascism and nazism. Unscrupulous attacks on the publisher of the Slovenske Slovo, led to investigations by Canadian authorities in 1940. The publisher, Juraj Kleskeii, was cleared, but refrained from further publishing of the newspaper. See K. culen, Zoe. cit., p. 101. 42. See Slovenska Obrana (Scranton, Pa.) , Nov. 3, 1939, Nov. 10, 1939, and Nov. 14, 1939, articles by Andrew Potocky, Secretary general of the Canadian Slovak League, M. Cano and Stefan J esenak as well as editorials. The newpapers which did not shy away from denunciations were according to Slovenska Obrana, Nova Vlast' and the leftist Hlas nudu. 43. Boyd, Zoe. cit., p. 46. 44. The author was for two terms President of the Canadian Ethnic Press Association and First Vice-President of the Canada Ethnic Press Federation, J. Novak, and others served on the board. 45. There were two cases of legal action as a result of these struggles. See K. culen "Slovaci v Kanade," Kalendar KSL for 1953, p. 102, Slovenske Bratstvo, Dec. 29, 1939 and Kanadsky Slovak, March 17, 1962 and fall . 46. See Kirschbaum, Slovakia - Nation at the Crossroads of Central Europe, p. 130-144 and p. 268-270. 47. See K. culen, Zoe. cit. , p. 101. 48. At the beginning of the War it was mainly the Slovak weekly Slovenske Bratstvo and from 1942 the Kanadsky Slovak which defended the Slovak point of view. The Czech and Czechoslovak point of view was advocated before and during the War by the weeklies Nova Vlast' and later by Nase Hlasy. 49. Cf. V. Turek, Op. cit., p. 27. SLOVAKIA 107 SLOVAK LANGUAGE PRESS IN CANADA Newspapers (1910). Published by Andrew Lukca and Juraj Klesken in Blairmore, Alberta. Kanadske Noviny (Canadian News) (1928-1933). Published in Montreal. The newspaper changed publishers, editors and political lines several times. It was founded by J. Pribil. Nase Slovo (Our Word) (1931-1932). Published in Toronto, it was the first newspaper of Slovak communists. Robotnicke Slovo (Workers' Word) (1931-1932). Successor to Nase Slavo, it was published and edited by J. Huska. Hlas Dudu (The People's Voice) (1932-1940). Successor to Robotnicke Slovo, it was suspended in 1940 by Canadian authorities. Hlas Naroda (The Voice of the Nation) (1932-1934). I,t was published by Juraj Klesken in Blairmore. Nasa Mladez (Our Youth) (1932-1934). A supplement to Hlas Naroda and also published in Blairmore. Slovak v Kanade (The Slovak in Canada) (1933-1939). Published in Montreal by G. Kurdel and edited by F. Kvetan, it aimed at reflecting the political orientation of Slovak immigrants in Canada and opposed "Czechoslovak" theses. Nova Vlasf (New Homeland) (1934-1948). Founded in Montreal, its aims was to foster the official Czechoslovak ideology among Slovak and Czech immigrants in Canada. Slovensky Priekopnik (The Slovak Pioneer) (1939-1943). Edited by S. Zuber, it was considered by some to be the successor to Slovak Slovenske Slovo (The Slovak Word) v Kanade. Obeznik Slovenskeho Priekopnika (The Circular of the Slovak Pioneer) (1939). A tabloid which ceased to exist after a few issues. Slovenske Bratstvo (Slovak Brotherhood). Edited by Stefan Hreha, in its subtitle, it claimed to be the successor to Slovak v Kanade and for a short time was the official newspaper of the Canadian Slovak League. Slovenske Slovo (The Slovak Word) (1940-19 ). Published anew by Klesken in Blairmore, its purpose was to refute the attacks against the Slovak Republic made by Nova Vlast' and some communist newspapers. Nase Slovo (Our Word) (1941-1945). It succeeded Hlas Dudu when the Soviet Union joined the camp of the Allies. Dudove Zvesti (The People's News) (1945). Its present editor is J. f>uriancik and it is the mouthpiece of Slovak communists. Kanadsky Slovak (The Slovak Canadian) (1942). Founded during the war, it became the official organ of the Canadian Slovak League. It was founded in Montreal. In 1952 it was transferred to Winnipeg and in 1958 to Toronto. 108 SLOVAKIA Slovensky Hlas (The Slovak Voice) (1949). Founded in Windsor, Ontario, as the organ of the Canadian Slovak Benefit Society. In 1951 it was transferred to Toronto. It is politically independent. Almanacs and Periodicals Prvy Kalendar Kanadskych Slovcikov (First Almanac of Slovak Canadians) (1934-1939) . It had only two issues. Cudovy Kalendar pre Kanadu (People's Almanac for Canada) (1939) . Died with the first issue. Neis Zivot (Our Life) (1950). Organ of the Slovak Liberation Committee in Canada, it was published by Dr. Paul Fundarek. Ekonomi ka ( Economics ) (1948-1949). Published by Stanislav Zuber in Toronto, this monthly's aim was to inform Slovaks in Canada on economic problems. Rozvoj (Progress) (1950-1951). A mimeographed monthly under the direction of K. Piacek for cultural and literary works. Domovina (Homeland) (1952-1954). Mimeographed periodical of the Slovak Liberation Committee in Toronto, it was edited by Julius Ksinan. Kalendar Kanadskej Slovenskej Ligy ( Almanac of the Canadian Slovak League) (1952). Published in Winnipeg, its first editor was Konstantin culen. Domobrana (Home Defense) (1953) . Organ of the Union of Slovak Combattants, it was first edited by Jan Doransky in Montreal, later transferred to Toronto and then to the United States. Pamiitnica Kanadskeho Slovenskeho Podporneho Spolku a Kalendar Slovenskeho Hlasu ( Souvenir Book of the Canadian Slovak Benefit Society and Almanac of the Slovak Voice) (1957) . Edited by 0 . M. Debnarkin. Nase Snahy (Our Goals) (1965). Bi-monthly published in Toronto and sponsored by The Permanent Conference of Slovak Democratic Exiles. Religious Publications Ave Maria (1938-1939) . Published in Montreal by J . Skoda and an anonymous board of editors. Maria (1955- ) . Founded by Rev. M. Rusnak and Rev. F. Fuga, it serves the religious needs of Greek Catholic Slovaks in Canada and the U.S.A. Slovenski Jezuiti v Kanade (Slovak Jesuits in Canada) (1958). Published annually by the Slovak Jesuit Missionary Centre in Galt, Ontario.  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Slovak Press in Canada Description An account of the resource J. M. Kirschbaum, Ph.D. Slovakia, Vol. 18 (No. 41), 1968 pp. 78-108 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Kirschbaum, Jozef M., 1913-2001 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1968 SNK https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/375a17065561ca0734c57eedcc9369fa.pdf dd43b677299f0b58fc78d8aab55eaa58 PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA 7 The Slovak Question in the Interwar (1918-1938) and Post-War (1945-1948) Czechoslovak Republics James R. Felak A key element of the aura of tragedy that surrounds Czechoslovakia's history in the eyes of many of its students, observers, and sympathizers is that state's experience in having its liberal, Western-oriented, parliamentary democratic, pluralistic political system destroyed by a powerful, aggressive, neighboring totalitarian empire twice in this century. In the early fall of 1938, threatened by Hitler's Germany, abandoned by their allies, and facing pressure from discontented ethnic minorities at home, Czechoslovakia's leaders succumbed to the Munich Agreement and dismantled their parliamentary democratic regime, the last one remaining in East Central Europe, and replaced it with a quasiauthoritarian alternative. In February 1948, a restored multi-party democracy in Czechoslovakia once again met its end, this time through the machinations of a pro-Soviet Communist minority that was able to seize power and thereafter transform Czechoslovakia into a carbon-copy of the Stalinist "people's democracies" that had been imposed over the previous years on most of the countries of the region. In the periods that concluded with the demise of both of these experiments in liberal democracy, the relations, and particularly the tensions between Slovaks and Czechs �8 SLOVAKIA played an important role. This paper will examine the state of Slovak-Czech relations in both the inter-war, and post-war Republics, arguing that the obstacles to a mutually satisfactory solution to the Slovak question were formidable in both situations. It will also draw comparisons between the two cases, identifying elements of continuity and change. The events of autumn 1918, with the collapse of the AustroHungarian empire and proclamation of an independent Czechoslovak Republic, brought Czechs and Slovaks together in a single state. Slovak discontent became apparent from very early on. It was inevitable that Czechs would dominate the new Republic. Czechs outnumbered Slovaks by more than two-to-one, and the Czech lands were much more highly developed economically than Slovakia. Czechs had large middle and working classes, and had acquired considerable political and administrative experience in the Austrian half of the Empire. By 1900, they were a well-organized, well-educated, confident nation with a strong sense of national identity. This was in stark contrast to relatively poor, largely rural Slovakia, where discriminatory Hungarian policies had kept Slovaks from acquiring much political or administrative experience or educating themselves in a Slovak national spirit. As the twentieth century dawned on Slovakia, Slovak nationalists were only just beginning to build a mass national movement. The new regime, both in its structure and its justification, carried the seeds of Slovak discontent. First, Czechoslovakia was based on the idea that a Czechoslovak nation existed, which served as the so-called constituent nation (statotvomy narocf) upon which the Republic was based. 1 This notion was anchored in ' See Ladislav Lipscher, Verfassung und politische Verwaltung in der Tschechos/owakei 1918-1939 (Munich, 1979), pp. 41 -42 for a discussion of the statotvornyconcept . �SLOVAKJA 9 the Czechoslovak Constitution of 1920, along with the belief that a Czechoslovak language existed and would serve as the Republic 's official language.2 These stipulations, while freeing the Slovaks from Magyarization, denied them one of the major goals of the Slovak national movement since its inception at the time of Cudovft Stur in the 1830s and 40-the recognition that a distinct Slovak nation in fact existed. In hand with the Czechoslovak idea went a centralistic administrative structure for the new state, with decision-making powers concentrated in the central government in Prague, which was situated in the heart of the Czech lands . Aside from being a corollary to the idea that the state was based on a single Czechoslovak nation, it reflected fears among Czechs and a number of Czech-oriented Slovaks that autonomy for Slovakia would set a precedent for similar demands by the German and Hungarian minorities and aid Hungary's efforts to ultimately detach Slovakia from Czechoslovakia and return it to Budapest 's control. As Czechoslovakia's then Foreign Minister Edvard Benes said in 1932, greater autonomy for Slovakia would "mean for this state the slogan Slovakia to the Slovaks, German regions to the Germans, Magyar regions to the Magyars." 3 There was also a strong anti-Catholic sentiment among Czech elites and some of their Slovak collaborators, manifested in a fear that if ' The Constitution opens with the words, "We, the Czechoslovak nation," and goes on to stipulate that "The Czechoslovak language shall be the state, official language of the Republic." For an English translation of the Constitution, see Howard Lee McBain and Lindsay Rogers, Eds., The New Constitutions of Europe(New York, 1922), pp. 307-342. ' Quoted in Carol Skalnik Leff, National Conflict in Czechoslovakia; The Making and Remaking of a State, 1918-1987 (Princeton, NJ, 1988), p. 137. �10 SLOVAKIA Slovaks governed themselves, they would choose a government that was too reactionary and clerical for the progressive tastes shared by most of Czechoslovakia's founding fathers. Finally, there was a widespread belief that, blighted by Magyarization, Slovaks were not yet capable of self-government. Two further issues that served to fuel Slovak discontent were the economy and religion. Along with the damage done by the First World War, Slovaks now had to cope with a new international boundary that, among other things, cut them off from the traditional markets, resources, and outlets for surplus labor that they had enjoyed in the larger Austro-Hungarian economic unit. Furthermore, the industry that Slovakia did have, lost the subsidies that the Hungarian government had been providing and had to compete with the more efficient and more heavily capitalized industry of the Czech lands. The result was an economic depression and, in effect, a de-industrialization of Slovakia during the early l 920s. The tax rate was also higher in Slovakia than in the Czech lands during the l 920s. 4 Religion proved to be a major irritant in Slovak-Czech relations. Many Czech nationalists, drawing inspiration from the Hussite tradition and regarding Catholicism as a reactionary historical force identified with German-Austrian hegemony over the Czech lands, viewed the Roman Catholic Church with suspicion and even outright hostility. This was dramatically demonstrated shortly after Czechoslovakia achieved her independence, when a Czech 4 See C. A. Macartney , Hungary and Her Successors, The Treaty of Trianon and Its Consequences 1919-1937(London, 1937), pp. 127- 131 and R. W. SetonWatson, Slovakia Then and Now: A Political Survey(London, 1931), pp. 36-37, for contemporary discussions of Slovakia's economic problems. Despite their divergent interpretations of the Slovak question, Macartney's and SetonWatson's characterizations of Slovakia's economic plight are quite similar. �SLOVAKIA 11 mob smashed to pieces the statue of the Virgin Mary on Old Town Square in Prague. Reports of this renunciation of a part of the Bohemian past did not play well in Slovakia, where among Slovaks such hostility toward the Church was considerably weaker, if operative at all. The forced removal of crucifixes from the walls of schools, disruption of religions services and desecration of sacred places and objects, and state seizure of Catholic schools and church lands helped foster in Slovakia the image of the Czech as an enemy of Christianity, especially as traditionally understood in Slovakia. 5 Also contributing to religious tensions was the fact that Czech political elites had, already before 1918, developed their closest relations with members of Slovakia's Protestant (Lutheran) minority. Slovak Protestants had traditional links with Czech culture, and were more likely than Slovak Catholics to share the modernist world view that was standard among Czechoslovakia' s founders. By way of example, of the fifty-seven Slovaks appointed to the Provisional National Assembly that was established to draw up Czechoslovakia's constitution, twenty-eight were Protestants. This in a land that was approximately 79 per cent Catholic. 6 Such an outcome could hardly fail to appear discriminatory and unrepresentative to many Slovaks. One final irritant in Slovak-Czech relations is worth discussing at some length, as it shows just how complicated this relationship could be. This is the question of the migration of Czech administrators , teachers, and other professionals and government emplo5 Jozef Spirko, Cirkevne dejiny s osobitnym zretefom na vyvin cirkevnych de- Jin Slovenska, sv. IV (Bratislava, 1993), p. 466; see E L. Woodward and Rohan Butler, Eds., Documents on British Foreign Policy 19 I 9-1939, First Series, Vol. IV, 1919 (London, 1956), p. 3, for a reference co anti-Catholic actions in Slovakia in a report by the British Charge d' affaires in Prague . 6 Ladislav Lipscher, "Klub slovenskych poslancov v rokoch 1918-1920," Historicky casopis, XVI, 2 ( 1968), pp. 140- 141 . �12 SLOVAKIA yees to Slovakia after 1918. Slovakia lacked qualified professionals and administrators who were untainted by affiliation with the former Hungarian regime and its education system, given the fact that Slovaks before 1918 could rarely advance socially and professionally except by becoming "Magyarized." For this reason, tens of thousands of Czechs moved to Slovakia in the 1920s. 7 Though many of them were needed, their presence in Slovakia proved to be a major cause of Slovak discontent. First, they represented a cultural intrusion of modern-thinking, largely urban progressive types into a traditional, rural society, and as such offended many Slovaks with paternalism and tactlessness. Second , they received considerable salary supplements since Slovakia was regarded as a hardship post. 8 This income disparity between imported Czechs and native Slovak employees was also a sore point. Third, there was a perception among Slovaks that their native land was being used by Czechs as a dumping ground for officials who were second-rate. Finally, Slovak resentment was especially acute over the fact that among the Czechs who received employment in Slovakia were not only professionals and high-level administrators , but railway porters, postmen, doormen, messengers , and janitors, positions for which there were plenty of capable Slo- vaks at hand .9 This situation can be explained at least in part by the nature of Czechoslovakia's political system. In Czechoslovakia's coalition ' See Jan Rychlfk, Cesi a Slovaci ve 20.stoletf; cesko-slo venske vztahy J 9 J41945 (Bratislava, 1997), pp. 86-87 for statistics on the number of Czechs employed in Slovakia during the interwar period . ' Natasa Krajcovicova, "K otazke personalneho obsadzovania organov statnej a verejnej spravy na Slovensku v prvych rokoch po vzniku CSR", Historickf casopis, XLIV , 4, 1996, pp. 619-620. 9 Jozef Lettrich, History of Modem Slovakia (New York, 1955), pp. 61 -62; Seton-Watson, Slovakia, p. 34. �SLOVAKIA 13 governments, certain parties tended to retain particular ministries over the long-term. Thus, it was not unusual for a political party, whose support came almost exclusively from the Czech lands, to control a substantial number of state administrative positions in Slovakia which it would allot to its Czech adherents as patronage. Such was the case, for example, with the Czechoslovak National Socialist Party and the railroads. Compounding the problem of Czech employment in Slovakia was the fact that Prague, with the help of these migrants, was so successful in developing a Czechoslovak education system in Slovakia that by the end of the 1920s, Slovakia was producing for the first time a native intelligentsia fully trained in Czechoslovak high schools and colleges. Unfortunately, precisely at the time that these cohorts of educated Slovaks were coming onto the job market, Czechoslovakia was hit by the Great Depression. These young Slovaks, many of whom could not find appropriate employment, came to resent the fact that Czechs were working in Slovakia in positions that they coveted. Many of these Czechs meanwhile had struck roots in Slovakia and, even if they wished, had little to return to in Depressionstricken Bohemia and Moravia. Many of these members of the young Slovak intelligentsia inclined toward radical politics of the left and right; among the latter, calls for Czechs to go home became standard fare at political rallies. Though, as one scholar recently pointed out, the personnel question was an extremely complicated issue that cannot be understood from a purely ethnic standpoint, the fact that Czechs were working in Slovakia while Slovaks were unemployed provided grist for Slovak nationalist mills and made this issue a constant irritant for Slovak-Czech relations. 10 ' 0 Krajcovicova, "K otazke", pp. 627, 628 . �14 SLOVAKIA Politically, Slovaks responded to this growing discontent in a number of ways. The antidote to Czechoslovak centralism was Slovak autonomy, a call that was embraced by the Slovak party with the greatest popularity, the Slovak People's Party (SPP). Led by the populist priest Andrej Hlinka, it sought to mobilize Slovak religious, economic, political and cultural discontent into a broadbased movement for autonomy and national recognition. It staunchly supported an autonomous Slovakia right up to the end of the First Republic. Two other groups also called for autonomy for Slovakia, at least in their rhetoric-the Communists and the parties of the Hungarian minority. This meant that in the parliamentary elections of 1925, 1929, and 1935, over 50% of voters in Slovakia opted for parties that rejected Czechoslovak centralism. 11 While about half of ethnic Slovaks voted for the SPP, most other Slovaks voted for the Slovak affiliates of Czechoslovak-wide parties. These parties supported the idea of a Czechoslovak nation and the centralist system. Because they were always or nearly always in the government, they could provide supporters with certain material advantages that the SPP could not, so it was quite likely that considerably more Slovaks supported autonomy than voted for the autonomist SPP. The most significant of such parties was the Agrarians, which alone among the government parties had a strong Slovak wing, led by Milan Hodza. Though officially accepting the Czechoslovak idea and opposing autonomy for Slovakia, the Agrarians tried in the 1930s to develop an alternative to both Prague centralism and SPP autonomism - the socalled regionalist option. This involved promoting cooperation of Slovaks on behalf of Slovak interests on regional rather than national grounds. In theory, regionalism gave the Slovak Agra- 11 For electoral statistics, see Leff, National Conflict, p. 52. �SLOVAKIA 15 rians the possibility to champion Slovak interests without the sort of nationalism that could upset Prague and the Czechoslovak constitutional order. 12 Despite considerable support for autonomy in Slovakia throughout the inter-war period, the cards were stacked against success in this regard for a number of reasons. Some of these have been discussed above and need little further elaboration- the Czech numerical preponderance over Slovaks, and superiority in terms of modem economic, cultural, and political development; the constitutional stipulation that a Czechoslovak nation, rather than separate Czech and Slovak nations, existed and was the basis of the state; the distaste for traditional Catholicism among the Republic's ruling elites; the fears that autonomy for Slovakia would play into the hands of Hungarian and German nationalists and make it harder for Prague to resist their autonomist demands; the belief that Slovaks were not capable of governing themselves; and the difficulties, owing to problems of political patronage and economic stagnation, of finding appropriate employment for the university-educated Slovaks the system was producing by the late 1920s and their consequent tum towards radicalism. Other factors were at play as well. It should be kept in mind that both of Czechoslovakia's presidents during the inter-war period, Tomas G. Masaryk and Edvard Benes, were staunch champions of the Czechoslovak idea and opponents of autonomy for Slovakia. Furthermore, the autonomist forces in Slovakia were not united, and in fact were fundamentally divided over their conceptions of just what sort of autonomous Slovakia they wanted. The Hungarian parties regarded Slovaks and Hungarians as minorities with an equal claim to self-government in Slovakia, 12 M. Kropilak, ed., Dejiny S/ovenska, V ( 1918-1945) (Bratislava, 1985), p. 195. �16 SLOVAKlA with hopes that someday that territory would return to a restored Kingdom of Hungary. The SPP, on the other hand, believed in "Slovakia for the Slovaks," as one of its most cherished slogans rang out, and saw Slovaks as the statotvomy narod in Slovakia, with Hungarians as merely a minority. The Communists , for their part, were open to autonomy for Slovakia only if it were to come in conjunction with the establishment of a Communist dictatorship of the proletariat, something that repelled the other pro-autonomy parties. The nature of the Czechoslovak political system was particularly crucial in making it highly unlikely that the SPP, barring some sort of exceptional circumstances, would be able to realize its autonomist goals via normal political channels. While winning the votes of around half of the ethnic Slovaks, the SPP 's support statewide was only around 7%. This meant that it would have to find allies if it wished to establish influence in or increase pressure on the government. Such alliance-seeking was problematic, however. Several leading Czechoslovak parties were outright hostile to Slovak nationalism and the idea of autonomy, for example the Social Democratic Party, National Socialist Party, and, after 1921 , the Czechoslovak People 's Party. Taken together, these three parties represented a considerable proportion of the governing majority. 13 Among the opposition parties were a few that were open to cooperation with the SPP, such as the Hungarian nationalists, Czech fascists, and the Slovak National Party (a Protestant autonomist party), but they were either insignificant in numbers and influence, or holding fundamentally different ultimate goals from the SPP. The Slovak wing of the Czechoslovak Agrarian Party, the second strongest electoral draw in Slovakia, could theoreti13 For example, of the government 's 206 seats in Parliament after the 1929 elections, these three parties held 96 seats. �SLOVAKJA 17 cally have formed a powerful bloc had its regionalist program developed into a genuine political collaboration with the SPP. However, two factors-the Agrarians' fear that the SPP would dominate an autonomous Slovakia, and the fact that the Agrarian Party 's leadership in Prague was unwilling to abandon centralism-kept such collaboration at a minimum. As with many national conflicts, it was probably the vicious circle of fear that accounted most for the failure to solve the Slovak question satisfactorily. In the 1920s, Czechoslovak centralists feared that an autonomous Slovakia would be easy prey for Hungarians eager to revise the post-War peace treaties and detach Slovakia from the Czech lands and return it to Hungary. The close collaboration after 1918 between SPP leader Hlinka and two notorious Hungarian sympathizers, Frantisek Jehlicka and Vojtech Tuka, only heightened Prague's apprehensions. 14 By the mid1930s, the Germans had replaced the Hungarians as the chief fear of Czechoslovak centralists with respect to Slovakia. After Konrad Henlein 's strong showing in the 1935 parliamentary elections, Prague worried that autonomy for Slovakia would make it harder to resist similar demands by Czechoslovakia's Sudeten German minority. The SPP, at the same time, had a great fear that Czechs would solve the Sudeten German question by granting autonomy to the predominately and historically German lands, while ignoring similar demands from Slovaks. This fear, combined with the 1 • Jehlicka was a Slovak priest of pro-Hungarian sympathy who accompanied Hlinka on a trip to the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, where they sought to present the Slovak national case to the Great Powers . After the trip, which proved to be a fiasco, Hlinka was imprisoned by the Czechoslovak government while Jehlicka went into exile; Tuka was a pro-Hungarian university professor who lost his job after 1918 and found a new career in the SPP as an editor, parliamentarian, and advisor to Hlinka. He was inv o lved in various intrigues against the Czechoslovak Republic in the 1920s. �18 SLOVAKJA SPP's inability to realize its demands via normal channels, led that party, or at least certain factions within it, to seek support repeatedly from abroad. And since the Western democracies tended to support the post-War status quo, the SPP sometimes looked to those neighbors of Czechoslovakia who were seeking change and, hence, were seen by the Republic's rulers as a threat. Hlinka and his party consistently cultivated good relations with official and unofficial circles in Poland, while SPP radicals sought closer ties with Germany and Czechoslovakia's pro-Nazi Sudeten Germans . 15 This in turn frightened Czechs and made it even less likely that autonomy for Slovakia would be agreed to by the power brokers in Prague. Throughout 1938, fears on both sides increased as German pressure, both from within and without Czechoslovakia, intensified, as did Slovak demands for autonomy. Once the Czechoslovak government elected to accept the Munich Agreement and hand over large tracts of its territory to Nazi Germany, the SPP pressed its claims and got a demoralized Czechoslovak government not only to acquiesce in its autonomist demands but also to accept the existence of a distinct Slovak nation. Scarcely a week after the Munich Agreement, Prague and the SPP agreed that Czechoslovakia would be restructured as Czecho-Slovakia, with an autonomous Slovakia run by the SPP. When Hitler opted to destroy Czecho-Slovakia m March of 1939, this autonomous Slovakia became the independent Slovak Republic, closely allied with Nazi Germany as one of its satellites, while the Czech lands were incorporated wholly into the Third Reich as the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. Slovakia 15 See, for example, James Ramon Felak, "At the Price of the Republic": Hlinka 's Slovak People 's Party 1929- 1938 (Pittsburgh , PA, 1994), pp. 171 -175, for a discussion of SPP flirtations with Polish and German nationalists. �SLOVAKIA 19 survived the war as an authoritarian, one-party state, led by the Roman Catholic priest Jozef Tiso, who succeeded Hlinka in the summer of 1938 as head of the SPP. Both Roman Catholics and their Church were privileged in this period. At the same time, a resistance movement emerged composed of an uneasy alliance of Communists and democrats, which erupted in the Slovak National Uprising of August-September 1944. Both the Slovak Republic and the Uprising would have major impacts on the post-War situation in Slovakia. First, by having their own state, Slovaks gained the confidence and experience necessary for self-government. By 1945, the idea of returning to a Czechoslovak nation and state run from Prague was repellent across the political spectrum in Slovakia. Second, the very fact of this state which, like the autonomous Slovakia of October 1938, came into existence on the coattails of Hitler's march into Central Europe, tainted Slovak accomplishments, as many Czechs regarded Slovaks, especially those in the SPP, as collaborators with the Czechs' mortal enemy, Nazi Germany. Thus, Czechs often saw manifestations of Slovak nationalism as fascist in nature and threatening to the Republic. Third, despite the susceptibility of Slovaks to charges of collaboration, at the same time, thanks to the Slovak National Uprising, Slovaks could point to the fact that their own homegrown resistance to Nazism far exceeded Czech efforts in numbers and intensity. It also created a politically influential association of partisan veterans who could potentially throw their weight around in the postWar situation. With Germany's defeat, Czechoslovakia was restored. This time, however, there would be no Czechoslovak idea. Slovaks were recognized as a distinct nation, and allowed to retain the Slovak national organs that they had set up during the Uprising. �20 SLOVAKJA Czech Communist leader Klement Gottwald, Czechoslovakia's most powerful politician at war's end, proclaimed that "the Slovaks are to be the masters in their own Slovak land." 16 A whole host of problems emerged however, some almost at once, to foil what was a hopeful beginning for advocates of Slovak autonomy. First, the set-up was an asymmetrical one. Slovak national organs, such as the Slovak National Council and Board of Commissioners, were established, but with no parallel Czech organs, only federal organs with competence for the entire state. This led to conflicts over where the competence of the central organs ended and that of the Slovak ones began. The "Slovak question" returned in a new form. Second, the cultural differences that plagued SlovakCzech relations during the First Republic continued. Czech suspicion of Slovak Catholicism was, if anything, even more intense after the experience of the Second World War, when the pro-Nazi Slovak state was led by a Catholic priest under whom the Church enjoyed far more privilege and influence than it had under the First Republic or could hope to after 1945. Third, Czech numerical dominance remained, and if Czech parties could be united on the issue, they would be able to scale back Slovak self-government with little resistance. It also became clear, especially after Czechoslovakia's first post-war parliamentary elections in May of 1946, that Slovakia was far less friendly politically to the Left than were the Czech lands. While Czechs chose left-wing parties in percentages that rank among all-time highs for Europe (the Communists, Social Democrats, and National Socialists together received over 79% of the vote in the Czech lands, with the Communists leading the way with 40% ), Slovaks rejected the Com16 Joseph A. Mikus, ed., Slovakia, A Political and Constitutional History, Acta Academica Slovaca 48 (Bratislava, 1995), p. 242; this work contains an English translation of the text of the Kosice Agreement of April 5, 1945, pp. 242-243. �SLOVAKIA 21 munists in favor of the Democrats by a slightly more than two-to• one margm . 17 These above factors combined to complicate post-war Czechoslovak politics and to pose formidable impediments to the realization of the promised program of autonomy for Slovakia. The political landscape in Slovakia after the War was occupied by three main groups, politically speaking. On the Left were the Communists, belonging to the Communist Party of Slovakia (KSS), separate from, yet ultimately under the control of the Czechoslovak Communist Party (KSC) in Prague. The KSS was divided between those Slovak Communists who were willing to assert what they regarded as Slovak interests, and those who were more closely under the thumb of Prague. By August 1945 the latter, on Prague 's intervention, were given the upper hand in the KSS. 18 The only significant party besides the Communists was the Slovak Democratic Party (DP), founded by non-Communist veterans of the Slovak National Uprising, attracting above all those Slovak Protestants who had been alienated by the SPP's assertive Catholicism but at the same time suspicious of Prague 's centralism. The third group was the Catholics themselves, most of whom were unorganized politically with the outlawing of the SPP at war 's end. Thus, the party that traditionally drew about half the Slovak vote no longer existed, and a land that was 80% Catholic was offered only parties dominated by atheists or Protestants. This large bloc of voters without a party home would, as both the Communists and the Democrats realized, be decisive in the parlia- 17 Robert Letz, S/ovensko v rokoch 1945-1948 na ceste ku komunistickej tota/ite(Bratislava, 1994), p. 39. " l.'.ubomir Liptak, ed., Politicke strany na Slovensku, 1860-1989 (Bratislava, 1992), pp. 267-268; and Yeshayahu Jelinek, The Lust for Power: Nationalism. Slovakia, and the Communists, 19 I 8-1948 (Boulder, CO, 1983), p. 86. �22 SLOVAKJA mentary elections. Thus, the KSS began to woo Slovak Catholics, hoping to create a separate Slovak Catholic party that would keep Catholic voters away from the DP and thereby keep Slovakia's non-Communist population divided. 19 Just as it appeared that Communist intrigues would succeed, the DP delivered an olive branch to disgruntled Slovak Catholics. It was called the April Agreement, and involved the DP and leading Slovak Catholics. This Agreement specified that the ratio of Catholics to Protestants in all DP organs and institutions was to be seven-to-three, with Catholics to be allotted two-thirds of the party's seats in Parliament. In addition, Catholics were to get their own DP daily, the Demokraticke hlasy. 20 As a result of the April Agreement, Catholics moved into leading positions in the DP's presidium and general secretariat. Nevertheless, this Catholic-Protestant reconciliation was a Pyrrhic victory for Slovakia's non-Communist forces. It did enable the DP to win the May 1946 parliamentary elections in a resounding manner, and made it clear that Slovakia was overwhelmingly anti-Communist. At the same time, however, the Communists were able to exploit the April Agreement successfully for their own ends. With an influx of Catholics into the DP, the same Catholics that Communists had been wooing up to that point, the KSS now sought to portray the DP as riddled with fascist traitors loyal to former leader Tiso, and dangerous to the integrity and democracy of the Czechoslovak state. 21 Thus began a determined , 19 Letz, Slovensko, pp. 28-29 ; Michal Bamovsky, Na ceste k monopolu moci; Mocenskopoliticke zapasy na S/ovensku v rokoch 1945-1948 (Bratislava, 1993), p. 73 . 20 Bamovsky, Na ceste, p. 80; Letz, S/ovensko, p. 36. 21 See United States Department of State, Decimal Files, 860f.00/6- l 346, no. 985 ; (hereafter referred to as DOS). �SLOVAKIA 23 sustained, and aggressive effort by Communist propaganda to slander the DP. Furthermore, the election results made it clear to the Communists that autonomy for Slovakia would be a disaster for Communist interests. Consequently, the Communists began to push aggressively for a scaling back of the competence of Slovak national organs in favor of federal ones. At the same time, Communists sought to use the alarm they could generate over a "fascist restoration" in Slovakia to frighten Czech non-Communists into keeping the DP at a distance. With the acquiescence, and at times the support of the Czech democratic parties, the Communists succeeded in reasserting Prague's control over Slovakia and largely isolating the DP. As U.S. Ambassador Laurence Steinhardt wrote in May, 1947: For the Czech non-Communist parties and their leaders , including Benes, as a result of their experiences in 1938-1939 when Slovak aspirations contributed materially to the dissolution of the Czechoslovak State, feel with a deep intensity that Slovak autonomy, while acceptable in theory, must have definite limitations in practice. These leaders are therefore all too likely to side with the Communists on any issues to which the latter are able to give a Czech versus Slovak or autonomy versus centralism complexion. As a result the Democrats are very frequently left to face the Communist onslaught alone. 22 Although, strictly speaking, Czechoslovakia was a democracy, with free elections and multiple political parties with their own periodicals, one is struck by just how circumscribed the system in fact was. A number of political parties were banned, including the most popular Czech and Slovak parties of the inter-war years, the Agrarians and SPP, respectively. New parties were prohibited 22 DOS, 5-2947, no. 2477. �24 SLOVAKIA without the consent of the existing parties. Nor could one set up an individual periodical without their permission. Government intervention in and influence over the media was considerable, and publication of anything critical of the Soviet Union was taboo. The regime was also established to accord the Communists more influence than electoral results would warrant. 23 This was particularly the case in Slovakia, where despite losing by nearly a two-to-one margin in the parliamentary elections, the Communists retained the chairmanship of the Board of CoJilIIlissioners, which acted as the executive branch in Slovakia, and kept the Democrats from holding the crucial post of Commissioner of the Interior, which went to the non-partisan Mikulas Ferjencfk.24 Without much support from the Czech non-Communist parties and facing a Communist-influenced political police, the DP was an easy prey for the most concentrated Communist attack yet. In June of 1947, the security police in Slovakia uncovered an alleged "anti-state conspiracy", which the Communists used to blackmail and intimidate the DP.25 Using their influence in and control over state security organs and employing 'agents provocateurs', the Communists were able, reminiscent of their assault on the Smallholders Party in Hungary, to charge leading Slovak Democrats with complicity in the conspiracy. Though the Czech democratic parties were by this time wise to Communist intrigues and took some steps in defense of the DP, they never quite lost their suspicions that, just possibly, Communist charges against the 23 For a discussion of Czechoslovakia's "people's democratic" system, see Karel Kaplan, The Short March; The Communist Takeover in Czechoslovakia, 19451948 (London, 1987), pp. 33-54. 24 Bamovsky, Na ceste, pp. 116- I I 7. 25 lbid., pp. 140-141 ; Letz, Slovensko, pp. 54-55. �SLOVAKIA 25 DP might be accurate.26 With the Czech democrats thereby paralyzed, the Communists, with the police in their pockets, and the trade union and partisan organizations that they dominated mobilized on their behalf, felt that the correlation of forces were such in Slovakia that they attempted a 'putsch' in November of 194 7. This involved a KSS attempt to force a reconstitution of the Slovak Board of Commissioners through a political crisis caused by the planned and coordinated resignation of its Communist members. Though only partly successful, and though the DP and Czech non-Marxist parties stuck together from this point on, this cooperation proved to be too little, too late. The attempted coup in Slovakia was followed by a successful one in Prague in February 1948; in the latter case, it was the Czechoslovak Social Democrats who broke ranks with Czec hoslovakia's democratic parties and allowed the Communists' divide and rule tactics to bring Czec hoslovak democracy to an end . In contrasting the inter-war period and the post-war period , one finds much continuity in the Slovak-Czech relationship. The Czech bias against traditional Slovak Catholicism impeded relations both after 1918 and, reinforced by the events of 1938-1945, maintained itself into the post-war era. Czech fears of Slovaks as disloyal also continued, again reinforced by the events of the inter-war period and especially of 1938- 1939, and made evident in the ease with which the Communists could find Czech support for their efforts to undo 'de facto' the results of the elections in Slovakia. Both situations, though in quite different ways, presented insurmountable obstacles to the realization of Slovak autonomist desires, with Slovaks themselves divided over the iss ue, unable to bring sufficient pressure to bear on their behalf. Finally, in both 26 DOS, 10-647, no. 1342; see also Hu bert Ripka, Czechoslovakia Enslaved: The Story of the Communist Coup d'Etat (London, 1950), p. 113. �26 SLOVAKIA situations, external developments were crucial - in one case Nazi Germany's pressure against Czechoslovakia, in the other the intensifying Cold War, which made Czechoslovakia 's hopes of being a bridge between East and West futile and even dangerous. Along with important similarities, the Slovak question in the inter-war period and post-war period shows significant differences. After World War II, the Czechoslovak idea was abandoned and the existence of a Slovak nation was officially recognized. Furthermore, Prague came to believe that the best way to ease Slovak discontent was via the economic development of Slovakia. There were also important differences in the political structure of the two cases. In the inter-war period, the Government was composed of parties committed to the maintenance of Czechoslovak democracy, with Communists and fascists in the opposition along with Slovak nationalists. After the War, an opposition technically ceased to exist, Communists held key positions within the system they sought to destroy, and Slovak nationalists, albeit a new breed more moderate than the former SPP, sat in the Government. A final crucial difference lies in the relationship between the Slovak question and the health and survival of the democratic order in Czechoslovakia. In the inter-war period, Slovak nationalists had at best an ambivalent attitude toward Czechoslovakia's system. While a fascist element within the SPP viewed it with hostility, most Slovak nationalists accepted the system or were indifferent toward it. When Czechoslovakia faced potentially fatal threats in 1938, the SPP's primary concern was not "How can we defend Czechoslovak democracy at this critical time?" but rather the more parochial "What's in it for the Slovaks?" For all their failure to address satisfactorily the Slovak question in the 1920s and 1930s, most Czech political elites had a better grasp of just what was at stake as Nazism intensified its pressure on the First �SLOVAKIA 27 Republic from within and without. After the war, however, autonomy-minded Slovaks, now represented in the DP, had a very clear notion of just what was at stake, and arguably a better grasp of the situation than the Czechoslovak democrats, who well into 1947 seemed to fear an SPP-revival in Slovakia more than they feared the Communists . For national tensions to ease, both sides of a conflict need to relinquish, or at least moderate, their fears of the other. This the Czechs never really succeeded in doing, as the idea that Slovakia was disloyal and separatist was always in the back, and often in the front, of the minds of many of them. Slovak actions, whether it was Hlinka's consorting with Hungarian sympathizers in the 1920s, the SPP radical wing's flirting with fascism in the 19 30s, or the SPP's demand for autonomy and eventual secession from Czecho-Slovakia in conjunction with Hitler's penetration of East Central Europe, only reaffirmed or deepened Czech fears. When one takes into account these mutual suspicions, the psychological baggage both sides brought into their relationship, the structure of Czechoslovakia's regimes during this century, the persistent bias of Czech elites against Slovak Catholicism, the disparities between Slovak and Czech economic development, the presence of hostile neighbors hoping to exploit Slovak-Czech tensions, and the trauma that this part of Europe experienced from 1914 to 1989, it is not surprising that the Slovak question remained a running sore on Czechoslovakia's body politic throughout the twentieth century. � SLOVAKIA 7 The Slovak Question in the Interwar (1918-1938) and Post-War (1945-1948) Czechoslovak Republics James R. Felak A key element of the aura of tragedy that surrounds Czechoslovakia's history in the eyes of many of its students, observers, and sympathizers is that state's experience in having its liberal, Western-oriented, parliamentary democratic, pluralistic political system destroyed by a powerful, aggressive, neighboring totalitarian empire twice in this century. In the early fall of 1938, threatened by Hitler's Germany, abandoned by their allies, and facing pressure from discontented ethnic minorities at home, Czechoslovakia's leaders succumbed to the Munich Agreement and dismantled their parliamentary democratic regime, the last one remaining in East Central Europe, and replaced it with a quasiauthoritarian alternative. In February 1948, a restored multi-party democracy in Czechoslovakia once again met its end, this time through the machinations of a pro-Soviet Communist minority that was able to seize power and thereafter transform Czechoslovakia into a carbon-copy of the Stalinist "people's democracies" that had been imposed over the previous years on most of the countries of the region. In the periods that concluded with the demise of both of these experiments in liberal democracy, the relations, and particularly the tensions between Slovaks and Czechs �8 SLOVAKIA played an important role. This paper will examine the state of Slovak-Czech relations in both the inter-war, and post-war Republics, arguing that the obstacles to a mutually satisfactory solution to the Slovak question were formidable in both situations. It will also draw comparisons between the two cases, identifying elements of continuity and change. The events of autumn 1918, with the collapse of the AustroHungarian empire and proclamation of an independent Czechoslovak Republic, brought Czechs and Slovaks together in a single state. Slovak discontent became apparent from very early on. It was inevitable that Czechs would dominate the new Republic. Czechs outnumbered Slovaks by more than two-to-one, and the Czech lands were much more highly developed economically than Slovakia. Czechs had large middle and working classes, and had acquired considerable political and administrative experience in the Austrian half of the Empire. By 1900, they were a well-organized, well-educated, confident nation with a strong sense of national identity. This was in stark contrast to relatively poor, largely rural Slovakia, where discriminatory Hungarian policies had kept Slovaks from acquiring much political or administrative experience or educating themselves in a Slovak national spirit. As the twentieth century dawned on Slovakia, Slovak nationalists were only just beginning to build a mass national movement. The new regime, both in its structure and its justification, carried the seeds of Slovak discontent. First, Czechoslovakia was based on the idea that a Czechoslovak nation existed, which served as the so-called constituent nation (statotvomy narocf) upon which the Republic was based. 1 This notion was anchored in ' See Ladislav Lipscher, Verfassung und politische Verwaltung in der Tschechos/owakei 1918-1939 (Munich, 1979), pp. 41 -42 for a discussion of the statotvornyconcept . �SLOVAKJA 9 the Czechoslovak Constitution of 1920, along with the belief that a Czechoslovak language existed and would serve as the Republic 's official language.2 These stipulations, while freeing the Slovaks from Magyarization, denied them one of the major goals of the Slovak national movement since its inception at the time of Cudovft Stur in the 1830s and 40-the recognition that a distinct Slovak nation in fact existed. In hand with the Czechoslovak idea went a centralistic administrative structure for the new state, with decision-making powers concentrated in the central government in Prague, which was situated in the heart of the Czech lands . Aside from being a corollary to the idea that the state was based on a single Czechoslovak nation, it reflected fears among Czechs and a number of Czech-oriented Slovaks that autonomy for Slovakia would set a precedent for similar demands by the German and Hungarian minorities and aid Hungary's efforts to ultimately detach Slovakia from Czechoslovakia and return it to Budapest 's control. As Czechoslovakia's then Foreign Minister Edvard Benes said in 1932, greater autonomy for Slovakia would "mean for this state the slogan Slovakia to the Slovaks, German regions to the Germans, Magyar regions to the Magyars." 3 There was also a strong anti-Catholic sentiment among Czech elites and some of their Slovak collaborators, manifested in a fear that if ' The Constitution opens with the words, "We, the Czechoslovak nation," and goes on to stipulate that "The Czechoslovak language shall be the state, official language of the Republic." For an English translation of the Constitution, see Howard Lee McBain and Lindsay Rogers, Eds., The New Constitutions of Europe(New York, 1922), pp. 307-342. ' Quoted in Carol Skalnik Leff, National Conflict in Czechoslovakia; The Making and Remaking of a State, 1918-1987 (Princeton, NJ, 1988), p. 137. �10 SLOVAKIA Slovaks governed themselves, they would choose a government that was too reactionary and clerical for the progressive tastes shared by most of Czechoslovakia's founding fathers. Finally, there was a widespread belief that, blighted by Magyarization, Slovaks were not yet capable of self-government. Two further issues that served to fuel Slovak discontent were the economy and religion. Along with the damage done by the First World War, Slovaks now had to cope with a new international boundary that, among other things, cut them off from the traditional markets, resources, and outlets for surplus labor that they had enjoyed in the larger Austro-Hungarian economic unit. Furthermore, the industry that Slovakia did have, lost the subsidies that the Hungarian government had been providing and had to compete with the more efficient and more heavily capitalized industry of the Czech lands. The result was an economic depression and, in effect, a de-industrialization of Slovakia during the early l 920s. The tax rate was also higher in Slovakia than in the Czech lands during the l 920s. 4 Religion proved to be a major irritant in Slovak-Czech relations. Many Czech nationalists, drawing inspiration from the Hussite tradition and regarding Catholicism as a reactionary historical force identified with German-Austrian hegemony over the Czech lands, viewed the Roman Catholic Church with suspicion and even outright hostility. This was dramatically demonstrated shortly after Czechoslovakia achieved her independence, when a Czech 4 See C. A. Macartney , Hungary and Her Successors, The Treaty of Trianon and Its Consequences 1919-1937(London, 1937), pp. 127- 131 and R. W. SetonWatson, Slovakia Then and Now: A Political Survey(London, 1931), pp. 36-37, for contemporary discussions of Slovakia's economic problems. Despite their divergent interpretations of the Slovak question, Macartney's and SetonWatson's characterizations of Slovakia's economic plight are quite similar. �SLOVAKIA 11 mob smashed to pieces the statue of the Virgin Mary on Old Town Square in Prague. Reports of this renunciation of a part of the Bohemian past did not play well in Slovakia, where among Slovaks such hostility toward the Church was considerably weaker, if operative at all. The forced removal of crucifixes from the walls of schools, disruption of religions services and desecration of sacred places and objects, and state seizure of Catholic schools and church lands helped foster in Slovakia the image of the Czech as an enemy of Christianity, especially as traditionally understood in Slovakia. 5 Also contributing to religious tensions was the fact that Czech political elites had, already before 1918, developed their closest relations with members of Slovakia's Protestant (Lutheran) minority. Slovak Protestants had traditional links with Czech culture, and were more likely than Slovak Catholics to share the modernist world view that was standard among Czechoslovakia' s founders. By way of example, of the fifty-seven Slovaks appointed to the Provisional National Assembly that was established to draw up Czechoslovakia's constitution, twenty-eight were Protestants. This in a land that was approximately 79 per cent Catholic. 6 Such an outcome could hardly fail to appear discriminatory and unrepresentative to many Slovaks. One final irritant in Slovak-Czech relations is worth discussing at some length, as it shows just how complicated this relationship could be. This is the question of the migration of Czech administrators , teachers, and other professionals and government emplo5 Jozef Spirko, Cirkevne dejiny s osobitnym zretefom na vyvin cirkevnych de- Jin Slovenska, sv. IV (Bratislava, 1993), p. 466; see E L. Woodward and Rohan Butler, Eds., Documents on British Foreign Policy 19 I 9-1939, First Series, Vol. IV, 1919 (London, 1956), p. 3, for a reference co anti-Catholic actions in Slovakia in a report by the British Charge d' affaires in Prague . 6 Ladislav Lipscher, "Klub slovenskych poslancov v rokoch 1918-1920," Historicky casopis, XVI, 2 ( 1968), pp. 140- 141 . �12 SLOVAKIA yees to Slovakia after 1918. Slovakia lacked qualified professionals and administrators who were untainted by affiliation with the former Hungarian regime and its education system, given the fact that Slovaks before 1918 could rarely advance socially and professionally except by becoming "Magyarized." For this reason, tens of thousands of Czechs moved to Slovakia in the 1920s. 7 Though many of them were needed, their presence in Slovakia proved to be a major cause of Slovak discontent. First, they represented a cultural intrusion of modern-thinking, largely urban progressive types into a traditional, rural society, and as such offended many Slovaks with paternalism and tactlessness. Second , they received considerable salary supplements since Slovakia was regarded as a hardship post. 8 This income disparity between imported Czechs and native Slovak employees was also a sore point. Third, there was a perception among Slovaks that their native land was being used by Czechs as a dumping ground for officials who were second-rate. Finally, Slovak resentment was especially acute over the fact that among the Czechs who received employment in Slovakia were not only professionals and high-level administrators , but railway porters, postmen, doormen, messengers , and janitors, positions for which there were plenty of capable Slo- vaks at hand .9 This situation can be explained at least in part by the nature of Czechoslovakia's political system. In Czechoslovakia's coalition ' See Jan Rychlfk, Cesi a Slovaci ve 20.stoletf; cesko-slo venske vztahy J 9 J41945 (Bratislava, 1997), pp. 86-87 for statistics on the number of Czechs employed in Slovakia during the interwar period . ' Natasa Krajcovicova, "K otazke personalneho obsadzovania organov statnej a verejnej spravy na Slovensku v prvych rokoch po vzniku CSR", Historickf casopis, XLIV , 4, 1996, pp. 619-620. 9 Jozef Lettrich, History of Modem Slovakia (New York, 1955), pp. 61 -62; Seton-Watson, Slovakia, p. 34. �SLOVAKIA 13 governments, certain parties tended to retain particular ministries over the long-term. Thus, it was not unusual for a political party, whose support came almost exclusively from the Czech lands, to control a substantial number of state administrative positions in Slovakia which it would allot to its Czech adherents as patronage. Such was the case, for example, with the Czechoslovak National Socialist Party and the railroads. Compounding the problem of Czech employment in Slovakia was the fact that Prague, with the help of these migrants, was so successful in developing a Czechoslovak education system in Slovakia that by the end of the 1920s, Slovakia was producing for the first time a native intelligentsia fully trained in Czechoslovak high schools and colleges. Unfortunately, precisely at the time that these cohorts of educated Slovaks were coming onto the job market, Czechoslovakia was hit by the Great Depression. These young Slovaks, many of whom could not find appropriate employment, came to resent the fact that Czechs were working in Slovakia in positions that they coveted. Many of these Czechs meanwhile had struck roots in Slovakia and, even if they wished, had little to return to in Depressionstricken Bohemia and Moravia. Many of these members of the young Slovak intelligentsia inclined toward radical politics of the left and right; among the latter, calls for Czechs to go home became standard fare at political rallies. Though, as one scholar recently pointed out, the personnel question was an extremely complicated issue that cannot be understood from a purely ethnic standpoint, the fact that Czechs were working in Slovakia while Slovaks were unemployed provided grist for Slovak nationalist mills and made this issue a constant irritant for Slovak-Czech relations. 10 ' 0 Krajcovicova, "K otazke", pp. 627, 628 . �14 SLOVAKIA Politically, Slovaks responded to this growing discontent in a number of ways. The antidote to Czechoslovak centralism was Slovak autonomy, a call that was embraced by the Slovak party with the greatest popularity, the Slovak People's Party (SPP). Led by the populist priest Andrej Hlinka, it sought to mobilize Slovak religious, economic, political and cultural discontent into a broadbased movement for autonomy and national recognition. It staunchly supported an autonomous Slovakia right up to the end of the First Republic. Two other groups also called for autonomy for Slovakia, at least in their rhetoric-the Communists and the parties of the Hungarian minority. This meant that in the parliamentary elections of 1925, 1929, and 1935, over 50% of voters in Slovakia opted for parties that rejected Czechoslovak centralism. 11 While about half of ethnic Slovaks voted for the SPP, most other Slovaks voted for the Slovak affiliates of Czechoslovak-wide parties. These parties supported the idea of a Czechoslovak nation and the centralist system. Because they were always or nearly always in the government, they could provide supporters with certain material advantages that the SPP could not, so it was quite likely that considerably more Slovaks supported autonomy than voted for the autonomist SPP. The most significant of such parties was the Agrarians, which alone among the government parties had a strong Slovak wing, led by Milan Hodza. Though officially accepting the Czechoslovak idea and opposing autonomy for Slovakia, the Agrarians tried in the 1930s to develop an alternative to both Prague centralism and SPP autonomism - the socalled regionalist option. This involved promoting cooperation of Slovaks on behalf of Slovak interests on regional rather than national grounds. In theory, regionalism gave the Slovak Agra- 11 For electoral statistics, see Leff, National Conflict, p. 52. �SLOVAKIA 15 rians the possibility to champion Slovak interests without the sort of nationalism that could upset Prague and the Czechoslovak constitutional order. 12 Despite considerable support for autonomy in Slovakia throughout the inter-war period, the cards were stacked against success in this regard for a number of reasons. Some of these have been discussed above and need little further elaboration- the Czech numerical preponderance over Slovaks, and superiority in terms of modem economic, cultural, and political development; the constitutional stipulation that a Czechoslovak nation, rather than separate Czech and Slovak nations, existed and was the basis of the state; the distaste for traditional Catholicism among the Republic's ruling elites; the fears that autonomy for Slovakia would play into the hands of Hungarian and German nationalists and make it harder for Prague to resist their autonomist demands; the belief that Slovaks were not capable of governing themselves; and the difficulties, owing to problems of political patronage and economic stagnation, of finding appropriate employment for the university-educated Slovaks the system was producing by the late 1920s and their consequent tum towards radicalism. Other factors were at play as well. It should be kept in mind that both of Czechoslovakia's presidents during the inter-war period, Tomas G. Masaryk and Edvard Benes, were staunch champions of the Czechoslovak idea and opponents of autonomy for Slovakia. Furthermore, the autonomist forces in Slovakia were not united, and in fact were fundamentally divided over their conceptions of just what sort of autonomous Slovakia they wanted. The Hungarian parties regarded Slovaks and Hungarians as minorities with an equal claim to self-government in Slovakia, 12 M. Kropilak, ed., Dejiny S/ovenska, V ( 1918-1945) (Bratislava, 1985), p. 195. �16 SLOVAKlA with hopes that someday that territory would return to a restored Kingdom of Hungary. The SPP, on the other hand, believed in "Slovakia for the Slovaks," as one of its most cherished slogans rang out, and saw Slovaks as the statotvomy narod in Slovakia, with Hungarians as merely a minority. The Communists , for their part, were open to autonomy for Slovakia only if it were to come in conjunction with the establishment of a Communist dictatorship of the proletariat, something that repelled the other pro-autonomy parties. The nature of the Czechoslovak political system was particularly crucial in making it highly unlikely that the SPP, barring some sort of exceptional circumstances, would be able to realize its autonomist goals via normal political channels. While winning the votes of around half of the ethnic Slovaks, the SPP 's support statewide was only around 7%. This meant that it would have to find allies if it wished to establish influence in or increase pressure on the government. Such alliance-seeking was problematic, however. Several leading Czechoslovak parties were outright hostile to Slovak nationalism and the idea of autonomy, for example the Social Democratic Party, National Socialist Party, and, after 1921 , the Czechoslovak People 's Party. Taken together, these three parties represented a considerable proportion of the governing majority. 13 Among the opposition parties were a few that were open to cooperation with the SPP, such as the Hungarian nationalists, Czech fascists, and the Slovak National Party (a Protestant autonomist party), but they were either insignificant in numbers and influence, or holding fundamentally different ultimate goals from the SPP. The Slovak wing of the Czechoslovak Agrarian Party, the second strongest electoral draw in Slovakia, could theoreti13 For example, of the government 's 206 seats in Parliament after the 1929 elections, these three parties held 96 seats. �SLOVAKJA 17 cally have formed a powerful bloc had its regionalist program developed into a genuine political collaboration with the SPP. However, two factors-the Agrarians' fear that the SPP would dominate an autonomous Slovakia, and the fact that the Agrarian Party 's leadership in Prague was unwilling to abandon centralism-kept such collaboration at a minimum. As with many national conflicts, it was probably the vicious circle of fear that accounted most for the failure to solve the Slovak question satisfactorily. In the 1920s, Czechoslovak centralists feared that an autonomous Slovakia would be easy prey for Hungarians eager to revise the post-War peace treaties and detach Slovakia from the Czech lands and return it to Hungary. The close collaboration after 1918 between SPP leader Hlinka and two notorious Hungarian sympathizers, Frantisek Jehlicka and Vojtech Tuka, only heightened Prague's apprehensions. 14 By the mid1930s, the Germans had replaced the Hungarians as the chief fear of Czechoslovak centralists with respect to Slovakia. After Konrad Henlein 's strong showing in the 1935 parliamentary elections, Prague worried that autonomy for Slovakia would make it harder to resist similar demands by Czechoslovakia's Sudeten German minority. The SPP, at the same time, had a great fear that Czechs would solve the Sudeten German question by granting autonomy to the predominately and historically German lands, while ignoring similar demands from Slovaks. This fear, combined with the 1 • Jehlicka was a Slovak priest of pro-Hungarian sympathy who accompanied Hlinka on a trip to the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, where they sought to present the Slovak national case to the Great Powers . After the trip, which proved to be a fiasco, Hlinka was imprisoned by the Czechoslovak government while Jehlicka went into exile; Tuka was a pro-Hungarian university professor who lost his job after 1918 and found a new career in the SPP as an editor, parliamentarian, and advisor to Hlinka. He was inv o lved in various intrigues against the Czechoslovak Republic in the 1920s. �18 SLOVAKJA SPP's inability to realize its demands via normal channels, led that party, or at least certain factions within it, to seek support repeatedly from abroad. And since the Western democracies tended to support the post-War status quo, the SPP sometimes looked to those neighbors of Czechoslovakia who were seeking change and, hence, were seen by the Republic's rulers as a threat. Hlinka and his party consistently cultivated good relations with official and unofficial circles in Poland, while SPP radicals sought closer ties with Germany and Czechoslovakia's pro-Nazi Sudeten Germans . 15 This in turn frightened Czechs and made it even less likely that autonomy for Slovakia would be agreed to by the power brokers in Prague. Throughout 1938, fears on both sides increased as German pressure, both from within and without Czechoslovakia, intensified, as did Slovak demands for autonomy. Once the Czechoslovak government elected to accept the Munich Agreement and hand over large tracts of its territory to Nazi Germany, the SPP pressed its claims and got a demoralized Czechoslovak government not only to acquiesce in its autonomist demands but also to accept the existence of a distinct Slovak nation. Scarcely a week after the Munich Agreement, Prague and the SPP agreed that Czechoslovakia would be restructured as Czecho-Slovakia, with an autonomous Slovakia run by the SPP. When Hitler opted to destroy Czecho-Slovakia m March of 1939, this autonomous Slovakia became the independent Slovak Republic, closely allied with Nazi Germany as one of its satellites, while the Czech lands were incorporated wholly into the Third Reich as the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. Slovakia 15 See, for example, James Ramon Felak, "At the Price of the Republic": Hlinka 's Slovak People 's Party 1929- 1938 (Pittsburgh , PA, 1994), pp. 171 -175, for a discussion of SPP flirtations with Polish and German nationalists. �SLOVAKIA 19 survived the war as an authoritarian, one-party state, led by the Roman Catholic priest Jozef Tiso, who succeeded Hlinka in the summer of 1938 as head of the SPP. Both Roman Catholics and their Church were privileged in this period. At the same time, a resistance movement emerged composed of an uneasy alliance of Communists and democrats, which erupted in the Slovak National Uprising of August-September 1944. Both the Slovak Republic and the Uprising would have major impacts on the post-War situation in Slovakia. First, by having their own state, Slovaks gained the confidence and experience necessary for self-government. By 1945, the idea of returning to a Czechoslovak nation and state run from Prague was repellent across the political spectrum in Slovakia. Second, the very fact of this state which, like the autonomous Slovakia of October 1938, came into existence on the coattails of Hitler's march into Central Europe, tainted Slovak accomplishments, as many Czechs regarded Slovaks, especially those in the SPP, as collaborators with the Czechs' mortal enemy, Nazi Germany. Thus, Czechs often saw manifestations of Slovak nationalism as fascist in nature and threatening to the Republic. Third, despite the susceptibility of Slovaks to charges of collaboration, at the same time, thanks to the Slovak National Uprising, Slovaks could point to the fact that their own homegrown resistance to Nazism far exceeded Czech efforts in numbers and intensity. It also created a politically influential association of partisan veterans who could potentially throw their weight around in the postWar situation. With Germany's defeat, Czechoslovakia was restored. This time, however, there would be no Czechoslovak idea. Slovaks were recognized as a distinct nation, and allowed to retain the Slovak national organs that they had set up during the Uprising. �20 SLOVAKJA Czech Communist leader Klement Gottwald, Czechoslovakia's most powerful politician at war's end, proclaimed that "the Slovaks are to be the masters in their own Slovak land." 16 A whole host of problems emerged however, some almost at once, to foil what was a hopeful beginning for advocates of Slovak autonomy. First, the set-up was an asymmetrical one. Slovak national organs, such as the Slovak National Council and Board of Commissioners, were established, but with no parallel Czech organs, only federal organs with competence for the entire state. This led to conflicts over where the competence of the central organs ended and that of the Slovak ones began. The "Slovak question" returned in a new form. Second, the cultural differences that plagued SlovakCzech relations during the First Republic continued. Czech suspicion of Slovak Catholicism was, if anything, even more intense after the experience of the Second World War, when the pro-Nazi Slovak state was led by a Catholic priest under whom the Church enjoyed far more privilege and influence than it had under the First Republic or could hope to after 1945. Third, Czech numerical dominance remained, and if Czech parties could be united on the issue, they would be able to scale back Slovak self-government with little resistance. It also became clear, especially after Czechoslovakia's first post-war parliamentary elections in May of 1946, that Slovakia was far less friendly politically to the Left than were the Czech lands. While Czechs chose left-wing parties in percentages that rank among all-time highs for Europe (the Communists, Social Democrats, and National Socialists together received over 79% of the vote in the Czech lands, with the Communists leading the way with 40% ), Slovaks rejected the Com16 Joseph A. Mikus, ed., Slovakia, A Political and Constitutional History, Acta Academica Slovaca 48 (Bratislava, 1995), p. 242; this work contains an English translation of the text of the Kosice Agreement of April 5, 1945, pp. 242-243. �SLOVAKIA 21 munists in favor of the Democrats by a slightly more than two-to• one margm . 17 These above factors combined to complicate post-war Czechoslovak politics and to pose formidable impediments to the realization of the promised program of autonomy for Slovakia. The political landscape in Slovakia after the War was occupied by three main groups, politically speaking. On the Left were the Communists, belonging to the Communist Party of Slovakia (KSS), separate from, yet ultimately under the control of the Czechoslovak Communist Party (KSC) in Prague. The KSS was divided between those Slovak Communists who were willing to assert what they regarded as Slovak interests, and those who were more closely under the thumb of Prague. By August 1945 the latter, on Prague 's intervention, were given the upper hand in the KSS. 18 The only significant party besides the Communists was the Slovak Democratic Party (DP), founded by non-Communist veterans of the Slovak National Uprising, attracting above all those Slovak Protestants who had been alienated by the SPP's assertive Catholicism but at the same time suspicious of Prague 's centralism. The third group was the Catholics themselves, most of whom were unorganized politically with the outlawing of the SPP at war 's end. Thus, the party that traditionally drew about half the Slovak vote no longer existed, and a land that was 80% Catholic was offered only parties dominated by atheists or Protestants. This large bloc of voters without a party home would, as both the Communists and the Democrats realized, be decisive in the parlia- 17 Robert Letz, S/ovensko v rokoch 1945-1948 na ceste ku komunistickej tota/ite(Bratislava, 1994), p. 39. " l.'.ubomir Liptak, ed., Politicke strany na Slovensku, 1860-1989 (Bratislava, 1992), pp. 267-268; and Yeshayahu Jelinek, The Lust for Power: Nationalism. Slovakia, and the Communists, 19 I 8-1948 (Boulder, CO, 1983), p. 86. �22 SLOVAKJA mentary elections. Thus, the KSS began to woo Slovak Catholics, hoping to create a separate Slovak Catholic party that would keep Catholic voters away from the DP and thereby keep Slovakia's non-Communist population divided. 19 Just as it appeared that Communist intrigues would succeed, the DP delivered an olive branch to disgruntled Slovak Catholics. It was called the April Agreement, and involved the DP and leading Slovak Catholics. This Agreement specified that the ratio of Catholics to Protestants in all DP organs and institutions was to be seven-to-three, with Catholics to be allotted two-thirds of the party's seats in Parliament. In addition, Catholics were to get their own DP daily, the Demokraticke hlasy. 20 As a result of the April Agreement, Catholics moved into leading positions in the DP's presidium and general secretariat. Nevertheless, this Catholic-Protestant reconciliation was a Pyrrhic victory for Slovakia's non-Communist forces. It did enable the DP to win the May 1946 parliamentary elections in a resounding manner, and made it clear that Slovakia was overwhelmingly anti-Communist. At the same time, however, the Communists were able to exploit the April Agreement successfully for their own ends. With an influx of Catholics into the DP, the same Catholics that Communists had been wooing up to that point, the KSS now sought to portray the DP as riddled with fascist traitors loyal to former leader Tiso, and dangerous to the integrity and democracy of the Czechoslovak state. 21 Thus began a determined , 19 Letz, Slovensko, pp. 28-29 ; Michal Bamovsky, Na ceste k monopolu moci; Mocenskopoliticke zapasy na S/ovensku v rokoch 1945-1948 (Bratislava, 1993), p. 73 . 20 Bamovsky, Na ceste, p. 80; Letz, S/ovensko, p. 36. 21 See United States Department of State, Decimal Files, 860f.00/6- l 346, no. 985 ; (hereafter referred to as DOS). �SLOVAKIA 23 sustained, and aggressive effort by Communist propaganda to slander the DP. Furthermore, the election results made it clear to the Communists that autonomy for Slovakia would be a disaster for Communist interests. Consequently, the Communists began to push aggressively for a scaling back of the competence of Slovak national organs in favor of federal ones. At the same time, Communists sought to use the alarm they could generate over a "fascist restoration" in Slovakia to frighten Czech non-Communists into keeping the DP at a distance. With the acquiescence, and at times the support of the Czech democratic parties, the Communists succeeded in reasserting Prague's control over Slovakia and largely isolating the DP. As U.S. Ambassador Laurence Steinhardt wrote in May, 1947: For the Czech non-Communist parties and their leaders , including Benes, as a result of their experiences in 1938-1939 when Slovak aspirations contributed materially to the dissolution of the Czechoslovak State, feel with a deep intensity that Slovak autonomy, while acceptable in theory, must have definite limitations in practice. These leaders are therefore all too likely to side with the Communists on any issues to which the latter are able to give a Czech versus Slovak or autonomy versus centralism complexion. As a result the Democrats are very frequently left to face the Communist onslaught alone. 22 Although, strictly speaking, Czechoslovakia was a democracy, with free elections and multiple political parties with their own periodicals, one is struck by just how circumscribed the system in fact was. A number of political parties were banned, including the most popular Czech and Slovak parties of the inter-war years, the Agrarians and SPP, respectively. New parties were prohibited 22 DOS, 5-2947, no. 2477. �24 SLOVAKIA without the consent of the existing parties. Nor could one set up an individual periodical without their permission. Government intervention in and influence over the media was considerable, and publication of anything critical of the Soviet Union was taboo. The regime was also established to accord the Communists more influence than electoral results would warrant. 23 This was particularly the case in Slovakia, where despite losing by nearly a two-to-one margin in the parliamentary elections, the Communists retained the chairmanship of the Board of CoJilIIlissioners, which acted as the executive branch in Slovakia, and kept the Democrats from holding the crucial post of Commissioner of the Interior, which went to the non-partisan Mikulas Ferjencfk.24 Without much support from the Czech non-Communist parties and facing a Communist-influenced political police, the DP was an easy prey for the most concentrated Communist attack yet. In June of 1947, the security police in Slovakia uncovered an alleged "anti-state conspiracy", which the Communists used to blackmail and intimidate the DP.25 Using their influence in and control over state security organs and employing 'agents provocateurs', the Communists were able, reminiscent of their assault on the Smallholders Party in Hungary, to charge leading Slovak Democrats with complicity in the conspiracy. Though the Czech democratic parties were by this time wise to Communist intrigues and took some steps in defense of the DP, they never quite lost their suspicions that, just possibly, Communist charges against the 23 For a discussion of Czechoslovakia's "people's democratic" system, see Karel Kaplan, The Short March; The Communist Takeover in Czechoslovakia, 19451948 (London, 1987), pp. 33-54. 24 Bamovsky, Na ceste, pp. 116- I I 7. 25 lbid., pp. 140-141 ; Letz, Slovensko, pp. 54-55. �SLOVAKIA 25 DP might be accurate.26 With the Czech democrats thereby paralyzed, the Communists, with the police in their pockets, and the trade union and partisan organizations that they dominated mobilized on their behalf, felt that the correlation of forces were such in Slovakia that they attempted a 'putsch' in November of 194 7. This involved a KSS attempt to force a reconstitution of the Slovak Board of Commissioners through a political crisis caused by the planned and coordinated resignation of its Communist members. Though only partly successful, and though the DP and Czech non-Marxist parties stuck together from this point on, this cooperation proved to be too little, too late. The attempted coup in Slovakia was followed by a successful one in Prague in February 1948; in the latter case, it was the Czechoslovak Social Democrats who broke ranks with Czec hoslovakia's democratic parties and allowed the Communists' divide and rule tactics to bring Czec hoslovak democracy to an end . In contrasting the inter-war period and the post-war period , one finds much continuity in the Slovak-Czech relationship. The Czech bias against traditional Slovak Catholicism impeded relations both after 1918 and, reinforced by the events of 1938-1945, maintained itself into the post-war era. Czech fears of Slovaks as disloyal also continued, again reinforced by the events of the inter-war period and especially of 1938- 1939, and made evident in the ease with which the Communists could find Czech support for their efforts to undo 'de facto' the results of the elections in Slovakia. Both situations, though in quite different ways, presented insurmountable obstacles to the realization of Slovak autonomist desires, with Slovaks themselves divided over the iss ue, unable to bring sufficient pressure to bear on their behalf. Finally, in both 26 DOS, 10-647, no. 1342; see also Hu bert Ripka, Czechoslovakia Enslaved: The Story of the Communist Coup d'Etat (London, 1950), p. 113. �26 SLOVAKIA situations, external developments were crucial - in one case Nazi Germany's pressure against Czechoslovakia, in the other the intensifying Cold War, which made Czechoslovakia 's hopes of being a bridge between East and West futile and even dangerous. Along with important similarities, the Slovak question in the inter-war period and post-war period shows significant differences. After World War II, the Czechoslovak idea was abandoned and the existence of a Slovak nation was officially recognized. Furthermore, Prague came to believe that the best way to ease Slovak discontent was via the economic development of Slovakia. There were also important differences in the political structure of the two cases. In the inter-war period, the Government was composed of parties committed to the maintenance of Czechoslovak democracy, with Communists and fascists in the opposition along with Slovak nationalists. After the War, an opposition technically ceased to exist, Communists held key positions within the system they sought to destroy, and Slovak nationalists, albeit a new breed more moderate than the former SPP, sat in the Government. A final crucial difference lies in the relationship between the Slovak question and the health and survival of the democratic order in Czechoslovakia. In the inter-war period, Slovak nationalists had at best an ambivalent attitude toward Czechoslovakia's system. While a fascist element within the SPP viewed it with hostility, most Slovak nationalists accepted the system or were indifferent toward it. When Czechoslovakia faced potentially fatal threats in 1938, the SPP's primary concern was not "How can we defend Czechoslovak democracy at this critical time?" but rather the more parochial "What's in it for the Slovaks?" For all their failure to address satisfactorily the Slovak question in the 1920s and 1930s, most Czech political elites had a better grasp of just what was at stake as Nazism intensified its pressure on the First �SLOVAKIA 27 Republic from within and without. After the war, however, autonomy-minded Slovaks, now represented in the DP, had a very clear notion of just what was at stake, and arguably a better grasp of the situation than the Czechoslovak democrats, who well into 1947 seemed to fear an SPP-revival in Slovakia more than they feared the Communists . For national tensions to ease, both sides of a conflict need to relinquish, or at least moderate, their fears of the other. This the Czechs never really succeeded in doing, as the idea that Slovakia was disloyal and separatist was always in the back, and often in the front, of the minds of many of them. Slovak actions, whether it was Hlinka's consorting with Hungarian sympathizers in the 1920s, the SPP radical wing's flirting with fascism in the 19 30s, or the SPP's demand for autonomy and eventual secession from Czecho-Slovakia in conjunction with Hitler's penetration of East Central Europe, only reaffirmed or deepened Czech fears. When one takes into account these mutual suspicions, the psychological baggage both sides brought into their relationship, the structure of Czechoslovakia's regimes during this century, the persistent bias of Czech elites against Slovak Catholicism, the disparities between Slovak and Czech economic development, the presence of hostile neighbors hoping to exploit Slovak-Czech tensions, and the trauma that this part of Europe experienced from 1914 to 1989, it is not surprising that the Slovak question remained a running sore on Czechoslovakia's body politic throughout the twentieth 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 2003, Vol. 37 Description An account of the resource Vol. 37 (No. 68-69), 2003. 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 2003 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document SLOVAKIA 7 The Slovak Question in the Interwar (1918-1938) and Post-War (1945-1948) Czechoslovak Republics James R. Felak A key element of the aura of tragedy that surrounds Czechoslovakia's history in the eyes of many of its students, observers, and sympathizers is that state's experience in having its liberal, Western-oriented, parliamentary democratic, pluralistic political system destroyed by a powerful, aggressive, neighboring totalitarian empire twice in this century. In the early fall of 1938, threatened by Hitler's Germany, abandoned by their allies, and facing pressure from discontented ethnic minorities at home, Czechoslovakia's leaders succumbed to the Munich Agreement and dismantled their parliamentary democratic regime, the last one remaining in East Central Europe, and replaced it with a quasiauthoritarian alternative. In February 1948, a restored multi-party democracy in Czechoslovakia once again met its end, this time through the machinations of a pro-Soviet Communist minority that was able to seize power and thereafter transform Czechoslovakia into a carbon-copy of the Stalinist "people's democracies" that had been imposed over the previous years on most of the countries of the region. In the periods that concluded with the demise of both of these experiments in liberal democracy, the relations, and particularly the tensions between Slovaks and Czechs 8 SLOVAKIA played an important role. This paper will examine the state of Slovak-Czech relations in both the inter-war, and post-war Republics, arguing that the obstacles to a mutually satisfactory solution to the Slovak question were formidable in both situations. It will also draw comparisons between the two cases, identifying elements of continuity and change. The events of autumn 1918, with the collapse of the AustroHungarian empire and proclamation of an independent Czechoslovak Republic, brought Czechs and Slovaks together in a single state. Slovak discontent became apparent from very early on. It was inevitable that Czechs would dominate the new Republic. Czechs outnumbered Slovaks by more than two-to-one, and the Czech lands were much more highly developed economically than Slovakia. Czechs had large middle and working classes, and had acquired considerable political and administrative experience in the Austrian half of the Empire. By 1900, they were a well-organized, well-educated, confident nation with a strong sense of national identity. This was in stark contrast to relatively poor, largely rural Slovakia, where discriminatory Hungarian policies had kept Slovaks from acquiring much political or administrative experience or educating themselves in a Slovak national spirit. As the twentieth century dawned on Slovakia, Slovak nationalists were only just beginning to build a mass national movement. The new regime, both in its structure and its justification, carried the seeds of Slovak discontent. First, Czechoslovakia was based on the idea that a Czechoslovak nation existed, which served as the so-called constituent nation (statotvomy narocf) upon which the Republic was based. 1 This notion was anchored in ' See Ladislav Lipscher, Verfassung und politische Verwaltung in der Tschechos/owakei 1918-1939 (Munich, 1979), pp. 41 -42 for a discussion of the statotvornyconcept . SLOVAKJA 9 the Czechoslovak Constitution of 1920, along with the belief that a Czechoslovak language existed and would serve as the Republic 's official language.2 These stipulations, while freeing the Slovaks from Magyarization, denied them one of the major goals of the Slovak national movement since its inception at the time of Cudovft Stur in the 1830s and 40-the recognition that a distinct Slovak nation in fact existed. In hand with the Czechoslovak idea went a centralistic administrative structure for the new state, with decision-making powers concentrated in the central government in Prague, which was situated in the heart of the Czech lands . Aside from being a corollary to the idea that the state was based on a single Czechoslovak nation, it reflected fears among Czechs and a number of Czech-oriented Slovaks that autonomy for Slovakia would set a precedent for similar demands by the German and Hungarian minorities and aid Hungary's efforts to ultimately detach Slovakia from Czechoslovakia and return it to Budapest 's control. As Czechoslovakia's then Foreign Minister Edvard Benes said in 1932, greater autonomy for Slovakia would "mean for this state the slogan Slovakia to the Slovaks, German regions to the Germans, Magyar regions to the Magyars." 3 There was also a strong anti-Catholic sentiment among Czech elites and some of their Slovak collaborators, manifested in a fear that if ' The Constitution opens with the words, "We, the Czechoslovak nation," and goes on to stipulate that "The Czechoslovak language shall be the state, official language of the Republic." For an English translation of the Constitution, see Howard Lee McBain and Lindsay Rogers, Eds., The New Constitutions of Europe(New York, 1922), pp. 307-342. ' Quoted in Carol Skalnik Leff, National Conflict in Czechoslovakia; The Making and Remaking of a State, 1918-1987 (Princeton, NJ, 1988), p. 137. 10 SLOVAKIA Slovaks governed themselves, they would choose a government that was too reactionary and clerical for the progressive tastes shared by most of Czechoslovakia's founding fathers. Finally, there was a widespread belief that, blighted by Magyarization, Slovaks were not yet capable of self-government. Two further issues that served to fuel Slovak discontent were the economy and religion. Along with the damage done by the First World War, Slovaks now had to cope with a new international boundary that, among other things, cut them off from the traditional markets, resources, and outlets for surplus labor that they had enjoyed in the larger Austro-Hungarian economic unit. Furthermore, the industry that Slovakia did have, lost the subsidies that the Hungarian government had been providing and had to compete with the more efficient and more heavily capitalized industry of the Czech lands. The result was an economic depression and, in effect, a de-industrialization of Slovakia during the early l 920s. The tax rate was also higher in Slovakia than in the Czech lands during the l 920s. 4 Religion proved to be a major irritant in Slovak-Czech relations. Many Czech nationalists, drawing inspiration from the Hussite tradition and regarding Catholicism as a reactionary historical force identified with German-Austrian hegemony over the Czech lands, viewed the Roman Catholic Church with suspicion and even outright hostility. This was dramatically demonstrated shortly after Czechoslovakia achieved her independence, when a Czech 4 See C. A. Macartney , Hungary and Her Successors, The Treaty of Trianon and Its Consequences 1919-1937(London, 1937), pp. 127- 131 and R. W. SetonWatson, Slovakia Then and Now: A Political Survey(London, 1931), pp. 36-37, for contemporary discussions of Slovakia's economic problems. Despite their divergent interpretations of the Slovak question, Macartney's and SetonWatson's characterizations of Slovakia's economic plight are quite similar. SLOVAKIA 11 mob smashed to pieces the statue of the Virgin Mary on Old Town Square in Prague. Reports of this renunciation of a part of the Bohemian past did not play well in Slovakia, where among Slovaks such hostility toward the Church was considerably weaker, if operative at all. The forced removal of crucifixes from the walls of schools, disruption of religions services and desecration of sacred places and objects, and state seizure of Catholic schools and church lands helped foster in Slovakia the image of the Czech as an enemy of Christianity, especially as traditionally understood in Slovakia. 5 Also contributing to religious tensions was the fact that Czech political elites had, already before 1918, developed their closest relations with members of Slovakia's Protestant (Lutheran) minority. Slovak Protestants had traditional links with Czech culture, and were more likely than Slovak Catholics to share the modernist world view that was standard among Czechoslovakia' s founders. By way of example, of the fifty-seven Slovaks appointed to the Provisional National Assembly that was established to draw up Czechoslovakia's constitution, twenty-eight were Protestants. This in a land that was approximately 79 per cent Catholic. 6 Such an outcome could hardly fail to appear discriminatory and unrepresentative to many Slovaks. One final irritant in Slovak-Czech relations is worth discussing at some length, as it shows just how complicated this relationship could be. This is the question of the migration of Czech administrators , teachers, and other professionals and government emplo5 Jozef Spirko, Cirkevne dejiny s osobitnym zretefom na vyvin cirkevnych de- Jin Slovenska, sv. IV (Bratislava, 1993), p. 466; see E L. Woodward and Rohan Butler, Eds., Documents on British Foreign Policy 19 I 9-1939, First Series, Vol. IV, 1919 (London, 1956), p. 3, for a reference co anti-Catholic actions in Slovakia in a report by the British Charge d' affaires in Prague . 6 Ladislav Lipscher, "Klub slovenskych poslancov v rokoch 1918-1920," Historicky casopis, XVI, 2 ( 1968), pp. 140- 141 . 12 SLOVAKIA yees to Slovakia after 1918. Slovakia lacked qualified professionals and administrators who were untainted by affiliation with the former Hungarian regime and its education system, given the fact that Slovaks before 1918 could rarely advance socially and professionally except by becoming "Magyarized." For this reason, tens of thousands of Czechs moved to Slovakia in the 1920s. 7 Though many of them were needed, their presence in Slovakia proved to be a major cause of Slovak discontent. First, they represented a cultural intrusion of modern-thinking, largely urban progressive types into a traditional, rural society, and as such offended many Slovaks with paternalism and tactlessness. Second , they received considerable salary supplements since Slovakia was regarded as a hardship post. 8 This income disparity between imported Czechs and native Slovak employees was also a sore point. Third, there was a perception among Slovaks that their native land was being used by Czechs as a dumping ground for officials who were second-rate. Finally, Slovak resentment was especially acute over the fact that among the Czechs who received employment in Slovakia were not only professionals and high-level administrators , but railway porters, postmen, doormen, messengers , and janitors, positions for which there were plenty of capable Slo- vaks at hand .9 This situation can be explained at least in part by the nature of Czechoslovakia's political system. In Czechoslovakia's coalition ' See Jan Rychlfk, Cesi a Slovaci ve 20.stoletf; cesko-slo venske vztahy J 9 J41945 (Bratislava, 1997), pp. 86-87 for statistics on the number of Czechs employed in Slovakia during the interwar period . ' Natasa Krajcovicova, "K otazke personalneho obsadzovania organov statnej a verejnej spravy na Slovensku v prvych rokoch po vzniku CSR", Historickf casopis, XLIV , 4, 1996, pp. 619-620. 9 Jozef Lettrich, History of Modem Slovakia (New York, 1955), pp. 61 -62; Seton-Watson, Slovakia, p. 34. SLOVAKIA 13 governments, certain parties tended to retain particular ministries over the long-term. Thus, it was not unusual for a political party, whose support came almost exclusively from the Czech lands, to control a substantial number of state administrative positions in Slovakia which it would allot to its Czech adherents as patronage. Such was the case, for example, with the Czechoslovak National Socialist Party and the railroads. Compounding the problem of Czech employment in Slovakia was the fact that Prague, with the help of these migrants, was so successful in developing a Czechoslovak education system in Slovakia that by the end of the 1920s, Slovakia was producing for the first time a native intelligentsia fully trained in Czechoslovak high schools and colleges. Unfortunately, precisely at the time that these cohorts of educated Slovaks were coming onto the job market, Czechoslovakia was hit by the Great Depression. These young Slovaks, many of whom could not find appropriate employment, came to resent the fact that Czechs were working in Slovakia in positions that they coveted. Many of these Czechs meanwhile had struck roots in Slovakia and, even if they wished, had little to return to in Depressionstricken Bohemia and Moravia. Many of these members of the young Slovak intelligentsia inclined toward radical politics of the left and right; among the latter, calls for Czechs to go home became standard fare at political rallies. Though, as one scholar recently pointed out, the personnel question was an extremely complicated issue that cannot be understood from a purely ethnic standpoint, the fact that Czechs were working in Slovakia while Slovaks were unemployed provided grist for Slovak nationalist mills and made this issue a constant irritant for Slovak-Czech relations. 10 ' 0 Krajcovicova, "K otazke", pp. 627, 628 . 14 SLOVAKIA Politically, Slovaks responded to this growing discontent in a number of ways. The antidote to Czechoslovak centralism was Slovak autonomy, a call that was embraced by the Slovak party with the greatest popularity, the Slovak People's Party (SPP). Led by the populist priest Andrej Hlinka, it sought to mobilize Slovak religious, economic, political and cultural discontent into a broadbased movement for autonomy and national recognition. It staunchly supported an autonomous Slovakia right up to the end of the First Republic. Two other groups also called for autonomy for Slovakia, at least in their rhetoric-the Communists and the parties of the Hungarian minority. This meant that in the parliamentary elections of 1925, 1929, and 1935, over 50% of voters in Slovakia opted for parties that rejected Czechoslovak centralism. 11 While about half of ethnic Slovaks voted for the SPP, most other Slovaks voted for the Slovak affiliates of Czechoslovak-wide parties. These parties supported the idea of a Czechoslovak nation and the centralist system. Because they were always or nearly always in the government, they could provide supporters with certain material advantages that the SPP could not, so it was quite likely that considerably more Slovaks supported autonomy than voted for the autonomist SPP. The most significant of such parties was the Agrarians, which alone among the government parties had a strong Slovak wing, led by Milan Hodza. Though officially accepting the Czechoslovak idea and opposing autonomy for Slovakia, the Agrarians tried in the 1930s to develop an alternative to both Prague centralism and SPP autonomism - the socalled regionalist option. This involved promoting cooperation of Slovaks on behalf of Slovak interests on regional rather than national grounds. In theory, regionalism gave the Slovak Agra- 11 For electoral statistics, see Leff, National Conflict, p. 52. SLOVAKIA 15 rians the possibility to champion Slovak interests without the sort of nationalism that could upset Prague and the Czechoslovak constitutional order. 12 Despite considerable support for autonomy in Slovakia throughout the inter-war period, the cards were stacked against success in this regard for a number of reasons. Some of these have been discussed above and need little further elaboration- the Czech numerical preponderance over Slovaks, and superiority in terms of modem economic, cultural, and political development; the constitutional stipulation that a Czechoslovak nation, rather than separate Czech and Slovak nations, existed and was the basis of the state; the distaste for traditional Catholicism among the Republic's ruling elites; the fears that autonomy for Slovakia would play into the hands of Hungarian and German nationalists and make it harder for Prague to resist their autonomist demands; the belief that Slovaks were not capable of governing themselves; and the difficulties, owing to problems of political patronage and economic stagnation, of finding appropriate employment for the university-educated Slovaks the system was producing by the late 1920s and their consequent tum towards radicalism. Other factors were at play as well. It should be kept in mind that both of Czechoslovakia's presidents during the inter-war period, Tomas G. Masaryk and Edvard Benes, were staunch champions of the Czechoslovak idea and opponents of autonomy for Slovakia. Furthermore, the autonomist forces in Slovakia were not united, and in fact were fundamentally divided over their conceptions of just what sort of autonomous Slovakia they wanted. The Hungarian parties regarded Slovaks and Hungarians as minorities with an equal claim to self-government in Slovakia, 12 M. Kropilak, ed., Dejiny S/ovenska, V ( 1918-1945) (Bratislava, 1985), p. 195. 16 SLOVAKlA with hopes that someday that territory would return to a restored Kingdom of Hungary. The SPP, on the other hand, believed in "Slovakia for the Slovaks," as one of its most cherished slogans rang out, and saw Slovaks as the statotvomy narod in Slovakia, with Hungarians as merely a minority. The Communists , for their part, were open to autonomy for Slovakia only if it were to come in conjunction with the establishment of a Communist dictatorship of the proletariat, something that repelled the other pro-autonomy parties. The nature of the Czechoslovak political system was particularly crucial in making it highly unlikely that the SPP, barring some sort of exceptional circumstances, would be able to realize its autonomist goals via normal political channels. While winning the votes of around half of the ethnic Slovaks, the SPP 's support statewide was only around 7%. This meant that it would have to find allies if it wished to establish influence in or increase pressure on the government. Such alliance-seeking was problematic, however. Several leading Czechoslovak parties were outright hostile to Slovak nationalism and the idea of autonomy, for example the Social Democratic Party, National Socialist Party, and, after 1921 , the Czechoslovak People 's Party. Taken together, these three parties represented a considerable proportion of the governing majority. 13 Among the opposition parties were a few that were open to cooperation with the SPP, such as the Hungarian nationalists, Czech fascists, and the Slovak National Party (a Protestant autonomist party), but they were either insignificant in numbers and influence, or holding fundamentally different ultimate goals from the SPP. The Slovak wing of the Czechoslovak Agrarian Party, the second strongest electoral draw in Slovakia, could theoreti13 For example, of the government 's 206 seats in Parliament after the 1929 elections, these three parties held 96 seats. SLOVAKJA 17 cally have formed a powerful bloc had its regionalist program developed into a genuine political collaboration with the SPP. However, two factors-the Agrarians' fear that the SPP would dominate an autonomous Slovakia, and the fact that the Agrarian Party 's leadership in Prague was unwilling to abandon centralism-kept such collaboration at a minimum. As with many national conflicts, it was probably the vicious circle of fear that accounted most for the failure to solve the Slovak question satisfactorily. In the 1920s, Czechoslovak centralists feared that an autonomous Slovakia would be easy prey for Hungarians eager to revise the post-War peace treaties and detach Slovakia from the Czech lands and return it to Hungary. The close collaboration after 1918 between SPP leader Hlinka and two notorious Hungarian sympathizers, Frantisek Jehlicka and Vojtech Tuka, only heightened Prague's apprehensions. 14 By the mid1930s, the Germans had replaced the Hungarians as the chief fear of Czechoslovak centralists with respect to Slovakia. After Konrad Henlein 's strong showing in the 1935 parliamentary elections, Prague worried that autonomy for Slovakia would make it harder to resist similar demands by Czechoslovakia's Sudeten German minority. The SPP, at the same time, had a great fear that Czechs would solve the Sudeten German question by granting autonomy to the predominately and historically German lands, while ignoring similar demands from Slovaks. This fear, combined with the 1 • Jehlicka was a Slovak priest of pro-Hungarian sympathy who accompanied Hlinka on a trip to the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, where they sought to present the Slovak national case to the Great Powers . After the trip, which proved to be a fiasco, Hlinka was imprisoned by the Czechoslovak government while Jehlicka went into exile; Tuka was a pro-Hungarian university professor who lost his job after 1918 and found a new career in the SPP as an editor, parliamentarian, and advisor to Hlinka. He was inv o lved in various intrigues against the Czechoslovak Republic in the 1920s. 18 SLOVAKJA SPP's inability to realize its demands via normal channels, led that party, or at least certain factions within it, to seek support repeatedly from abroad. And since the Western democracies tended to support the post-War status quo, the SPP sometimes looked to those neighbors of Czechoslovakia who were seeking change and, hence, were seen by the Republic's rulers as a threat. Hlinka and his party consistently cultivated good relations with official and unofficial circles in Poland, while SPP radicals sought closer ties with Germany and Czechoslovakia's pro-Nazi Sudeten Germans . 15 This in turn frightened Czechs and made it even less likely that autonomy for Slovakia would be agreed to by the power brokers in Prague. Throughout 1938, fears on both sides increased as German pressure, both from within and without Czechoslovakia, intensified, as did Slovak demands for autonomy. Once the Czechoslovak government elected to accept the Munich Agreement and hand over large tracts of its territory to Nazi Germany, the SPP pressed its claims and got a demoralized Czechoslovak government not only to acquiesce in its autonomist demands but also to accept the existence of a distinct Slovak nation. Scarcely a week after the Munich Agreement, Prague and the SPP agreed that Czechoslovakia would be restructured as Czecho-Slovakia, with an autonomous Slovakia run by the SPP. When Hitler opted to destroy Czecho-Slovakia m March of 1939, this autonomous Slovakia became the independent Slovak Republic, closely allied with Nazi Germany as one of its satellites, while the Czech lands were incorporated wholly into the Third Reich as the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. Slovakia 15 See, for example, James Ramon Felak, "At the Price of the Republic": Hlinka 's Slovak People 's Party 1929- 1938 (Pittsburgh , PA, 1994), pp. 171 -175, for a discussion of SPP flirtations with Polish and German nationalists. SLOVAKIA 19 survived the war as an authoritarian, one-party state, led by the Roman Catholic priest Jozef Tiso, who succeeded Hlinka in the summer of 1938 as head of the SPP. Both Roman Catholics and their Church were privileged in this period. At the same time, a resistance movement emerged composed of an uneasy alliance of Communists and democrats, which erupted in the Slovak National Uprising of August-September 1944. Both the Slovak Republic and the Uprising would have major impacts on the post-War situation in Slovakia. First, by having their own state, Slovaks gained the confidence and experience necessary for self-government. By 1945, the idea of returning to a Czechoslovak nation and state run from Prague was repellent across the political spectrum in Slovakia. Second, the very fact of this state which, like the autonomous Slovakia of October 1938, came into existence on the coattails of Hitler's march into Central Europe, tainted Slovak accomplishments, as many Czechs regarded Slovaks, especially those in the SPP, as collaborators with the Czechs' mortal enemy, Nazi Germany. Thus, Czechs often saw manifestations of Slovak nationalism as fascist in nature and threatening to the Republic. Third, despite the susceptibility of Slovaks to charges of collaboration, at the same time, thanks to the Slovak National Uprising, Slovaks could point to the fact that their own homegrown resistance to Nazism far exceeded Czech efforts in numbers and intensity. It also created a politically influential association of partisan veterans who could potentially throw their weight around in the postWar situation. With Germany's defeat, Czechoslovakia was restored. This time, however, there would be no Czechoslovak idea. Slovaks were recognized as a distinct nation, and allowed to retain the Slovak national organs that they had set up during the Uprising. 20 SLOVAKJA Czech Communist leader Klement Gottwald, Czechoslovakia's most powerful politician at war's end, proclaimed that "the Slovaks are to be the masters in their own Slovak land." 16 A whole host of problems emerged however, some almost at once, to foil what was a hopeful beginning for advocates of Slovak autonomy. First, the set-up was an asymmetrical one. Slovak national organs, such as the Slovak National Council and Board of Commissioners, were established, but with no parallel Czech organs, only federal organs with competence for the entire state. This led to conflicts over where the competence of the central organs ended and that of the Slovak ones began. The "Slovak question" returned in a new form. Second, the cultural differences that plagued SlovakCzech relations during the First Republic continued. Czech suspicion of Slovak Catholicism was, if anything, even more intense after the experience of the Second World War, when the pro-Nazi Slovak state was led by a Catholic priest under whom the Church enjoyed far more privilege and influence than it had under the First Republic or could hope to after 1945. Third, Czech numerical dominance remained, and if Czech parties could be united on the issue, they would be able to scale back Slovak self-government with little resistance. It also became clear, especially after Czechoslovakia's first post-war parliamentary elections in May of 1946, that Slovakia was far less friendly politically to the Left than were the Czech lands. While Czechs chose left-wing parties in percentages that rank among all-time highs for Europe (the Communists, Social Democrats, and National Socialists together received over 79% of the vote in the Czech lands, with the Communists leading the way with 40% ), Slovaks rejected the Com16 Joseph A. Mikus, ed., Slovakia, A Political and Constitutional History, Acta Academica Slovaca 48 (Bratislava, 1995), p. 242; this work contains an English translation of the text of the Kosice Agreement of April 5, 1945, pp. 242-243. SLOVAKIA 21 munists in favor of the Democrats by a slightly more than two-to• one margm . 17 These above factors combined to complicate post-war Czechoslovak politics and to pose formidable impediments to the realization of the promised program of autonomy for Slovakia. The political landscape in Slovakia after the War was occupied by three main groups, politically speaking. On the Left were the Communists, belonging to the Communist Party of Slovakia (KSS), separate from, yet ultimately under the control of the Czechoslovak Communist Party (KSC) in Prague. The KSS was divided between those Slovak Communists who were willing to assert what they regarded as Slovak interests, and those who were more closely under the thumb of Prague. By August 1945 the latter, on Prague 's intervention, were given the upper hand in the KSS. 18 The only significant party besides the Communists was the Slovak Democratic Party (DP), founded by non-Communist veterans of the Slovak National Uprising, attracting above all those Slovak Protestants who had been alienated by the SPP's assertive Catholicism but at the same time suspicious of Prague 's centralism. The third group was the Catholics themselves, most of whom were unorganized politically with the outlawing of the SPP at war 's end. Thus, the party that traditionally drew about half the Slovak vote no longer existed, and a land that was 80% Catholic was offered only parties dominated by atheists or Protestants. This large bloc of voters without a party home would, as both the Communists and the Democrats realized, be decisive in the parlia- 17 Robert Letz, S/ovensko v rokoch 1945-1948 na ceste ku komunistickej tota/ite(Bratislava, 1994), p. 39. " l.'.ubomir Liptak, ed., Politicke strany na Slovensku, 1860-1989 (Bratislava, 1992), pp. 267-268; and Yeshayahu Jelinek, The Lust for Power: Nationalism. Slovakia, and the Communists, 19 I 8-1948 (Boulder, CO, 1983), p. 86. 22 SLOVAKJA mentary elections. Thus, the KSS began to woo Slovak Catholics, hoping to create a separate Slovak Catholic party that would keep Catholic voters away from the DP and thereby keep Slovakia's non-Communist population divided. 19 Just as it appeared that Communist intrigues would succeed, the DP delivered an olive branch to disgruntled Slovak Catholics. It was called the April Agreement, and involved the DP and leading Slovak Catholics. This Agreement specified that the ratio of Catholics to Protestants in all DP organs and institutions was to be seven-to-three, with Catholics to be allotted two-thirds of the party's seats in Parliament. In addition, Catholics were to get their own DP daily, the Demokraticke hlasy. 20 As a result of the April Agreement, Catholics moved into leading positions in the DP's presidium and general secretariat. Nevertheless, this Catholic-Protestant reconciliation was a Pyrrhic victory for Slovakia's non-Communist forces. It did enable the DP to win the May 1946 parliamentary elections in a resounding manner, and made it clear that Slovakia was overwhelmingly anti-Communist. At the same time, however, the Communists were able to exploit the April Agreement successfully for their own ends. With an influx of Catholics into the DP, the same Catholics that Communists had been wooing up to that point, the KSS now sought to portray the DP as riddled with fascist traitors loyal to former leader Tiso, and dangerous to the integrity and democracy of the Czechoslovak state. 21 Thus began a determined , 19 Letz, Slovensko, pp. 28-29 ; Michal Bamovsky, Na ceste k monopolu moci; Mocenskopoliticke zapasy na S/ovensku v rokoch 1945-1948 (Bratislava, 1993), p. 73 . 20 Bamovsky, Na ceste, p. 80; Letz, S/ovensko, p. 36. 21 See United States Department of State, Decimal Files, 860f.00/6- l 346, no. 985 ; (hereafter referred to as DOS). SLOVAKIA 23 sustained, and aggressive effort by Communist propaganda to slander the DP. Furthermore, the election results made it clear to the Communists that autonomy for Slovakia would be a disaster for Communist interests. Consequently, the Communists began to push aggressively for a scaling back of the competence of Slovak national organs in favor of federal ones. At the same time, Communists sought to use the alarm they could generate over a "fascist restoration" in Slovakia to frighten Czech non-Communists into keeping the DP at a distance. With the acquiescence, and at times the support of the Czech democratic parties, the Communists succeeded in reasserting Prague's control over Slovakia and largely isolating the DP. As U.S. Ambassador Laurence Steinhardt wrote in May, 1947: For the Czech non-Communist parties and their leaders , including Benes, as a result of their experiences in 1938-1939 when Slovak aspirations contributed materially to the dissolution of the Czechoslovak State, feel with a deep intensity that Slovak autonomy, while acceptable in theory, must have definite limitations in practice. These leaders are therefore all too likely to side with the Communists on any issues to which the latter are able to give a Czech versus Slovak or autonomy versus centralism complexion. As a result the Democrats are very frequently left to face the Communist onslaught alone. 22 Although, strictly speaking, Czechoslovakia was a democracy, with free elections and multiple political parties with their own periodicals, one is struck by just how circumscribed the system in fact was. A number of political parties were banned, including the most popular Czech and Slovak parties of the inter-war years, the Agrarians and SPP, respectively. New parties were prohibited 22 DOS, 5-2947, no. 2477. 24 SLOVAKIA without the consent of the existing parties. Nor could one set up an individual periodical without their permission. Government intervention in and influence over the media was considerable, and publication of anything critical of the Soviet Union was taboo. The regime was also established to accord the Communists more influence than electoral results would warrant. 23 This was particularly the case in Slovakia, where despite losing by nearly a two-to-one margin in the parliamentary elections, the Communists retained the chairmanship of the Board of CoJilIIlissioners, which acted as the executive branch in Slovakia, and kept the Democrats from holding the crucial post of Commissioner of the Interior, which went to the non-partisan Mikulas Ferjencfk.24 Without much support from the Czech non-Communist parties and facing a Communist-influenced political police, the DP was an easy prey for the most concentrated Communist attack yet. In June of 1947, the security police in Slovakia uncovered an alleged "anti-state conspiracy", which the Communists used to blackmail and intimidate the DP.25 Using their influence in and control over state security organs and employing 'agents provocateurs', the Communists were able, reminiscent of their assault on the Smallholders Party in Hungary, to charge leading Slovak Democrats with complicity in the conspiracy. Though the Czech democratic parties were by this time wise to Communist intrigues and took some steps in defense of the DP, they never quite lost their suspicions that, just possibly, Communist charges against the 23 For a discussion of Czechoslovakia's "people's democratic" system, see Karel Kaplan, The Short March; The Communist Takeover in Czechoslovakia, 19451948 (London, 1987), pp. 33-54. 24 Bamovsky, Na ceste, pp. 116- I I 7. 25 lbid., pp. 140-141 ; Letz, Slovensko, pp. 54-55. SLOVAKIA 25 DP might be accurate.26 With the Czech democrats thereby paralyzed, the Communists, with the police in their pockets, and the trade union and partisan organizations that they dominated mobilized on their behalf, felt that the correlation of forces were such in Slovakia that they attempted a 'putsch' in November of 194 7. This involved a KSS attempt to force a reconstitution of the Slovak Board of Commissioners through a political crisis caused by the planned and coordinated resignation of its Communist members. Though only partly successful, and though the DP and Czech non-Marxist parties stuck together from this point on, this cooperation proved to be too little, too late. The attempted coup in Slovakia was followed by a successful one in Prague in February 1948; in the latter case, it was the Czechoslovak Social Democrats who broke ranks with Czec hoslovakia's democratic parties and allowed the Communists' divide and rule tactics to bring Czec hoslovak democracy to an end . In contrasting the inter-war period and the post-war period , one finds much continuity in the Slovak-Czech relationship. The Czech bias against traditional Slovak Catholicism impeded relations both after 1918 and, reinforced by the events of 1938-1945, maintained itself into the post-war era. Czech fears of Slovaks as disloyal also continued, again reinforced by the events of the inter-war period and especially of 1938- 1939, and made evident in the ease with which the Communists could find Czech support for their efforts to undo 'de facto' the results of the elections in Slovakia. Both situations, though in quite different ways, presented insurmountable obstacles to the realization of Slovak autonomist desires, with Slovaks themselves divided over the iss ue, unable to bring sufficient pressure to bear on their behalf. Finally, in both 26 DOS, 10-647, no. 1342; see also Hu bert Ripka, Czechoslovakia Enslaved: The Story of the Communist Coup d'Etat (London, 1950), p. 113. 26 SLOVAKIA situations, external developments were crucial - in one case Nazi Germany's pressure against Czechoslovakia, in the other the intensifying Cold War, which made Czechoslovakia 's hopes of being a bridge between East and West futile and even dangerous. Along with important similarities, the Slovak question in the inter-war period and post-war period shows significant differences. After World War II, the Czechoslovak idea was abandoned and the existence of a Slovak nation was officially recognized. Furthermore, Prague came to believe that the best way to ease Slovak discontent was via the economic development of Slovakia. There were also important differences in the political structure of the two cases. In the inter-war period, the Government was composed of parties committed to the maintenance of Czechoslovak democracy, with Communists and fascists in the opposition along with Slovak nationalists. After the War, an opposition technically ceased to exist, Communists held key positions within the system they sought to destroy, and Slovak nationalists, albeit a new breed more moderate than the former SPP, sat in the Government. A final crucial difference lies in the relationship between the Slovak question and the health and survival of the democratic order in Czechoslovakia. In the inter-war period, Slovak nationalists had at best an ambivalent attitude toward Czechoslovakia's system. While a fascist element within the SPP viewed it with hostility, most Slovak nationalists accepted the system or were indifferent toward it. When Czechoslovakia faced potentially fatal threats in 1938, the SPP's primary concern was not "How can we defend Czechoslovak democracy at this critical time?" but rather the more parochial "What's in it for the Slovaks?" For all their failure to address satisfactorily the Slovak question in the 1920s and 1930s, most Czech political elites had a better grasp of just what was at stake as Nazism intensified its pressure on the First SLOVAKIA 27 Republic from within and without. After the war, however, autonomy-minded Slovaks, now represented in the DP, had a very clear notion of just what was at stake, and arguably a better grasp of the situation than the Czechoslovak democrats, who well into 1947 seemed to fear an SPP-revival in Slovakia more than they feared the Communists . For national tensions to ease, both sides of a conflict need to relinquish, or at least moderate, their fears of the other. This the Czechs never really succeeded in doing, as the idea that Slovakia was disloyal and separatist was always in the back, and often in the front, of the minds of many of them. Slovak actions, whether it was Hlinka's consorting with Hungarian sympathizers in the 1920s, the SPP radical wing's flirting with fascism in the 19 30s, or the SPP's demand for autonomy and eventual secession from Czecho-Slovakia in conjunction with Hitler's penetration of East Central Europe, only reaffirmed or deepened Czech fears. When one takes into account these mutual suspicions, the psychological baggage both sides brought into their relationship, the structure of Czechoslovakia's regimes during this century, the persistent bias of Czech elites against Slovak Catholicism, the disparities between Slovak and Czech economic development, the presence of hostile neighbors hoping to exploit Slovak-Czech tensions, and the trauma that this part of Europe experienced from 1914 to 1989, it is not surprising that the Slovak question remained a running sore on Czechoslovakia's body politic throughout the twentieth 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 The Slovak Question in the lnterwar (1918-1938) and Post-War (1945-1948) Czechoslovak Republics Description An account of the resource James R. Felak Slovakia, Vol. 37 (No. 68-69), 2003 pp. 7-27 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Felak, James Ramon, 1957- Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2003 LCNAF https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/2d812967aec21ecc4b3d1cd617c4b6c2.pdf 230ca8ed744f32fe091968328a55ad98 PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA 13 THE SWVAIK REPUBLIC - FRUIT OF HLINKA'S STRUGGLE Ka.rol Sidor (Preaident of the Slovak Natlonal Couneil Abroad) The great Polish phllosopher and polltlclan Roman Dmowski, who labored for the resurrection of Poland In 1918 and dled In 1939, wrote these noteworthy words: " Here in Poland we are tired of reading p0lemics on the theme: who, In recent Umes, flrst used the expression INDEl'ENDENCE and whlch polltlcal party flrst loudly proclalmed that lt wants state Inde• pendence. Thls makes a chlldlsh and unsavory dlscusslon. We have s tate lndependence not because some one repeated voclferously that he wanted lndependence. We have lt because there were people who worked systematlcally for lts attalnment, orlentated themselves well to cxlsting condltlons and knew how to use well all the clrcumstances leading to lndependence. People must know not only what they want, but also what they must do, what road they shall travel to reach the desired goal. Programs of wlshing are only empty and trultless mottoes." As in Poland, so also among the Slovaks in Slovakia much has already been written and sald about thls subject. But Slovaks at horne and abroad seem to be forgettlng that there would have been no Slovak State lndependence without the untirlng po\ltlcal labors of tbe thousands and thousands of outstanding and ordinai:y people of the Hlinka Slovak People's Party who worked for the polltlcal lndependence of thelr country slnce the inauguratlon of the party In 1905 untll Slovak lndependence Day, March 14, 1939. Wlthout Hlinka and his party the terrain would not have been prepared for independence. We can say wlthout fear of contradlction that the leaders of Hlinka's polltlcal party expressed the will and deslres of the Slovak people for an Independent Slovak llfe both durlng the exlstence of old Hungary and also durlng the llfe of the Czechoslovak Repul!llc. or course, always in a way sulted to condltlons, because cven an Idea has evolutionary forma. A dlfferent form for the cblldlsh age of a natlon and another for bis mature years. The followers of štar, Radllnský and Vajanský up to 1918 expressed themselves moderately In form but convlnclngly in substance. When lt came to the breaklng of bread In 1918, however, Andrew Hlinka, leader of bis party, proclalmed on May 24th at Turčiansky Svätý Martin: "The 1000-year-old marrlage with the Magyars was a tallure. We must part." Such a resolutlon of the Slovak program was both modern and s ultable to the tlmes. Thls sentiment was expressed more forcefully on October 19, 1918, In the Budapest parllament by Dr. Ferdl!'! Juriga, a depu ty of H llnka's Slovak Party, when he sald: "On the basls of natural and hlstorlcal rlghts we demand our right of self-determlnation so that we, as a natlonal entity, could form our own, separate community on tbe terrltory we bave settled." An~ on January 23, 1920, this same Juriga emphaslzed in the �14 SLOVAKIA Prague Parliament even the form of future Slovak life, when he said: "Federalism is the system of the future. The order of the future ís not centralism but federalism. We mu.st preserve our individuality and not let ourselves be absorbed. We must let every national unit crystalllze out into a Jegal personallty so that these various national units could then federalize into one great world republic. This would be only the hlghest idea! and only one road leads to it: federalism." Other deputies of Hlinka's party expressed themselves in a slmilar vein in the Prague Parllament until 1939. They demanded independent Slovak army units for Slovakia, with Slovak as the language of command, and separate Slovak diplomatic representation abroad. It is known that the most significant signs of sovereignty are: one's own natlonal army and national representatlon abroad. The climax for this whole endeavor for Slovak polit!cal independence was the Žilina proclamation of October 6, 1938, In which the Hlinka Slovak People's Party, the Agrarian Party, the Trade Union Party, the Fascist Party, the National Sociallsts and the Slovak Natlonal Party (of Rázus) united on a slngle Slovak program. "We, the undersigned," says the document accepted and und"lrsigned by duly authorlzed representatives of the partles mentionerl. "adopt the motion of the Hlinka Slovak People's Party to lssue a constltutional Iaw apropos Slovak autonomy in such form as prE:sented in the As.sembly of Deputles and published in the perlodical SLOVÁK, No. 129, June 5, 1938. We promlse to use all our strengtb to have this mot!on accepted constitutionalJy by the National Assembly." "We demand that the Vice-Chairman of the Hlinka S lovak Peo• ple's Party, Deputy Dr. Joseph Tiso, lmmediately be authorlzed so that as chalrman-deslgnate he set up the first Slovak Government In agreement wlth the underslgned polltlcal partles." At that time (October 1938), ther~ were 45 Slovak deputies in the Prague Parllament: 19 representatives of the Hlinka Slovak People's Party, 11 Agrarlans, 5 Social Democrats, 5 Communists, 1 National Socialist, 1 National Unity member, 1 Trades Union member, 1 Fasclst, and 1 member ot the Natlonal Slovak Party. AII, · except thi> Communists and the Social Democrats · (10), signed the Žilina docu• ment of October 6, 1938. This was a unlfication ou program which eveu the Czechs respected. On November 22, 1938, a new constltutional document wns publlshed. Thls new Constitution was voted for by a fully qualifleď majority not only of the Slovak but also of the Czech deputies and senators. And in thls Const!tutlon the Slovak Government and the Slovak Parliament were already well anchored by flrm paragraphs. So it was that the future destlny of Slovakia - in a legal anď democratlc way - pas.sed over lnto the banda of the Slovak Government and the Slovak Parllament whlch was authorized by all Slovaks. This was the foundatlon on which the Slovaks cont!nued to build theirState and on March 14, 1939, this foundatlon served as a means to proclalm even the independence of the Slovak State -- again legally and demociatically. From this brie! sketch we see clearly that without the preparatory Iabors - ideological and organizational - of the Hlinka Slovak Peo �SLOVAKIA 15 ple's Party, fir.st in Hungary then in Czechoslovakia, the proclamation of Slovakia's independence on March 14, 1939, would not have been possible. For that reason, not indivldual persons, but whole generations of humble and forgotten Slovak patriots have merited recognitlon. The least we can do is honor them for working so assidiously and uncompromlslngly for the politlcal independence of the Slovaks. The spirit of Andrej Hlinka dominated all of them. In Andrej Hlinka all these indefatigable workers for freedom saw themselves. H linka was their leader and theh- idea!. When he was honored, they felt honored also. And so it was when the Slovak legislat!ve assem bly passed the law (No. 83) on Aprll 25, 1939, <to memorialize Hlinka and the generations of Slovak patriots who labored with him for Slovak freedom by placing a bust of Hlinka in the Slovak Nat!onal Assembly_ The Slovaks at horne and abroad shall never forget And rej Hlinka, his Slovak People's Party - the Slovak patriots who llved and died for the freedom of the Slovak nation. It is a fact that the Slovak Republic was the fruit of Hlinka's fight (or the inherent right o[ the Slovak people to polltical freedom . • • • WHO SAID IT? '"Today we have received from Alex Kendrick in Vienna the first solid explanation of what was behind the recent drastic shake-up in the Czechoslovakian Communist Party and Government. Apparently what happened was that Slovakian autonomy, both political and eco· nomic, was wiped out. A considerable number of Slovak Party mem• bers were flung into jail. Bratislava, the capila! of Slovakla, was the real center of a separatist movem ent deeply influenced by Tlto's success. Czechoslovakia is Russia's most important satellite. But di ffe re nces between Czechs and S lova ks are much o lde r than co mmun ism. What Moscow decided to do was to destroy the independence of the Slovaklan communist party, and all hopes of economic and polltlcal independence for the Slovak.s. This is an effort by the Soviet Union to counteract the attractlon of Yugoslavia that ls felt by Czech and Slovak allke." - EDWARD IR. MURROW With the News, The Columbia Broadcasting System, Sept. 21, 1951. • "In complete harmony with the thinking or the Czech and Slovak nation, the agreemenl of frlendshlp, mutual aid a nd post-war cooperation between the ÔSR and tbe USSR was com pleted in Mosco\\· on December 12, 1943, for a period of 20 years. . . . This or ientat ion is an unchangable note eve n for our futu re politic al life." - Dr. Josepb Lettrich, ÔAS, 1-27-48. • " No ne of us has the r lght to obligate defin it e ly for the futu re our people and st at e in fundamental matters, i ntern a ! or inte rnational, t o anyth ing . . .. That holds for all of us and, above all, e ven for me personally. 1 t hlnk that it is necess ary that th is be altogethe r c lear. That is why from the beginnning I ha ve r efused to make any fundamental, interna! o r international, t ies ..... ." - (Dr. Edward Benes, to the Czechoslovak State Councll, Nov. 2:\, 19Hl. � SLOVAKIA 13 THE SWVAIK REPUBLIC - FRUIT OF HLINKA'S STRUGGLE Ka.rol Sidor (Preaident of the Slovak Natlonal Couneil Abroad) The great Polish phllosopher and polltlclan Roman Dmowski, who labored for the resurrection of Poland In 1918 and dled In 1939, wrote these noteworthy words: " Here in Poland we are tired of reading p0lemics on the theme: who, In recent Umes, flrst used the expression INDEl'ENDENCE and whlch polltlcal party flrst loudly proclalmed that lt wants state Inde• pendence. Thls makes a chlldlsh and unsavory dlscusslon. We have s tate lndependence not because some one repeated voclferously that he wanted lndependence. We have lt because there were people who worked systematlcally for lts attalnment, orlentated themselves well to cxlsting condltlons and knew how to use well all the clrcumstances leading to lndependence. People must know not only what they want, but also what they must do, what road they shall travel to reach the desired goal. Programs of wlshing are only empty and trultless mottoes." As in Poland, so also among the Slovaks in Slovakia much has already been written and sald about thls subject. But Slovaks at horne and abroad seem to be forgettlng that there would have been no Slovak State lndependence without the untirlng po\ltlcal labors of tbe thousands and thousands of outstanding and ordinai:y people of the Hlinka Slovak People's Party who worked for the polltlcal lndependence of thelr country slnce the inauguratlon of the party In 1905 untll Slovak lndependence Day, March 14, 1939. Wlthout Hlinka and his party the terrain would not have been prepared for independence. We can say wlthout fear of contradlction that the leaders of Hlinka's polltlcal party expressed the will and deslres of the Slovak people for an Independent Slovak llfe both durlng the exlstence of old Hungary and also durlng the llfe of the Czechoslovak Repul!llc. or course, always in a way sulted to condltlons, because cven an Idea has evolutionary forma. A dlfferent form for the cblldlsh age of a natlon and another for bis mature years. The followers of štar, Radllnský and Vajanský up to 1918 expressed themselves moderately In form but convlnclngly in substance. When lt came to the breaklng of bread In 1918, however, Andrew Hlinka, leader of bis party, proclalmed on May 24th at Turčiansky Svätý Martin: "The 1000-year-old marrlage with the Magyars was a tallure. We must part." Such a resolutlon of the Slovak program was both modern and s ultable to the tlmes. Thls sentiment was expressed more forcefully on October 19, 1918, In the Budapest parllament by Dr. Ferdl!'! Juriga, a depu ty of H llnka's Slovak Party, when he sald: "On the basls of natural and hlstorlcal rlghts we demand our right of self-determlnation so that we, as a natlonal entity, could form our own, separate community on tbe terrltory we bave settled." An~ on January 23, 1920, this same Juriga emphaslzed in the �14 SLOVAKIA Prague Parliament even the form of future Slovak life, when he said: "Federalism is the system of the future. The order of the future ís not centralism but federalism. We mu.st preserve our individuality and not let ourselves be absorbed. We must let every national unit crystalllze out into a Jegal personallty so that these various national units could then federalize into one great world republic. This would be only the hlghest idea! and only one road leads to it: federalism." Other deputies of Hlinka's party expressed themselves in a slmilar vein in the Prague Parllament until 1939. They demanded independent Slovak army units for Slovakia, with Slovak as the language of command, and separate Slovak diplomatic representation abroad. It is known that the most significant signs of sovereignty are: one's own natlonal army and national representatlon abroad. The climax for this whole endeavor for Slovak polit!cal independence was the Žilina proclamation of October 6, 1938, In which the Hlinka Slovak People's Party, the Agrarian Party, the Trade Union Party, the Fascist Party, the National Sociallsts and the Slovak Natlonal Party (of Rázus) united on a slngle Slovak program. "We, the undersigned," says the document accepted and und"lrsigned by duly authorlzed representatives of the partles mentionerl. "adopt the motion of the Hlinka Slovak People's Party to lssue a constltutional Iaw apropos Slovak autonomy in such form as prE:sented in the As.sembly of Deputles and published in the perlodical SLOVÁK, No. 129, June 5, 1938. We promlse to use all our strengtb to have this mot!on accepted constitutionalJy by the National Assembly." "We demand that the Vice-Chairman of the Hlinka S lovak Peo• ple's Party, Deputy Dr. Joseph Tiso, lmmediately be authorlzed so that as chalrman-deslgnate he set up the first Slovak Government In agreement wlth the underslgned polltlcal partles." At that time (October 1938), ther~ were 45 Slovak deputies in the Prague Parllament: 19 representatives of the Hlinka Slovak People's Party, 11 Agrarlans, 5 Social Democrats, 5 Communists, 1 National Socialist, 1 National Unity member, 1 Trades Union member, 1 Fasclst, and 1 member ot the Natlonal Slovak Party. AII, · except thi> Communists and the Social Democrats · (10), signed the Žilina docu• ment of October 6, 1938. This was a unlfication ou program which eveu the Czechs respected. On November 22, 1938, a new constltutional document wns publlshed. Thls new Constitution was voted for by a fully qualifleď majority not only of the Slovak but also of the Czech deputies and senators. And in thls Const!tutlon the Slovak Government and the Slovak Parliament were already well anchored by flrm paragraphs. So it was that the future destlny of Slovakia - in a legal anď democratlc way - pas.sed over lnto the banda of the Slovak Government and the Slovak Parllament whlch was authorized by all Slovaks. This was the foundatlon on which the Slovaks cont!nued to build theirState and on March 14, 1939, this foundatlon served as a means to proclalm even the independence of the Slovak State -- again legally and demociatically. From this brie! sketch we see clearly that without the preparatory Iabors - ideological and organizational - of the Hlinka Slovak Peo �SLOVAKIA 15 ple's Party, fir.st in Hungary then in Czechoslovakia, the proclamation of Slovakia's independence on March 14, 1939, would not have been possible. For that reason, not indivldual persons, but whole generations of humble and forgotten Slovak patriots have merited recognitlon. The least we can do is honor them for working so assidiously and uncompromlslngly for the politlcal independence of the Slovaks. The spirit of Andrej Hlinka dominated all of them. In Andrej Hlinka all these indefatigable workers for freedom saw themselves. H linka was their leader and theh- idea!. When he was honored, they felt honored also. And so it was when the Slovak legislat!ve assem bly passed the law (No. 83) on Aprll 25, 1939, <to memorialize Hlinka and the generations of Slovak patriots who labored with him for Slovak freedom by placing a bust of Hlinka in the Slovak Nat!onal Assembly_ The Slovaks at horne and abroad shall never forget And rej Hlinka, his Slovak People's Party - the Slovak patriots who llved and died for the freedom of the Slovak nation. It is a fact that the Slovak Republic was the fruit of Hlinka's fight (or the inherent right o[ the Slovak people to polltical freedom . • • • WHO SAID IT? '"Today we have received from Alex Kendrick in Vienna the first solid explanation of what was behind the recent drastic shake-up in the Czechoslovakian Communist Party and Government. Apparently what happened was that Slovakian autonomy, both political and eco· nomic, was wiped out. A considerable number of Slovak Party mem• bers were flung into jail. Bratislava, the capila! of Slovakla, was the real center of a separatist movem ent deeply influenced by Tlto's success. Czechoslovakia is Russia's most important satellite. But di ffe re nces between Czechs and S lova ks are much o lde r than co mmun ism. What Moscow decided to do was to destroy the independence of the Slovaklan communist party, and all hopes of economic and polltlcal independence for the Slovak.s. This is an effort by the Soviet Union to counteract the attractlon of Yugoslavia that ls felt by Czech and Slovak allke." - EDWARD IR. MURROW With the News, The Columbia Broadcasting System, Sept. 21, 1951. • "In complete harmony with the thinking or the Czech and Slovak nation, the agreemenl of frlendshlp, mutual aid a nd post-war cooperation between the ÔSR and tbe USSR was com pleted in Mosco\\· on December 12, 1943, for a period of 20 years. . . . This or ientat ion is an unchangable note eve n for our futu re politic al life." - Dr. Josepb Lettrich, ÔAS, 1-27-48. • " No ne of us has the r lght to obligate defin it e ly for the futu re our people and st at e in fundamental matters, i ntern a ! or inte rnational, t o anyth ing . . .. That holds for all of us and, above all, e ven for me personally. 1 t hlnk that it is necess ary that th is be altogethe r c lear. That is why from the beginnning I ha ve r efused to make any fundamental, interna! o r international, t ies ..... ." - (Dr. Edward Benes, to the Czechoslovak State Councll, Nov. 2:\, 19Hl. � 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 1951, Vol. 1 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 1951 Description An account of the resource <ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 1), May 1951.</li> <li>Issue 2 (No. 2), December 1951.</li> </ul> Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context <ul><li><a href="https://n2t.net/ark:/13960/s261hfmshm7" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><span>ark:/13960/s261hfmshm7</span></a></li> <li><a href="https://n2t.net/ark:/13960/s21tk2wkzj4" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><span>ark:/13960/s21tk2wkzj4</span></a></li> </ul> 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 13 THE SWVAIK REPUBLIC - FRUIT OF HLINKA'S STRUGGLE Ka.rol Sidor (Preaident of the Slovak Natlonal Couneil Abroad) The great Polish phllosopher and polltlclan Roman Dmowski, who labored for the resurrection of Poland In 1918 and dled In 1939, wrote these noteworthy words: " Here in Poland we are tired of reading p0lemics on the theme: who, In recent Umes, flrst used the expression INDEl'ENDENCE and whlch polltlcal party flrst loudly proclalmed that lt wants state Inde• pendence. Thls makes a chlldlsh and unsavory dlscusslon. We have s tate lndependence not because some one repeated voclferously that he wanted lndependence. We have lt because there were people who worked systematlcally for lts attalnment, orlentated themselves well to cxlsting condltlons and knew how to use well all the clrcumstances leading to lndependence. People must know not only what they want, but also what they must do, what road they shall travel to reach the desired goal. Programs of wlshing are only empty and trultless mottoes." As in Poland, so also among the Slovaks in Slovakia much has already been written and sald about thls subject. But Slovaks at horne and abroad seem to be forgettlng that there would have been no Slovak State lndependence without the untirlng po\ltlcal labors of tbe thousands and thousands of outstanding and ordinai:y people of the Hlinka Slovak People's Party who worked for the polltlcal lndependence of thelr country slnce the inauguratlon of the party In 1905 untll Slovak lndependence Day, March 14, 1939. Wlthout Hlinka and his party the terrain would not have been prepared for independence. We can say wlthout fear of contradlction that the leaders of Hlinka's polltlcal party expressed the will and deslres of the Slovak people for an Independent Slovak llfe both durlng the exlstence of old Hungary and also durlng the llfe of the Czechoslovak Repul!llc. or course, always in a way sulted to condltlons, because cven an Idea has evolutionary forma. A dlfferent form for the cblldlsh age of a natlon and another for bis mature years. The followers of štar, Radllnský and Vajanský up to 1918 expressed themselves moderately In form but convlnclngly in substance. When lt came to the breaklng of bread In 1918, however, Andrew Hlinka, leader of bis party, proclalmed on May 24th at Turčiansky Svätý Martin: "The 1000-year-old marrlage with the Magyars was a tallure. We must part." Such a resolutlon of the Slovak program was both modern and s ultable to the tlmes. Thls sentiment was expressed more forcefully on October 19, 1918, In the Budapest parllament by Dr. Ferdl!'! Juriga, a depu ty of H llnka's Slovak Party, when he sald: "On the basls of natural and hlstorlcal rlghts we demand our right of self-determlnation so that we, as a natlonal entity, could form our own, separate community on tbe terrltory we bave settled." An~ on January 23, 1920, this same Juriga emphaslzed in the 14 SLOVAKIA Prague Parliament even the form of future Slovak life, when he said: "Federalism is the system of the future. The order of the future ís not centralism but federalism. We mu.st preserve our individuality and not let ourselves be absorbed. We must let every national unit crystalllze out into a Jegal personallty so that these various national units could then federalize into one great world republic. This would be only the hlghest idea! and only one road leads to it: federalism." Other deputies of Hlinka's party expressed themselves in a slmilar vein in the Prague Parllament until 1939. They demanded independent Slovak army units for Slovakia, with Slovak as the language of command, and separate Slovak diplomatic representation abroad. It is known that the most significant signs of sovereignty are: one's own natlonal army and national representatlon abroad. The climax for this whole endeavor for Slovak polit!cal independence was the Žilina proclamation of October 6, 1938, In which the Hlinka Slovak People's Party, the Agrarian Party, the Trade Union Party, the Fascist Party, the National Sociallsts and the Slovak Natlonal Party (of Rázus) united on a slngle Slovak program. "We, the undersigned," says the document accepted and und"lrsigned by duly authorlzed representatives of the partles mentionerl. "adopt the motion of the Hlinka Slovak People's Party to lssue a constltutional Iaw apropos Slovak autonomy in such form as prE:sented in the As.sembly of Deputles and published in the perlodical SLOVÁK, No. 129, June 5, 1938. We promlse to use all our strengtb to have this mot!on accepted constitutionalJy by the National Assembly." "We demand that the Vice-Chairman of the Hlinka S lovak Peo• ple's Party, Deputy Dr. Joseph Tiso, lmmediately be authorlzed so that as chalrman-deslgnate he set up the first Slovak Government In agreement wlth the underslgned polltlcal partles." At that time (October 1938), ther~ were 45 Slovak deputies in the Prague Parllament: 19 representatives of the Hlinka Slovak People's Party, 11 Agrarlans, 5 Social Democrats, 5 Communists, 1 National Socialist, 1 National Unity member, 1 Trades Union member, 1 Fasclst, and 1 member ot the Natlonal Slovak Party. AII, · except thi> Communists and the Social Democrats · (10), signed the Žilina docu• ment of October 6, 1938. This was a unlfication ou program which eveu the Czechs respected. On November 22, 1938, a new constltutional document wns publlshed. Thls new Constitution was voted for by a fully qualifleď majority not only of the Slovak but also of the Czech deputies and senators. And in thls Const!tutlon the Slovak Government and the Slovak Parliament were already well anchored by flrm paragraphs. So it was that the future destlny of Slovakia - in a legal anď democratlc way - pas.sed over lnto the banda of the Slovak Government and the Slovak Parllament whlch was authorized by all Slovaks. This was the foundatlon on which the Slovaks cont!nued to build theirState and on March 14, 1939, this foundatlon served as a means to proclalm even the independence of the Slovak State -- again legally and demociatically. From this brie! sketch we see clearly that without the preparatory Iabors - ideological and organizational - of the Hlinka Slovak Peo SLOVAKIA 15 ple's Party, fir.st in Hungary then in Czechoslovakia, the proclamation of Slovakia's independence on March 14, 1939, would not have been possible. For that reason, not indivldual persons, but whole generations of humble and forgotten Slovak patriots have merited recognitlon. The least we can do is honor them for working so assidiously and uncompromlslngly for the politlcal independence of the Slovaks. The spirit of Andrej Hlinka dominated all of them. In Andrej Hlinka all these indefatigable workers for freedom saw themselves. H linka was their leader and theh- idea!. When he was honored, they felt honored also. And so it was when the Slovak legislat!ve assem bly passed the law (No. 83) on Aprll 25, 1939, <to memorialize Hlinka and the generations of Slovak patriots who labored with him for Slovak freedom by placing a bust of Hlinka in the Slovak Nat!onal Assembly_ The Slovaks at horne and abroad shall never forget And rej Hlinka, his Slovak People's Party - the Slovak patriots who llved and died for the freedom of the Slovak nation. It is a fact that the Slovak Republic was the fruit of Hlinka's fight (or the inherent right o[ the Slovak people to polltical freedom . • • • WHO SAID IT? '"Today we have received from Alex Kendrick in Vienna the first solid explanation of what was behind the recent drastic shake-up in the Czechoslovakian Communist Party and Government. Apparently what happened was that Slovakian autonomy, both political and eco· nomic, was wiped out. A considerable number of Slovak Party mem• bers were flung into jail. Bratislava, the capila! of Slovakla, was the real center of a separatist movem ent deeply influenced by Tlto's success. Czechoslovakia is Russia's most important satellite. But di ffe re nces between Czechs and S lova ks are much o lde r than co mmun ism. What Moscow decided to do was to destroy the independence of the Slovaklan communist party, and all hopes of economic and polltlcal independence for the Slovak.s. This is an effort by the Soviet Union to counteract the attractlon of Yugoslavia that ls felt by Czech and Slovak allke." - EDWARD IR. MURROW With the News, The Columbia Broadcasting System, Sept. 21, 1951. • "In complete harmony with the thinking or the Czech and Slovak nation, the agreemenl of frlendshlp, mutual aid a nd post-war cooperation between the ÔSR and tbe USSR was com pleted in Mosco\\· on December 12, 1943, for a period of 20 years. . . . This or ientat ion is an unchangable note eve n for our futu re politic al life." - Dr. Josepb Lettrich, ÔAS, 1-27-48. • " No ne of us has the r lght to obligate defin it e ly for the futu re our people and st at e in fundamental matters, i ntern a ! or inte rnational, t o anyth ing . . .. That holds for all of us and, above all, e ven for me personally. 1 t hlnk that it is necess ary that th is be altogethe r c lear. That is why from the beginnning I ha ve r efused to make any fundamental, interna! o r international, t ies ..... ." - (Dr. Edward Benes, to the Czechoslovak State Councll, Nov. 2:\, 19Hl.  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Slovak Republic - Fruit of Hlinka's Struggle Description An account of the resource Karol Sidor Slovakia, Vol. 1, No. 2 (2), December 1951 pp. 13-15 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Sidor, Karol, 1901-1953 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource December 1951 LCNAF https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/28459c5b368d229232daf4fb747046d0.pdf 08fca6cfd0ef67ad60a81281f938d785 PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA 35 THE SWVAK REPUBLIC AND COMMUNISM Dr. Joseph Pauco The courageous and mercileEs fight against Communism belongs among the most serious deeds of the representative s of the Slovak Republic (1939-1945). It could not have been otherwise, because the political body which had taken over the responsibility for the development of affairs in the Slovak Republic, from the very beginning of its public activity, was consistently anti~Commun ist. Already at the end of 1938, the autonomous government of Dr. Joseph Tiso dissolved and outlawed the Communist Party in Slovakia. On October 6, 1938, when the Prague Government finally recognized the rights of the Slovak nation to autonomy, according to the Pittsburgh Agreement of May 30, 1918, all the political parties of Slovakia agreed on a single program in the face of the emergency which had arisen at that time. All parties, that is, except the Social Democrats and the Communists, who refused to support the bloc of civic parties and repudiated the principle of autonomy for Slovakia. The Slovak Government, however, dissolved and outlawed the Communist Party as a matter of principle, being fully aware of the fact that every Communist organization is an enemy of all freedoms and an agent of Moscow. It was not so long ago that this act of the Slovak Government was thrust before the eyes of the Slovaks as a sin and a betrayal of Democracy. But today we see, for example, that some States of America have outlawed the Communist Party, and the Government of the United States never adopted such a sharp anti~ommun ist course as it has at present. In 1938, the Slovak Government acted most prudently and with foresight; history will never be able to criticize it for its anti-Commun ist stand. During the Second World War, the Slovak Republic had diplomatic contacts with the Soviet Union almost two years. It would be altogether useless to concern ourselves in detail with that part of the hateful anti-Slovak propaganda, which even today wants to see in this diplomatic relationship a pro-Soviet feeling or policy of the Slovak �36 SLOVAKTA Government. We know that western governments are in a "cold" war and, in places, even a "hot" war with the Communists and armies supported by the Soviets and yet they have diplomatic contacts with the Soviet dictatorship. Who would dare to accuse, for example, the Eisenhower ,A¢ninistration of following a pro-Soviet course? And we must not forget that the Slovak Government did not rescind outlawing the Communist Party even after it did establish diplomatic contacts with Soviet Russia. Speaking about diplomatic contacts of the Slovak Republic with the Soviet Union, we must also mention a matter, which at first glance might appear as an insignificant event, but which really sheds light on the anti-Communist and antiSoviet stand of the government of the Slovak Republic. Before sending its ambassador to Bratislava, Moscow had requested the Slovak Government to use one of its largest buildings, the Avion Palace, as its embassy. But Tiso refused. Why? Tiso r efused because it was quite obvious to him that the Soviets were not only interested in quarters for their diplomatic personnel, but also intended to establish an espionage center for the whole of central Europe, which would be covered by immunity. The Slovak Government acted as it did even though it was aware of the fact that it might be at the price of breaking off all diplomatic contacts with the Soviets. This act certainly cannot be construed as evidence of a "pro-Soviet" policy of the Slovak Republic! In June, 1941, the Slovak Army marched into Soviet territory. The Slovak Republic entered the war against Soviet Russia, because it was in accord with Slovak antiCommunist traditions. This it did even though it was fully aware of the geopolitical situation of Slovakia and the political combination of forces in the central Europe of that time. It may be worth mentioning, however, that formally the Slovak Republic did not declare war against anybody. According to the constitution of the Slovak Republic war could not be declared without the approval of Parliament and the signature of the President of the Republic. Where the Premier and the Minister of National Defense did declare �SLOVAKIA 37 war against anybody, they did so without the accord of Parliament and the approval and signature of President Tiso. Regarding the armed conflict of the Slovak Republic with the Soviets, we might boldly compare it, from a formal and practical standpoint, with the "police action" of the United States in Korea. The anti-Communist stand of the representatives of the Slovak Republic stands out more prominently, if we recall that two divisions of the Slovak Army (about 12,000 men) fought exclusively on the eastern, that is, the Soviet front and that not a single Slovak soldier was placed on the western front. In short, the army of the Slovak Republic did not fight against the armies of America, Great Britain and France, but only against the armies of the Soviet Union. Serious attempts were made to have the Slovak Army fight on the western front. The Slovak Government, however, adamantly opposed the move. The will of the sovereignty of the Slovak Republic was not violated in this instance. It was not, therefore, accidental that the Slovaks fought only against the Soviets. President Dr. Joseph Tiso acted soberly in the antiCommunist crusade during the war and fulfilled his historical mission regardless of consequences. When allied victory was certain, Soviet plenipotentiaries sought out Tiso and told him that he could continue in the presidency after the war, if he would only proclaim Slovakia a Soviet repuQ,fo:i; Tiso, of course, refused and sealed his doom. Stalin was not a forgetful man. Of course, this was not the only instant which attested to Tiso's crusade against Communism. His fight · against Communism had begun long before he had become President of Slovakia, in fact, from the very outset of his public activity. The Communist prosecutors and judges of the Bratislava "National" Court accused Dr. Tiso of declaring that he would fight against his own brother if he were a Communist and that Communism must be cut from the body of every nation as a malignant ulcer. Certain it is that all political actions backed by Soviet Moscow and all regimes, which knew not how to cope with �SLOVAKIA Communism or out of ignorance and naivite regarded it as Democracy, looked upon the consistent validation of the anti-Communist stand of the Slovak Republic as treason. This was demonstrated most emphatically when the Communists and their collaborators executed a host of Slovak patriots, including President Dr. Joseph Tiso. We know that the "National" Court in Bratislava considered Tiso's negative and hostile stand to the Soviets and Communists, as well as the war of the Slovak Army against the Soviets, as his greatest "crime". If one points out the guilt not only of the Communists, who demanded and got Tiso's head, but also the guilt of those, who at that time sat behind the same table with the Communists and the ministerial council when judicial murders were committed, this is in order. And that all the more so, because at that time every anti"'Communist was given the singular opportunity to manifest his conviction. During the "trial" of Dr. Tiso, the cold war between the West and the USSR was already initiated. But the persons who executed Slovak antiCommunist fighters, or those who did not move a finger to save them - though they could have - apparently forgot that the West exists at all. And today, sad to say, these very same persons, now in the West, want to prove that they always were active anti-Communists. The Slovak Republic introduced itself into world history remarkably well as an anti-Communist political and military factor. If it would have given nothing else to the Slovak nation but have taught it the correct way to look upon the danger of Communism, the wartime Slovak Republic certainly would have been worthy of its existence. Addressing his countrymen, Dr. Joseph Tiso often said: "We do not show a sufficient regard for our State, because we have not as yet sacrificed enough for it." Today it is altogether clear that the sacrifices for Slovak statehood in the fight against Communism are effectively helping the Slovaks persevere in their efforts to renew Slovak statehood and that the Slovaks can be justly proud of their anti-Communist past. � SLOVAKIA 35 THE SWVAK REPUBLIC AND COMMUNISM Dr. Joseph Pauco The courageous and mercileEs fight against Communism belongs among the most serious deeds of the representative s of the Slovak Republic (1939-1945). It could not have been otherwise, because the political body which had taken over the responsibility for the development of affairs in the Slovak Republic, from the very beginning of its public activity, was consistently anti~Commun ist. Already at the end of 1938, the autonomous government of Dr. Joseph Tiso dissolved and outlawed the Communist Party in Slovakia. On October 6, 1938, when the Prague Government finally recognized the rights of the Slovak nation to autonomy, according to the Pittsburgh Agreement of May 30, 1918, all the political parties of Slovakia agreed on a single program in the face of the emergency which had arisen at that time. All parties, that is, except the Social Democrats and the Communists, who refused to support the bloc of civic parties and repudiated the principle of autonomy for Slovakia. The Slovak Government, however, dissolved and outlawed the Communist Party as a matter of principle, being fully aware of the fact that every Communist organization is an enemy of all freedoms and an agent of Moscow. It was not so long ago that this act of the Slovak Government was thrust before the eyes of the Slovaks as a sin and a betrayal of Democracy. But today we see, for example, that some States of America have outlawed the Communist Party, and the Government of the United States never adopted such a sharp anti~ommun ist course as it has at present. In 1938, the Slovak Government acted most prudently and with foresight; history will never be able to criticize it for its anti-Commun ist stand. During the Second World War, the Slovak Republic had diplomatic contacts with the Soviet Union almost two years. It would be altogether useless to concern ourselves in detail with that part of the hateful anti-Slovak propaganda, which even today wants to see in this diplomatic relationship a pro-Soviet feeling or policy of the Slovak �36 SLOVAKTA Government. We know that western governments are in a "cold" war and, in places, even a "hot" war with the Communists and armies supported by the Soviets and yet they have diplomatic contacts with the Soviet dictatorship. Who would dare to accuse, for example, the Eisenhower ,A¢ninistration of following a pro-Soviet course? And we must not forget that the Slovak Government did not rescind outlawing the Communist Party even after it did establish diplomatic contacts with Soviet Russia. Speaking about diplomatic contacts of the Slovak Republic with the Soviet Union, we must also mention a matter, which at first glance might appear as an insignificant event, but which really sheds light on the anti-Communist and antiSoviet stand of the government of the Slovak Republic. Before sending its ambassador to Bratislava, Moscow had requested the Slovak Government to use one of its largest buildings, the Avion Palace, as its embassy. But Tiso refused. Why? Tiso r efused because it was quite obvious to him that the Soviets were not only interested in quarters for their diplomatic personnel, but also intended to establish an espionage center for the whole of central Europe, which would be covered by immunity. The Slovak Government acted as it did even though it was aware of the fact that it might be at the price of breaking off all diplomatic contacts with the Soviets. This act certainly cannot be construed as evidence of a "pro-Soviet" policy of the Slovak Republic! In June, 1941, the Slovak Army marched into Soviet territory. The Slovak Republic entered the war against Soviet Russia, because it was in accord with Slovak antiCommunist traditions. This it did even though it was fully aware of the geopolitical situation of Slovakia and the political combination of forces in the central Europe of that time. It may be worth mentioning, however, that formally the Slovak Republic did not declare war against anybody. According to the constitution of the Slovak Republic war could not be declared without the approval of Parliament and the signature of the President of the Republic. Where the Premier and the Minister of National Defense did declare �SLOVAKIA 37 war against anybody, they did so without the accord of Parliament and the approval and signature of President Tiso. Regarding the armed conflict of the Slovak Republic with the Soviets, we might boldly compare it, from a formal and practical standpoint, with the "police action" of the United States in Korea. The anti-Communist stand of the representatives of the Slovak Republic stands out more prominently, if we recall that two divisions of the Slovak Army (about 12,000 men) fought exclusively on the eastern, that is, the Soviet front and that not a single Slovak soldier was placed on the western front. In short, the army of the Slovak Republic did not fight against the armies of America, Great Britain and France, but only against the armies of the Soviet Union. Serious attempts were made to have the Slovak Army fight on the western front. The Slovak Government, however, adamantly opposed the move. The will of the sovereignty of the Slovak Republic was not violated in this instance. It was not, therefore, accidental that the Slovaks fought only against the Soviets. President Dr. Joseph Tiso acted soberly in the antiCommunist crusade during the war and fulfilled his historical mission regardless of consequences. When allied victory was certain, Soviet plenipotentiaries sought out Tiso and told him that he could continue in the presidency after the war, if he would only proclaim Slovakia a Soviet repuQ,fo:i; Tiso, of course, refused and sealed his doom. Stalin was not a forgetful man. Of course, this was not the only instant which attested to Tiso's crusade against Communism. His fight · against Communism had begun long before he had become President of Slovakia, in fact, from the very outset of his public activity. The Communist prosecutors and judges of the Bratislava "National" Court accused Dr. Tiso of declaring that he would fight against his own brother if he were a Communist and that Communism must be cut from the body of every nation as a malignant ulcer. Certain it is that all political actions backed by Soviet Moscow and all regimes, which knew not how to cope with �SLOVAKIA Communism or out of ignorance and naivite regarded it as Democracy, looked upon the consistent validation of the anti-Communist stand of the Slovak Republic as treason. This was demonstrated most emphatically when the Communists and their collaborators executed a host of Slovak patriots, including President Dr. Joseph Tiso. We know that the "National" Court in Bratislava considered Tiso's negative and hostile stand to the Soviets and Communists, as well as the war of the Slovak Army against the Soviets, as his greatest "crime". If one points out the guilt not only of the Communists, who demanded and got Tiso's head, but also the guilt of those, who at that time sat behind the same table with the Communists and the ministerial council when judicial murders were committed, this is in order. And that all the more so, because at that time every anti"'Communist was given the singular opportunity to manifest his conviction. During the "trial" of Dr. Tiso, the cold war between the West and the USSR was already initiated. But the persons who executed Slovak antiCommunist fighters, or those who did not move a finger to save them - though they could have - apparently forgot that the West exists at all. And today, sad to say, these very same persons, now in the West, want to prove that they always were active anti-Communists. The Slovak Republic introduced itself into world history remarkably well as an anti-Communist political and military factor. If it would have given nothing else to the Slovak nation but have taught it the correct way to look upon the danger of Communism, the wartime Slovak Republic certainly would have been worthy of its existence. Addressing his countrymen, Dr. Joseph Tiso often said: "We do not show a sufficient regard for our State, because we have not as yet sacrificed enough for it." Today it is altogether clear that the sacrifices for Slovak statehood in the fight against Communism are effectively helping the Slovaks persevere in their efforts to renew Slovak statehood and that the Slovaks can be justly proud of their anti-Communist past. � 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 35 THE SWVAK REPUBLIC AND COMMUNISM Dr. Joseph Pauco The courageous and mercileEs fight against Communism belongs among the most serious deeds of the representative s of the Slovak Republic (1939-1945). It could not have been otherwise, because the political body which had taken over the responsibility for the development of affairs in the Slovak Republic, from the very beginning of its public activity, was consistently anti~Commun ist. Already at the end of 1938, the autonomous government of Dr. Joseph Tiso dissolved and outlawed the Communist Party in Slovakia. On October 6, 1938, when the Prague Government finally recognized the rights of the Slovak nation to autonomy, according to the Pittsburgh Agreement of May 30, 1918, all the political parties of Slovakia agreed on a single program in the face of the emergency which had arisen at that time. All parties, that is, except the Social Democrats and the Communists, who refused to support the bloc of civic parties and repudiated the principle of autonomy for Slovakia. The Slovak Government, however, dissolved and outlawed the Communist Party as a matter of principle, being fully aware of the fact that every Communist organization is an enemy of all freedoms and an agent of Moscow. It was not so long ago that this act of the Slovak Government was thrust before the eyes of the Slovaks as a sin and a betrayal of Democracy. But today we see, for example, that some States of America have outlawed the Communist Party, and the Government of the United States never adopted such a sharp anti~ommun ist course as it has at present. In 1938, the Slovak Government acted most prudently and with foresight; history will never be able to criticize it for its anti-Commun ist stand. During the Second World War, the Slovak Republic had diplomatic contacts with the Soviet Union almost two years. It would be altogether useless to concern ourselves in detail with that part of the hateful anti-Slovak propaganda, which even today wants to see in this diplomatic relationship a pro-Soviet feeling or policy of the Slovak 36 SLOVAKTA Government. We know that western governments are in a "cold" war and, in places, even a "hot" war with the Communists and armies supported by the Soviets and yet they have diplomatic contacts with the Soviet dictatorship. Who would dare to accuse, for example, the Eisenhower ,A¢ninistration of following a pro-Soviet course? And we must not forget that the Slovak Government did not rescind outlawing the Communist Party even after it did establish diplomatic contacts with Soviet Russia. Speaking about diplomatic contacts of the Slovak Republic with the Soviet Union, we must also mention a matter, which at first glance might appear as an insignificant event, but which really sheds light on the anti-Communist and antiSoviet stand of the government of the Slovak Republic. Before sending its ambassador to Bratislava, Moscow had requested the Slovak Government to use one of its largest buildings, the Avion Palace, as its embassy. But Tiso refused. Why? Tiso r efused because it was quite obvious to him that the Soviets were not only interested in quarters for their diplomatic personnel, but also intended to establish an espionage center for the whole of central Europe, which would be covered by immunity. The Slovak Government acted as it did even though it was aware of the fact that it might be at the price of breaking off all diplomatic contacts with the Soviets. This act certainly cannot be construed as evidence of a "pro-Soviet" policy of the Slovak Republic! In June, 1941, the Slovak Army marched into Soviet territory. The Slovak Republic entered the war against Soviet Russia, because it was in accord with Slovak antiCommunist traditions. This it did even though it was fully aware of the geopolitical situation of Slovakia and the political combination of forces in the central Europe of that time. It may be worth mentioning, however, that formally the Slovak Republic did not declare war against anybody. According to the constitution of the Slovak Republic war could not be declared without the approval of Parliament and the signature of the President of the Republic. Where the Premier and the Minister of National Defense did declare SLOVAKIA 37 war against anybody, they did so without the accord of Parliament and the approval and signature of President Tiso. Regarding the armed conflict of the Slovak Republic with the Soviets, we might boldly compare it, from a formal and practical standpoint, with the "police action" of the United States in Korea. The anti-Communist stand of the representatives of the Slovak Republic stands out more prominently, if we recall that two divisions of the Slovak Army (about 12,000 men) fought exclusively on the eastern, that is, the Soviet front and that not a single Slovak soldier was placed on the western front. In short, the army of the Slovak Republic did not fight against the armies of America, Great Britain and France, but only against the armies of the Soviet Union. Serious attempts were made to have the Slovak Army fight on the western front. The Slovak Government, however, adamantly opposed the move. The will of the sovereignty of the Slovak Republic was not violated in this instance. It was not, therefore, accidental that the Slovaks fought only against the Soviets. President Dr. Joseph Tiso acted soberly in the antiCommunist crusade during the war and fulfilled his historical mission regardless of consequences. When allied victory was certain, Soviet plenipotentiaries sought out Tiso and told him that he could continue in the presidency after the war, if he would only proclaim Slovakia a Soviet repuQ,fo:i; Tiso, of course, refused and sealed his doom. Stalin was not a forgetful man. Of course, this was not the only instant which attested to Tiso's crusade against Communism. His fight · against Communism had begun long before he had become President of Slovakia, in fact, from the very outset of his public activity. The Communist prosecutors and judges of the Bratislava "National" Court accused Dr. Tiso of declaring that he would fight against his own brother if he were a Communist and that Communism must be cut from the body of every nation as a malignant ulcer. Certain it is that all political actions backed by Soviet Moscow and all regimes, which knew not how to cope with SLOVAKIA Communism or out of ignorance and naivite regarded it as Democracy, looked upon the consistent validation of the anti-Communist stand of the Slovak Republic as treason. This was demonstrated most emphatically when the Communists and their collaborators executed a host of Slovak patriots, including President Dr. Joseph Tiso. We know that the "National" Court in Bratislava considered Tiso's negative and hostile stand to the Soviets and Communists, as well as the war of the Slovak Army against the Soviets, as his greatest "crime". If one points out the guilt not only of the Communists, who demanded and got Tiso's head, but also the guilt of those, who at that time sat behind the same table with the Communists and the ministerial council when judicial murders were committed, this is in order. And that all the more so, because at that time every anti"'Communist was given the singular opportunity to manifest his conviction. During the "trial" of Dr. Tiso, the cold war between the West and the USSR was already initiated. But the persons who executed Slovak antiCommunist fighters, or those who did not move a finger to save them - though they could have - apparently forgot that the West exists at all. And today, sad to say, these very same persons, now in the West, want to prove that they always were active anti-Communists. The Slovak Republic introduced itself into world history remarkably well as an anti-Communist political and military factor. If it would have given nothing else to the Slovak nation but have taught it the correct way to look upon the danger of Communism, the wartime Slovak Republic certainly would have been worthy of its existence. Addressing his countrymen, Dr. Joseph Tiso often said: "We do not show a sufficient regard for our State, because we have not as yet sacrificed enough for it." Today it is altogether clear that the sacrifices for Slovak statehood in the fight against Communism are effectively helping the Slovaks persevere in their efforts to renew Slovak statehood and that the Slovaks can be justly proud of their anti-Communist past.  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Slovak Republic and Communism Description An account of the resource Dr. Joseph Paučo Slovakia, Vol. 4, No. 3-4 (12-13), Sept.-Dec. 1954 pp. 35-38 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Paučo, Jozef, 1914-1975 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource Sept.-Dec. 1954 SNK https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/65dc1a12000a9236ee24b833ac5ca939.pdf 8fed217fb702ba5847ba8d29b72814d3 PDF Text Text HISTORY ��SLOVAKIA 11 The .Slovak Republic and the Slovaks· . STANISLAV J. KIRSCHBAUM INTRODUCTION There are very few topics in recent history that have been as much avoided, accidentally or deliberately, by Western as well as Communist scholars as the Slovak Republic (1939-1945) . The significance of this state in the period of its existence is certainly not central to an understanding of the more important world events that were taking place at the time, nor was its contribution to those events such that it required the attention of world powers. Historical surveys published in the West in the last forty years have thus not given Slovakia much attention; one can appreciate the reason for this, but one must also note that there are often serious inaccuracies, distortions, and misrepresentations in these works.I The task of writing this history of the Slovak Republic is, therefore, left to a few Western specialists or to Slovak Marxist historians. But here one is also left wanting; ideological preoccupations and problems of documentation explain this unusual state of affairs. The Republic of Slovakia found itself on the side of the vanquished powers at the end of the Second World War. Historians have been understandably more interested in recording the activities of the victorious, often applying ex post facto a devil theory to the defeated. In the wake of an ideological conflict like the Second World War, and with the ideological division of the world in the postwar years, the tendency to simplify in order better to glorify and I or condemn is understandable. It is not to be excused, however. Nevertheless Western, as well as Communist, historians have generally let their engagement get the better of their scholarship, or else they have conveniently cast intractable subjects to the Orwellian memory hole. For example, two Canadians, one of Czech, the other of • Paper presented as part of a panel on "14 March 1939 and the Slovak State," sponsored by the Slovak Studies Association in conjunction with the national convention of the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies , New Haven, October, 1979. �12 SLOVAKIA Slovak origin, purporting to write the history of the Czechs and Slovaks in Canada, have actually suggested that Slovak separatism is " an aberration of the past , excusable perhaps under the circumstances of the day , but otherwise the sooner forgotten the better.' ' 2 Communist scholars have also generally avoided the Slovak Republic, with the only two works published in the 1950s3 followed by a few articles in the 1960s.4 Writing from their Marxist perspective , they have, however, shown a shift in accent and interpretation in their later writings.5 This shift corresponds to greater access to the documentation on the Slovak Republic for scholars in Slovakia. However, this documentation is not necessarily accessible to Western scholars . Access to original documents and other primary sources is in fact the greatest problem that Western scholars studying Slovakia face. All of the works on the period of the Slovak Republic published in the West show a minimal reliance on original Slovak documentation . At best, they have used three newspapers published in Slovakia that are available , namely Slovak , Gardista , and Grenzbote.6 Monographs which were published during the war and which found their way into Western European or American libraries are also available; but their number, as well as their importance , is limited. None gives a total picture of the Slovak Republic ; most were written during the war, and generally before the 1944 revolt. Finally, none of the political leaders or officials of the state has made public any documents in his possession 7 that cast additional light. With some exceptions, there are no detailed memoirs or diaries that one can draw upon.8 Finally, there is no indication that Prague or Bratislava is presently disposed to open Slovak archives to Western scholars, except perhaps for earlier periods and less explosive subjects like education. 9 There is , on the other hand, one documentary source that Western and Communist IO scholars have used widely, namely German documentation. The Allies published soon after the war the series Documents on German Foreign Policy ; those documents not found in this series are now available in Bonn at the\ Politisches Archiv des auswiirtigen Amtes . Also available are SS documents, namely from Himmler's Sicherheitsdienst, which John Conway has prudently characterized as "conscientious, though obviously one-sided. " 11 Conway's comments are indeed pertinent for much of German documentation ; it must be used with great care when applied to Slovakia. The scholar must remember that they are addressed to and written by people serving the Third Reich. A third, but unfortunately rather unreliable source of information, �SLOVAKIA 13 is the files of the British Foreign Office. These were at first composed of British diplomatic reports, especially from Consul to Slovakia Peter Pares, which are useful because of their detachment and scope. Pares, however, left Slovakia after the outbreak of the Second World War, and thereupon the reports fo'll{ld in the files of the Foreign Office ceased to come from agents in diplomatic representation abroad. Bruce Lockhart12 then set into motion the gathering of intelligence not only on Slovak, but also on Czech, affairs in the Protectorate of Bohemia-Moravia and thus thickened Foreign Office files with weekly and sundry reports. With the British de facto and later de jure recognition of the provisional Czechoslovak government-in-exile in London, headed by Edvard Bene§, the task of gathering intelligence and preparing situation reports fell on the Czech and Slovak exiles in London. The information in this documentation is rarely accurate, and to its discredit, extremely selective.13 The documents show quite plainly that Bene§ and his people used only information that damaged the Slovak Republic, especially Slovak politicians. Likewise, the weekly summaries of the Political Intelligence Department are not very useful because they were based upon reports emanating from Bene§'s people. However, the Foreign Office files also contain occasional letters or reports from other sources that paint a totally different picture; but they are too few and, unfortunately, rarely comprehensive enough to give scholars something concrete. This problem of inadequate documentary evidence makes the task of studying the Slovak Republic an extremely difficult one.14 Nevertheless a beginning must be made, if only to ask questions, examine existing interpretations, and seek to understand the motives and actions of the men at the center of events; there is indeed a real challenge of intellectual and documentary detection in this case. The documentation used in this article is neither specialized nor all-encompassing. I have examined closely most available secondary sources, both Western and Communist, read the memoir-like contributions of Slovaks in SlovakCanadian and Slovak-American newspapers and periodicals, and studied carefully the documents of the Foreign Office. Furthermore, I accept the writings of exiled Slovak scholars as those most likely to help us understand the Slovak Republic and the actions of its leaders, while taking note of their often defensive and apologetic nature. I am also aware of the fact that there exist many works disposed in an unfriendly, if not outright inimical, way to the Slovak Republic; I have sought to understand the arguments presented and have accepted at face value the facts given. But one should be skeptical toward them; a state where the President could walk on the streets of the capital city without a �14 SLOVAKIA bodyguard to protect him and where no attempt was ever made on his life is not a state where everything was evil and against the interests of the Slovak people, as some works suggest. The full history of the Slovak Republic will, however, not be written until all archival material is made available. Until then the present debate is likely to continue. Before examining the various aspects of this topic, a few words should be said about the broader perspective within which the Slovak Republic found itself. In his study of the impact of education in Slovakia in the 1920s and 1930s, Owen Johnson has shown that by the end of the second decade of the existence of the first Czechoslovak Republic not only had Prague's policy of Czechoslovak nation-building failed, but indeed its "program of Czechoslovak state building had turned into one of Slovak nation building."15 There is some irony in the fact that Prague's policies had the opposite effect of what had been expected; in this respect then, the activities of the Slovak Republic would be merely the continuation and the prolongation of this process with the difference that all decisions affecting the Slovaks would be taken by Slovaks in Bratislava and not in Prague. The fact that the Slovaks took their national life into their own hands, notwithstanding the circumstances that had led to this step, also reflected the problems created by the selective application of the policy of national self-determination in Central Europe. While recognizing on the one hand the right of nations to selfdetermination on the morrow of the Great War, the victorious powers were selective on the other in their granting of this right to the various nations of the Habsburg Empire. The Slovaks were not unaware of this discrepancy, and when the deleterious geopolitical arrangements of the Versailles settlement finally succumbed to German expansionism, Slovak independence was as much an act of nati~al self-determination as one of self-preservation. The ultimate tragedy of the Slovaks is that by 1945 the victorious powers once again applied in a selective fashion the principles of national self-determination as embodied in the Atlantic Charter. THE ACCEPTANCE OF SLOVAK INDEPENDENCE The declaration of Slovak independence was greeted with rejoicing by a great many Slovaks, although in Bratislava, as British Consul Peter Pares reported, there had not been many manifestations of that joy. The capital city of Slovakia was yet to become a primarily Slovak city, and its non-Slovak population did not show much enthusiasm. Pares sensed apathy or pessimism.16 Slovakia's declaration of independence had in fact come about under circumstances that differentiate it from �SLOVAKIA 15 similar events for other nations in recent times. Consul Pares's report not only singles out this ~ct, but it underlines one of the major tasks that the leaders of the new'state had to face. Slovakia's declaration of independence cannot be disassociated from the two previous decades when neither the political individuality of Slovakia nor the nationhood of its people had been acknowledged by the Czechoslovak Republic. Belatedly and grudgingly, Prague had granted Slovakia autonomy on October 6, 1938, under conditions that did not indicate the total and willing abandonment by the Czech elite of the ideology of ''Czechoslovakism. '' But for the Slovak people, autonomy represented the successful outcome of a twenty-year struggle, a hope that Slovak national development could now be carried out by the Slovak people. Autonomy brought about manifestations of popular gladness in the cities, towns, and villages of Slovakia. The Hlinka Slovak People's Party and the Slovak National Party, headed by Martin Razus, had been the main political forces not only behind autonomy, but above all, in the educational campaign that was essential for the Slovak people in order to handle their own affairs. After two decades of Czech local, as well as state administration, a policy that had brought about much bitterness in Slovakia, 17 the Slovaks looked upon autonomy as the fulfillment not only of original promises, but also of national aspirations. Independence and statehood had not been an alternative openly discussed and contemplated by Slovak leaders in the two decades before autonomy. This is not to say that they might not one day have considered it. Indeed, as Samo Falt'an, a Slovak Commwiist historian, has written: "Statehood as an expression of national liberty cannot be rejected and qualified as treason to the nation.'' He went on to add that independence was a logical outcome in the light of the Slovaks' status in the CSR: ''The creation of the Slovak State is not in conflict with national interests and efforts, all the more so, because in the twenty-year existence of the CSR there had been no successful attempt to reach a Czech-Slovak constitutional arrangement. "18 Nevertheless - and this is important in order to understand the problems that faced th,e new state - when independence was declared, it had not been the object of wide public discussion but rather came rapidly on the heels of autonomy when Slovakia had barely begun to enjoy its new status in Czecho-Slovakia. However, within the Hlinka party, reorganized since November 8, 1938 as the Slovak Party of National Unity, which other Slovak parties had been invited to join except for Slovak Communists and Social Democrats, there were elements that had been considering �16 SLOVAKIA independence, especially in the light of the changing international situation in Europe. The predominance of Germany and the fear that Prague might not be able to defend the integrity and existence of the common state of the Czechs and Slovaks concerned them. In fact, from the very beginnings of Czecho-Slovakia, the Hlinka party had given Prague notice that the survival and interests of the Slovak nation were uppermost in its policy stand and actions.19 But in 1938-1939 the need to explore all avenues was paramount, for as Churchill declared in the House of Commons on October 5, 1938: "I venture to think that in the future the Czechoslovak state cannot be maintained as an independent entity. You will find that in a period of time which may be measured by years, but may be measured only by months, Czechoslovakia will be engulfed in the Nazi regime. "20 The Slovak elite was aware of this danger of engulfment and of the necessity to maneuver in such a way as to avoid it. As events would show and the history of the Slovak Republic would confirm, Slovak independence was the one solution that enabled Slovakia to avoid the total absorption that befell other Central European peoples and states. The events leading to independence need not he recounted here, since they have been examined elsewhere.21 Suffice it to say that in the light of European developments and the rapidity with which they were unfolding, the decision to opt for independence and the manner in which it was done showed courage on the part of the Slovak leaders. It was also the best solution, not only under the circumstances, but also for the Slovak nation.22 But at the moment of independence, and for the immediate future, this decision by the Slovak leaders had to be explained and shown to be viable both to the Slovak people and to the world at large. The Hlinka Party23 embarked on this task, calling upon all Slovaks to join it, as the Communist historian I:ubomir Liptak has written. The new regime in Slovakia did not exclude its political opponents from positions in the new state.24 In fact he pointed out: The populists did not come to power after an extreme collision of political trends in Slovakia, in the wake of a moderate civil war as was the case for example in Italy and Germany, but during an international crisis, when all existing political conceptions and currents failed, or did not have an oppottunity to influence developments. In this kind of internal political vacuum, when political opponents are eliminated, or do not have clear goals, or are isolated in the nation, the populists could get the support or at least the passive help of yesterday's political opponents.25 �SLOVAKIA 17 Although there was a single Slovak party (there was, however, also a Slovak German, and a small Slovak Hungarian, party) and the regime manifested certain visible authoritarian characteristics, the appearance of factions and policy directions in the Blinka Party, the division between the legislative and executive branches of government, and the role of the churches in the political life of the state26 were all factors that would influence Slovak political life and help the Blinka Party to carry out its program. In the words of Liptak, in the Slovak Republic there was a "certain 'liberalism' and carefulness in the introduction of authoritarian arrangements.' •27 This moderate liberalism was, however, not to be enjoyed by all citizens, and many individuals suffered, although on the whole there was none of the totalitarianism, terror, and ideological dogmatism that later befell the Slovaks under the Communist regime. These conditions also made it possible for opposing views to coexist and later influence events in Slovakia. For there existed three factors which had heavily mortgaged the viability of the Slovak Republic and which would in time take their place in the political life of the state and ultimately seal its fate; they were the activities of opposition groups, Slovak-German relations, and the world war. The appearance of a group opposing the Slovak Republic is something that British Consul Pares soon took notice of. In his July report on the Constitution of Slovakia, where he noted the unique position of the Blinka Party in the political system, he pointed out that the Catholic origin of this party probably meant the virtual exclusion of Slovak Protestants within it, as well as their relegation to the background of public affairs. He concluded from this that the ''insignificant position into which they have been thrust is sure to arouse their bitter resentment. "28 By mid-November he reported the "active revolt ... of a section of the Lutheran Community, which was the greatest source of strength of the former centralists or ''Czechoslovaks'' and has suffered with their eclipse. In this case, it is sectarian feeling rather than loss of political power which has created bitter antagonism to the existing government .... "29 Despite the fact that a number of Protestant personalities occupied key positions in the state, that their economic influence in Slovakia did not diminish but in fact increased, and that their leaders publicly proclaimed their adherence and loyalty to the Slovak Republic, the Slovak Protestant community did indeed form an opposition group, whether for sectarian or political reasons, especially after Benes began to regroup his political partisans in London. As Pares noted in his last dispatch on Slovakia to London, the Protestants formed �18 SLOVAKIA at home and abroad an opposition link to the Slovak Republic and lent Benes support for his goal of recreating the first Czechoslovak Republic.30 By 1943 they would be actively involved in the restoration of Czechoslovak authority in Slovakia and would help a second main opposition group, the Communists, in preparing an armed revolt in Central Slovakia. The role of the Communists in Slovakia mirrored well the turgidity of their movement until the German attack on the Soviet Union in June of 1941. Soviet diplomatic recognition of Slovakia invalidated the slogans of national self-determination they propagated in 1939, while the leadership of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, by then resident in Moscow, ordered the abandonment of the slogan of a '' Soviet Slovak Republic,'' which began to appear in 1940. The Communist Party had been declared illegal in Slovakia so that its activities and organization were clandestine. The security services of the Slovak Republic occasionally rounded up Communists, but as both Falt'an and Liptak pointed out, not only were they quickly released from prison, but they were allowed to resume their positions in economic and state institutions. 31 In was not until late 1943 and 1944 that Communist activity became a major factor in Slovak political life, in part because the Communists were in touch with Soviet partisan units operating out of Kiev, and in part because they had worked out a new political program for Slovakia in the future of Czechoslovak Republic.32 Together with Slovak non-Communists, primarily Lutherans, they began to prepare the revolt of 1944, which I will examine below. The existence and activity of opposition groups to the Slovak Republic were enhanced by the nature of Slovak-German relations. The role of Germany in the destruction of Czechoslovakia had been a major factor in Slovakia's declaration of independence and as British Consul Pares noted, ''from the moment when indeflendence was declared the Slovaks never had any illusions about the difficulties and risks of their situation as a nation of two million people in the centre of Europe. ,,33 Attempts to pursue an independent foreign policy by the Minister of External Affairs, Ferdinand Durcansky, resulted in his removal in July 1940 under German pressure and thereafter Germany made sure that Slovak political life did not go beyond certain limits, which for the most part were, however, not clearly defined; on the other hand Germany did not encourage Slovak pro-Nazi elements to take power, nor did Hitler back the attempted coup in 1941 against President Tiso, in which the German ambassador, M. von Killinger, was himself involved. Slovakia was nevertheless in the German sphere of interest; its existence �SLOVAKIA 19 was in fact tied to German political and economic activities, and despite the diplomatic recognition it had been granted by twenty-seven states, its juridical status did not\in fact extend much beyond Europe. British de facto and later de jure ·recognition of the provisional Czechoslovak government in London, followed by Soviet and American recognition,34 as well as the Hungarian claims on Slovakia, further strengthened the ties between Slovakia and Germany which were not broken until the war's end. The outbreak of the Second World War was the third factor that heavily influenced the politics and the viability of the Slovak Republic. Although Slovakia would not experience the horrors of war until 1944, the fact that there was a war all around it enabled opposition groups to get involved in military activities on Slovak soil and do just what the Slovak leaders had so successfully avoided doing, namely bring the war into Slovakia with their 1944 revolt. Also, the war forced Slovakia into much closer cooperation with Germany, especially in the economic sphere, and brought about the deportation into Poland of more than half of Slovakia's Jews. In the end Slovakia's existence became tied to the outcome of a war that Germany had begun. In spite of the weight of these three factors on the Slovak Republic, its political leaders determined to carry out policies that would enable the Slovak people to develop further their national life, or put in other terms, that would embark them upon a program of modernization that would dispel any doubts about Slovak political maturity. 35 In this respect, as the available evidence shows, the Slovak Republic represented a singular achievement that had not been equalled in the Czechoslovak state. THE POLICIES OF THE REGIME It was the misfortune of the Slovak Republic that it had to fight throughout its existence the battle of statehood. International law notwithstanding, the Slovaks came to realize that the international existence of their state was shaky, a situation which resulted in the blurring of the boundary lines between state and regime for many Slovaks and most observers.36 This blurring grew as the war developed and became prevalent by the time it became clear that the Allies, who by then had recognized the Czechoslovak government in London, were going to win the war. But in 1939 and for the next four years, until the German army was defeated at Stalingrad, and despite the need after July 1940 for Slovakia to align itself closer to Germany, the lines between state �20 SLOVAKIA and regime were quite closer. The notion of statehood was indeed understood by the Slovaks, as Peter Pares quite accurately reported to London in his last dispatch in January 1940: One solid cause for satisfaction still remains in spite of Slovakia' s need for dependence on one or other of the stronger neighbouring nations and that is the fact that after one thousand years the internal political administration has at last passed exclusively into the hands of Slovaks. Economic and political dependence on either Germany, the Czechs or Hungary is inevitable so long as Slovakia remains an independent state but the right of full self-administration is a pure gain which is entirely due to the establishment of the republic and goes far toward reconciling the Slovaks with the drawbacks of their political position.37 The Slovaks lost in fact very little time in setting up a constitution for their state. They proclaimed on July 21, 1939 a republic, drawing upon the constitutions of Austria, Portugal, and Czechoslovakia, to determine the balance between the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government.38 The constitutional text is divided into thirteen chapters of 103 articles forming "a comprehensive set of fundamental principles and laws concerning the whole field of government and making provisions for the exercise of political power.' •39 Worthy of note are also the articles dealing with the duties and general rights of the citizens, including the right of assembly and freedom of speech and the protection of the workers. As students of the Slovak constitution have noted, the social provisions were greatly influenced by Papal encyclicals, particularly Rerum novarum and Quadragesimo anno.40 The main authoritarian feature is to be found in the role of the Hlinka Party. As Pares pointed out in his description of the constitution to the Foreign Office, ''in spite of the mul~plication of the organs of government, it is easy to see that the Hlinka party itself will, under the new Constitution, be the most powerful factor"in the government of the country." 41 Changes in the Hlinka Party further enhanced the authoritarian character of the regime, as some features of the German and Italian party systems were adopted. The Hlinka Party did not, however, have a fascist or national-socialist program, although attempts were made to give it one, and it sought to direct political life along Slovak national traditions. 42 Like all political parties, the Hlinka Party was divided into factions. Throughout the six years of the Slovak Republic, the main faction, headed by Jozef Tiso, President of the Party and also President of the Republic from October 26, 1939, dominated the political life of the �SLOVAKIA 21 country. It was composed not only of long-standing members of the party, but also of representatives of other Slovak parties who had consented to run on the single ticket for the Diet during the elections of December 18, 1938.43 Th.is faction exercised its influence not only in the Presidency, but'also in ~he Slovak Parliament. 44 For the better part of the life of the Slovak Republic, the Tiso faction also had to make every effort to curb the pro-Nazi faction which sought indeed to give Slovakia a Slovak national-socialist regime. It was headed by Vojtech Tuka, who after July 1940 became Prime Minister and Minister of External Affairs until the 1944 revolt. Tuka owed his position to Hitler who had summoned Tiso to Salzburg on July 28, 1940 to impose a closer alignment with Germany. Hitler also forced the dismissal of Durcansky, Minister of External Affairs. The Secretary-General of the Party, Jozef Kirschbaum, was also removed from his position shortly afterwards. Slovakia had lost some of the freedom it had enjoyed in the first seventeen months of its existence. Still, the Hlinka Party, whose main organizational opponent was the pro-Tuka Hlinka Guard, managed to carry through a series of policies that, with one exception, one can hardly qualify as Nazi or fascist.45 Likewise much of the posturing and outward imitation of Italian and German uniforms was more a matter of form to please Germany than an integral part of Slovak political culture. It would have been a different story if Tuka and Alexander Mach, the Minister of the Interior, had succeeded in overthrowing Tiso. The country would most likely have been ruled by the Hlinka Guard, whose membership was not composed of the most enlightened segments of the population. 46 Of all the policies the regime of the Slovak Republic proposed and carried out, the most unfortunate and tragic were the confiscation of Slovak Jewish property, known as the policy of aryanization, and in 1942 on German urging, the deportation to Poland of more than half of Slovakia's Jewish population. These policies found both support and opposition in Slovakia. The aryanization policy was introduced shortly after independence and was voted on by the Slovak Parliament in response to a mood that existed in public circles.47 The deportation policy, advocated by the Tuka faction, however, met with serious opposition, 48 and although it could be stopped only belatedly, Tiso and his supporters in Parliament were still able to limit its scope and save the lives of thousands of Slovak Jews.49 Nevertheless, one of the darkest chapters in Slovak history had been written, and it went a long way toward damaging the record of the Slovak Republic50 and the aspirations of the Slovak people for independence. �22 SLOVAKIA Foreign policy was another area where room for maneuver was limited. The Communist historian Liptak has argued that the Slovak Republic was a mere pawn in a German game in Europe, especially in the period following independence; it was not possible, he concluded, for Slovakia to pursue an independent foreign policy.51 The measure of the success or failure of Slovakia's foreign policy lies in the degree to which it could resist German dominance and obtain for itself some freedom of action and protection of its own interests. The test came early with the Hungarian attack on Eastern Slovakia in March 1939 and, as Milan Durica has shown, the Slovaks, led by Durcansky, were reasonably successful in minimizing the damage and protecting Slovak interests. 52 The Treaty of Protection (Schuetzvertrag) between Slovakia and Germany set the limits of Slovakia's room for maneuver in foreign relations, military, and economic affairs. With the outbreak of the war, Slovakia joined Germany in invading Poland but only to recapture Slovak territory lost in 1920 and 1938. Nevertheless, Durcansky attempted to widen his freedom of action, and one of his attempts to pursue an independent course failed due to an indiscretion by a Slovak diplomat53 and brought about his downfall in July of 1940.54 Thereafter, Prime Minister Tuka, who was also External Affairs Minister, aligned Slovakia closer to German foreign policy by joining the Anti-Comintern Pact in 1940 and by participating in the war against the Soviet Union. There is no indication in the documentation that there were military engagements between Slovak and British or American forces.55 The measure of the success of Durcansky' s foreign policy may perhaps best be gauged by the fact that he set parameters on German interference which enabled the regime to carry out a wide range of domestic policies. Even after his ouster in 1940, German interference was felt primarily in foreign, military, and economic policy and in the Jewish question. As Communist leader Gustav Husak, an eyewitness to the politics and policies of the Slovak Republic, pointed out in July 1944: ''German influence is great, but not\so great for independence to be a stupid mask. "56 The major achievements of the Slovak Republic were in the economic and socio-cultural fields. If adequate research is ever possible in these two areas, the results are likely to show that the regime was quite successful in taking the Slovak people far down the road of modernization and that, until the revolt of 1944, the Slovak government looked after its non-Jewish citizens through planned economic and social development. The Slovak Republic was the framework within which the Slovak people could and did attain a good measure of national and so- �SLOVAKIA 23 cial development even under the stringent diplomatic and military conditions their government found itself. As Gustav Husak wrote in 1944, distinguishing between regime and state: "If this state had another content and were l~d by another regime, not to say anything about a change of ally, there would be nothing to say against it from a Slovak point of view." 57 Husak, a Communist, was understandably not in favor of the regime; but he acknowledged the importance and benefits of statehood for the Slovaks. Certainly by 1944 there was no doubt about that anymore. There had been doubts, however, at the time of independence. They had arisen from some of the intitial difficulties the autonomous Slovak government had experienced in late 1938 and early 1939. As Peter Pares wrote in February 1939, there were difficulties in a series of sectors, especially in the economic, educational, and administrative ones, from which he concluded that the result ''must inevitably be the economic stagnation of Slovakia and might even mean a disastrous impoverishment." 58 But by April 1939, Pares reported that "the present state of affairs in Slovakia, after nearly a month of independence, seems to indicate that, in spite of the manner in which the declaration of independence was brought about and of the disturbing effects of the Hungarian invasion of Eastern Slovakia, conditions are more stable than anybody expected. "59 The situation in fact continued to improve so much that Husak could write in 1944 that there had been a definite improvement to what the situation had been in Czechoslovakia. He went on to add that in the first seventeen months of the Slovak Republic ''it also became evident that Slovakia could take care of itself economically, there was neither economic nor currency chaos, the standard of living did not go down, quite the contrary, a good number of people, especially the intelligentsia, got ahead .... '•60 A report in the Foreign Office files dated August 1943 also confirms the progress made with the following eyewitness account: '' A traveller who has recently returned from Slovakia was amazed to find how normal things were, not only in Bratislava, but also in other towns. There was no blackout and practically no restrictions. Food and clothing were plentiful and prices reasonable. There was little war talk. Life went on as usual everywhere, but there was a shortage of servants and indeed a general shortage of labour. "61 Before outlining the various aspects of socio-economic and cultural development that the documentation and the literature have permitted me to put together, a few words should be said about the parameters I am using to evaluate the contribution of the Slovak Republic to the life �24 SLOVAKIA of the Slovak people. Ideally, when a nation has acquired statehood it should be totally free to handle its own affairs; for small nations, however, reality is generally far removed from theory, especially when there are powerful neighboring states. Depending on the pressures the powerful put on a small state, the measure of realism must be not only the degree to which policies allow the people to enjoy a standard of living comparable to that of the neighboring nations, but also the perceivable cost, in the short and longer run of resistance and opposition to the pressure of the powerful neighbor. For example, the failure of Canadian nationalists to persuade the Canadian people to have their government limit the American domination of the Canadian economy - over 60 percent of Canadian industry is owned by Americans - is due to the refusal of the Canadian people to give up the standard of living this situation has brought them and to accept the cost of a policy of greater independence. There is little public discussion in Canada on American domination; it is a topic that is debated primarily in certain academic, intellectual, and political circles with hardly any echo elsewhere. The Canadian people do not hesitate, furthermore, to vote out a government which they perceive has not done enough not only to maintain, but to improve, their standard of living. These are the acceptable parameters of political realism in the second half of the twentieth century, not only for Canada, but for quite a few states, in the Western, as well as in the Communist, world. It is clear that the Slovak people found themselves in a similar situation until the revolt of 1944; it is my contention that the Slovak government was successful, especially in a war situation, in giving the Slovak people a good standard of living. Communist scholars do not hesitate to point out that the Slovak economy was dominated by Germany because of the secret protocol in the Treaty of Protection, which called for close economic cooperation and the increase of Slovakia's industrial and agriculture output. Other treaties followed to spell out in detail economic arrangements between Slovakia and Germany, and the Reich also sent advisers to help in various ministries. Liptak calculated that in 1938 the share of German and Austrian capital totaled only 5 percent in Sloyakia; by 1944 it had grown to 64 percent. This phenomenal growth is ~xplained by the fact that Germany took over the shares of Czech and foreign capital in Slovakia as they occupied the various financial centers of Europe. 62 At the same time Slovak capital grew from 2 percent in 1938 to 6 percent in 1944,63 and the number of companies in which Slovaks held a controlling interest rose from 40 to 74. Furthermore, from 1942 on, Slovak banks were successful in obtaining additional shares, especially in industry, that �SLOVAKIA 25 enabled them to operate a number of transfers of controlling interest from Germany to Slovakia. 64 It was this capital inflow which allowed for the development of Slovak industry. Some 4,855 million ks. were invested in five years, allowing for the creation of 250 new enterprises and the enlargement of SO-existing ones. The railways benefited from 95 km. of new tracks , while i 84 km. were rebuilt or repaired. Road paving, repair, and reconstruction were done on 1,100 km. , with 282 km. of new roads laid; telephone links, under and above ground, were greatly improved, adding 291 communities to the existing network, while 470 villages acquired electrification.65 The 12 ,000 kw. of hydroelectric power built between 1918 and 1939 was increased to 90,000 kw. between 1939 and 1945.66 Foreign Office files also give some statistics worthy of note. In 1942 the investment in chemical, textile, mining, metallurgy, and electrical industries represented close to half of that year's investment. The National Bank net profit in 1941 was 21.86 million ks. and 30.83 m. ks. in 1942.67 Trade statistics also show that Slovakia was by no means restricting the variety of goods and services available; in January-February 1942 Slovakia exported 400 m. ks. worth of goods while it imported 575 m. ks. For the same period in 1943, exports increased to 570 m. ks., and imports rose to 730 m. ks. A Slovak-Italian agreement valued at 800 m. ks. , with 60 m. ks. in Slovakia's favor, was signed in 1943. 68 There are very few agricultural statistics available; it seems that this was not a sector that encountered too many problems, even though the promised land reform of 1939 was not carried out. British reports note good fruit crops in 1942 and 1943 . The year 1943 was also reported as a good vintage year for Slovak wines. Communist authors indicate without hesitation that the social groups that benefited most from the economic expansion and growth in Slovakia were the middle and upper middle classes. The lot of workers also seems to have been satisfactory, except perhaps early on when worker discontent culminated in a strike fomented by Communists in Handlova in October 1940.69 The Slovak Parliament passed a number of bills to improve the social conditions of the working class, and salaries and wages showed a steady increase, 70 while unemployment disappeared. The autonomy and later independence of Slovakia brought about the availability of positions in the state as well as tertiary sectors which until then had been occupied primarily by Czechs. Education was another area which showed considerable activity and enabled educated Slovaks to move ahead. The University of Bratislava added two new fa- �26 SLOVAKIA culties , and a technical university was created in July 1939, taking up from the one created in Kosice in 1937 (but then under Magyar control). A school of economics was also founded, and by 1943 there were more than twice as many students enrolled in Slovak institutions of higher learning than there had been in 1938. An educational reform was also announced in July 1939, and Church-controlled schools were re-established. 71 These educational policies and reforms remedied in fact a major defect in Prague's educational program in Slovakia during the interwar years. As Owen Johnson has written: "What the Czechoslovak Republic / had / failed to do was to institutionalize in Slovakia a system of education which would provide the specialized skills and training requisite for the broad range of cadres - bureaucratic, managerial, technical and professional - that are required to conduct a modem nation."72 The founding of the Slovak Academy of Arts and Sciences and the modernization of the publication facilities of the Matica slovenska gave additional impetus to scientific and literary work. For the period 19391944, literary output, for example, totaled 709 works of which 437 were for prose, 169 for poetry, and 103 for plays. 73 Access to such works was made possible by a chain of bookstores operated by the Matica across the country. The statistics at my disposal are too incomplete to enable me to give an accurate survey of achievements but also of problems and failures. Nevertheless the picture that comes out is a positive one showing that"in five of the six years of the existence of the Slovak Republic, the Slovaks moved far down the road of modernization, dispelling any doubts about their ability to handle their own affairs. There is no better testimony to this fact than the report Gustav Husak prepared in July 1944 on the eve of the revolt he would lead as a member of the two opposition groups to the Slovak Republic. It is worthwhile to quote at length from it: In Slovakia today, there is sufficient merchandise, the system of distribution generally works well, and in comparison to adjacent territories (the Czech lands, Hungary, Germany, Poland) the situation is best in Slovakia for the level of real salaries and their purchasing power. The salaries of employees and workers were raised many times, enterprises have all kinds of supply privileges and there cannot be any talk of a lack of basic commodities for consumers. The Slovak crown is the strongest currency in Central Europe , there is full confidence in it at home, �SLOVAKIA 27 people continue to save . . . and inflationary tendencies are sooner the result of German pressure on the economy than of internal conditions . . . : Problems are created by German demands, as a result of w}Uch Germany owes Slovakia today 6 billion ks ..... Slovak industry, given the circumstances of this war, was greatly modernized and some 2 billion ks. were invested in equipment (within 2 years), which in Slovakia is a huge sum .... In general one can say that on the basis of the experience of six years, Slovakia is able to exist as an independent unit economically and financially, can hold out on its own, has even today the necessary forces (including technical ones) and conditions of production for international competition . . . . The Slovaks are an independent nation, they have the same rights and expectations as any other nation. Today Slovak is the exclusive language of administration, all the formal attributes of a nation are there, and for this reason anyone who would like to return to the old conception of a united Czechoslovak nation will meet with opposition . . . . It is to be regretted that / the creation of the Slovak Republic / took place in combination with the worst political regime; still nothing will change the fact that on the national level there is a certain self-consciousness ''that we can take care of our own affairs" in political and economic affairs, that we can have our own army, our own administration, that one's own language is not inferior to that of former dominating nations, that Slovakia was a partner with whom states (the USSR and others) had relations, and to some degree still have today, in short that the Slovak nation can be the subject and not only the object of politics and other / activities / ... In these last six years, the development of a national consciousness and the completion of this development on the formal level are the most remarkable achievements that will not disappear with the fall of the regime . . . . It is a fact that this state is independent and has as much independence as a small state can have especially in time of war. 74 THE REVOLT OF 1944 Husak 's 1944 report on the conditions in Slovakia is in stark contrast with the twenty-seven page, top secret report ''The Revolt in Slovakia' ' found in Foreign Office files outlining the consequences of the fighting . 75 Likewise, one is struck by the difference between the provisional Czechoslovak government London broadcasts, especially �28 SLOVAKIA throughout 1944, inciting the Slovaks to acts of sabotage and destruction of life and property, and the Slovak press and media, when shorn of their ideological jargon and Germanophile phraseology, encouraging the population to ignore this incitement to violence. There was, in fact, partisan activity taking place sporadically throughout 1944; and, by the end of August the Slovaks found themselves almost overnight plunged into an abyss of violence and death which meant the end of their independence. One has to ask what brought about this shift from a relatively calm and stable situation to organized hostilities which resulted in German occupation and the inclusion of Slovakia in the European war. Was it a "Slovak National Uprising," as Communist historiography claims?76 Was it "an uprising for Czechoslovakia," as Wolfgang Venohr has suggested?77 Or was it an "incredible conspiracy," as Frantisek Vnuk has contended?78 The events of 1944 have already found their place in many versions in Slovak historiography, and they need not be recounted here at length. 79 But in the context of this study, two questions must be asked: Why did the revolt take place? and what were the attitude and response of the Slovak people? The reasons that were given after the fact by the leaders of the revolt, both Communist and non-Communist, seem like romanticized self-justifications in the light of the situation in Slovakia and the activities the partisans launched and the results they achieved.80 This is not to suggest that these men did not believe they were doing what they later claimed they had done. There is indeed a tragic irony in the fact that this was the way which insured that the Slovak people in the about-tobe restored Czechoslovak Republic would not be under a military dictatorship as Benes wanted,81 nor subjected to a renewed assimilation as had been attempted in the first CSR.82 Even the leaders of the Slovak Republic were also not unaware of the political situation of the Slovaks and the horns of the dilemma on which they found themselves. This is well illustrated by the following report that found its way into the files 11 of the Foreign Office; it was written by Kuhl de Borososhat, Hungarian Minister in Bratislava, a year before the revolt: Slovak politicians have held a conference at Rezsahegt I sic I (Ruzomberok) under the leadership of Blahos / sic I . Af- ter negotiations which lasted several days the opinion crystallized .that the Slovak people must, under all conditions, remain independent. As, after an Anglosaxon victory, the opinion of the politicians of today will no longer apply, the political leaders of �SLOVAKIA 29 Slovakia are entrusting the fate of their country to the hands of the American Slovaks. \ I asked the Minister of the Interior, Sano Mach, if the government adhered to the decision. He replied that the government had knowledge of it and would agree with it, but can neither adhere to it nor sanction it as this would imply that they had renounced belief in a German victozy - _a n open confession which Slovakia cannot and may not make. 83 The expectation of help from American Slovaks was, however, unrealistic; the resolution. of the Slovak dilemma lay in Europe. Thus, to answer the question why the revolt took place, one must go back to the three factors which had mortgaged the existence of the Republic of Slovakia. By 1944 they had come together in a way that made it impossible for the Slovak government to defend the integrity of the state and avoid the destruction that resulted. Germany was losing the war and progressively retreating from conquered territories, though not without resistance. German resistance was in fact dictated by strategic factors, and Slovakia played in this respect a major role on the Eastern front; for the Germans, Slovakia, with its mountains, barred the road to the Danubian plain for the Red Army, thus protecting the retreat of German armies from the Balkans; for the Soviet Union, the control of Slovakia meant access not only to the valley of the Danube, but also to Vienna and Prague. Also, the alliance with Germany, the second factor, had to be maintained in part because of the first factor but also because of the recognition of the Czechoslovak government in London by the Allies. To turn against Germany meant to be occupied by the Wehrmacht with no guarantee that help would be forthcoming in such a case either from the Soviet Union or the Western Allies. The Slovak government was, furthermore, anxious to avoid any Soviet involvement in Slovak affairs for the simple reason that Bolshevism ran against the Christian Slovak national traditions they upheld. Anti-German feeling had nevertheless begun to grow in Slovakia, and the government's pro-German policy was one of many arguments used to persuade Slovaks to go into opposition. 84 It was the activities of the Communist and non-Communist opposition groups, the third factor, which brought about the armed revolt in Central Slovakia that resulted in the German occupation of the country. The Germans then ordered the deportation of the majority of the Slovak Jews who had been spared the 1942 deportation, and there were sum- �30 SLOVAKIA mary executions on both sides as well as wanton destruction and violence. An additional tragic aspect to the entire episode is the fact that the revolt did not take place at a moment when it could benefit the Allied war effort and also scuttled the secret plans of the Slovak Army, prepared by the Minister of National Defense, General Ferdinand Catlos, and sent to Moscow, to help the Allied effort in Central Europe. Slovak army divisions would have been made available to partake in the sweep of the Red Army toward Budapest and Vienna.85 Catlos's plan, aside from its possible military usefulness, would have maintained the integrity of the Slovak Republic; this was unacceptable to the two opposition groups, the Communist Party of Slovakia and the Democratic Party, who in signing the Christmas Agreement of 1943 had agreed to work toward the restoration of Czechoslovakia. 86 The answer to the second question, namely what were the attitude and response of the Slovak people, is a little more complex. The revolt involved at first thousands of Slovaks, civilians and soldiers, because of the tremendous confusion that arose when it broke out. Apart from the German occupation, which had been the result of the shooting of a German military mission going through the Slovak town of Turciansky Sviity Martin, the most determining factor was the rumor that Tiso had been murdered by the Germans.87 But there were also Slovaks who had become disenchanted with the regime and joined the partisans for this reason. Husak indicated in his pre-revolt report that many Slovaks were ready to change the regime but to keep the state.88 The knowledge that the Allies had recognized Benes's Czechoslovak government - London broadcasts w~re frequently listened to89 - had helped to blur the line between regime and state to the point that in the proverbial sense , the baby was thrown out with the bath water. Except for those who had been working for the restoration of Czechoslovakia, it is not clear that many of those who joined the partisans realized that they were in a revolt not only against the regime, but also against the state. However, one must note that many Slovaks did not participate in the revolt and were even opposed to it because of their allegiance to the Slovak Republic. They realized that the revolt meant a return to the status quo antebellum . London broadcasts were making it perfectly clear that this was what awaited the Slovaks at the end of the war. But as Husak pointed out in a 1946 report, the Slovaks, both in government and in opposition, considered such a proposition to be ' 'rather ridiculous. " 90 The writer, Tido J. Gaspar, Head of the Propaganda Office of �SLOVAKIA 31 the Slovak government, expressed his opposition to the revolt as follows: It wasn't fear of the future, but fear of a renewed past. A return to the disgusting " Benesiada. " We were afraid of it. Benes was threatening us with revenge and promised to renew everything which had previously oppressed us Slovaks .. .. He did not recognize for us any n~tional rights . In fact he did not even recognize us as a nation. We were afraid of that. For this reason we did not see the Uprising as a liberation from the path of fascism , but rather as an unenticing overture to a new process of enslavement. 91 The revolt was basically put down within three months by German forces. 92 But Slovakia could not return to the normalcy of the pre-revolt years. The country was occupied. And even though the Slovak government continued to carry on with its policies both during and after the revolt,93 the link between the governing and the governed was not the same anymore . The end of the war was near. And, as members of the Slovak government fled to Austria in April 1946, the Slovak National Council, created out of the wartime collaboration between the Communists and the Democrats , took power in Slovakia on behalf of the restored Czechoslovak Republic. THE LEGACY OF THE SLOVAK REPUBLIC In the aftermath of the Second World War, Slovakia found itself caught in a double maelstrom of postwar politics. Czechoslovakia was in the Soviet military sphere of interest; within three years the Czechs and Slovaks would become part of the Soviet bloc. Secondly, Slovakia was granted a form of autonomy in the new Czechoslovak Republic; by the time the constitution became law in May 1948, only the formal attributes of autonomy remained. Thus the atmosphere and the politics of the postwar and the Communist period were ripe to give the Slovak Republic an historical blow. Its high officials, from the President of the Republic to members of Parliament and Department heads, were tried, often in absentia, and in the majority of cases convicted on various counts of treason against the Czechoslovak Republic. President Tiso and Prime Minister Tuka were condemned to death and executed in April 1947. Others were sent to serve long prison terms . The vengeance of Czechoslovak officials that Gaspar had feared was given free rein. In this way, a chapter in Slovak �32 SLOVAKIA history was closed and in the Communist period deliberately relegated to oblivion, or at best selectively examined to condemn it better. The situation is only slightly different in the Western world. Former officials of the Slovak Republic who found exile in the West have made an effort to explain the why and wherefore of Slovakia's first modern state. Their works have found only a limited audience, due in part to the vigilence of pro-Czechoslovak groups, both Czech and Slovak, who refuse to recognize that something positive might be said about the wartime period in Slovakia, especially about the Slovak Republic. No Western learned society, such as the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies, held a study session on this topic until 1979. It is, therefore, difficult to determine the legacy of the Slovak Republic. The idea of statehood that it represents has been accepted by most Slovak organizations in the West, such as the Slovak League of America and the Slovak World Congress; in their newspapers and periodicals, anniversaries and events are regularly mentioned and celebrated. Western scholarship has, unfortunately, not kept pace to give greater substance to the idea of statehood, for reasons I outlined at the beginning. Thus the pride hundreds of thousands of Slovaks have in this chapter of their history does not overflow into the world around them. More important, of course, is the legacy to the Slovaks in Slovakia. A perusal of Communist literature of the mid and late sixties suggests a tacit acceptance of the legacy of statehood; Slovak newpapers and periodicals often referred to the wartime period, especially as the drive to federalization became more pronounced. The publication of excerpts from Tido J . Gaspar's memoirs must also be seen as an important step in that direction . But the selective scholarship on the subject suggests that the Communist regime is still incapable of coming to terms with it. Time will undoubtedly cool passions, and curiosity will begin to take over. It is my belief that when Slovak archives become accessible to all scholars without restrictions, the record will show, as I have suggested in this article , that the Slovak Republic served the Slovaks well, especially in the social and cultural field, and that it played an extremely important role in the development of the national consciousness of the Slovak people. The federalization of Czechoslovakia, proposed at first in 1944 and made into law in 1968, could not have taken place if the Slovak Republic had been a dismal failure in the life of the Slovak people. But more research will have to be done, not only for scholarly reasons , but above all, to paraphrase the national motto of Slovakia's western neighbor, so that the truth might prevail. �SLOVAKIA 33 NOTES . 1 Of fourteen general histories puqlished since 1941 taken at random, the creation of the Slovak Republic has been presen\ed as follows : (1) no mention at all - J .B. Duroselle , L'Europe de 1815 a nosjours (Paris , 1970); Walter P. Hall and William G. Davis , The Course of Europe Since Waterloo (New York, 1941) ; and George Lichtheim, Europe in the Tw entieth Century (New York, 1972); (2) serious errors of presentation and interpretation - Martin Gilbert, The European Powers 1900-1945 (New York, 1965), p . 220 ; Carleton J .H . Hayes , Contemporary Europe Since 1870 (New York, 1953) , p . 631; Walter C. Langsam, The World Since 1914 (New York , 1943), p. 517 ; J .M . Roberts, Europe 1880-1945 (New York, 1972), p. 516; D.C . Watt, "Diplomatic History" in The New Cambridge Modern History , Vol. XIl: The Shifting Balances of 'World Forces, 1898-1945, edited by C.L. Mowat (Cambridge , 1968), p . 725; (3) minor errors of presentation and interpretation - Rene Albrecht-Carrie, A Dilpomatic History of Europe Since the Congress of Vienna (New York, 1958), pp . 529-30 ; C.E . Black and E .C. Helmreich, Twentieth Century Europe (New York, 1959), p . 529 ; James Joli, Europe Since 1870: An Introductory H istory (London, 1973), pp. 373 and 441; (4) reasonably accurate - A.J . Grant and H. Temperley , Europe in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries (1789-1950) (London, 1952), p. 529; H . Stuart Hughes, Contemporary Europe: A History (Englewood Cliffs , 1966) , p . 318 ; and Elizabeth Wiskemann in Survey of International Affairs 1939-1946 - Hitler 's Europe , edited by Arnold Toynbee and Veronica M . Toynbee (London, 1954) , pp . 597-604 . 2 John Gellner and John Smerek, The Czechs and Slovaks in Canada (Toronto, 1968), p. viii. 3 Bohuslav Graca, 14. Maree 1939 (Bratislava, 1955) and lmrich Stanek , Zrada a pad, (Praha, 1958) . 4 See , for example, I.:ubomir Liptak, "Mad'arsko v politike Slovenskeho statu v rokoch 1939-1943," Historicky tasopis XI (1), 1967, pp . 1-35 ; --- , "Slovensky stat a protifasisticke hnutie v rokoch 1939-1943 ," Historicky tasopis XIV (2) , 1966, pp . 161-218; ---, "Priprava a priebeh salzburskych rokovani roku 1940 medzi predstavitefmi Nemecka a Slovenskeho statu ," Historicky fosopis XIII (3), 1965, pp. 329-65; --- , "Politicky rezim na Slovensku v rokoch 1939-1945" in Slovenske narodne povstanie roku 1944 (Bratislava, 1965) , pp. 20-49 ; --- , Slovensko v 20, storoti (Bratislava, 1968), pp. 175265; Martin Vietor, " Prispevok k objasneniu fasistickeho charakteru tzv . Slovenskeho statu ," Historicky tasop is VIlI (4 ), 1960, pp , 483-508. 5 The two noticeable examples are : Samo Falt'an, Slovenskd otdka v Ceskoslovensku (Bratislava, 1968), pp . 92-103 and Ivan Kamenec, "Snem Slovenskej Republiky a jeho postoj k problemu zidovskeho obyvatefstva na Slovensku v rokoch 1939-1945," Historicky fosopis XVII (3) , 1969, pp , 329-62 , 6 There is a problem of availability ; the Library of Congress does not have the complete sets, nor does the British Library , 7 The late Ferdinand Durcansky once told me that he himself had destroyed documents because of the physical impossibility of taking them with him, especially to South America. 8 Many former Slovak politicians and officials have published vignettes of their activities in various Slovak publications in the West ; at present only two have published de- �34 SLOVAKIA tailed memoirs: Jozef Miku§, Pamliti slovenskeho diplomata (Middletown, 1978) and Karol Sidor, Sest'rokov pri Vatikane (Scranton, 1947), which also contains documents concerning Slovak foreign policy and diplomacy. The diary of Stefan Tiso, Prime Minister from September 1944 to April 1946, is presently at Stanford University, Hoover Institution on War and Peace ; access to it is however restricted. Excerpts from the diary were published by Yeshayahu Jelinek, " Dennfk Dr . Stefana Tisu," Historickj tasopis XVIIl (2), 1970, pp. 270-87. 9 Such an example is Owen Verne Johnson, Sociocultural and National Development in Slovakia, 1918-1938: Education and Its Impact , unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Michigan, 1978. A recent exception is that of Dorothea El Mallakh, who succeeded in obtaining access to unpublished documents covering the years 1936 through October 1938 from the Ministry of the Interior archives in Prague. She had expected to fail in obtaining access to these documents when she visited Prague in January 1969. But as she writes: " Luck in timing and the helpfulness of individuals all coalesced to bring me almost 2600 frames of microfilms." Dorothea H. El Mallakh, The Slovak Autonomy Movement, 1935-1939: A Study in Unrelenting Nationalism (Boulder, '1970) , p. xiv. 10 See Hans Dress, Slowakei und faschistische Neuordnung Eurpoas 1939-1941 (Berlin, 1972) . 11 John S. Conway, "The Churches, the Slovak State and the Jews 1939-1946," Slavonic Review Lil (126), 1974, p . 87. 12 In his autobiography, Lockhart makes it perfectly clear that he was devoted to Bene§ and that he had no qualms in working for him. See R.H. Bruce Lockhart, Comes the Reckoning (London, 1947), pp. 64ff. 13 In response to a request from the Central Department of the Foreign Office to comment on reports that Bruce Lockhart had put together from information he received from Czech and Slovak sources in London, Peter Pares foresaw from the very beginning the direction this information would go: " Many of the reports reaching London directly may come through the Slovak political emigrants who are nearly all Protestants and not only opposed to the present Slovak regime themselves but draw their information from Protestant sources in Slovakia which are also in bitter opposition.' ' FO 371-24290, Doc. C612-68-12. Public Record Office, London. 14 This problem is compounded by the fact that there are very few general studies on the Slovak Republic published in a Western language, and none is detailed and comprehensive in scope. See Milan S. :C>urica, "Slovakia During World War II - the Slovak Republic' ' in Joseph M. Kirschbaum, ed., Slovakia in the 19th and 20th Centuries (Toronto, 1973), pp. 161-94; Joseph M. Kirschbaum, Slovakia: Nation at the Crossroads of Central Europe (New York, 1961) , pp . 111\76; Jozef Lettrich, History of Modem Slovakia (New York, 1966), pp. 123-91; Josepli A. Mikus, Slovakia - A Political History, 1918-1950 (Milwaukee , 1963), pp. 67-164; 'and Anthony X. Sutherland, Dr. Jozef Tiso and Modem Slovakia (Middletown, 1978), pp. 81-102. Additional titles, particularly of specialized topics in Western and Slovak languages, may be found in Yeshayahu Jelinek, " The Slovak State in Post-war Historiography (An Annotated Bibliography) ," Slovakia XXVIII (61-62) , 1978-79, pp. 17-24. 16 Johnson, p . 466. 16 FO 417-39 , Doc. 3973-19-18. �SLOVAKIA 35 17 This is noted in a report by Pares to the Foreign Office. FO 371-22896, Doc. C1872-712. 18 Falt'an, pp . 106-06. \ 19 See Stanislav J . Kirschbaum, "Die Stellung der Slowakischen Volkspartei zur Aussenpolitik Prags'' in Karl Bos!, ed., Gleichgewicht - Revision - Restauration. Die Aussenpolitik der Ersten Tschechoslowakischen Republik im Europasystem der Pariser Vorortsvertrtige (Muenchen, 1976), pp. 316-66. 20 House of Commons, Parliamentary Debates, 339 H.C. Deb. 6 s., pp. 366-6. 21 See especially FrantiAek Vnuk, "Slovakia's Six Eventful Months (October 1938 March 1939), " Slovak Studies IV, 1968, pp . 7-164; Joseph Kirschbaum, Slovakia, pp. 98-146; Mikus , pp . 67-91 ; El Mallakh, pp. 113-44. A somewhat different version is found in Joerg K. Hoensch, Die Slowakei undHitlers Ostpolitik (Koeln, 1966). 22 The Slovak struggle for autonomy in the First Czechoslovak Republic was a variation on the theme of national self-determination which was ultimately denied the Slovaks by the ideology of ''Czechoslovakism'' of the Prague government. Independence, if it could be achieved, was not only the logical outcome, but in the light of the "Czechoslovak" ideology of Prague, the only way for the Slovak nation to assert itself. Other solutions were not excluded so long as the Slovaks were recognized as a nation independent of the Czechs ; a Central European federation is often mentioned in this context. See Joseph M. Kirschbaum, Slovakia, pp. 223-30 . 23 Though the Hlinka Party had become the Party of Slovak National Unity on October 6, 1938, the literature still refers to it as the Hlinka Party . I will conform to this usage. 24 Liptak, "Politicky rezim ... , " p . 24. See Also Joseph M. Kirschbaum, pp. 169-73. 26 Liptak, Slovensko, p . 210. 26 Conway, p. 96. 27 Liptak, " Politicky rezim ... ," p. 26 . 28 FO 417-40 , Doc. C10876-7-12 . 29 FO 371-22900, Doc . C18636-7-12 . 30 See note 13 . 31 Falt'an, p . 114 and Liptak, " Politicky rezim . .. , "p. 36. 32 See Stanislav J . Kirschbaum, ''Federalism in Slovak Communist Politics,' ' Canadian Slavonic Papers XIX (4) , 1977, pp . 446-9. 33 FO 371-24290, Doc . C612-68-12 . 34 The British Government recognized Benes 's national committee as the " Provisional Czechoslovak Government" on July 21 , 1940. Full de jure recognition was granted on July 18, 1941 , the same day the Soviet Union granted de facto and de jure recognition. The United States followed suit on July 31 , 1941 . 36 In a report on conditions in Slovakia written in January 1939, George Kennan expressed the following opinion, which was widely held at that time: "Its (Slovakia's) native leaders are so sadly lacking in experience, in imagination, in breadth of view, and in depth of purpose that they cannot hope to maneuver successfully for very long �SLOVAKIA 36 amid the powerful national and ideological currents which are playing all around them in Central Europe. " George P. Kennan, From Prague After Munich: Diplomatic Papers 1938-1940 (Princeton, 1968), p. 27. 36 This is best illustrated by the fact that not only in the literature but also during the war, Slovakia was referred to as a " fascist state, " not in a descriptive but in a normative sense. 37 FO 371-24290, Doc. C612-58-12. 38 Joseph M . Kirschbaum , p . 163. 39 Ibid. , p. 159. 40 Ibid. , p . 168; Mikus, p. 94 ; Jan F . Gleiman, "Duch ustavy SR" in Mikulas Sprinc, ed., Slouenska Republika 1939-1949 (Scranton, 1949), p. 120. 41 FO 417-40, Doc. Cl0876-7-12. 42 The most comprehensive analysis of the program is found in Stefan Polakovit, Tisoua nauka (Bratislava, 1941). An English outline appears in Joseph M . Kirschbaum, Slouakia, pp. 170-3; a critical approach was taken by Yeshayahu Jelinek in The Parish Republic: Hlinka's Slouak People's Party 1939-1945 (Boulder, 1976) . 43 Of the 63 deputies elected, 48 were from the Hlinka Party; 12 represented the Agrarian Party, the Slovak National Party, the Artisan Party, and the Czechoslovak National Socialist Party. See above, Kirschbaum, p . 169. 44 Kamenec, passim . 46 The Fuehrer principle was introduced in Slovak political life on October 22, 1942. It enabled President Tiso to consolidate his power and that of the Hlinka Party against Tuka and Mach and the Hlinka Guard. 46 According to Liptak, the Hlinka Guard represented the lumpenproletariat and the radical small bourgeoisie. Liptak, "Politicky reiim ... , "p. 26. 47 Some authors refer to a tradition of anti-Semitism as well as the activities of Slovak Jews in Slovak life to explain the early anti-Jewish policies. Mikus, pp. 96-6.; Sutherland, pp. 88-9. See also Kennan, pp. 22-3. 48 Conway, passim. 49 Kamenec, p . 363. 60 This is made quite clear by one of the leaders of the 1944 revolt. See Lettrich, passim . 61 Liptak, Slouensko , pp. 177-180. For a description of Slovak foreign policy, see Mikus, pp. 116-138. 62 Milan S. Ourica, La Slouaccia e le sue relazioni politiche con la Germania, 1938-1945 , (Padova, 1964), Vol. I, p . 107. 53 Mikus, pp. 135-6 and Ourica, p . 107. 64 The situation and events leading to the Salzburg' meeting Jlre described at length in Liptak, "Priprava a priebeh . . . . " 66 As to th~ question whether Slovakia declared war on the U.K. and the United States, there is also no documentary evidence that this did take place according to postwar re- �SLOVAKIA 37 search into the matter by State Ikpartment officials . The suggestion that Slovakia did declare war is based on a New York Times report of December 13, 1941 of a German broadcast from Bratislava that stated that Slovakia had declared war. See Joseph M. Kirschbaum, Slovakia , pp. 318-21. 66 Gustav Husak , " O vyvoji a situacii na Slovensku," Svedectvi XV (68) , 1979, p . 377. 67 Ibid. 68 FO 371-22896, Doc. C1872-7-12. 69 FO 417-39, Doc. C5201-7-12 . 60 Husak, p. 369. 61 FO 371-34337, Doc. C9206-372-12 . In his pre-revolt report, Husak indicates that some 60,000 Slovaks also worked in Germany. Husak, p. 373. 62 Liptak, Slovensko , p. 194. 63 I.:ubomir Liptak, Ovlddnutie slovenskeho priemyslu nemeckym kapitdlom (Bratislava, 1960), p . 66. 64 Liptak, Slovensko, pp. 201-2. 65 Falt'an, pp. 108-9. See also FO 371-39121 , Doc. C877-877-18. 66 Sutherland, p. 87 . 67 FO 371-34446, Doc. C1066-160-18. 68 FO 371-34446, Doc . C6626-160-18. 69 Dress , p. 119. 70 Ibid ., p. 117. 71 It is interesting that the Slovaks met with no opposition from the Germans. As Conway writes: ''It should be noted that the abolition of religious instruction and the removal of crucifixes from the schools were two notable features of the Nazi persecution of the Catholic Church." Conway, p . 89 , note 11. 72 Owen V. Johnson, "The Slovak Intelligentsia, 1918-1938," Slovakia XXVIII (61-62) , 1978-79, p . 42 . 73 Frantisek Vnuk, Sedemnast' neurodnych rokov (Middletown, 1965), p. 12. 74 Husak, pp. 376-77. 76 FO 371-38942, Doc. C13551-1343-12 . 76 Husak's memoirs are entitled: " Testimony on the Slovak National Uprising." See Gustav Husak , Svedectvo o slovenskom narodnom povstani (Bratislava, 1964). A revised and amended version was published in 1969. 77 Wolfgang Venohr, Au/stand fuer die Tschechoslowakei (Hamburg, 1969). 78 Frantisek Vnuk, Neuveritefne sprisahanie (Middletown, 1964). 79 The most complete account in a Western language is by Venohr. 80 ' 'The political motive for an uprising was the desire to liberate Slovakia by its own efforts as soon as possible, to throw out the Germans , to destroy the dictatorship of the �SLOVAKIA 38 Slovak People's Party, reintroduce Czechoslovak democratic institutions, spare Slovakia the suffering of the war and assure its just place in a free Czechoslovakia.'' Lettrich, p. 200. 81 A. Benl!ik and J. Pivovarl!i, " Problemes militaires de llnsurrection nationale slovaque," Studia historica slovaca IV, 1966, p. 166. 82 Upon the restoration of Czechoslovakia, the Czechoslovak National Socialist Party (Bene§'s party) prepared a document for the party faithful outlining how the Czechoslovak Government should go about successfully assimilating the Slovaks. It was published for the first time in 1968. See Pravda (Bratislava), March 29, 1968. 83 FO 371-34337, Doc. 9786-372-12. 84 According to Husak, some other arguments were "the class content of this state, its undemocratic fascist regime, its vassal link to Nazi Germany and its policies against the people." Husak, Svedectvo, p . 129. 85 There is a full German translation of Catlo§'s plan in Venohr, pp. 119-21. 86 See Stanislav J. Kirschbaum, "Federalism .. . ," pp. 446-49. 87 M. Kuhar, a former communications officer in the Slovak Army, explained to me recently in an interview in Toronto, Canada, that his unit had been mobilized when the rumor of Tiso's death had reached it with the understanding that the Slovak Army would engage the Germans to defend Slovak independence. When the rumor proved to be untrue, his unit returned to its barracks . 88 Husak, "O vyvoji ... ," p. 377. 89 In 1942, at a ceremony for a new extension of the electrical network, President Tiso remarked: "You see, how, with more electricity we are giving you an opportunity to hear London and Moscow. In Russia they do not have such an opportunity, because there they give them a record player and thus they can hear only Moscow. The Slovak Republic is not afraid to hear foreign stations, because we know the truth and we are not afraid of the lies that London broadcasts.•• Slovak, May 19, 1942, quoted in Milan Stanislav l'>urica, "Slovensko za druhej svetovej vojny - Slovenska Republika" in Jozef M. Rydlo, ed., Slovensko v retrospektive dej£n (Lausanne, 1976), p. 143, note 127. 90 Vilem Prel!an, Slovenske ntirodne povstanie (Bratislava, 1965), document 576, p. 950. 91 Tido J. Ga§par, "Z pamiiti, " Slovenske pohfady LXXXIV (12), 1968, p. 79. 92 At a meeting of the Chiefs of Staff in London on November 15, 1944, it was acknowledged that the revolt had collapsed. FO 371-38944, Doc. C15945-1343-12. \ 93 Liptak, "Politicky re!im . . . , " p. 48. � HISTORY ��SLOVAKIA 11 The .Slovak Republic and the Slovaks· . STANISLAV J. KIRSCHBAUM INTRODUCTION There are very few topics in recent history that have been as much avoided, accidentally or deliberately, by Western as well as Communist scholars as the Slovak Republic (1939-1945) . The significance of this state in the period of its existence is certainly not central to an understanding of the more important world events that were taking place at the time, nor was its contribution to those events such that it required the attention of world powers. Historical surveys published in the West in the last forty years have thus not given Slovakia much attention; one can appreciate the reason for this, but one must also note that there are often serious inaccuracies, distortions, and misrepresentations in these works.I The task of writing this history of the Slovak Republic is, therefore, left to a few Western specialists or to Slovak Marxist historians. But here one is also left wanting; ideological preoccupations and problems of documentation explain this unusual state of affairs. The Republic of Slovakia found itself on the side of the vanquished powers at the end of the Second World War. Historians have been understandably more interested in recording the activities of the victorious, often applying ex post facto a devil theory to the defeated. In the wake of an ideological conflict like the Second World War, and with the ideological division of the world in the postwar years, the tendency to simplify in order better to glorify and I or condemn is understandable. It is not to be excused, however. Nevertheless Western, as well as Communist, historians have generally let their engagement get the better of their scholarship, or else they have conveniently cast intractable subjects to the Orwellian memory hole. For example, two Canadians, one of Czech, the other of • Paper presented as part of a panel on "14 March 1939 and the Slovak State," sponsored by the Slovak Studies Association in conjunction with the national convention of the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies , New Haven, October, 1979. �12 SLOVAKIA Slovak origin, purporting to write the history of the Czechs and Slovaks in Canada, have actually suggested that Slovak separatism is " an aberration of the past , excusable perhaps under the circumstances of the day , but otherwise the sooner forgotten the better.' ' 2 Communist scholars have also generally avoided the Slovak Republic, with the only two works published in the 1950s3 followed by a few articles in the 1960s.4 Writing from their Marxist perspective , they have, however, shown a shift in accent and interpretation in their later writings.5 This shift corresponds to greater access to the documentation on the Slovak Republic for scholars in Slovakia. However, this documentation is not necessarily accessible to Western scholars . Access to original documents and other primary sources is in fact the greatest problem that Western scholars studying Slovakia face. All of the works on the period of the Slovak Republic published in the West show a minimal reliance on original Slovak documentation . At best, they have used three newspapers published in Slovakia that are available , namely Slovak , Gardista , and Grenzbote.6 Monographs which were published during the war and which found their way into Western European or American libraries are also available; but their number, as well as their importance , is limited. None gives a total picture of the Slovak Republic ; most were written during the war, and generally before the 1944 revolt. Finally, none of the political leaders or officials of the state has made public any documents in his possession 7 that cast additional light. With some exceptions, there are no detailed memoirs or diaries that one can draw upon.8 Finally, there is no indication that Prague or Bratislava is presently disposed to open Slovak archives to Western scholars, except perhaps for earlier periods and less explosive subjects like education. 9 There is , on the other hand, one documentary source that Western and Communist IO scholars have used widely, namely German documentation. The Allies published soon after the war the series Documents on German Foreign Policy ; those documents not found in this series are now available in Bonn at the\ Politisches Archiv des auswiirtigen Amtes . Also available are SS documents, namely from Himmler's Sicherheitsdienst, which John Conway has prudently characterized as "conscientious, though obviously one-sided. " 11 Conway's comments are indeed pertinent for much of German documentation ; it must be used with great care when applied to Slovakia. The scholar must remember that they are addressed to and written by people serving the Third Reich. A third, but unfortunately rather unreliable source of information, �SLOVAKIA 13 is the files of the British Foreign Office. These were at first composed of British diplomatic reports, especially from Consul to Slovakia Peter Pares, which are useful because of their detachment and scope. Pares, however, left Slovakia after the outbreak of the Second World War, and thereupon the reports fo'll{ld in the files of the Foreign Office ceased to come from agents in diplomatic representation abroad. Bruce Lockhart12 then set into motion the gathering of intelligence not only on Slovak, but also on Czech, affairs in the Protectorate of Bohemia-Moravia and thus thickened Foreign Office files with weekly and sundry reports. With the British de facto and later de jure recognition of the provisional Czechoslovak government-in-exile in London, headed by Edvard Bene§, the task of gathering intelligence and preparing situation reports fell on the Czech and Slovak exiles in London. The information in this documentation is rarely accurate, and to its discredit, extremely selective.13 The documents show quite plainly that Bene§ and his people used only information that damaged the Slovak Republic, especially Slovak politicians. Likewise, the weekly summaries of the Political Intelligence Department are not very useful because they were based upon reports emanating from Bene§'s people. However, the Foreign Office files also contain occasional letters or reports from other sources that paint a totally different picture; but they are too few and, unfortunately, rarely comprehensive enough to give scholars something concrete. This problem of inadequate documentary evidence makes the task of studying the Slovak Republic an extremely difficult one.14 Nevertheless a beginning must be made, if only to ask questions, examine existing interpretations, and seek to understand the motives and actions of the men at the center of events; there is indeed a real challenge of intellectual and documentary detection in this case. The documentation used in this article is neither specialized nor all-encompassing. I have examined closely most available secondary sources, both Western and Communist, read the memoir-like contributions of Slovaks in SlovakCanadian and Slovak-American newspapers and periodicals, and studied carefully the documents of the Foreign Office. Furthermore, I accept the writings of exiled Slovak scholars as those most likely to help us understand the Slovak Republic and the actions of its leaders, while taking note of their often defensive and apologetic nature. I am also aware of the fact that there exist many works disposed in an unfriendly, if not outright inimical, way to the Slovak Republic; I have sought to understand the arguments presented and have accepted at face value the facts given. But one should be skeptical toward them; a state where the President could walk on the streets of the capital city without a �14 SLOVAKIA bodyguard to protect him and where no attempt was ever made on his life is not a state where everything was evil and against the interests of the Slovak people, as some works suggest. The full history of the Slovak Republic will, however, not be written until all archival material is made available. Until then the present debate is likely to continue. Before examining the various aspects of this topic, a few words should be said about the broader perspective within which the Slovak Republic found itself. In his study of the impact of education in Slovakia in the 1920s and 1930s, Owen Johnson has shown that by the end of the second decade of the existence of the first Czechoslovak Republic not only had Prague's policy of Czechoslovak nation-building failed, but indeed its "program of Czechoslovak state building had turned into one of Slovak nation building."15 There is some irony in the fact that Prague's policies had the opposite effect of what had been expected; in this respect then, the activities of the Slovak Republic would be merely the continuation and the prolongation of this process with the difference that all decisions affecting the Slovaks would be taken by Slovaks in Bratislava and not in Prague. The fact that the Slovaks took their national life into their own hands, notwithstanding the circumstances that had led to this step, also reflected the problems created by the selective application of the policy of national self-determination in Central Europe. While recognizing on the one hand the right of nations to selfdetermination on the morrow of the Great War, the victorious powers were selective on the other in their granting of this right to the various nations of the Habsburg Empire. The Slovaks were not unaware of this discrepancy, and when the deleterious geopolitical arrangements of the Versailles settlement finally succumbed to German expansionism, Slovak independence was as much an act of nati~al self-determination as one of self-preservation. The ultimate tragedy of the Slovaks is that by 1945 the victorious powers once again applied in a selective fashion the principles of national self-determination as embodied in the Atlantic Charter. THE ACCEPTANCE OF SLOVAK INDEPENDENCE The declaration of Slovak independence was greeted with rejoicing by a great many Slovaks, although in Bratislava, as British Consul Peter Pares reported, there had not been many manifestations of that joy. The capital city of Slovakia was yet to become a primarily Slovak city, and its non-Slovak population did not show much enthusiasm. Pares sensed apathy or pessimism.16 Slovakia's declaration of independence had in fact come about under circumstances that differentiate it from �SLOVAKIA 15 similar events for other nations in recent times. Consul Pares's report not only singles out this ~ct, but it underlines one of the major tasks that the leaders of the new'state had to face. Slovakia's declaration of independence cannot be disassociated from the two previous decades when neither the political individuality of Slovakia nor the nationhood of its people had been acknowledged by the Czechoslovak Republic. Belatedly and grudgingly, Prague had granted Slovakia autonomy on October 6, 1938, under conditions that did not indicate the total and willing abandonment by the Czech elite of the ideology of ''Czechoslovakism. '' But for the Slovak people, autonomy represented the successful outcome of a twenty-year struggle, a hope that Slovak national development could now be carried out by the Slovak people. Autonomy brought about manifestations of popular gladness in the cities, towns, and villages of Slovakia. The Hlinka Slovak People's Party and the Slovak National Party, headed by Martin Razus, had been the main political forces not only behind autonomy, but above all, in the educational campaign that was essential for the Slovak people in order to handle their own affairs. After two decades of Czech local, as well as state administration, a policy that had brought about much bitterness in Slovakia, 17 the Slovaks looked upon autonomy as the fulfillment not only of original promises, but also of national aspirations. Independence and statehood had not been an alternative openly discussed and contemplated by Slovak leaders in the two decades before autonomy. This is not to say that they might not one day have considered it. Indeed, as Samo Falt'an, a Slovak Commwiist historian, has written: "Statehood as an expression of national liberty cannot be rejected and qualified as treason to the nation.'' He went on to add that independence was a logical outcome in the light of the Slovaks' status in the CSR: ''The creation of the Slovak State is not in conflict with national interests and efforts, all the more so, because in the twenty-year existence of the CSR there had been no successful attempt to reach a Czech-Slovak constitutional arrangement. "18 Nevertheless - and this is important in order to understand the problems that faced th,e new state - when independence was declared, it had not been the object of wide public discussion but rather came rapidly on the heels of autonomy when Slovakia had barely begun to enjoy its new status in Czecho-Slovakia. However, within the Hlinka party, reorganized since November 8, 1938 as the Slovak Party of National Unity, which other Slovak parties had been invited to join except for Slovak Communists and Social Democrats, there were elements that had been considering �16 SLOVAKIA independence, especially in the light of the changing international situation in Europe. The predominance of Germany and the fear that Prague might not be able to defend the integrity and existence of the common state of the Czechs and Slovaks concerned them. In fact, from the very beginnings of Czecho-Slovakia, the Hlinka party had given Prague notice that the survival and interests of the Slovak nation were uppermost in its policy stand and actions.19 But in 1938-1939 the need to explore all avenues was paramount, for as Churchill declared in the House of Commons on October 5, 1938: "I venture to think that in the future the Czechoslovak state cannot be maintained as an independent entity. You will find that in a period of time which may be measured by years, but may be measured only by months, Czechoslovakia will be engulfed in the Nazi regime. "20 The Slovak elite was aware of this danger of engulfment and of the necessity to maneuver in such a way as to avoid it. As events would show and the history of the Slovak Republic would confirm, Slovak independence was the one solution that enabled Slovakia to avoid the total absorption that befell other Central European peoples and states. The events leading to independence need not he recounted here, since they have been examined elsewhere.21 Suffice it to say that in the light of European developments and the rapidity with which they were unfolding, the decision to opt for independence and the manner in which it was done showed courage on the part of the Slovak leaders. It was also the best solution, not only under the circumstances, but also for the Slovak nation.22 But at the moment of independence, and for the immediate future, this decision by the Slovak leaders had to be explained and shown to be viable both to the Slovak people and to the world at large. The Hlinka Party23 embarked on this task, calling upon all Slovaks to join it, as the Communist historian I:ubomir Liptak has written. The new regime in Slovakia did not exclude its political opponents from positions in the new state.24 In fact he pointed out: The populists did not come to power after an extreme collision of political trends in Slovakia, in the wake of a moderate civil war as was the case for example in Italy and Germany, but during an international crisis, when all existing political conceptions and currents failed, or did not have an oppottunity to influence developments. In this kind of internal political vacuum, when political opponents are eliminated, or do not have clear goals, or are isolated in the nation, the populists could get the support or at least the passive help of yesterday's political opponents.25 �SLOVAKIA 17 Although there was a single Slovak party (there was, however, also a Slovak German, and a small Slovak Hungarian, party) and the regime manifested certain visible authoritarian characteristics, the appearance of factions and policy directions in the Blinka Party, the division between the legislative and executive branches of government, and the role of the churches in the political life of the state26 were all factors that would influence Slovak political life and help the Blinka Party to carry out its program. In the words of Liptak, in the Slovak Republic there was a "certain 'liberalism' and carefulness in the introduction of authoritarian arrangements.' •27 This moderate liberalism was, however, not to be enjoyed by all citizens, and many individuals suffered, although on the whole there was none of the totalitarianism, terror, and ideological dogmatism that later befell the Slovaks under the Communist regime. These conditions also made it possible for opposing views to coexist and later influence events in Slovakia. For there existed three factors which had heavily mortgaged the viability of the Slovak Republic and which would in time take their place in the political life of the state and ultimately seal its fate; they were the activities of opposition groups, Slovak-German relations, and the world war. The appearance of a group opposing the Slovak Republic is something that British Consul Pares soon took notice of. In his July report on the Constitution of Slovakia, where he noted the unique position of the Blinka Party in the political system, he pointed out that the Catholic origin of this party probably meant the virtual exclusion of Slovak Protestants within it, as well as their relegation to the background of public affairs. He concluded from this that the ''insignificant position into which they have been thrust is sure to arouse their bitter resentment. "28 By mid-November he reported the "active revolt ... of a section of the Lutheran Community, which was the greatest source of strength of the former centralists or ''Czechoslovaks'' and has suffered with their eclipse. In this case, it is sectarian feeling rather than loss of political power which has created bitter antagonism to the existing government .... "29 Despite the fact that a number of Protestant personalities occupied key positions in the state, that their economic influence in Slovakia did not diminish but in fact increased, and that their leaders publicly proclaimed their adherence and loyalty to the Slovak Republic, the Slovak Protestant community did indeed form an opposition group, whether for sectarian or political reasons, especially after Benes began to regroup his political partisans in London. As Pares noted in his last dispatch on Slovakia to London, the Protestants formed �18 SLOVAKIA at home and abroad an opposition link to the Slovak Republic and lent Benes support for his goal of recreating the first Czechoslovak Republic.30 By 1943 they would be actively involved in the restoration of Czechoslovak authority in Slovakia and would help a second main opposition group, the Communists, in preparing an armed revolt in Central Slovakia. The role of the Communists in Slovakia mirrored well the turgidity of their movement until the German attack on the Soviet Union in June of 1941. Soviet diplomatic recognition of Slovakia invalidated the slogans of national self-determination they propagated in 1939, while the leadership of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, by then resident in Moscow, ordered the abandonment of the slogan of a '' Soviet Slovak Republic,'' which began to appear in 1940. The Communist Party had been declared illegal in Slovakia so that its activities and organization were clandestine. The security services of the Slovak Republic occasionally rounded up Communists, but as both Falt'an and Liptak pointed out, not only were they quickly released from prison, but they were allowed to resume their positions in economic and state institutions. 31 In was not until late 1943 and 1944 that Communist activity became a major factor in Slovak political life, in part because the Communists were in touch with Soviet partisan units operating out of Kiev, and in part because they had worked out a new political program for Slovakia in the future of Czechoslovak Republic.32 Together with Slovak non-Communists, primarily Lutherans, they began to prepare the revolt of 1944, which I will examine below. The existence and activity of opposition groups to the Slovak Republic were enhanced by the nature of Slovak-German relations. The role of Germany in the destruction of Czechoslovakia had been a major factor in Slovakia's declaration of independence and as British Consul Pares noted, ''from the moment when indeflendence was declared the Slovaks never had any illusions about the difficulties and risks of their situation as a nation of two million people in the centre of Europe. ,,33 Attempts to pursue an independent foreign policy by the Minister of External Affairs, Ferdinand Durcansky, resulted in his removal in July 1940 under German pressure and thereafter Germany made sure that Slovak political life did not go beyond certain limits, which for the most part were, however, not clearly defined; on the other hand Germany did not encourage Slovak pro-Nazi elements to take power, nor did Hitler back the attempted coup in 1941 against President Tiso, in which the German ambassador, M. von Killinger, was himself involved. Slovakia was nevertheless in the German sphere of interest; its existence �SLOVAKIA 19 was in fact tied to German political and economic activities, and despite the diplomatic recognition it had been granted by twenty-seven states, its juridical status did not\in fact extend much beyond Europe. British de facto and later de jure ·recognition of the provisional Czechoslovak government in London, followed by Soviet and American recognition,34 as well as the Hungarian claims on Slovakia, further strengthened the ties between Slovakia and Germany which were not broken until the war's end. The outbreak of the Second World War was the third factor that heavily influenced the politics and the viability of the Slovak Republic. Although Slovakia would not experience the horrors of war until 1944, the fact that there was a war all around it enabled opposition groups to get involved in military activities on Slovak soil and do just what the Slovak leaders had so successfully avoided doing, namely bring the war into Slovakia with their 1944 revolt. Also, the war forced Slovakia into much closer cooperation with Germany, especially in the economic sphere, and brought about the deportation into Poland of more than half of Slovakia's Jews. In the end Slovakia's existence became tied to the outcome of a war that Germany had begun. In spite of the weight of these three factors on the Slovak Republic, its political leaders determined to carry out policies that would enable the Slovak people to develop further their national life, or put in other terms, that would embark them upon a program of modernization that would dispel any doubts about Slovak political maturity. 35 In this respect, as the available evidence shows, the Slovak Republic represented a singular achievement that had not been equalled in the Czechoslovak state. THE POLICIES OF THE REGIME It was the misfortune of the Slovak Republic that it had to fight throughout its existence the battle of statehood. International law notwithstanding, the Slovaks came to realize that the international existence of their state was shaky, a situation which resulted in the blurring of the boundary lines between state and regime for many Slovaks and most observers.36 This blurring grew as the war developed and became prevalent by the time it became clear that the Allies, who by then had recognized the Czechoslovak government in London, were going to win the war. But in 1939 and for the next four years, until the German army was defeated at Stalingrad, and despite the need after July 1940 for Slovakia to align itself closer to Germany, the lines between state �20 SLOVAKIA and regime were quite closer. The notion of statehood was indeed understood by the Slovaks, as Peter Pares quite accurately reported to London in his last dispatch in January 1940: One solid cause for satisfaction still remains in spite of Slovakia' s need for dependence on one or other of the stronger neighbouring nations and that is the fact that after one thousand years the internal political administration has at last passed exclusively into the hands of Slovaks. Economic and political dependence on either Germany, the Czechs or Hungary is inevitable so long as Slovakia remains an independent state but the right of full self-administration is a pure gain which is entirely due to the establishment of the republic and goes far toward reconciling the Slovaks with the drawbacks of their political position.37 The Slovaks lost in fact very little time in setting up a constitution for their state. They proclaimed on July 21, 1939 a republic, drawing upon the constitutions of Austria, Portugal, and Czechoslovakia, to determine the balance between the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government.38 The constitutional text is divided into thirteen chapters of 103 articles forming "a comprehensive set of fundamental principles and laws concerning the whole field of government and making provisions for the exercise of political power.' •39 Worthy of note are also the articles dealing with the duties and general rights of the citizens, including the right of assembly and freedom of speech and the protection of the workers. As students of the Slovak constitution have noted, the social provisions were greatly influenced by Papal encyclicals, particularly Rerum novarum and Quadragesimo anno.40 The main authoritarian feature is to be found in the role of the Hlinka Party. As Pares pointed out in his description of the constitution to the Foreign Office, ''in spite of the mul~plication of the organs of government, it is easy to see that the Hlinka party itself will, under the new Constitution, be the most powerful factor"in the government of the country." 41 Changes in the Hlinka Party further enhanced the authoritarian character of the regime, as some features of the German and Italian party systems were adopted. The Hlinka Party did not, however, have a fascist or national-socialist program, although attempts were made to give it one, and it sought to direct political life along Slovak national traditions. 42 Like all political parties, the Hlinka Party was divided into factions. Throughout the six years of the Slovak Republic, the main faction, headed by Jozef Tiso, President of the Party and also President of the Republic from October 26, 1939, dominated the political life of the �SLOVAKIA 21 country. It was composed not only of long-standing members of the party, but also of representatives of other Slovak parties who had consented to run on the single ticket for the Diet during the elections of December 18, 1938.43 Th.is faction exercised its influence not only in the Presidency, but'also in ~he Slovak Parliament. 44 For the better part of the life of the Slovak Republic, the Tiso faction also had to make every effort to curb the pro-Nazi faction which sought indeed to give Slovakia a Slovak national-socialist regime. It was headed by Vojtech Tuka, who after July 1940 became Prime Minister and Minister of External Affairs until the 1944 revolt. Tuka owed his position to Hitler who had summoned Tiso to Salzburg on July 28, 1940 to impose a closer alignment with Germany. Hitler also forced the dismissal of Durcansky, Minister of External Affairs. The Secretary-General of the Party, Jozef Kirschbaum, was also removed from his position shortly afterwards. Slovakia had lost some of the freedom it had enjoyed in the first seventeen months of its existence. Still, the Hlinka Party, whose main organizational opponent was the pro-Tuka Hlinka Guard, managed to carry through a series of policies that, with one exception, one can hardly qualify as Nazi or fascist.45 Likewise much of the posturing and outward imitation of Italian and German uniforms was more a matter of form to please Germany than an integral part of Slovak political culture. It would have been a different story if Tuka and Alexander Mach, the Minister of the Interior, had succeeded in overthrowing Tiso. The country would most likely have been ruled by the Hlinka Guard, whose membership was not composed of the most enlightened segments of the population. 46 Of all the policies the regime of the Slovak Republic proposed and carried out, the most unfortunate and tragic were the confiscation of Slovak Jewish property, known as the policy of aryanization, and in 1942 on German urging, the deportation to Poland of more than half of Slovakia's Jewish population. These policies found both support and opposition in Slovakia. The aryanization policy was introduced shortly after independence and was voted on by the Slovak Parliament in response to a mood that existed in public circles.47 The deportation policy, advocated by the Tuka faction, however, met with serious opposition, 48 and although it could be stopped only belatedly, Tiso and his supporters in Parliament were still able to limit its scope and save the lives of thousands of Slovak Jews.49 Nevertheless, one of the darkest chapters in Slovak history had been written, and it went a long way toward damaging the record of the Slovak Republic50 and the aspirations of the Slovak people for independence. �22 SLOVAKIA Foreign policy was another area where room for maneuver was limited. The Communist historian Liptak has argued that the Slovak Republic was a mere pawn in a German game in Europe, especially in the period following independence; it was not possible, he concluded, for Slovakia to pursue an independent foreign policy.51 The measure of the success or failure of Slovakia's foreign policy lies in the degree to which it could resist German dominance and obtain for itself some freedom of action and protection of its own interests. The test came early with the Hungarian attack on Eastern Slovakia in March 1939 and, as Milan Durica has shown, the Slovaks, led by Durcansky, were reasonably successful in minimizing the damage and protecting Slovak interests. 52 The Treaty of Protection (Schuetzvertrag) between Slovakia and Germany set the limits of Slovakia's room for maneuver in foreign relations, military, and economic affairs. With the outbreak of the war, Slovakia joined Germany in invading Poland but only to recapture Slovak territory lost in 1920 and 1938. Nevertheless, Durcansky attempted to widen his freedom of action, and one of his attempts to pursue an independent course failed due to an indiscretion by a Slovak diplomat53 and brought about his downfall in July of 1940.54 Thereafter, Prime Minister Tuka, who was also External Affairs Minister, aligned Slovakia closer to German foreign policy by joining the Anti-Comintern Pact in 1940 and by participating in the war against the Soviet Union. There is no indication in the documentation that there were military engagements between Slovak and British or American forces.55 The measure of the success of Durcansky' s foreign policy may perhaps best be gauged by the fact that he set parameters on German interference which enabled the regime to carry out a wide range of domestic policies. Even after his ouster in 1940, German interference was felt primarily in foreign, military, and economic policy and in the Jewish question. As Communist leader Gustav Husak, an eyewitness to the politics and policies of the Slovak Republic, pointed out in July 1944: ''German influence is great, but not\so great for independence to be a stupid mask. "56 The major achievements of the Slovak Republic were in the economic and socio-cultural fields. If adequate research is ever possible in these two areas, the results are likely to show that the regime was quite successful in taking the Slovak people far down the road of modernization and that, until the revolt of 1944, the Slovak government looked after its non-Jewish citizens through planned economic and social development. The Slovak Republic was the framework within which the Slovak people could and did attain a good measure of national and so- �SLOVAKIA 23 cial development even under the stringent diplomatic and military conditions their government found itself. As Gustav Husak wrote in 1944, distinguishing between regime and state: "If this state had another content and were l~d by another regime, not to say anything about a change of ally, there would be nothing to say against it from a Slovak point of view." 57 Husak, a Communist, was understandably not in favor of the regime; but he acknowledged the importance and benefits of statehood for the Slovaks. Certainly by 1944 there was no doubt about that anymore. There had been doubts, however, at the time of independence. They had arisen from some of the intitial difficulties the autonomous Slovak government had experienced in late 1938 and early 1939. As Peter Pares wrote in February 1939, there were difficulties in a series of sectors, especially in the economic, educational, and administrative ones, from which he concluded that the result ''must inevitably be the economic stagnation of Slovakia and might even mean a disastrous impoverishment." 58 But by April 1939, Pares reported that "the present state of affairs in Slovakia, after nearly a month of independence, seems to indicate that, in spite of the manner in which the declaration of independence was brought about and of the disturbing effects of the Hungarian invasion of Eastern Slovakia, conditions are more stable than anybody expected. "59 The situation in fact continued to improve so much that Husak could write in 1944 that there had been a definite improvement to what the situation had been in Czechoslovakia. He went on to add that in the first seventeen months of the Slovak Republic ''it also became evident that Slovakia could take care of itself economically, there was neither economic nor currency chaos, the standard of living did not go down, quite the contrary, a good number of people, especially the intelligentsia, got ahead .... '•60 A report in the Foreign Office files dated August 1943 also confirms the progress made with the following eyewitness account: '' A traveller who has recently returned from Slovakia was amazed to find how normal things were, not only in Bratislava, but also in other towns. There was no blackout and practically no restrictions. Food and clothing were plentiful and prices reasonable. There was little war talk. Life went on as usual everywhere, but there was a shortage of servants and indeed a general shortage of labour. "61 Before outlining the various aspects of socio-economic and cultural development that the documentation and the literature have permitted me to put together, a few words should be said about the parameters I am using to evaluate the contribution of the Slovak Republic to the life �24 SLOVAKIA of the Slovak people. Ideally, when a nation has acquired statehood it should be totally free to handle its own affairs; for small nations, however, reality is generally far removed from theory, especially when there are powerful neighboring states. Depending on the pressures the powerful put on a small state, the measure of realism must be not only the degree to which policies allow the people to enjoy a standard of living comparable to that of the neighboring nations, but also the perceivable cost, in the short and longer run of resistance and opposition to the pressure of the powerful neighbor. For example, the failure of Canadian nationalists to persuade the Canadian people to have their government limit the American domination of the Canadian economy - over 60 percent of Canadian industry is owned by Americans - is due to the refusal of the Canadian people to give up the standard of living this situation has brought them and to accept the cost of a policy of greater independence. There is little public discussion in Canada on American domination; it is a topic that is debated primarily in certain academic, intellectual, and political circles with hardly any echo elsewhere. The Canadian people do not hesitate, furthermore, to vote out a government which they perceive has not done enough not only to maintain, but to improve, their standard of living. These are the acceptable parameters of political realism in the second half of the twentieth century, not only for Canada, but for quite a few states, in the Western, as well as in the Communist, world. It is clear that the Slovak people found themselves in a similar situation until the revolt of 1944; it is my contention that the Slovak government was successful, especially in a war situation, in giving the Slovak people a good standard of living. Communist scholars do not hesitate to point out that the Slovak economy was dominated by Germany because of the secret protocol in the Treaty of Protection, which called for close economic cooperation and the increase of Slovakia's industrial and agriculture output. Other treaties followed to spell out in detail economic arrangements between Slovakia and Germany, and the Reich also sent advisers to help in various ministries. Liptak calculated that in 1938 the share of German and Austrian capital totaled only 5 percent in Sloyakia; by 1944 it had grown to 64 percent. This phenomenal growth is ~xplained by the fact that Germany took over the shares of Czech and foreign capital in Slovakia as they occupied the various financial centers of Europe. 62 At the same time Slovak capital grew from 2 percent in 1938 to 6 percent in 1944,63 and the number of companies in which Slovaks held a controlling interest rose from 40 to 74. Furthermore, from 1942 on, Slovak banks were successful in obtaining additional shares, especially in industry, that �SLOVAKIA 25 enabled them to operate a number of transfers of controlling interest from Germany to Slovakia. 64 It was this capital inflow which allowed for the development of Slovak industry. Some 4,855 million ks. were invested in five years, allowing for the creation of 250 new enterprises and the enlargement of SO-existing ones. The railways benefited from 95 km. of new tracks , while i 84 km. were rebuilt or repaired. Road paving, repair, and reconstruction were done on 1,100 km. , with 282 km. of new roads laid; telephone links, under and above ground, were greatly improved, adding 291 communities to the existing network, while 470 villages acquired electrification.65 The 12 ,000 kw. of hydroelectric power built between 1918 and 1939 was increased to 90,000 kw. between 1939 and 1945.66 Foreign Office files also give some statistics worthy of note. In 1942 the investment in chemical, textile, mining, metallurgy, and electrical industries represented close to half of that year's investment. The National Bank net profit in 1941 was 21.86 million ks. and 30.83 m. ks. in 1942.67 Trade statistics also show that Slovakia was by no means restricting the variety of goods and services available; in January-February 1942 Slovakia exported 400 m. ks. worth of goods while it imported 575 m. ks. For the same period in 1943, exports increased to 570 m. ks., and imports rose to 730 m. ks. A Slovak-Italian agreement valued at 800 m. ks. , with 60 m. ks. in Slovakia's favor, was signed in 1943. 68 There are very few agricultural statistics available; it seems that this was not a sector that encountered too many problems, even though the promised land reform of 1939 was not carried out. British reports note good fruit crops in 1942 and 1943 . The year 1943 was also reported as a good vintage year for Slovak wines. Communist authors indicate without hesitation that the social groups that benefited most from the economic expansion and growth in Slovakia were the middle and upper middle classes. The lot of workers also seems to have been satisfactory, except perhaps early on when worker discontent culminated in a strike fomented by Communists in Handlova in October 1940.69 The Slovak Parliament passed a number of bills to improve the social conditions of the working class, and salaries and wages showed a steady increase, 70 while unemployment disappeared. The autonomy and later independence of Slovakia brought about the availability of positions in the state as well as tertiary sectors which until then had been occupied primarily by Czechs. Education was another area which showed considerable activity and enabled educated Slovaks to move ahead. The University of Bratislava added two new fa- �26 SLOVAKIA culties , and a technical university was created in July 1939, taking up from the one created in Kosice in 1937 (but then under Magyar control). A school of economics was also founded, and by 1943 there were more than twice as many students enrolled in Slovak institutions of higher learning than there had been in 1938. An educational reform was also announced in July 1939, and Church-controlled schools were re-established. 71 These educational policies and reforms remedied in fact a major defect in Prague's educational program in Slovakia during the interwar years. As Owen Johnson has written: "What the Czechoslovak Republic / had / failed to do was to institutionalize in Slovakia a system of education which would provide the specialized skills and training requisite for the broad range of cadres - bureaucratic, managerial, technical and professional - that are required to conduct a modem nation."72 The founding of the Slovak Academy of Arts and Sciences and the modernization of the publication facilities of the Matica slovenska gave additional impetus to scientific and literary work. For the period 19391944, literary output, for example, totaled 709 works of which 437 were for prose, 169 for poetry, and 103 for plays. 73 Access to such works was made possible by a chain of bookstores operated by the Matica across the country. The statistics at my disposal are too incomplete to enable me to give an accurate survey of achievements but also of problems and failures. Nevertheless the picture that comes out is a positive one showing that"in five of the six years of the existence of the Slovak Republic, the Slovaks moved far down the road of modernization, dispelling any doubts about their ability to handle their own affairs. There is no better testimony to this fact than the report Gustav Husak prepared in July 1944 on the eve of the revolt he would lead as a member of the two opposition groups to the Slovak Republic. It is worthwhile to quote at length from it: In Slovakia today, there is sufficient merchandise, the system of distribution generally works well, and in comparison to adjacent territories (the Czech lands, Hungary, Germany, Poland) the situation is best in Slovakia for the level of real salaries and their purchasing power. The salaries of employees and workers were raised many times, enterprises have all kinds of supply privileges and there cannot be any talk of a lack of basic commodities for consumers. The Slovak crown is the strongest currency in Central Europe , there is full confidence in it at home, �SLOVAKIA 27 people continue to save . . . and inflationary tendencies are sooner the result of German pressure on the economy than of internal conditions . . . : Problems are created by German demands, as a result of w}Uch Germany owes Slovakia today 6 billion ks ..... Slovak industry, given the circumstances of this war, was greatly modernized and some 2 billion ks. were invested in equipment (within 2 years), which in Slovakia is a huge sum .... In general one can say that on the basis of the experience of six years, Slovakia is able to exist as an independent unit economically and financially, can hold out on its own, has even today the necessary forces (including technical ones) and conditions of production for international competition . . . . The Slovaks are an independent nation, they have the same rights and expectations as any other nation. Today Slovak is the exclusive language of administration, all the formal attributes of a nation are there, and for this reason anyone who would like to return to the old conception of a united Czechoslovak nation will meet with opposition . . . . It is to be regretted that / the creation of the Slovak Republic / took place in combination with the worst political regime; still nothing will change the fact that on the national level there is a certain self-consciousness ''that we can take care of our own affairs" in political and economic affairs, that we can have our own army, our own administration, that one's own language is not inferior to that of former dominating nations, that Slovakia was a partner with whom states (the USSR and others) had relations, and to some degree still have today, in short that the Slovak nation can be the subject and not only the object of politics and other / activities / ... In these last six years, the development of a national consciousness and the completion of this development on the formal level are the most remarkable achievements that will not disappear with the fall of the regime . . . . It is a fact that this state is independent and has as much independence as a small state can have especially in time of war. 74 THE REVOLT OF 1944 Husak 's 1944 report on the conditions in Slovakia is in stark contrast with the twenty-seven page, top secret report ''The Revolt in Slovakia' ' found in Foreign Office files outlining the consequences of the fighting . 75 Likewise, one is struck by the difference between the provisional Czechoslovak government London broadcasts, especially �28 SLOVAKIA throughout 1944, inciting the Slovaks to acts of sabotage and destruction of life and property, and the Slovak press and media, when shorn of their ideological jargon and Germanophile phraseology, encouraging the population to ignore this incitement to violence. There was, in fact, partisan activity taking place sporadically throughout 1944; and, by the end of August the Slovaks found themselves almost overnight plunged into an abyss of violence and death which meant the end of their independence. One has to ask what brought about this shift from a relatively calm and stable situation to organized hostilities which resulted in German occupation and the inclusion of Slovakia in the European war. Was it a "Slovak National Uprising," as Communist historiography claims?76 Was it "an uprising for Czechoslovakia," as Wolfgang Venohr has suggested?77 Or was it an "incredible conspiracy," as Frantisek Vnuk has contended?78 The events of 1944 have already found their place in many versions in Slovak historiography, and they need not be recounted here at length. 79 But in the context of this study, two questions must be asked: Why did the revolt take place? and what were the attitude and response of the Slovak people? The reasons that were given after the fact by the leaders of the revolt, both Communist and non-Communist, seem like romanticized self-justifications in the light of the situation in Slovakia and the activities the partisans launched and the results they achieved.80 This is not to suggest that these men did not believe they were doing what they later claimed they had done. There is indeed a tragic irony in the fact that this was the way which insured that the Slovak people in the about-tobe restored Czechoslovak Republic would not be under a military dictatorship as Benes wanted,81 nor subjected to a renewed assimilation as had been attempted in the first CSR.82 Even the leaders of the Slovak Republic were also not unaware of the political situation of the Slovaks and the horns of the dilemma on which they found themselves. This is well illustrated by the following report that found its way into the files 11 of the Foreign Office; it was written by Kuhl de Borososhat, Hungarian Minister in Bratislava, a year before the revolt: Slovak politicians have held a conference at Rezsahegt I sic I (Ruzomberok) under the leadership of Blahos / sic I . Af- ter negotiations which lasted several days the opinion crystallized .that the Slovak people must, under all conditions, remain independent. As, after an Anglosaxon victory, the opinion of the politicians of today will no longer apply, the political leaders of �SLOVAKIA 29 Slovakia are entrusting the fate of their country to the hands of the American Slovaks. \ I asked the Minister of the Interior, Sano Mach, if the government adhered to the decision. He replied that the government had knowledge of it and would agree with it, but can neither adhere to it nor sanction it as this would imply that they had renounced belief in a German victozy - _a n open confession which Slovakia cannot and may not make. 83 The expectation of help from American Slovaks was, however, unrealistic; the resolution. of the Slovak dilemma lay in Europe. Thus, to answer the question why the revolt took place, one must go back to the three factors which had mortgaged the existence of the Republic of Slovakia. By 1944 they had come together in a way that made it impossible for the Slovak government to defend the integrity of the state and avoid the destruction that resulted. Germany was losing the war and progressively retreating from conquered territories, though not without resistance. German resistance was in fact dictated by strategic factors, and Slovakia played in this respect a major role on the Eastern front; for the Germans, Slovakia, with its mountains, barred the road to the Danubian plain for the Red Army, thus protecting the retreat of German armies from the Balkans; for the Soviet Union, the control of Slovakia meant access not only to the valley of the Danube, but also to Vienna and Prague. Also, the alliance with Germany, the second factor, had to be maintained in part because of the first factor but also because of the recognition of the Czechoslovak government in London by the Allies. To turn against Germany meant to be occupied by the Wehrmacht with no guarantee that help would be forthcoming in such a case either from the Soviet Union or the Western Allies. The Slovak government was, furthermore, anxious to avoid any Soviet involvement in Slovak affairs for the simple reason that Bolshevism ran against the Christian Slovak national traditions they upheld. Anti-German feeling had nevertheless begun to grow in Slovakia, and the government's pro-German policy was one of many arguments used to persuade Slovaks to go into opposition. 84 It was the activities of the Communist and non-Communist opposition groups, the third factor, which brought about the armed revolt in Central Slovakia that resulted in the German occupation of the country. The Germans then ordered the deportation of the majority of the Slovak Jews who had been spared the 1942 deportation, and there were sum- �30 SLOVAKIA mary executions on both sides as well as wanton destruction and violence. An additional tragic aspect to the entire episode is the fact that the revolt did not take place at a moment when it could benefit the Allied war effort and also scuttled the secret plans of the Slovak Army, prepared by the Minister of National Defense, General Ferdinand Catlos, and sent to Moscow, to help the Allied effort in Central Europe. Slovak army divisions would have been made available to partake in the sweep of the Red Army toward Budapest and Vienna.85 Catlos's plan, aside from its possible military usefulness, would have maintained the integrity of the Slovak Republic; this was unacceptable to the two opposition groups, the Communist Party of Slovakia and the Democratic Party, who in signing the Christmas Agreement of 1943 had agreed to work toward the restoration of Czechoslovakia. 86 The answer to the second question, namely what were the attitude and response of the Slovak people, is a little more complex. The revolt involved at first thousands of Slovaks, civilians and soldiers, because of the tremendous confusion that arose when it broke out. Apart from the German occupation, which had been the result of the shooting of a German military mission going through the Slovak town of Turciansky Sviity Martin, the most determining factor was the rumor that Tiso had been murdered by the Germans.87 But there were also Slovaks who had become disenchanted with the regime and joined the partisans for this reason. Husak indicated in his pre-revolt report that many Slovaks were ready to change the regime but to keep the state.88 The knowledge that the Allies had recognized Benes's Czechoslovak government - London broadcasts w~re frequently listened to89 - had helped to blur the line between regime and state to the point that in the proverbial sense , the baby was thrown out with the bath water. Except for those who had been working for the restoration of Czechoslovakia, it is not clear that many of those who joined the partisans realized that they were in a revolt not only against the regime, but also against the state. However, one must note that many Slovaks did not participate in the revolt and were even opposed to it because of their allegiance to the Slovak Republic. They realized that the revolt meant a return to the status quo antebellum . London broadcasts were making it perfectly clear that this was what awaited the Slovaks at the end of the war. But as Husak pointed out in a 1946 report, the Slovaks, both in government and in opposition, considered such a proposition to be ' 'rather ridiculous. " 90 The writer, Tido J. Gaspar, Head of the Propaganda Office of �SLOVAKIA 31 the Slovak government, expressed his opposition to the revolt as follows: It wasn't fear of the future, but fear of a renewed past. A return to the disgusting " Benesiada. " We were afraid of it. Benes was threatening us with revenge and promised to renew everything which had previously oppressed us Slovaks .. .. He did not recognize for us any n~tional rights . In fact he did not even recognize us as a nation. We were afraid of that. For this reason we did not see the Uprising as a liberation from the path of fascism , but rather as an unenticing overture to a new process of enslavement. 91 The revolt was basically put down within three months by German forces. 92 But Slovakia could not return to the normalcy of the pre-revolt years. The country was occupied. And even though the Slovak government continued to carry on with its policies both during and after the revolt,93 the link between the governing and the governed was not the same anymore . The end of the war was near. And, as members of the Slovak government fled to Austria in April 1946, the Slovak National Council, created out of the wartime collaboration between the Communists and the Democrats , took power in Slovakia on behalf of the restored Czechoslovak Republic. THE LEGACY OF THE SLOVAK REPUBLIC In the aftermath of the Second World War, Slovakia found itself caught in a double maelstrom of postwar politics. Czechoslovakia was in the Soviet military sphere of interest; within three years the Czechs and Slovaks would become part of the Soviet bloc. Secondly, Slovakia was granted a form of autonomy in the new Czechoslovak Republic; by the time the constitution became law in May 1948, only the formal attributes of autonomy remained. Thus the atmosphere and the politics of the postwar and the Communist period were ripe to give the Slovak Republic an historical blow. Its high officials, from the President of the Republic to members of Parliament and Department heads, were tried, often in absentia, and in the majority of cases convicted on various counts of treason against the Czechoslovak Republic. President Tiso and Prime Minister Tuka were condemned to death and executed in April 1947. Others were sent to serve long prison terms . The vengeance of Czechoslovak officials that Gaspar had feared was given free rein. In this way, a chapter in Slovak �32 SLOVAKIA history was closed and in the Communist period deliberately relegated to oblivion, or at best selectively examined to condemn it better. The situation is only slightly different in the Western world. Former officials of the Slovak Republic who found exile in the West have made an effort to explain the why and wherefore of Slovakia's first modern state. Their works have found only a limited audience, due in part to the vigilence of pro-Czechoslovak groups, both Czech and Slovak, who refuse to recognize that something positive might be said about the wartime period in Slovakia, especially about the Slovak Republic. No Western learned society, such as the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies, held a study session on this topic until 1979. It is, therefore, difficult to determine the legacy of the Slovak Republic. The idea of statehood that it represents has been accepted by most Slovak organizations in the West, such as the Slovak League of America and the Slovak World Congress; in their newspapers and periodicals, anniversaries and events are regularly mentioned and celebrated. Western scholarship has, unfortunately, not kept pace to give greater substance to the idea of statehood, for reasons I outlined at the beginning. Thus the pride hundreds of thousands of Slovaks have in this chapter of their history does not overflow into the world around them. More important, of course, is the legacy to the Slovaks in Slovakia. A perusal of Communist literature of the mid and late sixties suggests a tacit acceptance of the legacy of statehood; Slovak newpapers and periodicals often referred to the wartime period, especially as the drive to federalization became more pronounced. The publication of excerpts from Tido J . Gaspar's memoirs must also be seen as an important step in that direction . But the selective scholarship on the subject suggests that the Communist regime is still incapable of coming to terms with it. Time will undoubtedly cool passions, and curiosity will begin to take over. It is my belief that when Slovak archives become accessible to all scholars without restrictions, the record will show, as I have suggested in this article , that the Slovak Republic served the Slovaks well, especially in the social and cultural field, and that it played an extremely important role in the development of the national consciousness of the Slovak people. The federalization of Czechoslovakia, proposed at first in 1944 and made into law in 1968, could not have taken place if the Slovak Republic had been a dismal failure in the life of the Slovak people. But more research will have to be done, not only for scholarly reasons , but above all, to paraphrase the national motto of Slovakia's western neighbor, so that the truth might prevail. �SLOVAKIA 33 NOTES . 1 Of fourteen general histories puqlished since 1941 taken at random, the creation of the Slovak Republic has been presen\ed as follows : (1) no mention at all - J .B. Duroselle , L'Europe de 1815 a nosjours (Paris , 1970); Walter P. Hall and William G. Davis , The Course of Europe Since Waterloo (New York, 1941) ; and George Lichtheim, Europe in the Tw entieth Century (New York, 1972); (2) serious errors of presentation and interpretation - Martin Gilbert, The European Powers 1900-1945 (New York, 1965), p . 220 ; Carleton J .H . Hayes , Contemporary Europe Since 1870 (New York, 1953) , p . 631; Walter C. Langsam, The World Since 1914 (New York , 1943), p. 517 ; J .M . Roberts, Europe 1880-1945 (New York, 1972), p. 516; D.C . Watt, "Diplomatic History" in The New Cambridge Modern History , Vol. XIl: The Shifting Balances of 'World Forces, 1898-1945, edited by C.L. Mowat (Cambridge , 1968), p . 725; (3) minor errors of presentation and interpretation - Rene Albrecht-Carrie, A Dilpomatic History of Europe Since the Congress of Vienna (New York, 1958), pp . 529-30 ; C.E . Black and E .C. Helmreich, Twentieth Century Europe (New York, 1959), p . 529 ; James Joli, Europe Since 1870: An Introductory H istory (London, 1973), pp. 373 and 441; (4) reasonably accurate - A.J . Grant and H. Temperley , Europe in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries (1789-1950) (London, 1952), p. 529; H . Stuart Hughes, Contemporary Europe: A History (Englewood Cliffs , 1966) , p . 318 ; and Elizabeth Wiskemann in Survey of International Affairs 1939-1946 - Hitler 's Europe , edited by Arnold Toynbee and Veronica M . Toynbee (London, 1954) , pp . 597-604 . 2 John Gellner and John Smerek, The Czechs and Slovaks in Canada (Toronto, 1968), p. viii. 3 Bohuslav Graca, 14. Maree 1939 (Bratislava, 1955) and lmrich Stanek , Zrada a pad, (Praha, 1958) . 4 See , for example, I.:ubomir Liptak, "Mad'arsko v politike Slovenskeho statu v rokoch 1939-1943," Historicky tasopis XI (1), 1967, pp . 1-35 ; --- , "Slovensky stat a protifasisticke hnutie v rokoch 1939-1943 ," Historicky tasopis XIV (2) , 1966, pp . 161-218; ---, "Priprava a priebeh salzburskych rokovani roku 1940 medzi predstavitefmi Nemecka a Slovenskeho statu ," Historicky fosopis XIII (3), 1965, pp. 329-65; --- , "Politicky rezim na Slovensku v rokoch 1939-1945" in Slovenske narodne povstanie roku 1944 (Bratislava, 1965) , pp. 20-49 ; --- , Slovensko v 20, storoti (Bratislava, 1968), pp. 175265; Martin Vietor, " Prispevok k objasneniu fasistickeho charakteru tzv . Slovenskeho statu ," Historicky tasop is VIlI (4 ), 1960, pp , 483-508. 5 The two noticeable examples are : Samo Falt'an, Slovenskd otdka v Ceskoslovensku (Bratislava, 1968), pp . 92-103 and Ivan Kamenec, "Snem Slovenskej Republiky a jeho postoj k problemu zidovskeho obyvatefstva na Slovensku v rokoch 1939-1945," Historicky fosopis XVII (3) , 1969, pp , 329-62 , 6 There is a problem of availability ; the Library of Congress does not have the complete sets, nor does the British Library , 7 The late Ferdinand Durcansky once told me that he himself had destroyed documents because of the physical impossibility of taking them with him, especially to South America. 8 Many former Slovak politicians and officials have published vignettes of their activities in various Slovak publications in the West ; at present only two have published de- �34 SLOVAKIA tailed memoirs: Jozef Miku§, Pamliti slovenskeho diplomata (Middletown, 1978) and Karol Sidor, Sest'rokov pri Vatikane (Scranton, 1947), which also contains documents concerning Slovak foreign policy and diplomacy. The diary of Stefan Tiso, Prime Minister from September 1944 to April 1946, is presently at Stanford University, Hoover Institution on War and Peace ; access to it is however restricted. Excerpts from the diary were published by Yeshayahu Jelinek, " Dennfk Dr . Stefana Tisu," Historickj tasopis XVIIl (2), 1970, pp. 270-87. 9 Such an example is Owen Verne Johnson, Sociocultural and National Development in Slovakia, 1918-1938: Education and Its Impact , unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Michigan, 1978. A recent exception is that of Dorothea El Mallakh, who succeeded in obtaining access to unpublished documents covering the years 1936 through October 1938 from the Ministry of the Interior archives in Prague. She had expected to fail in obtaining access to these documents when she visited Prague in January 1969. But as she writes: " Luck in timing and the helpfulness of individuals all coalesced to bring me almost 2600 frames of microfilms." Dorothea H. El Mallakh, The Slovak Autonomy Movement, 1935-1939: A Study in Unrelenting Nationalism (Boulder, '1970) , p. xiv. 10 See Hans Dress, Slowakei und faschistische Neuordnung Eurpoas 1939-1941 (Berlin, 1972) . 11 John S. Conway, "The Churches, the Slovak State and the Jews 1939-1946," Slavonic Review Lil (126), 1974, p . 87. 12 In his autobiography, Lockhart makes it perfectly clear that he was devoted to Bene§ and that he had no qualms in working for him. See R.H. Bruce Lockhart, Comes the Reckoning (London, 1947), pp. 64ff. 13 In response to a request from the Central Department of the Foreign Office to comment on reports that Bruce Lockhart had put together from information he received from Czech and Slovak sources in London, Peter Pares foresaw from the very beginning the direction this information would go: " Many of the reports reaching London directly may come through the Slovak political emigrants who are nearly all Protestants and not only opposed to the present Slovak regime themselves but draw their information from Protestant sources in Slovakia which are also in bitter opposition.' ' FO 371-24290, Doc. C612-68-12. Public Record Office, London. 14 This problem is compounded by the fact that there are very few general studies on the Slovak Republic published in a Western language, and none is detailed and comprehensive in scope. See Milan S. :C>urica, "Slovakia During World War II - the Slovak Republic' ' in Joseph M. Kirschbaum, ed., Slovakia in the 19th and 20th Centuries (Toronto, 1973), pp. 161-94; Joseph M. Kirschbaum, Slovakia: Nation at the Crossroads of Central Europe (New York, 1961) , pp . 111\76; Jozef Lettrich, History of Modem Slovakia (New York, 1966), pp. 123-91; Josepli A. Mikus, Slovakia - A Political History, 1918-1950 (Milwaukee , 1963), pp. 67-164; 'and Anthony X. Sutherland, Dr. Jozef Tiso and Modem Slovakia (Middletown, 1978), pp. 81-102. Additional titles, particularly of specialized topics in Western and Slovak languages, may be found in Yeshayahu Jelinek, " The Slovak State in Post-war Historiography (An Annotated Bibliography) ," Slovakia XXVIII (61-62) , 1978-79, pp. 17-24. 16 Johnson, p . 466. 16 FO 417-39 , Doc. 3973-19-18. �SLOVAKIA 35 17 This is noted in a report by Pares to the Foreign Office. FO 371-22896, Doc. C1872-712. 18 Falt'an, pp . 106-06. \ 19 See Stanislav J . Kirschbaum, "Die Stellung der Slowakischen Volkspartei zur Aussenpolitik Prags'' in Karl Bos!, ed., Gleichgewicht - Revision - Restauration. Die Aussenpolitik der Ersten Tschechoslowakischen Republik im Europasystem der Pariser Vorortsvertrtige (Muenchen, 1976), pp. 316-66. 20 House of Commons, Parliamentary Debates, 339 H.C. Deb. 6 s., pp. 366-6. 21 See especially FrantiAek Vnuk, "Slovakia's Six Eventful Months (October 1938 March 1939), " Slovak Studies IV, 1968, pp . 7-164; Joseph Kirschbaum, Slovakia, pp. 98-146; Mikus , pp . 67-91 ; El Mallakh, pp. 113-44. A somewhat different version is found in Joerg K. Hoensch, Die Slowakei undHitlers Ostpolitik (Koeln, 1966). 22 The Slovak struggle for autonomy in the First Czechoslovak Republic was a variation on the theme of national self-determination which was ultimately denied the Slovaks by the ideology of ''Czechoslovakism'' of the Prague government. Independence, if it could be achieved, was not only the logical outcome, but in the light of the "Czechoslovak" ideology of Prague, the only way for the Slovak nation to assert itself. Other solutions were not excluded so long as the Slovaks were recognized as a nation independent of the Czechs ; a Central European federation is often mentioned in this context. See Joseph M. Kirschbaum, Slovakia, pp. 223-30 . 23 Though the Hlinka Party had become the Party of Slovak National Unity on October 6, 1938, the literature still refers to it as the Hlinka Party . I will conform to this usage. 24 Liptak, "Politicky rezim ... , " p . 24. See Also Joseph M. Kirschbaum, pp. 169-73. 26 Liptak, Slovensko, p . 210. 26 Conway, p. 96. 27 Liptak, " Politicky rezim ... ," p. 26 . 28 FO 417-40 , Doc. C10876-7-12 . 29 FO 371-22900, Doc . C18636-7-12 . 30 See note 13 . 31 Falt'an, p . 114 and Liptak, " Politicky rezim . .. , "p. 36. 32 See Stanislav J . Kirschbaum, ''Federalism in Slovak Communist Politics,' ' Canadian Slavonic Papers XIX (4) , 1977, pp . 446-9. 33 FO 371-24290, Doc . C612-68-12 . 34 The British Government recognized Benes 's national committee as the " Provisional Czechoslovak Government" on July 21 , 1940. Full de jure recognition was granted on July 18, 1941 , the same day the Soviet Union granted de facto and de jure recognition. The United States followed suit on July 31 , 1941 . 36 In a report on conditions in Slovakia written in January 1939, George Kennan expressed the following opinion, which was widely held at that time: "Its (Slovakia's) native leaders are so sadly lacking in experience, in imagination, in breadth of view, and in depth of purpose that they cannot hope to maneuver successfully for very long �SLOVAKIA 36 amid the powerful national and ideological currents which are playing all around them in Central Europe. " George P. Kennan, From Prague After Munich: Diplomatic Papers 1938-1940 (Princeton, 1968), p. 27. 36 This is best illustrated by the fact that not only in the literature but also during the war, Slovakia was referred to as a " fascist state, " not in a descriptive but in a normative sense. 37 FO 371-24290, Doc. C612-58-12. 38 Joseph M . Kirschbaum , p . 163. 39 Ibid. , p. 159. 40 Ibid. , p . 168; Mikus, p. 94 ; Jan F . Gleiman, "Duch ustavy SR" in Mikulas Sprinc, ed., Slouenska Republika 1939-1949 (Scranton, 1949), p. 120. 41 FO 417-40, Doc. Cl0876-7-12. 42 The most comprehensive analysis of the program is found in Stefan Polakovit, Tisoua nauka (Bratislava, 1941). An English outline appears in Joseph M . Kirschbaum, Slouakia, pp. 170-3; a critical approach was taken by Yeshayahu Jelinek in The Parish Republic: Hlinka's Slouak People's Party 1939-1945 (Boulder, 1976) . 43 Of the 63 deputies elected, 48 were from the Hlinka Party; 12 represented the Agrarian Party, the Slovak National Party, the Artisan Party, and the Czechoslovak National Socialist Party. See above, Kirschbaum, p . 169. 44 Kamenec, passim . 46 The Fuehrer principle was introduced in Slovak political life on October 22, 1942. It enabled President Tiso to consolidate his power and that of the Hlinka Party against Tuka and Mach and the Hlinka Guard. 46 According to Liptak, the Hlinka Guard represented the lumpenproletariat and the radical small bourgeoisie. Liptak, "Politicky reiim ... , "p. 26. 47 Some authors refer to a tradition of anti-Semitism as well as the activities of Slovak Jews in Slovak life to explain the early anti-Jewish policies. Mikus, pp. 96-6.; Sutherland, pp. 88-9. See also Kennan, pp. 22-3. 48 Conway, passim. 49 Kamenec, p . 363. 60 This is made quite clear by one of the leaders of the 1944 revolt. See Lettrich, passim . 61 Liptak, Slouensko , pp. 177-180. For a description of Slovak foreign policy, see Mikus, pp. 116-138. 62 Milan S. Ourica, La Slouaccia e le sue relazioni politiche con la Germania, 1938-1945 , (Padova, 1964), Vol. I, p . 107. 53 Mikus, pp. 135-6 and Ourica, p . 107. 64 The situation and events leading to the Salzburg' meeting Jlre described at length in Liptak, "Priprava a priebeh . . . . " 66 As to th~ question whether Slovakia declared war on the U.K. and the United States, there is also no documentary evidence that this did take place according to postwar re- �SLOVAKIA 37 search into the matter by State Ikpartment officials . The suggestion that Slovakia did declare war is based on a New York Times report of December 13, 1941 of a German broadcast from Bratislava that stated that Slovakia had declared war. See Joseph M. Kirschbaum, Slovakia , pp. 318-21. 66 Gustav Husak , " O vyvoji a situacii na Slovensku," Svedectvi XV (68) , 1979, p . 377. 67 Ibid. 68 FO 371-22896, Doc. C1872-7-12. 69 FO 417-39, Doc. C5201-7-12 . 60 Husak, p. 369. 61 FO 371-34337, Doc. C9206-372-12 . In his pre-revolt report, Husak indicates that some 60,000 Slovaks also worked in Germany. Husak, p. 373. 62 Liptak, Slovensko , p. 194. 63 I.:ubomir Liptak, Ovlddnutie slovenskeho priemyslu nemeckym kapitdlom (Bratislava, 1960), p . 66. 64 Liptak, Slovensko, pp. 201-2. 65 Falt'an, pp. 108-9. See also FO 371-39121 , Doc. C877-877-18. 66 Sutherland, p. 87 . 67 FO 371-34446, Doc. C1066-160-18. 68 FO 371-34446, Doc . C6626-160-18. 69 Dress , p. 119. 70 Ibid ., p. 117. 71 It is interesting that the Slovaks met with no opposition from the Germans. As Conway writes: ''It should be noted that the abolition of religious instruction and the removal of crucifixes from the schools were two notable features of the Nazi persecution of the Catholic Church." Conway, p . 89 , note 11. 72 Owen V. Johnson, "The Slovak Intelligentsia, 1918-1938," Slovakia XXVIII (61-62) , 1978-79, p . 42 . 73 Frantisek Vnuk, Sedemnast' neurodnych rokov (Middletown, 1965), p. 12. 74 Husak, pp. 376-77. 76 FO 371-38942, Doc. C13551-1343-12 . 76 Husak's memoirs are entitled: " Testimony on the Slovak National Uprising." See Gustav Husak , Svedectvo o slovenskom narodnom povstani (Bratislava, 1964). A revised and amended version was published in 1969. 77 Wolfgang Venohr, Au/stand fuer die Tschechoslowakei (Hamburg, 1969). 78 Frantisek Vnuk, Neuveritefne sprisahanie (Middletown, 1964). 79 The most complete account in a Western language is by Venohr. 80 ' 'The political motive for an uprising was the desire to liberate Slovakia by its own efforts as soon as possible, to throw out the Germans , to destroy the dictatorship of the �SLOVAKIA 38 Slovak People's Party, reintroduce Czechoslovak democratic institutions, spare Slovakia the suffering of the war and assure its just place in a free Czechoslovakia.'' Lettrich, p. 200. 81 A. Benl!ik and J. Pivovarl!i, " Problemes militaires de llnsurrection nationale slovaque," Studia historica slovaca IV, 1966, p. 166. 82 Upon the restoration of Czechoslovakia, the Czechoslovak National Socialist Party (Bene§'s party) prepared a document for the party faithful outlining how the Czechoslovak Government should go about successfully assimilating the Slovaks. It was published for the first time in 1968. See Pravda (Bratislava), March 29, 1968. 83 FO 371-34337, Doc. 9786-372-12. 84 According to Husak, some other arguments were "the class content of this state, its undemocratic fascist regime, its vassal link to Nazi Germany and its policies against the people." Husak, Svedectvo, p . 129. 85 There is a full German translation of Catlo§'s plan in Venohr, pp. 119-21. 86 See Stanislav J. Kirschbaum, "Federalism .. . ," pp. 446-49. 87 M. Kuhar, a former communications officer in the Slovak Army, explained to me recently in an interview in Toronto, Canada, that his unit had been mobilized when the rumor of Tiso's death had reached it with the understanding that the Slovak Army would engage the Germans to defend Slovak independence. When the rumor proved to be untrue, his unit returned to its barracks . 88 Husak, "O vyvoji ... ," p. 377. 89 In 1942, at a ceremony for a new extension of the electrical network, President Tiso remarked: "You see, how, with more electricity we are giving you an opportunity to hear London and Moscow. In Russia they do not have such an opportunity, because there they give them a record player and thus they can hear only Moscow. The Slovak Republic is not afraid to hear foreign stations, because we know the truth and we are not afraid of the lies that London broadcasts.•• Slovak, May 19, 1942, quoted in Milan Stanislav l'>urica, "Slovensko za druhej svetovej vojny - Slovenska Republika" in Jozef M. Rydlo, ed., Slovensko v retrospektive dej£n (Lausanne, 1976), p. 143, note 127. 90 Vilem Prel!an, Slovenske ntirodne povstanie (Bratislava, 1965), document 576, p. 950. 91 Tido J. Ga§par, "Z pamiiti, " Slovenske pohfady LXXXIV (12), 1968, p. 79. 92 At a meeting of the Chiefs of Staff in London on November 15, 1944, it was acknowledged that the revolt had collapsed. FO 371-38944, Doc. C15945-1343-12. \ 93 Liptak, "Politicky re!im . . . , " p. 48. � 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 1980-81, Vol. 29 Description An account of the resource Vol. 29 (No. 53-54), 1980-81. 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 1980-81 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 HISTORY SLOVAKIA 11 The .Slovak Republic and the Slovaks· . STANISLAV J. KIRSCHBAUM INTRODUCTION There are very few topics in recent history that have been as much avoided, accidentally or deliberately, by Western as well as Communist scholars as the Slovak Republic (1939-1945) . The significance of this state in the period of its existence is certainly not central to an understanding of the more important world events that were taking place at the time, nor was its contribution to those events such that it required the attention of world powers. Historical surveys published in the West in the last forty years have thus not given Slovakia much attention; one can appreciate the reason for this, but one must also note that there are often serious inaccuracies, distortions, and misrepresentations in these works.I The task of writing this history of the Slovak Republic is, therefore, left to a few Western specialists or to Slovak Marxist historians. But here one is also left wanting; ideological preoccupations and problems of documentation explain this unusual state of affairs. The Republic of Slovakia found itself on the side of the vanquished powers at the end of the Second World War. Historians have been understandably more interested in recording the activities of the victorious, often applying ex post facto a devil theory to the defeated. In the wake of an ideological conflict like the Second World War, and with the ideological division of the world in the postwar years, the tendency to simplify in order better to glorify and I or condemn is understandable. It is not to be excused, however. Nevertheless Western, as well as Communist, historians have generally let their engagement get the better of their scholarship, or else they have conveniently cast intractable subjects to the Orwellian memory hole. For example, two Canadians, one of Czech, the other of • Paper presented as part of a panel on "14 March 1939 and the Slovak State," sponsored by the Slovak Studies Association in conjunction with the national convention of the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies , New Haven, October, 1979. 12 SLOVAKIA Slovak origin, purporting to write the history of the Czechs and Slovaks in Canada, have actually suggested that Slovak separatism is " an aberration of the past , excusable perhaps under the circumstances of the day , but otherwise the sooner forgotten the better.' ' 2 Communist scholars have also generally avoided the Slovak Republic, with the only two works published in the 1950s3 followed by a few articles in the 1960s.4 Writing from their Marxist perspective , they have, however, shown a shift in accent and interpretation in their later writings.5 This shift corresponds to greater access to the documentation on the Slovak Republic for scholars in Slovakia. However, this documentation is not necessarily accessible to Western scholars . Access to original documents and other primary sources is in fact the greatest problem that Western scholars studying Slovakia face. All of the works on the period of the Slovak Republic published in the West show a minimal reliance on original Slovak documentation . At best, they have used three newspapers published in Slovakia that are available , namely Slovak , Gardista , and Grenzbote.6 Monographs which were published during the war and which found their way into Western European or American libraries are also available; but their number, as well as their importance , is limited. None gives a total picture of the Slovak Republic ; most were written during the war, and generally before the 1944 revolt. Finally, none of the political leaders or officials of the state has made public any documents in his possession 7 that cast additional light. With some exceptions, there are no detailed memoirs or diaries that one can draw upon.8 Finally, there is no indication that Prague or Bratislava is presently disposed to open Slovak archives to Western scholars, except perhaps for earlier periods and less explosive subjects like education. 9 There is , on the other hand, one documentary source that Western and Communist IO scholars have used widely, namely German documentation. The Allies published soon after the war the series Documents on German Foreign Policy ; those documents not found in this series are now available in Bonn at the\ Politisches Archiv des auswiirtigen Amtes . Also available are SS documents, namely from Himmler's Sicherheitsdienst, which John Conway has prudently characterized as "conscientious, though obviously one-sided. " 11 Conway's comments are indeed pertinent for much of German documentation ; it must be used with great care when applied to Slovakia. The scholar must remember that they are addressed to and written by people serving the Third Reich. A third, but unfortunately rather unreliable source of information, SLOVAKIA 13 is the files of the British Foreign Office. These were at first composed of British diplomatic reports, especially from Consul to Slovakia Peter Pares, which are useful because of their detachment and scope. Pares, however, left Slovakia after the outbreak of the Second World War, and thereupon the reports fo'll{ld in the files of the Foreign Office ceased to come from agents in diplomatic representation abroad. Bruce Lockhart12 then set into motion the gathering of intelligence not only on Slovak, but also on Czech, affairs in the Protectorate of Bohemia-Moravia and thus thickened Foreign Office files with weekly and sundry reports. With the British de facto and later de jure recognition of the provisional Czechoslovak government-in-exile in London, headed by Edvard Bene§, the task of gathering intelligence and preparing situation reports fell on the Czech and Slovak exiles in London. The information in this documentation is rarely accurate, and to its discredit, extremely selective.13 The documents show quite plainly that Bene§ and his people used only information that damaged the Slovak Republic, especially Slovak politicians. Likewise, the weekly summaries of the Political Intelligence Department are not very useful because they were based upon reports emanating from Bene§'s people. However, the Foreign Office files also contain occasional letters or reports from other sources that paint a totally different picture; but they are too few and, unfortunately, rarely comprehensive enough to give scholars something concrete. This problem of inadequate documentary evidence makes the task of studying the Slovak Republic an extremely difficult one.14 Nevertheless a beginning must be made, if only to ask questions, examine existing interpretations, and seek to understand the motives and actions of the men at the center of events; there is indeed a real challenge of intellectual and documentary detection in this case. The documentation used in this article is neither specialized nor all-encompassing. I have examined closely most available secondary sources, both Western and Communist, read the memoir-like contributions of Slovaks in SlovakCanadian and Slovak-American newspapers and periodicals, and studied carefully the documents of the Foreign Office. Furthermore, I accept the writings of exiled Slovak scholars as those most likely to help us understand the Slovak Republic and the actions of its leaders, while taking note of their often defensive and apologetic nature. I am also aware of the fact that there exist many works disposed in an unfriendly, if not outright inimical, way to the Slovak Republic; I have sought to understand the arguments presented and have accepted at face value the facts given. But one should be skeptical toward them; a state where the President could walk on the streets of the capital city without a 14 SLOVAKIA bodyguard to protect him and where no attempt was ever made on his life is not a state where everything was evil and against the interests of the Slovak people, as some works suggest. The full history of the Slovak Republic will, however, not be written until all archival material is made available. Until then the present debate is likely to continue. Before examining the various aspects of this topic, a few words should be said about the broader perspective within which the Slovak Republic found itself. In his study of the impact of education in Slovakia in the 1920s and 1930s, Owen Johnson has shown that by the end of the second decade of the existence of the first Czechoslovak Republic not only had Prague's policy of Czechoslovak nation-building failed, but indeed its "program of Czechoslovak state building had turned into one of Slovak nation building."15 There is some irony in the fact that Prague's policies had the opposite effect of what had been expected; in this respect then, the activities of the Slovak Republic would be merely the continuation and the prolongation of this process with the difference that all decisions affecting the Slovaks would be taken by Slovaks in Bratislava and not in Prague. The fact that the Slovaks took their national life into their own hands, notwithstanding the circumstances that had led to this step, also reflected the problems created by the selective application of the policy of national self-determination in Central Europe. While recognizing on the one hand the right of nations to selfdetermination on the morrow of the Great War, the victorious powers were selective on the other in their granting of this right to the various nations of the Habsburg Empire. The Slovaks were not unaware of this discrepancy, and when the deleterious geopolitical arrangements of the Versailles settlement finally succumbed to German expansionism, Slovak independence was as much an act of nati~al self-determination as one of self-preservation. The ultimate tragedy of the Slovaks is that by 1945 the victorious powers once again applied in a selective fashion the principles of national self-determination as embodied in the Atlantic Charter. THE ACCEPTANCE OF SLOVAK INDEPENDENCE The declaration of Slovak independence was greeted with rejoicing by a great many Slovaks, although in Bratislava, as British Consul Peter Pares reported, there had not been many manifestations of that joy. The capital city of Slovakia was yet to become a primarily Slovak city, and its non-Slovak population did not show much enthusiasm. Pares sensed apathy or pessimism.16 Slovakia's declaration of independence had in fact come about under circumstances that differentiate it from SLOVAKIA 15 similar events for other nations in recent times. Consul Pares's report not only singles out this ~ct, but it underlines one of the major tasks that the leaders of the new'state had to face. Slovakia's declaration of independence cannot be disassociated from the two previous decades when neither the political individuality of Slovakia nor the nationhood of its people had been acknowledged by the Czechoslovak Republic. Belatedly and grudgingly, Prague had granted Slovakia autonomy on October 6, 1938, under conditions that did not indicate the total and willing abandonment by the Czech elite of the ideology of ''Czechoslovakism. '' But for the Slovak people, autonomy represented the successful outcome of a twenty-year struggle, a hope that Slovak national development could now be carried out by the Slovak people. Autonomy brought about manifestations of popular gladness in the cities, towns, and villages of Slovakia. The Hlinka Slovak People's Party and the Slovak National Party, headed by Martin Razus, had been the main political forces not only behind autonomy, but above all, in the educational campaign that was essential for the Slovak people in order to handle their own affairs. After two decades of Czech local, as well as state administration, a policy that had brought about much bitterness in Slovakia, 17 the Slovaks looked upon autonomy as the fulfillment not only of original promises, but also of national aspirations. Independence and statehood had not been an alternative openly discussed and contemplated by Slovak leaders in the two decades before autonomy. This is not to say that they might not one day have considered it. Indeed, as Samo Falt'an, a Slovak Commwiist historian, has written: "Statehood as an expression of national liberty cannot be rejected and qualified as treason to the nation.'' He went on to add that independence was a logical outcome in the light of the Slovaks' status in the CSR: ''The creation of the Slovak State is not in conflict with national interests and efforts, all the more so, because in the twenty-year existence of the CSR there had been no successful attempt to reach a Czech-Slovak constitutional arrangement. "18 Nevertheless - and this is important in order to understand the problems that faced th,e new state - when independence was declared, it had not been the object of wide public discussion but rather came rapidly on the heels of autonomy when Slovakia had barely begun to enjoy its new status in Czecho-Slovakia. However, within the Hlinka party, reorganized since November 8, 1938 as the Slovak Party of National Unity, which other Slovak parties had been invited to join except for Slovak Communists and Social Democrats, there were elements that had been considering 16 SLOVAKIA independence, especially in the light of the changing international situation in Europe. The predominance of Germany and the fear that Prague might not be able to defend the integrity and existence of the common state of the Czechs and Slovaks concerned them. In fact, from the very beginnings of Czecho-Slovakia, the Hlinka party had given Prague notice that the survival and interests of the Slovak nation were uppermost in its policy stand and actions.19 But in 1938-1939 the need to explore all avenues was paramount, for as Churchill declared in the House of Commons on October 5, 1938: "I venture to think that in the future the Czechoslovak state cannot be maintained as an independent entity. You will find that in a period of time which may be measured by years, but may be measured only by months, Czechoslovakia will be engulfed in the Nazi regime. "20 The Slovak elite was aware of this danger of engulfment and of the necessity to maneuver in such a way as to avoid it. As events would show and the history of the Slovak Republic would confirm, Slovak independence was the one solution that enabled Slovakia to avoid the total absorption that befell other Central European peoples and states. The events leading to independence need not he recounted here, since they have been examined elsewhere.21 Suffice it to say that in the light of European developments and the rapidity with which they were unfolding, the decision to opt for independence and the manner in which it was done showed courage on the part of the Slovak leaders. It was also the best solution, not only under the circumstances, but also for the Slovak nation.22 But at the moment of independence, and for the immediate future, this decision by the Slovak leaders had to be explained and shown to be viable both to the Slovak people and to the world at large. The Hlinka Party23 embarked on this task, calling upon all Slovaks to join it, as the Communist historian I:ubomir Liptak has written. The new regime in Slovakia did not exclude its political opponents from positions in the new state.24 In fact he pointed out: The populists did not come to power after an extreme collision of political trends in Slovakia, in the wake of a moderate civil war as was the case for example in Italy and Germany, but during an international crisis, when all existing political conceptions and currents failed, or did not have an oppottunity to influence developments. In this kind of internal political vacuum, when political opponents are eliminated, or do not have clear goals, or are isolated in the nation, the populists could get the support or at least the passive help of yesterday's political opponents.25 SLOVAKIA 17 Although there was a single Slovak party (there was, however, also a Slovak German, and a small Slovak Hungarian, party) and the regime manifested certain visible authoritarian characteristics, the appearance of factions and policy directions in the Blinka Party, the division between the legislative and executive branches of government, and the role of the churches in the political life of the state26 were all factors that would influence Slovak political life and help the Blinka Party to carry out its program. In the words of Liptak, in the Slovak Republic there was a "certain 'liberalism' and carefulness in the introduction of authoritarian arrangements.' •27 This moderate liberalism was, however, not to be enjoyed by all citizens, and many individuals suffered, although on the whole there was none of the totalitarianism, terror, and ideological dogmatism that later befell the Slovaks under the Communist regime. These conditions also made it possible for opposing views to coexist and later influence events in Slovakia. For there existed three factors which had heavily mortgaged the viability of the Slovak Republic and which would in time take their place in the political life of the state and ultimately seal its fate; they were the activities of opposition groups, Slovak-German relations, and the world war. The appearance of a group opposing the Slovak Republic is something that British Consul Pares soon took notice of. In his July report on the Constitution of Slovakia, where he noted the unique position of the Blinka Party in the political system, he pointed out that the Catholic origin of this party probably meant the virtual exclusion of Slovak Protestants within it, as well as their relegation to the background of public affairs. He concluded from this that the ''insignificant position into which they have been thrust is sure to arouse their bitter resentment. "28 By mid-November he reported the "active revolt ... of a section of the Lutheran Community, which was the greatest source of strength of the former centralists or ''Czechoslovaks'' and has suffered with their eclipse. In this case, it is sectarian feeling rather than loss of political power which has created bitter antagonism to the existing government .... "29 Despite the fact that a number of Protestant personalities occupied key positions in the state, that their economic influence in Slovakia did not diminish but in fact increased, and that their leaders publicly proclaimed their adherence and loyalty to the Slovak Republic, the Slovak Protestant community did indeed form an opposition group, whether for sectarian or political reasons, especially after Benes began to regroup his political partisans in London. As Pares noted in his last dispatch on Slovakia to London, the Protestants formed 18 SLOVAKIA at home and abroad an opposition link to the Slovak Republic and lent Benes support for his goal of recreating the first Czechoslovak Republic.30 By 1943 they would be actively involved in the restoration of Czechoslovak authority in Slovakia and would help a second main opposition group, the Communists, in preparing an armed revolt in Central Slovakia. The role of the Communists in Slovakia mirrored well the turgidity of their movement until the German attack on the Soviet Union in June of 1941. Soviet diplomatic recognition of Slovakia invalidated the slogans of national self-determination they propagated in 1939, while the leadership of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, by then resident in Moscow, ordered the abandonment of the slogan of a '' Soviet Slovak Republic,'' which began to appear in 1940. The Communist Party had been declared illegal in Slovakia so that its activities and organization were clandestine. The security services of the Slovak Republic occasionally rounded up Communists, but as both Falt'an and Liptak pointed out, not only were they quickly released from prison, but they were allowed to resume their positions in economic and state institutions. 31 In was not until late 1943 and 1944 that Communist activity became a major factor in Slovak political life, in part because the Communists were in touch with Soviet partisan units operating out of Kiev, and in part because they had worked out a new political program for Slovakia in the future of Czechoslovak Republic.32 Together with Slovak non-Communists, primarily Lutherans, they began to prepare the revolt of 1944, which I will examine below. The existence and activity of opposition groups to the Slovak Republic were enhanced by the nature of Slovak-German relations. The role of Germany in the destruction of Czechoslovakia had been a major factor in Slovakia's declaration of independence and as British Consul Pares noted, ''from the moment when indeflendence was declared the Slovaks never had any illusions about the difficulties and risks of their situation as a nation of two million people in the centre of Europe. ,,33 Attempts to pursue an independent foreign policy by the Minister of External Affairs, Ferdinand Durcansky, resulted in his removal in July 1940 under German pressure and thereafter Germany made sure that Slovak political life did not go beyond certain limits, which for the most part were, however, not clearly defined; on the other hand Germany did not encourage Slovak pro-Nazi elements to take power, nor did Hitler back the attempted coup in 1941 against President Tiso, in which the German ambassador, M. von Killinger, was himself involved. Slovakia was nevertheless in the German sphere of interest; its existence SLOVAKIA 19 was in fact tied to German political and economic activities, and despite the diplomatic recognition it had been granted by twenty-seven states, its juridical status did not\in fact extend much beyond Europe. British de facto and later de jure ·recognition of the provisional Czechoslovak government in London, followed by Soviet and American recognition,34 as well as the Hungarian claims on Slovakia, further strengthened the ties between Slovakia and Germany which were not broken until the war's end. The outbreak of the Second World War was the third factor that heavily influenced the politics and the viability of the Slovak Republic. Although Slovakia would not experience the horrors of war until 1944, the fact that there was a war all around it enabled opposition groups to get involved in military activities on Slovak soil and do just what the Slovak leaders had so successfully avoided doing, namely bring the war into Slovakia with their 1944 revolt. Also, the war forced Slovakia into much closer cooperation with Germany, especially in the economic sphere, and brought about the deportation into Poland of more than half of Slovakia's Jews. In the end Slovakia's existence became tied to the outcome of a war that Germany had begun. In spite of the weight of these three factors on the Slovak Republic, its political leaders determined to carry out policies that would enable the Slovak people to develop further their national life, or put in other terms, that would embark them upon a program of modernization that would dispel any doubts about Slovak political maturity. 35 In this respect, as the available evidence shows, the Slovak Republic represented a singular achievement that had not been equalled in the Czechoslovak state. THE POLICIES OF THE REGIME It was the misfortune of the Slovak Republic that it had to fight throughout its existence the battle of statehood. International law notwithstanding, the Slovaks came to realize that the international existence of their state was shaky, a situation which resulted in the blurring of the boundary lines between state and regime for many Slovaks and most observers.36 This blurring grew as the war developed and became prevalent by the time it became clear that the Allies, who by then had recognized the Czechoslovak government in London, were going to win the war. But in 1939 and for the next four years, until the German army was defeated at Stalingrad, and despite the need after July 1940 for Slovakia to align itself closer to Germany, the lines between state 20 SLOVAKIA and regime were quite closer. The notion of statehood was indeed understood by the Slovaks, as Peter Pares quite accurately reported to London in his last dispatch in January 1940: One solid cause for satisfaction still remains in spite of Slovakia' s need for dependence on one or other of the stronger neighbouring nations and that is the fact that after one thousand years the internal political administration has at last passed exclusively into the hands of Slovaks. Economic and political dependence on either Germany, the Czechs or Hungary is inevitable so long as Slovakia remains an independent state but the right of full self-administration is a pure gain which is entirely due to the establishment of the republic and goes far toward reconciling the Slovaks with the drawbacks of their political position.37 The Slovaks lost in fact very little time in setting up a constitution for their state. They proclaimed on July 21, 1939 a republic, drawing upon the constitutions of Austria, Portugal, and Czechoslovakia, to determine the balance between the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government.38 The constitutional text is divided into thirteen chapters of 103 articles forming "a comprehensive set of fundamental principles and laws concerning the whole field of government and making provisions for the exercise of political power.' •39 Worthy of note are also the articles dealing with the duties and general rights of the citizens, including the right of assembly and freedom of speech and the protection of the workers. As students of the Slovak constitution have noted, the social provisions were greatly influenced by Papal encyclicals, particularly Rerum novarum and Quadragesimo anno.40 The main authoritarian feature is to be found in the role of the Hlinka Party. As Pares pointed out in his description of the constitution to the Foreign Office, ''in spite of the mul~plication of the organs of government, it is easy to see that the Hlinka party itself will, under the new Constitution, be the most powerful factor"in the government of the country." 41 Changes in the Hlinka Party further enhanced the authoritarian character of the regime, as some features of the German and Italian party systems were adopted. The Hlinka Party did not, however, have a fascist or national-socialist program, although attempts were made to give it one, and it sought to direct political life along Slovak national traditions. 42 Like all political parties, the Hlinka Party was divided into factions. Throughout the six years of the Slovak Republic, the main faction, headed by Jozef Tiso, President of the Party and also President of the Republic from October 26, 1939, dominated the political life of the SLOVAKIA 21 country. It was composed not only of long-standing members of the party, but also of representatives of other Slovak parties who had consented to run on the single ticket for the Diet during the elections of December 18, 1938.43 Th.is faction exercised its influence not only in the Presidency, but'also in ~he Slovak Parliament. 44 For the better part of the life of the Slovak Republic, the Tiso faction also had to make every effort to curb the pro-Nazi faction which sought indeed to give Slovakia a Slovak national-socialist regime. It was headed by Vojtech Tuka, who after July 1940 became Prime Minister and Minister of External Affairs until the 1944 revolt. Tuka owed his position to Hitler who had summoned Tiso to Salzburg on July 28, 1940 to impose a closer alignment with Germany. Hitler also forced the dismissal of Durcansky, Minister of External Affairs. The Secretary-General of the Party, Jozef Kirschbaum, was also removed from his position shortly afterwards. Slovakia had lost some of the freedom it had enjoyed in the first seventeen months of its existence. Still, the Hlinka Party, whose main organizational opponent was the pro-Tuka Hlinka Guard, managed to carry through a series of policies that, with one exception, one can hardly qualify as Nazi or fascist.45 Likewise much of the posturing and outward imitation of Italian and German uniforms was more a matter of form to please Germany than an integral part of Slovak political culture. It would have been a different story if Tuka and Alexander Mach, the Minister of the Interior, had succeeded in overthrowing Tiso. The country would most likely have been ruled by the Hlinka Guard, whose membership was not composed of the most enlightened segments of the population. 46 Of all the policies the regime of the Slovak Republic proposed and carried out, the most unfortunate and tragic were the confiscation of Slovak Jewish property, known as the policy of aryanization, and in 1942 on German urging, the deportation to Poland of more than half of Slovakia's Jewish population. These policies found both support and opposition in Slovakia. The aryanization policy was introduced shortly after independence and was voted on by the Slovak Parliament in response to a mood that existed in public circles.47 The deportation policy, advocated by the Tuka faction, however, met with serious opposition, 48 and although it could be stopped only belatedly, Tiso and his supporters in Parliament were still able to limit its scope and save the lives of thousands of Slovak Jews.49 Nevertheless, one of the darkest chapters in Slovak history had been written, and it went a long way toward damaging the record of the Slovak Republic50 and the aspirations of the Slovak people for independence. 22 SLOVAKIA Foreign policy was another area where room for maneuver was limited. The Communist historian Liptak has argued that the Slovak Republic was a mere pawn in a German game in Europe, especially in the period following independence; it was not possible, he concluded, for Slovakia to pursue an independent foreign policy.51 The measure of the success or failure of Slovakia's foreign policy lies in the degree to which it could resist German dominance and obtain for itself some freedom of action and protection of its own interests. The test came early with the Hungarian attack on Eastern Slovakia in March 1939 and, as Milan Durica has shown, the Slovaks, led by Durcansky, were reasonably successful in minimizing the damage and protecting Slovak interests. 52 The Treaty of Protection (Schuetzvertrag) between Slovakia and Germany set the limits of Slovakia's room for maneuver in foreign relations, military, and economic affairs. With the outbreak of the war, Slovakia joined Germany in invading Poland but only to recapture Slovak territory lost in 1920 and 1938. Nevertheless, Durcansky attempted to widen his freedom of action, and one of his attempts to pursue an independent course failed due to an indiscretion by a Slovak diplomat53 and brought about his downfall in July of 1940.54 Thereafter, Prime Minister Tuka, who was also External Affairs Minister, aligned Slovakia closer to German foreign policy by joining the Anti-Comintern Pact in 1940 and by participating in the war against the Soviet Union. There is no indication in the documentation that there were military engagements between Slovak and British or American forces.55 The measure of the success of Durcansky' s foreign policy may perhaps best be gauged by the fact that he set parameters on German interference which enabled the regime to carry out a wide range of domestic policies. Even after his ouster in 1940, German interference was felt primarily in foreign, military, and economic policy and in the Jewish question. As Communist leader Gustav Husak, an eyewitness to the politics and policies of the Slovak Republic, pointed out in July 1944: ''German influence is great, but not\so great for independence to be a stupid mask. "56 The major achievements of the Slovak Republic were in the economic and socio-cultural fields. If adequate research is ever possible in these two areas, the results are likely to show that the regime was quite successful in taking the Slovak people far down the road of modernization and that, until the revolt of 1944, the Slovak government looked after its non-Jewish citizens through planned economic and social development. The Slovak Republic was the framework within which the Slovak people could and did attain a good measure of national and so- SLOVAKIA 23 cial development even under the stringent diplomatic and military conditions their government found itself. As Gustav Husak wrote in 1944, distinguishing between regime and state: "If this state had another content and were l~d by another regime, not to say anything about a change of ally, there would be nothing to say against it from a Slovak point of view." 57 Husak, a Communist, was understandably not in favor of the regime; but he acknowledged the importance and benefits of statehood for the Slovaks. Certainly by 1944 there was no doubt about that anymore. There had been doubts, however, at the time of independence. They had arisen from some of the intitial difficulties the autonomous Slovak government had experienced in late 1938 and early 1939. As Peter Pares wrote in February 1939, there were difficulties in a series of sectors, especially in the economic, educational, and administrative ones, from which he concluded that the result ''must inevitably be the economic stagnation of Slovakia and might even mean a disastrous impoverishment." 58 But by April 1939, Pares reported that "the present state of affairs in Slovakia, after nearly a month of independence, seems to indicate that, in spite of the manner in which the declaration of independence was brought about and of the disturbing effects of the Hungarian invasion of Eastern Slovakia, conditions are more stable than anybody expected. "59 The situation in fact continued to improve so much that Husak could write in 1944 that there had been a definite improvement to what the situation had been in Czechoslovakia. He went on to add that in the first seventeen months of the Slovak Republic ''it also became evident that Slovakia could take care of itself economically, there was neither economic nor currency chaos, the standard of living did not go down, quite the contrary, a good number of people, especially the intelligentsia, got ahead .... '•60 A report in the Foreign Office files dated August 1943 also confirms the progress made with the following eyewitness account: '' A traveller who has recently returned from Slovakia was amazed to find how normal things were, not only in Bratislava, but also in other towns. There was no blackout and practically no restrictions. Food and clothing were plentiful and prices reasonable. There was little war talk. Life went on as usual everywhere, but there was a shortage of servants and indeed a general shortage of labour. "61 Before outlining the various aspects of socio-economic and cultural development that the documentation and the literature have permitted me to put together, a few words should be said about the parameters I am using to evaluate the contribution of the Slovak Republic to the life 24 SLOVAKIA of the Slovak people. Ideally, when a nation has acquired statehood it should be totally free to handle its own affairs; for small nations, however, reality is generally far removed from theory, especially when there are powerful neighboring states. Depending on the pressures the powerful put on a small state, the measure of realism must be not only the degree to which policies allow the people to enjoy a standard of living comparable to that of the neighboring nations, but also the perceivable cost, in the short and longer run of resistance and opposition to the pressure of the powerful neighbor. For example, the failure of Canadian nationalists to persuade the Canadian people to have their government limit the American domination of the Canadian economy - over 60 percent of Canadian industry is owned by Americans - is due to the refusal of the Canadian people to give up the standard of living this situation has brought them and to accept the cost of a policy of greater independence. There is little public discussion in Canada on American domination; it is a topic that is debated primarily in certain academic, intellectual, and political circles with hardly any echo elsewhere. The Canadian people do not hesitate, furthermore, to vote out a government which they perceive has not done enough not only to maintain, but to improve, their standard of living. These are the acceptable parameters of political realism in the second half of the twentieth century, not only for Canada, but for quite a few states, in the Western, as well as in the Communist, world. It is clear that the Slovak people found themselves in a similar situation until the revolt of 1944; it is my contention that the Slovak government was successful, especially in a war situation, in giving the Slovak people a good standard of living. Communist scholars do not hesitate to point out that the Slovak economy was dominated by Germany because of the secret protocol in the Treaty of Protection, which called for close economic cooperation and the increase of Slovakia's industrial and agriculture output. Other treaties followed to spell out in detail economic arrangements between Slovakia and Germany, and the Reich also sent advisers to help in various ministries. Liptak calculated that in 1938 the share of German and Austrian capital totaled only 5 percent in Sloyakia; by 1944 it had grown to 64 percent. This phenomenal growth is ~xplained by the fact that Germany took over the shares of Czech and foreign capital in Slovakia as they occupied the various financial centers of Europe. 62 At the same time Slovak capital grew from 2 percent in 1938 to 6 percent in 1944,63 and the number of companies in which Slovaks held a controlling interest rose from 40 to 74. Furthermore, from 1942 on, Slovak banks were successful in obtaining additional shares, especially in industry, that SLOVAKIA 25 enabled them to operate a number of transfers of controlling interest from Germany to Slovakia. 64 It was this capital inflow which allowed for the development of Slovak industry. Some 4,855 million ks. were invested in five years, allowing for the creation of 250 new enterprises and the enlargement of SO-existing ones. The railways benefited from 95 km. of new tracks , while i 84 km. were rebuilt or repaired. Road paving, repair, and reconstruction were done on 1,100 km. , with 282 km. of new roads laid; telephone links, under and above ground, were greatly improved, adding 291 communities to the existing network, while 470 villages acquired electrification.65 The 12 ,000 kw. of hydroelectric power built between 1918 and 1939 was increased to 90,000 kw. between 1939 and 1945.66 Foreign Office files also give some statistics worthy of note. In 1942 the investment in chemical, textile, mining, metallurgy, and electrical industries represented close to half of that year's investment. The National Bank net profit in 1941 was 21.86 million ks. and 30.83 m. ks. in 1942.67 Trade statistics also show that Slovakia was by no means restricting the variety of goods and services available; in January-February 1942 Slovakia exported 400 m. ks. worth of goods while it imported 575 m. ks. For the same period in 1943, exports increased to 570 m. ks., and imports rose to 730 m. ks. A Slovak-Italian agreement valued at 800 m. ks. , with 60 m. ks. in Slovakia's favor, was signed in 1943. 68 There are very few agricultural statistics available; it seems that this was not a sector that encountered too many problems, even though the promised land reform of 1939 was not carried out. British reports note good fruit crops in 1942 and 1943 . The year 1943 was also reported as a good vintage year for Slovak wines. Communist authors indicate without hesitation that the social groups that benefited most from the economic expansion and growth in Slovakia were the middle and upper middle classes. The lot of workers also seems to have been satisfactory, except perhaps early on when worker discontent culminated in a strike fomented by Communists in Handlova in October 1940.69 The Slovak Parliament passed a number of bills to improve the social conditions of the working class, and salaries and wages showed a steady increase, 70 while unemployment disappeared. The autonomy and later independence of Slovakia brought about the availability of positions in the state as well as tertiary sectors which until then had been occupied primarily by Czechs. Education was another area which showed considerable activity and enabled educated Slovaks to move ahead. The University of Bratislava added two new fa- 26 SLOVAKIA culties , and a technical university was created in July 1939, taking up from the one created in Kosice in 1937 (but then under Magyar control). A school of economics was also founded, and by 1943 there were more than twice as many students enrolled in Slovak institutions of higher learning than there had been in 1938. An educational reform was also announced in July 1939, and Church-controlled schools were re-established. 71 These educational policies and reforms remedied in fact a major defect in Prague's educational program in Slovakia during the interwar years. As Owen Johnson has written: "What the Czechoslovak Republic / had / failed to do was to institutionalize in Slovakia a system of education which would provide the specialized skills and training requisite for the broad range of cadres - bureaucratic, managerial, technical and professional - that are required to conduct a modem nation."72 The founding of the Slovak Academy of Arts and Sciences and the modernization of the publication facilities of the Matica slovenska gave additional impetus to scientific and literary work. For the period 19391944, literary output, for example, totaled 709 works of which 437 were for prose, 169 for poetry, and 103 for plays. 73 Access to such works was made possible by a chain of bookstores operated by the Matica across the country. The statistics at my disposal are too incomplete to enable me to give an accurate survey of achievements but also of problems and failures. Nevertheless the picture that comes out is a positive one showing that"in five of the six years of the existence of the Slovak Republic, the Slovaks moved far down the road of modernization, dispelling any doubts about their ability to handle their own affairs. There is no better testimony to this fact than the report Gustav Husak prepared in July 1944 on the eve of the revolt he would lead as a member of the two opposition groups to the Slovak Republic. It is worthwhile to quote at length from it: In Slovakia today, there is sufficient merchandise, the system of distribution generally works well, and in comparison to adjacent territories (the Czech lands, Hungary, Germany, Poland) the situation is best in Slovakia for the level of real salaries and their purchasing power. The salaries of employees and workers were raised many times, enterprises have all kinds of supply privileges and there cannot be any talk of a lack of basic commodities for consumers. The Slovak crown is the strongest currency in Central Europe , there is full confidence in it at home, SLOVAKIA 27 people continue to save . . . and inflationary tendencies are sooner the result of German pressure on the economy than of internal conditions . . . : Problems are created by German demands, as a result of w}Uch Germany owes Slovakia today 6 billion ks ..... Slovak industry, given the circumstances of this war, was greatly modernized and some 2 billion ks. were invested in equipment (within 2 years), which in Slovakia is a huge sum .... In general one can say that on the basis of the experience of six years, Slovakia is able to exist as an independent unit economically and financially, can hold out on its own, has even today the necessary forces (including technical ones) and conditions of production for international competition . . . . The Slovaks are an independent nation, they have the same rights and expectations as any other nation. Today Slovak is the exclusive language of administration, all the formal attributes of a nation are there, and for this reason anyone who would like to return to the old conception of a united Czechoslovak nation will meet with opposition . . . . It is to be regretted that / the creation of the Slovak Republic / took place in combination with the worst political regime; still nothing will change the fact that on the national level there is a certain self-consciousness ''that we can take care of our own affairs" in political and economic affairs, that we can have our own army, our own administration, that one's own language is not inferior to that of former dominating nations, that Slovakia was a partner with whom states (the USSR and others) had relations, and to some degree still have today, in short that the Slovak nation can be the subject and not only the object of politics and other / activities / ... In these last six years, the development of a national consciousness and the completion of this development on the formal level are the most remarkable achievements that will not disappear with the fall of the regime . . . . It is a fact that this state is independent and has as much independence as a small state can have especially in time of war. 74 THE REVOLT OF 1944 Husak 's 1944 report on the conditions in Slovakia is in stark contrast with the twenty-seven page, top secret report ''The Revolt in Slovakia' ' found in Foreign Office files outlining the consequences of the fighting . 75 Likewise, one is struck by the difference between the provisional Czechoslovak government London broadcasts, especially 28 SLOVAKIA throughout 1944, inciting the Slovaks to acts of sabotage and destruction of life and property, and the Slovak press and media, when shorn of their ideological jargon and Germanophile phraseology, encouraging the population to ignore this incitement to violence. There was, in fact, partisan activity taking place sporadically throughout 1944; and, by the end of August the Slovaks found themselves almost overnight plunged into an abyss of violence and death which meant the end of their independence. One has to ask what brought about this shift from a relatively calm and stable situation to organized hostilities which resulted in German occupation and the inclusion of Slovakia in the European war. Was it a "Slovak National Uprising," as Communist historiography claims?76 Was it "an uprising for Czechoslovakia," as Wolfgang Venohr has suggested?77 Or was it an "incredible conspiracy," as Frantisek Vnuk has contended?78 The events of 1944 have already found their place in many versions in Slovak historiography, and they need not be recounted here at length. 79 But in the context of this study, two questions must be asked: Why did the revolt take place? and what were the attitude and response of the Slovak people? The reasons that were given after the fact by the leaders of the revolt, both Communist and non-Communist, seem like romanticized self-justifications in the light of the situation in Slovakia and the activities the partisans launched and the results they achieved.80 This is not to suggest that these men did not believe they were doing what they later claimed they had done. There is indeed a tragic irony in the fact that this was the way which insured that the Slovak people in the about-tobe restored Czechoslovak Republic would not be under a military dictatorship as Benes wanted,81 nor subjected to a renewed assimilation as had been attempted in the first CSR.82 Even the leaders of the Slovak Republic were also not unaware of the political situation of the Slovaks and the horns of the dilemma on which they found themselves. This is well illustrated by the following report that found its way into the files 11 of the Foreign Office; it was written by Kuhl de Borososhat, Hungarian Minister in Bratislava, a year before the revolt: Slovak politicians have held a conference at Rezsahegt I sic I (Ruzomberok) under the leadership of Blahos / sic I . Af- ter negotiations which lasted several days the opinion crystallized .that the Slovak people must, under all conditions, remain independent. As, after an Anglosaxon victory, the opinion of the politicians of today will no longer apply, the political leaders of SLOVAKIA 29 Slovakia are entrusting the fate of their country to the hands of the American Slovaks. \ I asked the Minister of the Interior, Sano Mach, if the government adhered to the decision. He replied that the government had knowledge of it and would agree with it, but can neither adhere to it nor sanction it as this would imply that they had renounced belief in a German victozy - _a n open confession which Slovakia cannot and may not make. 83 The expectation of help from American Slovaks was, however, unrealistic; the resolution. of the Slovak dilemma lay in Europe. Thus, to answer the question why the revolt took place, one must go back to the three factors which had mortgaged the existence of the Republic of Slovakia. By 1944 they had come together in a way that made it impossible for the Slovak government to defend the integrity of the state and avoid the destruction that resulted. Germany was losing the war and progressively retreating from conquered territories, though not without resistance. German resistance was in fact dictated by strategic factors, and Slovakia played in this respect a major role on the Eastern front; for the Germans, Slovakia, with its mountains, barred the road to the Danubian plain for the Red Army, thus protecting the retreat of German armies from the Balkans; for the Soviet Union, the control of Slovakia meant access not only to the valley of the Danube, but also to Vienna and Prague. Also, the alliance with Germany, the second factor, had to be maintained in part because of the first factor but also because of the recognition of the Czechoslovak government in London by the Allies. To turn against Germany meant to be occupied by the Wehrmacht with no guarantee that help would be forthcoming in such a case either from the Soviet Union or the Western Allies. The Slovak government was, furthermore, anxious to avoid any Soviet involvement in Slovak affairs for the simple reason that Bolshevism ran against the Christian Slovak national traditions they upheld. Anti-German feeling had nevertheless begun to grow in Slovakia, and the government's pro-German policy was one of many arguments used to persuade Slovaks to go into opposition. 84 It was the activities of the Communist and non-Communist opposition groups, the third factor, which brought about the armed revolt in Central Slovakia that resulted in the German occupation of the country. The Germans then ordered the deportation of the majority of the Slovak Jews who had been spared the 1942 deportation, and there were sum- 30 SLOVAKIA mary executions on both sides as well as wanton destruction and violence. An additional tragic aspect to the entire episode is the fact that the revolt did not take place at a moment when it could benefit the Allied war effort and also scuttled the secret plans of the Slovak Army, prepared by the Minister of National Defense, General Ferdinand Catlos, and sent to Moscow, to help the Allied effort in Central Europe. Slovak army divisions would have been made available to partake in the sweep of the Red Army toward Budapest and Vienna.85 Catlos's plan, aside from its possible military usefulness, would have maintained the integrity of the Slovak Republic; this was unacceptable to the two opposition groups, the Communist Party of Slovakia and the Democratic Party, who in signing the Christmas Agreement of 1943 had agreed to work toward the restoration of Czechoslovakia. 86 The answer to the second question, namely what were the attitude and response of the Slovak people, is a little more complex. The revolt involved at first thousands of Slovaks, civilians and soldiers, because of the tremendous confusion that arose when it broke out. Apart from the German occupation, which had been the result of the shooting of a German military mission going through the Slovak town of Turciansky Sviity Martin, the most determining factor was the rumor that Tiso had been murdered by the Germans.87 But there were also Slovaks who had become disenchanted with the regime and joined the partisans for this reason. Husak indicated in his pre-revolt report that many Slovaks were ready to change the regime but to keep the state.88 The knowledge that the Allies had recognized Benes's Czechoslovak government - London broadcasts w~re frequently listened to89 - had helped to blur the line between regime and state to the point that in the proverbial sense , the baby was thrown out with the bath water. Except for those who had been working for the restoration of Czechoslovakia, it is not clear that many of those who joined the partisans realized that they were in a revolt not only against the regime, but also against the state. However, one must note that many Slovaks did not participate in the revolt and were even opposed to it because of their allegiance to the Slovak Republic. They realized that the revolt meant a return to the status quo antebellum . London broadcasts were making it perfectly clear that this was what awaited the Slovaks at the end of the war. But as Husak pointed out in a 1946 report, the Slovaks, both in government and in opposition, considered such a proposition to be ' 'rather ridiculous. " 90 The writer, Tido J. Gaspar, Head of the Propaganda Office of SLOVAKIA 31 the Slovak government, expressed his opposition to the revolt as follows: It wasn't fear of the future, but fear of a renewed past. A return to the disgusting " Benesiada. " We were afraid of it. Benes was threatening us with revenge and promised to renew everything which had previously oppressed us Slovaks .. .. He did not recognize for us any n~tional rights . In fact he did not even recognize us as a nation. We were afraid of that. For this reason we did not see the Uprising as a liberation from the path of fascism , but rather as an unenticing overture to a new process of enslavement. 91 The revolt was basically put down within three months by German forces. 92 But Slovakia could not return to the normalcy of the pre-revolt years. The country was occupied. And even though the Slovak government continued to carry on with its policies both during and after the revolt,93 the link between the governing and the governed was not the same anymore . The end of the war was near. And, as members of the Slovak government fled to Austria in April 1946, the Slovak National Council, created out of the wartime collaboration between the Communists and the Democrats , took power in Slovakia on behalf of the restored Czechoslovak Republic. THE LEGACY OF THE SLOVAK REPUBLIC In the aftermath of the Second World War, Slovakia found itself caught in a double maelstrom of postwar politics. Czechoslovakia was in the Soviet military sphere of interest; within three years the Czechs and Slovaks would become part of the Soviet bloc. Secondly, Slovakia was granted a form of autonomy in the new Czechoslovak Republic; by the time the constitution became law in May 1948, only the formal attributes of autonomy remained. Thus the atmosphere and the politics of the postwar and the Communist period were ripe to give the Slovak Republic an historical blow. Its high officials, from the President of the Republic to members of Parliament and Department heads, were tried, often in absentia, and in the majority of cases convicted on various counts of treason against the Czechoslovak Republic. President Tiso and Prime Minister Tuka were condemned to death and executed in April 1947. Others were sent to serve long prison terms . The vengeance of Czechoslovak officials that Gaspar had feared was given free rein. In this way, a chapter in Slovak 32 SLOVAKIA history was closed and in the Communist period deliberately relegated to oblivion, or at best selectively examined to condemn it better. The situation is only slightly different in the Western world. Former officials of the Slovak Republic who found exile in the West have made an effort to explain the why and wherefore of Slovakia's first modern state. Their works have found only a limited audience, due in part to the vigilence of pro-Czechoslovak groups, both Czech and Slovak, who refuse to recognize that something positive might be said about the wartime period in Slovakia, especially about the Slovak Republic. No Western learned society, such as the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies, held a study session on this topic until 1979. It is, therefore, difficult to determine the legacy of the Slovak Republic. The idea of statehood that it represents has been accepted by most Slovak organizations in the West, such as the Slovak League of America and the Slovak World Congress; in their newspapers and periodicals, anniversaries and events are regularly mentioned and celebrated. Western scholarship has, unfortunately, not kept pace to give greater substance to the idea of statehood, for reasons I outlined at the beginning. Thus the pride hundreds of thousands of Slovaks have in this chapter of their history does not overflow into the world around them. More important, of course, is the legacy to the Slovaks in Slovakia. A perusal of Communist literature of the mid and late sixties suggests a tacit acceptance of the legacy of statehood; Slovak newpapers and periodicals often referred to the wartime period, especially as the drive to federalization became more pronounced. The publication of excerpts from Tido J . Gaspar's memoirs must also be seen as an important step in that direction . But the selective scholarship on the subject suggests that the Communist regime is still incapable of coming to terms with it. Time will undoubtedly cool passions, and curiosity will begin to take over. It is my belief that when Slovak archives become accessible to all scholars without restrictions, the record will show, as I have suggested in this article , that the Slovak Republic served the Slovaks well, especially in the social and cultural field, and that it played an extremely important role in the development of the national consciousness of the Slovak people. The federalization of Czechoslovakia, proposed at first in 1944 and made into law in 1968, could not have taken place if the Slovak Republic had been a dismal failure in the life of the Slovak people. But more research will have to be done, not only for scholarly reasons , but above all, to paraphrase the national motto of Slovakia's western neighbor, so that the truth might prevail. SLOVAKIA 33 NOTES . 1 Of fourteen general histories puqlished since 1941 taken at random, the creation of the Slovak Republic has been presen\ed as follows : (1) no mention at all - J .B. Duroselle , L'Europe de 1815 a nosjours (Paris , 1970); Walter P. Hall and William G. Davis , The Course of Europe Since Waterloo (New York, 1941) ; and George Lichtheim, Europe in the Tw entieth Century (New York, 1972); (2) serious errors of presentation and interpretation - Martin Gilbert, The European Powers 1900-1945 (New York, 1965), p . 220 ; Carleton J .H . Hayes , Contemporary Europe Since 1870 (New York, 1953) , p . 631; Walter C. Langsam, The World Since 1914 (New York , 1943), p. 517 ; J .M . Roberts, Europe 1880-1945 (New York, 1972), p. 516; D.C . Watt, "Diplomatic History" in The New Cambridge Modern History , Vol. XIl: The Shifting Balances of 'World Forces, 1898-1945, edited by C.L. Mowat (Cambridge , 1968), p . 725; (3) minor errors of presentation and interpretation - Rene Albrecht-Carrie, A Dilpomatic History of Europe Since the Congress of Vienna (New York, 1958), pp . 529-30 ; C.E . Black and E .C. Helmreich, Twentieth Century Europe (New York, 1959), p . 529 ; James Joli, Europe Since 1870: An Introductory H istory (London, 1973), pp. 373 and 441; (4) reasonably accurate - A.J . Grant and H. Temperley , Europe in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries (1789-1950) (London, 1952), p. 529; H . Stuart Hughes, Contemporary Europe: A History (Englewood Cliffs , 1966) , p . 318 ; and Elizabeth Wiskemann in Survey of International Affairs 1939-1946 - Hitler 's Europe , edited by Arnold Toynbee and Veronica M . Toynbee (London, 1954) , pp . 597-604 . 2 John Gellner and John Smerek, The Czechs and Slovaks in Canada (Toronto, 1968), p. viii. 3 Bohuslav Graca, 14. Maree 1939 (Bratislava, 1955) and lmrich Stanek , Zrada a pad, (Praha, 1958) . 4 See , for example, I.:ubomir Liptak, "Mad'arsko v politike Slovenskeho statu v rokoch 1939-1943," Historicky tasopis XI (1), 1967, pp . 1-35 ; --- , "Slovensky stat a protifasisticke hnutie v rokoch 1939-1943 ," Historicky tasopis XIV (2) , 1966, pp . 161-218; ---, "Priprava a priebeh salzburskych rokovani roku 1940 medzi predstavitefmi Nemecka a Slovenskeho statu ," Historicky fosopis XIII (3), 1965, pp. 329-65; --- , "Politicky rezim na Slovensku v rokoch 1939-1945" in Slovenske narodne povstanie roku 1944 (Bratislava, 1965) , pp. 20-49 ; --- , Slovensko v 20, storoti (Bratislava, 1968), pp. 175265; Martin Vietor, " Prispevok k objasneniu fasistickeho charakteru tzv . Slovenskeho statu ," Historicky tasop is VIlI (4 ), 1960, pp , 483-508. 5 The two noticeable examples are : Samo Falt'an, Slovenskd otdka v Ceskoslovensku (Bratislava, 1968), pp . 92-103 and Ivan Kamenec, "Snem Slovenskej Republiky a jeho postoj k problemu zidovskeho obyvatefstva na Slovensku v rokoch 1939-1945," Historicky fosopis XVII (3) , 1969, pp , 329-62 , 6 There is a problem of availability ; the Library of Congress does not have the complete sets, nor does the British Library , 7 The late Ferdinand Durcansky once told me that he himself had destroyed documents because of the physical impossibility of taking them with him, especially to South America. 8 Many former Slovak politicians and officials have published vignettes of their activities in various Slovak publications in the West ; at present only two have published de- 34 SLOVAKIA tailed memoirs: Jozef Miku§, Pamliti slovenskeho diplomata (Middletown, 1978) and Karol Sidor, Sest'rokov pri Vatikane (Scranton, 1947), which also contains documents concerning Slovak foreign policy and diplomacy. The diary of Stefan Tiso, Prime Minister from September 1944 to April 1946, is presently at Stanford University, Hoover Institution on War and Peace ; access to it is however restricted. Excerpts from the diary were published by Yeshayahu Jelinek, " Dennfk Dr . Stefana Tisu," Historickj tasopis XVIIl (2), 1970, pp. 270-87. 9 Such an example is Owen Verne Johnson, Sociocultural and National Development in Slovakia, 1918-1938: Education and Its Impact , unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Michigan, 1978. A recent exception is that of Dorothea El Mallakh, who succeeded in obtaining access to unpublished documents covering the years 1936 through October 1938 from the Ministry of the Interior archives in Prague. She had expected to fail in obtaining access to these documents when she visited Prague in January 1969. But as she writes: " Luck in timing and the helpfulness of individuals all coalesced to bring me almost 2600 frames of microfilms." Dorothea H. El Mallakh, The Slovak Autonomy Movement, 1935-1939: A Study in Unrelenting Nationalism (Boulder, '1970) , p. xiv. 10 See Hans Dress, Slowakei und faschistische Neuordnung Eurpoas 1939-1941 (Berlin, 1972) . 11 John S. Conway, "The Churches, the Slovak State and the Jews 1939-1946," Slavonic Review Lil (126), 1974, p . 87. 12 In his autobiography, Lockhart makes it perfectly clear that he was devoted to Bene§ and that he had no qualms in working for him. See R.H. Bruce Lockhart, Comes the Reckoning (London, 1947), pp. 64ff. 13 In response to a request from the Central Department of the Foreign Office to comment on reports that Bruce Lockhart had put together from information he received from Czech and Slovak sources in London, Peter Pares foresaw from the very beginning the direction this information would go: " Many of the reports reaching London directly may come through the Slovak political emigrants who are nearly all Protestants and not only opposed to the present Slovak regime themselves but draw their information from Protestant sources in Slovakia which are also in bitter opposition.' ' FO 371-24290, Doc. C612-68-12. Public Record Office, London. 14 This problem is compounded by the fact that there are very few general studies on the Slovak Republic published in a Western language, and none is detailed and comprehensive in scope. See Milan S. :C>urica, "Slovakia During World War II - the Slovak Republic' ' in Joseph M. Kirschbaum, ed., Slovakia in the 19th and 20th Centuries (Toronto, 1973), pp. 161-94; Joseph M. Kirschbaum, Slovakia: Nation at the Crossroads of Central Europe (New York, 1961) , pp . 111\76; Jozef Lettrich, History of Modem Slovakia (New York, 1966), pp. 123-91; Josepli A. Mikus, Slovakia - A Political History, 1918-1950 (Milwaukee , 1963), pp. 67-164; 'and Anthony X. Sutherland, Dr. Jozef Tiso and Modem Slovakia (Middletown, 1978), pp. 81-102. Additional titles, particularly of specialized topics in Western and Slovak languages, may be found in Yeshayahu Jelinek, " The Slovak State in Post-war Historiography (An Annotated Bibliography) ," Slovakia XXVIII (61-62) , 1978-79, pp. 17-24. 16 Johnson, p . 466. 16 FO 417-39 , Doc. 3973-19-18. SLOVAKIA 35 17 This is noted in a report by Pares to the Foreign Office. FO 371-22896, Doc. C1872-712. 18 Falt'an, pp . 106-06. \ 19 See Stanislav J . Kirschbaum, "Die Stellung der Slowakischen Volkspartei zur Aussenpolitik Prags'' in Karl Bos!, ed., Gleichgewicht - Revision - Restauration. Die Aussenpolitik der Ersten Tschechoslowakischen Republik im Europasystem der Pariser Vorortsvertrtige (Muenchen, 1976), pp. 316-66. 20 House of Commons, Parliamentary Debates, 339 H.C. Deb. 6 s., pp. 366-6. 21 See especially FrantiAek Vnuk, "Slovakia's Six Eventful Months (October 1938 March 1939), " Slovak Studies IV, 1968, pp . 7-164; Joseph Kirschbaum, Slovakia, pp. 98-146; Mikus , pp . 67-91 ; El Mallakh, pp. 113-44. A somewhat different version is found in Joerg K. Hoensch, Die Slowakei undHitlers Ostpolitik (Koeln, 1966). 22 The Slovak struggle for autonomy in the First Czechoslovak Republic was a variation on the theme of national self-determination which was ultimately denied the Slovaks by the ideology of ''Czechoslovakism'' of the Prague government. Independence, if it could be achieved, was not only the logical outcome, but in the light of the "Czechoslovak" ideology of Prague, the only way for the Slovak nation to assert itself. Other solutions were not excluded so long as the Slovaks were recognized as a nation independent of the Czechs ; a Central European federation is often mentioned in this context. See Joseph M. Kirschbaum, Slovakia, pp. 223-30 . 23 Though the Hlinka Party had become the Party of Slovak National Unity on October 6, 1938, the literature still refers to it as the Hlinka Party . I will conform to this usage. 24 Liptak, "Politicky rezim ... , " p . 24. See Also Joseph M. Kirschbaum, pp. 169-73. 26 Liptak, Slovensko, p . 210. 26 Conway, p. 96. 27 Liptak, " Politicky rezim ... ," p. 26 . 28 FO 417-40 , Doc. C10876-7-12 . 29 FO 371-22900, Doc . C18636-7-12 . 30 See note 13 . 31 Falt'an, p . 114 and Liptak, " Politicky rezim . .. , "p. 36. 32 See Stanislav J . Kirschbaum, ''Federalism in Slovak Communist Politics,' ' Canadian Slavonic Papers XIX (4) , 1977, pp . 446-9. 33 FO 371-24290, Doc . C612-68-12 . 34 The British Government recognized Benes 's national committee as the " Provisional Czechoslovak Government" on July 21 , 1940. Full de jure recognition was granted on July 18, 1941 , the same day the Soviet Union granted de facto and de jure recognition. The United States followed suit on July 31 , 1941 . 36 In a report on conditions in Slovakia written in January 1939, George Kennan expressed the following opinion, which was widely held at that time: "Its (Slovakia's) native leaders are so sadly lacking in experience, in imagination, in breadth of view, and in depth of purpose that they cannot hope to maneuver successfully for very long SLOVAKIA 36 amid the powerful national and ideological currents which are playing all around them in Central Europe. " George P. Kennan, From Prague After Munich: Diplomatic Papers 1938-1940 (Princeton, 1968), p. 27. 36 This is best illustrated by the fact that not only in the literature but also during the war, Slovakia was referred to as a " fascist state, " not in a descriptive but in a normative sense. 37 FO 371-24290, Doc. C612-58-12. 38 Joseph M . Kirschbaum , p . 163. 39 Ibid. , p. 159. 40 Ibid. , p . 168; Mikus, p. 94 ; Jan F . Gleiman, "Duch ustavy SR" in Mikulas Sprinc, ed., Slouenska Republika 1939-1949 (Scranton, 1949), p. 120. 41 FO 417-40, Doc. Cl0876-7-12. 42 The most comprehensive analysis of the program is found in Stefan Polakovit, Tisoua nauka (Bratislava, 1941). An English outline appears in Joseph M . Kirschbaum, Slouakia, pp. 170-3; a critical approach was taken by Yeshayahu Jelinek in The Parish Republic: Hlinka's Slouak People's Party 1939-1945 (Boulder, 1976) . 43 Of the 63 deputies elected, 48 were from the Hlinka Party; 12 represented the Agrarian Party, the Slovak National Party, the Artisan Party, and the Czechoslovak National Socialist Party. See above, Kirschbaum, p . 169. 44 Kamenec, passim . 46 The Fuehrer principle was introduced in Slovak political life on October 22, 1942. It enabled President Tiso to consolidate his power and that of the Hlinka Party against Tuka and Mach and the Hlinka Guard. 46 According to Liptak, the Hlinka Guard represented the lumpenproletariat and the radical small bourgeoisie. Liptak, "Politicky reiim ... , "p. 26. 47 Some authors refer to a tradition of anti-Semitism as well as the activities of Slovak Jews in Slovak life to explain the early anti-Jewish policies. Mikus, pp. 96-6.; Sutherland, pp. 88-9. See also Kennan, pp. 22-3. 48 Conway, passim. 49 Kamenec, p . 363. 60 This is made quite clear by one of the leaders of the 1944 revolt. See Lettrich, passim . 61 Liptak, Slouensko , pp. 177-180. For a description of Slovak foreign policy, see Mikus, pp. 116-138. 62 Milan S. Ourica, La Slouaccia e le sue relazioni politiche con la Germania, 1938-1945 , (Padova, 1964), Vol. I, p . 107. 53 Mikus, pp. 135-6 and Ourica, p . 107. 64 The situation and events leading to the Salzburg' meeting Jlre described at length in Liptak, "Priprava a priebeh . . . . " 66 As to th~ question whether Slovakia declared war on the U.K. and the United States, there is also no documentary evidence that this did take place according to postwar re- SLOVAKIA 37 search into the matter by State Ikpartment officials . The suggestion that Slovakia did declare war is based on a New York Times report of December 13, 1941 of a German broadcast from Bratislava that stated that Slovakia had declared war. See Joseph M. Kirschbaum, Slovakia , pp. 318-21. 66 Gustav Husak , " O vyvoji a situacii na Slovensku," Svedectvi XV (68) , 1979, p . 377. 67 Ibid. 68 FO 371-22896, Doc. C1872-7-12. 69 FO 417-39, Doc. C5201-7-12 . 60 Husak, p. 369. 61 FO 371-34337, Doc. C9206-372-12 . In his pre-revolt report, Husak indicates that some 60,000 Slovaks also worked in Germany. Husak, p. 373. 62 Liptak, Slovensko , p. 194. 63 I.:ubomir Liptak, Ovlddnutie slovenskeho priemyslu nemeckym kapitdlom (Bratislava, 1960), p . 66. 64 Liptak, Slovensko, pp. 201-2. 65 Falt'an, pp. 108-9. See also FO 371-39121 , Doc. C877-877-18. 66 Sutherland, p. 87 . 67 FO 371-34446, Doc. C1066-160-18. 68 FO 371-34446, Doc . C6626-160-18. 69 Dress , p. 119. 70 Ibid ., p. 117. 71 It is interesting that the Slovaks met with no opposition from the Germans. As Conway writes: ''It should be noted that the abolition of religious instruction and the removal of crucifixes from the schools were two notable features of the Nazi persecution of the Catholic Church." Conway, p . 89 , note 11. 72 Owen V. Johnson, "The Slovak Intelligentsia, 1918-1938," Slovakia XXVIII (61-62) , 1978-79, p . 42 . 73 Frantisek Vnuk, Sedemnast' neurodnych rokov (Middletown, 1965), p. 12. 74 Husak, pp. 376-77. 76 FO 371-38942, Doc. C13551-1343-12 . 76 Husak's memoirs are entitled: " Testimony on the Slovak National Uprising." See Gustav Husak , Svedectvo o slovenskom narodnom povstani (Bratislava, 1964). A revised and amended version was published in 1969. 77 Wolfgang Venohr, Au/stand fuer die Tschechoslowakei (Hamburg, 1969). 78 Frantisek Vnuk, Neuveritefne sprisahanie (Middletown, 1964). 79 The most complete account in a Western language is by Venohr. 80 ' 'The political motive for an uprising was the desire to liberate Slovakia by its own efforts as soon as possible, to throw out the Germans , to destroy the dictatorship of the SLOVAKIA 38 Slovak People's Party, reintroduce Czechoslovak democratic institutions, spare Slovakia the suffering of the war and assure its just place in a free Czechoslovakia.'' Lettrich, p. 200. 81 A. Benl!ik and J. Pivovarl!i, " Problemes militaires de llnsurrection nationale slovaque," Studia historica slovaca IV, 1966, p. 166. 82 Upon the restoration of Czechoslovakia, the Czechoslovak National Socialist Party (Bene§'s party) prepared a document for the party faithful outlining how the Czechoslovak Government should go about successfully assimilating the Slovaks. It was published for the first time in 1968. See Pravda (Bratislava), March 29, 1968. 83 FO 371-34337, Doc. 9786-372-12. 84 According to Husak, some other arguments were "the class content of this state, its undemocratic fascist regime, its vassal link to Nazi Germany and its policies against the people." Husak, Svedectvo, p . 129. 85 There is a full German translation of Catlo§'s plan in Venohr, pp. 119-21. 86 See Stanislav J. Kirschbaum, "Federalism .. . ," pp. 446-49. 87 M. Kuhar, a former communications officer in the Slovak Army, explained to me recently in an interview in Toronto, Canada, that his unit had been mobilized when the rumor of Tiso's death had reached it with the understanding that the Slovak Army would engage the Germans to defend Slovak independence. When the rumor proved to be untrue, his unit returned to its barracks . 88 Husak, "O vyvoji ... ," p. 377. 89 In 1942, at a ceremony for a new extension of the electrical network, President Tiso remarked: "You see, how, with more electricity we are giving you an opportunity to hear London and Moscow. In Russia they do not have such an opportunity, because there they give them a record player and thus they can hear only Moscow. The Slovak Republic is not afraid to hear foreign stations, because we know the truth and we are not afraid of the lies that London broadcasts.•• Slovak, May 19, 1942, quoted in Milan Stanislav l'>urica, "Slovensko za druhej svetovej vojny - Slovenska Republika" in Jozef M. Rydlo, ed., Slovensko v retrospektive dej£n (Lausanne, 1976), p. 143, note 127. 90 Vilem Prel!an, Slovenske ntirodne povstanie (Bratislava, 1965), document 576, p. 950. 91 Tido J. Ga§par, "Z pamiiti, " Slovenske pohfady LXXXIV (12), 1968, p. 79. 92 At a meeting of the Chiefs of Staff in London on November 15, 1944, it was acknowledged that the revolt had collapsed. FO 371-38944, Doc. C15945-1343-12. \ 93 Liptak, "Politicky re!im . . . , " p. 48.  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Slovak Republic and the Slovaks Description An account of the resource Stanislav J. Kirschbaum Slovakia, Vol. 29 (No. 53-54), 1980-81 pp. 11-38 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Kirschbaum, Stanislav J., 1942- Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1980-81 SNK https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/3e2582aad377e8e73aa9fb6c56175b31.pdf 4e52355547ccaa39f52cff3b901b588e PDF Text Text 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. �SLOVAKIA 25 The thi:ok forests provide excellent nests of resistance again.st an aggressor. SlovaJkia is an ideal natwral fort~; it is a "Gi!braltar of the Darmlbe Basin." From the most ancient times, the southern and southwestern regions of this natural fortress formed one of the most important strategic places orf Europe. These regions, especiaJlly the landis on both ·banks of the Danube, represented from time immemorial a part of the territory, which the Czech military theoreti~ian, Colonel E. Morruvec, charactenized as the "g,reatest strategic crossroads orf Central Europe ." On the ban:ks of the Danwbe, between the mouth of the Lpel Rirver and Vienna, there existed the territory from the ages where, on the one side, there met the imperialistic pressure of the German wo:rld, coming from the W~t, with the pressure of the Mongols, which came from the Russian steppes (thrrough the Uz Pass), and, on the other side, the pressure coming from the No!rlh through the Moravian Gate against the pressure of the Italian ipeninsula (The Romans) am.d the Balikans (Byzantium; the Turks). During fiive centuries, it was on the central Danube that the Romans defended ancient civiilization against the world orf "barbarians" ; it was there that the wild Huns to•r e into the heart olf Euroipe; it was there that the Flrruniks clashed with the .AJvars and, in the ninth centucy the German world with the Slovanic world; it was ,t here tl)at the nomaru.c Magyars and the Tatars attacked the Christian civilization of western Europe; and it was th,rowgh th~re that just recently one of the currents of Asiatic lbolshe:vism poured into IDurorpe. "Nowhere else was the land of Eurnpe so satwated with blood," wrote Colonel Moraivec, "as it wais in the lowlands which extend on iboth sides of the Danu'be. There most of the nations were. exchaniged, ,t here it was that the pressure was the greatest am.d !borders changed most frequently." This territory is reaUy "the crosS1road of pressure of the imperialistic forces of IDurope." (See: E. Moravec : La V aleur straregique de la Tchecoslovaquie pour fEurope Oooidentale; Prague, 1938; p. 10). From the aibove it follows that the Slovaks occupy a tet- �26 SLOVAKIA ritory whose strategic importiamce is far greater than its silZe and the numlber of its in:haibirtaints. We shall see that even more clearly id: we at least 1b riefly dndicate what the occupation of this territory means for its ne~ghbors. Why the Neighbors are Interested Whil.e the Slovruks are firmly propped against rvalleys and slopes of this natura!l mountam fortress , the Magyars, Poles rund Ozechs occupy the lowlands, which do not afford them ainy kind of natural protection agaiinst ipossilble attacks from their neighibors. It is, therefore, only natural, that Magyar, Czech and Po.lish imperialists saw and still see in Slovrukia an important defensive bastion, which could serve them well in the event of an enemy attack. For the Ozechs. the domination of Slovakia means rubove all else protection against the everlasting German pressll!I'e which is .s queezing them liike pincers from three sides. 'Dhe Magyars see in Slovrukia from the militrury standpoint a real defensirve wall against the constant pressure of the Slovanic world. For the Poles the domination of SlOIVakia would represent a real cover-uip for their baciks against possilble attaclks, which have come so often in their history from the East and the West, from Germany and Russia. For the Polish imperialists Slovaikia would aiso mean access to the Drunulbe, whi:ch in turn wol.l!ld mean increasing the influence of Poland in the Danulbe basin. Poland, held in the pincers of two colossi, the German and the Russli,an, only by coming into the DanUJbe region could become a real " European Great Power," whfoh is the open am'bition of the Polish adherents of this policy. From the economic standpoint, Slovakia means much for the surrounding nations. Not only as a market far their industry, but also as a source of ram materials. For the Magyars the forest wealth of Slovrulcia, the natural conditions for the development of industry (mineral wealth, wood, water power, coal) are a valuruble adjund to the agricultural regions of the Magyar lowlands. Slovrukia served as a market for Ozech industrial products, which annuailly "if we figure consei,vati'Vely" - to use the words of Dr. Kazwas "amounted to rupproximately 1100-1200 million Czecho-Slo1 �27 SLOVAKIA va,k Crowns ( 37 -40 million dollars) ." Slorv,aJkia meant more for the Owchs than Hungary (1005 million crowns), Poland (625 million crowns), Ru1mania (596 million crowns), Ita:ly ( 491 million crowns), etc. Ozecho-1Slovakia expovted more only to Germany, Austria, Y,u gosla,via and IDngla,nd (from the official statistics of 1930). From the stamdipoint of ,production of the Ozech lands, Slovakia was also a more important maI1ket than the foreign marlcets, ibecaUJSe it meant a market protected by a customs (tax) lb order, that is, a mrurlket which brings higher prices (see: Kanvas, ":Sjednocooi vyrdbnich podmin~ v zemi ceskych a na Slovensku," Pra;gue, 1933, pp. 80, 1'18). For Czech imperialists holding onto Slorvaik,i a meant a lso an access to the free Danulbe, in other words, not only an open door to the Danube Basin, ibut also· to the Balikans. In a free Europe the Danulbe is a free river, which means concretely that it opened the door for Ozeoh industria,l ;products directly not only into all the Danulbian states, but also to the coastal states of the Bla:ck Sea and the Mediterranean. For Poland, the domina,tioo of Slov-aJkfa from the economic standpoint would mean the same thing. F:rom the aibove facts -w hich represent only a few of the m~ interests of the neighlbors of Sfovaikia, it is obvious that the imperialistic linterests of the Ozechs, Poles and Magyars clash in Slovakia. 1 The Consequences of Dominating Slovakia The domination of Slova:kia .b y one of her neighbors, however, also presents a threat to the remainmg nations of this region. The domination oif SlOIVa.lkia by the Czechs is aga;inst the interests of Poland, Germany, Hungary, the Croatians, Ruthenians and Slovenes. Having the Ozeohs on the Danube meams a Czecho-Russian aHiance to the Poles, Orech canons only 35 kilometers f,r om Budaipest, a reviva!l orf Ozech imperurlism ,m the eyes of the Germans and a tool of other imperialisms, the daillger of cultural and economical Ozechlzation of Ruthenia, and indirectly the reviival of Sel'\bian imperfalism. in the eyes of the Croatians and Slovenes. The dominaition of SlovaJk,ia by the Magyars is aigainst the interests of the Ruma.mans, Czechs, Seoos, Ruthenians, Poles and �28 SLOVAKIA Germans-. 'It wouJd mean suppressing the Czechs into an interila.tioo.allry political provincialism, a strengthening of- Magyar pressure against the Rurrrania:ns, Croatians, Slovenes and Serl>s, bloclcinig the Polii.Sih penetration to the South. A Slova:kia doniinated hy Poland wouJd be rugainst the interests of the. Oze,chs, Magyars, Rutheniains and Germans. Harving the Poles on the DanuJbe would mean insignirficwnce and .political sUJppression of the Czechs and Magyars in the Danube Basin. Domination oif SlovakJa either 1b y ibhe Germans or the Russians wowld be directly against the vital interests of all other nations of this region. It would really mean the first step towrurd the domination of the whole of Central Europe by one of the great powers, the result of which would ,be the brealking up of the balance of power not only in this area, but also on the entire Euro1pean continent, together with fear-reaching consequences em~mating therefrom . And similarply even from the narrower viewpoint of the Central-European :firamework, judging what the domination of Slovakia by ariy of its neighibo;ios wo,uld mean, at first glance it is quite Olbvious that it would mean. :the dest.Tuction of the 'b alance of power in this area, which wou~d bear with itself the seeds of discontent, pressures and arguments, that it prepares the conditions for the insterference and influence oif power interests outside the area, which in the final restrlts are always harmful to all the nations of this region. SlOIV'rukia wouJd always be a too great and quite an indigestible ,prey whether in the stomach of the Czech, Maigyar, or Po~~ imiperialism. ·F orcefully dominating ,SlovaJkia would b'ting them · more dangers than advantages, especially in times· of crises. SlavaJkia in reality would be for them not a: defen:sd'Ve position, but a "Trodan horse" in the service of their . enemies. 'I'he events of March 1939 illustrated this clea'.il'ly to the Ozechs. The Real Interest of All iFfowevef, an independent Slovakia · is not against the just interests of any orf its neighlbors or any other state. Coruversely, an independent Slovakia is the reaJ interest of al!I · her neighbors. Imperialistic phantoms, no matter how ~nticirig; rciiily·-indicate· the road to ca:tastrophy, especially �SLOVAKIA 29: when · they are not supported by sufrficient power means. And this is doubly true for Ozeoh, Magya,r and Polish im-· peril:!lism, especially when we glance at the goopolitical sit... uation i~ wh'ich these nations liive. An i,n.depei:i,dent iSlov.a.kia ~eed not mean a hiindrance to c_zooh or Poli~!J, econoap.ic products on ~.µeir way to the free. apd internationa!l Danµibe. Ali these are questi<?ns whlyh cocld be solved to werybody's . satisfaction with good will .. And independen~ Sl01Vakia has just as much interest to .de-. fend .Central Euroipe against a,l,l outside imperialisti<: pres-. sll!I'e,· :W4ether it carnes from Germany or Russia, as to the rest of .the nations Oif. this ar~a. Conversely, as an independent state it is a far greater guarantee that it would not be use<l ~nd .a bused in the interest of foreign imipeTialistic plans than wh~ it is forced ~ainst its wiU into t_h e fI:~mework of op,e c;,f its neighibofiing. states. T,he ens1aved . ~nd ~uppressed always justify their right to "treason" and ~ to valid.a~· it at t.J?.e first QppOrt.une moment. A Slovalkia dOII'lll.nat.ed py t.µe ;Magyars, Czechs, or Poles will aa.ways increase ,t he numper p.f .their enemies. A free aJ?.,d ,i_n depe,ndent ~lova.}{ia, l:i,ow~ ever, _wouJd be a real friend. The Mission of the Slovak State · prer~ud.- An independ~f Slovakia is thus one .of the sites of the balance oif power in Central Euroipe, which means peace and tranquility _;_ 'we'1ifare and prosperity in 'this so ~eaivily tried area of Eur01pe. · fiom this ~ewpodnt the_.Slovadc State .sh8ilf have a signirficant and important mission m·the Centra;J ...Europea.n area: on its territory can be eliimiriated tme counter interests of Centro-IDu:ro,pean iinperiaJlisms, which it would be· pos~ible to replace W:ith cooipera,,tion anq. -m1,1tuw. understanding. The Slo~k State would par.a il~ ~e~l dang~o11s and poi&on<>us "srnali" imipema,,lasms jn this so im~ portant -area, which M,ter the .destruction of Soviet' impem~ a_1ism .:WQJtld again attain thek relati,ve impor~e }n.· this r egion. 'Vherefore, the .e,xiste.Q.<!~ -of an independent \Sl<wa.k State is not only in the interest of Central Europe, but also the whole of Europe. Under such circumstances Slovalkia couM be among the Poles, Czechs and Ma:gyars what Swit.zerland is ,bebween France, Germany and Italy. The relation �30 SLOVAKIA of forces is much more against the beneifilt of SW!ita:erland than it would be in the oase orf SlOIV'akia. The Slovruk State, therefore, has a signifiicant mission of consolidat'iing the Central~European Area to promote peace. An independent Slovak,iia womd neuitralirze P◊lish imperialism tenddng toward the south, Czech iimperialism tendill!g East and MaJgya,r imperia1ism tending North. In thls manner independent SlovaJkia wouJd be contributing in a great measuTe to the pacification, consolidation and star biHzation of the peace prereqwisites of this important region. At the same time its existence as such would be one of the fundam.ental piUars orf balance of power in this part of Europe. Sta,hllity, consolidation and ba:lance in relation among the small and larger nations between Germany and Russia are the conditions for the common defense of th~s especially imlportant area of Euro1p e by all these nations agamst any attempt to do1rninate them. Freedom and independence of this regfon is one of the fundamental oondi tions of European ba!lance of power and, hence, indirectly even balance of world power. And tlris area will oniliy then be aJble to defend itself when alJ the nations of thris area will be interested in defond!ing the 1:pol!i.tical system instalJed in this area. That will be olrty ,w hen atll shiaH be free and equal. The SlOIV'aks inhaJbit a territory that is so important strategically and geoipollitically that the .nations of this area cannot be indilfiferent aJbout defending it. The events of 1939 and 1944 proved thls clearly. The Slovaks wiH defend this area olrly if they are free and independent. Judging the question on the basis of the aJbove viewpomts, the exd.stence of the SlavaJk State is in the interest not Olltly of Cent:raJl Europe, but the whole of Europe as well. During the first World War, Professor A. Denis of the Unwe11Sity of Paris underatood this cwrectly, pointing out already 8Jt that time the European significance of the Slova:k question. • • • � 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. �SLOVAKIA 25 The thi:ok forests provide excellent nests of resistance again.st an aggressor. SlovaJkia is an ideal natwral fort~; it is a "Gi!braltar of the Darmlbe Basin." From the most ancient times, the southern and southwestern regions of this natural fortress formed one of the most important strategic places orf Europe. These regions, especiaJlly the landis on both ·banks of the Danube, represented from time immemorial a part of the territory, which the Czech military theoreti~ian, Colonel E. Morruvec, charactenized as the "g,reatest strategic crossroads orf Central Europe ." On the ban:ks of the Danwbe, between the mouth of the Lpel Rirver and Vienna, there existed the territory from the ages where, on the one side, there met the imperialistic pressure of the German wo:rld, coming from the W~t, with the pressure of the Mongols, which came from the Russian steppes (thrrough the Uz Pass), and, on the other side, the pressure coming from the No!rlh through the Moravian Gate against the pressure of the Italian ipeninsula (The Romans) am.d the Balikans (Byzantium; the Turks). During fiive centuries, it was on the central Danube that the Romans defended ancient civiilization against the world orf "barbarians" ; it was there that the wild Huns to•r e into the heart olf Euroipe; it was there that the Flrruniks clashed with the .AJvars and, in the ninth centucy the German world with the Slovanic world; it was ,t here tl)at the nomaru.c Magyars and the Tatars attacked the Christian civilization of western Europe; and it was th,rowgh th~re that just recently one of the currents of Asiatic lbolshe:vism poured into IDurorpe. "Nowhere else was the land of Eurnpe so satwated with blood," wrote Colonel Moraivec, "as it wais in the lowlands which extend on iboth sides of the Danu'be. There most of the nations were. exchaniged, ,t here it was that the pressure was the greatest am.d !borders changed most frequently." This territory is reaUy "the crosS1road of pressure of the imperialistic forces of IDurope." (See: E. Moravec : La V aleur straregique de la Tchecoslovaquie pour fEurope Oooidentale; Prague, 1938; p. 10). From the aibove it follows that the Slovaks occupy a tet- �26 SLOVAKIA ritory whose strategic importiamce is far greater than its silZe and the numlber of its in:haibirtaints. We shall see that even more clearly id: we at least 1b riefly dndicate what the occupation of this territory means for its ne~ghbors. Why the Neighbors are Interested Whil.e the Slovruks are firmly propped against rvalleys and slopes of this natura!l mountam fortress , the Magyars, Poles rund Ozechs occupy the lowlands, which do not afford them ainy kind of natural protection agaiinst ipossilble attacks from their neighibors. It is, therefore, only natural, that Magyar, Czech and Po.lish imperialists saw and still see in Slovrukia an important defensive bastion, which could serve them well in the event of an enemy attack. For the Ozechs. the domination of Slovakia means rubove all else protection against the everlasting German pressll!I'e which is .s queezing them liike pincers from three sides. 'Dhe Magyars see in Slovrukia from the militrury standpoint a real defensirve wall against the constant pressure of the Slovanic world. For the Poles the domination of SlOIVakia would represent a real cover-uip for their baciks against possilble attaclks, which have come so often in their history from the East and the West, from Germany and Russia. For the Polish imperialists Slovaikia would aiso mean access to the Drunulbe, whi:ch in turn wol.l!ld mean increasing the influence of Poland in the Danulbe basin. Poland, held in the pincers of two colossi, the German and the Russli,an, only by coming into the DanUJbe region could become a real " European Great Power," whfoh is the open am'bition of the Polish adherents of this policy. From the economic standpoint, Slovakia means much for the surrounding nations. Not only as a market far their industry, but also as a source of ram materials. For the Magyars the forest wealth of Slovrulcia, the natural conditions for the development of industry (mineral wealth, wood, water power, coal) are a valuruble adjund to the agricultural regions of the Magyar lowlands. Slovrukia served as a market for Ozech industrial products, which annuailly "if we figure consei,vati'Vely" - to use the words of Dr. Kazwas "amounted to rupproximately 1100-1200 million Czecho-Slo1 �27 SLOVAKIA va,k Crowns ( 37 -40 million dollars) ." Slorv,aJkia meant more for the Owchs than Hungary (1005 million crowns), Poland (625 million crowns), Ru1mania (596 million crowns), Ita:ly ( 491 million crowns), etc. Ozecho-1Slovakia expovted more only to Germany, Austria, Y,u gosla,via and IDngla,nd (from the official statistics of 1930). From the stamdipoint of ,production of the Ozech lands, Slovakia was also a more important maI1ket than the foreign marlcets, ibecaUJSe it meant a market protected by a customs (tax) lb order, that is, a mrurlket which brings higher prices (see: Kanvas, ":Sjednocooi vyrdbnich podmin~ v zemi ceskych a na Slovensku," Pra;gue, 1933, pp. 80, 1'18). For Czech imperialists holding onto Slorvaik,i a meant a lso an access to the free Danulbe, in other words, not only an open door to the Danube Basin, ibut also· to the Balikans. In a free Europe the Danulbe is a free river, which means concretely that it opened the door for Ozeoh industria,l ;products directly not only into all the Danulbian states, but also to the coastal states of the Bla:ck Sea and the Mediterranean. For Poland, the domina,tioo of Slov-aJkfa from the economic standpoint would mean the same thing. F:rom the aibove facts -w hich represent only a few of the m~ interests of the neighlbors of Sfovaikia, it is obvious that the imperialistic linterests of the Ozechs, Poles and Magyars clash in Slovakia. 1 The Consequences of Dominating Slovakia The domination of Slova:kia .b y one of her neighbors, however, also presents a threat to the remainmg nations of this region. The domination oif SlOIVa.lkia by the Czechs is aga;inst the interests of Poland, Germany, Hungary, the Croatians, Ruthenians and Slovenes. Having the Ozeohs on the Danube meams a Czecho-Russian aHiance to the Poles, Orech canons only 35 kilometers f,r om Budaipest, a reviva!l orf Ozech imperurlism ,m the eyes of the Germans and a tool of other imperialisms, the daillger of cultural and economical Ozechlzation of Ruthenia, and indirectly the reviival of Sel'\bian imperfalism. in the eyes of the Croatians and Slovenes. The dominaition of SlovaJk,ia by the Magyars is aigainst the interests of the Ruma.mans, Czechs, Seoos, Ruthenians, Poles and �28 SLOVAKIA Germans-. 'It wouJd mean suppressing the Czechs into an interila.tioo.allry political provincialism, a strengthening of- Magyar pressure against the Rurrrania:ns, Croatians, Slovenes and Serl>s, bloclcinig the Polii.Sih penetration to the South. A Slova:kia doniinated hy Poland wouJd be rugainst the interests of the. Oze,chs, Magyars, Rutheniains and Germans. Harving the Poles on the DanuJbe would mean insignirficwnce and .political sUJppression of the Czechs and Magyars in the Danube Basin. Domination oif SlovakJa either 1b y ibhe Germans or the Russians wowld be directly against the vital interests of all other nations of this region. It would really mean the first step towrurd the domination of the whole of Central Europe by one of the great powers, the result of which would ,be the brealking up of the balance of power not only in this area, but also on the entire Euro1pean continent, together with fear-reaching consequences em~mating therefrom . And similarply even from the narrower viewpoint of the Central-European :firamework, judging what the domination of Slovakia by ariy of its neighibo;ios wo,uld mean, at first glance it is quite Olbvious that it would mean. :the dest.Tuction of the 'b alance of power in this area, which wou~d bear with itself the seeds of discontent, pressures and arguments, that it prepares the conditions for the insterference and influence oif power interests outside the area, which in the final restrlts are always harmful to all the nations of this region. SlOIV'rukia wouJd always be a too great and quite an indigestible ,prey whether in the stomach of the Czech, Maigyar, or Po~~ imiperialism. ·F orcefully dominating ,SlovaJkia would b'ting them · more dangers than advantages, especially in times· of crises. SlavaJkia in reality would be for them not a: defen:sd'Ve position, but a "Trodan horse" in the service of their . enemies. 'I'he events of March 1939 illustrated this clea'.il'ly to the Ozechs. The Real Interest of All iFfowevef, an independent Slovakia · is not against the just interests of any orf its neighlbors or any other state. Coruversely, an independent Slovakia is the reaJ interest of al!I · her neighbors. Imperialistic phantoms, no matter how ~nticirig; rciiily·-indicate· the road to ca:tastrophy, especially �SLOVAKIA 29: when · they are not supported by sufrficient power means. And this is doubly true for Ozeoh, Magya,r and Polish im-· peril:!lism, especially when we glance at the goopolitical sit... uation i~ wh'ich these nations liive. An i,n.depei:i,dent iSlov.a.kia ~eed not mean a hiindrance to c_zooh or Poli~!J, econoap.ic products on ~.µeir way to the free. apd internationa!l Danµibe. Ali these are questi<?ns whlyh cocld be solved to werybody's . satisfaction with good will .. And independen~ Sl01Vakia has just as much interest to .de-. fend .Central Euroipe against a,l,l outside imperialisti<: pres-. sll!I'e,· :W4ether it carnes from Germany or Russia, as to the rest of .the nations Oif. this ar~a. Conversely, as an independent state it is a far greater guarantee that it would not be use<l ~nd .a bused in the interest of foreign imipeTialistic plans than wh~ it is forced ~ainst its wiU into t_h e fI:~mework of op,e c;,f its neighibofiing. states. T,he ens1aved . ~nd ~uppressed always justify their right to "treason" and ~ to valid.a~· it at t.J?.e first QppOrt.une moment. A Slovalkia dOII'lll.nat.ed py t.µe ;Magyars, Czechs, or Poles will aa.ways increase ,t he numper p.f .their enemies. A free aJ?.,d ,i_n depe,ndent ~lova.}{ia, l:i,ow~ ever, _wouJd be a real friend. The Mission of the Slovak State · prer~ud.- An independ~f Slovakia is thus one .of the sites of the balance oif power in Central Euroipe, which means peace and tranquility _;_ 'we'1ifare and prosperity in 'this so ~eaivily tried area of Eur01pe. · fiom this ~ewpodnt the_.Slovadc State .sh8ilf have a signirficant and important mission m·the Centra;J ...Europea.n area: on its territory can be eliimiriated tme counter interests of Centro-IDu:ro,pean iinperiaJlisms, which it would be· pos~ible to replace W:ith cooipera,,tion anq. -m1,1tuw. understanding. The Slo~k State would par.a il~ ~e~l dang~o11s and poi&on<>us "srnali" imipema,,lasms jn this so im~ portant -area, which M,ter the .destruction of Soviet' impem~ a_1ism .:WQJtld again attain thek relati,ve impor~e }n.· this r egion. 'Vherefore, the .e,xiste.Q.<!~ -of an independent \Sl<wa.k State is not only in the interest of Central Europe, but also the whole of Europe. Under such circumstances Slovalkia couM be among the Poles, Czechs and Ma:gyars what Swit.zerland is ,bebween France, Germany and Italy. The relation �30 SLOVAKIA of forces is much more against the beneifilt of SW!ita:erland than it would be in the oase orf SlOIV'akia. The Slovruk State, therefore, has a signifiicant mission of consolidat'iing the Central~European Area to promote peace. An independent Slovak,iia womd neuitralirze P◊lish imperialism tenddng toward the south, Czech iimperialism tendill!g East and MaJgya,r imperia1ism tending North. In thls manner independent SlovaJkia wouJd be contributing in a great measuTe to the pacification, consolidation and star biHzation of the peace prereqwisites of this important region. At the same time its existence as such would be one of the fundam.ental piUars orf balance of power in this part of Europe. Sta,hllity, consolidation and ba:lance in relation among the small and larger nations between Germany and Russia are the conditions for the common defense of th~s especially imlportant area of Euro1p e by all these nations agamst any attempt to do1rninate them. Freedom and independence of this regfon is one of the fundamental oondi tions of European ba!lance of power and, hence, indirectly even balance of world power. And tlris area will oniliy then be aJble to defend itself when alJ the nations of thris area will be interested in defond!ing the 1:pol!i.tical system instalJed in this area. That will be olrty ,w hen atll shiaH be free and equal. The SlOIV'aks inhaJbit a territory that is so important strategically and geoipollitically that the .nations of this area cannot be indilfiferent aJbout defending it. The events of 1939 and 1944 proved thls clearly. The Slovaks wiH defend this area olrly if they are free and independent. Judging the question on the basis of the aJbove viewpomts, the exd.stence of the SlavaJk State is in the interest not Olltly of Cent:raJl Europe, but the whole of Europe as well. During the first World War, Professor A. Denis of the Unwe11Sity of Paris underatood this cwrectly, pointing out already 8Jt that time the European significance of the Slova:k question. • • • � 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 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. SLOVAKIA 25 The thi:ok forests provide excellent nests of resistance again.st an aggressor. SlovaJkia is an ideal natwral fort~; it is a "Gi!braltar of the Darmlbe Basin." From the most ancient times, the southern and southwestern regions of this natural fortress formed one of the most important strategic places orf Europe. These regions, especiaJlly the landis on both ·banks of the Danube, represented from time immemorial a part of the territory, which the Czech military theoreti~ian, Colonel E. Morruvec, charactenized as the "g,reatest strategic crossroads orf Central Europe ." On the ban:ks of the Danwbe, between the mouth of the Lpel Rirver and Vienna, there existed the territory from the ages where, on the one side, there met the imperialistic pressure of the German wo:rld, coming from the W~t, with the pressure of the Mongols, which came from the Russian steppes (thrrough the Uz Pass), and, on the other side, the pressure coming from the No!rlh through the Moravian Gate against the pressure of the Italian ipeninsula (The Romans) am.d the Balikans (Byzantium; the Turks). During fiive centuries, it was on the central Danube that the Romans defended ancient civiilization against the world orf "barbarians" ; it was there that the wild Huns to•r e into the heart olf Euroipe; it was there that the Flrruniks clashed with the .AJvars and, in the ninth centucy the German world with the Slovanic world; it was ,t here tl)at the nomaru.c Magyars and the Tatars attacked the Christian civilization of western Europe; and it was th,rowgh th~re that just recently one of the currents of Asiatic lbolshe:vism poured into IDurorpe. "Nowhere else was the land of Eurnpe so satwated with blood," wrote Colonel Moraivec, "as it wais in the lowlands which extend on iboth sides of the Danu'be. There most of the nations were. exchaniged, ,t here it was that the pressure was the greatest am.d !borders changed most frequently." This territory is reaUy "the crosS1road of pressure of the imperialistic forces of IDurope." (See: E. Moravec : La V aleur straregique de la Tchecoslovaquie pour fEurope Oooidentale; Prague, 1938; p. 10). From the aibove it follows that the Slovaks occupy a tet- 26 SLOVAKIA ritory whose strategic importiamce is far greater than its silZe and the numlber of its in:haibirtaints. We shall see that even more clearly id: we at least 1b riefly dndicate what the occupation of this territory means for its ne~ghbors. Why the Neighbors are Interested Whil.e the Slovruks are firmly propped against rvalleys and slopes of this natura!l mountam fortress , the Magyars, Poles rund Ozechs occupy the lowlands, which do not afford them ainy kind of natural protection agaiinst ipossilble attacks from their neighibors. It is, therefore, only natural, that Magyar, Czech and Po.lish imperialists saw and still see in Slovrukia an important defensive bastion, which could serve them well in the event of an enemy attack. For the Ozechs. the domination of Slovakia means rubove all else protection against the everlasting German pressll!I'e which is .s queezing them liike pincers from three sides. 'Dhe Magyars see in Slovrukia from the militrury standpoint a real defensirve wall against the constant pressure of the Slovanic world. For the Poles the domination of SlOIVakia would represent a real cover-uip for their baciks against possilble attaclks, which have come so often in their history from the East and the West, from Germany and Russia. For the Polish imperialists Slovaikia would aiso mean access to the Drunulbe, whi:ch in turn wol.l!ld mean increasing the influence of Poland in the Danulbe basin. Poland, held in the pincers of two colossi, the German and the Russli,an, only by coming into the DanUJbe region could become a real " European Great Power," whfoh is the open am'bition of the Polish adherents of this policy. From the economic standpoint, Slovakia means much for the surrounding nations. Not only as a market far their industry, but also as a source of ram materials. For the Magyars the forest wealth of Slovrulcia, the natural conditions for the development of industry (mineral wealth, wood, water power, coal) are a valuruble adjund to the agricultural regions of the Magyar lowlands. Slovrukia served as a market for Ozech industrial products, which annuailly "if we figure consei,vati'Vely" - to use the words of Dr. Kazwas "amounted to rupproximately 1100-1200 million Czecho-Slo1 27 SLOVAKIA va,k Crowns ( 37 -40 million dollars) ." Slorv,aJkia meant more for the Owchs than Hungary (1005 million crowns), Poland (625 million crowns), Ru1mania (596 million crowns), Ita:ly ( 491 million crowns), etc. Ozecho-1Slovakia expovted more only to Germany, Austria, Y,u gosla,via and IDngla,nd (from the official statistics of 1930). From the stamdipoint of ,production of the Ozech lands, Slovakia was also a more important maI1ket than the foreign marlcets, ibecaUJSe it meant a market protected by a customs (tax) lb order, that is, a mrurlket which brings higher prices (see: Kanvas, ":Sjednocooi vyrdbnich podmin~ v zemi ceskych a na Slovensku," Pra;gue, 1933, pp. 80, 1'18). For Czech imperialists holding onto Slorvaik,i a meant a lso an access to the free Danulbe, in other words, not only an open door to the Danube Basin, ibut also· to the Balikans. In a free Europe the Danulbe is a free river, which means concretely that it opened the door for Ozeoh industria,l ;products directly not only into all the Danulbian states, but also to the coastal states of the Bla:ck Sea and the Mediterranean. For Poland, the domina,tioo of Slov-aJkfa from the economic standpoint would mean the same thing. F:rom the aibove facts -w hich represent only a few of the m~ interests of the neighlbors of Sfovaikia, it is obvious that the imperialistic linterests of the Ozechs, Poles and Magyars clash in Slovakia. 1 The Consequences of Dominating Slovakia The domination of Slova:kia .b y one of her neighbors, however, also presents a threat to the remainmg nations of this region. The domination oif SlOIVa.lkia by the Czechs is aga;inst the interests of Poland, Germany, Hungary, the Croatians, Ruthenians and Slovenes. Having the Ozeohs on the Danube meams a Czecho-Russian aHiance to the Poles, Orech canons only 35 kilometers f,r om Budaipest, a reviva!l orf Ozech imperurlism ,m the eyes of the Germans and a tool of other imperialisms, the daillger of cultural and economical Ozechlzation of Ruthenia, and indirectly the reviival of Sel'\bian imperfalism. in the eyes of the Croatians and Slovenes. The dominaition of SlovaJk,ia by the Magyars is aigainst the interests of the Ruma.mans, Czechs, Seoos, Ruthenians, Poles and 28 SLOVAKIA Germans-. 'It wouJd mean suppressing the Czechs into an interila.tioo.allry political provincialism, a strengthening of- Magyar pressure against the Rurrrania:ns, Croatians, Slovenes and Serl>s, bloclcinig the Polii.Sih penetration to the South. A Slova:kia doniinated hy Poland wouJd be rugainst the interests of the. Oze,chs, Magyars, Rutheniains and Germans. Harving the Poles on the DanuJbe would mean insignirficwnce and .political sUJppression of the Czechs and Magyars in the Danube Basin. Domination oif SlovakJa either 1b y ibhe Germans or the Russians wowld be directly against the vital interests of all other nations of this region. It would really mean the first step towrurd the domination of the whole of Central Europe by one of the great powers, the result of which would ,be the brealking up of the balance of power not only in this area, but also on the entire Euro1pean continent, together with fear-reaching consequences em~mating therefrom . And similarply even from the narrower viewpoint of the Central-European :firamework, judging what the domination of Slovakia by ariy of its neighibo;ios wo,uld mean, at first glance it is quite Olbvious that it would mean. :the dest.Tuction of the 'b alance of power in this area, which wou~d bear with itself the seeds of discontent, pressures and arguments, that it prepares the conditions for the insterference and influence oif power interests outside the area, which in the final restrlts are always harmful to all the nations of this region. SlOIV'rukia wouJd always be a too great and quite an indigestible ,prey whether in the stomach of the Czech, Maigyar, or Po~~ imiperialism. ·F orcefully dominating ,SlovaJkia would b'ting them · more dangers than advantages, especially in times· of crises. SlavaJkia in reality would be for them not a: defen:sd'Ve position, but a "Trodan horse" in the service of their . enemies. 'I'he events of March 1939 illustrated this clea'.il'ly to the Ozechs. The Real Interest of All iFfowevef, an independent Slovakia · is not against the just interests of any orf its neighlbors or any other state. Coruversely, an independent Slovakia is the reaJ interest of al!I · her neighbors. Imperialistic phantoms, no matter how ~nticirig; rciiily·-indicate· the road to ca:tastrophy, especially SLOVAKIA 29: when · they are not supported by sufrficient power means. And this is doubly true for Ozeoh, Magya,r and Polish im-· peril:!lism, especially when we glance at the goopolitical sit... uation i~ wh'ich these nations liive. An i,n.depei:i,dent iSlov.a.kia ~eed not mean a hiindrance to c_zooh or Poli~!J, econoap.ic products on ~.µeir way to the free. apd internationa!l Danµibe. Ali these are questi<?ns whlyh cocld be solved to werybody's . satisfaction with good will .. And independen~ Sl01Vakia has just as much interest to .de-. fend .Central Euroipe against a,l,l outside imperialisti<: pres-. sll!I'e,· :W4ether it carnes from Germany or Russia, as to the rest of .the nations Oif. this ar~a. Conversely, as an independent state it is a far greater guarantee that it would not be use<l ~nd .a bused in the interest of foreign imipeTialistic plans than wh~ it is forced ~ainst its wiU into t_h e fI:~mework of op,e c;,f its neighibofiing. states. T,he ens1aved . ~nd ~uppressed always justify their right to "treason" and ~ to valid.a~· it at t.J?.e first QppOrt.une moment. A Slovalkia dOII'lll.nat.ed py t.µe ;Magyars, Czechs, or Poles will aa.ways increase ,t he numper p.f .their enemies. A free aJ?.,d ,i_n depe,ndent ~lova.}{ia, l:i,ow~ ever, _wouJd be a real friend. The Mission of the Slovak State · prer~ud.- An independ~f Slovakia is thus one .of the sites of the balance oif power in Central Euroipe, which means peace and tranquility _;_ 'we'1ifare and prosperity in 'this so ~eaivily tried area of Eur01pe. · fiom this ~ewpodnt the_.Slovadc State .sh8ilf have a signirficant and important mission m·the Centra;J ...Europea.n area: on its territory can be eliimiriated tme counter interests of Centro-IDu:ro,pean iinperiaJlisms, which it would be· pos~ible to replace W:ith cooipera,,tion anq. -m1,1tuw. understanding. The Slo~k State would par.a il~ ~e~l dang~o11s and poi&on<>us "srnali" imipema,,lasms jn this so im~ portant -area, which M,ter the .destruction of Soviet' impem~ a_1ism .:WQJtld again attain thek relati,ve impor~e }n.· this r egion. 'Vherefore, the .e,xiste.Q.<!~ -of an independent \Sl<wa.k State is not only in the interest of Central Europe, but also the whole of Europe. Under such circumstances Slovalkia couM be among the Poles, Czechs and Ma:gyars what Swit.zerland is ,bebween France, Germany and Italy. The relation 30 SLOVAKIA of forces is much more against the beneifilt of SW!ita:erland than it would be in the oase orf SlOIV'akia. The Slovruk State, therefore, has a signifiicant mission of consolidat'iing the Central~European Area to promote peace. An independent Slovak,iia womd neuitralirze P◊lish imperialism tenddng toward the south, Czech iimperialism tendill!g East and MaJgya,r imperia1ism tending North. In thls manner independent SlovaJkia wouJd be contributing in a great measuTe to the pacification, consolidation and star biHzation of the peace prereqwisites of this important region. At the same time its existence as such would be one of the fundam.ental piUars orf balance of power in this part of Europe. Sta,hllity, consolidation and ba:lance in relation among the small and larger nations between Germany and Russia are the conditions for the common defense of th~s especially imlportant area of Euro1p e by all these nations agamst any attempt to do1rninate them. Freedom and independence of this regfon is one of the fundamental oondi tions of European ba!lance of power and, hence, indirectly even balance of world power. And tlris area will oniliy then be aJble to defend itself when alJ the nations of thris area will be interested in defond!ing the 1:pol!i.tical system instalJed in this area. That will be olrty ,w hen atll shiaH be free and equal. The SlOIV'aks inhaJbit a territory that is so important strategically and geoipollitically that the .nations of this area cannot be indilfiferent aJbout defending it. The events of 1939 and 1944 proved thls clearly. The Slovaks wiH defend this area olrly if they are free and independent. Judging the question on the basis of the aJbove viewpomts, the exd.stence of the SlavaJk State is in the interest not Olltly of Cent:raJl Europe, but the whole of Europe as well. During the first World War, Professor A. Denis of the Unwe11Sity of Paris underatood this cwrectly, pointing out already 8Jt that time the European significance of the Slova:k question. • • •  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Slovak State and Central Europe Description An account of the resource Dr. Arvéd Grébert Slovakia, Vol. 4, No. 2 (10), June 1954 pp. 24-30 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grébert, Arvéd, 1915-2001 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource June 1954 LCNAF+dates https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/db9406de1877bf3caee16bbde1228629.pdf 68f331c788157997074284046248c701 PDF Text Text \ ARTICLES ��SLOVAKIA 17 The Slovak State In Post-war Historiography (An Annotated Bibliography) " YESHAYAHU JELINEK Denison University Like any other controversial topic, the historiography of the Slovak state (1939-1945) knows several schools of writing. Rather than research-systems and scholarly approaches, political views, prejudices (or lack of them), and personal background determine characteristics of these schools. Almost each of the themes covering the six years of existence of the Slovak state has been discussed from various angles. In the West, in spite of extensive publishing, scholarly research which would break through the stultifying fences of exile and ethnic literature is still somehow limited. In Czechoslovakia, and in the East in general, publication is strangled in a political straight-jacket. The sixties were the most productive years there; since the Warsaw Pact invasion of 1968, however, scholarship has again reached a standstill. This bibliography does not intend to exhaust the topic, nor to label the included entries, but rather to provide readers with a key for further research and writing. Therefore many important works may have been left out.(1) I would tentatively divide the various schools into the following major groups: supporters of the Slovak state, its adversaries, Communists and pro-Communists, and unaffiliated academics. Naturally, none of these distinctions will be held objective by many of the affected authors. Moreover, scholars and writers habitually regard themselves objective and unaffiliated (including the author of this essay), while others may consider them engaged and biased. Among the supporters of Slovak independence I would count many of the 1945 political exiles and some of the 1948 and 1968 emigrants, some Slovaks residing in Western countries, members of the Carpatho-German groups in West Germany, and several Catholic writers. The adversaries include, above all, members of the Slovak exile of 1948 and post-1968, Jews (whether originally from Slovakia or not) , Magyars, Czechs, and anti-Catholic writers . Communist and pro-Communist publications have appeared predominantly in Czechoslovakia, but there are also some in other �18 SLOVAKIA Eastern and Western countries. The academic group is most diverse. Nonetheless, many of its participants originated in Czechoslovakia and in the neighboring countries, and we are still missing a solid strata of students taking an academic interest in Slovakia without having emotional or ethnic attachment. It is this group which has contributed much of the fresh insight and unbiased scholarship. The authors included in this bibliography have published in more than a half-dozen languages. Besides the well-known series of German(2) and Vatican(3) documents , which discuss Slovakia frequently, the only important and extensive collections of primary documentation are the two volumes edited by Vilem Precan.(4) Less informative are Cesta ke kvetnu(5) and Dokumeny z historie ceskoslovenske politiky 1939-1943.(6) Most of the published sources cover the years 1943-45 and/or the resistance and Communist activities. Scattered documents deal with the foundation of the state, and with Slovak autonomy (September 1938-March 1939). We are still missing a solid volume devoted to the years 1939-1943. Milan S. Durica tried to fill the void, but reached only September 1939,(7) and furthermore, his collection is in Italian - a language unfamiliar to many researchers. Also helpful is Ferdinand Durcansky. (8) The Holocaust of the Slovak Jewry has been well documented by Livia Rothkirchen. (9) Works covering twentieth-century Slovakia include the ones by Joseph M . Kirschbaum,(10) :Cubomir Liptak,(11) Jozef Lettrich,(12) Joseph A. Mikus,(13) Gilbert L. Oddo,(14) and Eugen Steiner.(15) Books devoted to the Slovak state are those by the East German Hans Dress,(16) the Israeli Yeshayahu Jelinek,(17) and the Slovak Communist Imrich Stanek.(18) Among shorter essays worth noting are Durica's(19) and Joerg K. Hoensch's.(20) Less scholarly are Vincent Bolecek,(21) Francois d ' Orchival,(22) Jozef F. Rudinsky,(23) and others. Important information could be obtained from symphosia. Perhaps the most comprehensive is by supporters of the Slovak state, Slovenska Republika.(24) Less adequate are volumes of Karl Bosl (ed.)(25) and Kirschbaum (ed.).(26) The collection Slovenske N<irodne Povstanie Roku 1944 printed in Slovakia is devoted to the Slovak National Uprising, but includes also several studies of other aspects of the Slovak state .(27) . Foreign relations have been mostly treated in a partisan fashion. The exceptionally prolific Frantisek Vnuk(28) and ·Kirschbaum(29) wrote a large number of essays on this topic, as have done Martin Broszat,(30) Durica,(31) Siegfried Fauck,(32) and Liptak.(33) Karol Sidor, Slovakia's Minister to the Holy See, summarized his ex- �SLOVAKIA 19 periences.(34) Not very informative, but supplementary to Sidor, is Jozef Kapala.(35) Internal political developments were discussed by Jelinek,(36) Kirschbaum,(37) Liptak,(38) and Vnuk.(39) The Holocaust of the Slovak Jewry is one of the more controversial facets in the annals of the country, and has received a diverse treatment. Jewish and Israeli 'scholarship are represented by Jelinek,(40) Ladislav Lipscher,(41) Rothkirchen,(42) Hedrich Steiner,(43) and Jan Steiner.(44) Among the non-Jews, important are John S. Conway,(45) i'.>urica,(46) Fierello Cavalli,(47) and the Jewish convert to Christianity Ladislav Hoffmann.(48) Memoirs have been written by the Zionist Yirmiyahu Oscar Neumann,(49) and the Orthodox Rabbi Michael Dov Weismandel(50) and Aron Greunhutt.(51) Ivan Kamenec 's dissertation in Bratislava was not published, but he has produced some valuable contributions.(52) The Magyar minority in Slovakia was treated by Stephen Revai(53) and the Communist Juraj Purgat.(64) Paul Brosz(55) and Liptak,(56) among others, discussed the ethnic Germans, while Andrej Dudas(57) gave a hostile description of the Rusins (Ruthenians). The German Josef Steinhuebel, who sat in the Slovak parliament, recorded his life and times.(58) A summary of the situation of the minorities during World War II can be found in a work by Jelinek.(59) Many studies have probed the war-time economy, and here I shall mention Adela Hornova,(60) Hans Kaiser,(61) and Liptak,(62) yet these studies do not present faithfully the positive aspects of Slovakia's economy. Their analysis is marred by the authors' biases. Neither the pro-independence(63) nor the Communist(64) writings are satisfactory. Similar is the nature of the numerous publications devoted to the state ' s President Dr. Jozef Tiso . Among the more scholarly presentations , there are biographies and studies by Lisa Guarda-Nardini,(65) Franz M. Schneider,(66) and Anthony X. Southerland.(67) Konstantin Culen is the Dean of Tiso 's biographers,(68) yet his is an emotional work. We shall recall two articles about stormtroopers in Slovakia, one by Jelinek(69) and one by Ladislav Susko.(70) It is regrettable that memoirs are scarce. Those that do exist include Georges Dunan ,(71) Tido J . Gaspar.(72) and Jozef Pauco.(73) I do not intend to survey here the voluminous literature dedicated to the resistance and the Slovak National Uprising, and to the Communist party and class struggle. Each of these topics deserves independent studies , and would be outside the scope of this paper. Also excluded are various fields like social conditions, education, press cultural life , the army , and religion. For some of these fields we are missing good sources , others were dealt with in Czechoslovakia only, �20 SLOVAKIA and we are lacking balancing views. Works in Western languages are in short supply, too. While the range of the literature on the history of the Slovak state is not small, it is still unsatisfactory. Our knowledge suffers from wide gaps, and even when we are lucky enough to possess studies and articles , these are often not based on rigorous research but are strongly tinged by the author's biases. There are still many important details that require in-depth research. FOOTNOTES (1) Good bibliographies of post-War publications in the West can be found in Michael Lacko's " Bibliographica," Slovak Studies (Rome) , Vol. VIl (1967), and XVIl (1977). Unfortunately, editorializing comments appended to some of the entries seem to be occasionally biased. (2) U.S. Department of State , Documents of German Foreign Policy, 1919-1945, S eries D, Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office. (3) Secretaire d 'etat de sa Saintete, Actes et Documentes du Saint Siege relatifs a la Seconda Guerra Mondiale, Citta de! Vaticano: Libreria Editrice Vaticana. (4) Slovenske Narodne Povstanie, Dokumenty (The Slovak National Uprising, Documents) . Bratislava: Vydavatel'stvo politickej literatury, 1965: Slovenske Narodn e Povstanie, Nemci a Slovensko 1944, Dokumenty (The Germans and Slovakia 1944) , Bratislava: Epocha, 1970. (5) Milos Klimes - Petr Lesjuk - Irena Mala - Vilem Precan , eds., Cesta ke k vetnu. Vznik lidove demokracie v Ceskoslovensku . (The road to May. Creation of the People's Democracy in Czechoslovakia), Two volumes, Prague: Nakladatel'stvi Ceskoslovenske akademie ved, 1965. (6) Libuse Otahlova and Milada Cervinkova, eds., Dokumenty z historie teskoslovenske politiky 1939-1945, (Documents from the history of Czechoslovak politics 1939-1945), (Acta Occupationis Bohemiae & Moraviae), Two volumes, Prague: Academia, 1966. (7) La Slovacchia e le sue relazioni politiche con la Germania 1938-1945. I. Dagli accordi di Monaco all'inizio della seconda guerra mondiale (Ottobre 1938-Settembre 1939) . Padova: Marsilio Editori, 1964. (8) Pravo Slovakov na samostatnost' - Biela kniha, (The right of Slovaks to Independence - White Book) . Buenos Aires : Slovensky Oslobodzovaci Vybor, 1954. I . (9) Hurban yahaduth slovakia: teur history b ' teudoth, ('ll'he destruction of the Slovakian Jewry: a documentary history) . Jerusalem: Yad Vashem, 1961. (10) Slovakia - Nation at the Crossroads of Central Europe. New York: R. Speller and Sons Publishers, 1960. (11) Slovensko v 20. storoti, (Slovakia in the 20th Century). Bratislava: Vydavatel'stvo politickej literatury, 1968. (12) H istory of Modem Slovakia . New York : Praeger, 1955 . (13) Slovakia - A Political History: 1918-1950. Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Marquette University Press , 1963. �SLOVAKIA 21 (14) Sl.ovakia and.Its People. New York: R. Speller and Sons Publishers, 1960. (15) The Sl.ovak Dilemma. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 1973. (16) Sl.owakei und faschistische Neuordnung Europas 1939-1940. Berlin: Akademia Verlag, 1972. (17) The Parish Republic: Blinka 's Sl.ovak People's Party, 1939-1945. Boulder, Colorado : East European Quarterly , 1976. - . (18) Zrada a pad. Hlinko0§ti separrttiste a tak zvany sl.ovensky stat. (The treason and the collapse . Hlinka's separatists ',and the so-called Slovak state). Prague: Statne vydavatefstvo politickej literatui'y ~ 1958. (19) " The Republic of Slovakia, Its Origin and Existence," Sl.ovak Studies , I (1961); "Slovensko za drujej svetovej vojny - Slovenska republika, " (Slovakia during the Second World War - the Slovak Republic), in Jozef M. Rydlo, ed., Slovensko v retrospektive dejin. Lausanne : Liber, 1976, pp . 123-154. (20) "The Slovak Republic, 1939-1945," in Victor S. Mamatey and Radomir Luza, eds ., A History of the Czechoslovak Republic, 1918-1948. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1973, pp . 271-295 . (21) Sl.ovensky §tat, (The Slovak state) . Jamaica, N.Y.: by the author, 1973. (22) Le Danube etait noir. La cause de la Slovaquie independent . Paris : Ed. La table ronde, 1968. (23) Ceskoslovensky §tdt a Slovenskd republika, (The Czechoslovak state and the Slovak Republic). Munich : By the author, S.A. (24) Mikulas Sprinc, ed., Sl.ovenskd.Republika, 1939-1945. Scranton, Pa . : Obrana Press, 1949. (25) Die Slowakei als Mitteleuropaisches Problem in Geschichte und Gegenwart. Munich: Verlag Robert Lerche , 1965. (26) Sl.ovakia in the 19th and 20th Centuries. Toronto, Ontario: The Slovak World Congress , 1973 . (27) (The Slovak National Uprising of 1944). Bratislava: Vydavatefstvo Slovenskej Akademie Vied, 1965. (28) " Slovakia 's Accession to the Tripartite Pact," Slovakia, IX (1959), pp . 6-19; "The German Zone of Protection in Slovakia, " Slovakia, IX (1959), pp . 7-23 ; "British Recognition of Independent Slovakia in 1939," Sl.ovak Studies, IX (1969), pp. 49-73 ; " Vpad Mad'arov na slovensky vychod, " (The Hungarian invasion of the Slovak east), Kalend<ir Jednota, 1959, pp. 56-63 ; Slovensk<i ot<izka na Zdpade v rokoch 1939-1940, (The Slovak question in the West, 1939-1940) . Cleveland, Ohio: Prva Katolicka Slovenska Jednota, 1974. (29) " International Recognition of the Slovak Republic, " Slovakia , I (1951), pp. 23-31; "British Policy and Slovakia (1939-1945) ," Slovakia , X (1960) , pp. 50-61; "Diplomatic and Consular Relations of Slovakia with Neutral States, " Slovakia , XXIlI (1973) , pp . 111-112; " Schicksal des slowakischen Gesandschaft in Bern, " Slowakei, VII (1969), pp . 87-100 ; "Osudy vyslanectiev Slovenskej republiky, " (The fate of the Slovak Republic ' s embassies). Kalend<ir Jednota , 1961, pp. 109-117. (30) " Das deutsch-slowakische Verhaltnis 1939-1940 und seine Ruckwirkung auf die slowakische Judenpolitik,'' Gutachten des Institutes fuer Zeitgeschichte, Munich: In Selbstverlag, 1958, pp. 221-229. �22 SLOVAKIA (31) "Beziehungen zwischen der Slowakischen Republik und dem Heiligen Stuhl," Swvakei, XI-XII (1973-74). pp. 59-89; "Machtpolitische Eingriffe des Dritten Reiches in die Politik der Slowakischen Republik, '' Tradition und Neubegin. Internationale Forschungen zur deutsche Geschichte im 20. Jahrhundert. Cologne-Berlin-BonnMunich : Verlag Carl Heymans, 1975, pp. 245-257. (32) "Das deutsch-slowakische Verhaltnis 1941-43 und seine Rueckwirkung auf die slowakische Judenpolitik, ' ' Gutachten des Instituts fuer Zeitgeschichte. Stuttgart: Deutsche Verlag-Anstalt, 1966, pp. 59-60. (33) "Mad'arsko v politike slovenskeho statu 1939-1943," (Hungary in the politics of the Slovak state), Historicky tasopis , XIV , 1 (1966), pp. 161-218. (34) Sest' rokov pri Vatikane, (Six years at the Vatican). Scranton, Pa.: Obrana Press, 1947. (35) Spod Roh~ov po Vatikan , (From the Rohac Mountain to Vatican), Galt, Ontario: Dobra Kniha, 1972. (36) " Slovakia's Internal Policy and the Third Reich, August 1940 - February 1941," Central European History , IV, 3 (September 1971) , pp. 97-119. (37) ''The Politics of Hlinka's Slovak People 's Party in the Slovak Republic,'' Swvakia, I. (1951), pp . 43-49; "The Constitution of the Slovak Republic," Swvakia, IX (1959), pp. 47-68. (38) " Priprava a priebeh salzburskych rokovani roku 1940 medzi predstavitefmi Nemecka a slovenskeho statu, " (The preparations and the course of the 1940 talks between representatives of Germany and the Slovak state), Historicky Casopis , XIII , 3 (1965), pp . 329-365. (39) " Prvych sest' mesiacov posalzburgskej ery," (The first six months of the postSalzburg period). Kalendcir Jednota, 1960, pp. 65-81 ; "Udalosti okolo Salzburgu," (The Salzburg Occurences). Literarny Almanach Swvaka v Amerike, 1961 ; "Lebensfiihigkeit des unabhiingigen slowakischen Staates," Slowakei, II (1964), pp. 43-50 . (40) " The ' Final Solution ' - the Slovak Version, " East European Quarterly , IV, 4 (1971), pp . 431-441; "The Vatican, the Catholic Church, the Catholics, and the Persecution of the Jews During the Second World War: the Case of Slovakia, " in B. Vago and G.L. Mosse, eds., Jews and Non-Jews in Eastern Europe, 1918-1945. Jerusalem: Israel Universities Press, New York: John Wiler and Sons, 1974, pp . 221255. (41) "Die Einstellung des Dritten Reiches auf die Judenpolitik des slowakischen Regierung, " in Karol Bosl, ed., Das Jahr 1945 in der Tschechoslowakei. MunichVienna: Verlag R. Oldenbourg, 1971, pp. 139-157. (42) "The Policy of the Vatican and the Holocaust in 'Independent' Slovakia, 19391945," Yad Vashem Studies, VI (1966). pp. 23-45 . See also ft . no. 9. The book includes an extensive introduction in English. (43) The Tragedy of Swvakian Jewry . Bratislava: Dokl]}nentacna akcia, 1949; " La tache de la 'Dokumentacna akcia.' La situation des Juifs , en Slo\ra_quie pedant la persecution. " Les Juifs en Europe, 1939-1945. Paris: 1949. (44) The Anti-Jewish Legislation and Expulsion from the Economy in the Slovak State (1939-1945), in Hebrew, Tel Aviv: Tel Aviv University, 1974; "The ' Protected by the President' of Dr. Tiso, " in Hebrew, Shvuth , 3 (1975), pp. 64-69. �SLOVAKIA 23 (45) "The Churches, the Slovak State, and the Jews 1939-1945," The Slavonic and East European Review, Lil. 126 (January 1974), pp. 85-112 . (46) " Dr. Joseph Tiso and the Jewish Problem in Slovakia," Slovakia, VIl (1957), pp . 122; La Republica Eslovaca y la Tragedia de los Judeios Euro peas. Beunos Aires: Instituto Argentino-Eslovaco, 1975. (47) " La Santa Sede contro le deportazioni degli Ebrei dalla Slovacchia durante le seconda guerra mondiale," Civilta Cattolica, 112-3 (1961), pp. 3-18. (48) '' Die katholische Kirche und die Tragoedie des slowakischen Juden,'' Slowakei, VIl (1969), pp . 69-86. (49) Im Schatten des_Tod.es . T.el Aviv : Olamenu, 1956. (50) Min ha-Metsar, (From the S~aits). New York: Emunah, 1960. (51) Katastrophenzeit des slowa'kischen Judentums. Aufsteig und niedergang der Juden von Pressburg. Tel Aviv: By the author, 1972 . (52) "2idovsky koncentrafoy a pracovny tabor v Novakoch," (The Jewish concentration and labor camp in Novaky) . Hornci Nitra, m (1966), pp . 51-68 ; Vznik a vyvoj iidovskych pracovnych tciborov a stredisk na Slovensku v rokoch 1942-1944, " (The creation and development of Jewish labor camps and centers in Slovakia in the years of 19421944), Nove Obzory , VIII (1966), pp . 15-38. (53) Hungarians in Czechoslovakia , Yonkers, N .Y .: Institute for Minority Studies on Hungarians Attached to Czechoslovakia and Carpatho-Ruthenia, 1959. (54) Od Trianonu po Ko!ice. (K mad'arskej otcizke v Ceskoslovensku . ) (From Trianon to Kosice. - The Hungarian Question in Czechoslovakia.) Bratislava: Vydavatefstvo politickej literatury; 1970. (55) Die Karpathendeutschen in der Slowakei, 1918-1945. Stuttgart: gemeinschaft der Karpatendeutschen aus der Slowakei, 1972. Arbeits- (56) "Role of the German Minority in Slovakia in the Years of the Second World War," Studia Historica Slovaca , I (1963), pp . 150-178. (57) Rusinskci otcizka ajej uzadie, (The Ruthenian question and its background .) Buenos Aires: Zahranicna Matica Slovenska, 1971. (58) Mein Leben. Kampf eines katholischen Pfarrers fuer den Glauben und das Deutschtum in der Slowakei. Stuttgart: Hilfsbund karpathendeutscher Katholiken, 1975. (59) "Slovakia and her Minorities , 1939-1945. People With and Without National Protection, " Nationalities Papers, IV, I (1976), pp. 1-16. (60) " Charakteristika ekonomiky tzv. slovenskeho statu, " (The characteristics of the economy of the so-called Slovak state), Ekonomicky CaS-Opis, II (1954), pp. 337-48; "Hlavne crty militarizacie ekonomiky tzv. slovenskeho statu," (The main line of militarization of the economy of the so-called Slovak state). Ekonomicky Casopis, V (1959) , pp. 438-68. (61) '' Die Eingliederung der Slowakei in die nationalsozialistische Kriegswirtschaft, '' in Karl Bos!, ed. , Das Jahr 1945 in der Tschechoslowakei. Munich-Vienna: Verlag R. Oldenbourg, 1971 , pp. 115-138. (62) " Podrobenie slovenskeho priemyslu nemeckym kapitalom" (Opression of Slovak industry by German capital), Historicky Casopis, XI, 1 (1955), pp . 2-23. �24 SLOVAKIA (63) Frantisek Vnuk, ' 'Die slowakische Haltung zum Nationalsozialismus," Slowakei, IV (1966), pp. 3-9; Jozef Pauco, " Dr. Joseph Tiso : Christian Democrat," Slovakia, pp. 37-50; Karol Sidor, " O takzvanom slovenskom narodnom socializme, " (About the socalled Slovak National Socialism) , KalendarJednoty, 1964, pp . 143-153. (64) Ladislav Lipscher, "Vyvin a charakteristicke crty fa§izmu na Slovensku," (The development and the characteristics of Fascism in Slovakia), Prispevky k dejinam fa§izmu v Ceskoslovensku a Mad'arsku . Bratislava: Vydavatefstvo Slovenskej Akademie Vied, 1969, pp . 9-60 ; Andrej Siracky, Klerofa§isticka ideologia ludactva. (The Clerical-Fascist ideology of the Ludaks) . Bratislava: SNPL, 1955. (65) Tiso: Una TerzaProposta. Padova: CESEO, Liviana Editrice, 1978. (66) "Josef Tiso. Katholischer Priester und Staatsprasident der Slovakei, " Slovak Studies, X (1970) , pp . 7-146. (67) Dr. Joseph Tiso and Modern Slovakia . Cleveland: First Catholic Slovak Union, 1978. (68) Po Sviitoplukovi. druha na§a hlava, (After Svatopluk, our second leader) . Middletown, Pa.: Jednota Press, 1947. (69) " Stormtroopers in Slovakia: The Rodobrana and the Hlinka Guard," Journal of Contemporary History , VI, 3 (1971), pp . 97-119. (70) " Hlinkova Garda od svojho vzniku az po salzburske rokovania (1938-1940), " (The Hlinka Guard from its creation until the Salzburg talks). Zbornik Muzea Slovenskeho Narodneho Povstania , II (1968) , pp. 167-258. (71) Ne perdes pas leur trace . Neuchatel: Daconniere , 1950. (72) "Z pamiiti," (Reminiscences , Slo venske Pohfady, LXXXIV (1968) , 6, pp. 84-99, 7, pp . 62-79 , 8, pp. 76-85 , 9, pp . 108-114 , 10, 102-110, 11 , pp . 104-107, 12, pp . 78-83. (73) Tak sme sa poznali, (And so we became acquainted). Middletown, Pa.: Slovak v Amerike, 1967. � \ ARTICLES ��SLOVAKIA 17 The Slovak State In Post-war Historiography (An Annotated Bibliography) " YESHAYAHU JELINEK Denison University Like any other controversial topic, the historiography of the Slovak state (1939-1945) knows several schools of writing. Rather than research-systems and scholarly approaches, political views, prejudices (or lack of them), and personal background determine characteristics of these schools. Almost each of the themes covering the six years of existence of the Slovak state has been discussed from various angles. In the West, in spite of extensive publishing, scholarly research which would break through the stultifying fences of exile and ethnic literature is still somehow limited. In Czechoslovakia, and in the East in general, publication is strangled in a political straight-jacket. The sixties were the most productive years there; since the Warsaw Pact invasion of 1968, however, scholarship has again reached a standstill. This bibliography does not intend to exhaust the topic, nor to label the included entries, but rather to provide readers with a key for further research and writing. Therefore many important works may have been left out.(1) I would tentatively divide the various schools into the following major groups: supporters of the Slovak state, its adversaries, Communists and pro-Communists, and unaffiliated academics. Naturally, none of these distinctions will be held objective by many of the affected authors. Moreover, scholars and writers habitually regard themselves objective and unaffiliated (including the author of this essay), while others may consider them engaged and biased. Among the supporters of Slovak independence I would count many of the 1945 political exiles and some of the 1948 and 1968 emigrants, some Slovaks residing in Western countries, members of the Carpatho-German groups in West Germany, and several Catholic writers. The adversaries include, above all, members of the Slovak exile of 1948 and post-1968, Jews (whether originally from Slovakia or not) , Magyars, Czechs, and anti-Catholic writers . Communist and pro-Communist publications have appeared predominantly in Czechoslovakia, but there are also some in other �18 SLOVAKIA Eastern and Western countries. The academic group is most diverse. Nonetheless, many of its participants originated in Czechoslovakia and in the neighboring countries, and we are still missing a solid strata of students taking an academic interest in Slovakia without having emotional or ethnic attachment. It is this group which has contributed much of the fresh insight and unbiased scholarship. The authors included in this bibliography have published in more than a half-dozen languages. Besides the well-known series of German(2) and Vatican(3) documents , which discuss Slovakia frequently, the only important and extensive collections of primary documentation are the two volumes edited by Vilem Precan.(4) Less informative are Cesta ke kvetnu(5) and Dokumeny z historie ceskoslovenske politiky 1939-1943.(6) Most of the published sources cover the years 1943-45 and/or the resistance and Communist activities. Scattered documents deal with the foundation of the state, and with Slovak autonomy (September 1938-March 1939). We are still missing a solid volume devoted to the years 1939-1943. Milan S. Durica tried to fill the void, but reached only September 1939,(7) and furthermore, his collection is in Italian - a language unfamiliar to many researchers. Also helpful is Ferdinand Durcansky. (8) The Holocaust of the Slovak Jewry has been well documented by Livia Rothkirchen. (9) Works covering twentieth-century Slovakia include the ones by Joseph M . Kirschbaum,(10) :Cubomir Liptak,(11) Jozef Lettrich,(12) Joseph A. Mikus,(13) Gilbert L. Oddo,(14) and Eugen Steiner.(15) Books devoted to the Slovak state are those by the East German Hans Dress,(16) the Israeli Yeshayahu Jelinek,(17) and the Slovak Communist Imrich Stanek.(18) Among shorter essays worth noting are Durica's(19) and Joerg K. Hoensch's.(20) Less scholarly are Vincent Bolecek,(21) Francois d ' Orchival,(22) Jozef F. Rudinsky,(23) and others. Important information could be obtained from symphosia. Perhaps the most comprehensive is by supporters of the Slovak state, Slovenska Republika.(24) Less adequate are volumes of Karl Bosl (ed.)(25) and Kirschbaum (ed.).(26) The collection Slovenske N<irodne Povstanie Roku 1944 printed in Slovakia is devoted to the Slovak National Uprising, but includes also several studies of other aspects of the Slovak state .(27) . Foreign relations have been mostly treated in a partisan fashion. The exceptionally prolific Frantisek Vnuk(28) and ·Kirschbaum(29) wrote a large number of essays on this topic, as have done Martin Broszat,(30) Durica,(31) Siegfried Fauck,(32) and Liptak.(33) Karol Sidor, Slovakia's Minister to the Holy See, summarized his ex- �SLOVAKIA 19 periences.(34) Not very informative, but supplementary to Sidor, is Jozef Kapala.(35) Internal political developments were discussed by Jelinek,(36) Kirschbaum,(37) Liptak,(38) and Vnuk.(39) The Holocaust of the Slovak Jewry is one of the more controversial facets in the annals of the country, and has received a diverse treatment. Jewish and Israeli 'scholarship are represented by Jelinek,(40) Ladislav Lipscher,(41) Rothkirchen,(42) Hedrich Steiner,(43) and Jan Steiner.(44) Among the non-Jews, important are John S. Conway,(45) i'.>urica,(46) Fierello Cavalli,(47) and the Jewish convert to Christianity Ladislav Hoffmann.(48) Memoirs have been written by the Zionist Yirmiyahu Oscar Neumann,(49) and the Orthodox Rabbi Michael Dov Weismandel(50) and Aron Greunhutt.(51) Ivan Kamenec 's dissertation in Bratislava was not published, but he has produced some valuable contributions.(52) The Magyar minority in Slovakia was treated by Stephen Revai(53) and the Communist Juraj Purgat.(64) Paul Brosz(55) and Liptak,(56) among others, discussed the ethnic Germans, while Andrej Dudas(57) gave a hostile description of the Rusins (Ruthenians). The German Josef Steinhuebel, who sat in the Slovak parliament, recorded his life and times.(58) A summary of the situation of the minorities during World War II can be found in a work by Jelinek.(59) Many studies have probed the war-time economy, and here I shall mention Adela Hornova,(60) Hans Kaiser,(61) and Liptak,(62) yet these studies do not present faithfully the positive aspects of Slovakia's economy. Their analysis is marred by the authors' biases. Neither the pro-independence(63) nor the Communist(64) writings are satisfactory. Similar is the nature of the numerous publications devoted to the state ' s President Dr. Jozef Tiso . Among the more scholarly presentations , there are biographies and studies by Lisa Guarda-Nardini,(65) Franz M. Schneider,(66) and Anthony X. Southerland.(67) Konstantin Culen is the Dean of Tiso 's biographers,(68) yet his is an emotional work. We shall recall two articles about stormtroopers in Slovakia, one by Jelinek(69) and one by Ladislav Susko.(70) It is regrettable that memoirs are scarce. Those that do exist include Georges Dunan ,(71) Tido J . Gaspar.(72) and Jozef Pauco.(73) I do not intend to survey here the voluminous literature dedicated to the resistance and the Slovak National Uprising, and to the Communist party and class struggle. Each of these topics deserves independent studies , and would be outside the scope of this paper. Also excluded are various fields like social conditions, education, press cultural life , the army , and religion. For some of these fields we are missing good sources , others were dealt with in Czechoslovakia only, �20 SLOVAKIA and we are lacking balancing views. Works in Western languages are in short supply, too. While the range of the literature on the history of the Slovak state is not small, it is still unsatisfactory. Our knowledge suffers from wide gaps, and even when we are lucky enough to possess studies and articles , these are often not based on rigorous research but are strongly tinged by the author's biases. There are still many important details that require in-depth research. FOOTNOTES (1) Good bibliographies of post-War publications in the West can be found in Michael Lacko's " Bibliographica," Slovak Studies (Rome) , Vol. VIl (1967), and XVIl (1977). Unfortunately, editorializing comments appended to some of the entries seem to be occasionally biased. (2) U.S. Department of State , Documents of German Foreign Policy, 1919-1945, S eries D, Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office. (3) Secretaire d 'etat de sa Saintete, Actes et Documentes du Saint Siege relatifs a la Seconda Guerra Mondiale, Citta de! Vaticano: Libreria Editrice Vaticana. (4) Slovenske Narodne Povstanie, Dokumenty (The Slovak National Uprising, Documents) . Bratislava: Vydavatel'stvo politickej literatury, 1965: Slovenske Narodn e Povstanie, Nemci a Slovensko 1944, Dokumenty (The Germans and Slovakia 1944) , Bratislava: Epocha, 1970. (5) Milos Klimes - Petr Lesjuk - Irena Mala - Vilem Precan , eds., Cesta ke k vetnu. Vznik lidove demokracie v Ceskoslovensku . (The road to May. Creation of the People's Democracy in Czechoslovakia), Two volumes, Prague: Nakladatel'stvi Ceskoslovenske akademie ved, 1965. (6) Libuse Otahlova and Milada Cervinkova, eds., Dokumenty z historie teskoslovenske politiky 1939-1945, (Documents from the history of Czechoslovak politics 1939-1945), (Acta Occupationis Bohemiae & Moraviae), Two volumes, Prague: Academia, 1966. (7) La Slovacchia e le sue relazioni politiche con la Germania 1938-1945. I. Dagli accordi di Monaco all'inizio della seconda guerra mondiale (Ottobre 1938-Settembre 1939) . Padova: Marsilio Editori, 1964. (8) Pravo Slovakov na samostatnost' - Biela kniha, (The right of Slovaks to Independence - White Book) . Buenos Aires : Slovensky Oslobodzovaci Vybor, 1954. I . (9) Hurban yahaduth slovakia: teur history b ' teudoth, ('ll'he destruction of the Slovakian Jewry: a documentary history) . Jerusalem: Yad Vashem, 1961. (10) Slovakia - Nation at the Crossroads of Central Europe. New York: R. Speller and Sons Publishers, 1960. (11) Slovensko v 20. storoti, (Slovakia in the 20th Century). Bratislava: Vydavatel'stvo politickej literatury, 1968. (12) H istory of Modem Slovakia . New York : Praeger, 1955 . (13) Slovakia - A Political History: 1918-1950. Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Marquette University Press , 1963. �SLOVAKIA 21 (14) Sl.ovakia and.Its People. New York: R. Speller and Sons Publishers, 1960. (15) The Sl.ovak Dilemma. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 1973. (16) Sl.owakei und faschistische Neuordnung Europas 1939-1940. Berlin: Akademia Verlag, 1972. (17) The Parish Republic: Blinka 's Sl.ovak People's Party, 1939-1945. Boulder, Colorado : East European Quarterly , 1976. - . (18) Zrada a pad. Hlinko0§ti separrttiste a tak zvany sl.ovensky stat. (The treason and the collapse . Hlinka's separatists ',and the so-called Slovak state). Prague: Statne vydavatefstvo politickej literatui'y ~ 1958. (19) " The Republic of Slovakia, Its Origin and Existence," Sl.ovak Studies , I (1961); "Slovensko za drujej svetovej vojny - Slovenska republika, " (Slovakia during the Second World War - the Slovak Republic), in Jozef M. Rydlo, ed., Slovensko v retrospektive dejin. Lausanne : Liber, 1976, pp . 123-154. (20) "The Slovak Republic, 1939-1945," in Victor S. Mamatey and Radomir Luza, eds ., A History of the Czechoslovak Republic, 1918-1948. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1973, pp . 271-295 . (21) Sl.ovensky §tat, (The Slovak state) . Jamaica, N.Y.: by the author, 1973. (22) Le Danube etait noir. La cause de la Slovaquie independent . Paris : Ed. La table ronde, 1968. (23) Ceskoslovensky §tdt a Slovenskd republika, (The Czechoslovak state and the Slovak Republic). Munich : By the author, S.A. (24) Mikulas Sprinc, ed., Sl.ovenskd.Republika, 1939-1945. Scranton, Pa . : Obrana Press, 1949. (25) Die Slowakei als Mitteleuropaisches Problem in Geschichte und Gegenwart. Munich: Verlag Robert Lerche , 1965. (26) Sl.ovakia in the 19th and 20th Centuries. Toronto, Ontario: The Slovak World Congress , 1973 . (27) (The Slovak National Uprising of 1944). Bratislava: Vydavatefstvo Slovenskej Akademie Vied, 1965. (28) " Slovakia 's Accession to the Tripartite Pact," Slovakia, IX (1959), pp . 6-19; "The German Zone of Protection in Slovakia, " Slovakia, IX (1959), pp . 7-23 ; "British Recognition of Independent Slovakia in 1939," Sl.ovak Studies, IX (1969), pp. 49-73 ; " Vpad Mad'arov na slovensky vychod, " (The Hungarian invasion of the Slovak east), Kalend<ir Jednota, 1959, pp. 56-63 ; Slovensk<i ot<izka na Zdpade v rokoch 1939-1940, (The Slovak question in the West, 1939-1940) . Cleveland, Ohio: Prva Katolicka Slovenska Jednota, 1974. (29) " International Recognition of the Slovak Republic, " Slovakia , I (1951), pp. 23-31; "British Policy and Slovakia (1939-1945) ," Slovakia , X (1960) , pp. 50-61; "Diplomatic and Consular Relations of Slovakia with Neutral States, " Slovakia , XXIlI (1973) , pp . 111-112; " Schicksal des slowakischen Gesandschaft in Bern, " Slowakei, VII (1969), pp . 87-100 ; "Osudy vyslanectiev Slovenskej republiky, " (The fate of the Slovak Republic ' s embassies). Kalend<ir Jednota , 1961, pp. 109-117. (30) " Das deutsch-slowakische Verhaltnis 1939-1940 und seine Ruckwirkung auf die slowakische Judenpolitik,'' Gutachten des Institutes fuer Zeitgeschichte, Munich: In Selbstverlag, 1958, pp. 221-229. �22 SLOVAKIA (31) "Beziehungen zwischen der Slowakischen Republik und dem Heiligen Stuhl," Swvakei, XI-XII (1973-74). pp. 59-89; "Machtpolitische Eingriffe des Dritten Reiches in die Politik der Slowakischen Republik, '' Tradition und Neubegin. Internationale Forschungen zur deutsche Geschichte im 20. Jahrhundert. Cologne-Berlin-BonnMunich : Verlag Carl Heymans, 1975, pp. 245-257. (32) "Das deutsch-slowakische Verhaltnis 1941-43 und seine Rueckwirkung auf die slowakische Judenpolitik, ' ' Gutachten des Instituts fuer Zeitgeschichte. Stuttgart: Deutsche Verlag-Anstalt, 1966, pp. 59-60. (33) "Mad'arsko v politike slovenskeho statu 1939-1943," (Hungary in the politics of the Slovak state), Historicky tasopis , XIV , 1 (1966), pp. 161-218. (34) Sest' rokov pri Vatikane, (Six years at the Vatican). Scranton, Pa.: Obrana Press, 1947. (35) Spod Roh~ov po Vatikan , (From the Rohac Mountain to Vatican), Galt, Ontario: Dobra Kniha, 1972. (36) " Slovakia's Internal Policy and the Third Reich, August 1940 - February 1941," Central European History , IV, 3 (September 1971) , pp. 97-119. (37) ''The Politics of Hlinka's Slovak People 's Party in the Slovak Republic,'' Swvakia, I. (1951), pp . 43-49; "The Constitution of the Slovak Republic," Swvakia, IX (1959), pp. 47-68. (38) " Priprava a priebeh salzburskych rokovani roku 1940 medzi predstavitefmi Nemecka a slovenskeho statu, " (The preparations and the course of the 1940 talks between representatives of Germany and the Slovak state), Historicky Casopis , XIII , 3 (1965), pp . 329-365. (39) " Prvych sest' mesiacov posalzburgskej ery," (The first six months of the postSalzburg period). Kalendcir Jednota, 1960, pp. 65-81 ; "Udalosti okolo Salzburgu," (The Salzburg Occurences). Literarny Almanach Swvaka v Amerike, 1961 ; "Lebensfiihigkeit des unabhiingigen slowakischen Staates," Slowakei, II (1964), pp. 43-50 . (40) " The ' Final Solution ' - the Slovak Version, " East European Quarterly , IV, 4 (1971), pp . 431-441; "The Vatican, the Catholic Church, the Catholics, and the Persecution of the Jews During the Second World War: the Case of Slovakia, " in B. Vago and G.L. Mosse, eds., Jews and Non-Jews in Eastern Europe, 1918-1945. Jerusalem: Israel Universities Press, New York: John Wiler and Sons, 1974, pp . 221255. (41) "Die Einstellung des Dritten Reiches auf die Judenpolitik des slowakischen Regierung, " in Karol Bosl, ed., Das Jahr 1945 in der Tschechoslowakei. MunichVienna: Verlag R. Oldenbourg, 1971, pp. 139-157. (42) "The Policy of the Vatican and the Holocaust in 'Independent' Slovakia, 19391945," Yad Vashem Studies, VI (1966). pp. 23-45 . See also ft . no. 9. The book includes an extensive introduction in English. (43) The Tragedy of Swvakian Jewry . Bratislava: Dokl]}nentacna akcia, 1949; " La tache de la 'Dokumentacna akcia.' La situation des Juifs , en Slo\ra_quie pedant la persecution. " Les Juifs en Europe, 1939-1945. Paris: 1949. (44) The Anti-Jewish Legislation and Expulsion from the Economy in the Slovak State (1939-1945), in Hebrew, Tel Aviv: Tel Aviv University, 1974; "The ' Protected by the President' of Dr. Tiso, " in Hebrew, Shvuth , 3 (1975), pp. 64-69. �SLOVAKIA 23 (45) "The Churches, the Slovak State, and the Jews 1939-1945," The Slavonic and East European Review, Lil. 126 (January 1974), pp. 85-112 . (46) " Dr. Joseph Tiso and the Jewish Problem in Slovakia," Slovakia, VIl (1957), pp . 122; La Republica Eslovaca y la Tragedia de los Judeios Euro peas. Beunos Aires: Instituto Argentino-Eslovaco, 1975. (47) " La Santa Sede contro le deportazioni degli Ebrei dalla Slovacchia durante le seconda guerra mondiale," Civilta Cattolica, 112-3 (1961), pp. 3-18. (48) '' Die katholische Kirche und die Tragoedie des slowakischen Juden,'' Slowakei, VIl (1969), pp . 69-86. (49) Im Schatten des_Tod.es . T.el Aviv : Olamenu, 1956. (50) Min ha-Metsar, (From the S~aits). New York: Emunah, 1960. (51) Katastrophenzeit des slowa'kischen Judentums. Aufsteig und niedergang der Juden von Pressburg. Tel Aviv: By the author, 1972 . (52) "2idovsky koncentrafoy a pracovny tabor v Novakoch," (The Jewish concentration and labor camp in Novaky) . Hornci Nitra, m (1966), pp . 51-68 ; Vznik a vyvoj iidovskych pracovnych tciborov a stredisk na Slovensku v rokoch 1942-1944, " (The creation and development of Jewish labor camps and centers in Slovakia in the years of 19421944), Nove Obzory , VIII (1966), pp . 15-38. (53) Hungarians in Czechoslovakia , Yonkers, N .Y .: Institute for Minority Studies on Hungarians Attached to Czechoslovakia and Carpatho-Ruthenia, 1959. (54) Od Trianonu po Ko!ice. (K mad'arskej otcizke v Ceskoslovensku . ) (From Trianon to Kosice. - The Hungarian Question in Czechoslovakia.) Bratislava: Vydavatefstvo politickej literatury; 1970. (55) Die Karpathendeutschen in der Slowakei, 1918-1945. Stuttgart: gemeinschaft der Karpatendeutschen aus der Slowakei, 1972. Arbeits- (56) "Role of the German Minority in Slovakia in the Years of the Second World War," Studia Historica Slovaca , I (1963), pp . 150-178. (57) Rusinskci otcizka ajej uzadie, (The Ruthenian question and its background .) Buenos Aires: Zahranicna Matica Slovenska, 1971. (58) Mein Leben. Kampf eines katholischen Pfarrers fuer den Glauben und das Deutschtum in der Slowakei. Stuttgart: Hilfsbund karpathendeutscher Katholiken, 1975. (59) "Slovakia and her Minorities , 1939-1945. People With and Without National Protection, " Nationalities Papers, IV, I (1976), pp. 1-16. (60) " Charakteristika ekonomiky tzv. slovenskeho statu, " (The characteristics of the economy of the so-called Slovak state), Ekonomicky CaS-Opis, II (1954), pp. 337-48; "Hlavne crty militarizacie ekonomiky tzv. slovenskeho statu," (The main line of militarization of the economy of the so-called Slovak state). Ekonomicky Casopis, V (1959) , pp. 438-68. (61) '' Die Eingliederung der Slowakei in die nationalsozialistische Kriegswirtschaft, '' in Karl Bos!, ed. , Das Jahr 1945 in der Tschechoslowakei. Munich-Vienna: Verlag R. Oldenbourg, 1971 , pp. 115-138. (62) " Podrobenie slovenskeho priemyslu nemeckym kapitalom" (Opression of Slovak industry by German capital), Historicky Casopis, XI, 1 (1955), pp . 2-23. �24 SLOVAKIA (63) Frantisek Vnuk, ' 'Die slowakische Haltung zum Nationalsozialismus," Slowakei, IV (1966), pp. 3-9; Jozef Pauco, " Dr. Joseph Tiso : Christian Democrat," Slovakia, pp. 37-50; Karol Sidor, " O takzvanom slovenskom narodnom socializme, " (About the socalled Slovak National Socialism) , KalendarJednoty, 1964, pp . 143-153. (64) Ladislav Lipscher, "Vyvin a charakteristicke crty fa§izmu na Slovensku," (The development and the characteristics of Fascism in Slovakia), Prispevky k dejinam fa§izmu v Ceskoslovensku a Mad'arsku . Bratislava: Vydavatefstvo Slovenskej Akademie Vied, 1969, pp . 9-60 ; Andrej Siracky, Klerofa§isticka ideologia ludactva. (The Clerical-Fascist ideology of the Ludaks) . Bratislava: SNPL, 1955. (65) Tiso: Una TerzaProposta. Padova: CESEO, Liviana Editrice, 1978. (66) "Josef Tiso. Katholischer Priester und Staatsprasident der Slovakei, " Slovak Studies, X (1970) , pp . 7-146. (67) Dr. Joseph Tiso and Modern Slovakia . Cleveland: First Catholic Slovak Union, 1978. (68) Po Sviitoplukovi. druha na§a hlava, (After Svatopluk, our second leader) . Middletown, Pa.: Jednota Press, 1947. (69) " Stormtroopers in Slovakia: The Rodobrana and the Hlinka Guard," Journal of Contemporary History , VI, 3 (1971), pp . 97-119. (70) " Hlinkova Garda od svojho vzniku az po salzburske rokovania (1938-1940), " (The Hlinka Guard from its creation until the Salzburg talks). Zbornik Muzea Slovenskeho Narodneho Povstania , II (1968) , pp. 167-258. (71) Ne perdes pas leur trace . Neuchatel: Daconniere , 1950. (72) "Z pamiiti," (Reminiscences , Slo venske Pohfady, LXXXIV (1968) , 6, pp. 84-99, 7, pp . 62-79 , 8, pp. 76-85 , 9, pp . 108-114 , 10, 102-110, 11 , pp . 104-107, 12, pp . 78-83. (73) Tak sme sa poznali, (And so we became acquainted). Middletown, Pa.: Slovak v Amerike, 1967. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 1978-79, Vol. 28 Description An account of the resource Vol. 28 (No. 51-52), 1978-79. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Slovak League of America Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1978-79 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document \ ARTICLES SLOVAKIA 17 The Slovak State In Post-war Historiography (An Annotated Bibliography) " YESHAYAHU JELINEK Denison University Like any other controversial topic, the historiography of the Slovak state (1939-1945) knows several schools of writing. Rather than research-systems and scholarly approaches, political views, prejudices (or lack of them), and personal background determine characteristics of these schools. Almost each of the themes covering the six years of existence of the Slovak state has been discussed from various angles. In the West, in spite of extensive publishing, scholarly research which would break through the stultifying fences of exile and ethnic literature is still somehow limited. In Czechoslovakia, and in the East in general, publication is strangled in a political straight-jacket. The sixties were the most productive years there; since the Warsaw Pact invasion of 1968, however, scholarship has again reached a standstill. This bibliography does not intend to exhaust the topic, nor to label the included entries, but rather to provide readers with a key for further research and writing. Therefore many important works may have been left out.(1) I would tentatively divide the various schools into the following major groups: supporters of the Slovak state, its adversaries, Communists and pro-Communists, and unaffiliated academics. Naturally, none of these distinctions will be held objective by many of the affected authors. Moreover, scholars and writers habitually regard themselves objective and unaffiliated (including the author of this essay), while others may consider them engaged and biased. Among the supporters of Slovak independence I would count many of the 1945 political exiles and some of the 1948 and 1968 emigrants, some Slovaks residing in Western countries, members of the Carpatho-German groups in West Germany, and several Catholic writers. The adversaries include, above all, members of the Slovak exile of 1948 and post-1968, Jews (whether originally from Slovakia or not) , Magyars, Czechs, and anti-Catholic writers . Communist and pro-Communist publications have appeared predominantly in Czechoslovakia, but there are also some in other 18 SLOVAKIA Eastern and Western countries. The academic group is most diverse. Nonetheless, many of its participants originated in Czechoslovakia and in the neighboring countries, and we are still missing a solid strata of students taking an academic interest in Slovakia without having emotional or ethnic attachment. It is this group which has contributed much of the fresh insight and unbiased scholarship. The authors included in this bibliography have published in more than a half-dozen languages. Besides the well-known series of German(2) and Vatican(3) documents , which discuss Slovakia frequently, the only important and extensive collections of primary documentation are the two volumes edited by Vilem Precan.(4) Less informative are Cesta ke kvetnu(5) and Dokumeny z historie ceskoslovenske politiky 1939-1943.(6) Most of the published sources cover the years 1943-45 and/or the resistance and Communist activities. Scattered documents deal with the foundation of the state, and with Slovak autonomy (September 1938-March 1939). We are still missing a solid volume devoted to the years 1939-1943. Milan S. Durica tried to fill the void, but reached only September 1939,(7) and furthermore, his collection is in Italian - a language unfamiliar to many researchers. Also helpful is Ferdinand Durcansky. (8) The Holocaust of the Slovak Jewry has been well documented by Livia Rothkirchen. (9) Works covering twentieth-century Slovakia include the ones by Joseph M . Kirschbaum,(10) :Cubomir Liptak,(11) Jozef Lettrich,(12) Joseph A. Mikus,(13) Gilbert L. Oddo,(14) and Eugen Steiner.(15) Books devoted to the Slovak state are those by the East German Hans Dress,(16) the Israeli Yeshayahu Jelinek,(17) and the Slovak Communist Imrich Stanek.(18) Among shorter essays worth noting are Durica's(19) and Joerg K. Hoensch's.(20) Less scholarly are Vincent Bolecek,(21) Francois d ' Orchival,(22) Jozef F. Rudinsky,(23) and others. Important information could be obtained from symphosia. Perhaps the most comprehensive is by supporters of the Slovak state, Slovenska Republika.(24) Less adequate are volumes of Karl Bosl (ed.)(25) and Kirschbaum (ed.).(26) The collection Slovenske N<irodne Povstanie Roku 1944 printed in Slovakia is devoted to the Slovak National Uprising, but includes also several studies of other aspects of the Slovak state .(27) . Foreign relations have been mostly treated in a partisan fashion. The exceptionally prolific Frantisek Vnuk(28) and ·Kirschbaum(29) wrote a large number of essays on this topic, as have done Martin Broszat,(30) Durica,(31) Siegfried Fauck,(32) and Liptak.(33) Karol Sidor, Slovakia's Minister to the Holy See, summarized his ex- SLOVAKIA 19 periences.(34) Not very informative, but supplementary to Sidor, is Jozef Kapala.(35) Internal political developments were discussed by Jelinek,(36) Kirschbaum,(37) Liptak,(38) and Vnuk.(39) The Holocaust of the Slovak Jewry is one of the more controversial facets in the annals of the country, and has received a diverse treatment. Jewish and Israeli 'scholarship are represented by Jelinek,(40) Ladislav Lipscher,(41) Rothkirchen,(42) Hedrich Steiner,(43) and Jan Steiner.(44) Among the non-Jews, important are John S. Conway,(45) i'.>urica,(46) Fierello Cavalli,(47) and the Jewish convert to Christianity Ladislav Hoffmann.(48) Memoirs have been written by the Zionist Yirmiyahu Oscar Neumann,(49) and the Orthodox Rabbi Michael Dov Weismandel(50) and Aron Greunhutt.(51) Ivan Kamenec 's dissertation in Bratislava was not published, but he has produced some valuable contributions.(52) The Magyar minority in Slovakia was treated by Stephen Revai(53) and the Communist Juraj Purgat.(64) Paul Brosz(55) and Liptak,(56) among others, discussed the ethnic Germans, while Andrej Dudas(57) gave a hostile description of the Rusins (Ruthenians). The German Josef Steinhuebel, who sat in the Slovak parliament, recorded his life and times.(58) A summary of the situation of the minorities during World War II can be found in a work by Jelinek.(59) Many studies have probed the war-time economy, and here I shall mention Adela Hornova,(60) Hans Kaiser,(61) and Liptak,(62) yet these studies do not present faithfully the positive aspects of Slovakia's economy. Their analysis is marred by the authors' biases. Neither the pro-independence(63) nor the Communist(64) writings are satisfactory. Similar is the nature of the numerous publications devoted to the state ' s President Dr. Jozef Tiso . Among the more scholarly presentations , there are biographies and studies by Lisa Guarda-Nardini,(65) Franz M. Schneider,(66) and Anthony X. Southerland.(67) Konstantin Culen is the Dean of Tiso 's biographers,(68) yet his is an emotional work. We shall recall two articles about stormtroopers in Slovakia, one by Jelinek(69) and one by Ladislav Susko.(70) It is regrettable that memoirs are scarce. Those that do exist include Georges Dunan ,(71) Tido J . Gaspar.(72) and Jozef Pauco.(73) I do not intend to survey here the voluminous literature dedicated to the resistance and the Slovak National Uprising, and to the Communist party and class struggle. Each of these topics deserves independent studies , and would be outside the scope of this paper. Also excluded are various fields like social conditions, education, press cultural life , the army , and religion. For some of these fields we are missing good sources , others were dealt with in Czechoslovakia only, 20 SLOVAKIA and we are lacking balancing views. Works in Western languages are in short supply, too. While the range of the literature on the history of the Slovak state is not small, it is still unsatisfactory. Our knowledge suffers from wide gaps, and even when we are lucky enough to possess studies and articles , these are often not based on rigorous research but are strongly tinged by the author's biases. There are still many important details that require in-depth research. FOOTNOTES (1) Good bibliographies of post-War publications in the West can be found in Michael Lacko's " Bibliographica," Slovak Studies (Rome) , Vol. VIl (1967), and XVIl (1977). Unfortunately, editorializing comments appended to some of the entries seem to be occasionally biased. (2) U.S. Department of State , Documents of German Foreign Policy, 1919-1945, S eries D, Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office. (3) Secretaire d 'etat de sa Saintete, Actes et Documentes du Saint Siege relatifs a la Seconda Guerra Mondiale, Citta de! Vaticano: Libreria Editrice Vaticana. (4) Slovenske Narodne Povstanie, Dokumenty (The Slovak National Uprising, Documents) . Bratislava: Vydavatel'stvo politickej literatury, 1965: Slovenske Narodn e Povstanie, Nemci a Slovensko 1944, Dokumenty (The Germans and Slovakia 1944) , Bratislava: Epocha, 1970. (5) Milos Klimes - Petr Lesjuk - Irena Mala - Vilem Precan , eds., Cesta ke k vetnu. Vznik lidove demokracie v Ceskoslovensku . (The road to May. Creation of the People's Democracy in Czechoslovakia), Two volumes, Prague: Nakladatel'stvi Ceskoslovenske akademie ved, 1965. (6) Libuse Otahlova and Milada Cervinkova, eds., Dokumenty z historie teskoslovenske politiky 1939-1945, (Documents from the history of Czechoslovak politics 1939-1945), (Acta Occupationis Bohemiae & Moraviae), Two volumes, Prague: Academia, 1966. (7) La Slovacchia e le sue relazioni politiche con la Germania 1938-1945. I. Dagli accordi di Monaco all'inizio della seconda guerra mondiale (Ottobre 1938-Settembre 1939) . Padova: Marsilio Editori, 1964. (8) Pravo Slovakov na samostatnost' - Biela kniha, (The right of Slovaks to Independence - White Book) . Buenos Aires : Slovensky Oslobodzovaci Vybor, 1954. I . (9) Hurban yahaduth slovakia: teur history b ' teudoth, ('ll'he destruction of the Slovakian Jewry: a documentary history) . Jerusalem: Yad Vashem, 1961. (10) Slovakia - Nation at the Crossroads of Central Europe. New York: R. Speller and Sons Publishers, 1960. (11) Slovensko v 20. storoti, (Slovakia in the 20th Century). Bratislava: Vydavatel'stvo politickej literatury, 1968. (12) H istory of Modem Slovakia . New York : Praeger, 1955 . (13) Slovakia - A Political History: 1918-1950. Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Marquette University Press , 1963. SLOVAKIA 21 (14) Sl.ovakia and.Its People. New York: R. Speller and Sons Publishers, 1960. (15) The Sl.ovak Dilemma. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 1973. (16) Sl.owakei und faschistische Neuordnung Europas 1939-1940. Berlin: Akademia Verlag, 1972. (17) The Parish Republic: Blinka 's Sl.ovak People's Party, 1939-1945. Boulder, Colorado : East European Quarterly , 1976. - . (18) Zrada a pad. Hlinko0§ti separrttiste a tak zvany sl.ovensky stat. (The treason and the collapse . Hlinka's separatists ',and the so-called Slovak state). Prague: Statne vydavatefstvo politickej literatui'y ~ 1958. (19) " The Republic of Slovakia, Its Origin and Existence," Sl.ovak Studies , I (1961); "Slovensko za drujej svetovej vojny - Slovenska republika, " (Slovakia during the Second World War - the Slovak Republic), in Jozef M. Rydlo, ed., Slovensko v retrospektive dejin. Lausanne : Liber, 1976, pp . 123-154. (20) "The Slovak Republic, 1939-1945," in Victor S. Mamatey and Radomir Luza, eds ., A History of the Czechoslovak Republic, 1918-1948. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1973, pp . 271-295 . (21) Sl.ovensky §tat, (The Slovak state) . Jamaica, N.Y.: by the author, 1973. (22) Le Danube etait noir. La cause de la Slovaquie independent . Paris : Ed. La table ronde, 1968. (23) Ceskoslovensky §tdt a Slovenskd republika, (The Czechoslovak state and the Slovak Republic). Munich : By the author, S.A. (24) Mikulas Sprinc, ed., Sl.ovenskd.Republika, 1939-1945. Scranton, Pa . : Obrana Press, 1949. (25) Die Slowakei als Mitteleuropaisches Problem in Geschichte und Gegenwart. Munich: Verlag Robert Lerche , 1965. (26) Sl.ovakia in the 19th and 20th Centuries. Toronto, Ontario: The Slovak World Congress , 1973 . (27) (The Slovak National Uprising of 1944). Bratislava: Vydavatefstvo Slovenskej Akademie Vied, 1965. (28) " Slovakia 's Accession to the Tripartite Pact," Slovakia, IX (1959), pp . 6-19; "The German Zone of Protection in Slovakia, " Slovakia, IX (1959), pp . 7-23 ; "British Recognition of Independent Slovakia in 1939," Sl.ovak Studies, IX (1969), pp. 49-73 ; " Vpad Mad'arov na slovensky vychod, " (The Hungarian invasion of the Slovak east), Kalend<ir Jednota, 1959, pp. 56-63 ; Slovensk<i ot<izka na Zdpade v rokoch 1939-1940, (The Slovak question in the West, 1939-1940) . Cleveland, Ohio: Prva Katolicka Slovenska Jednota, 1974. (29) " International Recognition of the Slovak Republic, " Slovakia , I (1951), pp. 23-31; "British Policy and Slovakia (1939-1945) ," Slovakia , X (1960) , pp. 50-61; "Diplomatic and Consular Relations of Slovakia with Neutral States, " Slovakia , XXIlI (1973) , pp . 111-112; " Schicksal des slowakischen Gesandschaft in Bern, " Slowakei, VII (1969), pp . 87-100 ; "Osudy vyslanectiev Slovenskej republiky, " (The fate of the Slovak Republic ' s embassies). Kalend<ir Jednota , 1961, pp. 109-117. (30) " Das deutsch-slowakische Verhaltnis 1939-1940 und seine Ruckwirkung auf die slowakische Judenpolitik,'' Gutachten des Institutes fuer Zeitgeschichte, Munich: In Selbstverlag, 1958, pp. 221-229. 22 SLOVAKIA (31) "Beziehungen zwischen der Slowakischen Republik und dem Heiligen Stuhl," Swvakei, XI-XII (1973-74). pp. 59-89; "Machtpolitische Eingriffe des Dritten Reiches in die Politik der Slowakischen Republik, '' Tradition und Neubegin. Internationale Forschungen zur deutsche Geschichte im 20. Jahrhundert. Cologne-Berlin-BonnMunich : Verlag Carl Heymans, 1975, pp. 245-257. (32) "Das deutsch-slowakische Verhaltnis 1941-43 und seine Rueckwirkung auf die slowakische Judenpolitik, ' ' Gutachten des Instituts fuer Zeitgeschichte. Stuttgart: Deutsche Verlag-Anstalt, 1966, pp. 59-60. (33) "Mad'arsko v politike slovenskeho statu 1939-1943," (Hungary in the politics of the Slovak state), Historicky tasopis , XIV , 1 (1966), pp. 161-218. (34) Sest' rokov pri Vatikane, (Six years at the Vatican). Scranton, Pa.: Obrana Press, 1947. (35) Spod Roh~ov po Vatikan , (From the Rohac Mountain to Vatican), Galt, Ontario: Dobra Kniha, 1972. (36) " Slovakia's Internal Policy and the Third Reich, August 1940 - February 1941," Central European History , IV, 3 (September 1971) , pp. 97-119. (37) ''The Politics of Hlinka's Slovak People 's Party in the Slovak Republic,'' Swvakia, I. (1951), pp . 43-49; "The Constitution of the Slovak Republic," Swvakia, IX (1959), pp. 47-68. (38) " Priprava a priebeh salzburskych rokovani roku 1940 medzi predstavitefmi Nemecka a slovenskeho statu, " (The preparations and the course of the 1940 talks between representatives of Germany and the Slovak state), Historicky Casopis , XIII , 3 (1965), pp . 329-365. (39) " Prvych sest' mesiacov posalzburgskej ery," (The first six months of the postSalzburg period). Kalendcir Jednota, 1960, pp. 65-81 ; "Udalosti okolo Salzburgu," (The Salzburg Occurences). Literarny Almanach Swvaka v Amerike, 1961 ; "Lebensfiihigkeit des unabhiingigen slowakischen Staates," Slowakei, II (1964), pp. 43-50 . (40) " The ' Final Solution ' - the Slovak Version, " East European Quarterly , IV, 4 (1971), pp . 431-441; "The Vatican, the Catholic Church, the Catholics, and the Persecution of the Jews During the Second World War: the Case of Slovakia, " in B. Vago and G.L. Mosse, eds., Jews and Non-Jews in Eastern Europe, 1918-1945. Jerusalem: Israel Universities Press, New York: John Wiler and Sons, 1974, pp . 221255. (41) "Die Einstellung des Dritten Reiches auf die Judenpolitik des slowakischen Regierung, " in Karol Bosl, ed., Das Jahr 1945 in der Tschechoslowakei. MunichVienna: Verlag R. Oldenbourg, 1971, pp. 139-157. (42) "The Policy of the Vatican and the Holocaust in 'Independent' Slovakia, 19391945," Yad Vashem Studies, VI (1966). pp. 23-45 . See also ft . no. 9. The book includes an extensive introduction in English. (43) The Tragedy of Swvakian Jewry . Bratislava: Dokl]}nentacna akcia, 1949; " La tache de la 'Dokumentacna akcia.' La situation des Juifs , en Slo\ra_quie pedant la persecution. " Les Juifs en Europe, 1939-1945. Paris: 1949. (44) The Anti-Jewish Legislation and Expulsion from the Economy in the Slovak State (1939-1945), in Hebrew, Tel Aviv: Tel Aviv University, 1974; "The ' Protected by the President' of Dr. Tiso, " in Hebrew, Shvuth , 3 (1975), pp. 64-69. SLOVAKIA 23 (45) "The Churches, the Slovak State, and the Jews 1939-1945," The Slavonic and East European Review, Lil. 126 (January 1974), pp. 85-112 . (46) " Dr. Joseph Tiso and the Jewish Problem in Slovakia," Slovakia, VIl (1957), pp . 122; La Republica Eslovaca y la Tragedia de los Judeios Euro peas. Beunos Aires: Instituto Argentino-Eslovaco, 1975. (47) " La Santa Sede contro le deportazioni degli Ebrei dalla Slovacchia durante le seconda guerra mondiale," Civilta Cattolica, 112-3 (1961), pp. 3-18. (48) '' Die katholische Kirche und die Tragoedie des slowakischen Juden,'' Slowakei, VIl (1969), pp . 69-86. (49) Im Schatten des_Tod.es . T.el Aviv : Olamenu, 1956. (50) Min ha-Metsar, (From the S~aits). New York: Emunah, 1960. (51) Katastrophenzeit des slowa'kischen Judentums. Aufsteig und niedergang der Juden von Pressburg. Tel Aviv: By the author, 1972 . (52) "2idovsky koncentrafoy a pracovny tabor v Novakoch," (The Jewish concentration and labor camp in Novaky) . Hornci Nitra, m (1966), pp . 51-68 ; Vznik a vyvoj iidovskych pracovnych tciborov a stredisk na Slovensku v rokoch 1942-1944, " (The creation and development of Jewish labor camps and centers in Slovakia in the years of 19421944), Nove Obzory , VIII (1966), pp . 15-38. (53) Hungarians in Czechoslovakia , Yonkers, N .Y .: Institute for Minority Studies on Hungarians Attached to Czechoslovakia and Carpatho-Ruthenia, 1959. (54) Od Trianonu po Ko!ice. (K mad'arskej otcizke v Ceskoslovensku . ) (From Trianon to Kosice. - The Hungarian Question in Czechoslovakia.) Bratislava: Vydavatefstvo politickej literatury; 1970. (55) Die Karpathendeutschen in der Slowakei, 1918-1945. Stuttgart: gemeinschaft der Karpatendeutschen aus der Slowakei, 1972. Arbeits- (56) "Role of the German Minority in Slovakia in the Years of the Second World War," Studia Historica Slovaca , I (1963), pp . 150-178. (57) Rusinskci otcizka ajej uzadie, (The Ruthenian question and its background .) Buenos Aires: Zahranicna Matica Slovenska, 1971. (58) Mein Leben. Kampf eines katholischen Pfarrers fuer den Glauben und das Deutschtum in der Slowakei. Stuttgart: Hilfsbund karpathendeutscher Katholiken, 1975. (59) "Slovakia and her Minorities , 1939-1945. People With and Without National Protection, " Nationalities Papers, IV, I (1976), pp. 1-16. (60) " Charakteristika ekonomiky tzv. slovenskeho statu, " (The characteristics of the economy of the so-called Slovak state), Ekonomicky CaS-Opis, II (1954), pp. 337-48; "Hlavne crty militarizacie ekonomiky tzv. slovenskeho statu," (The main line of militarization of the economy of the so-called Slovak state). Ekonomicky Casopis, V (1959) , pp. 438-68. (61) '' Die Eingliederung der Slowakei in die nationalsozialistische Kriegswirtschaft, '' in Karl Bos!, ed. , Das Jahr 1945 in der Tschechoslowakei. Munich-Vienna: Verlag R. Oldenbourg, 1971 , pp. 115-138. (62) " Podrobenie slovenskeho priemyslu nemeckym kapitalom" (Opression of Slovak industry by German capital), Historicky Casopis, XI, 1 (1955), pp . 2-23. 24 SLOVAKIA (63) Frantisek Vnuk, ' 'Die slowakische Haltung zum Nationalsozialismus," Slowakei, IV (1966), pp. 3-9; Jozef Pauco, " Dr. Joseph Tiso : Christian Democrat," Slovakia, pp. 37-50; Karol Sidor, " O takzvanom slovenskom narodnom socializme, " (About the socalled Slovak National Socialism) , KalendarJednoty, 1964, pp . 143-153. (64) Ladislav Lipscher, "Vyvin a charakteristicke crty fa§izmu na Slovensku," (The development and the characteristics of Fascism in Slovakia), Prispevky k dejinam fa§izmu v Ceskoslovensku a Mad'arsku . Bratislava: Vydavatefstvo Slovenskej Akademie Vied, 1969, pp . 9-60 ; Andrej Siracky, Klerofa§isticka ideologia ludactva. (The Clerical-Fascist ideology of the Ludaks) . Bratislava: SNPL, 1955. (65) Tiso: Una TerzaProposta. Padova: CESEO, Liviana Editrice, 1978. (66) "Josef Tiso. Katholischer Priester und Staatsprasident der Slovakei, " Slovak Studies, X (1970) , pp . 7-146. (67) Dr. Joseph Tiso and Modern Slovakia . Cleveland: First Catholic Slovak Union, 1978. (68) Po Sviitoplukovi. druha na§a hlava, (After Svatopluk, our second leader) . Middletown, Pa.: Jednota Press, 1947. (69) " Stormtroopers in Slovakia: The Rodobrana and the Hlinka Guard," Journal of Contemporary History , VI, 3 (1971), pp . 97-119. (70) " Hlinkova Garda od svojho vzniku az po salzburske rokovania (1938-1940), " (The Hlinka Guard from its creation until the Salzburg talks). Zbornik Muzea Slovenskeho Narodneho Povstania , II (1968) , pp. 167-258. (71) Ne perdes pas leur trace . Neuchatel: Daconniere , 1950. (72) "Z pamiiti," (Reminiscences , Slo venske Pohfady, LXXXIV (1968) , 6, pp. 84-99, 7, pp . 62-79 , 8, pp. 76-85 , 9, pp . 108-114 , 10, 102-110, 11 , pp . 104-107, 12, pp . 78-83. (73) Tak sme sa poznali, (And so we became acquainted). Middletown, Pa.: Slovak v Amerike, 1967.  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Slovak State in Post-war Historiography Description An account of the resource Yeshayahu Jelinek Slovakia, Vol. 28 (No. 51-52), 1978-79 pp. 17-24 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Jelínek, Yešhayahu A., 1933-2016 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1978-79 LCNAF+dates https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/2d909cb69a653bba71ed2694b6634a63.pdf 39bf3de4330edf0c7818a25645cd2711 PDF Text Text fi6 SLOVAKIA THE SWVAK TONGUE John Dater After the Almighty had distributed tongues of speech to all peoples even as He thought ·b est for them, there came from somewhere a little nation <o stand before Him with pleading, tear-filled eyes - but not to ask for power, lands, or a great name. It was love and understanding the Slovaks sought for their weary hearts. The Lord gave ear to their humble pleadings and said: "Where had you been when I was distributing My gifts among men?" "Alas, forgive us, Father," the little Slovak nation meekly implored, "the crowds were too great for us and made up of stronger peoples than we. Being weak, we had to stand afar, You see. Even those of our own Slav progeny, for having given us a helpful hand, wanted to steal our liberty." "Ah!" the Lord replied, "what now, then? Do you not know that I have given all I had away?" Thereupon the Slovak people cried: "Alas, is naught of creation left for us?" And the Lord said: "Stay, have hope!" And, turning, He reached to the thrones of singing choirs of angels and took of the incense that wafted around the throne. And, bending, He placed His Hand in the Heaven's crystal waters, and with noble gentleness touched the tongues of the forgotten people. "Let this 1b e your language," the Lord, said; "such that no other can equal: as melodious as the music of heaven, as beautifttl as sparkling gems in the rays of the sun, as soothing as the lulling winds of May, as loving as the voice of a mother, as sweet as the smile of an infant babe, so tender and soft and smooth and true, its sound will make hearts of the old and bent and gray young once again." �SLOVAKIA Thus, with the tones of angelic voices, God made a balm for aching Slovak hearts. "This dowry," He said, "is for Slovak maids, that when they sing, their sadness may be changed to joy, that at their sound birds may cease their song to listen, the hills rise in glory, the fields bloom anew, the valleys with music ring, the brooks flow with ripples of melody, all the vales rejoice, and the very earth be changed to a paradise." Thus gloriously did God array the Slovak people and place them a,part in a world greedy for prominence, glory and power. Endowed with a heavenly gift, they cared not what awaited them among throngs greater than they. In God's hand they rest, and under His care they will always be. Sheltered in the protecting Tatra,s for long ages, they survive cruelty, tyranny, and power; to live and stand strong forever - a people of peace, beloved of God, may the Slovak people ever be! • • • "The treaties concluded at the Peace Conference (1918) made no reference to Slovak autonomy. After this episode the rift be!Jween the Centralists and the Autonomists was very deep. . . . The Czechs appear also to have objected to the validity of the document (Pittsburgh Pact) on th e ground that the Slovak League was not officialty recognized by the American authorities until 1919, although it was good enough for the advocacy of Czechoslovak claims (prior to that time.) . . . Slovakia was ruled by the two main Centralist parties •- the Agrarians and the Social Democrats with the support of the Czechs; and this continued to be the case even after the 1925 elections had shown the (Hlinka Slovak) People's Party to be at that time, much the strongest single Slovak party." (C. A. Macartney : HUNGARY AND HER SUCCESSORS - London, 1937). WHO SAi D IT? - • • • "Great Moravia, after many centuries of peaceful burial, was dug up for the benefit of the Peace Conference in 1918, to be paraded as the earliest Czecho-Slovak State. . . The case for including Northern Hungary in Czecho-Slovakia does not rest on historical .rights, although the ghost of Svatopluk, ruler of Great Moravia, was made to serve its turn. But Svatopluk's historic claims were obviously less valid than those of Hungary, with her thousand-odd yeai;i;;.- of .u .ninterrupted possession . He was more important as supporting, by the evidence whi ch he gave of an early connection between the Czechs and Slovaks, the rea,I claim, which was that of self-determination." (C. A. Macartney: HUNGARY AND HER -~ljfiC~C~SSOR~ - London, 1937). WHO SAID IT? - � fi6 SLOVAKIA THE SWVAK TONGUE John Dater After the Almighty had distributed tongues of speech to all peoples even as He thought ·b est for them, there came from somewhere a little nation <o stand before Him with pleading, tear-filled eyes - but not to ask for power, lands, or a great name. It was love and understanding the Slovaks sought for their weary hearts. The Lord gave ear to their humble pleadings and said: "Where had you been when I was distributing My gifts among men?" "Alas, forgive us, Father," the little Slovak nation meekly implored, "the crowds were too great for us and made up of stronger peoples than we. Being weak, we had to stand afar, You see. Even those of our own Slav progeny, for having given us a helpful hand, wanted to steal our liberty." "Ah!" the Lord replied, "what now, then? Do you not know that I have given all I had away?" Thereupon the Slovak people cried: "Alas, is naught of creation left for us?" And the Lord said: "Stay, have hope!" And, turning, He reached to the thrones of singing choirs of angels and took of the incense that wafted around the throne. And, bending, He placed His Hand in the Heaven's crystal waters, and with noble gentleness touched the tongues of the forgotten people. "Let this 1b e your language," the Lord, said; "such that no other can equal: as melodious as the music of heaven, as beautifttl as sparkling gems in the rays of the sun, as soothing as the lulling winds of May, as loving as the voice of a mother, as sweet as the smile of an infant babe, so tender and soft and smooth and true, its sound will make hearts of the old and bent and gray young once again." �SLOVAKIA Thus, with the tones of angelic voices, God made a balm for aching Slovak hearts. "This dowry," He said, "is for Slovak maids, that when they sing, their sadness may be changed to joy, that at their sound birds may cease their song to listen, the hills rise in glory, the fields bloom anew, the valleys with music ring, the brooks flow with ripples of melody, all the vales rejoice, and the very earth be changed to a paradise." Thus gloriously did God array the Slovak people and place them a,part in a world greedy for prominence, glory and power. Endowed with a heavenly gift, they cared not what awaited them among throngs greater than they. In God's hand they rest, and under His care they will always be. Sheltered in the protecting Tatra,s for long ages, they survive cruelty, tyranny, and power; to live and stand strong forever - a people of peace, beloved of God, may the Slovak people ever be! • • • "The treaties concluded at the Peace Conference (1918) made no reference to Slovak autonomy. After this episode the rift be!Jween the Centralists and the Autonomists was very deep. . . . The Czechs appear also to have objected to the validity of the document (Pittsburgh Pact) on th e ground that the Slovak League was not officialty recognized by the American authorities until 1919, although it was good enough for the advocacy of Czechoslovak claims (prior to that time.) . . . Slovakia was ruled by the two main Centralist parties •- the Agrarians and the Social Democrats with the support of the Czechs; and this continued to be the case even after the 1925 elections had shown the (Hlinka Slovak) People's Party to be at that time, much the strongest single Slovak party." (C. A. Macartney : HUNGARY AND HER SUCCESSORS - London, 1937). WHO SAi D IT? - • • • "Great Moravia, after many centuries of peaceful burial, was dug up for the benefit of the Peace Conference in 1918, to be paraded as the earliest Czecho-Slovak State. . . The case for including Northern Hungary in Czecho-Slovakia does not rest on historical .rights, although the ghost of Svatopluk, ruler of Great Moravia, was made to serve its turn. But Svatopluk's historic claims were obviously less valid than those of Hungary, with her thousand-odd yeai;i;;.- of .u .ninterrupted possession . He was more important as supporting, by the evidence whi ch he gave of an early connection between the Czechs and Slovaks, the rea,I claim, which was that of self-determination." (C. A. Macartney: HUNGARY AND HER -~ljfiC~C~SSOR~ - London, 1937). WHO SAID 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 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 56 SLOVAKIA THE SWVAK TONGUE John Dater After the Almighty had distributed tongues of speech to all peoples even as He thought ·b est for them, there came from somewhere a little nation <o stand before Him with pleading, tear-filled eyes - but not to ask for power, lands, or a great name. It was love and understanding the Slovaks sought for their weary hearts. The Lord gave ear to their humble pleadings and said: "Where had you been when I was distributing My gifts among men?" "Alas, forgive us, Father," the little Slovak nation meekly implored, "the crowds were too great for us and made up of stronger peoples than we. Being weak, we had to stand afar, You see. Even those of our own Slav progeny, for having given us a helpful hand, wanted to steal our liberty." "Ah!" the Lord replied, "what now, then? Do you not know that I have given all I had away?" Thereupon the Slovak people cried: "Alas, is naught of creation left for us?" And the Lord said: "Stay, have hope!" And, turning, He reached to the thrones of singing choirs of angels and took of the incense that wafted around the throne. And, bending, He placed His Hand in the Heaven's crystal waters, and with noble gentleness touched the tongues of the forgotten people. "Let this 1b e your language," the Lord, said; "such that no other can equal: as melodious as the music of heaven, as beautifttl as sparkling gems in the rays of the sun, as soothing as the lulling winds of May, as loving as the voice of a mother, as sweet as the smile of an infant babe, so tender and soft and smooth and true, its sound will make hearts of the old and bent and gray young once again." SLOVAKIA Thus, with the tones of angelic voices, God made a balm for aching Slovak hearts. "This dowry," He said, "is for Slovak maids, that when they sing, their sadness may be changed to joy, that at their sound birds may cease their song to listen, the hills rise in glory, the fields bloom anew, the valleys with music ring, the brooks flow with ripples of melody, all the vales rejoice, and the very earth be changed to a paradise." Thus gloriously did God array the Slovak people and place them a,part in a world greedy for prominence, glory and power. Endowed with a heavenly gift, they cared not what awaited them among throngs greater than they. In God's hand they rest, and under His care they will always be. Sheltered in the protecting Tatra,s for long ages, they survive cruelty, tyranny, and power; to live and stand strong forever - a people of peace, beloved of God, may the Slovak people ever be! • • • "The treaties concluded at the Peace Conference (1918) made no reference to Slovak autonomy. After this episode the rift be!Jween the Centralists and the Autonomists was very deep. . . . The Czechs appear also to have objected to the validity of the document (Pittsburgh Pact) on th e ground that the Slovak League was not officialty recognized by the American authorities until 1919, although it was good enough for the advocacy of Czechoslovak claims (prior to that time.) . . . Slovakia was ruled by the two main Centralist parties •- the Agrarians and the Social Democrats with the support of the Czechs; and this continued to be the case even after the 1925 elections had shown the (Hlinka Slovak) People's Party to be at that time, much the strongest single Slovak party." (C. A. Macartney : HUNGARY AND HER SUCCESSORS - London, 1937). WHO SAi D IT? - • • • "Great Moravia, after many centuries of peaceful burial, was dug up for the benefit of the Peace Conference in 1918, to be paraded as the earliest Czecho-Slovak State. . . The case for including Northern Hungary in Czecho-Slovakia does not rest on historical .rights, although the ghost of Svatopluk, ruler of Great Moravia, was made to serve its turn. But Svatopluk's historic claims were obviously less valid than those of Hungary, with her thousand-odd yeai;i;;.- of .u .ninterrupted possession . He was more important as supporting, by the evidence whi ch he gave of an early connection between the Czechs and Slovaks, the rea,I claim, which was that of self-determination." (C. A. Macartney: HUNGARY AND HER -~ljfiC~C~SSOR~ - London, 1937). WHO SAID 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 The Slovak Tongue Description An account of the resource John Ďateľ Slovakia, Vol. 3, No. 1 (6), April 1953 pp. 56-57 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Ďateľ, John Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource April 1953 name https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/c2398952a9a832ef2d719b0303bda680.pdf f3534c93f3653f59c63899e5c876bdb7 PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA THE SWVAK UPRISING OF AUGUST 1944 Philip A. Hrobak Much has been said and written about the "Slovak Uprising" of August 1944, by the Benes Czechs (Socialists), the "Czechoslovaks" (Slovaks in the pay of Benes Czechs), and the Communists. Their versions of the uprising have been widely publicized and have been accepted as true, it seems, even by our State Department (Voice of America) and the Free Europe Committee (Radio Free Europe). Of course, patriotic Slovaks also have said and written much about the uprising which brought terror and confusion, death and destruction, and the German Army to thier land. But their story of that massacre, mass murders, and mass graves, has not been given publicity and has not been accepted as true by our State Department and the Free Europe Committee. Why? It seems simply for political reasons. To me it is plainly clear that forces are at work to prevent Americans and the rest of the free world from getting the true version, all the availa;ble facts, about the Slovak uprising of August 1944. After the uprising in Slovakia got under way "officially" on August 29, 1944, Dr. Edward Benes, the Lettrich "Democrats," the Husak Communists, and Moscow - all in unison - proclaimed it a spontaneous action of the Slovak nation and labeled it as the "Slovak National Uprising," which, they said would be inscribed in the history of the Slovak people with golden letters. They told us then - and keep telling us even today - that the uprising was thoroughly planned, well-timed and perfectly executed. It is true that the Lettrich "Democrats" and the Benes Czechs have given various "modifications" of their original story about the uprising since February 25, 1948, when they suddenly became "democratic and anti-Communist," but they still have not given us the whole truth, all the facts as they know them. Since they have admitted that they organized the Slovak uprising of August 1944 with the Communists, they undoubtedly do know the facts, but for obvious reasons are not willing to reveal them even today. �SLOVAKIA 5 "National Fronters" in America As late as August 29, 1954, in a letter published in the NEW YORK TIMES, recalling the "Slovak Uprising" of 1944, the signatories - Josef Lettrich, Matej Josko and Juraj Slavik (Slova:ks in the pay of Benes Czechs, regarded as traitors by all truly patriotic Slovaks), and Adolf Klimek and Peter Zenkl (Benes Czechs who promoted the pro-Soviet policy of Dr. Edward Benes and were members of his Communits-dominated National Front government) - tell us: 1. The Slovak people did not want to be independent; independence was forced on them by Hitler. 2. The Slova,k people rose in armed revolt against the German Army and against the Slovak Government. 3. More than 70,000 soldiers and 12,000 partisans participated in the uprising of 1944. 4. The great majority of the fighters in this uprising and their lea,dership were of democratic, Western orientation. 5. The Slovak fighters manifested by their action their "Czechoslovwk" patriotism and "democratic" beliefs. 6. Even French partisans fought on the side of the Slovak partisans. The letter proves beyond a shadow of doubt that the Benes Czechs and their Slovak stooges have not changed their program or amended their ways. They still insist on spreading the legend about the Slovak uprising which was fabricated in Moscow and propagated by the Communists under Karol Schmidke and the so-called "Democrats" (formerly Agrarians) under Josef Lettrich after the uprising was under way. Ten years after the horrible massacre and betrayal of the Slovak people by the Husak Communists, the Lettrich "Democrats," and the Benes Czechs, the signers of the TIMES letter would still have Americans believe the lie that the Slovaks did not want to be free and independent, but preferred to be dominated and exploited by the Czechs and, therefore, the Slovak nation rose up spontaneously in armed �6 SLOVAKIA revolt against its own State and against its own Government. How stupid do they think Americans are? Yes, how stupid must they think we are, since our own State Department, the U. S. Information Agency (Voice of America), and the Free Europe Committee (Radio Free Europe) still faH for their line and even help propagate the same lie? Lettrich and Josko must know the truth about the Slovak uprising, because they played an active role in it. The other three signatories did not participate actively and directly, as far as I could ascertain. All of them, however, and others of the so-called "Council of Free Czechoslovak ia" which operates out of Washington and New York, do claim credit for the Communist-in spired .putsch of 1944 which they prefer to call - even as the Commu~ists do - the "Slovak National Uprising." Lettrich and Josko do not want to divulge the truth about the uprising, because they would rather not implicate themselves. But the irrefutable fact remains that they were deeply implicated in the Communist-in spired putsch which claimed the lives of some 70,000 Slovaks, resulted in mass murders and mass graves, and brought the German Army into Slovakia. Moscow Brigades in Slovakia Furthermore, it is a matter of record that up to February 25, 1948, the Benes Czechs and the Lettrich "Democrats" ("Czechoslova ks") celebrated the Slovak uprising annually in the same fashion as the Communists of Slovakia, glorifying the Slovak partisans under Communist Schmidke and the Soviet partisans under Velicko of the USSR, the "great and glorious achievements " of the revolt, the wisdom and leadership of Stalin, and the heroic deeds of the USSR and the Red Army, which led to the "liberation" of the Slovak nation and the Czecho-Slovak Republic. Together with the Communists they claimed credit for the "Slovak National Uprising" - and even today claim credit for it, though not together with the Communists. And patriotic, democratic Slovaks everywhere did and still do give them full credit for all the terroristic acts, mass murders and mass graves, indescribable crimes and terror, �SLOVAKIA 7 misery and Red enslavement that ensued. They hold them fully responsible for it. When the Benes Czechs and the Lettrich ",Democrats" persist in upholding the lie that the '~Slov-ak people rose in armed revolt against the German Army and against the Slovak Government," they are deliberately concealing the facts. They certainly must know that the German Army came into Slovakia only after the partisans had captured several army garrisons in central Slovakia and began terrorizing and murdering the population. And they certainly could not have forgotten the slogans used and the contents of the broadcasts made by the partisans at that time. If their memory is conveniently failing them, I might suggest that they refresh it by reading their own publications (CAS; NOVE CASY, 1944, London; PARTIZANI NA SLOVENSKU; NAD TATROU SA BL"'2'"1SKA; SLOBODNE CESKOSLOVENSKO; NARODNA OBRODA; etc.). I have it from reliable sources that no more than 35,000 sol~iers of the Slovak Army participated in the uprising the majority of whom were forced to fight on the side of the partisans against their own State and against their own government by the partisans and Red commanders of the USSR. But the Benes Czechs and the Lettrich "Democrats" - like the Communists - still tell us that the figure was 70,000 so that the uprising might appear as "national" in character. Furthermore, they state that 12,000 partisans participated in the Slovak uprising of 1944, in which "even French partisans fought on the side of the Slovak partisans," but conveniently omit to say that the Slovak partisans were led by the Communist Karol Schmidke, the Soviet partisans by Velicko of the USSR, while French partisans naturally were led by a French Communist. Indeed, it would not surprise me at all, if we eventually learned that other "international brigades" also participated in the 1944 putsch in Slovakia! I simply cannot believe that the Benes Czechs and the Lettrich "Democrats" have forgotten that various units of the rebel army were commanded by Soviet military men who were subordinate to the Soviet Chief of Staff in Kyjev, among whom were: Jegorov, Osmolov, Sukajev, Sadilenko, �8 SLOVAKIA Volkov, Smirnov, Krajuskin, Popov, Kolesnikov, Arsenev, Surkov, Solosenko, Cernogorov, Vysocky, Krasiev-Stepanov, and Poliakov. What, then, is the purpose of the balderdash that "the great majority of the fighters in this uprising and their leadership were of democratic, Western orientation"? After being accorded political asylum in America, why should Benes Czechs and Lettrich "Democrats" still want to deceive Americans in 1954? By their actions did they not then, and are they not now manifesting - like the "Slovak fighters" of the 1944 uprising - their "Czechoslovak" patriotism and "democratic" beliefs? Indeed, something that requires more looking into! Is it any wonder then that informed Americans, together with our good Slovak friends behind the Iron Curtain and in exile, are rudely shocked and thoroughly indignant, because our State Department, the U.S. Information Agency (Voice of America), and the Free Europe Committee (Radio Free Europe) not only permit, but even help the Benes Czechs and the Lettrich "Democrats" deceive the American public and the rest of the free world? Lettrich and J osko could also tell us a bit about the background of the uprising of 1944, if they only wanted to - something of the events which preceded and the people who prepared the ground for the horrible massacre of the Slovaks in 1944, especially the agreements between the Lettrich "Democrats" and the Schmidke ...Husak Communists which were negotiated on December 25, 1943, and on June 26, 1945, and called for the closest collaboration between the parties concerned and the USSR. They negotiated and signed those agreements! The situation prior to 1944 Until about the end of 1942, there were no "illegal" groups in Slovakia, that is, active resistance groups. To the fall of Stalingrad, Slovak Communists used to meet socially with Slovak Czechs ("Czechoslovaks" - followers of Dr. Edward Benes's "one-nation" theory and his pro-Soviet policy). This was not connected with any hazards. The Slovak Government was aware of this, but did nothing to prevent �SLOVAKIA 9 their social meetings. The Communist Party had been outlawed in 1938 by the autonomous Slovak Government, but individual members were not persecuted or interned just because they were Communists. Some Communists and many Lettrich "Democrats" held government positions and other well-paying jobs. In 1943, two Moscow-trained Communists, Karol Schmidke, a Silesian half-German, and the Czech Karol Bacilek, were parachuted into Slova:kia by the Soviets to organize and direct illegal activities. But it was not until the end of that year that the Slovak Communists and left-wing Agrarians began to meet regularly to discuss organizing resistance groups and planning for the future. After Dr. Edward Benes, the "resigned-and-still-president" of CzechoSlovakia, concluded the so-called "Czechoslovak-Soviet Treaty" in Moscow, on December 12, 1943, the left-wing Slovak Agrarians (Lettrich's group) got together with the Slovak Communists (the Schmidke-Husak group) to conclude the "Christmas Agreement" of 1943, whereby they created a "common political leadership" under the name of the "Slovak National Council" and declared "eternal friendship" for each other. The Slovak National Council, they declared, is "the one and only representative of the political will of the Slovak nation" and the "body supreme" as far as the affairs of Slovakia were concerned. These Slovak Agrarians, later re-christened to Slovak "Democrats," united with the Slovak Communists to collaborate with Moscow in the destruction of the Slovak Republic and in the establishment of a "new" Czecho-Slovak democracy, a "people's democratic State." From available accounts, it is quite evident that there were differences of opinion among the Husak Communists and the Lettrich "Democrats" as far as the future of Slovakia was concerned. Slovak Communists did not care whether Slovakia became a Soviet Republic or remained within the framework of Czecho-Slovakia, as a unit of a federative system, as long as it was governed by them. Lettrich's "Democrats" - the "Czechoslovaks" - how- �10 SLOVAKIA ever, did not have a clear-cut program; at times they knew not what they wanted or where they were really going. Some were for the relationship which existed prior to Munich, 1938, while others preferred that which existed after Munich, but prior to March 14, 1939, when the Slovak parliament declared Slovakia independent. The latter were for the federative system, which T. G. Masaryk and Edward Benes proposed for Czecho-Slovakia to the Allies in 1918 but never inaugurated. Communists in Slovakia were aware of the fact that the ovewhelming majority of the Slovak people resolutely opposed the conception of a "one-nation" Czecho-Slovakia, which the Benes Czechs propagated. They used this knowledge to gain supporters for their cause whenever an opportunity presented itself. It so happened when they repudiated the proclamation of the "London Government" of Dr. Edward Benes of June 30, 1943, which declared that the future of Czecho-Slovakia would rest on the conception of a "onenation" Czecho-Slovakia - a unified or united "Czechoslovak" nation. The Lettrich "Democrats" - the "Czechoslovaks" on the other hand, accepted the conception of an ethnic "Czechoslovak" nation of the Benes Czechs, even though they could not agree among themselves just what the relationship between the Czechs and the Slovaks should be like in the "new" Czecho-Slovakia. After Dr. Milan Hodza, former premier of Czecho-Slovakia, parted with Benes, many of them had lost faith in the president who resigned and then made himself president again. Nevertheless, they sided with Benes, because he was recognized both by the democratic' powers and the USSR. Like the Communists, the Lettrich "Democrats" hated the Tiso regime, which was thoroughly Christian and as democratic as it possibly could be under the circumstances; like the Communists they were not interested in a truly democratic Slovak State, because they knew they could never becoming ruling figures in it by the free will of the Slovak people. So, the Lettrich "Democrats" decided to go along with the Communists, proclaiming the establishment of a �SLOVAKIA 11 "new" Czecho-Slovakia as one of their chief aims, based, of course, on the spirit and the letter of the Treaty of December 12, 1943, which Benes had concluded with the Soviet Union and by which not only the Slovaks, but also the Czechs were formally sold out to the men of the Kremlin. The right of Benes to conclude such a treaty might be justly questioned, since the nations of Czecho-Slovakia had not authorized him to act in their behalf after his resignation as president in 1938, but that would be of little consequence today. The overwhelming majority of the Slovak people, with its political and religious leadership - the followers of Andrew Hlinka and Martin Razus - was definitely for a Christian, democratic, independent Slovak State, a Slovakia free of all foreign domination and rid of all Communists. It still is for such a State today. The Red Front Approaches Slovakia After concluding the "Christmas Agreement" of 1943, the Lettrich "Democrats" and the Husak Communists, began to discuss the matter of an armed putsch or revolt. In April, 1944, Dr. Vavro Srobar, one of the oldest and most intimate friends of Dr. Edward Benes in Slovakia, asked Benes what the Slovaks should do in the event that Hungary would quit the war and join the Allies, and/ or in the event that Germany should occupy Slovakia. Benes strongly advised an open revolt in his reply, because this, he said, would enable a speedy occupation of Slovakia by the Soviet Army. Dr. Joseph Tiso, President of Slovakia, and the Slovak Government, including Slovak military leaders, had other plans. They did not want Slovakia to become an open battleground ; they tried to spare their people from the horrors of war. To avoid unnecessary bloodshed and occupation by the German and Soviet armies, they thought it best if the Slovak Army would take over the Government of Slovakia at the opportune moment. The "opportune moment" - it was understood - meant the fall of Cracow on the North, or the fall ·of Miskovec in the South. When that happened, the Slovak Army was to occupy the borders of Slovakia; �12 SLOVAKIA then the Slovak Government would step out in favor of the Army which, with the help of political parties, would form a new government, temporarily, which, in turn, would tie up with the United Nations, especially the West. Since the Slovak Government at that time had no contact with the West, thanks to Dr. Benes's refusal to deal with it, it tried to inform the West BJbout its plan through the USSR, even though it did so with great misgivings. General Augustine Malar personally contacted the Soviet Military Staff in the Ukraine, revealed the plan at least partly, and requested, in the name of the Slovak Government, that the Soviets and the Western Allies agree to this plan of action and also recognize the political independence of Slovakia. Malar, respecting the advice of the Slovak Government, wisely omitted to say anything about Slovakia's intention of joining the West. In reply, the Soviets said that they had not planned on penetrating through Slovakia; they were willing to recognize the political independence of Slovakia, as they already had in 1939, but steadfastly refused to agree on the point that military operations in Slovakia should be undertaken by the Slovak Army alone. It was quite obvious already then that the USSR wanted to occupy Slovakia for political reasons. The story of General Mala.r's contact with the Soviet Military on December 17, 1943, was told during the trial of Dr. Joseph Tiso and members of the 'Slovak Government (19461947) before the National Court in Bratislava. About the end of June the Slovak National Council decided to send a delegation to Moscow to inform Stalin of its plans and to petition the Soviets to include Slovakia in their plan of operations. Karol Schmidke and General Nicholas Ferjencik were selected to make the trip. Because of "technical" reasons, they did not undertake the trip until August 4, 1944. Ferjencik, now enjoying political asylum in America, could easily give us the details of that meeting, if he desired to do so. The partisans engaged in terroristic acts rather regularly at the end of July and the beginning of August, 1944. When they seized the command of several garrisons in �SLOVAKIA 13 central Slovakia and murdered many persons in that section of the country, General Malar, to save the situation, appealed to the Army in a radio broadcast not to be taken in by partisan rumors, not to join the partisans, because "our time has not yet arrived . . . When it does come, then we shall all pull at the same end of the rope." The terroristic acts of the partisans alarmed even Lt. Col. Golian, to whom Benes had entrusted the military preparations and operations of the "resistance" in Slovakia. G-Olian demanded that the partisans subordinate their activity to his command, the "authorized" military command of the "illegal" forces. Velicko, commander of the Soviet partisans, informed Golian that he would do so, but continued on his own any way. Angered and frustrated, Golian sent Lt. Col. Manica, August 20, 1944, with a request that Velicko order the partisans to cease their activities, otherwise the Germans would surely intervene. Velicko, however, disregarded the request and his .partisans continued to spread terror and violence in central and eastern Slovakia. The terroristic acts of the partisans created a very difficult situation for President Tiso and the Slovak Government. They did what they could to keep the German Army from occupying Slovakia. They explained that the disturbances were not widespread or "national," but local, and that the Slovak Army was capable of handling them and restoring order. The Germans, however, were reluctant to believe the Slovaks, especially after the murder of General Otto and his military mission at Banska Bystrica, August 27, 1944. Hitler's Wehrmacht began to occupy Slovakia, and the Slovaks really were in for the worst. The uprising, in which the Lettrich "Democrats" and the Communists collaborated fully to the joy of Moscow, was responsible for the Germans occupying Slovalkia in 1944. Why August 29, 1944? Benes Czechs, Lettrich "Democrats" and Schmidke Communists had told us - and are still telling us - that the Slovak uprising began on August 29, 1944. Why was that partic'ular date selected, when they knew - as we know now, �14 8LOVAKIA because even they themselves admitted it - that the partisans committed terroristic acts before that date? They selected that date as the "official" date so that they could tell the world that President Tiso and the Slovak Government called or invited the German Army to Slovakia and thus cover up the fact that the distuvbances created by the partisans were really responsible for the occupation of Slovakia by the Germans. Lettrich, Husak, N ovomesky and other "leaders" of the uprising were not even in Banska Bystrica on August 29, 1944. The Slovak National Council did not issue its declaration of the revolt until September 1, 1944. When German military units began moving into Slovakia as a result of partisan terroristic activities, the leaders of the uprising resorted to lies to gain the support of the Slovak Army and the Slovak people. They said: the Germans were coming to occupy the whole of ,Slovakia; that President Tiso was murdered; that members of the Slovak Government were seized and taken to Germany, etc. The ruse, however, even thoogh at first it deceiived many in SlovaJki:a and abroad, failed to attain its objective. What happened in Slovakia prior t,o August 29, 1944? Partisans committed terroristic acts in eastern and central Slovakia for at least three or four weeks before that date. The situation grew so tense that the Slovak Government conitem.iplated declaring Martial La,w on August 1, 1944, but did not resort to it till later. On several occasions the Germans warned Tiso and the Slovak Government that if they could not cope with the situation and keep order in Slovakia, the German Army definitely would move in to make order. Tiso and the Slovak Government did what they could under the circumstances to restore order and, thereby, keep the Germans out of Slovakia. They knew that their plans for joining with western forces of the United Nations could not be realized if the Germans occupied Slovakia. The partisans, however, taking orders from Moscow and London, were not interested in preserving order; they were only interested in preparing the ground for the Red Army: After �SLOVAKIA 15 the latter occupied 'Slovakia, they figured they would take over all power in Slovakia. And they did. After the German front collapsed in Rumania, German diplomatic personnel - some thirty persons, including women and children - were hurriedly evacuated. Communist agents already were quite active in Slovakia, creating chaos and confusion and provoking incidents with Germany. The train carrying German diplomats from Bucharest was halted on the evening of August 26, 1944, at Turciansky Svaty Martin, Slovakia, by partisans. The passengers were told rather politely that it would be impossible for them to go farther, because of engine trouble. Quarters were arranged for them in the local barracks. The next morning the entire group was ordered into the barracks square by one Major Kuchta, lined up and mowed down with machine guns. It was thus that the military mission of General Otto perished. Two days later German troops came in force into Slovakia "to restore order." The partisans, of course, told the Slovaks that the German occupation was entirely ttnprovoked and that they now had to fight for their freedom, Tiso was murdered, etc., as mentioned above. Before that time, however, on August 20, 1944, Velicko and his .partisans were busy in Turiec requisitioning autos, robbing stores and farmers. During the night of August 24 a group of German field gendarmes were taken by surprise and shot while they slept in the Hotel Slavia in Vrutky. Turiec and vicinity were also terrorized and victimized by a group led by the sadistic Lutheran preacher Vojtech HruskaTerenyi, the Communist from Hungary who already back in 1919, as a young preacher, had participated in the Red revolt of Bela Kun (Cohen). Francis Slamen, member of the Slovak Assembly and chairman of the Slovak Christian Labor Union, was among several persons murdered in Brezno Natl Hronom, August 27, 1944. On August 28, 1944, partisan officers shot Col. Zverin and Col. Kanak of the Slovak Army in Banska Bystrica. In Liptovsky Svaty Mikulas they arrested Col. Kl'ucik, of the garrison there, and Lt. Frecer; later they murdered them. �16 SLOVAKIA Let's fight to the last drop of your blood! On September 1, 1944, the Slovak National Council, headed by "Democrat" Lettrich and Communist Schmidke, met in Banska Bystrica and immediately made August 29, 1944, the "official" date of the start of the Slovak uprising. Futhermore, they issued a declaration which stated that the Council was the body supreme in Slovakia, the only representative and authorized body in Slovakia which had the right to speak in the name of the Slovak nation. The Slovak National Council was composed of Lettrich "Democrats" and Schmidke-Hus a:k Communists (-50-50); Dr. Joseph Lettrich was chairman and Karol Schmidke co-chairman of the Council. On September 5, 1944, during its first "solemn" session, the so-called Slovak National Council sent two telegrams: one to Stalin, the other to Benes. The Stalin telegram read as follows (translated from the Slovak): Josip Visarionovic ,Stalin Marshal of the USSR Moscow, Kremlin The Slovak National Council sends You and the nations of the Soviet Union from its solemn session its most cordial greetings and thanks You for the understanding which You have manifested for our fight of liberation, waged against the common enemy. Glory to the victorious Red Army! Banska Bystrica, September 5, 1944 The Slovak National Council It is significant that the Council made up of Communists and the Lettrich "Democrats" sent no greeting at that time either to the President of the United States or the King of England, who apparently did not rate. The Slovak National Council called in all reservists and ordered full mobilization. The response was poor; not many Slovaks answered the call voluntarily. The Council had to rest satisfied with those it could force to bear arms against their country in the area held by the partisans, a few districts in central and eastern Slovakia. A part of the Trnava garrison, led by John Benko, defected and joined the partisans; General Mala.r's divisions, however, refused to join. The German forces, led by Gen. Berger and Gen. iHoffle, soon encircled the partisan putschists. The heaviest fighting �SLOVAKIA 17 took place near Telgart, Cremosne, Dubrava and Kremnicka, during which some 4,000 were killed. The partisans, who had taken to the hills and mountains of Slovakia before the Germans moved in, soon realized that their situation was quite hopeless. They lacked men and material to cope with the situation they had created. And promised help from the USSR and from Benes in London did not materialize to any noticeaible extent. Sporadic skirmishes continued for about two months; by the end of October the Communist-inspired "national" uprising in Slovakia was completely liquidated. Of course, the press of the USSR and the "Czechoslovak Press Bureau (CTK) of Dr. Benes in London supplied the world press, including our own OWI, with sensational fabrications; reports which told of the glorious and valiant stand of the Slovak nation which fought to renew the CzechoSlovak Republic - a "new" Republic, a Czecho-.Slovakia which would be a "people's" democracy - and shed its blood so that Benes might be president again; reports which told the world that the partisans had one third, then one-half and, later, almost the whole of Slovakia under their control after a week or two of "furious" fighting. Balderdash! The partisans fought in the fashion of partisans; there were practically no open, regular battles, but only sporadic skirmishes and attacks. When the "heroic" commanders of the partisan units saw that the situation was hopeless, they flew out of Slovakia into the USSR in planes that were ready just for such an eventuality. Talsky, a Czech and commander of the "eastern front" who was supposed to join with the Red Army at the opportune moment, flew to the USSR, leaving his "army" behind; there he was promptly arrested as a deserter. Generals Golian and Viest, officers who defected from the Slovak Army and joined the partisans, were ready to leave the scene of the "glorious" revolt, when their own soldiers blew up their plane with grenades. Viest and Golian hid themselves in a certain village, but were betrayed by their own men when the Germans sought them. Captured, they were taken to Germany and later shot. �18 SLOVAKIA The charact.er of the, -si.ovak uprising The Slovak National Council was busy issuing decrees to terrorize the vast masses of the Slovak population. It decreed the dissolution of the IIlinka Slovak People's Party, the German Party, and the Magyar Christian Social Party; ecclesiastical properties and institutions were nationalized and confiscated; a concentration camp was established at Slovenska Lupca, where over 700 victims were held to await partisan "justice." Partisan "people's" courts were quickly set up at Sklabina, Kunerad and elsewhere. Thousands of Slovaks were arbitrarily convicted and jailed; hundreds were liquidated without a hearing. The 1944 uprising in Slovakia pad all the earmarks of a bolshevik rebellion: partisans w~re :r:ed kerchiefs round their necks, Lenin goatees, and a rosary of grenades around their belts. They robbed and raped, plundered and murdered wherever they went. They forced priests to act friendly towards them, bless their weapons and even read the Holy Mass for the success of their diabolical venture. If a priest hesitated or refused to follow their orders, he was beaten, threatened with shooting or actually. shot. Joseph and Andrew Kocalko from Sucany, father and son respectively, were beaten to death beyond recognition by Hruska-Terenyi and his men. The father had spent quite a number of years in America. The Communist Lutheran preacher, Vojtech Hruska-Terenyi, and Jersov, a ·Russian professor, killed 147 Slovaks and buried them in a mass grave at Sklabina. Hruska-Terenyi was judge, jury and executioner. Those whom he sentenced to death had to strip down to their underclothes and march to the foot of the forest in Sklabina. There each victim was given a spade to dig his own grave. Some of the victims cracked under the ordeal and were shot forthwith; the rest kept digging slowly until Jersov blew his whistle and machine guns mowed them down into their shallow graves. The bodies of the hopeless victims were covered with twigs and a little dirt. The mass grave at Sklabina was uncovered in November 1944. Many of the victims had a bullet hole back of the neck. �SLOVAKIA 19 Among the priests who were murdered there were: Rev. Anthony Salat, member of the Slovak Parliament and pastor of the Catholic congregation at Hajniky; Rev. Martinka of Liptovsky Svaty Michal; Rev. John Nemec of Zavadka; Rev. Sedo of Liptovsky Svaty Jan. In Povazska Bystrica, -a theologian named Milan was also murdered. I might note here for the record that the Communists and Lettrich "Democrats" joyously celebrated the "silver anniversary" of the invasion of Slovakia by the bolshevik hordes of Bela Kun from Hungary during the uprising of 1944 - the first time any one in Slovakia made a hero of the Magyar Communist revolutionary who murdered Slovaks, pillaged their lands and destroyed their homes! Need any more be said about the character of the Slovak uprising of 1944? I might add, too, that the same Slovak National Council of Lettrich "Democrats" and Schmidke-Husak Communists was making extensive preparations to celebrate "Czechoslovak Independence Day" on October 28, 1944, as it never had been celebrated before, but the events that followed the terroristic acts of the partisans forestalled the celebration. Mass murders and mass graves We have heard of mass murders and mass graves· i'n Poland (Katyn Forest), the Ukraine (Vinnitsia), and elsewhere, but little or nothing about those in Slovakia. In Slovakia mass graves have been uncovered in Micinska Dolina, Sklene, Podsucha, Pusty Hrad, in the Prievidza Valley, Lucivna, Sklabina, Kunerad, L'ubietova; also in the vicinity of Kovacova, Ruzomberok, Zvolen, Humenne, Bosany, and Tri Vody. There is also a mass grave near Petrzalka, but this one came into being after the occupation of Bratislava by the Red Army in the spring of 1945. The partisans were responsible for most of the murders and mass graves. During the trial of President Tiso in 1947, the prosecution stated that some 4,316 persons were buried in mass graves and blamed Tiso and the Slovak Government for them for obvious reasons. There is, of course, no way of ascertaining whether that figure is accurate or not. A thorough investigation would probably at least double it. �20 SLOVAKIA Why the putsch failed When Generals Golian and Viest were apprehended by the Germans, after their own soldiers had betrayed their hidingplace, they declared that the "uprising" had failed, because: 1. low morale prevailed in the army; soldiers had no desire to fight for a "new" Czecho-Slovakia or the USSR; · and they did not want to destroy their own State and their own Government; 2. partisan provocateurs and saboteurs had absolutely no respect or regard for the feelings of the Slovak people; they were beyond the law, brutal and reckless; 3. the Germans sent captured soldiers home, after disarming and a hearing them; 4. the partisan army lacked capable leadership; 5. communications were bad; 6. the Slovak population was hostile to the partisans and their cause; 7. little help came from the USSR and the West (Benes); 8. the Red Army was not ready to march into Slovakia; 9. the partisans did not have sufficient food, munition, guns and planes ; 10. thousands of men deserted. Conclusions From the above it is evident that the Slovak uprising of August, 1944, was not national in character; it did not have the backing of the vast ma,sses of the Slovak population. It was Communist-inspired and led; it was engineered by the Reds in Moscow and London, with the participation of Benes, without regard to the interests of the Slovak people. The partisans, no matter what their origin, were guilty of the most horrible crimes. The Communist-inspired putsch of 1944 brought terror and chaos, destruction and death, misery and Red enslavement to Slovakia. In reality, the Slovak uprising of 1944 was a "Warsaw" in miniature. Only the Communists and Moscow profited from it. Slovak Communists, Lettrich "Democrats" and Benes Czechs profited from it, but only temporarily. Together they celebrated the "great and lasting achievements" of that massacre, glorifying Stalin, the USSR, the Red Army and Benes, until February 25, 1948. And they still celebrate it today; of course, not with the Communists, nor in the same fashion as they did �SLOVAKIA 21 prior to 1948. Those that were lucky enough to escape the hell they helped to create in Slovakia, that is. What fools they be, and what fools are we, if we continue to believe their version of the horrible massacre of the Slovak people in 1944, if we continue to trust them. The blood of thousands and thousands of innocent victims in mass graves of Slovakia cries to heaven for vengeance against them. Patriotic Slovaks everywhere do commemorate the Communist-inspired Slovak uprising of 1944, but not in the manner of the Benes Czechs, Lettrich "Democrats" and the Communists. Recalling the uprising as one of the darkest chapters in their history, which brought death and destruction and Red enslavement to their country, good Slovaks bow their heads reverently in prayer for the victims of that massacre and ask the almighty and just God to speed the day of judgment for all who were responsible for it and, too, that in His mercy He might also speed the day of liberation of their nation from the Godless, ruthless rule of Moscow and from all foreign domination. I firmly believe that it is in the highest interests of America and the rest of the free world that they lend a willing ear to the story patriotic Slovaks have to tell not only about the uprising of 1944, but also about the political mess that was Czecho-Slovakia, prior to Munich and after the "liberation" in 1945. I cannot and will not believe that our State Department, the U. S. Infonnation Agency (Voice of America), other U. S. government agencies, and the Free Europe Committee (Radio Free Europe) are working in the interests of America and the rest of the free world, when they serve and promote the interests of the Benes Czechs and the Lettrich "Democrats" who collaiborated with the Communists and the USSR as members of the National Front government of the BenesGottwald coalition. Benes Czechs and Lettrich "Democrats" - now members of the so-called "Council of Free Czechoslovakia" operating out of Washington and New York - are gradually coming to the point of openly admitting that collaboration �22 SLOV.AK[A with Communists does not pay, that the history of CzechoSlovakia is clear proof of what attempted co-existence with Communists leads to. But they still are loath to admit that they did colla,borate with Communists and the USSR, that they did promote the pro-Soviet policy of Dr. Edward Benes and, hence, are in a large measure responsible for the present terrible plight of the peoples of CzechoJSlovakia. And they still insist on spreading the legend about the Slovak up~ rising which was fabricated by Moscow and the LettrichSchmidke Slovak National Council. Jfow, then, can we believe that they have really broken completely with the past? • • • WHO SAID IT? "The post~war economic changes in Czechoslovakia some of them revolutionary in tiheir scope but none of them an entirely new departure in CzechoslO'Vak history - have occurred with a minimum of political friction. It seems to have been generally understood that the rebuilding of capital and the recovery of ;production were the national needs, rather than a revhnal of the conflict of ideologies which paved the way to the Second World War. For these objectives, all political parties were willing to work together. Czechoslovakia has a Communist Party which accepts joint power with non-Communist parties; its second Marxist party the Social Democrats, works ~ith non-Socialists. The other Czech parties, non-Communist but not anti-Communist, are equally willing to cooperate with the Communist Party. The Slovak Democratic Party alone contains elements of irreconcilable opposition to the Communists, with the result that it is the weatl{est linlk in the National Front. There are no deiiinitely anti-Communist parties; these were all liquidated as a result of their pre-war and wartime activities. 'I'his coHalboration of Communists, socialists and liberals in a National Front Government has boon a condition (William Diamond, Czechoslovaof post-was process." kia Between East and West, 1947, !Stevens and Sons, Ltd., London ; p. 233) . � SLOVAKIA THE SWVAK UPRISING OF AUGUST 1944 Philip A. Hrobak Much has been said and written about the "Slovak Uprising" of August 1944, by the Benes Czechs (Socialists), the "Czechoslovaks" (Slovaks in the pay of Benes Czechs), and the Communists. Their versions of the uprising have been widely publicized and have been accepted as true, it seems, even by our State Department (Voice of America) and the Free Europe Committee (Radio Free Europe). Of course, patriotic Slovaks also have said and written much about the uprising which brought terror and confusion, death and destruction, and the German Army to thier land. But their story of that massacre, mass murders, and mass graves, has not been given publicity and has not been accepted as true by our State Department and the Free Europe Committee. Why? It seems simply for political reasons. To me it is plainly clear that forces are at work to prevent Americans and the rest of the free world from getting the true version, all the availa;ble facts, about the Slovak uprising of August 1944. After the uprising in Slovakia got under way "officially" on August 29, 1944, Dr. Edward Benes, the Lettrich "Democrats," the Husak Communists, and Moscow - all in unison - proclaimed it a spontaneous action of the Slovak nation and labeled it as the "Slovak National Uprising," which, they said would be inscribed in the history of the Slovak people with golden letters. They told us then - and keep telling us even today - that the uprising was thoroughly planned, well-timed and perfectly executed. It is true that the Lettrich "Democrats" and the Benes Czechs have given various "modifications" of their original story about the uprising since February 25, 1948, when they suddenly became "democratic and anti-Communist," but they still have not given us the whole truth, all the facts as they know them. Since they have admitted that they organized the Slovak uprising of August 1944 with the Communists, they undoubtedly do know the facts, but for obvious reasons are not willing to reveal them even today. �SLOVAKIA 5 "National Fronters" in America As late as August 29, 1954, in a letter published in the NEW YORK TIMES, recalling the "Slovak Uprising" of 1944, the signatories - Josef Lettrich, Matej Josko and Juraj Slavik (Slova:ks in the pay of Benes Czechs, regarded as traitors by all truly patriotic Slovaks), and Adolf Klimek and Peter Zenkl (Benes Czechs who promoted the pro-Soviet policy of Dr. Edward Benes and were members of his Communits-dominated National Front government) - tell us: 1. The Slovak people did not want to be independent; independence was forced on them by Hitler. 2. The Slova,k people rose in armed revolt against the German Army and against the Slovak Government. 3. More than 70,000 soldiers and 12,000 partisans participated in the uprising of 1944. 4. The great majority of the fighters in this uprising and their lea,dership were of democratic, Western orientation. 5. The Slovak fighters manifested by their action their "Czechoslovwk" patriotism and "democratic" beliefs. 6. Even French partisans fought on the side of the Slovak partisans. The letter proves beyond a shadow of doubt that the Benes Czechs and their Slovak stooges have not changed their program or amended their ways. They still insist on spreading the legend about the Slovak uprising which was fabricated in Moscow and propagated by the Communists under Karol Schmidke and the so-called "Democrats" (formerly Agrarians) under Josef Lettrich after the uprising was under way. Ten years after the horrible massacre and betrayal of the Slovak people by the Husak Communists, the Lettrich "Democrats," and the Benes Czechs, the signers of the TIMES letter would still have Americans believe the lie that the Slovaks did not want to be free and independent, but preferred to be dominated and exploited by the Czechs and, therefore, the Slovak nation rose up spontaneously in armed �6 SLOVAKIA revolt against its own State and against its own Government. How stupid do they think Americans are? Yes, how stupid must they think we are, since our own State Department, the U. S. Information Agency (Voice of America), and the Free Europe Committee (Radio Free Europe) still faH for their line and even help propagate the same lie? Lettrich and Josko must know the truth about the Slovak uprising, because they played an active role in it. The other three signatories did not participate actively and directly, as far as I could ascertain. All of them, however, and others of the so-called "Council of Free Czechoslovak ia" which operates out of Washington and New York, do claim credit for the Communist-in spired .putsch of 1944 which they prefer to call - even as the Commu~ists do - the "Slovak National Uprising." Lettrich and Josko do not want to divulge the truth about the uprising, because they would rather not implicate themselves. But the irrefutable fact remains that they were deeply implicated in the Communist-in spired putsch which claimed the lives of some 70,000 Slovaks, resulted in mass murders and mass graves, and brought the German Army into Slovakia. Moscow Brigades in Slovakia Furthermore, it is a matter of record that up to February 25, 1948, the Benes Czechs and the Lettrich "Democrats" ("Czechoslova ks") celebrated the Slovak uprising annually in the same fashion as the Communists of Slovakia, glorifying the Slovak partisans under Communist Schmidke and the Soviet partisans under Velicko of the USSR, the "great and glorious achievements " of the revolt, the wisdom and leadership of Stalin, and the heroic deeds of the USSR and the Red Army, which led to the "liberation" of the Slovak nation and the Czecho-Slovak Republic. Together with the Communists they claimed credit for the "Slovak National Uprising" - and even today claim credit for it, though not together with the Communists. And patriotic, democratic Slovaks everywhere did and still do give them full credit for all the terroristic acts, mass murders and mass graves, indescribable crimes and terror, �SLOVAKIA 7 misery and Red enslavement that ensued. They hold them fully responsible for it. When the Benes Czechs and the Lettrich ",Democrats" persist in upholding the lie that the '~Slov-ak people rose in armed revolt against the German Army and against the Slovak Government," they are deliberately concealing the facts. They certainly must know that the German Army came into Slovakia only after the partisans had captured several army garrisons in central Slovakia and began terrorizing and murdering the population. And they certainly could not have forgotten the slogans used and the contents of the broadcasts made by the partisans at that time. If their memory is conveniently failing them, I might suggest that they refresh it by reading their own publications (CAS; NOVE CASY, 1944, London; PARTIZANI NA SLOVENSKU; NAD TATROU SA BL"'2'"1SKA; SLOBODNE CESKOSLOVENSKO; NARODNA OBRODA; etc.). I have it from reliable sources that no more than 35,000 sol~iers of the Slovak Army participated in the uprising the majority of whom were forced to fight on the side of the partisans against their own State and against their own government by the partisans and Red commanders of the USSR. But the Benes Czechs and the Lettrich "Democrats" - like the Communists - still tell us that the figure was 70,000 so that the uprising might appear as "national" in character. Furthermore, they state that 12,000 partisans participated in the Slovak uprising of 1944, in which "even French partisans fought on the side of the Slovak partisans," but conveniently omit to say that the Slovak partisans were led by the Communist Karol Schmidke, the Soviet partisans by Velicko of the USSR, while French partisans naturally were led by a French Communist. Indeed, it would not surprise me at all, if we eventually learned that other "international brigades" also participated in the 1944 putsch in Slovakia! I simply cannot believe that the Benes Czechs and the Lettrich "Democrats" have forgotten that various units of the rebel army were commanded by Soviet military men who were subordinate to the Soviet Chief of Staff in Kyjev, among whom were: Jegorov, Osmolov, Sukajev, Sadilenko, �8 SLOVAKIA Volkov, Smirnov, Krajuskin, Popov, Kolesnikov, Arsenev, Surkov, Solosenko, Cernogorov, Vysocky, Krasiev-Stepanov, and Poliakov. What, then, is the purpose of the balderdash that "the great majority of the fighters in this uprising and their leadership were of democratic, Western orientation"? After being accorded political asylum in America, why should Benes Czechs and Lettrich "Democrats" still want to deceive Americans in 1954? By their actions did they not then, and are they not now manifesting - like the "Slovak fighters" of the 1944 uprising - their "Czechoslovak" patriotism and "democratic" beliefs? Indeed, something that requires more looking into! Is it any wonder then that informed Americans, together with our good Slovak friends behind the Iron Curtain and in exile, are rudely shocked and thoroughly indignant, because our State Department, the U.S. Information Agency (Voice of America), and the Free Europe Committee (Radio Free Europe) not only permit, but even help the Benes Czechs and the Lettrich "Democrats" deceive the American public and the rest of the free world? Lettrich and J osko could also tell us a bit about the background of the uprising of 1944, if they only wanted to - something of the events which preceded and the people who prepared the ground for the horrible massacre of the Slovaks in 1944, especially the agreements between the Lettrich "Democrats" and the Schmidke ...Husak Communists which were negotiated on December 25, 1943, and on June 26, 1945, and called for the closest collaboration between the parties concerned and the USSR. They negotiated and signed those agreements! The situation prior to 1944 Until about the end of 1942, there were no "illegal" groups in Slovakia, that is, active resistance groups. To the fall of Stalingrad, Slovak Communists used to meet socially with Slovak Czechs ("Czechoslovaks" - followers of Dr. Edward Benes's "one-nation" theory and his pro-Soviet policy). This was not connected with any hazards. The Slovak Government was aware of this, but did nothing to prevent �SLOVAKIA 9 their social meetings. The Communist Party had been outlawed in 1938 by the autonomous Slovak Government, but individual members were not persecuted or interned just because they were Communists. Some Communists and many Lettrich "Democrats" held government positions and other well-paying jobs. In 1943, two Moscow-trained Communists, Karol Schmidke, a Silesian half-German, and the Czech Karol Bacilek, were parachuted into Slova:kia by the Soviets to organize and direct illegal activities. But it was not until the end of that year that the Slovak Communists and left-wing Agrarians began to meet regularly to discuss organizing resistance groups and planning for the future. After Dr. Edward Benes, the "resigned-and-still-president" of CzechoSlovakia, concluded the so-called "Czechoslovak-Soviet Treaty" in Moscow, on December 12, 1943, the left-wing Slovak Agrarians (Lettrich's group) got together with the Slovak Communists (the Schmidke-Husak group) to conclude the "Christmas Agreement" of 1943, whereby they created a "common political leadership" under the name of the "Slovak National Council" and declared "eternal friendship" for each other. The Slovak National Council, they declared, is "the one and only representative of the political will of the Slovak nation" and the "body supreme" as far as the affairs of Slovakia were concerned. These Slovak Agrarians, later re-christened to Slovak "Democrats," united with the Slovak Communists to collaborate with Moscow in the destruction of the Slovak Republic and in the establishment of a "new" Czecho-Slovak democracy, a "people's democratic State." From available accounts, it is quite evident that there were differences of opinion among the Husak Communists and the Lettrich "Democrats" as far as the future of Slovakia was concerned. Slovak Communists did not care whether Slovakia became a Soviet Republic or remained within the framework of Czecho-Slovakia, as a unit of a federative system, as long as it was governed by them. Lettrich's "Democrats" - the "Czechoslovaks" - how- �10 SLOVAKIA ever, did not have a clear-cut program; at times they knew not what they wanted or where they were really going. Some were for the relationship which existed prior to Munich, 1938, while others preferred that which existed after Munich, but prior to March 14, 1939, when the Slovak parliament declared Slovakia independent. The latter were for the federative system, which T. G. Masaryk and Edward Benes proposed for Czecho-Slovakia to the Allies in 1918 but never inaugurated. Communists in Slovakia were aware of the fact that the ovewhelming majority of the Slovak people resolutely opposed the conception of a "one-nation" Czecho-Slovakia, which the Benes Czechs propagated. They used this knowledge to gain supporters for their cause whenever an opportunity presented itself. It so happened when they repudiated the proclamation of the "London Government" of Dr. Edward Benes of June 30, 1943, which declared that the future of Czecho-Slovakia would rest on the conception of a "onenation" Czecho-Slovakia - a unified or united "Czechoslovak" nation. The Lettrich "Democrats" - the "Czechoslovaks" on the other hand, accepted the conception of an ethnic "Czechoslovak" nation of the Benes Czechs, even though they could not agree among themselves just what the relationship between the Czechs and the Slovaks should be like in the "new" Czecho-Slovakia. After Dr. Milan Hodza, former premier of Czecho-Slovakia, parted with Benes, many of them had lost faith in the president who resigned and then made himself president again. Nevertheless, they sided with Benes, because he was recognized both by the democratic' powers and the USSR. Like the Communists, the Lettrich "Democrats" hated the Tiso regime, which was thoroughly Christian and as democratic as it possibly could be under the circumstances; like the Communists they were not interested in a truly democratic Slovak State, because they knew they could never becoming ruling figures in it by the free will of the Slovak people. So, the Lettrich "Democrats" decided to go along with the Communists, proclaiming the establishment of a �SLOVAKIA 11 "new" Czecho-Slovakia as one of their chief aims, based, of course, on the spirit and the letter of the Treaty of December 12, 1943, which Benes had concluded with the Soviet Union and by which not only the Slovaks, but also the Czechs were formally sold out to the men of the Kremlin. The right of Benes to conclude such a treaty might be justly questioned, since the nations of Czecho-Slovakia had not authorized him to act in their behalf after his resignation as president in 1938, but that would be of little consequence today. The overwhelming majority of the Slovak people, with its political and religious leadership - the followers of Andrew Hlinka and Martin Razus - was definitely for a Christian, democratic, independent Slovak State, a Slovakia free of all foreign domination and rid of all Communists. It still is for such a State today. The Red Front Approaches Slovakia After concluding the "Christmas Agreement" of 1943, the Lettrich "Democrats" and the Husak Communists, began to discuss the matter of an armed putsch or revolt. In April, 1944, Dr. Vavro Srobar, one of the oldest and most intimate friends of Dr. Edward Benes in Slovakia, asked Benes what the Slovaks should do in the event that Hungary would quit the war and join the Allies, and/ or in the event that Germany should occupy Slovakia. Benes strongly advised an open revolt in his reply, because this, he said, would enable a speedy occupation of Slovakia by the Soviet Army. Dr. Joseph Tiso, President of Slovakia, and the Slovak Government, including Slovak military leaders, had other plans. They did not want Slovakia to become an open battleground ; they tried to spare their people from the horrors of war. To avoid unnecessary bloodshed and occupation by the German and Soviet armies, they thought it best if the Slovak Army would take over the Government of Slovakia at the opportune moment. The "opportune moment" - it was understood - meant the fall of Cracow on the North, or the fall ·of Miskovec in the South. When that happened, the Slovak Army was to occupy the borders of Slovakia; �12 SLOVAKIA then the Slovak Government would step out in favor of the Army which, with the help of political parties, would form a new government, temporarily, which, in turn, would tie up with the United Nations, especially the West. Since the Slovak Government at that time had no contact with the West, thanks to Dr. Benes's refusal to deal with it, it tried to inform the West BJbout its plan through the USSR, even though it did so with great misgivings. General Augustine Malar personally contacted the Soviet Military Staff in the Ukraine, revealed the plan at least partly, and requested, in the name of the Slovak Government, that the Soviets and the Western Allies agree to this plan of action and also recognize the political independence of Slovakia. Malar, respecting the advice of the Slovak Government, wisely omitted to say anything about Slovakia's intention of joining the West. In reply, the Soviets said that they had not planned on penetrating through Slovakia; they were willing to recognize the political independence of Slovakia, as they already had in 1939, but steadfastly refused to agree on the point that military operations in Slovakia should be undertaken by the Slovak Army alone. It was quite obvious already then that the USSR wanted to occupy Slovakia for political reasons. The story of General Mala.r's contact with the Soviet Military on December 17, 1943, was told during the trial of Dr. Joseph Tiso and members of the 'Slovak Government (19461947) before the National Court in Bratislava. About the end of June the Slovak National Council decided to send a delegation to Moscow to inform Stalin of its plans and to petition the Soviets to include Slovakia in their plan of operations. Karol Schmidke and General Nicholas Ferjencik were selected to make the trip. Because of "technical" reasons, they did not undertake the trip until August 4, 1944. Ferjencik, now enjoying political asylum in America, could easily give us the details of that meeting, if he desired to do so. The partisans engaged in terroristic acts rather regularly at the end of July and the beginning of August, 1944. When they seized the command of several garrisons in �SLOVAKIA 13 central Slovakia and murdered many persons in that section of the country, General Malar, to save the situation, appealed to the Army in a radio broadcast not to be taken in by partisan rumors, not to join the partisans, because "our time has not yet arrived . . . When it does come, then we shall all pull at the same end of the rope." The terroristic acts of the partisans alarmed even Lt. Col. Golian, to whom Benes had entrusted the military preparations and operations of the "resistance" in Slovakia. G-Olian demanded that the partisans subordinate their activity to his command, the "authorized" military command of the "illegal" forces. Velicko, commander of the Soviet partisans, informed Golian that he would do so, but continued on his own any way. Angered and frustrated, Golian sent Lt. Col. Manica, August 20, 1944, with a request that Velicko order the partisans to cease their activities, otherwise the Germans would surely intervene. Velicko, however, disregarded the request and his .partisans continued to spread terror and violence in central and eastern Slovakia. The terroristic acts of the partisans created a very difficult situation for President Tiso and the Slovak Government. They did what they could to keep the German Army from occupying Slovakia. They explained that the disturbances were not widespread or "national," but local, and that the Slovak Army was capable of handling them and restoring order. The Germans, however, were reluctant to believe the Slovaks, especially after the murder of General Otto and his military mission at Banska Bystrica, August 27, 1944. Hitler's Wehrmacht began to occupy Slovakia, and the Slovaks really were in for the worst. The uprising, in which the Lettrich "Democrats" and the Communists collaborated fully to the joy of Moscow, was responsible for the Germans occupying Slovalkia in 1944. Why August 29, 1944? Benes Czechs, Lettrich "Democrats" and Schmidke Communists had told us - and are still telling us - that the Slovak uprising began on August 29, 1944. Why was that partic'ular date selected, when they knew - as we know now, �14 8LOVAKIA because even they themselves admitted it - that the partisans committed terroristic acts before that date? They selected that date as the "official" date so that they could tell the world that President Tiso and the Slovak Government called or invited the German Army to Slovakia and thus cover up the fact that the distuvbances created by the partisans were really responsible for the occupation of Slovakia by the Germans. Lettrich, Husak, N ovomesky and other "leaders" of the uprising were not even in Banska Bystrica on August 29, 1944. The Slovak National Council did not issue its declaration of the revolt until September 1, 1944. When German military units began moving into Slovakia as a result of partisan terroristic activities, the leaders of the uprising resorted to lies to gain the support of the Slovak Army and the Slovak people. They said: the Germans were coming to occupy the whole of ,Slovakia; that President Tiso was murdered; that members of the Slovak Government were seized and taken to Germany, etc. The ruse, however, even thoogh at first it deceiived many in SlovaJki:a and abroad, failed to attain its objective. What happened in Slovakia prior t,o August 29, 1944? Partisans committed terroristic acts in eastern and central Slovakia for at least three or four weeks before that date. The situation grew so tense that the Slovak Government conitem.iplated declaring Martial La,w on August 1, 1944, but did not resort to it till later. On several occasions the Germans warned Tiso and the Slovak Government that if they could not cope with the situation and keep order in Slovakia, the German Army definitely would move in to make order. Tiso and the Slovak Government did what they could under the circumstances to restore order and, thereby, keep the Germans out of Slovakia. They knew that their plans for joining with western forces of the United Nations could not be realized if the Germans occupied Slovakia. The partisans, however, taking orders from Moscow and London, were not interested in preserving order; they were only interested in preparing the ground for the Red Army: After �SLOVAKIA 15 the latter occupied 'Slovakia, they figured they would take over all power in Slovakia. And they did. After the German front collapsed in Rumania, German diplomatic personnel - some thirty persons, including women and children - were hurriedly evacuated. Communist agents already were quite active in Slovakia, creating chaos and confusion and provoking incidents with Germany. The train carrying German diplomats from Bucharest was halted on the evening of August 26, 1944, at Turciansky Svaty Martin, Slovakia, by partisans. The passengers were told rather politely that it would be impossible for them to go farther, because of engine trouble. Quarters were arranged for them in the local barracks. The next morning the entire group was ordered into the barracks square by one Major Kuchta, lined up and mowed down with machine guns. It was thus that the military mission of General Otto perished. Two days later German troops came in force into Slovakia "to restore order." The partisans, of course, told the Slovaks that the German occupation was entirely ttnprovoked and that they now had to fight for their freedom, Tiso was murdered, etc., as mentioned above. Before that time, however, on August 20, 1944, Velicko and his .partisans were busy in Turiec requisitioning autos, robbing stores and farmers. During the night of August 24 a group of German field gendarmes were taken by surprise and shot while they slept in the Hotel Slavia in Vrutky. Turiec and vicinity were also terrorized and victimized by a group led by the sadistic Lutheran preacher Vojtech HruskaTerenyi, the Communist from Hungary who already back in 1919, as a young preacher, had participated in the Red revolt of Bela Kun (Cohen). Francis Slamen, member of the Slovak Assembly and chairman of the Slovak Christian Labor Union, was among several persons murdered in Brezno Natl Hronom, August 27, 1944. On August 28, 1944, partisan officers shot Col. Zverin and Col. Kanak of the Slovak Army in Banska Bystrica. In Liptovsky Svaty Mikulas they arrested Col. Kl'ucik, of the garrison there, and Lt. Frecer; later they murdered them. �16 SLOVAKIA Let's fight to the last drop of your blood! On September 1, 1944, the Slovak National Council, headed by "Democrat" Lettrich and Communist Schmidke, met in Banska Bystrica and immediately made August 29, 1944, the "official" date of the start of the Slovak uprising. Futhermore, they issued a declaration which stated that the Council was the body supreme in Slovakia, the only representative and authorized body in Slovakia which had the right to speak in the name of the Slovak nation. The Slovak National Council was composed of Lettrich "Democrats" and Schmidke-Hus a:k Communists (-50-50); Dr. Joseph Lettrich was chairman and Karol Schmidke co-chairman of the Council. On September 5, 1944, during its first "solemn" session, the so-called Slovak National Council sent two telegrams: one to Stalin, the other to Benes. The Stalin telegram read as follows (translated from the Slovak): Josip Visarionovic ,Stalin Marshal of the USSR Moscow, Kremlin The Slovak National Council sends You and the nations of the Soviet Union from its solemn session its most cordial greetings and thanks You for the understanding which You have manifested for our fight of liberation, waged against the common enemy. Glory to the victorious Red Army! Banska Bystrica, September 5, 1944 The Slovak National Council It is significant that the Council made up of Communists and the Lettrich "Democrats" sent no greeting at that time either to the President of the United States or the King of England, who apparently did not rate. The Slovak National Council called in all reservists and ordered full mobilization. The response was poor; not many Slovaks answered the call voluntarily. The Council had to rest satisfied with those it could force to bear arms against their country in the area held by the partisans, a few districts in central and eastern Slovakia. A part of the Trnava garrison, led by John Benko, defected and joined the partisans; General Mala.r's divisions, however, refused to join. The German forces, led by Gen. Berger and Gen. iHoffle, soon encircled the partisan putschists. The heaviest fighting �SLOVAKIA 17 took place near Telgart, Cremosne, Dubrava and Kremnicka, during which some 4,000 were killed. The partisans, who had taken to the hills and mountains of Slovakia before the Germans moved in, soon realized that their situation was quite hopeless. They lacked men and material to cope with the situation they had created. And promised help from the USSR and from Benes in London did not materialize to any noticeaible extent. Sporadic skirmishes continued for about two months; by the end of October the Communist-inspired "national" uprising in Slovakia was completely liquidated. Of course, the press of the USSR and the "Czechoslovak Press Bureau (CTK) of Dr. Benes in London supplied the world press, including our own OWI, with sensational fabrications; reports which told of the glorious and valiant stand of the Slovak nation which fought to renew the CzechoSlovak Republic - a "new" Republic, a Czecho-.Slovakia which would be a "people's" democracy - and shed its blood so that Benes might be president again; reports which told the world that the partisans had one third, then one-half and, later, almost the whole of Slovakia under their control after a week or two of "furious" fighting. Balderdash! The partisans fought in the fashion of partisans; there were practically no open, regular battles, but only sporadic skirmishes and attacks. When the "heroic" commanders of the partisan units saw that the situation was hopeless, they flew out of Slovakia into the USSR in planes that were ready just for such an eventuality. Talsky, a Czech and commander of the "eastern front" who was supposed to join with the Red Army at the opportune moment, flew to the USSR, leaving his "army" behind; there he was promptly arrested as a deserter. Generals Golian and Viest, officers who defected from the Slovak Army and joined the partisans, were ready to leave the scene of the "glorious" revolt, when their own soldiers blew up their plane with grenades. Viest and Golian hid themselves in a certain village, but were betrayed by their own men when the Germans sought them. Captured, they were taken to Germany and later shot. �18 SLOVAKIA The charact.er of the, -si.ovak uprising The Slovak National Council was busy issuing decrees to terrorize the vast masses of the Slovak population. It decreed the dissolution of the IIlinka Slovak People's Party, the German Party, and the Magyar Christian Social Party; ecclesiastical properties and institutions were nationalized and confiscated; a concentration camp was established at Slovenska Lupca, where over 700 victims were held to await partisan "justice." Partisan "people's" courts were quickly set up at Sklabina, Kunerad and elsewhere. Thousands of Slovaks were arbitrarily convicted and jailed; hundreds were liquidated without a hearing. The 1944 uprising in Slovakia pad all the earmarks of a bolshevik rebellion: partisans w~re :r:ed kerchiefs round their necks, Lenin goatees, and a rosary of grenades around their belts. They robbed and raped, plundered and murdered wherever they went. They forced priests to act friendly towards them, bless their weapons and even read the Holy Mass for the success of their diabolical venture. If a priest hesitated or refused to follow their orders, he was beaten, threatened with shooting or actually. shot. Joseph and Andrew Kocalko from Sucany, father and son respectively, were beaten to death beyond recognition by Hruska-Terenyi and his men. The father had spent quite a number of years in America. The Communist Lutheran preacher, Vojtech Hruska-Terenyi, and Jersov, a ·Russian professor, killed 147 Slovaks and buried them in a mass grave at Sklabina. Hruska-Terenyi was judge, jury and executioner. Those whom he sentenced to death had to strip down to their underclothes and march to the foot of the forest in Sklabina. There each victim was given a spade to dig his own grave. Some of the victims cracked under the ordeal and were shot forthwith; the rest kept digging slowly until Jersov blew his whistle and machine guns mowed them down into their shallow graves. The bodies of the hopeless victims were covered with twigs and a little dirt. The mass grave at Sklabina was uncovered in November 1944. Many of the victims had a bullet hole back of the neck. �SLOVAKIA 19 Among the priests who were murdered there were: Rev. Anthony Salat, member of the Slovak Parliament and pastor of the Catholic congregation at Hajniky; Rev. Martinka of Liptovsky Svaty Michal; Rev. John Nemec of Zavadka; Rev. Sedo of Liptovsky Svaty Jan. In Povazska Bystrica, -a theologian named Milan was also murdered. I might note here for the record that the Communists and Lettrich "Democrats" joyously celebrated the "silver anniversary" of the invasion of Slovakia by the bolshevik hordes of Bela Kun from Hungary during the uprising of 1944 - the first time any one in Slovakia made a hero of the Magyar Communist revolutionary who murdered Slovaks, pillaged their lands and destroyed their homes! Need any more be said about the character of the Slovak uprising of 1944? I might add, too, that the same Slovak National Council of Lettrich "Democrats" and Schmidke-Husak Communists was making extensive preparations to celebrate "Czechoslovak Independence Day" on October 28, 1944, as it never had been celebrated before, but the events that followed the terroristic acts of the partisans forestalled the celebration. Mass murders and mass graves We have heard of mass murders and mass graves· i'n Poland (Katyn Forest), the Ukraine (Vinnitsia), and elsewhere, but little or nothing about those in Slovakia. In Slovakia mass graves have been uncovered in Micinska Dolina, Sklene, Podsucha, Pusty Hrad, in the Prievidza Valley, Lucivna, Sklabina, Kunerad, L'ubietova; also in the vicinity of Kovacova, Ruzomberok, Zvolen, Humenne, Bosany, and Tri Vody. There is also a mass grave near Petrzalka, but this one came into being after the occupation of Bratislava by the Red Army in the spring of 1945. The partisans were responsible for most of the murders and mass graves. During the trial of President Tiso in 1947, the prosecution stated that some 4,316 persons were buried in mass graves and blamed Tiso and the Slovak Government for them for obvious reasons. There is, of course, no way of ascertaining whether that figure is accurate or not. A thorough investigation would probably at least double it. �20 SLOVAKIA Why the putsch failed When Generals Golian and Viest were apprehended by the Germans, after their own soldiers had betrayed their hidingplace, they declared that the "uprising" had failed, because: 1. low morale prevailed in the army; soldiers had no desire to fight for a "new" Czecho-Slovakia or the USSR; · and they did not want to destroy their own State and their own Government; 2. partisan provocateurs and saboteurs had absolutely no respect or regard for the feelings of the Slovak people; they were beyond the law, brutal and reckless; 3. the Germans sent captured soldiers home, after disarming and a hearing them; 4. the partisan army lacked capable leadership; 5. communications were bad; 6. the Slovak population was hostile to the partisans and their cause; 7. little help came from the USSR and the West (Benes); 8. the Red Army was not ready to march into Slovakia; 9. the partisans did not have sufficient food, munition, guns and planes ; 10. thousands of men deserted. Conclusions From the above it is evident that the Slovak uprising of August, 1944, was not national in character; it did not have the backing of the vast ma,sses of the Slovak population. It was Communist-inspired and led; it was engineered by the Reds in Moscow and London, with the participation of Benes, without regard to the interests of the Slovak people. The partisans, no matter what their origin, were guilty of the most horrible crimes. The Communist-inspired putsch of 1944 brought terror and chaos, destruction and death, misery and Red enslavement to Slovakia. In reality, the Slovak uprising of 1944 was a "Warsaw" in miniature. Only the Communists and Moscow profited from it. Slovak Communists, Lettrich "Democrats" and Benes Czechs profited from it, but only temporarily. Together they celebrated the "great and lasting achievements" of that massacre, glorifying Stalin, the USSR, the Red Army and Benes, until February 25, 1948. And they still celebrate it today; of course, not with the Communists, nor in the same fashion as they did �SLOVAKIA 21 prior to 1948. Those that were lucky enough to escape the hell they helped to create in Slovakia, that is. What fools they be, and what fools are we, if we continue to believe their version of the horrible massacre of the Slovak people in 1944, if we continue to trust them. The blood of thousands and thousands of innocent victims in mass graves of Slovakia cries to heaven for vengeance against them. Patriotic Slovaks everywhere do commemorate the Communist-inspired Slovak uprising of 1944, but not in the manner of the Benes Czechs, Lettrich "Democrats" and the Communists. Recalling the uprising as one of the darkest chapters in their history, which brought death and destruction and Red enslavement to their country, good Slovaks bow their heads reverently in prayer for the victims of that massacre and ask the almighty and just God to speed the day of judgment for all who were responsible for it and, too, that in His mercy He might also speed the day of liberation of their nation from the Godless, ruthless rule of Moscow and from all foreign domination. I firmly believe that it is in the highest interests of America and the rest of the free world that they lend a willing ear to the story patriotic Slovaks have to tell not only about the uprising of 1944, but also about the political mess that was Czecho-Slovakia, prior to Munich and after the "liberation" in 1945. I cannot and will not believe that our State Department, the U. S. Infonnation Agency (Voice of America), other U. S. government agencies, and the Free Europe Committee (Radio Free Europe) are working in the interests of America and the rest of the free world, when they serve and promote the interests of the Benes Czechs and the Lettrich "Democrats" who collaiborated with the Communists and the USSR as members of the National Front government of the BenesGottwald coalition. Benes Czechs and Lettrich "Democrats" - now members of the so-called "Council of Free Czechoslovakia" operating out of Washington and New York - are gradually coming to the point of openly admitting that collaboration �22 SLOV.AK[A with Communists does not pay, that the history of CzechoSlovakia is clear proof of what attempted co-existence with Communists leads to. But they still are loath to admit that they did colla,borate with Communists and the USSR, that they did promote the pro-Soviet policy of Dr. Edward Benes and, hence, are in a large measure responsible for the present terrible plight of the peoples of CzechoJSlovakia. And they still insist on spreading the legend about the Slovak up~ rising which was fabricated by Moscow and the LettrichSchmidke Slovak National Council. Jfow, then, can we believe that they have really broken completely with the past? • • • WHO SAID IT? "The post~war economic changes in Czechoslovakia some of them revolutionary in tiheir scope but none of them an entirely new departure in CzechoslO'Vak history - have occurred with a minimum of political friction. It seems to have been generally understood that the rebuilding of capital and the recovery of ;production were the national needs, rather than a revhnal of the conflict of ideologies which paved the way to the Second World War. For these objectives, all political parties were willing to work together. Czechoslovakia has a Communist Party which accepts joint power with non-Communist parties; its second Marxist party the Social Democrats, works ~ith non-Socialists. The other Czech parties, non-Communist but not anti-Communist, are equally willing to cooperate with the Communist Party. The Slovak Democratic Party alone contains elements of irreconcilable opposition to the Communists, with the result that it is the weatl{est linlk in the National Front. There are no deiiinitely anti-Communist parties; these were all liquidated as a result of their pre-war and wartime activities. 'I'his coHalboration of Communists, socialists and liberals in a National Front Government has boon a condition (William Diamond, Czechoslovaof post-was process." kia Between East and West, 1947, !Stevens and Sons, Ltd., London ; p. 233) . � 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 THE SWVAK UPRISING OF AUGUST 1944 Philip A. Hrobak Much has been said and written about the "Slovak Uprising" of August 1944, by the Benes Czechs (Socialists), the "Czechoslovaks" (Slovaks in the pay of Benes Czechs), and the Communists. Their versions of the uprising have been widely publicized and have been accepted as true, it seems, even by our State Department (Voice of America) and the Free Europe Committee (Radio Free Europe). Of course, patriotic Slovaks also have said and written much about the uprising which brought terror and confusion, death and destruction, and the German Army to thier land. But their story of that massacre, mass murders, and mass graves, has not been given publicity and has not been accepted as true by our State Department and the Free Europe Committee. Why? It seems simply for political reasons. To me it is plainly clear that forces are at work to prevent Americans and the rest of the free world from getting the true version, all the availa;ble facts, about the Slovak uprising of August 1944. After the uprising in Slovakia got under way "officially" on August 29, 1944, Dr. Edward Benes, the Lettrich "Democrats," the Husak Communists, and Moscow - all in unison - proclaimed it a spontaneous action of the Slovak nation and labeled it as the "Slovak National Uprising," which, they said would be inscribed in the history of the Slovak people with golden letters. They told us then - and keep telling us even today - that the uprising was thoroughly planned, well-timed and perfectly executed. It is true that the Lettrich "Democrats" and the Benes Czechs have given various "modifications" of their original story about the uprising since February 25, 1948, when they suddenly became "democratic and anti-Communist," but they still have not given us the whole truth, all the facts as they know them. Since they have admitted that they organized the Slovak uprising of August 1944 with the Communists, they undoubtedly do know the facts, but for obvious reasons are not willing to reveal them even today. SLOVAKIA 5 "National Fronters" in America As late as August 29, 1954, in a letter published in the NEW YORK TIMES, recalling the "Slovak Uprising" of 1944, the signatories - Josef Lettrich, Matej Josko and Juraj Slavik (Slova:ks in the pay of Benes Czechs, regarded as traitors by all truly patriotic Slovaks), and Adolf Klimek and Peter Zenkl (Benes Czechs who promoted the pro-Soviet policy of Dr. Edward Benes and were members of his Communits-dominated National Front government) - tell us: 1. The Slovak people did not want to be independent; independence was forced on them by Hitler. 2. The Slova,k people rose in armed revolt against the German Army and against the Slovak Government. 3. More than 70,000 soldiers and 12,000 partisans participated in the uprising of 1944. 4. The great majority of the fighters in this uprising and their lea,dership were of democratic, Western orientation. 5. The Slovak fighters manifested by their action their "Czechoslovwk" patriotism and "democratic" beliefs. 6. Even French partisans fought on the side of the Slovak partisans. The letter proves beyond a shadow of doubt that the Benes Czechs and their Slovak stooges have not changed their program or amended their ways. They still insist on spreading the legend about the Slovak uprising which was fabricated in Moscow and propagated by the Communists under Karol Schmidke and the so-called "Democrats" (formerly Agrarians) under Josef Lettrich after the uprising was under way. Ten years after the horrible massacre and betrayal of the Slovak people by the Husak Communists, the Lettrich "Democrats," and the Benes Czechs, the signers of the TIMES letter would still have Americans believe the lie that the Slovaks did not want to be free and independent, but preferred to be dominated and exploited by the Czechs and, therefore, the Slovak nation rose up spontaneously in armed 6 SLOVAKIA revolt against its own State and against its own Government. How stupid do they think Americans are? Yes, how stupid must they think we are, since our own State Department, the U. S. Information Agency (Voice of America), and the Free Europe Committee (Radio Free Europe) still faH for their line and even help propagate the same lie? Lettrich and Josko must know the truth about the Slovak uprising, because they played an active role in it. The other three signatories did not participate actively and directly, as far as I could ascertain. All of them, however, and others of the so-called "Council of Free Czechoslovak ia" which operates out of Washington and New York, do claim credit for the Communist-in spired .putsch of 1944 which they prefer to call - even as the Commu~ists do - the "Slovak National Uprising." Lettrich and Josko do not want to divulge the truth about the uprising, because they would rather not implicate themselves. But the irrefutable fact remains that they were deeply implicated in the Communist-in spired putsch which claimed the lives of some 70,000 Slovaks, resulted in mass murders and mass graves, and brought the German Army into Slovakia. Moscow Brigades in Slovakia Furthermore, it is a matter of record that up to February 25, 1948, the Benes Czechs and the Lettrich "Democrats" ("Czechoslova ks") celebrated the Slovak uprising annually in the same fashion as the Communists of Slovakia, glorifying the Slovak partisans under Communist Schmidke and the Soviet partisans under Velicko of the USSR, the "great and glorious achievements " of the revolt, the wisdom and leadership of Stalin, and the heroic deeds of the USSR and the Red Army, which led to the "liberation" of the Slovak nation and the Czecho-Slovak Republic. Together with the Communists they claimed credit for the "Slovak National Uprising" - and even today claim credit for it, though not together with the Communists. And patriotic, democratic Slovaks everywhere did and still do give them full credit for all the terroristic acts, mass murders and mass graves, indescribable crimes and terror, SLOVAKIA 7 misery and Red enslavement that ensued. They hold them fully responsible for it. When the Benes Czechs and the Lettrich ",Democrats" persist in upholding the lie that the '~Slov-ak people rose in armed revolt against the German Army and against the Slovak Government," they are deliberately concealing the facts. They certainly must know that the German Army came into Slovakia only after the partisans had captured several army garrisons in central Slovakia and began terrorizing and murdering the population. And they certainly could not have forgotten the slogans used and the contents of the broadcasts made by the partisans at that time. If their memory is conveniently failing them, I might suggest that they refresh it by reading their own publications (CAS; NOVE CASY, 1944, London; PARTIZANI NA SLOVENSKU; NAD TATROU SA BL"'2'"1SKA; SLOBODNE CESKOSLOVENSKO; NARODNA OBRODA; etc.). I have it from reliable sources that no more than 35,000 sol~iers of the Slovak Army participated in the uprising the majority of whom were forced to fight on the side of the partisans against their own State and against their own government by the partisans and Red commanders of the USSR. But the Benes Czechs and the Lettrich "Democrats" - like the Communists - still tell us that the figure was 70,000 so that the uprising might appear as "national" in character. Furthermore, they state that 12,000 partisans participated in the Slovak uprising of 1944, in which "even French partisans fought on the side of the Slovak partisans," but conveniently omit to say that the Slovak partisans were led by the Communist Karol Schmidke, the Soviet partisans by Velicko of the USSR, while French partisans naturally were led by a French Communist. Indeed, it would not surprise me at all, if we eventually learned that other "international brigades" also participated in the 1944 putsch in Slovakia! I simply cannot believe that the Benes Czechs and the Lettrich "Democrats" have forgotten that various units of the rebel army were commanded by Soviet military men who were subordinate to the Soviet Chief of Staff in Kyjev, among whom were: Jegorov, Osmolov, Sukajev, Sadilenko, 8 SLOVAKIA Volkov, Smirnov, Krajuskin, Popov, Kolesnikov, Arsenev, Surkov, Solosenko, Cernogorov, Vysocky, Krasiev-Stepanov, and Poliakov. What, then, is the purpose of the balderdash that "the great majority of the fighters in this uprising and their leadership were of democratic, Western orientation"? After being accorded political asylum in America, why should Benes Czechs and Lettrich "Democrats" still want to deceive Americans in 1954? By their actions did they not then, and are they not now manifesting - like the "Slovak fighters" of the 1944 uprising - their "Czechoslovak" patriotism and "democratic" beliefs? Indeed, something that requires more looking into! Is it any wonder then that informed Americans, together with our good Slovak friends behind the Iron Curtain and in exile, are rudely shocked and thoroughly indignant, because our State Department, the U.S. Information Agency (Voice of America), and the Free Europe Committee (Radio Free Europe) not only permit, but even help the Benes Czechs and the Lettrich "Democrats" deceive the American public and the rest of the free world? Lettrich and J osko could also tell us a bit about the background of the uprising of 1944, if they only wanted to - something of the events which preceded and the people who prepared the ground for the horrible massacre of the Slovaks in 1944, especially the agreements between the Lettrich "Democrats" and the Schmidke ...Husak Communists which were negotiated on December 25, 1943, and on June 26, 1945, and called for the closest collaboration between the parties concerned and the USSR. They negotiated and signed those agreements! The situation prior to 1944 Until about the end of 1942, there were no "illegal" groups in Slovakia, that is, active resistance groups. To the fall of Stalingrad, Slovak Communists used to meet socially with Slovak Czechs ("Czechoslovaks" - followers of Dr. Edward Benes's "one-nation" theory and his pro-Soviet policy). This was not connected with any hazards. The Slovak Government was aware of this, but did nothing to prevent SLOVAKIA 9 their social meetings. The Communist Party had been outlawed in 1938 by the autonomous Slovak Government, but individual members were not persecuted or interned just because they were Communists. Some Communists and many Lettrich "Democrats" held government positions and other well-paying jobs. In 1943, two Moscow-trained Communists, Karol Schmidke, a Silesian half-German, and the Czech Karol Bacilek, were parachuted into Slova:kia by the Soviets to organize and direct illegal activities. But it was not until the end of that year that the Slovak Communists and left-wing Agrarians began to meet regularly to discuss organizing resistance groups and planning for the future. After Dr. Edward Benes, the "resigned-and-still-president" of CzechoSlovakia, concluded the so-called "Czechoslovak-Soviet Treaty" in Moscow, on December 12, 1943, the left-wing Slovak Agrarians (Lettrich's group) got together with the Slovak Communists (the Schmidke-Husak group) to conclude the "Christmas Agreement" of 1943, whereby they created a "common political leadership" under the name of the "Slovak National Council" and declared "eternal friendship" for each other. The Slovak National Council, they declared, is "the one and only representative of the political will of the Slovak nation" and the "body supreme" as far as the affairs of Slovakia were concerned. These Slovak Agrarians, later re-christened to Slovak "Democrats," united with the Slovak Communists to collaborate with Moscow in the destruction of the Slovak Republic and in the establishment of a "new" Czecho-Slovak democracy, a "people's democratic State." From available accounts, it is quite evident that there were differences of opinion among the Husak Communists and the Lettrich "Democrats" as far as the future of Slovakia was concerned. Slovak Communists did not care whether Slovakia became a Soviet Republic or remained within the framework of Czecho-Slovakia, as a unit of a federative system, as long as it was governed by them. Lettrich's "Democrats" - the "Czechoslovaks" - how- 10 SLOVAKIA ever, did not have a clear-cut program; at times they knew not what they wanted or where they were really going. Some were for the relationship which existed prior to Munich, 1938, while others preferred that which existed after Munich, but prior to March 14, 1939, when the Slovak parliament declared Slovakia independent. The latter were for the federative system, which T. G. Masaryk and Edward Benes proposed for Czecho-Slovakia to the Allies in 1918 but never inaugurated. Communists in Slovakia were aware of the fact that the ovewhelming majority of the Slovak people resolutely opposed the conception of a "one-nation" Czecho-Slovakia, which the Benes Czechs propagated. They used this knowledge to gain supporters for their cause whenever an opportunity presented itself. It so happened when they repudiated the proclamation of the "London Government" of Dr. Edward Benes of June 30, 1943, which declared that the future of Czecho-Slovakia would rest on the conception of a "onenation" Czecho-Slovakia - a unified or united "Czechoslovak" nation. The Lettrich "Democrats" - the "Czechoslovaks" on the other hand, accepted the conception of an ethnic "Czechoslovak" nation of the Benes Czechs, even though they could not agree among themselves just what the relationship between the Czechs and the Slovaks should be like in the "new" Czecho-Slovakia. After Dr. Milan Hodza, former premier of Czecho-Slovakia, parted with Benes, many of them had lost faith in the president who resigned and then made himself president again. Nevertheless, they sided with Benes, because he was recognized both by the democratic' powers and the USSR. Like the Communists, the Lettrich "Democrats" hated the Tiso regime, which was thoroughly Christian and as democratic as it possibly could be under the circumstances; like the Communists they were not interested in a truly democratic Slovak State, because they knew they could never becoming ruling figures in it by the free will of the Slovak people. So, the Lettrich "Democrats" decided to go along with the Communists, proclaiming the establishment of a SLOVAKIA 11 "new" Czecho-Slovakia as one of their chief aims, based, of course, on the spirit and the letter of the Treaty of December 12, 1943, which Benes had concluded with the Soviet Union and by which not only the Slovaks, but also the Czechs were formally sold out to the men of the Kremlin. The right of Benes to conclude such a treaty might be justly questioned, since the nations of Czecho-Slovakia had not authorized him to act in their behalf after his resignation as president in 1938, but that would be of little consequence today. The overwhelming majority of the Slovak people, with its political and religious leadership - the followers of Andrew Hlinka and Martin Razus - was definitely for a Christian, democratic, independent Slovak State, a Slovakia free of all foreign domination and rid of all Communists. It still is for such a State today. The Red Front Approaches Slovakia After concluding the "Christmas Agreement" of 1943, the Lettrich "Democrats" and the Husak Communists, began to discuss the matter of an armed putsch or revolt. In April, 1944, Dr. Vavro Srobar, one of the oldest and most intimate friends of Dr. Edward Benes in Slovakia, asked Benes what the Slovaks should do in the event that Hungary would quit the war and join the Allies, and/ or in the event that Germany should occupy Slovakia. Benes strongly advised an open revolt in his reply, because this, he said, would enable a speedy occupation of Slovakia by the Soviet Army. Dr. Joseph Tiso, President of Slovakia, and the Slovak Government, including Slovak military leaders, had other plans. They did not want Slovakia to become an open battleground ; they tried to spare their people from the horrors of war. To avoid unnecessary bloodshed and occupation by the German and Soviet armies, they thought it best if the Slovak Army would take over the Government of Slovakia at the opportune moment. The "opportune moment" - it was understood - meant the fall of Cracow on the North, or the fall ·of Miskovec in the South. When that happened, the Slovak Army was to occupy the borders of Slovakia; 12 SLOVAKIA then the Slovak Government would step out in favor of the Army which, with the help of political parties, would form a new government, temporarily, which, in turn, would tie up with the United Nations, especially the West. Since the Slovak Government at that time had no contact with the West, thanks to Dr. Benes's refusal to deal with it, it tried to inform the West BJbout its plan through the USSR, even though it did so with great misgivings. General Augustine Malar personally contacted the Soviet Military Staff in the Ukraine, revealed the plan at least partly, and requested, in the name of the Slovak Government, that the Soviets and the Western Allies agree to this plan of action and also recognize the political independence of Slovakia. Malar, respecting the advice of the Slovak Government, wisely omitted to say anything about Slovakia's intention of joining the West. In reply, the Soviets said that they had not planned on penetrating through Slovakia; they were willing to recognize the political independence of Slovakia, as they already had in 1939, but steadfastly refused to agree on the point that military operations in Slovakia should be undertaken by the Slovak Army alone. It was quite obvious already then that the USSR wanted to occupy Slovakia for political reasons. The story of General Mala.r's contact with the Soviet Military on December 17, 1943, was told during the trial of Dr. Joseph Tiso and members of the 'Slovak Government (19461947) before the National Court in Bratislava. About the end of June the Slovak National Council decided to send a delegation to Moscow to inform Stalin of its plans and to petition the Soviets to include Slovakia in their plan of operations. Karol Schmidke and General Nicholas Ferjencik were selected to make the trip. Because of "technical" reasons, they did not undertake the trip until August 4, 1944. Ferjencik, now enjoying political asylum in America, could easily give us the details of that meeting, if he desired to do so. The partisans engaged in terroristic acts rather regularly at the end of July and the beginning of August, 1944. When they seized the command of several garrisons in SLOVAKIA 13 central Slovakia and murdered many persons in that section of the country, General Malar, to save the situation, appealed to the Army in a radio broadcast not to be taken in by partisan rumors, not to join the partisans, because "our time has not yet arrived . . . When it does come, then we shall all pull at the same end of the rope." The terroristic acts of the partisans alarmed even Lt. Col. Golian, to whom Benes had entrusted the military preparations and operations of the "resistance" in Slovakia. G-Olian demanded that the partisans subordinate their activity to his command, the "authorized" military command of the "illegal" forces. Velicko, commander of the Soviet partisans, informed Golian that he would do so, but continued on his own any way. Angered and frustrated, Golian sent Lt. Col. Manica, August 20, 1944, with a request that Velicko order the partisans to cease their activities, otherwise the Germans would surely intervene. Velicko, however, disregarded the request and his .partisans continued to spread terror and violence in central and eastern Slovakia. The terroristic acts of the partisans created a very difficult situation for President Tiso and the Slovak Government. They did what they could to keep the German Army from occupying Slovakia. They explained that the disturbances were not widespread or "national," but local, and that the Slovak Army was capable of handling them and restoring order. The Germans, however, were reluctant to believe the Slovaks, especially after the murder of General Otto and his military mission at Banska Bystrica, August 27, 1944. Hitler's Wehrmacht began to occupy Slovakia, and the Slovaks really were in for the worst. The uprising, in which the Lettrich "Democrats" and the Communists collaborated fully to the joy of Moscow, was responsible for the Germans occupying Slovalkia in 1944. Why August 29, 1944? Benes Czechs, Lettrich "Democrats" and Schmidke Communists had told us - and are still telling us - that the Slovak uprising began on August 29, 1944. Why was that partic'ular date selected, when they knew - as we know now, 14 8LOVAKIA because even they themselves admitted it - that the partisans committed terroristic acts before that date? They selected that date as the "official" date so that they could tell the world that President Tiso and the Slovak Government called or invited the German Army to Slovakia and thus cover up the fact that the distuvbances created by the partisans were really responsible for the occupation of Slovakia by the Germans. Lettrich, Husak, N ovomesky and other "leaders" of the uprising were not even in Banska Bystrica on August 29, 1944. The Slovak National Council did not issue its declaration of the revolt until September 1, 1944. When German military units began moving into Slovakia as a result of partisan terroristic activities, the leaders of the uprising resorted to lies to gain the support of the Slovak Army and the Slovak people. They said: the Germans were coming to occupy the whole of ,Slovakia; that President Tiso was murdered; that members of the Slovak Government were seized and taken to Germany, etc. The ruse, however, even thoogh at first it deceiived many in SlovaJki:a and abroad, failed to attain its objective. What happened in Slovakia prior t,o August 29, 1944? Partisans committed terroristic acts in eastern and central Slovakia for at least three or four weeks before that date. The situation grew so tense that the Slovak Government conitem.iplated declaring Martial La,w on August 1, 1944, but did not resort to it till later. On several occasions the Germans warned Tiso and the Slovak Government that if they could not cope with the situation and keep order in Slovakia, the German Army definitely would move in to make order. Tiso and the Slovak Government did what they could under the circumstances to restore order and, thereby, keep the Germans out of Slovakia. They knew that their plans for joining with western forces of the United Nations could not be realized if the Germans occupied Slovakia. The partisans, however, taking orders from Moscow and London, were not interested in preserving order; they were only interested in preparing the ground for the Red Army: After SLOVAKIA 15 the latter occupied 'Slovakia, they figured they would take over all power in Slovakia. And they did. After the German front collapsed in Rumania, German diplomatic personnel - some thirty persons, including women and children - were hurriedly evacuated. Communist agents already were quite active in Slovakia, creating chaos and confusion and provoking incidents with Germany. The train carrying German diplomats from Bucharest was halted on the evening of August 26, 1944, at Turciansky Svaty Martin, Slovakia, by partisans. The passengers were told rather politely that it would be impossible for them to go farther, because of engine trouble. Quarters were arranged for them in the local barracks. The next morning the entire group was ordered into the barracks square by one Major Kuchta, lined up and mowed down with machine guns. It was thus that the military mission of General Otto perished. Two days later German troops came in force into Slovakia "to restore order." The partisans, of course, told the Slovaks that the German occupation was entirely ttnprovoked and that they now had to fight for their freedom, Tiso was murdered, etc., as mentioned above. Before that time, however, on August 20, 1944, Velicko and his .partisans were busy in Turiec requisitioning autos, robbing stores and farmers. During the night of August 24 a group of German field gendarmes were taken by surprise and shot while they slept in the Hotel Slavia in Vrutky. Turiec and vicinity were also terrorized and victimized by a group led by the sadistic Lutheran preacher Vojtech HruskaTerenyi, the Communist from Hungary who already back in 1919, as a young preacher, had participated in the Red revolt of Bela Kun (Cohen). Francis Slamen, member of the Slovak Assembly and chairman of the Slovak Christian Labor Union, was among several persons murdered in Brezno Natl Hronom, August 27, 1944. On August 28, 1944, partisan officers shot Col. Zverin and Col. Kanak of the Slovak Army in Banska Bystrica. In Liptovsky Svaty Mikulas they arrested Col. Kl'ucik, of the garrison there, and Lt. Frecer; later they murdered them. 16 SLOVAKIA Let's fight to the last drop of your blood! On September 1, 1944, the Slovak National Council, headed by "Democrat" Lettrich and Communist Schmidke, met in Banska Bystrica and immediately made August 29, 1944, the "official" date of the start of the Slovak uprising. Futhermore, they issued a declaration which stated that the Council was the body supreme in Slovakia, the only representative and authorized body in Slovakia which had the right to speak in the name of the Slovak nation. The Slovak National Council was composed of Lettrich "Democrats" and Schmidke-Hus a:k Communists (-50-50); Dr. Joseph Lettrich was chairman and Karol Schmidke co-chairman of the Council. On September 5, 1944, during its first "solemn" session, the so-called Slovak National Council sent two telegrams: one to Stalin, the other to Benes. The Stalin telegram read as follows (translated from the Slovak): Josip Visarionovic ,Stalin Marshal of the USSR Moscow, Kremlin The Slovak National Council sends You and the nations of the Soviet Union from its solemn session its most cordial greetings and thanks You for the understanding which You have manifested for our fight of liberation, waged against the common enemy. Glory to the victorious Red Army! Banska Bystrica, September 5, 1944 The Slovak National Council It is significant that the Council made up of Communists and the Lettrich "Democrats" sent no greeting at that time either to the President of the United States or the King of England, who apparently did not rate. The Slovak National Council called in all reservists and ordered full mobilization. The response was poor; not many Slovaks answered the call voluntarily. The Council had to rest satisfied with those it could force to bear arms against their country in the area held by the partisans, a few districts in central and eastern Slovakia. A part of the Trnava garrison, led by John Benko, defected and joined the partisans; General Mala.r's divisions, however, refused to join. The German forces, led by Gen. Berger and Gen. iHoffle, soon encircled the partisan putschists. The heaviest fighting SLOVAKIA 17 took place near Telgart, Cremosne, Dubrava and Kremnicka, during which some 4,000 were killed. The partisans, who had taken to the hills and mountains of Slovakia before the Germans moved in, soon realized that their situation was quite hopeless. They lacked men and material to cope with the situation they had created. And promised help from the USSR and from Benes in London did not materialize to any noticeaible extent. Sporadic skirmishes continued for about two months; by the end of October the Communist-inspired "national" uprising in Slovakia was completely liquidated. Of course, the press of the USSR and the "Czechoslovak Press Bureau (CTK) of Dr. Benes in London supplied the world press, including our own OWI, with sensational fabrications; reports which told of the glorious and valiant stand of the Slovak nation which fought to renew the CzechoSlovak Republic - a "new" Republic, a Czecho-.Slovakia which would be a "people's" democracy - and shed its blood so that Benes might be president again; reports which told the world that the partisans had one third, then one-half and, later, almost the whole of Slovakia under their control after a week or two of "furious" fighting. Balderdash! The partisans fought in the fashion of partisans; there were practically no open, regular battles, but only sporadic skirmishes and attacks. When the "heroic" commanders of the partisan units saw that the situation was hopeless, they flew out of Slovakia into the USSR in planes that were ready just for such an eventuality. Talsky, a Czech and commander of the "eastern front" who was supposed to join with the Red Army at the opportune moment, flew to the USSR, leaving his "army" behind; there he was promptly arrested as a deserter. Generals Golian and Viest, officers who defected from the Slovak Army and joined the partisans, were ready to leave the scene of the "glorious" revolt, when their own soldiers blew up their plane with grenades. Viest and Golian hid themselves in a certain village, but were betrayed by their own men when the Germans sought them. Captured, they were taken to Germany and later shot. 18 SLOVAKIA The charact.er of the, -si.ovak uprising The Slovak National Council was busy issuing decrees to terrorize the vast masses of the Slovak population. It decreed the dissolution of the IIlinka Slovak People's Party, the German Party, and the Magyar Christian Social Party; ecclesiastical properties and institutions were nationalized and confiscated; a concentration camp was established at Slovenska Lupca, where over 700 victims were held to await partisan "justice." Partisan "people's" courts were quickly set up at Sklabina, Kunerad and elsewhere. Thousands of Slovaks were arbitrarily convicted and jailed; hundreds were liquidated without a hearing. The 1944 uprising in Slovakia pad all the earmarks of a bolshevik rebellion: partisans w~re :r:ed kerchiefs round their necks, Lenin goatees, and a rosary of grenades around their belts. They robbed and raped, plundered and murdered wherever they went. They forced priests to act friendly towards them, bless their weapons and even read the Holy Mass for the success of their diabolical venture. If a priest hesitated or refused to follow their orders, he was beaten, threatened with shooting or actually. shot. Joseph and Andrew Kocalko from Sucany, father and son respectively, were beaten to death beyond recognition by Hruska-Terenyi and his men. The father had spent quite a number of years in America. The Communist Lutheran preacher, Vojtech Hruska-Terenyi, and Jersov, a ·Russian professor, killed 147 Slovaks and buried them in a mass grave at Sklabina. Hruska-Terenyi was judge, jury and executioner. Those whom he sentenced to death had to strip down to their underclothes and march to the foot of the forest in Sklabina. There each victim was given a spade to dig his own grave. Some of the victims cracked under the ordeal and were shot forthwith; the rest kept digging slowly until Jersov blew his whistle and machine guns mowed them down into their shallow graves. The bodies of the hopeless victims were covered with twigs and a little dirt. The mass grave at Sklabina was uncovered in November 1944. Many of the victims had a bullet hole back of the neck. SLOVAKIA 19 Among the priests who were murdered there were: Rev. Anthony Salat, member of the Slovak Parliament and pastor of the Catholic congregation at Hajniky; Rev. Martinka of Liptovsky Svaty Michal; Rev. John Nemec of Zavadka; Rev. Sedo of Liptovsky Svaty Jan. In Povazska Bystrica, -a theologian named Milan was also murdered. I might note here for the record that the Communists and Lettrich "Democrats" joyously celebrated the "silver anniversary" of the invasion of Slovakia by the bolshevik hordes of Bela Kun from Hungary during the uprising of 1944 - the first time any one in Slovakia made a hero of the Magyar Communist revolutionary who murdered Slovaks, pillaged their lands and destroyed their homes! Need any more be said about the character of the Slovak uprising of 1944? I might add, too, that the same Slovak National Council of Lettrich "Democrats" and Schmidke-Husak Communists was making extensive preparations to celebrate "Czechoslovak Independence Day" on October 28, 1944, as it never had been celebrated before, but the events that followed the terroristic acts of the partisans forestalled the celebration. Mass murders and mass graves We have heard of mass murders and mass graves· i'n Poland (Katyn Forest), the Ukraine (Vinnitsia), and elsewhere, but little or nothing about those in Slovakia. In Slovakia mass graves have been uncovered in Micinska Dolina, Sklene, Podsucha, Pusty Hrad, in the Prievidza Valley, Lucivna, Sklabina, Kunerad, L'ubietova; also in the vicinity of Kovacova, Ruzomberok, Zvolen, Humenne, Bosany, and Tri Vody. There is also a mass grave near Petrzalka, but this one came into being after the occupation of Bratislava by the Red Army in the spring of 1945. The partisans were responsible for most of the murders and mass graves. During the trial of President Tiso in 1947, the prosecution stated that some 4,316 persons were buried in mass graves and blamed Tiso and the Slovak Government for them for obvious reasons. There is, of course, no way of ascertaining whether that figure is accurate or not. A thorough investigation would probably at least double it. 20 SLOVAKIA Why the putsch failed When Generals Golian and Viest were apprehended by the Germans, after their own soldiers had betrayed their hidingplace, they declared that the "uprising" had failed, because: 1. low morale prevailed in the army; soldiers had no desire to fight for a "new" Czecho-Slovakia or the USSR; · and they did not want to destroy their own State and their own Government; 2. partisan provocateurs and saboteurs had absolutely no respect or regard for the feelings of the Slovak people; they were beyond the law, brutal and reckless; 3. the Germans sent captured soldiers home, after disarming and a hearing them; 4. the partisan army lacked capable leadership; 5. communications were bad; 6. the Slovak population was hostile to the partisans and their cause; 7. little help came from the USSR and the West (Benes); 8. the Red Army was not ready to march into Slovakia; 9. the partisans did not have sufficient food, munition, guns and planes ; 10. thousands of men deserted. Conclusions From the above it is evident that the Slovak uprising of August, 1944, was not national in character; it did not have the backing of the vast ma,sses of the Slovak population. It was Communist-inspired and led; it was engineered by the Reds in Moscow and London, with the participation of Benes, without regard to the interests of the Slovak people. The partisans, no matter what their origin, were guilty of the most horrible crimes. The Communist-inspired putsch of 1944 brought terror and chaos, destruction and death, misery and Red enslavement to Slovakia. In reality, the Slovak uprising of 1944 was a "Warsaw" in miniature. Only the Communists and Moscow profited from it. Slovak Communists, Lettrich "Democrats" and Benes Czechs profited from it, but only temporarily. Together they celebrated the "great and lasting achievements" of that massacre, glorifying Stalin, the USSR, the Red Army and Benes, until February 25, 1948. And they still celebrate it today; of course, not with the Communists, nor in the same fashion as they did SLOVAKIA 21 prior to 1948. Those that were lucky enough to escape the hell they helped to create in Slovakia, that is. What fools they be, and what fools are we, if we continue to believe their version of the horrible massacre of the Slovak people in 1944, if we continue to trust them. The blood of thousands and thousands of innocent victims in mass graves of Slovakia cries to heaven for vengeance against them. Patriotic Slovaks everywhere do commemorate the Communist-inspired Slovak uprising of 1944, but not in the manner of the Benes Czechs, Lettrich "Democrats" and the Communists. Recalling the uprising as one of the darkest chapters in their history, which brought death and destruction and Red enslavement to their country, good Slovaks bow their heads reverently in prayer for the victims of that massacre and ask the almighty and just God to speed the day of judgment for all who were responsible for it and, too, that in His mercy He might also speed the day of liberation of their nation from the Godless, ruthless rule of Moscow and from all foreign domination. I firmly believe that it is in the highest interests of America and the rest of the free world that they lend a willing ear to the story patriotic Slovaks have to tell not only about the uprising of 1944, but also about the political mess that was Czecho-Slovakia, prior to Munich and after the "liberation" in 1945. I cannot and will not believe that our State Department, the U. S. Infonnation Agency (Voice of America), other U. S. government agencies, and the Free Europe Committee (Radio Free Europe) are working in the interests of America and the rest of the free world, when they serve and promote the interests of the Benes Czechs and the Lettrich "Democrats" who collaiborated with the Communists and the USSR as members of the National Front government of the BenesGottwald coalition. Benes Czechs and Lettrich "Democrats" - now members of the so-called "Council of Free Czechoslovakia" operating out of Washington and New York - are gradually coming to the point of openly admitting that collaboration 22 SLOV.AK[A with Communists does not pay, that the history of CzechoSlovakia is clear proof of what attempted co-existence with Communists leads to. But they still are loath to admit that they did colla,borate with Communists and the USSR, that they did promote the pro-Soviet policy of Dr. Edward Benes and, hence, are in a large measure responsible for the present terrible plight of the peoples of CzechoJSlovakia. And they still insist on spreading the legend about the Slovak up~ rising which was fabricated by Moscow and the LettrichSchmidke Slovak National Council. Jfow, then, can we believe that they have really broken completely with the past? • • • WHO SAID IT? "The post~war economic changes in Czechoslovakia some of them revolutionary in tiheir scope but none of them an entirely new departure in CzechoslO'Vak history - have occurred with a minimum of political friction. It seems to have been generally understood that the rebuilding of capital and the recovery of ;production were the national needs, rather than a revhnal of the conflict of ideologies which paved the way to the Second World War. For these objectives, all political parties were willing to work together. Czechoslovakia has a Communist Party which accepts joint power with non-Communist parties; its second Marxist party the Social Democrats, works ~ith non-Socialists. The other Czech parties, non-Communist but not anti-Communist, are equally willing to cooperate with the Communist Party. The Slovak Democratic Party alone contains elements of irreconcilable opposition to the Communists, with the result that it is the weatl{est linlk in the National Front. There are no deiiinitely anti-Communist parties; these were all liquidated as a result of their pre-war and wartime activities. 'I'his coHalboration of Communists, socialists and liberals in a National Front Government has boon a condition (William Diamond, Czechoslovaof post-was process." kia Between East and West, 1947, !Stevens and Sons, Ltd., London ; p. 233) .  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Slovak Uprising of August 1944 Description An account of the resource Philip A. Hrobak Slovakia, Vol. 4, No. 3-4 (12-13), Sept.-Dec. 1954 pp. 4-22 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Hrobak, Philip Anthony, 1904-1964 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource Sept.-Dec. 1954 LCNAF https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/7f3d57178064ccbd9b8bd1ad0e27fe50.pdf 3b95456ae0ac5fc7ae94b9895f63519f PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA 3 The Slovak Word Abroad Gorazd Z V O ni C ky A man on a motorcycle cried out as he whizzed by a motorist driving a Mercedes Benz rather leisurely: "Do you know something about Lambretta ?" The elderly man at the wheel of the car stepped on the gas to show the cyclist that he, too, had power, power and speed to pass up the Lambretta! Later he slowed down, and soon the motorcycle came into view and before long was passing him again. The young man on the motorcycle waved his hand and cried out as he passed the car a second time; "Say, do you know anything about a Lambretta." The man in the car this time did not resume the chase, thinking it was no use to race with a speed demon. Soon afterwards he came upon the Lambretta and its occupant piled up by the side of the road. As the young man disengaged himself from his motorcycle, the man in the car stopped and yelled out: "See there, you young smart aleck, where did it get you to show off, anyway?" Whereupon the slightly shaken up young motorcyclist retorted: "Who was showing off? I was merely asking you if you know anything about a Lambretta to tell me how to stop it." The same can happen to an inexperienced speaker; he may know how to start but not how to stop. In our case a sheet of paper is the best brake in the world. One mu.st first stop to reflect and then write it down. To perceive the kernel of a theme, we must first of all touch upon a few peripheral points on the subject at hand. A person seldom stops to consider what a word means. We are so accustomed to speak and converse that we do not even think about a situation that might arise when we cannot even utter a single word. A mute can best evaluate the value of the gift the spoken word. I speak of a gift because the spoken word is, in a sense, par t of a dowry bequeathed to us by the Creator. Think for a moment what a joyful event it is in a family circle when �4 SLOVAKIA a child comes out with its first word, which is somehow an integral part of every being as he says for the first time, 'Papa,' or 'Mama.' These first intelligible sounds are not only a pleasant surprise for the child's parents who gave him life, but a vital expression of his very being. The first words are important enough to be registered in a family album and an occasion for a family treat or celebration. Everyday life employs the spoken word as a usual, easy and effective means of communicatio n. The spoken word introduces us to the outside world, and works either for good or evil, according to one's inner motives and purposes. The word is a manifestation of our being and thoughts. If human thoughts are good and proper, so will be their outward expression, according to the saying: "What is in the heart is on the tip of our tongue.'' And Holy Scripture notes: "Out of the fullness of the heart the mouth speaketh." Imagine what our life would be like if we were limited to sign language. How far could we advance in civilization and culture? What would be our future destiny as thinking beings? On the other hand, how unbearable life would become if words were misused for lying, chicanery, deceit and instigation, or for indulging the passions and evil desires instead of being put to good use in promoting peace, justice and harmony in society. The meaning of the spoken word, like the written word, has a profound effect and has infinite range. We are aware of the fact that the Slovak spoken word reaches us and our fellow countrymen via radio broadcasts, e. g. from the Vatican, Radio Free Europe and other radio stations. I want to emphasize the Vatican Broadcast in that it unquestionab ly exercises widespread influence in the spiritual life of our Slovak countrymen in their native homeland. Until recently, dozens of letters came from listeners who expressed thanks for every word, declaring that the talks they heard were highly informative, enlightening and a powerful shield to defend themselves against the incessant tempest of anti-religious propaganda in the schools, from the press and radio, on television, in meetings of workingmen's associations, in army barracks, and reams of mis- �SLOVAKIA 5 information in textbooks, etc. This is a vital factor in preserving truth and a sense of justice in a country where all the forces militate against what is just, what is right and truthful. For obvious reasons we cannot publicize these letters, but they indicate beyond a shadow of a doubt that they get the message despite many obstacles that are set up to prevent them from hearing the truth. Permit us to quote briefly from one of these letters that speaks for many: "You have no idea how eagerly we wait for your broadcast. We pass on the information to others who cannot listen. The spiritual message about the Christian way of life for the faithful who constitute the healthy kernel of our Slovak nation is like a falling rain on a desert in our land in which the official press is forever agitating and scandalous. During the recent lull in the anti-religious movement not even such prominent persons as Archbishop Necsey or Bishop Trochta were given the opportunity to express what was in their minds and hearts, as if they did not have anything worthwhile to say to their unseen television audience of millions of fellow countrymen." The written non-Slovak word that has as its subject the Slovak and his life in his native land, or abroad. whether in the original or as a translation, has exceedingly great value. For example, in English we find a series of publications that deal with Slovak themes: history, folklore, folk songs, science, sociology, and almost every phase of Slovak culture and art. Dr. Inovecky's books in Italian truthfully inform the Italian public about the situation of the Catholic Intelligentsia, youth, priests and nuns in Slovakia where they are subjected to atheistic attacks. Although defenseless, they must face a formidable and heavily armed foe who daily attacks them with a barrage of diabolical propaganda. Dr. :ourica, professor of political science at the University of Padua, in his works presents a true picture of our times in the light of historical analysis and perception with precision and conclusive proof, while contemporary Slovak historians in Slovakia under pressing orders from the Party (Communist) must twist, falsify, blacken and distort everything, particularly the events of the second world war and its aftermath. �6 SLOVAKIA A number of valuable works have been published, too, in German, Spanish, and French. For detailed information Professor Michael Lacko, S. J. edited a Slovak bibliography for the years from 1945 to 1965. This come off the press as the 7th volume of Slovak Studies under the auspices of the Slovak Institute (Cleveland-Rome). Works by the old and new generations of Slovak writers in exile have been simply overwhelming. As we all know, perhaps, the old emigrants from Slovakia left their native land mainly for economic reasons. They emigrated to find employment and to assure their future existence. Most of them came from villages where literary tastes usually had as yet not developed beyond the stage of the almanac and the prayerbook. This was much the same in their new environment where the prayerbook and almanac were read but with one notable exception: now they had their own Slovak newspapers. The new wave of emigrants, to which we belong (after World War II) was quite different; it was more idealistic and ideological, and without false pride, it may be said, too, that it was more educated. And therefore, this new generation of emigrants from Slovakia had more estethic and literary tastes, which soon necessitated the publication of books and the establishment of publishing centers to keep alive the fires of Slovak literary and spiritual life abroad. Alphabetically, we may list Buenos Aires, Chicago, Cleveland, Danville, Middletown, Pittsburgh and Scranton in Pennsylvania, Munich, New York, Passaic in New Jersey, Toronto in Canada, Valparaiso and the Slovak Franciscans; Whiting, Indiana, the home of the immortal Father Lach, a great patron of Slovak literature, and Winnipeg, Man., in Canada, where Culen published several noteworthy works. Rome, however, must be recognized for its primacy in the field of Slovak publications abroad, both because here is concentrated the largest single group of Slovak emigrant writers under the sponsorship of the SS. Cyril and Methodius Slovak Institute. To date, the number of editions here has totaled 142, in all more than 30,000 pages of the Slovak word in print. This amazing output of the Slovak press, considering the brief span of the existence of the Institute in Rome, as well as, bearing in mind what �SLOVAKIA 7 obstacles it had to face and overcome, and new difficulties that keep on coming in its way, it is truly a priceless contribution to the spiritual treasury of the Slovak nation. Add to this fact, the Hlasy z Rima monthly over a period of almost twenty years (5,000 pages of printed matter), and you have a tremendous accomplishment which, to borrow a Biblical phrase in our case, these have worked long and perseveringly like the Israelites of old who in rebuilding the Temple in Jerusalem worked with a tool in one hand and a weapon in the other to defend themselves against the enemy in the event of a sudden attack. Let us look at the contents and supplementary material of the Slovak word (written) abroad. Its primary and foremost inspiration is Slovakia and its people: the country, the nation, the history of the country and its people, state institutions, political movements and currents and economic conditions, then, too, the religious aspect and the situation of the people of faith, the activity of the Church and its spokesmen and leaders, Slovak philology, literary history and criticism, architecture, archeology, medicine, the arts, music, books, about Slovaks living abroad, philosophical handbooks, catechetical works, notably Bystrik's catechism, (Nova Cesta) homiletic sources for preachers of the Word of God in Slovak, especially the various revised editions of Sacred Scripture, liturgical texts and prayerbooks, biographies of heroic men, Christian meditations, and finally general works in prose and poetry. Obviously, this is a great treasure, a rich inheritance, an almost inexhaustible source of infinite variety that helps to keep alive the genuine spirit of the Slovak nation in its historic homeland, as well as far beyond its natural boundaries throughout all parts of the free world. Now it is easier to reply to the question: "Of what importance are our Slovak publications abroad?" At the very outset of our brief study, let us reflect upon the religious angle. It is no secret, neither an untruth, to declare that the regime now ruling Slovakia is not only unfriendly but inimical to religion, employing all of its machinery to destroy the religious life of the people after depriving them of every means of publication and communication to resist godless warfare upon their Faith. What little religious publication the regime tolerates is so negligible that it serves the state rather than the Church �8 SLOVAKIA or religion, as far the press is concerned. This applies to the Spolok sv . Vojtecha, which once was the chief source of religious instruction and religious literary publications for the common people, as well as for the intelligentsia, but at present its publishing activities in the religious program have been reduced almost to zero. Meanwhile, its resources are actually being misused in the planning of the Party system for abetting and supplementing its ideological struggle against religion all along the line. A liturgical renewal from which an intensification of the spiritual life was naturally expected was announced as necessary to those who believe in God. This, of course, went against the grain of an actively aggressive atheism. Permission for paper and printing for this purpose advanced at a snail's pace and virtually came to a standstill as government requisition failed to materialize. Quite surprisingly, but soon fully understood, was a motherly concern by the atheistic regime to preserve the Latin liturgy intact, it was fearful of the introduction of the vernacular because the language of the people would strengthen the position of the church. Meanwhile, the Slovak Institute of SS. Cyril and Methodius in Rome edited and published a complete Slovak-Latin Missal which, under the circumstances (the result of Divine Providence actually), the civil authorities in Slovakia could not refuse entry because that would have given them a bad image abroad. Thus, the liturgical movement gained momentum and reached all parishes and became at the same time a manifestation of the strong faith of the people and a source of spiritual nourishment. In Rome a Slovak missal appeared in the latest postconciliar form and is now in use in Slovak parishes outside Slovakia. This has not only activated a spiritual renewal among the Slovak faithful abroad but has assured the preservation of the Slovak language in various parts of the free world, which is indirectly a vital contribution to the entire Slovak nation. Last year, only because of pressure from abroad, an edition of new canons for the Mass was published in Slovakia. Our people in Slovakia were unable to obtain prayerbooks to strengthen them morally and spiritually in their everyday struggle for their temporal as well as for their �SLOVAKIA 9 ~piritual welfare. They, therefore, begged their brethren abroad not for bread but rather for prayerbooks that were denied them in their own native land. Their more fortunate brethren heeded their plea even though it required sacrifices beyond the call of duty . . . and for this the public activists in Slovakia ought to be grateful, too, because prayer contributes to public morality, to borrow a contemporary and timely phrase. Moreover, morality suffers a sharp decline where prayer ceases. The people who work most conscientously in our native country are certainly those who pray ... and, thank God, there are few exceptions, if any. If the rulers of our country were not blinded by their fanatical hatred of God and religious beliefs, we could suggest a helpful program, namely, to give the people more prayerbooks, assuring them that then the morale of the workers everywhere would improve considerably and the working standards would increase, too, because a vital religious faith is a source of action: it inevitably inspires an optimistic attitude and fosters initiative. Without these primary principles there cannot be spontaneous and fruitful productivity. Ideological atheism in practice spawns laziness, indifference, indolence, and exploitation, in fact, to put it bluntly, eventually it robs both the individual and society. For the above cited reasons the majority of Slovak tourists from abroad sought to bring into Slovakia, particularly during the year before the Soviet invasion of 1968, a generous supply of prayerbooks and religious literature. The spiritual hunger of the Slovak people, subjected to a planned scarcity of religious sources of the printed word, was satisfied temporarily, at least, by a welcome influx of books, which offered conclusive proof or evidence that there was a universal need for religious literature as the result of anti-religious policies of the governing regime. At the same time, it manifested beyond any doubt that the best part of the people understood the need and value of such books for their temporal and spiritual welfare. Karel Havlicek-Borovsky who said many obscene things elsewhere, did, however, express something nice about books as being "a universal school, a school for young and old, a school with many wise teachers." If he really meant 'good' books, he certainly deserves an A plus. �SLOVAKIA Dr. Montaigne consiqered books to be the best preparation for life's journey, and he felt pity for all who did not possess books. In our times, he would have felt sorry, too, for those who are forced to read books that are contrary to their way of sound thinking. Ruskin wrote that books are as necessary to man as wings for a bird. And in this respect the Slovak book abroad became practically the only means for a Christian training of our Slovak youth in their native homeland. The various catechisms for old and young, life stories of virtuous young men and women, reflections on various themes for the sophisticated, e. g., Hlinka's works (K sirsim obzorom -To wider horizons and Cesty-Highways) are rich sources from which all may benefit, both those who are being trained and the trainers themselves personally. In no way it is rash or a breach of confidence to statethat Marxism-Leninism, as we know it so far, has has not proved successful in the development or the advancement of man. While on a state visit to Hungary the late Khruschev said quite frankly in jest (but truthfully at any rate ) that Russian specialists were unable to train even a young ox, it was enough for the animal to start kicking, the Ukrainian politician said, and the socalled experts scattered in all directions. Particularly in the training of youth the communist system proved to be a failure, for which we have more evidence than is necessary to prove our point. If the communist (Marxist-Leninist) system accomplished something it has been one-sided and doubtful because it does not consider the whole person: it ignores his religious instincts and warps his moral nature. It knows only how to harness instincts and human resources to serve its own perverse purposes and designs. Unfortunately, this is not the place nor the time to dwell upon the moral condition of the Slovak youth today. I will leave the discussion to authorities on the subject and hope that they will devote more time to study the situation in depth and give a more factual and detailed report at some future date. Slovak editions abroad are a great help to our students in their own country. The well known 'scripts' of profes- �SLOVAKIA 11 sors-primarily in the theological schools-are far from complete, if for no other reason than that they are lacking in proper information on the subject and they ignore the development of reasoning and leave out the basic fundamentals of theological and philosophical truths. Theologians in the city of Bratislava have various handbooks at their disposal, even though concise, for teaching philosophy, theology, sociology and the Bible, both the Old and New Testament. Undoubtedly, many are acquainted with the works, "Posolstvo--Mission," and "Za svetlom-Towards the Light" by dedicated men like Msgr. Botek and Msgr. Vrablec. Authoritative handbooks, though lacking much in details, are still far superior to mere 'scripts.' Not even in the field of prose, simply literature, is our group of authors in exile out of step with the times . This fact was admitted in Slovakia when there was some freedom of speech, and when, for a short time several years ago, publications in the country were permitted without being subject to orders 'from above.' Dante's Inferno was translated about the same time both in and outside of Slovakia. In my opinion, in many ways, the translation in exile excelled the domestic edition. The translation and selections of Claudel's poetry in exile, too, are far better than that of the edition in Slovakia. It was not without ulterior motives, therefore, that Karol Strmen, author of the above mentioned translations, became the subject of a virulent attack in the domestic press of Slovakia. Hronsky's original novels and short stories, written and published in exile, were admitted for publication in his native homeland. Meciar's critical reviews of Kukucin's works, too, were permitted entry as a source of vital information about this Slovak novelist who lived in Argentina for many years. The Most quarterly and the Slovak v Amerike's Almanach somehow get into Slovakia and are circulated throughout the country. Slovak poems from abroad are copied and circulated, memorized and recited in closed circles. This, too, belongs to popular education, esthetics, literature, etc. as an answer to those who would deny �12 SLOVAKIA not only political and religious liberty but cultural freedom to the Slovak nation in its native homeland. A word about the meaning and mission of Slovak political literature abroad, particularly for these reasons: 1) In the free world alone can one express himself freely in behalf of the self-determination of the Slovak nation, and nations in the same predicament, or for freedom to manifest its will to control its own national destiny. 2) The truth can be spoken, written and proved in the free world alone as to the past history of the Slovak nation in the light of the facts and truth without fear of police interference and judicial reprisals. We are responsible for the destiny of our Slovak nation that cannot, at this time under the present circumstances, know the full truth of its past because the truth is hidden or falsified and distorted in behalf of the party in power. That is why the Slovak nation is thankful to God that beyond the reach of the politbureau events as they actually happen are factually reported and registered without any pressure from directives or threats from the Party meetings. These are the reasons why I recommend that we have a common center for our historic and political publications of our writers abroad, and no one can hold this against me, justly, that is. A common and mutual endeavor is our responsibility because history-life's teacher-must also be a teacher in our political life. 'I'he late Matus cernak, Karol Sidor, Dr. Frantisek Hrusovsky and Konstantin culen, as well as the living, namely, Professor Vojtech Bucko, Dr. Arved Grebert, Kristof Greiner, Dr. Ferdinand i'.>urcansky, Dr. Jozef Kirschbaum, Dr. Jozef Mikus, Dr. Jozef Pauco, Dr. Jan Rekem, Professor Frantisek Vnuk and many, many others in our Slovak life have made invaluable contributions to the Slovak nation's cause, and to the world in general, by their numerous efforts and achievements. All these will someday provide inexhaustible sources for those who will write the history of Slovakia and the Slovak nation without any bias or prejudice. The future will be concerned not only with historic events but with the truth about personalities who come LIBRARY �SLOVAKIA 13 to the fore in the re-creation of history as it actually happened. For example, the history of Hlinka or Tiso, and of their closest collaborators, and adversaries, too, can now be known only in the writings of authors in the free world because in their homeland a furious campaign to erase their names from history pages, a hate campaign to smear their names and to eliminate them as persons who in their time exercised profound influence. That must be adequately evaluated in Slovak history in the future. Personal biographical profiles sketched by the pens of Dr. Pauco, Bor and others in the free world will one day hold a place of honor in the national album of the great men in the history of the Slovak nation and its historic homeland of a thousand and more years. Finally, the meaning of the Slovak word, written, spoken, in exile, and somewhat exemphasized, perhaps, will one day be understood and properly evaluated in the future when the Slovaks will once again control their national destiny as a free nation in central Europe. The governing regime in Slovakia has unwittingly given public testimony of the intrinsic value of the Slovak word from abroad. The Postal Center 120 in Praha put a ban on Slovak periodicals and publications from abroad and has consistently returned or destroyed the Slovak printed word from the free world. The first document presented here is that of the postal administration addressed to the sender of a parcel of books. I submit it fully with the exception of the name of the publication and the date to prevent tracing the source of my information. It reads: Posta Praha 120. In Prague, date ... Dear Sir, Dear sirs, We inform you that your inclosed postal parcel contains, among other items, the following publication: .. . The entry and circulation of such publications is prohibited by a law on publication and information, given on the basis of Law 23, No. 8/ 1966 Sb., relating to periodicals, publications and other informational mediums according to Law No. 23, 127/1968, Sb. That is why these publications were forbidden postal delivery. Items not admitted for postal delivery fall under Par. 6, Art. 4 of the official regulation No. 240/1949, Sb. under postal laws for the welfare of the state. Greeting-Peace to the world. �14 SLOVAKIA The refusal is officially stamped: "Posta Praha 120". Instead of a signature, there is only the letter K. When such restrictions of freedom of expression are based upon so many laws or regulations, this campaign against the means of formation or information, the spiritual isolation of the people cannot be anything less than illegal legislation and legal spiritual homicide. The second document even more graphically illustrates opposition against religion, which, apparently to all intents and purposes, the state is developing in a legalistic form. It reads: Dissemination of information garnered from foreign publications. Letter and disposition of the Ministry of Culture of the Slovak Socialist Republic, N. MK, 4525/1971 of June 17. 1971. To all the centers of church and religious bodies in Slovakia. Through assorted channels a variety of foreign periodicals and publications dealing with religious and church problems have been brought into the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, whose contents in many cases are biased and in conflict with the interests of our socialist state. Their evaluation has shown that they contain articles which untruthfully and rudely slander the CSSR. Future distribution or circulations of such materials, or any part thereof, is not permitted. This regulation also is in force in regards to the distribution or publication of certain informative instructions, etc., whether by internal religious organs, in official bulletins or in any form whatsoever. We warn that any activity that is contrary to the interest of socialist society is a misdemeanor, according to P. 5, Law No. 150/1969, Sb. We direct that you inform all branches subject to your authority of the contents of these instructions. K. Homola, Secretary General and Director for Church Affairs. This communique (signed by K. Homola) in general refers to "foreign" periodicals and publications, as if it avoided labeling them properly "Slovak," but which subsequently became clear because only these were returned by the postal outhorities with the words: "Non admis ... Not admitted ... " Later the explanation in French was added: "Returned. Violates Custom Regulations." Attempts to obtain official copies of the specific government regulations in order to comply with the law have been in vain. Non-admittance of publications from the outside world is now absolute and arbitrary. The returned publications with the official stamp of rejection attached have been filed in the archives of Slovak organizations �15 SLOVAKIA as real proofs and evidence for the future of the present spiritual enslavement of the people by the ruling regime for which the light of truth is obviously a much-feared scarecrow. The dialectics of the communist party defines everything as "biased" if it does not come off its own press, if it fails to idolize Marxism-Leninism, if it does not propagate the idea of the world revolution of the proletariat, etc. Of course, this type of "bias" is detrimentally opposed to the interests of a socialist state, namely the CSSR. Note that even 'internal church information and instructions from abroad' constitute misdemeanors if distributed (if they are not favorable to the spread of communism) because by the very fact they are not pro, they must be con-according to the borrowed Biblical phrase, "Who is not for me, is against me . . ." twisted to suit their own ends and purposes! Someone once observed that the burning of books furnishes light in darkness. We can surely applay this remark in the case of Slovak books arriving at postal centers in Czecho-Slovakia, particularly in Prague. Their fate may be that they are merely censored and confiscated, then returned to the sender, but more often consigned officially to be burned. Despite this, they continue to have their influence. The fear, in official circles of Czecho• Slovakia, of the Slovak word from abroad is clearly a case of a bad conscience. I conclude this review of past events with reference to a recent article in our press in Slovakia that labelled Slovak emigration as a dry, lifeless branch of the Slovak nation. How much or little truth there is in that arbitrary <;tatement an unprejudiced person can easily determine. lil THE SLOVAK LEAGUE OF AMERICA through its Ladies luud.liary, the "VCIELKY" (Bees), sponsors Slovak cultttrai displays. concerts, lectures, art exhibits, folk festjvals, social evenings, etc. Our aim is to have a "Hive" of our "V~ielky" in every large Slovak community. � SLOVAKIA 3 The Slovak Word Abroad Gorazd Z V O ni C ky A man on a motorcycle cried out as he whizzed by a motorist driving a Mercedes Benz rather leisurely: "Do you know something about Lambretta ?" The elderly man at the wheel of the car stepped on the gas to show the cyclist that he, too, had power, power and speed to pass up the Lambretta! Later he slowed down, and soon the motorcycle came into view and before long was passing him again. The young man on the motorcycle waved his hand and cried out as he passed the car a second time; "Say, do you know anything about a Lambretta." The man in the car this time did not resume the chase, thinking it was no use to race with a speed demon. Soon afterwards he came upon the Lambretta and its occupant piled up by the side of the road. As the young man disengaged himself from his motorcycle, the man in the car stopped and yelled out: "See there, you young smart aleck, where did it get you to show off, anyway?" Whereupon the slightly shaken up young motorcyclist retorted: "Who was showing off? I was merely asking you if you know anything about a Lambretta to tell me how to stop it." The same can happen to an inexperienced speaker; he may know how to start but not how to stop. In our case a sheet of paper is the best brake in the world. One mu.st first stop to reflect and then write it down. To perceive the kernel of a theme, we must first of all touch upon a few peripheral points on the subject at hand. A person seldom stops to consider what a word means. We are so accustomed to speak and converse that we do not even think about a situation that might arise when we cannot even utter a single word. A mute can best evaluate the value of the gift the spoken word. I speak of a gift because the spoken word is, in a sense, par t of a dowry bequeathed to us by the Creator. Think for a moment what a joyful event it is in a family circle when �4 SLOVAKIA a child comes out with its first word, which is somehow an integral part of every being as he says for the first time, 'Papa,' or 'Mama.' These first intelligible sounds are not only a pleasant surprise for the child's parents who gave him life, but a vital expression of his very being. The first words are important enough to be registered in a family album and an occasion for a family treat or celebration. Everyday life employs the spoken word as a usual, easy and effective means of communicatio n. The spoken word introduces us to the outside world, and works either for good or evil, according to one's inner motives and purposes. The word is a manifestation of our being and thoughts. If human thoughts are good and proper, so will be their outward expression, according to the saying: "What is in the heart is on the tip of our tongue.'' And Holy Scripture notes: "Out of the fullness of the heart the mouth speaketh." Imagine what our life would be like if we were limited to sign language. How far could we advance in civilization and culture? What would be our future destiny as thinking beings? On the other hand, how unbearable life would become if words were misused for lying, chicanery, deceit and instigation, or for indulging the passions and evil desires instead of being put to good use in promoting peace, justice and harmony in society. The meaning of the spoken word, like the written word, has a profound effect and has infinite range. We are aware of the fact that the Slovak spoken word reaches us and our fellow countrymen via radio broadcasts, e. g. from the Vatican, Radio Free Europe and other radio stations. I want to emphasize the Vatican Broadcast in that it unquestionab ly exercises widespread influence in the spiritual life of our Slovak countrymen in their native homeland. Until recently, dozens of letters came from listeners who expressed thanks for every word, declaring that the talks they heard were highly informative, enlightening and a powerful shield to defend themselves against the incessant tempest of anti-religious propaganda in the schools, from the press and radio, on television, in meetings of workingmen's associations, in army barracks, and reams of mis- �SLOVAKIA 5 information in textbooks, etc. This is a vital factor in preserving truth and a sense of justice in a country where all the forces militate against what is just, what is right and truthful. For obvious reasons we cannot publicize these letters, but they indicate beyond a shadow of a doubt that they get the message despite many obstacles that are set up to prevent them from hearing the truth. Permit us to quote briefly from one of these letters that speaks for many: "You have no idea how eagerly we wait for your broadcast. We pass on the information to others who cannot listen. The spiritual message about the Christian way of life for the faithful who constitute the healthy kernel of our Slovak nation is like a falling rain on a desert in our land in which the official press is forever agitating and scandalous. During the recent lull in the anti-religious movement not even such prominent persons as Archbishop Necsey or Bishop Trochta were given the opportunity to express what was in their minds and hearts, as if they did not have anything worthwhile to say to their unseen television audience of millions of fellow countrymen." The written non-Slovak word that has as its subject the Slovak and his life in his native land, or abroad. whether in the original or as a translation, has exceedingly great value. For example, in English we find a series of publications that deal with Slovak themes: history, folklore, folk songs, science, sociology, and almost every phase of Slovak culture and art. Dr. Inovecky's books in Italian truthfully inform the Italian public about the situation of the Catholic Intelligentsia, youth, priests and nuns in Slovakia where they are subjected to atheistic attacks. Although defenseless, they must face a formidable and heavily armed foe who daily attacks them with a barrage of diabolical propaganda. Dr. :ourica, professor of political science at the University of Padua, in his works presents a true picture of our times in the light of historical analysis and perception with precision and conclusive proof, while contemporary Slovak historians in Slovakia under pressing orders from the Party (Communist) must twist, falsify, blacken and distort everything, particularly the events of the second world war and its aftermath. �6 SLOVAKIA A number of valuable works have been published, too, in German, Spanish, and French. For detailed information Professor Michael Lacko, S. J. edited a Slovak bibliography for the years from 1945 to 1965. This come off the press as the 7th volume of Slovak Studies under the auspices of the Slovak Institute (Cleveland-Rome). Works by the old and new generations of Slovak writers in exile have been simply overwhelming. As we all know, perhaps, the old emigrants from Slovakia left their native land mainly for economic reasons. They emigrated to find employment and to assure their future existence. Most of them came from villages where literary tastes usually had as yet not developed beyond the stage of the almanac and the prayerbook. This was much the same in their new environment where the prayerbook and almanac were read but with one notable exception: now they had their own Slovak newspapers. The new wave of emigrants, to which we belong (after World War II) was quite different; it was more idealistic and ideological, and without false pride, it may be said, too, that it was more educated. And therefore, this new generation of emigrants from Slovakia had more estethic and literary tastes, which soon necessitated the publication of books and the establishment of publishing centers to keep alive the fires of Slovak literary and spiritual life abroad. Alphabetically, we may list Buenos Aires, Chicago, Cleveland, Danville, Middletown, Pittsburgh and Scranton in Pennsylvania, Munich, New York, Passaic in New Jersey, Toronto in Canada, Valparaiso and the Slovak Franciscans; Whiting, Indiana, the home of the immortal Father Lach, a great patron of Slovak literature, and Winnipeg, Man., in Canada, where Culen published several noteworthy works. Rome, however, must be recognized for its primacy in the field of Slovak publications abroad, both because here is concentrated the largest single group of Slovak emigrant writers under the sponsorship of the SS. Cyril and Methodius Slovak Institute. To date, the number of editions here has totaled 142, in all more than 30,000 pages of the Slovak word in print. This amazing output of the Slovak press, considering the brief span of the existence of the Institute in Rome, as well as, bearing in mind what �SLOVAKIA 7 obstacles it had to face and overcome, and new difficulties that keep on coming in its way, it is truly a priceless contribution to the spiritual treasury of the Slovak nation. Add to this fact, the Hlasy z Rima monthly over a period of almost twenty years (5,000 pages of printed matter), and you have a tremendous accomplishment which, to borrow a Biblical phrase in our case, these have worked long and perseveringly like the Israelites of old who in rebuilding the Temple in Jerusalem worked with a tool in one hand and a weapon in the other to defend themselves against the enemy in the event of a sudden attack. Let us look at the contents and supplementary material of the Slovak word (written) abroad. Its primary and foremost inspiration is Slovakia and its people: the country, the nation, the history of the country and its people, state institutions, political movements and currents and economic conditions, then, too, the religious aspect and the situation of the people of faith, the activity of the Church and its spokesmen and leaders, Slovak philology, literary history and criticism, architecture, archeology, medicine, the arts, music, books, about Slovaks living abroad, philosophical handbooks, catechetical works, notably Bystrik's catechism, (Nova Cesta) homiletic sources for preachers of the Word of God in Slovak, especially the various revised editions of Sacred Scripture, liturgical texts and prayerbooks, biographies of heroic men, Christian meditations, and finally general works in prose and poetry. Obviously, this is a great treasure, a rich inheritance, an almost inexhaustible source of infinite variety that helps to keep alive the genuine spirit of the Slovak nation in its historic homeland, as well as far beyond its natural boundaries throughout all parts of the free world. Now it is easier to reply to the question: "Of what importance are our Slovak publications abroad?" At the very outset of our brief study, let us reflect upon the religious angle. It is no secret, neither an untruth, to declare that the regime now ruling Slovakia is not only unfriendly but inimical to religion, employing all of its machinery to destroy the religious life of the people after depriving them of every means of publication and communication to resist godless warfare upon their Faith. What little religious publication the regime tolerates is so negligible that it serves the state rather than the Church �8 SLOVAKIA or religion, as far the press is concerned. This applies to the Spolok sv . Vojtecha, which once was the chief source of religious instruction and religious literary publications for the common people, as well as for the intelligentsia, but at present its publishing activities in the religious program have been reduced almost to zero. Meanwhile, its resources are actually being misused in the planning of the Party system for abetting and supplementing its ideological struggle against religion all along the line. A liturgical renewal from which an intensification of the spiritual life was naturally expected was announced as necessary to those who believe in God. This, of course, went against the grain of an actively aggressive atheism. Permission for paper and printing for this purpose advanced at a snail's pace and virtually came to a standstill as government requisition failed to materialize. Quite surprisingly, but soon fully understood, was a motherly concern by the atheistic regime to preserve the Latin liturgy intact, it was fearful of the introduction of the vernacular because the language of the people would strengthen the position of the church. Meanwhile, the Slovak Institute of SS. Cyril and Methodius in Rome edited and published a complete Slovak-Latin Missal which, under the circumstances (the result of Divine Providence actually), the civil authorities in Slovakia could not refuse entry because that would have given them a bad image abroad. Thus, the liturgical movement gained momentum and reached all parishes and became at the same time a manifestation of the strong faith of the people and a source of spiritual nourishment. In Rome a Slovak missal appeared in the latest postconciliar form and is now in use in Slovak parishes outside Slovakia. This has not only activated a spiritual renewal among the Slovak faithful abroad but has assured the preservation of the Slovak language in various parts of the free world, which is indirectly a vital contribution to the entire Slovak nation. Last year, only because of pressure from abroad, an edition of new canons for the Mass was published in Slovakia. Our people in Slovakia were unable to obtain prayerbooks to strengthen them morally and spiritually in their everyday struggle for their temporal as well as for their �SLOVAKIA 9 ~piritual welfare. They, therefore, begged their brethren abroad not for bread but rather for prayerbooks that were denied them in their own native land. Their more fortunate brethren heeded their plea even though it required sacrifices beyond the call of duty . . . and for this the public activists in Slovakia ought to be grateful, too, because prayer contributes to public morality, to borrow a contemporary and timely phrase. Moreover, morality suffers a sharp decline where prayer ceases. The people who work most conscientously in our native country are certainly those who pray ... and, thank God, there are few exceptions, if any. If the rulers of our country were not blinded by their fanatical hatred of God and religious beliefs, we could suggest a helpful program, namely, to give the people more prayerbooks, assuring them that then the morale of the workers everywhere would improve considerably and the working standards would increase, too, because a vital religious faith is a source of action: it inevitably inspires an optimistic attitude and fosters initiative. Without these primary principles there cannot be spontaneous and fruitful productivity. Ideological atheism in practice spawns laziness, indifference, indolence, and exploitation, in fact, to put it bluntly, eventually it robs both the individual and society. For the above cited reasons the majority of Slovak tourists from abroad sought to bring into Slovakia, particularly during the year before the Soviet invasion of 1968, a generous supply of prayerbooks and religious literature. The spiritual hunger of the Slovak people, subjected to a planned scarcity of religious sources of the printed word, was satisfied temporarily, at least, by a welcome influx of books, which offered conclusive proof or evidence that there was a universal need for religious literature as the result of anti-religious policies of the governing regime. At the same time, it manifested beyond any doubt that the best part of the people understood the need and value of such books for their temporal and spiritual welfare. Karel Havlicek-Borovsky who said many obscene things elsewhere, did, however, express something nice about books as being "a universal school, a school for young and old, a school with many wise teachers." If he really meant 'good' books, he certainly deserves an A plus. �SLOVAKIA Dr. Montaigne consiqered books to be the best preparation for life's journey, and he felt pity for all who did not possess books. In our times, he would have felt sorry, too, for those who are forced to read books that are contrary to their way of sound thinking. Ruskin wrote that books are as necessary to man as wings for a bird. And in this respect the Slovak book abroad became practically the only means for a Christian training of our Slovak youth in their native homeland. The various catechisms for old and young, life stories of virtuous young men and women, reflections on various themes for the sophisticated, e. g., Hlinka's works (K sirsim obzorom -To wider horizons and Cesty-Highways) are rich sources from which all may benefit, both those who are being trained and the trainers themselves personally. In no way it is rash or a breach of confidence to statethat Marxism-Leninism, as we know it so far, has has not proved successful in the development or the advancement of man. While on a state visit to Hungary the late Khruschev said quite frankly in jest (but truthfully at any rate ) that Russian specialists were unable to train even a young ox, it was enough for the animal to start kicking, the Ukrainian politician said, and the socalled experts scattered in all directions. Particularly in the training of youth the communist system proved to be a failure, for which we have more evidence than is necessary to prove our point. If the communist (Marxist-Leninist) system accomplished something it has been one-sided and doubtful because it does not consider the whole person: it ignores his religious instincts and warps his moral nature. It knows only how to harness instincts and human resources to serve its own perverse purposes and designs. Unfortunately, this is not the place nor the time to dwell upon the moral condition of the Slovak youth today. I will leave the discussion to authorities on the subject and hope that they will devote more time to study the situation in depth and give a more factual and detailed report at some future date. Slovak editions abroad are a great help to our students in their own country. The well known 'scripts' of profes- �SLOVAKIA 11 sors-primarily in the theological schools-are far from complete, if for no other reason than that they are lacking in proper information on the subject and they ignore the development of reasoning and leave out the basic fundamentals of theological and philosophical truths. Theologians in the city of Bratislava have various handbooks at their disposal, even though concise, for teaching philosophy, theology, sociology and the Bible, both the Old and New Testament. Undoubtedly, many are acquainted with the works, "Posolstvo--Mission," and "Za svetlom-Towards the Light" by dedicated men like Msgr. Botek and Msgr. Vrablec. Authoritative handbooks, though lacking much in details, are still far superior to mere 'scripts.' Not even in the field of prose, simply literature, is our group of authors in exile out of step with the times . This fact was admitted in Slovakia when there was some freedom of speech, and when, for a short time several years ago, publications in the country were permitted without being subject to orders 'from above.' Dante's Inferno was translated about the same time both in and outside of Slovakia. In my opinion, in many ways, the translation in exile excelled the domestic edition. The translation and selections of Claudel's poetry in exile, too, are far better than that of the edition in Slovakia. It was not without ulterior motives, therefore, that Karol Strmen, author of the above mentioned translations, became the subject of a virulent attack in the domestic press of Slovakia. Hronsky's original novels and short stories, written and published in exile, were admitted for publication in his native homeland. Meciar's critical reviews of Kukucin's works, too, were permitted entry as a source of vital information about this Slovak novelist who lived in Argentina for many years. The Most quarterly and the Slovak v Amerike's Almanach somehow get into Slovakia and are circulated throughout the country. Slovak poems from abroad are copied and circulated, memorized and recited in closed circles. This, too, belongs to popular education, esthetics, literature, etc. as an answer to those who would deny �12 SLOVAKIA not only political and religious liberty but cultural freedom to the Slovak nation in its native homeland. A word about the meaning and mission of Slovak political literature abroad, particularly for these reasons: 1) In the free world alone can one express himself freely in behalf of the self-determination of the Slovak nation, and nations in the same predicament, or for freedom to manifest its will to control its own national destiny. 2) The truth can be spoken, written and proved in the free world alone as to the past history of the Slovak nation in the light of the facts and truth without fear of police interference and judicial reprisals. We are responsible for the destiny of our Slovak nation that cannot, at this time under the present circumstances, know the full truth of its past because the truth is hidden or falsified and distorted in behalf of the party in power. That is why the Slovak nation is thankful to God that beyond the reach of the politbureau events as they actually happen are factually reported and registered without any pressure from directives or threats from the Party meetings. These are the reasons why I recommend that we have a common center for our historic and political publications of our writers abroad, and no one can hold this against me, justly, that is. A common and mutual endeavor is our responsibility because history-life's teacher-must also be a teacher in our political life. 'I'he late Matus cernak, Karol Sidor, Dr. Frantisek Hrusovsky and Konstantin culen, as well as the living, namely, Professor Vojtech Bucko, Dr. Arved Grebert, Kristof Greiner, Dr. Ferdinand i'.>urcansky, Dr. Jozef Kirschbaum, Dr. Jozef Mikus, Dr. Jozef Pauco, Dr. Jan Rekem, Professor Frantisek Vnuk and many, many others in our Slovak life have made invaluable contributions to the Slovak nation's cause, and to the world in general, by their numerous efforts and achievements. All these will someday provide inexhaustible sources for those who will write the history of Slovakia and the Slovak nation without any bias or prejudice. The future will be concerned not only with historic events but with the truth about personalities who come LIBRARY �SLOVAKIA 13 to the fore in the re-creation of history as it actually happened. For example, the history of Hlinka or Tiso, and of their closest collaborators, and adversaries, too, can now be known only in the writings of authors in the free world because in their homeland a furious campaign to erase their names from history pages, a hate campaign to smear their names and to eliminate them as persons who in their time exercised profound influence. That must be adequately evaluated in Slovak history in the future. Personal biographical profiles sketched by the pens of Dr. Pauco, Bor and others in the free world will one day hold a place of honor in the national album of the great men in the history of the Slovak nation and its historic homeland of a thousand and more years. Finally, the meaning of the Slovak word, written, spoken, in exile, and somewhat exemphasized, perhaps, will one day be understood and properly evaluated in the future when the Slovaks will once again control their national destiny as a free nation in central Europe. The governing regime in Slovakia has unwittingly given public testimony of the intrinsic value of the Slovak word from abroad. The Postal Center 120 in Praha put a ban on Slovak periodicals and publications from abroad and has consistently returned or destroyed the Slovak printed word from the free world. The first document presented here is that of the postal administration addressed to the sender of a parcel of books. I submit it fully with the exception of the name of the publication and the date to prevent tracing the source of my information. It reads: Posta Praha 120. In Prague, date ... Dear Sir, Dear sirs, We inform you that your inclosed postal parcel contains, among other items, the following publication: .. . The entry and circulation of such publications is prohibited by a law on publication and information, given on the basis of Law 23, No. 8/ 1966 Sb., relating to periodicals, publications and other informational mediums according to Law No. 23, 127/1968, Sb. That is why these publications were forbidden postal delivery. Items not admitted for postal delivery fall under Par. 6, Art. 4 of the official regulation No. 240/1949, Sb. under postal laws for the welfare of the state. Greeting-Peace to the world. �14 SLOVAKIA The refusal is officially stamped: "Posta Praha 120". Instead of a signature, there is only the letter K. When such restrictions of freedom of expression are based upon so many laws or regulations, this campaign against the means of formation or information, the spiritual isolation of the people cannot be anything less than illegal legislation and legal spiritual homicide. The second document even more graphically illustrates opposition against religion, which, apparently to all intents and purposes, the state is developing in a legalistic form. It reads: Dissemination of information garnered from foreign publications. Letter and disposition of the Ministry of Culture of the Slovak Socialist Republic, N. MK, 4525/1971 of June 17. 1971. To all the centers of church and religious bodies in Slovakia. Through assorted channels a variety of foreign periodicals and publications dealing with religious and church problems have been brought into the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, whose contents in many cases are biased and in conflict with the interests of our socialist state. Their evaluation has shown that they contain articles which untruthfully and rudely slander the CSSR. Future distribution or circulations of such materials, or any part thereof, is not permitted. This regulation also is in force in regards to the distribution or publication of certain informative instructions, etc., whether by internal religious organs, in official bulletins or in any form whatsoever. We warn that any activity that is contrary to the interest of socialist society is a misdemeanor, according to P. 5, Law No. 150/1969, Sb. We direct that you inform all branches subject to your authority of the contents of these instructions. K. Homola, Secretary General and Director for Church Affairs. This communique (signed by K. Homola) in general refers to "foreign" periodicals and publications, as if it avoided labeling them properly "Slovak," but which subsequently became clear because only these were returned by the postal outhorities with the words: "Non admis ... Not admitted ... " Later the explanation in French was added: "Returned. Violates Custom Regulations." Attempts to obtain official copies of the specific government regulations in order to comply with the law have been in vain. Non-admittance of publications from the outside world is now absolute and arbitrary. The returned publications with the official stamp of rejection attached have been filed in the archives of Slovak organizations �15 SLOVAKIA as real proofs and evidence for the future of the present spiritual enslavement of the people by the ruling regime for which the light of truth is obviously a much-feared scarecrow. The dialectics of the communist party defines everything as "biased" if it does not come off its own press, if it fails to idolize Marxism-Leninism, if it does not propagate the idea of the world revolution of the proletariat, etc. Of course, this type of "bias" is detrimentally opposed to the interests of a socialist state, namely the CSSR. Note that even 'internal church information and instructions from abroad' constitute misdemeanors if distributed (if they are not favorable to the spread of communism) because by the very fact they are not pro, they must be con-according to the borrowed Biblical phrase, "Who is not for me, is against me . . ." twisted to suit their own ends and purposes! Someone once observed that the burning of books furnishes light in darkness. We can surely applay this remark in the case of Slovak books arriving at postal centers in Czecho-Slovakia, particularly in Prague. Their fate may be that they are merely censored and confiscated, then returned to the sender, but more often consigned officially to be burned. Despite this, they continue to have their influence. The fear, in official circles of Czecho• Slovakia, of the Slovak word from abroad is clearly a case of a bad conscience. I conclude this review of past events with reference to a recent article in our press in Slovakia that labelled Slovak emigration as a dry, lifeless branch of the Slovak nation. How much or little truth there is in that arbitrary <;tatement an unprejudiced person can easily determine. lil THE SLOVAK LEAGUE OF AMERICA through its Ladies luud.liary, the "VCIELKY" (Bees), sponsors Slovak cultttrai displays. concerts, lectures, art exhibits, folk festjvals, social evenings, etc. Our aim is to have a "Hive" of our "V~ielky" in every large Slovak community. � 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 1973, Vol. 23 Description An account of the resource Vol. 23 (No. 46), 1973. 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 1973 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 3 The Slovak Word Abroad Gorazd Z V O ni C ky A man on a motorcycle cried out as he whizzed by a motorist driving a Mercedes Benz rather leisurely: "Do you know something about Lambretta ?" The elderly man at the wheel of the car stepped on the gas to show the cyclist that he, too, had power, power and speed to pass up the Lambretta! Later he slowed down, and soon the motorcycle came into view and before long was passing him again. The young man on the motorcycle waved his hand and cried out as he passed the car a second time; "Say, do you know anything about a Lambretta." The man in the car this time did not resume the chase, thinking it was no use to race with a speed demon. Soon afterwards he came upon the Lambretta and its occupant piled up by the side of the road. As the young man disengaged himself from his motorcycle, the man in the car stopped and yelled out: "See there, you young smart aleck, where did it get you to show off, anyway?" Whereupon the slightly shaken up young motorcyclist retorted: "Who was showing off? I was merely asking you if you know anything about a Lambretta to tell me how to stop it." The same can happen to an inexperienced speaker; he may know how to start but not how to stop. In our case a sheet of paper is the best brake in the world. One mu.st first stop to reflect and then write it down. To perceive the kernel of a theme, we must first of all touch upon a few peripheral points on the subject at hand. A person seldom stops to consider what a word means. We are so accustomed to speak and converse that we do not even think about a situation that might arise when we cannot even utter a single word. A mute can best evaluate the value of the gift the spoken word. I speak of a gift because the spoken word is, in a sense, par t of a dowry bequeathed to us by the Creator. Think for a moment what a joyful event it is in a family circle when 4 SLOVAKIA a child comes out with its first word, which is somehow an integral part of every being as he says for the first time, 'Papa,' or 'Mama.' These first intelligible sounds are not only a pleasant surprise for the child's parents who gave him life, but a vital expression of his very being. The first words are important enough to be registered in a family album and an occasion for a family treat or celebration. Everyday life employs the spoken word as a usual, easy and effective means of communicatio n. The spoken word introduces us to the outside world, and works either for good or evil, according to one's inner motives and purposes. The word is a manifestation of our being and thoughts. If human thoughts are good and proper, so will be their outward expression, according to the saying: "What is in the heart is on the tip of our tongue.'' And Holy Scripture notes: "Out of the fullness of the heart the mouth speaketh." Imagine what our life would be like if we were limited to sign language. How far could we advance in civilization and culture? What would be our future destiny as thinking beings? On the other hand, how unbearable life would become if words were misused for lying, chicanery, deceit and instigation, or for indulging the passions and evil desires instead of being put to good use in promoting peace, justice and harmony in society. The meaning of the spoken word, like the written word, has a profound effect and has infinite range. We are aware of the fact that the Slovak spoken word reaches us and our fellow countrymen via radio broadcasts, e. g. from the Vatican, Radio Free Europe and other radio stations. I want to emphasize the Vatican Broadcast in that it unquestionab ly exercises widespread influence in the spiritual life of our Slovak countrymen in their native homeland. Until recently, dozens of letters came from listeners who expressed thanks for every word, declaring that the talks they heard were highly informative, enlightening and a powerful shield to defend themselves against the incessant tempest of anti-religious propaganda in the schools, from the press and radio, on television, in meetings of workingmen's associations, in army barracks, and reams of mis- SLOVAKIA 5 information in textbooks, etc. This is a vital factor in preserving truth and a sense of justice in a country where all the forces militate against what is just, what is right and truthful. For obvious reasons we cannot publicize these letters, but they indicate beyond a shadow of a doubt that they get the message despite many obstacles that are set up to prevent them from hearing the truth. Permit us to quote briefly from one of these letters that speaks for many: "You have no idea how eagerly we wait for your broadcast. We pass on the information to others who cannot listen. The spiritual message about the Christian way of life for the faithful who constitute the healthy kernel of our Slovak nation is like a falling rain on a desert in our land in which the official press is forever agitating and scandalous. During the recent lull in the anti-religious movement not even such prominent persons as Archbishop Necsey or Bishop Trochta were given the opportunity to express what was in their minds and hearts, as if they did not have anything worthwhile to say to their unseen television audience of millions of fellow countrymen." The written non-Slovak word that has as its subject the Slovak and his life in his native land, or abroad. whether in the original or as a translation, has exceedingly great value. For example, in English we find a series of publications that deal with Slovak themes: history, folklore, folk songs, science, sociology, and almost every phase of Slovak culture and art. Dr. Inovecky's books in Italian truthfully inform the Italian public about the situation of the Catholic Intelligentsia, youth, priests and nuns in Slovakia where they are subjected to atheistic attacks. Although defenseless, they must face a formidable and heavily armed foe who daily attacks them with a barrage of diabolical propaganda. Dr. :ourica, professor of political science at the University of Padua, in his works presents a true picture of our times in the light of historical analysis and perception with precision and conclusive proof, while contemporary Slovak historians in Slovakia under pressing orders from the Party (Communist) must twist, falsify, blacken and distort everything, particularly the events of the second world war and its aftermath. 6 SLOVAKIA A number of valuable works have been published, too, in German, Spanish, and French. For detailed information Professor Michael Lacko, S. J. edited a Slovak bibliography for the years from 1945 to 1965. This come off the press as the 7th volume of Slovak Studies under the auspices of the Slovak Institute (Cleveland-Rome). Works by the old and new generations of Slovak writers in exile have been simply overwhelming. As we all know, perhaps, the old emigrants from Slovakia left their native land mainly for economic reasons. They emigrated to find employment and to assure their future existence. Most of them came from villages where literary tastes usually had as yet not developed beyond the stage of the almanac and the prayerbook. This was much the same in their new environment where the prayerbook and almanac were read but with one notable exception: now they had their own Slovak newspapers. The new wave of emigrants, to which we belong (after World War II) was quite different; it was more idealistic and ideological, and without false pride, it may be said, too, that it was more educated. And therefore, this new generation of emigrants from Slovakia had more estethic and literary tastes, which soon necessitated the publication of books and the establishment of publishing centers to keep alive the fires of Slovak literary and spiritual life abroad. Alphabetically, we may list Buenos Aires, Chicago, Cleveland, Danville, Middletown, Pittsburgh and Scranton in Pennsylvania, Munich, New York, Passaic in New Jersey, Toronto in Canada, Valparaiso and the Slovak Franciscans; Whiting, Indiana, the home of the immortal Father Lach, a great patron of Slovak literature, and Winnipeg, Man., in Canada, where Culen published several noteworthy works. Rome, however, must be recognized for its primacy in the field of Slovak publications abroad, both because here is concentrated the largest single group of Slovak emigrant writers under the sponsorship of the SS. Cyril and Methodius Slovak Institute. To date, the number of editions here has totaled 142, in all more than 30,000 pages of the Slovak word in print. This amazing output of the Slovak press, considering the brief span of the existence of the Institute in Rome, as well as, bearing in mind what SLOVAKIA 7 obstacles it had to face and overcome, and new difficulties that keep on coming in its way, it is truly a priceless contribution to the spiritual treasury of the Slovak nation. Add to this fact, the Hlasy z Rima monthly over a period of almost twenty years (5,000 pages of printed matter), and you have a tremendous accomplishment which, to borrow a Biblical phrase in our case, these have worked long and perseveringly like the Israelites of old who in rebuilding the Temple in Jerusalem worked with a tool in one hand and a weapon in the other to defend themselves against the enemy in the event of a sudden attack. Let us look at the contents and supplementary material of the Slovak word (written) abroad. Its primary and foremost inspiration is Slovakia and its people: the country, the nation, the history of the country and its people, state institutions, political movements and currents and economic conditions, then, too, the religious aspect and the situation of the people of faith, the activity of the Church and its spokesmen and leaders, Slovak philology, literary history and criticism, architecture, archeology, medicine, the arts, music, books, about Slovaks living abroad, philosophical handbooks, catechetical works, notably Bystrik's catechism, (Nova Cesta) homiletic sources for preachers of the Word of God in Slovak, especially the various revised editions of Sacred Scripture, liturgical texts and prayerbooks, biographies of heroic men, Christian meditations, and finally general works in prose and poetry. Obviously, this is a great treasure, a rich inheritance, an almost inexhaustible source of infinite variety that helps to keep alive the genuine spirit of the Slovak nation in its historic homeland, as well as far beyond its natural boundaries throughout all parts of the free world. Now it is easier to reply to the question: "Of what importance are our Slovak publications abroad?" At the very outset of our brief study, let us reflect upon the religious angle. It is no secret, neither an untruth, to declare that the regime now ruling Slovakia is not only unfriendly but inimical to religion, employing all of its machinery to destroy the religious life of the people after depriving them of every means of publication and communication to resist godless warfare upon their Faith. What little religious publication the regime tolerates is so negligible that it serves the state rather than the Church 8 SLOVAKIA or religion, as far the press is concerned. This applies to the Spolok sv . Vojtecha, which once was the chief source of religious instruction and religious literary publications for the common people, as well as for the intelligentsia, but at present its publishing activities in the religious program have been reduced almost to zero. Meanwhile, its resources are actually being misused in the planning of the Party system for abetting and supplementing its ideological struggle against religion all along the line. A liturgical renewal from which an intensification of the spiritual life was naturally expected was announced as necessary to those who believe in God. This, of course, went against the grain of an actively aggressive atheism. Permission for paper and printing for this purpose advanced at a snail's pace and virtually came to a standstill as government requisition failed to materialize. Quite surprisingly, but soon fully understood, was a motherly concern by the atheistic regime to preserve the Latin liturgy intact, it was fearful of the introduction of the vernacular because the language of the people would strengthen the position of the church. Meanwhile, the Slovak Institute of SS. Cyril and Methodius in Rome edited and published a complete Slovak-Latin Missal which, under the circumstances (the result of Divine Providence actually), the civil authorities in Slovakia could not refuse entry because that would have given them a bad image abroad. Thus, the liturgical movement gained momentum and reached all parishes and became at the same time a manifestation of the strong faith of the people and a source of spiritual nourishment. In Rome a Slovak missal appeared in the latest postconciliar form and is now in use in Slovak parishes outside Slovakia. This has not only activated a spiritual renewal among the Slovak faithful abroad but has assured the preservation of the Slovak language in various parts of the free world, which is indirectly a vital contribution to the entire Slovak nation. Last year, only because of pressure from abroad, an edition of new canons for the Mass was published in Slovakia. Our people in Slovakia were unable to obtain prayerbooks to strengthen them morally and spiritually in their everyday struggle for their temporal as well as for their SLOVAKIA 9 ~piritual welfare. They, therefore, begged their brethren abroad not for bread but rather for prayerbooks that were denied them in their own native land. Their more fortunate brethren heeded their plea even though it required sacrifices beyond the call of duty . . . and for this the public activists in Slovakia ought to be grateful, too, because prayer contributes to public morality, to borrow a contemporary and timely phrase. Moreover, morality suffers a sharp decline where prayer ceases. The people who work most conscientously in our native country are certainly those who pray ... and, thank God, there are few exceptions, if any. If the rulers of our country were not blinded by their fanatical hatred of God and religious beliefs, we could suggest a helpful program, namely, to give the people more prayerbooks, assuring them that then the morale of the workers everywhere would improve considerably and the working standards would increase, too, because a vital religious faith is a source of action: it inevitably inspires an optimistic attitude and fosters initiative. Without these primary principles there cannot be spontaneous and fruitful productivity. Ideological atheism in practice spawns laziness, indifference, indolence, and exploitation, in fact, to put it bluntly, eventually it robs both the individual and society. For the above cited reasons the majority of Slovak tourists from abroad sought to bring into Slovakia, particularly during the year before the Soviet invasion of 1968, a generous supply of prayerbooks and religious literature. The spiritual hunger of the Slovak people, subjected to a planned scarcity of religious sources of the printed word, was satisfied temporarily, at least, by a welcome influx of books, which offered conclusive proof or evidence that there was a universal need for religious literature as the result of anti-religious policies of the governing regime. At the same time, it manifested beyond any doubt that the best part of the people understood the need and value of such books for their temporal and spiritual welfare. Karel Havlicek-Borovsky who said many obscene things elsewhere, did, however, express something nice about books as being "a universal school, a school for young and old, a school with many wise teachers." If he really meant 'good' books, he certainly deserves an A plus. SLOVAKIA Dr. Montaigne consiqered books to be the best preparation for life's journey, and he felt pity for all who did not possess books. In our times, he would have felt sorry, too, for those who are forced to read books that are contrary to their way of sound thinking. Ruskin wrote that books are as necessary to man as wings for a bird. And in this respect the Slovak book abroad became practically the only means for a Christian training of our Slovak youth in their native homeland. The various catechisms for old and young, life stories of virtuous young men and women, reflections on various themes for the sophisticated, e. g., Hlinka's works (K sirsim obzorom -To wider horizons and Cesty-Highways) are rich sources from which all may benefit, both those who are being trained and the trainers themselves personally. In no way it is rash or a breach of confidence to statethat Marxism-Leninism, as we know it so far, has has not proved successful in the development or the advancement of man. While on a state visit to Hungary the late Khruschev said quite frankly in jest (but truthfully at any rate ) that Russian specialists were unable to train even a young ox, it was enough for the animal to start kicking, the Ukrainian politician said, and the socalled experts scattered in all directions. Particularly in the training of youth the communist system proved to be a failure, for which we have more evidence than is necessary to prove our point. If the communist (Marxist-Leninist) system accomplished something it has been one-sided and doubtful because it does not consider the whole person: it ignores his religious instincts and warps his moral nature. It knows only how to harness instincts and human resources to serve its own perverse purposes and designs. Unfortunately, this is not the place nor the time to dwell upon the moral condition of the Slovak youth today. I will leave the discussion to authorities on the subject and hope that they will devote more time to study the situation in depth and give a more factual and detailed report at some future date. Slovak editions abroad are a great help to our students in their own country. The well known 'scripts' of profes- SLOVAKIA 11 sors-primarily in the theological schools-are far from complete, if for no other reason than that they are lacking in proper information on the subject and they ignore the development of reasoning and leave out the basic fundamentals of theological and philosophical truths. Theologians in the city of Bratislava have various handbooks at their disposal, even though concise, for teaching philosophy, theology, sociology and the Bible, both the Old and New Testament. Undoubtedly, many are acquainted with the works, "Posolstvo--Mission," and "Za svetlom-Towards the Light" by dedicated men like Msgr. Botek and Msgr. Vrablec. Authoritative handbooks, though lacking much in details, are still far superior to mere 'scripts.' Not even in the field of prose, simply literature, is our group of authors in exile out of step with the times . This fact was admitted in Slovakia when there was some freedom of speech, and when, for a short time several years ago, publications in the country were permitted without being subject to orders 'from above.' Dante's Inferno was translated about the same time both in and outside of Slovakia. In my opinion, in many ways, the translation in exile excelled the domestic edition. The translation and selections of Claudel's poetry in exile, too, are far better than that of the edition in Slovakia. It was not without ulterior motives, therefore, that Karol Strmen, author of the above mentioned translations, became the subject of a virulent attack in the domestic press of Slovakia. Hronsky's original novels and short stories, written and published in exile, were admitted for publication in his native homeland. Meciar's critical reviews of Kukucin's works, too, were permitted entry as a source of vital information about this Slovak novelist who lived in Argentina for many years. The Most quarterly and the Slovak v Amerike's Almanach somehow get into Slovakia and are circulated throughout the country. Slovak poems from abroad are copied and circulated, memorized and recited in closed circles. This, too, belongs to popular education, esthetics, literature, etc. as an answer to those who would deny 12 SLOVAKIA not only political and religious liberty but cultural freedom to the Slovak nation in its native homeland. A word about the meaning and mission of Slovak political literature abroad, particularly for these reasons: 1) In the free world alone can one express himself freely in behalf of the self-determination of the Slovak nation, and nations in the same predicament, or for freedom to manifest its will to control its own national destiny. 2) The truth can be spoken, written and proved in the free world alone as to the past history of the Slovak nation in the light of the facts and truth without fear of police interference and judicial reprisals. We are responsible for the destiny of our Slovak nation that cannot, at this time under the present circumstances, know the full truth of its past because the truth is hidden or falsified and distorted in behalf of the party in power. That is why the Slovak nation is thankful to God that beyond the reach of the politbureau events as they actually happen are factually reported and registered without any pressure from directives or threats from the Party meetings. These are the reasons why I recommend that we have a common center for our historic and political publications of our writers abroad, and no one can hold this against me, justly, that is. A common and mutual endeavor is our responsibility because history-life's teacher-must also be a teacher in our political life. 'I'he late Matus cernak, Karol Sidor, Dr. Frantisek Hrusovsky and Konstantin culen, as well as the living, namely, Professor Vojtech Bucko, Dr. Arved Grebert, Kristof Greiner, Dr. Ferdinand i'.>urcansky, Dr. Jozef Kirschbaum, Dr. Jozef Mikus, Dr. Jozef Pauco, Dr. Jan Rekem, Professor Frantisek Vnuk and many, many others in our Slovak life have made invaluable contributions to the Slovak nation's cause, and to the world in general, by their numerous efforts and achievements. All these will someday provide inexhaustible sources for those who will write the history of Slovakia and the Slovak nation without any bias or prejudice. The future will be concerned not only with historic events but with the truth about personalities who come LIBRARY SLOVAKIA 13 to the fore in the re-creation of history as it actually happened. For example, the history of Hlinka or Tiso, and of their closest collaborators, and adversaries, too, can now be known only in the writings of authors in the free world because in their homeland a furious campaign to erase their names from history pages, a hate campaign to smear their names and to eliminate them as persons who in their time exercised profound influence. That must be adequately evaluated in Slovak history in the future. Personal biographical profiles sketched by the pens of Dr. Pauco, Bor and others in the free world will one day hold a place of honor in the national album of the great men in the history of the Slovak nation and its historic homeland of a thousand and more years. Finally, the meaning of the Slovak word, written, spoken, in exile, and somewhat exemphasized, perhaps, will one day be understood and properly evaluated in the future when the Slovaks will once again control their national destiny as a free nation in central Europe. The governing regime in Slovakia has unwittingly given public testimony of the intrinsic value of the Slovak word from abroad. The Postal Center 120 in Praha put a ban on Slovak periodicals and publications from abroad and has consistently returned or destroyed the Slovak printed word from the free world. The first document presented here is that of the postal administration addressed to the sender of a parcel of books. I submit it fully with the exception of the name of the publication and the date to prevent tracing the source of my information. It reads: Posta Praha 120. In Prague, date ... Dear Sir, Dear sirs, We inform you that your inclosed postal parcel contains, among other items, the following publication: .. . The entry and circulation of such publications is prohibited by a law on publication and information, given on the basis of Law 23, No. 8/ 1966 Sb., relating to periodicals, publications and other informational mediums according to Law No. 23, 127/1968, Sb. That is why these publications were forbidden postal delivery. Items not admitted for postal delivery fall under Par. 6, Art. 4 of the official regulation No. 240/1949, Sb. under postal laws for the welfare of the state. Greeting-Peace to the world. 14 SLOVAKIA The refusal is officially stamped: "Posta Praha 120". Instead of a signature, there is only the letter K. When such restrictions of freedom of expression are based upon so many laws or regulations, this campaign against the means of formation or information, the spiritual isolation of the people cannot be anything less than illegal legislation and legal spiritual homicide. The second document even more graphically illustrates opposition against religion, which, apparently to all intents and purposes, the state is developing in a legalistic form. It reads: Dissemination of information garnered from foreign publications. Letter and disposition of the Ministry of Culture of the Slovak Socialist Republic, N. MK, 4525/1971 of June 17. 1971. To all the centers of church and religious bodies in Slovakia. Through assorted channels a variety of foreign periodicals and publications dealing with religious and church problems have been brought into the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, whose contents in many cases are biased and in conflict with the interests of our socialist state. Their evaluation has shown that they contain articles which untruthfully and rudely slander the CSSR. Future distribution or circulations of such materials, or any part thereof, is not permitted. This regulation also is in force in regards to the distribution or publication of certain informative instructions, etc., whether by internal religious organs, in official bulletins or in any form whatsoever. We warn that any activity that is contrary to the interest of socialist society is a misdemeanor, according to P. 5, Law No. 150/1969, Sb. We direct that you inform all branches subject to your authority of the contents of these instructions. K. Homola, Secretary General and Director for Church Affairs. This communique (signed by K. Homola) in general refers to "foreign" periodicals and publications, as if it avoided labeling them properly "Slovak," but which subsequently became clear because only these were returned by the postal outhorities with the words: "Non admis ... Not admitted ... " Later the explanation in French was added: "Returned. Violates Custom Regulations." Attempts to obtain official copies of the specific government regulations in order to comply with the law have been in vain. Non-admittance of publications from the outside world is now absolute and arbitrary. The returned publications with the official stamp of rejection attached have been filed in the archives of Slovak organizations 15 SLOVAKIA as real proofs and evidence for the future of the present spiritual enslavement of the people by the ruling regime for which the light of truth is obviously a much-feared scarecrow. The dialectics of the communist party defines everything as "biased" if it does not come off its own press, if it fails to idolize Marxism-Leninism, if it does not propagate the idea of the world revolution of the proletariat, etc. Of course, this type of "bias" is detrimentally opposed to the interests of a socialist state, namely the CSSR. Note that even 'internal church information and instructions from abroad' constitute misdemeanors if distributed (if they are not favorable to the spread of communism) because by the very fact they are not pro, they must be con-according to the borrowed Biblical phrase, "Who is not for me, is against me . . ." twisted to suit their own ends and purposes! Someone once observed that the burning of books furnishes light in darkness. We can surely applay this remark in the case of Slovak books arriving at postal centers in Czecho-Slovakia, particularly in Prague. Their fate may be that they are merely censored and confiscated, then returned to the sender, but more often consigned officially to be burned. Despite this, they continue to have their influence. The fear, in official circles of Czecho• Slovakia, of the Slovak word from abroad is clearly a case of a bad conscience. I conclude this review of past events with reference to a recent article in our press in Slovakia that labelled Slovak emigration as a dry, lifeless branch of the Slovak nation. How much or little truth there is in that arbitrary <;tatement an unprejudiced person can easily determine. lil THE SLOVAK LEAGUE OF AMERICA through its Ladies luud.liary, the "VCIELKY" (Bees), sponsors Slovak cultttrai displays. concerts, lectures, art exhibits, folk festjvals, social evenings, etc. Our aim is to have a "Hive" of our "V~ielky" in every large Slovak community.  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Slovak Word Abroad Description An account of the resource Gorazd Zvonický Slovakia, Vol. 23 (No. 46), 1973 pp. 3-15 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Zvonický, Gorazd, 1913-1995 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1973 LCNAF https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/a9230ce701969a3116e56c25baa775ce.pdf 9363d905134d5e2ad731a87c58149661 PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA 49 tion - like the Communlsts tried to do in order to frighten the people and create chaos, so that they could come to power." Nevertheless, Lettrlch's regime planted a forest of gallows instead of trees of freedom, and Hllnka's Slovak People's Party was not only outlawed, but its members were exposed to the most cruel persecution recorded In Slovak hlstory. • • • • THE SLOVA.KS AND COMMUNJSM KAROL SIDOR For ages our Slovak program has been identical both at home and in Amerlca. Only the forms and the Ume of lts reallzatlon change. The basis of our program remalns the adherence to God as the Creator of heaven and earth on Whom all thlngs depend. We do not recognize any reglme or state in which God has no place, or which enacts laws that are dlrectly opposed to God and the falth. That ls why we proclalm ourselves agalnst Bolshevlsm and agalnst everythlng that leads to lt. We are agalnst Bolshevlsm for fundamental reasons and not because Bolshevlsm has taken our properties, driven us from our homes, or because it has imprlsoned or kllled some members of our famllles. To America have come such polltlclans who praised Bolshevism and co-governed with Bolshevlks. But wben Bolsbevism deprlved tbem of polltical power and materlal wealtb, in a word when Bolshevlsm harmed tbem materlally, only tben dld they take a stand against lt. These men oppose Communlsm for material reasons, whereas we Slovaks stand opposed to lt for ldeologlcal reasons, for rellglous reasons. Our own Louis Stur wrote in bis work "The Slovanlc Peoples and tbe World ot the Future" - written over a bundred years ago, in 1849: "Communism has arrived at the same goal as atheism and apostacy from Christlanity. In every form of Communism the outlook on llfe !s gloomy, bereft of every tender joy. lt leads to the most cruel slavery. Communism, let it pretend and endeavor as !t will to make mankind sbare in all rlghts, nevertheless knows notbing about humanity. It degrades buman belngs. lt belongs among the most senseless lnnovations thus far hatched out of the human mlnd." After the first world war when Bolshevlsm came into power Iu Russia, Pope Plus XI wrote Quite clearly In bis "Quadrageslmo Anno" that llberalism had helped social democracy come lnto the world. He sald: "Let us bear In mlnd that tbe parent of thls cultural Soclallsm was Llberallsm, and that lts offsprlng was Bolshevlsm." The Holy Father warned the rulers of the world when he further sald: "We cannot contemplate wlthout profound sorrow the heedlessness of those who seem to make llght ot these lmmlnent dangers and wlth stolld lndlfference allow the propagatlon far and wlde ot tbose doctrlnes whlch seek by violence and bloodshed the destructlon of all soclety. Even more severely must be condemned the foolhardlness of those who neglect to remove or modlfy such condltlons as exasperate tbe mlnds of the people, and so prepare the way for the overthrow and ruln of the social order." �60 SLOVA.KIA Allow me, if you will, to quote from my speech of Novembe1 6, 1936 - the speech which I addressed directly to Minister Edward Beneš in his presence, when in the Prague Parliament he presented for approval the first Soviet-Czech Pact concluded by himself. lt was then - in 1935 - that I told the members of the Prague Parliament: "We reject Bolshevism and its bloody practlce, as well as its inhumane methods. We do not unite our national future with the tuture of the Soviet Union. We do not build on the agreements which the Bolsheviks undersign. I consider it the greatest mistake that Mr. Minister Beneš has ever made in foreign policy. He has had the borders of the State guaranteed, though he knows that Bolshevism recognizes no state borders, because it recognizes the borders of only one state - the World Soviet Republic. We Slovaks do not wish to connect our fate with that of the Soviet Union and we shall vote no confidence to such a policy of Mr. Minister Beneil." Today we know that we always were on the right road. Publicly and open1y in parliament, at our rallies and in our Slovak Press. But the mistake was that the great ones of this world - as Pius XI expressed it - viewed those thlngs wlth a stolld indifference and made llght of those imminent dangers which threatened society. What can the Pope do? What can the Church do in this case? Why the first thlng that the modern State dld was to separate the State from the Church. People In power separated it and then went their own way, according to their laws and reasoning, degrading Chrisťs teachlng whlch the Church preaches and recalls for us constantly. We had strayed far. I could quote you from many speeches of Hlinka, Tiso and Razus that went unheeded. Don't believe the priests, that was the fashion or the day - and Hlinka was a priest, so was Tiso, and so was Razus. So the statesmen dld not believe them, because - well, what did a priest know anyway? They were not concerned with their politlcs but only with what they and other priests preached about Chrisťs gospel in the churches. lf there is any nation in the world that is anti-communist, that nation certainly is the Slovak natlon. The Slovaks never did want Communism, and voted against it when Soviet armles occupied Slovakia. But little Slovakia cannot herself liberate the half of Europe that is in the hands of the Bolsheviks. In this case the natlons must unite and wln for themselves true freedom. Americans of Slovak descent have already long ago accepted as their motto: Fight against Communlsm, Fascism and Nazism. The last two - isms have just about been wiped out. Now the fight is commencing against the greatest evll the world has ever known - agalnst Communism. Amerlcans of Slovak descent must unite as one man under the banner of the Slovak League of America, wblch has for the past 43 years Jed them well In public pollcy. All good Slovaks trust the Slovak League of America and support it flnanclally and morally. General Montecuccoli once said: To wage war three things are needed: 1. Money; 2. Money; and 3. MONEY ! And the flght against Communism ia, indeed, a war that must be waged to the finish. Every good Slovak - as every patriotlc American - 1s proud to go along �SLOVAKIA 51 with the Slovak L eague of Amerlca to help crush the greatest scourge of mankind - godless Communlsm. If, then, In al! serlousness, you have understood the words of the H oly Father t hat Communism ia really an lmmlnent danger, if you believe what your relatlves wrlte you about life In Slovakia under Communism, t h en take actlon that this scourge of humanity does not overtake you bere in America and enslave you as it has enslaved mlllions of people a fter World W ar I and mor e millions after World War II. My advice to my countrymen in America: Join the ranks of the Slovak League of Amerlca, support it financially and morally so that it mlgh t actually fulfill lts mlssion a mong our Slovak people in America In the fight against Communism and the Jiberation of our Slovak natlon. • • • • WHO SAID IT? "In Prague we guarded ourselves against the impending catastrophe as best we could. On e of the ways that Jed to thls we sought In cooperation wlth the SOVIE T UNION and In its direct participation In the politics of E urope and Geneva. From the year 1927, when Com• missar M . Litvlnov first came to Geneva, to the sesslon of the preparatory disarmament commlssion, in frlnedly and constant contact wlth bim and his comrades I never ceased trylng tbat we work together on the exchange of ideas and friendship. Already then I stressed to hlm some of the m aln principles of our politlcs, above al! else, that Ozechoslovaikia was convinced that without the partlcipation of the Soviet Union in the pol!tlcs of Eur ope and es,p ecially that of Centra! Europe, German preponderance in Europe would again be renewel:I and t hreaten European peace. . .. 1 cons ldered t he entrance of the Soviet Union lnto the League of Nations In Septembe r 1934 as a triumph of peace politlcs, and the undersigning of the French and our treaties with the Soviet Union as the beginning of a new French and Czechoslovak policy, that would bind the Soviet Union to Western Eul"Ope and would create collaboration of the East w ith the West, a bsolutely necessary t o prevent the expanslon of Hltler's Germany to the East, and thereby a lso to the West." - Dr. Edward Beneš, MEMOIRS, 1947 . • "The all iance with the USSR is the most lmportant guarantee of peaceful d evelopment a nd progress of Czechoslovakla a nd without the allia nce with the USSR we ca~not lmaglne a free and Indepe ndent Czechos lovakia." Klement Gottwald, Moscow broadcast, 7-19-47; Č:AS. 7-12-47. • "Czechoslovakia, an ally of Soviet Russia, which ls a Slav country, 1s wHllng to be a friend of and to co~e to an agreement with all natlons that wish to be friendly, provided that such agreements come within the scope of Czechoslovakia's present-day alliances and wlthln the scope of the Unlted Natlons Charter. OUR TWENTY-YEAR 1'REATY WITH SOVIET RUSSIA IS AND WILL REMAIN THE KEYSTONE OF OUR FOREIGN P OLICY. We also have a treaty wlth Yugoslavia of the same duratlon." (Jan Masaryk, NEW YORK TIMES 2-13-47). � SLOVAKIA 49 tion - like the Communlsts tried to do in order to frighten the people and create chaos, so that they could come to power." Nevertheless, Lettrlch's regime planted a forest of gallows instead of trees of freedom, and Hllnka's Slovak People's Party was not only outlawed, but its members were exposed to the most cruel persecution recorded In Slovak hlstory. • • • • THE SLOVA.KS AND COMMUNJSM KAROL SIDOR For ages our Slovak program has been identical both at home and in Amerlca. Only the forms and the Ume of lts reallzatlon change. The basis of our program remalns the adherence to God as the Creator of heaven and earth on Whom all thlngs depend. We do not recognize any reglme or state in which God has no place, or which enacts laws that are dlrectly opposed to God and the falth. That ls why we proclalm ourselves agalnst Bolshevlsm and agalnst everythlng that leads to lt. We are agalnst Bolshevlsm for fundamental reasons and not because Bolshevlsm has taken our properties, driven us from our homes, or because it has imprlsoned or kllled some members of our famllles. To America have come such polltlclans who praised Bolshevism and co-governed with Bolshevlks. But wben Bolsbevism deprlved tbem of polltical power and materlal wealtb, in a word when Bolshevlsm harmed tbem materlally, only tben dld they take a stand against lt. These men oppose Communlsm for material reasons, whereas we Slovaks stand opposed to lt for ldeologlcal reasons, for rellglous reasons. Our own Louis Stur wrote in bis work "The Slovanlc Peoples and tbe World ot the Future" - written over a bundred years ago, in 1849: "Communism has arrived at the same goal as atheism and apostacy from Christlanity. In every form of Communism the outlook on llfe !s gloomy, bereft of every tender joy. lt leads to the most cruel slavery. Communism, let it pretend and endeavor as !t will to make mankind sbare in all rlghts, nevertheless knows notbing about humanity. It degrades buman belngs. lt belongs among the most senseless lnnovations thus far hatched out of the human mlnd." After the first world war when Bolshevlsm came into power Iu Russia, Pope Plus XI wrote Quite clearly In bis "Quadrageslmo Anno" that llberalism had helped social democracy come lnto the world. He sald: "Let us bear In mlnd that tbe parent of thls cultural Soclallsm was Llberallsm, and that lts offsprlng was Bolshevlsm." The Holy Father warned the rulers of the world when he further sald: "We cannot contemplate wlthout profound sorrow the heedlessness of those who seem to make llght ot these lmmlnent dangers and wlth stolld lndlfference allow the propagatlon far and wlde ot tbose doctrlnes whlch seek by violence and bloodshed the destructlon of all soclety. Even more severely must be condemned the foolhardlness of those who neglect to remove or modlfy such condltlons as exasperate tbe mlnds of the people, and so prepare the way for the overthrow and ruln of the social order." �60 SLOVA.KIA Allow me, if you will, to quote from my speech of Novembe1 6, 1936 - the speech which I addressed directly to Minister Edward Beneš in his presence, when in the Prague Parliament he presented for approval the first Soviet-Czech Pact concluded by himself. lt was then - in 1935 - that I told the members of the Prague Parliament: "We reject Bolshevism and its bloody practlce, as well as its inhumane methods. We do not unite our national future with the tuture of the Soviet Union. We do not build on the agreements which the Bolsheviks undersign. I consider it the greatest mistake that Mr. Minister Beneš has ever made in foreign policy. He has had the borders of the State guaranteed, though he knows that Bolshevism recognizes no state borders, because it recognizes the borders of only one state - the World Soviet Republic. We Slovaks do not wish to connect our fate with that of the Soviet Union and we shall vote no confidence to such a policy of Mr. Minister Beneil." Today we know that we always were on the right road. Publicly and open1y in parliament, at our rallies and in our Slovak Press. But the mistake was that the great ones of this world - as Pius XI expressed it - viewed those thlngs wlth a stolld indifference and made llght of those imminent dangers which threatened society. What can the Pope do? What can the Church do in this case? Why the first thlng that the modern State dld was to separate the State from the Church. People In power separated it and then went their own way, according to their laws and reasoning, degrading Chrisťs teachlng whlch the Church preaches and recalls for us constantly. We had strayed far. I could quote you from many speeches of Hlinka, Tiso and Razus that went unheeded. Don't believe the priests, that was the fashion or the day - and Hlinka was a priest, so was Tiso, and so was Razus. So the statesmen dld not believe them, because - well, what did a priest know anyway? They were not concerned with their politlcs but only with what they and other priests preached about Chrisťs gospel in the churches. lf there is any nation in the world that is anti-communist, that nation certainly is the Slovak natlon. The Slovaks never did want Communism, and voted against it when Soviet armles occupied Slovakia. But little Slovakia cannot herself liberate the half of Europe that is in the hands of the Bolsheviks. In this case the natlons must unite and wln for themselves true freedom. Americans of Slovak descent have already long ago accepted as their motto: Fight against Communlsm, Fascism and Nazism. The last two - isms have just about been wiped out. Now the fight is commencing against the greatest evll the world has ever known - agalnst Communism. Amerlcans of Slovak descent must unite as one man under the banner of the Slovak League of America, wblch has for the past 43 years Jed them well In public pollcy. All good Slovaks trust the Slovak League of America and support it flnanclally and morally. General Montecuccoli once said: To wage war three things are needed: 1. Money; 2. Money; and 3. MONEY ! And the flght against Communism ia, indeed, a war that must be waged to the finish. Every good Slovak - as every patriotlc American - 1s proud to go along �SLOVAKIA 51 with the Slovak L eague of Amerlca to help crush the greatest scourge of mankind - godless Communlsm. If, then, In al! serlousness, you have understood the words of the H oly Father t hat Communism ia really an lmmlnent danger, if you believe what your relatlves wrlte you about life In Slovakia under Communism, t h en take actlon that this scourge of humanity does not overtake you bere in America and enslave you as it has enslaved mlllions of people a fter World W ar I and mor e millions after World War II. My advice to my countrymen in America: Join the ranks of the Slovak League of Amerlca, support it financially and morally so that it mlgh t actually fulfill lts mlssion a mong our Slovak people in America In the fight against Communism and the Jiberation of our Slovak natlon. • • • • WHO SAID IT? "In Prague we guarded ourselves against the impending catastrophe as best we could. On e of the ways that Jed to thls we sought In cooperation wlth the SOVIE T UNION and In its direct participation In the politics of E urope and Geneva. From the year 1927, when Com• missar M . Litvlnov first came to Geneva, to the sesslon of the preparatory disarmament commlssion, in frlnedly and constant contact wlth bim and his comrades I never ceased trylng tbat we work together on the exchange of ideas and friendship. Already then I stressed to hlm some of the m aln principles of our politlcs, above al! else, that Ozechoslovaikia was convinced that without the partlcipation of the Soviet Union in the pol!tlcs of Eur ope and es,p ecially that of Centra! Europe, German preponderance in Europe would again be renewel:I and t hreaten European peace. . .. 1 cons ldered t he entrance of the Soviet Union lnto the League of Nations In Septembe r 1934 as a triumph of peace politlcs, and the undersigning of the French and our treaties with the Soviet Union as the beginning of a new French and Czechoslovak policy, that would bind the Soviet Union to Western Eul"Ope and would create collaboration of the East w ith the West, a bsolutely necessary t o prevent the expanslon of Hltler's Germany to the East, and thereby a lso to the West." - Dr. Edward Beneš, MEMOIRS, 1947 . • "The all iance with the USSR is the most lmportant guarantee of peaceful d evelopment a nd progress of Czechoslovakla a nd without the allia nce with the USSR we ca~not lmaglne a free and Indepe ndent Czechos lovakia." Klement Gottwald, Moscow broadcast, 7-19-47; Č:AS. 7-12-47. • "Czechoslovakia, an ally of Soviet Russia, which ls a Slav country, 1s wHllng to be a friend of and to co~e to an agreement with all natlons that wish to be friendly, provided that such agreements come within the scope of Czechoslovakia's present-day alliances and wlthln the scope of the Unlted Natlons Charter. OUR TWENTY-YEAR 1'REATY WITH SOVIET RUSSIA IS AND WILL REMAIN THE KEYSTONE OF OUR FOREIGN P OLICY. We also have a treaty wlth Yugoslavia of the same duratlon." (Jan Masaryk, NEW YORK TIMES 2-13-47). � 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 1951, Vol. 1 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 1951 Description An account of the resource <ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 1), May 1951.</li> <li>Issue 2 (No. 2), December 1951.</li> </ul> Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context <ul><li><a href="https://n2t.net/ark:/13960/s261hfmshm7" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><span>ark:/13960/s261hfmshm7</span></a></li> <li><a href="https://n2t.net/ark:/13960/s21tk2wkzj4" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><span>ark:/13960/s21tk2wkzj4</span></a></li> </ul> Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document SLOVAKIA 49 tion - like the Communlsts tried to do in order to frighten the people and create chaos, so that they could come to power." Nevertheless, Lettrlch's regime planted a forest of gallows instead of trees of freedom, and Hllnka's Slovak People's Party was not only outlawed, but its members were exposed to the most cruel persecution recorded In Slovak hlstory. • • • • THE SLOVA.KS AND COMMUNJSM KAROL SIDOR For ages our Slovak program has been identical both at home and in Amerlca. Only the forms and the Ume of lts reallzatlon change. The basis of our program remalns the adherence to God as the Creator of heaven and earth on Whom all thlngs depend. We do not recognize any reglme or state in which God has no place, or which enacts laws that are dlrectly opposed to God and the falth. That ls why we proclalm ourselves agalnst Bolshevlsm and agalnst everythlng that leads to lt. We are agalnst Bolshevlsm for fundamental reasons and not because Bolshevlsm has taken our properties, driven us from our homes, or because it has imprlsoned or kllled some members of our famllles. To America have come such polltlclans who praised Bolshevism and co-governed with Bolshevlks. But wben Bolsbevism deprlved tbem of polltical power and materlal wealtb, in a word when Bolshevlsm harmed tbem materlally, only tben dld they take a stand against lt. These men oppose Communlsm for material reasons, whereas we Slovaks stand opposed to lt for ldeologlcal reasons, for rellglous reasons. Our own Louis Stur wrote in bis work "The Slovanlc Peoples and tbe World ot the Future" - written over a bundred years ago, in 1849: "Communism has arrived at the same goal as atheism and apostacy from Christlanity. In every form of Communism the outlook on llfe !s gloomy, bereft of every tender joy. lt leads to the most cruel slavery. Communism, let it pretend and endeavor as !t will to make mankind sbare in all rlghts, nevertheless knows notbing about humanity. It degrades buman belngs. lt belongs among the most senseless lnnovations thus far hatched out of the human mlnd." After the first world war when Bolshevlsm came into power Iu Russia, Pope Plus XI wrote Quite clearly In bis "Quadrageslmo Anno" that llberalism had helped social democracy come lnto the world. He sald: "Let us bear In mlnd that tbe parent of thls cultural Soclallsm was Llberallsm, and that lts offsprlng was Bolshevlsm." The Holy Father warned the rulers of the world when he further sald: "We cannot contemplate wlthout profound sorrow the heedlessness of those who seem to make llght ot these lmmlnent dangers and wlth stolld lndlfference allow the propagatlon far and wlde ot tbose doctrlnes whlch seek by violence and bloodshed the destructlon of all soclety. Even more severely must be condemned the foolhardlness of those who neglect to remove or modlfy such condltlons as exasperate tbe mlnds of the people, and so prepare the way for the overthrow and ruln of the social order." 60 SLOVA.KIA Allow me, if you will, to quote from my speech of Novembe1 6, 1936 - the speech which I addressed directly to Minister Edward Beneš in his presence, when in the Prague Parliament he presented for approval the first Soviet-Czech Pact concluded by himself. lt was then - in 1935 - that I told the members of the Prague Parliament: "We reject Bolshevism and its bloody practlce, as well as its inhumane methods. We do not unite our national future with the tuture of the Soviet Union. We do not build on the agreements which the Bolsheviks undersign. I consider it the greatest mistake that Mr. Minister Beneš has ever made in foreign policy. He has had the borders of the State guaranteed, though he knows that Bolshevism recognizes no state borders, because it recognizes the borders of only one state - the World Soviet Republic. We Slovaks do not wish to connect our fate with that of the Soviet Union and we shall vote no confidence to such a policy of Mr. Minister Beneil." Today we know that we always were on the right road. Publicly and open1y in parliament, at our rallies and in our Slovak Press. But the mistake was that the great ones of this world - as Pius XI expressed it - viewed those thlngs wlth a stolld indifference and made llght of those imminent dangers which threatened society. What can the Pope do? What can the Church do in this case? Why the first thlng that the modern State dld was to separate the State from the Church. People In power separated it and then went their own way, according to their laws and reasoning, degrading Chrisťs teachlng whlch the Church preaches and recalls for us constantly. We had strayed far. I could quote you from many speeches of Hlinka, Tiso and Razus that went unheeded. Don't believe the priests, that was the fashion or the day - and Hlinka was a priest, so was Tiso, and so was Razus. So the statesmen dld not believe them, because - well, what did a priest know anyway? They were not concerned with their politlcs but only with what they and other priests preached about Chrisťs gospel in the churches. lf there is any nation in the world that is anti-communist, that nation certainly is the Slovak natlon. The Slovaks never did want Communism, and voted against it when Soviet armles occupied Slovakia. But little Slovakia cannot herself liberate the half of Europe that is in the hands of the Bolsheviks. In this case the natlons must unite and wln for themselves true freedom. Americans of Slovak descent have already long ago accepted as their motto: Fight against Communlsm, Fascism and Nazism. The last two - isms have just about been wiped out. Now the fight is commencing against the greatest evll the world has ever known - agalnst Communism. Amerlcans of Slovak descent must unite as one man under the banner of the Slovak League of America, wblch has for the past 43 years Jed them well In public pollcy. All good Slovaks trust the Slovak League of America and support it flnanclally and morally. General Montecuccoli once said: To wage war three things are needed: 1. Money; 2. Money; and 3. MONEY ! And the flght against Communism ia, indeed, a war that must be waged to the finish. Every good Slovak - as every patriotlc American - 1s proud to go along SLOVAKIA 51 with the Slovak L eague of Amerlca to help crush the greatest scourge of mankind - godless Communlsm. If, then, In al! serlousness, you have understood the words of the H oly Father t hat Communism ia really an lmmlnent danger, if you believe what your relatlves wrlte you about life In Slovakia under Communism, t h en take actlon that this scourge of humanity does not overtake you bere in America and enslave you as it has enslaved mlllions of people a fter World W ar I and mor e millions after World War II. My advice to my countrymen in America: Join the ranks of the Slovak League of Amerlca, support it financially and morally so that it mlgh t actually fulfill lts mlssion a mong our Slovak people in America In the fight against Communism and the Jiberation of our Slovak natlon. • • • • WHO SAID IT? "In Prague we guarded ourselves against the impending catastrophe as best we could. On e of the ways that Jed to thls we sought In cooperation wlth the SOVIE T UNION and In its direct participation In the politics of E urope and Geneva. From the year 1927, when Com• missar M . Litvlnov first came to Geneva, to the sesslon of the preparatory disarmament commlssion, in frlnedly and constant contact wlth bim and his comrades I never ceased trylng tbat we work together on the exchange of ideas and friendship. Already then I stressed to hlm some of the m aln principles of our politlcs, above al! else, that Ozechoslovaikia was convinced that without the partlcipation of the Soviet Union in the pol!tlcs of Eur ope and es,p ecially that of Centra! Europe, German preponderance in Europe would again be renewel:I and t hreaten European peace. . .. 1 cons ldered t he entrance of the Soviet Union lnto the League of Nations In Septembe r 1934 as a triumph of peace politlcs, and the undersigning of the French and our treaties with the Soviet Union as the beginning of a new French and Czechoslovak policy, that would bind the Soviet Union to Western Eul"Ope and would create collaboration of the East w ith the West, a bsolutely necessary t o prevent the expanslon of Hltler's Germany to the East, and thereby a lso to the West." - Dr. Edward Beneš, MEMOIRS, 1947 . • "The all iance with the USSR is the most lmportant guarantee of peaceful d evelopment a nd progress of Czechoslovakla a nd without the allia nce with the USSR we ca~not lmaglne a free and Indepe ndent Czechos lovakia." Klement Gottwald, Moscow broadcast, 7-19-47; Č:AS. 7-12-47. • "Czechoslovakia, an ally of Soviet Russia, which ls a Slav country, 1s wHllng to be a friend of and to co~e to an agreement with all natlons that wish to be friendly, provided that such agreements come within the scope of Czechoslovakia's present-day alliances and wlthln the scope of the Unlted Natlons Charter. OUR TWENTY-YEAR 1'REATY WITH SOVIET RUSSIA IS AND WILL REMAIN THE KEYSTONE OF OUR FOREIGN P OLICY. We also have a treaty wlth Yugoslavia of the same duratlon." (Jan Masaryk, NEW YORK TIMES 2-13-47).  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 The Slovaks and Communism Description An account of the resource Karol Sidor Slovakia, Vol. 1, No. 1 (1), May 1951 pp. 49-51 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource May 1951 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Sidor, Karol, 1901-1953 LCNAF https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/229d5ee6eca6e6abde0a43f9ad6e53fa.pdf a496aa4c7f8cd43ea73f60fb8e1e9599 PDF Text Text 48 SLOVAKIA THE SWVAKS AND DR. JOSEPH LE'ITRICH OR. JOSEPH BYSTRICKÝ (The author of this article is the former persona) secretary of Rt. Rev. Msgr. Andrew Cvlnček, Vice President of the Slovak Demo• cratic Party and the Slovak National Council In Bratislava of whlch Dr. Lettrich was Presldent. Mr. Bystrlck:9' also was Chairman of the· Universlty Students' Club of tbe Slovak Democratlc Party.) Dr. Joseph Lettrich became very exclted over the H. R. Concurrent Resolution 139, which was introduced In the U. S. Congress In July, 1951, by the Hon. Charles J. Kersten of M!lwaukee, Wls. In thls resolution Congressman Kersten asks the Unlted States to allow the Slovak nation decide In free elections whether lt wants to live in a joint State with the Czech nation, or in an independent, national State of its own. In a letter to Kersten, Dr. Joseph Lettr!ch presented himself as a representatlve of tbe "absolute majority" of the Slovak people, because, he said, in the elections of May, 1946, the Slovak nat!on voted 62% for the Slovak Democratic Party of which he was pres!dent. Lettrich was not the only one who protested against the Kersten Resolutlon. Dr. George Slávik, former ambassador of Beneš's communistdominated Prague regime, also protested, saying that Slovak lndependence is demanded only by those Slovaks "who collaborated with nazism" and who fled from the "just " punishment of the "People's Courts." Both allegations, malicious and false, are very serious and indicate that here we have to do wlth people whose political means of combat are falsehoods, decepttons, dlshonorable acts and a false presentation of the struggle of the Slovak natlon for State lndependence. Dr. Lettrlch attempts to show that all who voted in the May 1946 elect!ons for the Slovak Democratic Party are for the continued exlstence of the synthetlc Czechoslovak State, because the Slovak Demo• cratlc Party - his political party - was for tbat State. What a terrible mistake! Why did the Slovaks vote for the Democratic Party of Slovakla? Today it 1s abundantly clear to all objective and informed observers that after the advent of the Bolshevik Army to Košice, the Jargest city in east Slovakla, the so-called "provislonal" Czechoslovak Government of Dr. Beneš, wlth its "Košice Program," declded that only two polltical parties shall be allowed in Slovakia, to wit: The Communist Party and the Democr atic Party. The platform of the Slovak Communlst Party was well-known to everybody, because it was an old party. But the Slovak Democrattc Party was a new party whose program was not deflned clearly and was unknown to the public. In 1945, there really was no dlfference between the Communlst and tbe Democrat!c part!es of Slovakia as far as policy was concerned. Dr. Lettrlch was well aware of that fact and admltted it when, as presldent of the Democratic Party, he wrote: "Basically, our political program - our politlcal li ne - completely agrees with the line and the program of the Slovak Communist Party. Up to the rebellion there r eally was no dlfference between an adherent �SLOVAKIA 49 of the Slovak Communiat Party and an adhe rent of the Democratic Party ... 1 emphaaize that we must mutually help each other and that all of ua must solve common problems together, becauae for once and for all t lme we must reallze that there l1 no fundamental dlfference between the Communist Party and the De mocratlc Party of Slovakia." - ("MY 1946) - Prague, No. 23, June 8, 1946.) Both partles participated In equal measure in all the crimes which the Soviet and natlve communlsts perpetrated in Slovakla; both are responsible for the 30,0()'{), Slovaks deported to Siberla In 1945; and both parties are responsible for the incarceratlon of Slovak cltizens, priests and bishops. Communists and representatlves of tbe Democratic Party stole in equal measure and in "brotherly" fashion, threw people out of thelr own homes into the streets In the name of t'he "new people's democratlc" order and then, when these people protested they had no place to live, in both parties sent them 10 concentration camps as elements detrlmental to society and hostlle to the "people's" democracy. During the time of the " triumphant" march of the Bolshevik army, there was not a slngle famUy in Slovakia which dld not have some one to sh ed tears for. To rid itself of the Slovaks who d!d not want to become frlendly with the communist "Jegal" order and wlU1 the Czechoslovak State idea, the new regime used to send them - wfrhout training, with insufficient raiment and arms, in the blisterlng cold, at the beginnlng of 1945 - into battle against the Germans in the Llptovsk~ Svät~ Mikuláä sector. The so-called "Fourth Czechoslovak Brigade", formed in Levoča at th e beginning of February 1945 excluslvely of people who were agalnst communism and Czechos lovaklsm, shed its blood practically to a man in that sector. Those mlssed by the Germans were kllled by Soviet soldiers, who used machine guns and automatlcs to chase barefooted and unarmed Slovaks into the fight. T h is 1s the manner In which the new Czechoslovak communist regime wanted to rid ltself of lts opponents. Despite all this, however, the Idea of an independent Slovak State contlnued to grow, and the Slovak nation ideallzed lt completely and wrapped lt In a robe of sacredness. People could not talk about it in a loud volce, because the "People's Courts," created by the National Front of the Communist and Democratlc parties, arbitrarlly dealt death even for trlvlal matters. Already in July 1945, just before the St. Cyril and Methodius celebration at Devín, the communist pollce arrested some 100 university students in Bratislava, accusing them of attemptlng to make a demonstratlon for an independent Slovak State. Slovak students were daily "guests" of the people's democratlc police who were fully aware of the fact that the unlverslty students were for Slovak State lndependence in an overwhelmlng majority. The communist pollce used to raid the fľaternity houses of the students every March 14 to ascertaln whether t he students were celebratlng the "Slovak Independence Day." The hostlle attitude of the Slovak natlon to the Democratic Party, óf · whlch Dr. Lettrich was chairman, was a lso manltested by leading Cathollc politlcians ot that Ume, who parted wlth Lettrich's party and aniiounced the formation of a new politlcal party, the Chrlstlan Republican Party. Monslgnor Andrew Cvlnček, Dr. Emanuel Bohm, Ing. K. F ilo and others wanted a party which, under the given circumstances �50 SLOVAKIA and possibllities, would best satisfy the feeling and the needs of the Slovak nation, that is a party which would be democratic and Chrlstlan in practice, one that would defend all democratic freedoms and especially the freedom of rel!gion, which at that Ume exlsted only on paper, because all - and I repeat - ALL existlng Catholic societles were dissolved and thelr actlvity forbidden. In the Spring of 194.6, when the new Christlan Republican Party was to be organized - a party in whlch the Slovak saw a ray of a new and better llfe - the National Front of communists and Lettrichites would not allow lt. At that time Dr. Joseph Lettrich announced: "The National Front shall not allow a party w ith a confessional program." - Indeed, it was clear to the communists that a party founded on Christlan principles would be the greatest adversary or communism. Lettrlch and his group also were aware of that, but they also knew that by allowing t his party to organize and function, their Democratic Party would certainly be ruined in tJie coming elections. Consequently, the Christian Republican Party was not allowed to organize, but soon thereafter an announcement was made that permission was granted for a new Marxist party, the Social Democratlc Party. Then Dr. Lettrich offered the representatives of the Christian Republicans a proposal, whereby the Catbolics would get appropriate representation in government and leglslative organs. The Democratic Party agreed to add the toilowing points to its program: a) to do away with the People's Courts; b) to return religious schools, rraternities and other natlonalized properties to the Church; c) to permit Catholic societles to exist and runction without government interference; d) to f!ght the execution or Dr. Joseph Tiso. The Slovak people, however, had little or no falth in the agree· ment of the Catholics and the Democratic Party concluded In April 1946, because Dr. Lettrich remained as head of the Democratic Party - the same Lettrich who compromised himself so strongly in tbe Fall ot 1944 by collaborating with the communists to nationalize all Catholic schools, churches and other properties, to lnstitute People's Courts, etc. The absolute majority or the Slovak nation was determined to use the "White Ballot" in the May 1946 elections to expresa its opposition to the communlst regirne and the Czechoslovak State idea. It was only when the Council of Catbolic Bishops of Slovakia, after careful and lengthy deliberation, decided that it was necessary to choose tbe lesser of two evils, that tbe vast majority of Slovaks decided to vote for the Democratic Party. It is true that 62% ot the voters of Slovakia voted for the Demo• cratic Party, but lt is just as true that this bappened not out or love or respect for Dr. Joseph Lettrich or the Czechoslovak Republlc, but because the great Catholic majority respected the dlcision or the Bishop's Council and voted against communlsm and the communlsts in Slovakla. Dr. Lettrich was the head ot a party whicb in its absolute majority was against bim, but could not unseat him because the voter in the so-called "Third Czecboslovak Republlc" had only one right - the right to obey and keep his mouth sbut. The fact stlll remains: the idea of Slovak State lndependence was the decidlng factor in the 1946 elections. �SLOV.AKJA 51 The Democratic Party saw that it could not gain Slovak voters by simply preaching Czechoslovak mutuality, therefore, it decided to use Slovak State independence as a silent means of propaganda. Dr. Nicholas Franek, at that time a candidate for the deputy mandate of the Bratislava dlstrlct {later Minister of Unlflcation in Prague and now a refugee in America and a member of the Council of Free Czechoslovakia ! ), attended a secret meeting of Slovak un!verslty students, before the electlons of May 1946, at the Centra! Secretariate of the Democratlc Party, and, among other thlngs, sa!d: "None ot us believes Dr. Lettrich. He is overly compromised with his close collaboration wlth the communists. For us Dr. Lettrich cannot be any kind of guarantee that freedoms shall be restored in our country. However, we must keep him as president for the Ume being, otherwise the communists would see to it that we are Jiquidated. After the electlons we shall endeavor to have tbe elected Slovak deput!es procla!m the Slovak State legally in the Prague Parl!ament and in the Slovak National Councll in Bratislava." That is how Dr. Franek got the unlversity students to vote for the Democratlc Party; they belleved that Dr. Franek and bis colleagues would keep their promlses after the elections. And tbe students really worked to assure the victory of the Democratic Party. The Slovak s tudents, whom I sent out into all the districts of Slovakia to conv!nce the people to vote for the Democratlc Party, spoke in the spirit of Dr. Franek's speech. That is why we are so much more disappointed now that Dr. Franek, enjoying politlcal asylum in America, 1s stlll supporting the Czechoslovaks, when he knows fully well that t hey were and s tlJJ are responsible for the naitlonal catastrophe or the Slovak nation. The electlons in May 1946 were elect!ons for the independence of the Slovak State. Propaganda of the Democratic Party was dlrected in that spirit, and it was only that kind of propaganda that made the Slovaks forget some of the sufferlngs they llved through, because they firmly believed that lt was worth whlle to flght, suffer and die for State independence. The enthusiasm of Slovakia in the May 1946 elections reflected this spirit. And for the idea ot an independent Slovak State six university students were wounded by communist bullets in front of Svoradov and 329 were deprived of stipends and expelled from the student boarding houses. But the idea for national and State independence was much stronger than incarcerations and sufferings. True, the Democratlc Party got 62% of the votes in 1946. But we must remember that: a) some citlzens were deprlved of their right to vote; b) 2% voted for the Freedom Party which had State independence in lts platform; c) several percent or the votes went to the Communlst Party because or opposltlon to Dr. Joseph Lettrlch, the voters tlguring that it was wlser or smarter to vote outrlght for the Communist Party, instead of its affillate, the Democratic Party. So, all factors considered, more than 75% of the Slovak votes in May 1946 were cast for an independent Slovak State. That is why we - who :proudly claim the program of national and State independence - are not afraid of the elections proposed by Congressman Kersten in hla Resolution R. H. 139. The people who are afraid of such elections know fully well that if the Slovaks were glven an oppQrtunlty to declde whether they wanted to Jive In Czechoslovakla �52 SLOVAKIA or not, they would answer forcefully and conslsten tly: NO! That is why Lettrich and Company would want to to convince the Government of the United States that the Slovaks are for CzechosJovakia and that an independent Slovakia ls promoted only by some "nazis" who escaped the "just" punishment of the "people's" courts. If Dr. Lettrich really ls the great democrat he poses to be, Jet him not be a!rald or the de!eat he would have to suffer with hls several frlends in case such an election is held. It the Slovaks are for the Czechoslovak Republlc, as Dr. Lett• rich claims, then they certalnly wlll say so in such an electlon. When I talked wlth Dr. Lettrlch after the executlon or Dr. Joseph Tlso, he told me that accord!ng to reports he has in his possession, the absolute majority of Slovak university students was !or a Slovak State and regards Dr. Joseph Tlso as a martyr and those who condemned him as murderers who should be brought to tria!. "In Prague," Dr. Lettrich told me at that Ume, "I met a certaln unlversity student and asked hlm what he thougbt about the executlon or Dr. T!so. Tb!s student replied: ' The Czecha put General Štefänik out of the way, they jailed Hlinka and now hanged Tiso with them'." we have nothing further to talk about After tbe executlon of the Presldent of Slovakia, Msgr. Andrew told me: "Wlth the executlon of Dr. Joseph Tlso Czechos lovakla ls llquldated and no one shall restore !t by means of free electlons." And before I fled from Slovakla, he sald: "Figbt for the State lndependence or Slovakla!" With the executlon of Dr. Tlso a revolutlou and the destruction of the Democratic Party threatened In Slovakla. So the presidency of the Democratic Party called together the executlve commlttee of the Party (1 was present also), and at thls meeting the delegates or the lndlvlclual distrlcts said in one accord: "After the execution of Dr. Joseph Tiao we loat all our members. The Democratic Party exiata only theoretically, but for all pactical purposea it is liquldated." Adm!ttlng that he was a general without an army, and that bis program or collaboratlon wlth the communlsts and Czechoslovakism was not the program of the Slovak nat!on, Dr. Joseph Lettrlch asked the delegates present for advice how to save the Democratlc Party. It was after thls meeting that Lettrlch assumed the role or Pilate and attempted to just!fy hlmself In the eyes of the Slovak people by proclalmlng In the newspapers that Dr. Edward Bene!\ and the Natlonal Soclallsts, and not he and the Democratlc Party, were responslble for the execution of Tlso. But thls came too late. Wlth the execution of Dr. Joseph Tlso nails were sunk deep into the Czechoslovak comn by all classes of the Slovak people - the tradesmen, buslnessmen, workers and farmers and the lntelllgentsia. The Slovak nation deflnltely is for an independent Slovakla. The Slovak natlon reallzes tbat the road to independence !s fuH of sorrow and suf\ferlng, but !s, nevertheless, determlned to attain lndependence at all costs. It ls provlng that dally. Therefore, we welcome the resolutlon ot Congressman Kersten "for the freedom of the Slovaks," because free elections wlll prove who was rlght: we, who are for an jndependent Slovak Republlc, or those who are trying to enslave Slovakla. Cvlnček � 48 SLOVAKIA THE SWVAKS AND DR. JOSEPH LE'ITRICH OR. JOSEPH BYSTRICKÝ (The author of this article is the former persona) secretary of Rt. Rev. Msgr. Andrew Cvlnček, Vice President of the Slovak Demo• cratic Party and the Slovak National Council In Bratislava of whlch Dr. Lettrich was Presldent. Mr. Bystrlck:9' also was Chairman of the· Universlty Students' Club of tbe Slovak Democratlc Party.) Dr. Joseph Lettrich became very exclted over the H. R. Concurrent Resolution 139, which was introduced In the U. S. Congress In July, 1951, by the Hon. Charles J. Kersten of M!lwaukee, Wls. In thls resolution Congressman Kersten asks the Unlted States to allow the Slovak nation decide In free elections whether lt wants to live in a joint State with the Czech nation, or in an independent, national State of its own. In a letter to Kersten, Dr. Joseph Lettr!ch presented himself as a representatlve of tbe "absolute majority" of the Slovak people, because, he said, in the elections of May, 1946, the Slovak nat!on voted 62% for the Slovak Democratic Party of which he was pres!dent. Lettrich was not the only one who protested against the Kersten Resolutlon. Dr. George Slávik, former ambassador of Beneš's communistdominated Prague regime, also protested, saying that Slovak lndependence is demanded only by those Slovaks "who collaborated with nazism" and who fled from the "just " punishment of the "People's Courts." Both allegations, malicious and false, are very serious and indicate that here we have to do wlth people whose political means of combat are falsehoods, decepttons, dlshonorable acts and a false presentation of the struggle of the Slovak natlon for State lndependence. Dr. Lettrlch attempts to show that all who voted in the May 1946 elect!ons for the Slovak Democratic Party are for the continued exlstence of the synthetlc Czechoslovak State, because the Slovak Demo• cratlc Party - his political party - was for tbat State. What a terrible mistake! Why did the Slovaks vote for the Democratic Party of Slovakla? Today it 1s abundantly clear to all objective and informed observers that after the advent of the Bolshevik Army to Košice, the Jargest city in east Slovakla, the so-called "provislonal" Czechoslovak Government of Dr. Beneš, wlth its "Košice Program," declded that only two polltical parties shall be allowed in Slovakia, to wit: The Communist Party and the Democr atic Party. The platform of the Slovak Communlst Party was well-known to everybody, because it was an old party. But the Slovak Democrattc Party was a new party whose program was not deflned clearly and was unknown to the public. In 1945, there really was no dlfference between the Communlst and tbe Democrat!c part!es of Slovakia as far as policy was concerned. Dr. Lettrlch was well aware of that fact and admltted it when, as presldent of the Democratic Party, he wrote: "Basically, our political program - our politlcal li ne - completely agrees with the line and the program of the Slovak Communist Party. Up to the rebellion there r eally was no dlfference between an adherent �SLOVAKIA 49 of the Slovak Communiat Party and an adhe rent of the Democratic Party ... 1 emphaaize that we must mutually help each other and that all of ua must solve common problems together, becauae for once and for all t lme we must reallze that there l1 no fundamental dlfference between the Communist Party and the De mocratlc Party of Slovakia." - ("MY 1946) - Prague, No. 23, June 8, 1946.) Both partles participated In equal measure in all the crimes which the Soviet and natlve communlsts perpetrated in Slovakla; both are responsible for the 30,0()'{), Slovaks deported to Siberla In 1945; and both parties are responsible for the incarceratlon of Slovak cltizens, priests and bishops. Communists and representatlves of tbe Democratic Party stole in equal measure and in "brotherly" fashion, threw people out of thelr own homes into the streets In the name of t'he "new people's democratlc" order and then, when these people protested they had no place to live, in both parties sent them 10 concentration camps as elements detrlmental to society and hostlle to the "people's" democracy. During the time of the " triumphant" march of the Bolshevik army, there was not a slngle famUy in Slovakia which dld not have some one to sh ed tears for. To rid itself of the Slovaks who d!d not want to become frlendly with the communist "Jegal" order and wlU1 the Czechoslovak State idea, the new regime used to send them - wfrhout training, with insufficient raiment and arms, in the blisterlng cold, at the beginnlng of 1945 - into battle against the Germans in the Llptovsk~ Svät~ Mikuláä sector. The so-called "Fourth Czechoslovak Brigade", formed in Levoča at th e beginning of February 1945 excluslvely of people who were agalnst communism and Czechos lovaklsm, shed its blood practically to a man in that sector. Those mlssed by the Germans were kllled by Soviet soldiers, who used machine guns and automatlcs to chase barefooted and unarmed Slovaks into the fight. T h is 1s the manner In which the new Czechoslovak communist regime wanted to rid ltself of lts opponents. Despite all this, however, the Idea of an independent Slovak State contlnued to grow, and the Slovak nation ideallzed lt completely and wrapped lt In a robe of sacredness. People could not talk about it in a loud volce, because the "People's Courts," created by the National Front of the Communist and Democratlc parties, arbitrarlly dealt death even for trlvlal matters. Already in July 1945, just before the St. Cyril and Methodius celebration at Devín, the communist pollce arrested some 100 university students in Bratislava, accusing them of attemptlng to make a demonstratlon for an independent Slovak State. Slovak students were daily "guests" of the people's democratlc police who were fully aware of the fact that the unlverslty students were for Slovak State lndependence in an overwhelmlng majority. The communist pollce used to raid the fľaternity houses of the students every March 14 to ascertaln whether t he students were celebratlng the "Slovak Independence Day." The hostlle attitude of the Slovak natlon to the Democratic Party, óf · whlch Dr. Lettrich was chairman, was a lso manltested by leading Cathollc politlcians ot that Ume, who parted wlth Lettrich's party and aniiounced the formation of a new politlcal party, the Chrlstlan Republican Party. Monslgnor Andrew Cvlnček, Dr. Emanuel Bohm, Ing. K. F ilo and others wanted a party which, under the given circumstances �50 SLOVAKIA and possibllities, would best satisfy the feeling and the needs of the Slovak nation, that is a party which would be democratic and Chrlstlan in practice, one that would defend all democratic freedoms and especially the freedom of rel!gion, which at that Ume exlsted only on paper, because all - and I repeat - ALL existlng Catholic societles were dissolved and thelr actlvity forbidden. In the Spring of 194.6, when the new Christlan Republican Party was to be organized - a party in whlch the Slovak saw a ray of a new and better llfe - the National Front of communists and Lettrichites would not allow lt. At that time Dr. Joseph Lettrich announced: "The National Front shall not allow a party w ith a confessional program." - Indeed, it was clear to the communists that a party founded on Christlan principles would be the greatest adversary or communism. Lettrlch and his group also were aware of that, but they also knew that by allowing t his party to organize and function, their Democratic Party would certainly be ruined in tJie coming elections. Consequently, the Christian Republican Party was not allowed to organize, but soon thereafter an announcement was made that permission was granted for a new Marxist party, the Social Democratlc Party. Then Dr. Lettrich offered the representatives of the Christian Republicans a proposal, whereby the Catbolics would get appropriate representation in government and leglslative organs. The Democratic Party agreed to add the toilowing points to its program: a) to do away with the People's Courts; b) to return religious schools, rraternities and other natlonalized properties to the Church; c) to permit Catholic societles to exist and runction without government interference; d) to f!ght the execution or Dr. Joseph Tiso. The Slovak people, however, had little or no falth in the agree· ment of the Catholics and the Democratic Party concluded In April 1946, because Dr. Lettrich remained as head of the Democratic Party - the same Lettrich who compromised himself so strongly in tbe Fall ot 1944 by collaborating with the communists to nationalize all Catholic schools, churches and other properties, to lnstitute People's Courts, etc. The absolute majority or the Slovak nation was determined to use the "White Ballot" in the May 1946 elections to expresa its opposition to the communlst regirne and the Czechoslovak State idea. It was only when the Council of Catbolic Bishops of Slovakia, after careful and lengthy deliberation, decided that it was necessary to choose tbe lesser of two evils, that tbe vast majority of Slovaks decided to vote for the Democratic Party. It is true that 62% ot the voters of Slovakia voted for the Demo• cratic Party, but lt is just as true that this bappened not out or love or respect for Dr. Joseph Lettrich or the Czechoslovak Republlc, but because the great Catholic majority respected the dlcision or the Bishop's Council and voted against communlsm and the communlsts in Slovakla. Dr. Lettrich was the head ot a party whicb in its absolute majority was against bim, but could not unseat him because the voter in the so-called "Third Czecboslovak Republlc" had only one right - the right to obey and keep his mouth sbut. The fact stlll remains: the idea of Slovak State lndependence was the decidlng factor in the 1946 elections. �SLOV.AKJA 51 The Democratic Party saw that it could not gain Slovak voters by simply preaching Czechoslovak mutuality, therefore, it decided to use Slovak State independence as a silent means of propaganda. Dr. Nicholas Franek, at that time a candidate for the deputy mandate of the Bratislava dlstrlct {later Minister of Unlflcation in Prague and now a refugee in America and a member of the Council of Free Czechoslovakia ! ), attended a secret meeting of Slovak un!verslty students, before the electlons of May 1946, at the Centra! Secretariate of the Democratlc Party, and, among other thlngs, sa!d: "None ot us believes Dr. Lettrich. He is overly compromised with his close collaboration wlth the communists. For us Dr. Lettrich cannot be any kind of guarantee that freedoms shall be restored in our country. However, we must keep him as president for the Ume being, otherwise the communists would see to it that we are Jiquidated. After the electlons we shall endeavor to have tbe elected Slovak deput!es procla!m the Slovak State legally in the Prague Parl!ament and in the Slovak National Councll in Bratislava." That is how Dr. Franek got the unlversity students to vote for the Democratlc Party; they belleved that Dr. Franek and bis colleagues would keep their promlses after the elections. And tbe students really worked to assure the victory of the Democratic Party. The Slovak s tudents, whom I sent out into all the districts of Slovakia to conv!nce the people to vote for the Democratlc Party, spoke in the spirit of Dr. Franek's speech. That is why we are so much more disappointed now that Dr. Franek, enjoying politlcal asylum in America, 1s stlll supporting the Czechoslovaks, when he knows fully well that t hey were and s tlJJ are responsible for the naitlonal catastrophe or the Slovak nation. The electlons in May 1946 were elect!ons for the independence of the Slovak State. Propaganda of the Democratic Party was dlrected in that spirit, and it was only that kind of propaganda that made the Slovaks forget some of the sufferlngs they llved through, because they firmly believed that lt was worth whlle to flght, suffer and die for State independence. The enthusiasm of Slovakia in the May 1946 elections reflected this spirit. And for the idea ot an independent Slovak State six university students were wounded by communist bullets in front of Svoradov and 329 were deprived of stipends and expelled from the student boarding houses. But the idea for national and State independence was much stronger than incarcerations and sufferings. True, the Democratlc Party got 62% of the votes in 1946. But we must remember that: a) some citlzens were deprlved of their right to vote; b) 2% voted for the Freedom Party which had State independence in lts platform; c) several percent or the votes went to the Communlst Party because or opposltlon to Dr. Joseph Lettrlch, the voters tlguring that it was wlser or smarter to vote outrlght for the Communist Party, instead of its affillate, the Democratic Party. So, all factors considered, more than 75% of the Slovak votes in May 1946 were cast for an independent Slovak State. That is why we - who :proudly claim the program of national and State independence - are not afraid of the elections proposed by Congressman Kersten in hla Resolution R. H. 139. The people who are afraid of such elections know fully well that if the Slovaks were glven an oppQrtunlty to declde whether they wanted to Jive In Czechoslovakla �52 SLOVAKIA or not, they would answer forcefully and conslsten tly: NO! That is why Lettrich and Company would want to to convince the Government of the United States that the Slovaks are for CzechosJovakia and that an independent Slovakia ls promoted only by some "nazis" who escaped the "just" punishment of the "people's" courts. If Dr. Lettrich really ls the great democrat he poses to be, Jet him not be a!rald or the de!eat he would have to suffer with hls several frlends in case such an election is held. It the Slovaks are for the Czechoslovak Republlc, as Dr. Lett• rich claims, then they certalnly wlll say so in such an electlon. When I talked wlth Dr. Lettrlch after the executlon or Dr. Joseph Tlso, he told me that accord!ng to reports he has in his possession, the absolute majority of Slovak university students was !or a Slovak State and regards Dr. Joseph Tlso as a martyr and those who condemned him as murderers who should be brought to tria!. "In Prague," Dr. Lettrich told me at that Ume, "I met a certaln unlversity student and asked hlm what he thougbt about the executlon or Dr. T!so. Tb!s student replied: ' The Czecha put General Štefänik out of the way, they jailed Hlinka and now hanged Tiso with them'." we have nothing further to talk about After tbe executlon of the Presldent of Slovakia, Msgr. Andrew told me: "Wlth the executlon of Dr. Joseph Tlso Czechos lovakla ls llquldated and no one shall restore !t by means of free electlons." And before I fled from Slovakla, he sald: "Figbt for the State lndependence or Slovakla!" With the executlon of Dr. Tlso a revolutlou and the destruction of the Democratic Party threatened In Slovakla. So the presidency of the Democratic Party called together the executlve commlttee of the Party (1 was present also), and at thls meeting the delegates or the lndlvlclual distrlcts said in one accord: "After the execution of Dr. Joseph Tiao we loat all our members. The Democratic Party exiata only theoretically, but for all pactical purposea it is liquldated." Adm!ttlng that he was a general without an army, and that bis program or collaboratlon wlth the communlsts and Czechoslovakism was not the program of the Slovak nat!on, Dr. Joseph Lettrlch asked the delegates present for advice how to save the Democratlc Party. It was after thls meeting that Lettrlch assumed the role or Pilate and attempted to just!fy hlmself In the eyes of the Slovak people by proclalmlng In the newspapers that Dr. Edward Bene!\ and the Natlonal Soclallsts, and not he and the Democratlc Party, were responslble for the execution of Tlso. But thls came too late. Wlth the execution of Dr. Joseph Tlso nails were sunk deep into the Czechoslovak comn by all classes of the Slovak people - the tradesmen, buslnessmen, workers and farmers and the lntelllgentsia. The Slovak nation deflnltely is for an independent Slovakla. The Slovak natlon reallzes tbat the road to independence !s fuH of sorrow and suf\ferlng, but !s, nevertheless, determlned to attain lndependence at all costs. It ls provlng that dally. Therefore, we welcome the resolutlon ot Congressman Kersten "for the freedom of the Slovaks," because free elections wlll prove who was rlght: we, who are for an jndependent Slovak Republlc, or those who are trying to enslave Slovakla. Cvlnček � 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 1951, Vol. 1 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 1951 Description An account of the resource <ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 1), May 1951.</li> <li>Issue 2 (No. 2), December 1951.</li> </ul> Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context <ul><li><a href="https://n2t.net/ark:/13960/s261hfmshm7" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><span>ark:/13960/s261hfmshm7</span></a></li> <li><a href="https://n2t.net/ark:/13960/s21tk2wkzj4" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><span>ark:/13960/s21tk2wkzj4</span></a></li> </ul> Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document 48 SLOVAKIA THE SWVAKS AND DR. JOSEPH LE'ITRICH OR. JOSEPH BYSTRICKÝ (The author of this article is the former persona) secretary of Rt. Rev. Msgr. Andrew Cvlnček, Vice President of the Slovak Demo• cratic Party and the Slovak National Council In Bratislava of whlch Dr. Lettrich was Presldent. Mr. Bystrlck:9' also was Chairman of the· Universlty Students' Club of tbe Slovak Democratlc Party.) Dr. Joseph Lettrich became very exclted over the H. R. Concurrent Resolution 139, which was introduced In the U. S. Congress In July, 1951, by the Hon. Charles J. Kersten of M!lwaukee, Wls. In thls resolution Congressman Kersten asks the Unlted States to allow the Slovak nation decide In free elections whether lt wants to live in a joint State with the Czech nation, or in an independent, national State of its own. In a letter to Kersten, Dr. Joseph Lettr!ch presented himself as a representatlve of tbe "absolute majority" of the Slovak people, because, he said, in the elections of May, 1946, the Slovak nat!on voted 62% for the Slovak Democratic Party of which he was pres!dent. Lettrich was not the only one who protested against the Kersten Resolutlon. Dr. George Slávik, former ambassador of Beneš's communistdominated Prague regime, also protested, saying that Slovak lndependence is demanded only by those Slovaks "who collaborated with nazism" and who fled from the "just " punishment of the "People's Courts." Both allegations, malicious and false, are very serious and indicate that here we have to do wlth people whose political means of combat are falsehoods, decepttons, dlshonorable acts and a false presentation of the struggle of the Slovak natlon for State lndependence. Dr. Lettrlch attempts to show that all who voted in the May 1946 elect!ons for the Slovak Democratic Party are for the continued exlstence of the synthetlc Czechoslovak State, because the Slovak Demo• cratlc Party - his political party - was for tbat State. What a terrible mistake! Why did the Slovaks vote for the Democratic Party of Slovakla? Today it 1s abundantly clear to all objective and informed observers that after the advent of the Bolshevik Army to Košice, the Jargest city in east Slovakla, the so-called "provislonal" Czechoslovak Government of Dr. Beneš, wlth its "Košice Program," declded that only two polltical parties shall be allowed in Slovakia, to wit: The Communist Party and the Democr atic Party. The platform of the Slovak Communlst Party was well-known to everybody, because it was an old party. But the Slovak Democrattc Party was a new party whose program was not deflned clearly and was unknown to the public. In 1945, there really was no dlfference between the Communlst and tbe Democrat!c part!es of Slovakia as far as policy was concerned. Dr. Lettrlch was well aware of that fact and admltted it when, as presldent of the Democratic Party, he wrote: "Basically, our political program - our politlcal li ne - completely agrees with the line and the program of the Slovak Communist Party. Up to the rebellion there r eally was no dlfference between an adherent SLOVAKIA 49 of the Slovak Communiat Party and an adhe rent of the Democratic Party ... 1 emphaaize that we must mutually help each other and that all of ua must solve common problems together, becauae for once and for all t lme we must reallze that there l1 no fundamental dlfference between the Communist Party and the De mocratlc Party of Slovakia." - ("MY 1946) - Prague, No. 23, June 8, 1946.) Both partles participated In equal measure in all the crimes which the Soviet and natlve communlsts perpetrated in Slovakla; both are responsible for the 30,0()'{), Slovaks deported to Siberla In 1945; and both parties are responsible for the incarceratlon of Slovak cltizens, priests and bishops. Communists and representatlves of tbe Democratic Party stole in equal measure and in "brotherly" fashion, threw people out of thelr own homes into the streets In the name of t'he "new people's democratlc" order and then, when these people protested they had no place to live, in both parties sent them 10 concentration camps as elements detrlmental to society and hostlle to the "people's" democracy. During the time of the " triumphant" march of the Bolshevik army, there was not a slngle famUy in Slovakia which dld not have some one to sh ed tears for. To rid itself of the Slovaks who d!d not want to become frlendly with the communist "Jegal" order and wlU1 the Czechoslovak State idea, the new regime used to send them - wfrhout training, with insufficient raiment and arms, in the blisterlng cold, at the beginnlng of 1945 - into battle against the Germans in the Llptovsk~ Svät~ Mikuláä sector. The so-called "Fourth Czechoslovak Brigade", formed in Levoča at th e beginning of February 1945 excluslvely of people who were agalnst communism and Czechos lovaklsm, shed its blood practically to a man in that sector. Those mlssed by the Germans were kllled by Soviet soldiers, who used machine guns and automatlcs to chase barefooted and unarmed Slovaks into the fight. T h is 1s the manner In which the new Czechoslovak communist regime wanted to rid ltself of lts opponents. Despite all this, however, the Idea of an independent Slovak State contlnued to grow, and the Slovak nation ideallzed lt completely and wrapped lt In a robe of sacredness. People could not talk about it in a loud volce, because the "People's Courts," created by the National Front of the Communist and Democratlc parties, arbitrarlly dealt death even for trlvlal matters. Already in July 1945, just before the St. Cyril and Methodius celebration at Devín, the communist pollce arrested some 100 university students in Bratislava, accusing them of attemptlng to make a demonstratlon for an independent Slovak State. Slovak students were daily "guests" of the people's democratlc police who were fully aware of the fact that the unlverslty students were for Slovak State lndependence in an overwhelmlng majority. The communist pollce used to raid the fľaternity houses of the students every March 14 to ascertaln whether t he students were celebratlng the "Slovak Independence Day." The hostlle attitude of the Slovak natlon to the Democratic Party, óf · whlch Dr. Lettrich was chairman, was a lso manltested by leading Cathollc politlcians ot that Ume, who parted wlth Lettrich's party and aniiounced the formation of a new politlcal party, the Chrlstlan Republican Party. Monslgnor Andrew Cvlnček, Dr. Emanuel Bohm, Ing. K. F ilo and others wanted a party which, under the given circumstances 50 SLOVAKIA and possibllities, would best satisfy the feeling and the needs of the Slovak nation, that is a party which would be democratic and Chrlstlan in practice, one that would defend all democratic freedoms and especially the freedom of rel!gion, which at that Ume exlsted only on paper, because all - and I repeat - ALL existlng Catholic societles were dissolved and thelr actlvity forbidden. In the Spring of 194.6, when the new Christlan Republican Party was to be organized - a party in whlch the Slovak saw a ray of a new and better llfe - the National Front of communists and Lettrichites would not allow lt. At that time Dr. Joseph Lettrich announced: "The National Front shall not allow a party w ith a confessional program." - Indeed, it was clear to the communists that a party founded on Christlan principles would be the greatest adversary or communism. Lettrlch and his group also were aware of that, but they also knew that by allowing t his party to organize and function, their Democratic Party would certainly be ruined in tJie coming elections. Consequently, the Christian Republican Party was not allowed to organize, but soon thereafter an announcement was made that permission was granted for a new Marxist party, the Social Democratlc Party. Then Dr. Lettrich offered the representatives of the Christian Republicans a proposal, whereby the Catbolics would get appropriate representation in government and leglslative organs. The Democratic Party agreed to add the toilowing points to its program: a) to do away with the People's Courts; b) to return religious schools, rraternities and other natlonalized properties to the Church; c) to permit Catholic societles to exist and runction without government interference; d) to f!ght the execution or Dr. Joseph Tiso. The Slovak people, however, had little or no falth in the agree· ment of the Catholics and the Democratic Party concluded In April 1946, because Dr. Lettrich remained as head of the Democratic Party - the same Lettrich who compromised himself so strongly in tbe Fall ot 1944 by collaborating with the communists to nationalize all Catholic schools, churches and other properties, to lnstitute People's Courts, etc. The absolute majority or the Slovak nation was determined to use the "White Ballot" in the May 1946 elections to expresa its opposition to the communlst regirne and the Czechoslovak State idea. It was only when the Council of Catbolic Bishops of Slovakia, after careful and lengthy deliberation, decided that it was necessary to choose tbe lesser of two evils, that tbe vast majority of Slovaks decided to vote for the Democratic Party. It is true that 62% ot the voters of Slovakia voted for the Demo• cratic Party, but lt is just as true that this bappened not out or love or respect for Dr. Joseph Lettrich or the Czechoslovak Republlc, but because the great Catholic majority respected the dlcision or the Bishop's Council and voted against communlsm and the communlsts in Slovakla. Dr. Lettrich was the head ot a party whicb in its absolute majority was against bim, but could not unseat him because the voter in the so-called "Third Czecboslovak Republlc" had only one right - the right to obey and keep his mouth sbut. The fact stlll remains: the idea of Slovak State lndependence was the decidlng factor in the 1946 elections. SLOV.AKJA 51 The Democratic Party saw that it could not gain Slovak voters by simply preaching Czechoslovak mutuality, therefore, it decided to use Slovak State independence as a silent means of propaganda. Dr. Nicholas Franek, at that time a candidate for the deputy mandate of the Bratislava dlstrlct {later Minister of Unlflcation in Prague and now a refugee in America and a member of the Council of Free Czechoslovakia ! ), attended a secret meeting of Slovak un!verslty students, before the electlons of May 1946, at the Centra! Secretariate of the Democratlc Party, and, among other thlngs, sa!d: "None ot us believes Dr. Lettrich. He is overly compromised with his close collaboration wlth the communists. For us Dr. Lettrich cannot be any kind of guarantee that freedoms shall be restored in our country. However, we must keep him as president for the Ume being, otherwise the communists would see to it that we are Jiquidated. After the electlons we shall endeavor to have tbe elected Slovak deput!es procla!m the Slovak State legally in the Prague Parl!ament and in the Slovak National Councll in Bratislava." That is how Dr. Franek got the unlversity students to vote for the Democratlc Party; they belleved that Dr. Franek and bis colleagues would keep their promlses after the elections. And tbe students really worked to assure the victory of the Democratic Party. The Slovak s tudents, whom I sent out into all the districts of Slovakia to conv!nce the people to vote for the Democratlc Party, spoke in the spirit of Dr. Franek's speech. That is why we are so much more disappointed now that Dr. Franek, enjoying politlcal asylum in America, 1s stlll supporting the Czechoslovaks, when he knows fully well that t hey were and s tlJJ are responsible for the naitlonal catastrophe or the Slovak nation. The electlons in May 1946 were elect!ons for the independence of the Slovak State. Propaganda of the Democratic Party was dlrected in that spirit, and it was only that kind of propaganda that made the Slovaks forget some of the sufferlngs they llved through, because they firmly believed that lt was worth whlle to flght, suffer and die for State independence. The enthusiasm of Slovakia in the May 1946 elections reflected this spirit. And for the idea ot an independent Slovak State six university students were wounded by communist bullets in front of Svoradov and 329 were deprived of stipends and expelled from the student boarding houses. But the idea for national and State independence was much stronger than incarcerations and sufferings. True, the Democratlc Party got 62% of the votes in 1946. But we must remember that: a) some citlzens were deprlved of their right to vote; b) 2% voted for the Freedom Party which had State independence in lts platform; c) several percent or the votes went to the Communlst Party because or opposltlon to Dr. Joseph Lettrlch, the voters tlguring that it was wlser or smarter to vote outrlght for the Communist Party, instead of its affillate, the Democratic Party. So, all factors considered, more than 75% of the Slovak votes in May 1946 were cast for an independent Slovak State. That is why we - who :proudly claim the program of national and State independence - are not afraid of the elections proposed by Congressman Kersten in hla Resolution R. H. 139. The people who are afraid of such elections know fully well that if the Slovaks were glven an oppQrtunlty to declde whether they wanted to Jive In Czechoslovakla 52 SLOVAKIA or not, they would answer forcefully and conslsten tly: NO! That is why Lettrich and Company would want to to convince the Government of the United States that the Slovaks are for CzechosJovakia and that an independent Slovakia ls promoted only by some "nazis" who escaped the "just" punishment of the "people's" courts. If Dr. Lettrich really ls the great democrat he poses to be, Jet him not be a!rald or the de!eat he would have to suffer with hls several frlends in case such an election is held. It the Slovaks are for the Czechoslovak Republlc, as Dr. Lett• rich claims, then they certalnly wlll say so in such an electlon. When I talked wlth Dr. Lettrlch after the executlon or Dr. Joseph Tlso, he told me that accord!ng to reports he has in his possession, the absolute majority of Slovak university students was !or a Slovak State and regards Dr. Joseph Tlso as a martyr and those who condemned him as murderers who should be brought to tria!. "In Prague," Dr. Lettrich told me at that Ume, "I met a certaln unlversity student and asked hlm what he thougbt about the executlon or Dr. T!so. Tb!s student replied: ' The Czecha put General Štefänik out of the way, they jailed Hlinka and now hanged Tiso with them'." we have nothing further to talk about After tbe executlon of the Presldent of Slovakia, Msgr. Andrew told me: "Wlth the executlon of Dr. Joseph Tlso Czechos lovakla ls llquldated and no one shall restore !t by means of free electlons." And before I fled from Slovakla, he sald: "Figbt for the State lndependence or Slovakla!" With the executlon of Dr. Tlso a revolutlou and the destruction of the Democratic Party threatened In Slovakla. So the presidency of the Democratic Party called together the executlve commlttee of the Party (1 was present also), and at thls meeting the delegates or the lndlvlclual distrlcts said in one accord: "After the execution of Dr. Joseph Tiao we loat all our members. The Democratic Party exiata only theoretically, but for all pactical purposea it is liquldated." Adm!ttlng that he was a general without an army, and that bis program or collaboratlon wlth the communlsts and Czechoslovakism was not the program of the Slovak nat!on, Dr. Joseph Lettrlch asked the delegates present for advice how to save the Democratlc Party. It was after thls meeting that Lettrlch assumed the role or Pilate and attempted to just!fy hlmself In the eyes of the Slovak people by proclalmlng In the newspapers that Dr. Edward Bene!\ and the Natlonal Soclallsts, and not he and the Democratlc Party, were responslble for the execution of Tlso. But thls came too late. Wlth the execution of Dr. Joseph Tlso nails were sunk deep into the Czechoslovak comn by all classes of the Slovak people - the tradesmen, buslnessmen, workers and farmers and the lntelllgentsia. The Slovak nation deflnltely is for an independent Slovakla. The Slovak natlon reallzes tbat the road to independence !s fuH of sorrow and suf\ferlng, but !s, nevertheless, determlned to attain lndependence at all costs. It ls provlng that dally. Therefore, we welcome the resolutlon ot Congressman Kersten "for the freedom of the Slovaks," because free elections wlll prove who was rlght: we, who are for an jndependent Slovak Republlc, or those who are trying to enslave Slovakla. Cvlnček  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Slovaks and Dr. Joseph Lettrich Description An account of the resource Dr. Joseph Bystrický Slovakia, Vol. 1, No. 2 (2), December 1951 pp. 48-52 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Bystrický, Joseph Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource December 1951 name https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/1951bd42fdbbf67544fc5306088ea250.pdf 6b22492b534f792f66247946149db4bb PDF Text Text u SLOVAKIA THE SLOVAKS AND PRESIDENT EISENHOWER Matthew Cernak What do the Slovaik s expect of President Eisenhower ? From the Government orf President Eisenhower we expect a new American politcy: basica:lly, a change of policy toward Bolshevism and, secondly, a change of policy as far as the Slova;k nation is concerned. During the past three decades the Unlted States of North America has shown very little understanding for the nwtural and self-evident right of the Slovaks to independentce. The Sllova:k nation cannot logicaHy understand why this should be so. This la:ck of understanding for the fundamental right of the Slo;va'k nation is all the more striking, ibecause the USA has always aippeared everywhere; from its very ibeginnmg, in the spirit of the beautiful tra;diibions of Wa;shinigton and Jefferson as the ipioneer of national rights and freedom. The Declaration of Lndependance, Wilson's "Fourteen Points," and the principles of the Atlantic Charter - all these in principle express the equal right of the Slovaks to freedom and independence, the ri•g ht to statehood amd the right to a government of their choke. And America,ns oif Slovak descent proba:bly have been more amazed and confused by the situation than there brethren in Slovakia, ,beca;use they had brought these "self-evident" ,t ruths to the attention of their Government many times in the past. This striking conf:liot between the princip1es of American pol11ey on the one hand, amd the practical appli~ation of them in the Slovak instance, on the other, undoubtedly is not the result of hostile intentions toward the Slovruk nation, hut rather the resu1t of incorrect information. It is certamly :p1aiimy evident ,t hat leading Amerioan statesmen olb tained their knowledge about the Slovruks and the Slovak problem mainly from the silty sources of Dr. Edward Benes and his odllalborators. Knowingly they misinformed the entire western world a}bout Slovakia and the Sloviaks to rpromote their fa;ntastic, undemocratic schemes in the intereE.t of Czech imperialism. �SLOVAKIA 23 Today the western world /better knows Benes and his colla'borators for what they really were than it did in the past deoa.des. The greaJt trust enjoyed by Benes in the West and his unreal conception had bad effects not only for the Sloivak nation, ibut even for his own Czech nation ailld for the who1le western world. It was the misfortune of aU of us that the West woike up too late to rea'1ize the fact that Benes was most instrumental in clearililg the wary for Bo1she!Vism into Central Europe. Benes is, therefore respoTI!Silble in a large measure for the terrilble siituation of the world today, which is costing all of us, and even the America.in people, plenty in material goods and blood. Benes, it seems, learned nothing from history; he knew what happened to the Russi:an nation under Communism and he witnessed what had !happened in Poland; but he still insisted on te'.l:ling the western world that this could not and would not hruppen ,t o Czecho~S!lovakia. He promoted StaHn and Moscow in Britain and the United States; they were gullible, a.ind the whole world is paying dearly for it today. Unfortunatelry, even some leading personalities of the Democratic Party of the lJIS!A became the victims of the Sovietophile, simultaneaously the a,nti-Sfovak, prop~anda of the Benesites. In poiwer, they even invited some orf them to the USA to work in va:r.i,ou:s agencies of government, even though the Truman AdministraJtion must have known that most olf them were members of the Commimljgt-tlominated National Fro:nt Government from 1'945 to 1948 and, thernfore, responsilble in a measure for the insta:Uation of the tyranny of Communism in Ozecho..:Slorvakia. Since Mr. Eisenhower has taken office, indli'catioills are that he and his party will not trust any advi1ce or information which mlight lbe offered .b y the Benesites in the so-called ''Council of Free Ozechoslovakia." They were not reliaJble in matters concerning the USSR and are no more reliaJble in oither ·matters, including even the Slovak question. They certainly do- not represent the ,w,i.Jl o,f the Slovak nation, and it ·is sedous1y doUJbted that they speak even for the Czechs ,a:t home or in exile. Positiive e~res- �SLOVAKIA sions of various memlbera of Congress of the USA aJbout the inherent rights of the Slovaks confirm our position in this rega:rd. ·' It is known that the RepUJblican Party of the USA has hitherto regarded the .American pol.icy towaTd Moscow as not suffilCiently self~conscious and out of line with .Ame11:i'can interests. lit haJS regarded rand stm rega:rds Acheson's thesis o!f contaiinmenrt ,a s not sufficient and insists on a firnner polioy of sUJppressinig Bolshevism. This is something thait the people lbehind the Iron Curtain waited a looig time to hear. And ,t he sooner the words are translated into action, the !better. General IDisenhower exipressed this clearly at the American Legion Convention in New York on Aug.ust 25, 195Q, when he said : "We must telil the Kremlin that never shall we desist i,n ouir aid to every man a'IId woman of those shackled lands who seeks refuge with us, any man who keeps burning among his own people the flame of freedom or who js ded!1ciarted to the Hbeiration of his fellows." From this staltement, a:nd others 'b y Eisenhower and other Repulblicam statements, it is evident that a systematic, energetic and firm poli:oy to surppress Bolesheviism is being planned. I beliEWe, itlherefore, that our hope is justified that American polilcy will endeavor, with the dose cooperation of aU an,ti"Bolshevik forces, to helip all the haipless nations behind the · Iron Curtain to freedom, including the Slovak nation. The Slovaks, however, welcome not only this general change in the course of American policy, but have motives to welcome even the ipoliiey' of the new Repulblicam government toward the Slovak na,,tron. A number of Repulblican members of Congress have openly stated that they aTe for the realization of the desires of SlOV!ak nation for its own staJte. Senator Robert Taift of Ohio did not hesitaite to express his views in this regard, neither did the new President of the USA, Dwiig'ht D. Eisenhower. We hope, theretfore, thait the new .Americam President, together with his oo-workers and the whole American nation will. bring aJbout a necessary a:nd invitaJble, erpochai and �26 SLOVA.KIA ipolirtioail corrootion cxf the western Christian world in regard to .t he tyranny cxf Bol,s hevism, but also a corresponding change in policy towaTd the SllQ!Vak nation. By doing so, he will render service to the truth and the ndble principles of Woodrow Wilson and the Atlantic Charter, as well a:s all idears of freedom whi~h have from the time of Geo:r,ge W a'Shington 'been the pride of the American people. In this sense we w.i-sh President Dwight D. Eisenhower a mu!ltitude of God's blessing on all his ructions . • • • WHO SAID IT7 "It can be said w ,ithout hesitation that the Czecho-Slovak Government-in-Exile has accepted the leadership of Moscow freely and voluntarily. The Czecho.,Slovak Government-in-Exile became the full ally of Moscow ·by the pact signed in Moscow last year. and when Dr. Be- nes went baclk to the part of Czecho•Slovakia li•b erated by the Russians, he went by way of •Moscow. The new provisional government he set up in Ko.sice was th1:i result of consultatioru; in Moscow conducted, it seems, very much under the pressure of the CZECH Communist ,g,roup there. For although it was ignored by the American Press, 1:iven Czecho-Slovakfa had her mvn Moscow group, a distinctly Commun'istic councB, headed by the CZECH Communist leader, Klement Gottwald, ,a nd the intellectual leader of CZECH Commundsts, Profossor Zdenek Nej,edly. Th€ difference betwe1:in the CZECH commilttee in Moscow and the Polish grouip there was that the CZECH Government-inExile was in complete agreement with the CZECH Com. munist group in Moscow with respect to the Russian orientation." E. M. Voyta, AMERICA, June 9, 1945. • • • The author of the above quote is a CZECH, formerly of Prague, now residing in the Unit1:id States, who saw and reported events objectiv1:ily. Voyta calls a CZECH a CZECH, and not a "CZECHOSLOVAK," as the propaganda of Dr. Benes did when it suited its purpose to confu:se the western world. The Slovak nation had nothing to do with the 1Moscow deal but, n1:iv1:irtheless, had to surfor the consequen,ces of it. The "Czecho,Slo,v ak Government-in-Exile" mentioned by Voyta was selected by Dr. Edward Benes ; it repres1:inted not the wiil of the Czech and Slovak nations, ,b ut only the wlll of Dr. Benes. Slovaks, es·pecially those of America, condemned Ben1:is and his proSoviet policy long before 1945, but their's was but voice in the wilderness. Today we know they wer1:i right in th1:ilr claim that Benes •s old out to Mo.scow. a • • • we "Don't believe the stupid Nazi perol"aitlons saying tha.t are in the service ot England OR THAT THE SOVIET UNION WISHES TO INCLUDE US WITHIN ITS BOUNDARIES. We are a free and independent state. We are the friends of ALL DEMOCRATIC, treedomlovlng nations, o! the SOVIETS, as well as or Brita.in and America." - (Dr. Bene§, Broadcast to Czechoslovakia, London, June 24, 1943) � u SLOVAKIA THE SLOVAKS AND PRESIDENT EISENHOWER Matthew Cernak What do the Slovaik s expect of President Eisenhower ? From the Government orf President Eisenhower we expect a new American politcy: basica:lly, a change of policy toward Bolshevism and, secondly, a change of policy as far as the Slova;k nation is concerned. During the past three decades the Unlted States of North America has shown very little understanding for the nwtural and self-evident right of the Slovaks to independentce. The Sllova:k nation cannot logicaHy understand why this should be so. This la:ck of understanding for the fundamental right of the Slo;va'k nation is all the more striking, ibecause the USA has always aippeared everywhere; from its very ibeginnmg, in the spirit of the beautiful tra;diibions of Wa;shinigton and Jefferson as the ipioneer of national rights and freedom. The Declaration of Lndependance, Wilson's "Fourteen Points," and the principles of the Atlantic Charter - all these in principle express the equal right of the Slovaks to freedom and independence, the ri•g ht to statehood amd the right to a government of their choke. And America,ns oif Slovak descent proba:bly have been more amazed and confused by the situation than there brethren in Slovakia, ,beca;use they had brought these "self-evident" ,t ruths to the attention of their Government many times in the past. This striking conf:liot between the princip1es of American pol11ey on the one hand, amd the practical appli~ation of them in the Slovak instance, on the other, undoubtedly is not the result of hostile intentions toward the Slovruk nation, hut rather the resu1t of incorrect information. It is certamly :p1aiimy evident ,t hat leading Amerioan statesmen olb tained their knowledge about the Slovruks and the Slovak problem mainly from the silty sources of Dr. Edward Benes and his odllalborators. Knowingly they misinformed the entire western world a}bout Slovakia and the Sloviaks to rpromote their fa;ntastic, undemocratic schemes in the intereE.t of Czech imperialism. �SLOVAKIA 23 Today the western world /better knows Benes and his colla'borators for what they really were than it did in the past deoa.des. The greaJt trust enjoyed by Benes in the West and his unreal conception had bad effects not only for the Sloivak nation, ibut even for his own Czech nation ailld for the who1le western world. It was the misfortune of aU of us that the West woike up too late to rea'1ize the fact that Benes was most instrumental in clearililg the wary for Bo1she!Vism into Central Europe. Benes is, therefore respoTI!Silble in a large measure for the terrilble siituation of the world today, which is costing all of us, and even the America.in people, plenty in material goods and blood. Benes, it seems, learned nothing from history; he knew what happened to the Russi:an nation under Communism and he witnessed what had !happened in Poland; but he still insisted on te'.l:ling the western world that this could not and would not hruppen ,t o Czecho~S!lovakia. He promoted StaHn and Moscow in Britain and the United States; they were gullible, a.ind the whole world is paying dearly for it today. Unfortunatelry, even some leading personalities of the Democratic Party of the lJIS!A became the victims of the Sovietophile, simultaneaously the a,nti-Sfovak, prop~anda of the Benesites. In poiwer, they even invited some orf them to the USA to work in va:r.i,ou:s agencies of government, even though the Truman AdministraJtion must have known that most olf them were members of the Commimljgt-tlominated National Fro:nt Government from 1'945 to 1948 and, thernfore, responsilble in a measure for the insta:Uation of the tyranny of Communism in Ozecho..:Slorvakia. Since Mr. Eisenhower has taken office, indli'catioills are that he and his party will not trust any advi1ce or information which mlight lbe offered .b y the Benesites in the so-called ''Council of Free Ozechoslovakia." They were not reliaJble in matters concerning the USSR and are no more reliaJble in oither ·matters, including even the Slovak question. They certainly do- not represent the ,w,i.Jl o,f the Slovak nation, and it ·is sedous1y doUJbted that they speak even for the Czechs ,a:t home or in exile. Positiive e~res- �SLOVAKIA sions of various memlbera of Congress of the USA aJbout the inherent rights of the Slovaks confirm our position in this rega:rd. ·' It is known that the RepUJblican Party of the USA has hitherto regarded the .American pol.icy towaTd Moscow as not suffilCiently self~conscious and out of line with .Ame11:i'can interests. lit haJS regarded rand stm rega:rds Acheson's thesis o!f contaiinmenrt ,a s not sufficient and insists on a firnner polioy of sUJppressinig Bolshevism. This is something thait the people lbehind the Iron Curtain waited a looig time to hear. And ,t he sooner the words are translated into action, the !better. General IDisenhower exipressed this clearly at the American Legion Convention in New York on Aug.ust 25, 195Q, when he said : "We must telil the Kremlin that never shall we desist i,n ouir aid to every man a'IId woman of those shackled lands who seeks refuge with us, any man who keeps burning among his own people the flame of freedom or who js ded!1ciarted to the Hbeiration of his fellows." From this staltement, a:nd others 'b y Eisenhower and other Repulblicam statements, it is evident that a systematic, energetic and firm poli:oy to surppress Bolesheviism is being planned. I beliEWe, itlherefore, that our hope is justified that American polilcy will endeavor, with the dose cooperation of aU an,ti"Bolshevik forces, to helip all the haipless nations behind the · Iron Curtain to freedom, including the Slovak nation. The Slovaks, however, welcome not only this general change in the course of American policy, but have motives to welcome even the ipoliiey' of the new Repulblicam government toward the Slovak na,,tron. A number of Repulblican members of Congress have openly stated that they aTe for the realization of the desires of SlOV!ak nation for its own staJte. Senator Robert Taift of Ohio did not hesitaite to express his views in this regard, neither did the new President of the USA, Dwiig'ht D. Eisenhower. We hope, theretfore, thait the new .Americam President, together with his oo-workers and the whole American nation will. bring aJbout a necessary a:nd invitaJble, erpochai and �26 SLOVA.KIA ipolirtioail corrootion cxf the western Christian world in regard to .t he tyranny cxf Bol,s hevism, but also a corresponding change in policy towaTd the SllQ!Vak nation. By doing so, he will render service to the truth and the ndble principles of Woodrow Wilson and the Atlantic Charter, as well a:s all idears of freedom whi~h have from the time of Geo:r,ge W a'Shington 'been the pride of the American people. In this sense we w.i-sh President Dwight D. Eisenhower a mu!ltitude of God's blessing on all his ructions . • • • WHO SAID IT7 "It can be said w ,ithout hesitation that the Czecho-Slovak Government-in-Exile has accepted the leadership of Moscow freely and voluntarily. The Czecho.,Slovak Government-in-Exile became the full ally of Moscow ·by the pact signed in Moscow last year. and when Dr. Be- nes went baclk to the part of Czecho•Slovakia li•b erated by the Russians, he went by way of •Moscow. The new provisional government he set up in Ko.sice was th1:i result of consultatioru; in Moscow conducted, it seems, very much under the pressure of the CZECH Communist ,g,roup there. For although it was ignored by the American Press, 1:iven Czecho-Slovakfa had her mvn Moscow group, a distinctly Commun'istic councB, headed by the CZECH Communist leader, Klement Gottwald, ,a nd the intellectual leader of CZECH Commundsts, Profossor Zdenek Nej,edly. Th€ difference betwe1:in the CZECH commilttee in Moscow and the Polish grouip there was that the CZECH Government-inExile was in complete agreement with the CZECH Com. munist group in Moscow with respect to the Russian orientation." E. M. Voyta, AMERICA, June 9, 1945. • • • The author of the above quote is a CZECH, formerly of Prague, now residing in the Unit1:id States, who saw and reported events objectiv1:ily. Voyta calls a CZECH a CZECH, and not a "CZECHOSLOVAK," as the propaganda of Dr. Benes did when it suited its purpose to confu:se the western world. The Slovak nation had nothing to do with the 1Moscow deal but, n1:iv1:irtheless, had to surfor the consequen,ces of it. The "Czecho,Slo,v ak Government-in-Exile" mentioned by Voyta was selected by Dr. Edward Benes ; it repres1:inted not the wiil of the Czech and Slovak nations, ,b ut only the wlll of Dr. Benes. Slovaks, es·pecially those of America, condemned Ben1:is and his proSoviet policy long before 1945, but their's was but voice in the wilderness. Today we know they wer1:i right in th1:ilr claim that Benes •s old out to Mo.scow. a • • • we "Don't believe the stupid Nazi perol"aitlons saying tha.t are in the service ot England OR THAT THE SOVIET UNION WISHES TO INCLUDE US WITHIN ITS BOUNDARIES. We are a free and independent state. We are the friends of ALL DEMOCRATIC, treedomlovlng nations, o! the SOVIETS, as well as or Brita.in and America." - (Dr. Bene§, Broadcast to Czechoslovakia, London, June 24, 1943) � 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 22 SLOVAKIA THE SLOVAKS AND PRESIDENT EISENHOWER Matthew Cernak What do the Slovaik s expect of President Eisenhower ? From the Government orf President Eisenhower we expect a new American politcy: basica:lly, a change of policy toward Bolshevism and, secondly, a change of policy as far as the Slova;k nation is concerned. During the past three decades the Unlted States of North America has shown very little understanding for the nwtural and self-evident right of the Slovaks to independentce. The Sllova:k nation cannot logicaHy understand why this should be so. This la:ck of understanding for the fundamental right of the Slo;va'k nation is all the more striking, ibecause the USA has always aippeared everywhere; from its very ibeginnmg, in the spirit of the beautiful tra;diibions of Wa;shinigton and Jefferson as the ipioneer of national rights and freedom. The Declaration of Lndependance, Wilson's "Fourteen Points," and the principles of the Atlantic Charter - all these in principle express the equal right of the Slovaks to freedom and independence, the ri•g ht to statehood amd the right to a government of their choke. And America,ns oif Slovak descent proba:bly have been more amazed and confused by the situation than there brethren in Slovakia, ,beca;use they had brought these "self-evident" ,t ruths to the attention of their Government many times in the past. This striking conf:liot between the princip1es of American pol11ey on the one hand, amd the practical appli~ation of them in the Slovak instance, on the other, undoubtedly is not the result of hostile intentions toward the Slovruk nation, hut rather the resu1t of incorrect information. It is certamly :p1aiimy evident ,t hat leading Amerioan statesmen olb tained their knowledge about the Slovruks and the Slovak problem mainly from the silty sources of Dr. Edward Benes and his odllalborators. Knowingly they misinformed the entire western world a}bout Slovakia and the Sloviaks to rpromote their fa;ntastic, undemocratic schemes in the intereE.t of Czech imperialism. SLOVAKIA 23 Today the western world /better knows Benes and his colla'borators for what they really were than it did in the past deoa.des. The greaJt trust enjoyed by Benes in the West and his unreal conception had bad effects not only for the Sloivak nation, ibut even for his own Czech nation ailld for the who1le western world. It was the misfortune of aU of us that the West woike up too late to rea'1ize the fact that Benes was most instrumental in clearililg the wary for Bo1she!Vism into Central Europe. Benes is, therefore respoTI!Silble in a large measure for the terrilble siituation of the world today, which is costing all of us, and even the America.in people, plenty in material goods and blood. Benes, it seems, learned nothing from history; he knew what happened to the Russi:an nation under Communism and he witnessed what had !happened in Poland; but he still insisted on te'.l:ling the western world that this could not and would not hruppen ,t o Czecho~S!lovakia. He promoted StaHn and Moscow in Britain and the United States; they were gullible, a.ind the whole world is paying dearly for it today. Unfortunatelry, even some leading personalities of the Democratic Party of the lJIS!A became the victims of the Sovietophile, simultaneaously the a,nti-Sfovak, prop~anda of the Benesites. In poiwer, they even invited some orf them to the USA to work in va:r.i,ou:s agencies of government, even though the Truman AdministraJtion must have known that most olf them were members of the Commimljgt-tlominated National Fro:nt Government from 1'945 to 1948 and, thernfore, responsilble in a measure for the insta:Uation of the tyranny of Communism in Ozecho..:Slorvakia. Since Mr. Eisenhower has taken office, indli'catioills are that he and his party will not trust any advi1ce or information which mlight lbe offered .b y the Benesites in the so-called ''Council of Free Ozechoslovakia." They were not reliaJble in matters concerning the USSR and are no more reliaJble in oither ·matters, including even the Slovak question. They certainly do- not represent the ,w,i.Jl o,f the Slovak nation, and it ·is sedous1y doUJbted that they speak even for the Czechs ,a:t home or in exile. Positiive e~res- SLOVAKIA sions of various memlbera of Congress of the USA aJbout the inherent rights of the Slovaks confirm our position in this rega:rd. ·' It is known that the RepUJblican Party of the USA has hitherto regarded the .American pol.icy towaTd Moscow as not suffilCiently self~conscious and out of line with .Ame11:i'can interests. lit haJS regarded rand stm rega:rds Acheson's thesis o!f contaiinmenrt ,a s not sufficient and insists on a firnner polioy of sUJppressinig Bolshevism. This is something thait the people lbehind the Iron Curtain waited a looig time to hear. And ,t he sooner the words are translated into action, the !better. General IDisenhower exipressed this clearly at the American Legion Convention in New York on Aug.ust 25, 195Q, when he said : "We must telil the Kremlin that never shall we desist i,n ouir aid to every man a'IId woman of those shackled lands who seeks refuge with us, any man who keeps burning among his own people the flame of freedom or who js ded!1ciarted to the Hbeiration of his fellows." From this staltement, a:nd others 'b y Eisenhower and other Repulblicam statements, it is evident that a systematic, energetic and firm poli:oy to surppress Bolesheviism is being planned. I beliEWe, itlherefore, that our hope is justified that American polilcy will endeavor, with the dose cooperation of aU an,ti"Bolshevik forces, to helip all the haipless nations behind the · Iron Curtain to freedom, including the Slovak nation. The Slovaks, however, welcome not only this general change in the course of American policy, but have motives to welcome even the ipoliiey' of the new Repulblicam government toward the Slovak na,,tron. A number of Repulblican members of Congress have openly stated that they aTe for the realization of the desires of SlOV!ak nation for its own staJte. Senator Robert Taift of Ohio did not hesitaite to express his views in this regard, neither did the new President of the USA, Dwiig'ht D. Eisenhower. We hope, theretfore, thait the new .Americam President, together with his oo-workers and the whole American nation will. bring aJbout a necessary a:nd invitaJble, erpochai and 26 SLOVA.KIA ipolirtioail corrootion cxf the western Christian world in regard to .t he tyranny cxf Bol,s hevism, but also a corresponding change in policy towaTd the SllQ!Vak nation. By doing so, he will render service to the truth and the ndble principles of Woodrow Wilson and the Atlantic Charter, as well a:s all idears of freedom whi~h have from the time of Geo:r,ge W a'Shington 'been the pride of the American people. In this sense we w.i-sh President Dwight D. Eisenhower a mu!ltitude of God's blessing on all his ructions . • • • WHO SAID IT7 "It can be said w ,ithout hesitation that the Czecho-Slovak Government-in-Exile has accepted the leadership of Moscow freely and voluntarily. The Czecho.,Slovak Government-in-Exile became the full ally of Moscow ·by the pact signed in Moscow last year. and when Dr. Be- nes went baclk to the part of Czecho•Slovakia li•b erated by the Russians, he went by way of •Moscow. The new provisional government he set up in Ko.sice was th1:i result of consultatioru; in Moscow conducted, it seems, very much under the pressure of the CZECH Communist ,g,roup there. For although it was ignored by the American Press, 1:iven Czecho-Slovakfa had her mvn Moscow group, a distinctly Commun'istic councB, headed by the CZECH Communist leader, Klement Gottwald, ,a nd the intellectual leader of CZECH Commundsts, Profossor Zdenek Nej,edly. Th€ difference betwe1:in the CZECH commilttee in Moscow and the Polish grouip there was that the CZECH Government-inExile was in complete agreement with the CZECH Com. munist group in Moscow with respect to the Russian orientation." E. M. Voyta, AMERICA, June 9, 1945. • • • The author of the above quote is a CZECH, formerly of Prague, now residing in the Unit1:id States, who saw and reported events objectiv1:ily. Voyta calls a CZECH a CZECH, and not a "CZECHOSLOVAK," as the propaganda of Dr. Benes did when it suited its purpose to confu:se the western world. The Slovak nation had nothing to do with the 1Moscow deal but, n1:iv1:irtheless, had to surfor the consequen,ces of it. The "Czecho,Slo,v ak Government-in-Exile" mentioned by Voyta was selected by Dr. Edward Benes ; it repres1:inted not the wiil of the Czech and Slovak nations, ,b ut only the wlll of Dr. Benes. Slovaks, es·pecially those of America, condemned Ben1:is and his proSoviet policy long before 1945, but their's was but voice in the wilderness. Today we know they wer1:i right in th1:ilr claim that Benes •s old out to Mo.scow. a • • • we "Don't believe the stupid Nazi perol"aitlons saying tha.t are in the service ot England OR THAT THE SOVIET UNION WISHES TO INCLUDE US WITHIN ITS BOUNDARIES. We are a free and independent state. We are the friends of ALL DEMOCRATIC, treedomlovlng nations, o! the SOVIETS, as well as or Brita.in and America." - (Dr. Bene§, Broadcast to Czechoslovakia, London, June 24, 1943)  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Slovaks and President Eisenhower Description An account of the resource Matthew Černák Slovakia, Vol. 3, No. 1 (6), April 1953 pp. 22-25 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Černák, Matthew Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource April 1953 name https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/d31c8fb0500b44a0f2ea75f3bcd30340.pdf 1f2e83c344a1cccfc46a1ac889e01145 PDF Text Text SLOVAKIA 39 THE SLOVAKS AND SLAVONIC CIVILIZATION Joseph Kirschbaum, LL.D., Ph.D. There seems to be some confusion even among ,specialists in the fi.eld of Slav,iic studies as far as Slorvalkia's contribution to the civilization of other Slav peoples is concerned. The question, then, as to· what role the SlovaJkis reaHy did 'Play in the civilization of the Slavonic peoples, is not only interesting, but worthy of consideration and study. To answer that question, we must first consider several fundamental questions: First: What role did IS'loviaikiia play in the Great Mora. vian Empire, on the territory o.f which the cultura)l~reHgioll'S mission of Saints Cyril and Methodiius was developed? Second: Into the cultural history of what nation can we place the cuatural and literary work of Cyril and Me. thodius and their immediate puipils? Third: Are the Slovaks of today ethnically and culturally bound with the people of Great Moravia? In a significant 1portion of ,Slavonic histriography, especially in the works of sciientific workers and Slavists whiich were !pUb1ished in English in the past three decades, there is no agreemoot on these fundamental questions. R. A. Kamn in hiis "The Multinational Empire"(l) states, for example, that "the !Slav popuJ.ation, ,p articularly the eastern SlaN populaition of the Great Moravian Ehnpire, is unquestionaJbly the historic ancestor of the Slovaks of today," but he adds that those historic ,p redcessors ·a re "by no means ethnically identical with them (the Slovaks)." John D. lJa Monte in his "World of the Middle Ages" omits the 'Slovaks cOIIIllpletely when naming the ethnic gro'll!ps which .formed the Great iMoiravian Empire. H. S. Thompson, J. S. Roucek, Milan Hodza, Francis Dvornik, and many other •less significant iSlavists ,present the first ,Slavonic !State in Central Europe - which Porfyl'ogenetos named topogrruphically accordmg to the river bearing that name - as if it belonged to the political and cultural history of the Ozechs, or at best of the Ozecho- �40 SLOVAKIA Slovaks. And thus they a:lso present the cultUTal-Ohristiarn work of Saints Cyril and Methodius. Professor Francis Dvornik, one of the most acknowledged authorities of cultural and political history of the IShwonic ,p eoples of the ninth century, regards "Bohemia the heir of .t he Mo11avian Empire"C2). For ,p rofessor Rouceik (ISla;vonic Encyclopedia) Great Moravia and the cultmal wor>k of Cyril-Methodius is exclusively a part of Czech history, while for Dr. Miilan Hodza it is the first "CzechosJovaJk" State(3). This -wew, which the aibove mentioned authors at~ tempt to support with the hypothesis that "Czechs and Slova!ks of Bohemia, Moravia and Northern Hungary (Silova;k,i•a ) fovmed a single group with a common language"( 4) - the iview held ,b y several Ozech histor1ans, phil'()llogists and ethnographers, specially Cha1oupeoky, Niederle, Pra•z ak, and Pastmek - is, of course, at odds with older views of some Czech, Slovak, German and otiher European histovians, philologists and ethnographers. And ,i t certainly cannot find support in histor,ical sources, which though not abundant are nevertheless sufficient to cast dou'bt on the aibove theses . Professor Dvornik himself, who- regards Czechia-Bohemi1a as the heir of the Great Moravian Elmpire, leads rto the logical conclusion that the Czech tribes belonged to the Great Moravian Empire only for a very sho-rt time, when Svatoplulk was extending his power on a1'1 sides, and .that after Svatopluk's death in 895 "the Bohemians appeared again at the Re.ichrsita;g at Regensburg and renewed their allegiance to the FrMllkish Empire. " And Dvornik also states that "Bohemia's submission to the Franks naturally implied severance of all !l'.'cligious ties with the Mora-wan eoclesirus-tical organization" (5) The statement that "the Bohemians appeared again at Regensburg" requiTes supplementation from the Arnnales Fuldenses, which Dvornik himself quotes a;nd depends upon, that is, tha;t in the year 8415 "fourteen chieftains of Czech tribes a:ppeared at the court of Louis and accepted baptism with their escorts"(6), which under the givoo cir<:umstances clearly indicates the political dependence of �SLOVAKIA 41 the Czech tribes on Bavaria. According to the Armales Xantenses, the Czechs quarreled and fought with Bai\Tlaria in. 849, but could not rid themselves of Bavarian rule and join the Ozech lands to the Great Moravian Empire, which Dvornik regards as a "federation under the authority of the Mojmir dynasty"(7), until aJbout 880. According to Novotny and the Annales Fuldenses •~svatopl,uk extricated the Czech tribes from Frankish rule b.y force"< 8) . Since the beginnings of Gre,a t MoTavia are placed in the year 822 a:nd 'h istorical sources mention Pribina and the dedication of the Church in Nitrn in 833; furthermore since, even accordmg to, professor Dvornilk, Czech tribes were still defin,itely :sUJbordinated to Bavaria in 8'49, even though that was already the era of Rastis1av, the third ruler of the Great Moravian Empire, and since the Czech trilbes separated from the Great Moravian Empire and sutbmitted to Bavaria and then even waged war together witJh the Germans against the Great Moravian :EJmpire:(9), it ,i s indeed quite difficult to find a historical or logical argument for the thesis that Great Moravia did belong to Czech polirti'cal history and that the cultural work of Cyril and Methodius belonged to Ozech cultm-al history. The question of what tribes formed the Great Moravian Empire and what lands the empire consisted of could not be considered satisfactorily and defi.n,i tely resolved and, therefore, a group of scientific workers began a new search and technica{ researdh of sources. The historians were joined :b y philologists, archeo[og,ists and ex-· ,p erts on medieval history; the era of the Great Moravian Emrpire was studied ~at only ,f rom 'a nnals and chronicles, from legends and liturgical texts of iS lavonic antiquity, but also on the baisis of archeological finds, names of rivers and mountaiins, villages and towns, ·c hurches, Christi'an and fomily names, popular traditions, etc. The list of speo~ali,s ts of the Great Moravian era is surprisingly lange in the rpast years and while some of them are known internationally (1Dvornik, Jam:ohson), significant works of others are tJhus far unknown on the Amerfoan continent only becruuse they were not trans.Jated into ,various world �42 SLOVAKIA languages, nor were they presented to the learned world even in a:bst:mct form. Among the uruknown or little-known ,s pecialists in the Anglo-Saxon world, we find a si,,gnif.icant group of Slovwk university professors and e~perts of whom I might men., tion the following: a) In history: Joseph Skultety, Francis lHruso,v sky, Daniel Rapant, J. Dakan. :b) In philofogy: John Stanislav, Henry Bartek, Louis Novaik, Jizacenko, B. Varsi1k, V . Pogorielov, Anthony !Banik. c) In literary histoiry: Andrew Mraz, Steplhen Krcmery. d) In ar,cheology: John Eisner. Every one of these men made a study of one or the other phase of the em of Great Momvi,a and the work, of Saiints Cyril and Methodiius, ,and some of them - Stanislav, Hrusovsky, Bartek, ,:maicenlko, Pogorielov of several ,p hases and some of their studies were ,published even in foreign languaiges(l0). To what conclusions does the scientific research of these experts lead to, even though the results of their studies thus far ,a re available for the main part only to Slavonic scholars and haive not been made availruble in suita!ble form for the western world? Professo.r Otokar Odlozilik, in the ' ~Harvard Slavic Studies," summwri'zes them 1.Jhiis way: "'1:t can ibe said of them in general that they not only shed fuller light on po1'itical and cultuTal dev~lopments in the Mor.avian State, but invalidated earlier concepts, aiccording to which the work of the Slavic Apostles wais short-lived and doomed to failure"(ll). 'F undamentally, the results of the scienti.f1ic research of Slovaik historians, philofogists., archeologists and cultural wovkers of the past decades are these: 1. In agreement with Dobrovsky, who alreaidy in 1825 wrote that ",S lovakia was really Great MoraJVlia" (12), and in agreement with Safarik (:Slovanske starozitnosti, pp. 794-795), Skultety, Hrusovsky, Stanislav ,a nd Dekan con., sider Slovakia as 1Jhe central and main part of the Great Moravian Elm.pi.re, which in the "Skazani o prelozeni knig" was already called "1Slovensk,a zemlja" (Sloviak country). 2. In agreement with V. Jag-i:c, who in his wcmk a'bout �43 SLOVAKIA the origin of the Church ISlaJV1onic tongue wrote in 1900 that "in Great Moravia ,p eople must have spoken dn the ninth century with a tQ!1lgue which in its fundamental,s was identkal witJh the !Slov•aik language of today"(13), Stamislav, Bartek, Rapant, Varsik and No,vak arrived at the conclu-· si•o n through .scientific study that the inhalbitants of Great Moravia •w ere the direct ancestors of the 1Slovaks of today. 3. On the ,b asis of the abOIVe mentioned premi ses, the above historians and philologists, as ,well ·a s A. Mraz, the literary historian, oo.me to the conclusion that the cultural-Christianiz.ing adiv:ity of 1Sruints Cyril and Methodius related to, iin tJhe first ,place, the ancestors of present-day Slovltks and ISlovwkia and, therefore, their literary work, including the literary activity of some of their ipupil.s, is a ·component ,part of SlOl\"aik 1iternture. It may be interesting to note here that this .thesis is supported even by profes~ so:rs of the Bratislava University today (A. Mira~ and J. Dek1an) , even though in present C'zecho-Slo,vaikia nationalism and everything which might be susipected of nationa:l- . 1sm is prmishable according to the lruw as "deviationism." By what .scientif,i.c arguments are these tJheises supported? On what scientific order do they mainfy depend? What new contributions do they bring to the evaluation of the work of Cy11itl and Methodius? Besides a new search and ev;aluation of known sources, such as the Annales Fuldenses, Annales, regni &ancormn, Libellus de conversione Bagoariorum et Carantanorum, the chronicles of Heriman, Regino, Nestor, legends and biogrruphies, etc., the brusis for the above mentioned conclusions are in the main philological researches(14). The name Mora;via and Miaravian.s, incidental~y also "Scalvi," which we meet with mainly in Latin sources, whHe eastern sources spook of ".Sfoveni" (in the S!K'A'Z ANi, the Mornvian State is, as we have seen, alternatively ca:lled "Monwa" and "Slovenska zemljia" - Morav;ia iand the Sl01vak l,and), is considered a topo,g ra;phical term, which received its ,political character and was used ,in the etatistical meaning to indica,te the inhabitants of the Moravian State, besides the Czechs and the Se11bians wllw belonged only for short time to SvatoplUJk's empire. 1 a �44 SLOVAKIA "The fall of Great Moravia," writes Dr. J. Delkan, "brings a. return to the original topographical signif.icance of the name, and tJhe inhabitants of the eastern .part of Great Morav;ia, i.e., the territory of Slovakia, ,b esides isolated toponomastk remiscences, are called iby their own ancient ethnic name of "Sclavi, Slovieni, namely, the Slovaks" (15). The thesis tha:t the term Moravians had only a specifically topographic •a nd, later, a politicaHy ebatistical meaning was unfolded long before Dekan by several Slo!Vak Slav;ists and hi,s torians, especially by Joseph Skultety(16), Hrusovsky and Stanis:lav. The .philologists John 1Stantisliav, L. Novak, H. Bartek , V. Pogorielov, mcenko, and others, lby philologioa1 inquiry of the Cyrilo-.Methodius texts, the Cividalian Gospel Book , legends and chronicles, as well as by searching names of people, J'livers., mountains, villages, churches and traditions and, furthermOTe, the dia!lects and "loan words", confirm the theses and the hypotheses ,o;f the historians. as regard..c; even the ethnical nature of the inhia,bitants of Great Moravia as well as the mission of Cyril and Methodius in relation to Slovaikia. According to the latest researches, of Slovak Sl-avists, the mission of Saints Cyril and Methodius took pla:ce mainly on the territo-ry o,f the Slova,ks - professor Stanislav states with certainty that Method's residence was in Nitra(l 7) and the great cultural-Christianizing work of Cynil and MetJhodius is consequently placed first of all in the cultural history of the Slovaks. Even Dvornik confiir.ms this indirectly when he states that "Slo,vam.ic liturgy in Slovakia outlived the catastrophe of the Great Morawian Empire," that the territory o.f present-day Slo,vrukia was "in a definite sense the most cultured part of the Magyar empire" (,correctly, the Hungarian empire), and the Slavonic monks, after being ex,pelled from Czech lands (from the Monastery at Sazavia) in 1055, found refuge in !Slovakia. According to Dvornilk, Slovakia and her ancient Slavonic cente11s served as ''half~way transmitting centers" not only between Croatia, but even Kievian Russia08l. As far as tJhe literary work of Cyril-Methodius and their immedi,a te .students is ,c oncerned, we know from the �SLOVAKIA 45 ;'SKAZANI" that they translated "i proceJe knigy" (also many other books) and from Latin legends "pluraque aliia documenta sacrae scri,ptuare" (according to the legend of Bodescens), or only ".plura que a'lia," according to the legend of Christian. ,Sbanisla'V reco.rds that "after his arri'Val in Great Mora'Via, Constantine translated almost the entire ecclesiastical rituial." We know definiteJy, Stanislav writes, that Constantine completed the translation of the Gospel texts of all four ev,angelists in Great Mora'Via, and that he also translated the Acts of the Apostles and the Psa1ms(l9l. St . Methodius, according to Stanis1a'V, continued in the work ,b egun by his brother and after the issuance of the glorious Bull "I:ndustriae tuae," by which the Sla'V•Onic liturgy a;gain was confirmed and permitted, "made a compendium of everything that was translated during the twel1Ve years (869-881) oif hris independent '1eadership of the Great Moravian mission. He selected -t wo priest 'rapid writers' a111d with them translated - probably dictated to them - the entire text of the Holy B ible - tJhe Old and New Testaments, besides the books of the 1faccalbees, within eight months." Methodius also t:mnslated, or had translated, the Latin Missal, which is •.p reserved as the so-•called Kiev Missal; written in Gl agolic letters it is preserved in a copy from the 10th century wi,1fu the elements of the Great Mora1Vian tongue. Stanisla'V aJso mentions the translation of the ri-· tual, the fbrev;iary and the credo•, which, according to Methiodius' biog,r,ruphy, Sva.toplUik was Slllpposed to hav,e prayed in the Slovak translation. Of the non..Jiturgica11 books, Sfanislav mentions the translation of the Nomocanon, or the Korm'.caja bodk, i.e., a collection of laiws and regulations o.f the By,zantian rulers and Chwch Fiatlhers, then Cyril's po~emic treatise in Greek against the Jews, which was translated :b y Methodius, ,a nd the original works "A Preface to the Gospels" and "Writings A'bout the True Faith," both written by Cyril. Among the original mementoes belong the so-caUed iPannonianMO'ravian Legends, "The Life of St. Cyril and iMethodius," written, according to, Stanjslav, without a doubt in Great 1 �46 SLOVAKIA Moravia, also the "Praiises of Cyril and Metihodius" and "albou;t the end of the ancient Slovak epoch of Slovak culture" - the 'legend aJbout Naum. One of the "MoravianSloviak sons" - Stanislav says - composed also the ancient Slovalk legend about St. Wenceslaius around the year 935. Stan:is1aiv states quite clearJy that this literacy activity developed on rSlovaJk territory and that in the "great work along wiith Cyril and .M ethod.ius undoubtedly other sons of the Slovak nation had a part, especially Gorazd(20) . Traces of thii:s are found especially in many words of these mementoes." And since "tlhese memoirs were written for the religious, i.e., the cultural needs of the Slovak nation and prompted by it, the predecessors of the Slovaks took part in this work passi'Vely and actively and, therefore, this literary wor.k, according to Sta.nislav, belongs also to our (Slovak) nationaJl treasure." "Old Slavonic was the first liter,a ry language of the Slwa;k nation," J. Stanrislav wrote in 1944 at the conolusion of his studies. This the.sis was taken up after him by Dr. A. Mra:z, professor orf Slova,k literature at ,t he Bratisl1a va U-p.iversity today. The Slovaik nation actuaHy regards it as lits langua:ge, states Stanislav. Prnof of this we have, for example, in tihe letter of Pope Hadrian IT to Rastislav, Svatophrk and Kocel, in which is written: "We have decided . . . to send Methodius . . . to teach you as you requested, e~laining the Bible in your language (21) . This clarif,ioation of the re'1ation of the mission of Saints Cyril and Methodius to Slo;vakia appeared to be necessary to find the answer to the question what role the Slova;ks and !Slovakia ,p layed in the ibegiinnings of civilization of the 1Slruvonic rpeoples. -If we accept the thesis, demonstrated by Slovak IS lavists, ,tJhen the matlter is in surbstance simple : the participation oif the Slovaks and Slova-· kia in the civilization of the rest of the Slavonic nations is proved by .the signifioance of Saints Cyril and Methodius and their immediate pupils in the cultural life .of the individua:l Sliwonic nations. As for as the content and extent of the cultural-Christian~ing work of Cyri'l .and Methodius is concerned, SlovaJk Slavists, wiit:h their scientific inquiries, confirm the �SLOVAKIA 47 view ,o f professor K. J. Grot(22), who wrote rub-Out Great Moravia and the work of the Slovak Aipostles that in Great Moravia was made not only "the most important at.. temrpt at a politicail unification of the Slovanic peoples the Greater Moravian Union - but also that: 1. there "were l aid the foundations for the national Church and nati.onal Christian education; 2. there origina,ted the draft and the directive of the future of the who>J.e subsequent historic development of Slavdom, its world :riole and re.1ation to Roman-Germaillic Europe, to the West and to the Asiatic question; 3. the foundation of Church-1Slov,a nic literature and education in the .Slovanic South among the BuLgars and the 1Seribs, and in the East among the Russians, and pa:rtly also among other western Slavs, was only a continuation of that work whfoh Cyril and Methodius had begun in Great Moravia." Before concluding, it is iperhaps necessary to recall iha:t bortih histori'Oal and cu1tural conclusions here indicated are nothing new in ,Slovak cultUTal life, but onily a scientific support of the tradition and endu:riing consciousness of the continuity of Great Mora'\ria w1th Slovakia, which already in rthe 17th and 18th centuries found expression in several scientific and literary wo-:r,ks b-Oth from the ci~de of Trnavia University (1635), and also from the circle of Bernol1ruk's school at the end of the 18th century. In the preface to 1:Jhe significant Cantus Catholiic,i (1655), Benedict ,S zolosi (1609-56) tells ·clearly about the consciousness of historical continuity of the Slovaks wiith the history of Great Moravia; the greia.t epic "Cy:rifoimertodiada" _and "IS vatoplulk" from John Holly and the Latin work of Samu~l Timon (16'715-1736), .the distinguished wor:k of Johlil B. Magin from 1712-8 •~Maurices sive Arpologda" aTe irre. futruble proofs of this. Of couTse, :Slavists of other nations are &pected to tell how far the results and conclusions of .the scientific resoo.rdh of ISlov,a;k Slaviists are in agreement with the histo~ical truth aind where the theses and hypoitheses are in cases in disagreement with their scientifdc research. Therefore the aim of this dissertation is not only to call at.ten-• tion to Slovruk -scientific inquiries, to the ·c ontri1bution which 1 1 �48 SLOVAKIA Slovaks m'ade to Slavistics from Safarlk and Kollar to present-day scientific woiikers in Slovaiki1a and outside its territory, but this short treatise has for its aim also to evoke moire interest to inquire .into and evaluate a,nd, in cases, even to refute some theses of contemporary Sfova:k scientific woDkers in ,tJhe field of Slavic studies. References 1. Robert A. Kann, The Multinational Empire Nationalism and National Re.form in the Habsburg Monarchy 1848-1918, Ruil:gers U niversity, New Y,ork, Columbia Un iversity Press, 1950, 2 vol. 2. ,F rancis Dvornik, The Making of Central and Eastern Europe, London, 1949, ,p. 241. etc. 3. Dr. Milan Hodza, Federation in Central Europe, Jarold-s , London, 1942, p. 86: "Slovakia was hlle fiTst cultured and, mayb e also the first pol'itical centre .of thait Great Moravi-a of A :D. 8,26-907 which was the early mediev.al precedent of the -modern OzechoJSlovakia. 'l'his original Czecho•Sfovak State mad e 'i tself the first Chrisitian centre of the Western Slavs." 4. Dvornik, ,i bidem, p. 18. 5. Ibidem , p. 21. 6. "Hludovicus quatuordecim ex ducibus Boemanorum cum hominibus -s ui s Christianam religionem desiderantes suscepit et in octavis ,theopihaniae haptizar.i juss,i t," M. G. H . S ., I, p. 364; Dvornik ibidem, p. 20. 7. Lbidem, p. 293. 8. V. Novotny, Ceske dejiny, Praha, 1912, p. 380: Annales Fuldenses. p. 126: "(.:B!oemani ) quos Zwentibaldus dux a consortio et potestate Baio,aricae ,g entis per vim dudum divelendo detr.axerat ... " 9. Ernest Deni-s , La question d' Autriche et les Slovaques, Paris, 1917; Louis Leger, Histoire de I' Autriche-Hongrie, Paris, 1920, p. 89. 10. The principal bo,o k,s dealing with the question of Great Moravia a nd the Mission of Cyri,J and Methodius are as follows: J. Skultety, Sketches from Slovak History, Middletown, P.a ., 1930; F. Hrus ovsky, Gesch ichte der Slowakei, Bratis'lava, 1943, and Slovenskf vladari , Scranton, Pa., 1948; Jan 'Stanislav, Kultura starych Slovakov, Bratislava, 1944, ,and Rfsa Vel'komoravska , Sbo-r nik v,edeckye'h prac, Prague, 1933, and Slovanskf apostoli Cyril a Metod a ich cinnosf vo Vel ' komoravskej rfsi , Bratislava, 1945; Izacenko, Zaciatky vzdelanosti vo Vel'komoravskej rfsi, T. sv. Martin, 1948; V . Pogor,ielov, O narodnosti slovanskych apostolov, Bratislava, No. 2, 1927; Rap.ant, Pribynov nitriansky kostolik, .Bratislava, 1941; A. Banik, Apostol Gorazd ; A . Mraz, Dejiny slovenskej literatury, Bratislav,a , 1948, etc. 11. Harvard Slavic Studies, Vol. I.I, p. 77-78. 12. " . . . die heutige Slorwakey in Oberungern is das eigen,tliche Gross,Mli.hren . .. " wrote •Dobrovsky in a l etter to J. S. Bandtke (Correspondence o,f J . Dobrovsky, II, p. 163) . �SLOVAKIA 49 13. See V. J agic, Entstehungsg eschichte der Kirchenslawischen Sprache, Vjenna, 1900. 14. Annales Fuldenses and Annales r egni Francorum mention '·Sclavos Marabenses" . . . "duces Sclavorum circa Danubiu m habitantium .. ." or "legationes Marvanorum . . ." distingui>shin,g them fro m "legaitiones !Beheimorum," i.e., C2Jechs. In the Reg,e nsburg continuation of Annales Fuldenses we find only "Maravi, M·aravaui, Marehenses, Marabi, Marahav.i," etc. 15. ,see !Dr. J an Dekan, Slovenske dejiny, Iii, Bratislava, 1951, p. 42. 16. J . SkuJ.tety already in 1926 writes in this regard: "With the ,d evelopment of science, particularly Slavonic ph ilology, talk of Carpatho,Danubian and Pannonian Slavs w:ill cease, -a nd t!he SloveneSlovaks w'il'l be def,i nitely m entioned . When it is once clear that ihe inhabitants of present-day Moravia were nothing but Slovaks, t h e nation of Rastislav and Svatopluk will not be called Moravlans .a nd Slovaks, but persistently and definitely Slovaks" (Sketches from Slovak History, p. 30). 17. See Kultura starych Slovakov, p. 42 . 18. See Chapter, Kievan Russia and Central Europe, p. 236-261. 19. See Kultura starych Slovakov, p. 10-14. 20. Pogorielov s•a ys em ph a ti cally th at t he Slovakisms in the Slavonic text of th e H oly Scriptures are th e work of Gorazd and calls Gorazd the third h oly apos tl e of Slavdom . 21. Kultura starych Slovakov, p. 14. 22. K. J . Grot, Karpato-dunajs kija zemli v sud'bach slavianstva, 1905, p. 18, and Metodijevskij jubilejnij sbornik, W arsaiw, 1885, p. 5. • • • BENES'S 'JIRiiP TO MOSCOW AND CZECHOSLOVAK PROPAGANDA Dr. Michael Zibrin Benes admits in his Memoirs that Eden made some forJ mal objecUons aigainst his 1943 trip to Moscow, yet he tries to mmimti:ze the opposition of the IDnglish cabinet . Benes pr.opaJgandists of today, h owever, do not admit ev~ this faot and t hey praiise the Benes t rip to Moscow as something by which Benes greatly ,helped the Allies and to which Washington and London consented. Anyone who heard Dr. Ripka's report before the CzechoJSlovak State Council in London, July 26, 19'43 when he talked aib,out the preparaUons for Benes's trip to Moscow, made in a;greement with Ozecho.;S1ov,ak Communists, and how Dr. Benes was expected in Moscow in any case - has an entirely different picture rubout the � SLOVAKIA 39 THE SLOVAKS AND SLAVONIC CIVILIZATION Joseph Kirschbaum, LL.D., Ph.D. There seems to be some confusion even among ,specialists in the fi.eld of Slav,iic studies as far as Slorvalkia's contribution to the civilization of other Slav peoples is concerned. The question, then, as to· what role the SlovaJkis reaHy did 'Play in the civilization of the Slavonic peoples, is not only interesting, but worthy of consideration and study. To answer that question, we must first consider several fundamental questions: First: What role did IS'loviaikiia play in the Great Mora. vian Empire, on the territory o.f which the cultura)l~reHgioll'S mission of Saints Cyril and Methodiius was developed? Second: Into the cultural history of what nation can we place the cuatural and literary work of Cyril and Me. thodius and their immediate puipils? Third: Are the Slovaks of today ethnically and culturally bound with the people of Great Moravia? In a significant 1portion of ,Slavonic histriography, especially in the works of sciientific workers and Slavists whiich were !pUb1ished in English in the past three decades, there is no agreemoot on these fundamental questions. R. A. Kamn in hiis "The Multinational Empire"(l) states, for example, that "the !Slav popuJ.ation, ,p articularly the eastern SlaN populaition of the Great Moravian Ehnpire, is unquestionaJbly the historic ancestor of the Slovaks of today," but he adds that those historic ,p redcessors ·a re "by no means ethnically identical with them (the Slovaks)." John D. lJa Monte in his "World of the Middle Ages" omits the 'Slovaks cOIIIllpletely when naming the ethnic gro'll!ps which .formed the Great iMoiravian Empire. H. S. Thompson, J. S. Roucek, Milan Hodza, Francis Dvornik, and many other •less significant iSlavists ,present the first ,Slavonic !State in Central Europe - which Porfyl'ogenetos named topogrruphically accordmg to the river bearing that name - as if it belonged to the political and cultural history of the Ozechs, or at best of the Ozecho- �40 SLOVAKIA Slovaks. And thus they a:lso present the cultUTal-Ohristiarn work of Saints Cyril and Methodius. Professor Francis Dvornik, one of the most acknowledged authorities of cultural and political history of the IShwonic ,p eoples of the ninth century, regards "Bohemia the heir of .t he Mo11avian Empire"C2). For ,p rofessor Rouceik (ISla;vonic Encyclopedia) Great Moravia and the cultmal wor>k of Cyril-Methodius is exclusively a part of Czech history, while for Dr. Miilan Hodza it is the first "CzechosJovaJk" State(3). This -wew, which the aibove mentioned authors at~ tempt to support with the hypothesis that "Czechs and Slova!ks of Bohemia, Moravia and Northern Hungary (Silova;k,i•a ) fovmed a single group with a common language"( 4) - the iview held ,b y several Ozech histor1ans, phil'()llogists and ethnographers, specially Cha1oupeoky, Niederle, Pra•z ak, and Pastmek - is, of course, at odds with older views of some Czech, Slovak, German and otiher European histovians, philologists and ethnographers. And ,i t certainly cannot find support in histor,ical sources, which though not abundant are nevertheless sufficient to cast dou'bt on the aibove theses . Professor Dvornik himself, who- regards Czechia-Bohemi1a as the heir of the Great Moravian Elmpire, leads rto the logical conclusion that the Czech tribes belonged to the Great Moravian Empire only for a very sho-rt time, when Svatoplulk was extending his power on a1'1 sides, and .that after Svatopluk's death in 895 "the Bohemians appeared again at the Re.ichrsita;g at Regensburg and renewed their allegiance to the FrMllkish Empire. " And Dvornik also states that "Bohemia's submission to the Franks naturally implied severance of all !l'.'cligious ties with the Mora-wan eoclesirus-tical organization" (5) The statement that "the Bohemians appeared again at Regensburg" requiTes supplementation from the Arnnales Fuldenses, which Dvornik himself quotes a;nd depends upon, that is, tha;t in the year 8415 "fourteen chieftains of Czech tribes a:ppeared at the court of Louis and accepted baptism with their escorts"(6), which under the givoo cir<:umstances clearly indicates the political dependence of �SLOVAKIA 41 the Czech tribes on Bavaria. According to the Armales Xantenses, the Czechs quarreled and fought with Bai\Tlaria in. 849, but could not rid themselves of Bavarian rule and join the Ozech lands to the Great Moravian Empire, which Dvornik regards as a "federation under the authority of the Mojmir dynasty"(7), until aJbout 880. According to Novotny and the Annales Fuldenses •~svatopl,uk extricated the Czech tribes from Frankish rule b.y force"< 8) . Since the beginnings of Gre,a t MoTavia are placed in the year 822 a:nd 'h istorical sources mention Pribina and the dedication of the Church in Nitrn in 833; furthermore since, even accordmg to, professor Dvornilk, Czech tribes were still defin,itely :sUJbordinated to Bavaria in 8'49, even though that was already the era of Rastis1av, the third ruler of the Great Moravian Empire, and since the Czech trilbes separated from the Great Moravian Empire and sutbmitted to Bavaria and then even waged war together witJh the Germans against the Great Moravian :EJmpire:(9), it ,i s indeed quite difficult to find a historical or logical argument for the thesis that Great Moravia did belong to Czech polirti'cal history and that the cultural work of Cyril and Methodius belonged to Ozech cultm-al history. The question of what tribes formed the Great Moravian Empire and what lands the empire consisted of could not be considered satisfactorily and defi.n,i tely resolved and, therefore, a group of scientific workers began a new search and technica{ researdh of sources. The historians were joined :b y philologists, archeo[og,ists and ex-· ,p erts on medieval history; the era of the Great Moravian Emrpire was studied ~at only ,f rom 'a nnals and chronicles, from legends and liturgical texts of iS lavonic antiquity, but also on the baisis of archeological finds, names of rivers and mountaiins, villages and towns, ·c hurches, Christi'an and fomily names, popular traditions, etc. The list of speo~ali,s ts of the Great Moravian era is surprisingly lange in the rpast years and while some of them are known internationally (1Dvornik, Jam:ohson), significant works of others are tJhus far unknown on the Amerfoan continent only becruuse they were not trans.Jated into ,various world �42 SLOVAKIA languages, nor were they presented to the learned world even in a:bst:mct form. Among the uruknown or little-known ,s pecialists in the Anglo-Saxon world, we find a si,,gnif.icant group of Slovwk university professors and e~perts of whom I might men., tion the following: a) In history: Joseph Skultety, Francis lHruso,v sky, Daniel Rapant, J. Dakan. :b) In philofogy: John Stanislav, Henry Bartek, Louis Novaik, Jizacenko, B. Varsi1k, V . Pogorielov, Anthony !Banik. c) In literary histoiry: Andrew Mraz, Steplhen Krcmery. d) In ar,cheology: John Eisner. Every one of these men made a study of one or the other phase of the em of Great Momvi,a and the work, of Saiints Cyril and Methodiius, ,and some of them - Stanislav, Hrusovsky, Bartek, ,:maicenlko, Pogorielov of several ,p hases and some of their studies were ,published even in foreign languaiges(l0). To what conclusions does the scientific research of these experts lead to, even though the results of their studies thus far ,a re available for the main part only to Slavonic scholars and haive not been made availruble in suita!ble form for the western world? Professo.r Otokar Odlozilik, in the ' ~Harvard Slavic Studies," summwri'zes them 1.Jhiis way: "'1:t can ibe said of them in general that they not only shed fuller light on po1'itical and cultuTal dev~lopments in the Mor.avian State, but invalidated earlier concepts, aiccording to which the work of the Slavic Apostles wais short-lived and doomed to failure"(ll). 'F undamentally, the results of the scienti.f1ic research of Slovaik historians, philofogists., archeologists and cultural wovkers of the past decades are these: 1. In agreement with Dobrovsky, who alreaidy in 1825 wrote that ",S lovakia was really Great MoraJVlia" (12), and in agreement with Safarik (:Slovanske starozitnosti, pp. 794-795), Skultety, Hrusovsky, Stanislav ,a nd Dekan con., sider Slovakia as 1Jhe central and main part of the Great Moravian Elm.pi.re, which in the "Skazani o prelozeni knig" was already called "1Slovensk,a zemlja" (Sloviak country). 2. In agreement with V. Jag-i:c, who in his wcmk a'bout �43 SLOVAKIA the origin of the Church ISlaJV1onic tongue wrote in 1900 that "in Great Moravia ,p eople must have spoken dn the ninth century with a tQ!1lgue which in its fundamental,s was identkal witJh the !Slov•aik language of today"(13), Stamislav, Bartek, Rapant, Varsik and No,vak arrived at the conclu-· si•o n through .scientific study that the inhalbitants of Great Moravia •w ere the direct ancestors of the 1Slovaks of today. 3. On the ,b asis of the abOIVe mentioned premi ses, the above historians and philologists, as ,well ·a s A. Mraz, the literary historian, oo.me to the conclusion that the cultural-Christianiz.ing adiv:ity of 1Sruints Cyril and Methodius related to, iin tJhe first ,place, the ancestors of present-day Slovltks and ISlovwkia and, therefore, their literary work, including the literary activity of some of their ipupil.s, is a ·component ,part of SlOl\"aik 1iternture. It may be interesting to note here that this .thesis is supported even by profes~ so:rs of the Bratislava University today (A. Mira~ and J. Dek1an) , even though in present C'zecho-Slo,vaikia nationalism and everything which might be susipected of nationa:l- . 1sm is prmishable according to the lruw as "deviationism." By what .scientif,i.c arguments are these tJheises supported? On what scientific order do they mainfy depend? What new contributions do they bring to the evaluation of the work of Cy11itl and Methodius? Besides a new search and ev;aluation of known sources, such as the Annales Fuldenses, Annales, regni &ancormn, Libellus de conversione Bagoariorum et Carantanorum, the chronicles of Heriman, Regino, Nestor, legends and biogrruphies, etc., the brusis for the above mentioned conclusions are in the main philological researches(14). The name Mora;via and Miaravian.s, incidental~y also "Scalvi," which we meet with mainly in Latin sources, whHe eastern sources spook of ".Sfoveni" (in the S!K'A'Z ANi, the Mornvian State is, as we have seen, alternatively ca:lled "Monwa" and "Slovenska zemljia" - Morav;ia iand the Sl01vak l,and), is considered a topo,g ra;phical term, which received its ,political character and was used ,in the etatistical meaning to indica,te the inhabitants of the Moravian State, besides the Czechs and the Se11bians wllw belonged only for short time to SvatoplUJk's empire. 1 a �44 SLOVAKIA "The fall of Great Moravia," writes Dr. J. Delkan, "brings a. return to the original topographical signif.icance of the name, and tJhe inhabitants of the eastern .part of Great Morav;ia, i.e., the territory of Slovakia, ,b esides isolated toponomastk remiscences, are called iby their own ancient ethnic name of "Sclavi, Slovieni, namely, the Slovaks" (15). The thesis tha:t the term Moravians had only a specifically topographic •a nd, later, a politicaHy ebatistical meaning was unfolded long before Dekan by several Slo!Vak Slav;ists and hi,s torians, especially by Joseph Skultety(16), Hrusovsky and Stanis:lav. The .philologists John 1Stantisliav, L. Novak, H. Bartek , V. Pogorielov, mcenko, and others, lby philologioa1 inquiry of the Cyrilo-.Methodius texts, the Cividalian Gospel Book , legends and chronicles, as well as by searching names of people, J'livers., mountains, villages, churches and traditions and, furthermOTe, the dia!lects and "loan words", confirm the theses and the hypotheses ,o;f the historians. as regard..c; even the ethnical nature of the inhia,bitants of Great Moravia as well as the mission of Cyril and Methodius in relation to Slovaikia. According to the latest researches, of Slovak Sl-avists, the mission of Saints Cyril and Methodius took pla:ce mainly on the territo-ry o,f the Slova,ks - professor Stanislav states with certainty that Method's residence was in Nitra(l 7) and the great cultural-Christianizing work of Cynil and MetJhodius is consequently placed first of all in the cultural history of the Slovaks. Even Dvornik confiir.ms this indirectly when he states that "Slo,vam.ic liturgy in Slovakia outlived the catastrophe of the Great Morawian Empire," that the territory o.f present-day Slo,vrukia was "in a definite sense the most cultured part of the Magyar empire" (,correctly, the Hungarian empire), and the Slavonic monks, after being ex,pelled from Czech lands (from the Monastery at Sazavia) in 1055, found refuge in !Slovakia. According to Dvornilk, Slovakia and her ancient Slavonic cente11s served as ''half~way transmitting centers" not only between Croatia, but even Kievian Russia08l. As far as tJhe literary work of Cyril-Methodius and their immedi,a te .students is ,c oncerned, we know from the �SLOVAKIA 45 ;'SKAZANI" that they translated "i proceJe knigy" (also many other books) and from Latin legends "pluraque aliia documenta sacrae scri,ptuare" (according to the legend of Bodescens), or only ".plura que a'lia," according to the legend of Christian. ,Sbanisla'V reco.rds that "after his arri'Val in Great Mora'Via, Constantine translated almost the entire ecclesiastical rituial." We know definiteJy, Stanislav writes, that Constantine completed the translation of the Gospel texts of all four ev,angelists in Great Mora'Via, and that he also translated the Acts of the Apostles and the Psa1ms(l9l. St . Methodius, according to Stanis1a'V, continued in the work ,b egun by his brother and after the issuance of the glorious Bull "I:ndustriae tuae," by which the Sla'V•Onic liturgy a;gain was confirmed and permitted, "made a compendium of everything that was translated during the twel1Ve years (869-881) oif hris independent '1eadership of the Great Moravian mission. He selected -t wo priest 'rapid writers' a111d with them translated - probably dictated to them - the entire text of the Holy B ible - tJhe Old and New Testaments, besides the books of the 1faccalbees, within eight months." Methodius also t:mnslated, or had translated, the Latin Missal, which is •.p reserved as the so-•called Kiev Missal; written in Gl agolic letters it is preserved in a copy from the 10th century wi,1fu the elements of the Great Mora1Vian tongue. Stanisla'V aJso mentions the translation of the ri-· tual, the fbrev;iary and the credo•, which, according to Methiodius' biog,r,ruphy, Sva.toplUik was Slllpposed to hav,e prayed in the Slovak translation. Of the non..Jiturgica11 books, Sfanislav mentions the translation of the Nomocanon, or the Korm'.caja bodk, i.e., a collection of laiws and regulations o.f the By,zantian rulers and Chwch Fiatlhers, then Cyril's po~emic treatise in Greek against the Jews, which was translated :b y Methodius, ,a nd the original works "A Preface to the Gospels" and "Writings A'bout the True Faith," both written by Cyril. Among the original mementoes belong the so-caUed iPannonianMO'ravian Legends, "The Life of St. Cyril and iMethodius," written, according to, Stanjslav, without a doubt in Great 1 �46 SLOVAKIA Moravia, also the "Praiises of Cyril and Metihodius" and "albou;t the end of the ancient Slovak epoch of Slovak culture" - the 'legend aJbout Naum. One of the "MoravianSloviak sons" - Stanislav says - composed also the ancient Slovalk legend about St. Wenceslaius around the year 935. Stan:is1aiv states quite clearJy that this literacy activity developed on rSlovaJk territory and that in the "great work along wiith Cyril and .M ethod.ius undoubtedly other sons of the Slovak nation had a part, especially Gorazd(20) . Traces of thii:s are found especially in many words of these mementoes." And since "tlhese memoirs were written for the religious, i.e., the cultural needs of the Slovak nation and prompted by it, the predecessors of the Slovaks took part in this work passi'Vely and actively and, therefore, this literary wor.k, according to Sta.nislav, belongs also to our (Slovak) nationaJl treasure." "Old Slavonic was the first liter,a ry language of the Slwa;k nation," J. Stanrislav wrote in 1944 at the conolusion of his studies. This the.sis was taken up after him by Dr. A. Mra:z, professor orf Slova,k literature at ,t he Bratisl1a va U-p.iversity today. The Slovaik nation actuaHy regards it as lits langua:ge, states Stanislav. Prnof of this we have, for example, in tihe letter of Pope Hadrian IT to Rastislav, Svatophrk and Kocel, in which is written: "We have decided . . . to send Methodius . . . to teach you as you requested, e~laining the Bible in your language (21) . This clarif,ioation of the re'1ation of the mission of Saints Cyril and Methodius to Slo;vakia appeared to be necessary to find the answer to the question what role the Slova;ks and !Slovakia ,p layed in the ibegiinnings of civilization of the 1Slruvonic rpeoples. -If we accept the thesis, demonstrated by Slovak IS lavists, ,tJhen the matlter is in surbstance simple : the participation oif the Slovaks and Slova-· kia in the civilization of the rest of the Slavonic nations is proved by .the signifioance of Saints Cyril and Methodius and their immediate pupils in the cultural life .of the individua:l Sliwonic nations. As for as the content and extent of the cultural-Christian~ing work of Cyri'l .and Methodius is concerned, SlovaJk Slavists, wiit:h their scientific inquiries, confirm the �SLOVAKIA 47 view ,o f professor K. J. Grot(22), who wrote rub-Out Great Moravia and the work of the Slovak Aipostles that in Great Moravia was made not only "the most important at.. temrpt at a politicail unification of the Slovanic peoples the Greater Moravian Union - but also that: 1. there "were l aid the foundations for the national Church and nati.onal Christian education; 2. there origina,ted the draft and the directive of the future of the who>J.e subsequent historic development of Slavdom, its world :riole and re.1ation to Roman-Germaillic Europe, to the West and to the Asiatic question; 3. the foundation of Church-1Slov,a nic literature and education in the .Slovanic South among the BuLgars and the 1Seribs, and in the East among the Russians, and pa:rtly also among other western Slavs, was only a continuation of that work whfoh Cyril and Methodius had begun in Great Moravia." Before concluding, it is iperhaps necessary to recall iha:t bortih histori'Oal and cu1tural conclusions here indicated are nothing new in ,Slovak cultUTal life, but onily a scientific support of the tradition and endu:riing consciousness of the continuity of Great Mora'\ria w1th Slovakia, which already in rthe 17th and 18th centuries found expression in several scientific and literary wo-:r,ks b-Oth from the ci~de of Trnavia University (1635), and also from the circle of Bernol1ruk's school at the end of the 18th century. In the preface to 1:Jhe significant Cantus Catholiic,i (1655), Benedict ,S zolosi (1609-56) tells ·clearly about the consciousness of historical continuity of the Slovaks wiith the history of Great Moravia; the greia.t epic "Cy:rifoimertodiada" _and "IS vatoplulk" from John Holly and the Latin work of Samu~l Timon (16'715-1736), .the distinguished wor:k of Johlil B. Magin from 1712-8 •~Maurices sive Arpologda" aTe irre. futruble proofs of this. Of couTse, :Slavists of other nations are &pected to tell how far the results and conclusions of .the scientific resoo.rdh of ISlov,a;k Slaviists are in agreement with the histo~ical truth aind where the theses and hypoitheses are in cases in disagreement with their scientifdc research. Therefore the aim of this dissertation is not only to call at.ten-• tion to Slovruk -scientific inquiries, to the ·c ontri1bution which 1 1 �48 SLOVAKIA Slovaks m'ade to Slavistics from Safarlk and Kollar to present-day scientific woiikers in Slovaiki1a and outside its territory, but this short treatise has for its aim also to evoke moire interest to inquire .into and evaluate a,nd, in cases, even to refute some theses of contemporary Sfova:k scientific woDkers in ,tJhe field of Slavic studies. References 1. Robert A. Kann, The Multinational Empire Nationalism and National Re.form in the Habsburg Monarchy 1848-1918, Ruil:gers U niversity, New Y,ork, Columbia Un iversity Press, 1950, 2 vol. 2. ,F rancis Dvornik, The Making of Central and Eastern Europe, London, 1949, ,p. 241. etc. 3. Dr. Milan Hodza, Federation in Central Europe, Jarold-s , London, 1942, p. 86: "Slovakia was hlle fiTst cultured and, mayb e also the first pol'itical centre .of thait Great Moravi-a of A :D. 8,26-907 which was the early mediev.al precedent of the -modern OzechoJSlovakia. 'l'his original Czecho•Sfovak State mad e 'i tself the first Chrisitian centre of the Western Slavs." 4. Dvornik, ,i bidem, p. 18. 5. Ibidem , p. 21. 6. "Hludovicus quatuordecim ex ducibus Boemanorum cum hominibus -s ui s Christianam religionem desiderantes suscepit et in octavis ,theopihaniae haptizar.i juss,i t," M. G. H . S ., I, p. 364; Dvornik ibidem, p. 20. 7. Lbidem, p. 293. 8. V. Novotny, Ceske dejiny, Praha, 1912, p. 380: Annales Fuldenses. p. 126: "(.:B!oemani ) quos Zwentibaldus dux a consortio et potestate Baio,aricae ,g entis per vim dudum divelendo detr.axerat ... " 9. Ernest Deni-s , La question d' Autriche et les Slovaques, Paris, 1917; Louis Leger, Histoire de I' Autriche-Hongrie, Paris, 1920, p. 89. 10. The principal bo,o k,s dealing with the question of Great Moravia a nd the Mission of Cyri,J and Methodius are as follows: J. Skultety, Sketches from Slovak History, Middletown, P.a ., 1930; F. Hrus ovsky, Gesch ichte der Slowakei, Bratis'lava, 1943, and Slovenskf vladari , Scranton, Pa., 1948; Jan 'Stanislav, Kultura starych Slovakov, Bratislava, 1944, ,and Rfsa Vel'komoravska , Sbo-r nik v,edeckye'h prac, Prague, 1933, and Slovanskf apostoli Cyril a Metod a ich cinnosf vo Vel ' komoravskej rfsi , Bratislava, 1945; Izacenko, Zaciatky vzdelanosti vo Vel'komoravskej rfsi, T. sv. Martin, 1948; V . Pogor,ielov, O narodnosti slovanskych apostolov, Bratislava, No. 2, 1927; Rap.ant, Pribynov nitriansky kostolik, .Bratislava, 1941; A. Banik, Apostol Gorazd ; A . Mraz, Dejiny slovenskej literatury, Bratislav,a , 1948, etc. 11. Harvard Slavic Studies, Vol. I.I, p. 77-78. 12. " . . . die heutige Slorwakey in Oberungern is das eigen,tliche Gross,Mli.hren . .. " wrote •Dobrovsky in a l etter to J. S. Bandtke (Correspondence o,f J . Dobrovsky, II, p. 163) . �SLOVAKIA 49 13. See V. J agic, Entstehungsg eschichte der Kirchenslawischen Sprache, Vjenna, 1900. 14. Annales Fuldenses and Annales r egni Francorum mention '·Sclavos Marabenses" . . . "duces Sclavorum circa Danubiu m habitantium .. ." or "legationes Marvanorum . . ." distingui>shin,g them fro m "legaitiones !Beheimorum," i.e., C2Jechs. In the Reg,e nsburg continuation of Annales Fuldenses we find only "Maravi, M·aravaui, Marehenses, Marabi, Marahav.i," etc. 15. ,see !Dr. J an Dekan, Slovenske dejiny, Iii, Bratislava, 1951, p. 42. 16. J . SkuJ.tety already in 1926 writes in this regard: "With the ,d evelopment of science, particularly Slavonic ph ilology, talk of Carpatho,Danubian and Pannonian Slavs w:ill cease, -a nd t!he SloveneSlovaks w'il'l be def,i nitely m entioned . When it is once clear that ihe inhabitants of present-day Moravia were nothing but Slovaks, t h e nation of Rastislav and Svatopluk will not be called Moravlans .a nd Slovaks, but persistently and definitely Slovaks" (Sketches from Slovak History, p. 30). 17. See Kultura starych Slovakov, p. 42 . 18. See Chapter, Kievan Russia and Central Europe, p. 236-261. 19. See Kultura starych Slovakov, p. 10-14. 20. Pogorielov s•a ys em ph a ti cally th at t he Slovakisms in the Slavonic text of th e H oly Scriptures are th e work of Gorazd and calls Gorazd the third h oly apos tl e of Slavdom . 21. Kultura starych Slovakov, p. 14. 22. K. J . Grot, Karpato-dunajs kija zemli v sud'bach slavianstva, 1905, p. 18, and Metodijevskij jubilejnij sbornik, W arsaiw, 1885, p. 5. • • • BENES'S 'JIRiiP TO MOSCOW AND CZECHOSLOVAK PROPAGANDA Dr. Michael Zibrin Benes admits in his Memoirs that Eden made some forJ mal objecUons aigainst his 1943 trip to Moscow, yet he tries to mmimti:ze the opposition of the IDnglish cabinet . Benes pr.opaJgandists of today, h owever, do not admit ev~ this faot and t hey praiise the Benes t rip to Moscow as something by which Benes greatly ,helped the Allies and to which Washington and London consented. Anyone who heard Dr. Ripka's report before the CzechoJSlovak State Council in London, July 26, 19'43 when he talked aib,out the preparaUons for Benes's trip to Moscow, made in a;greement with Ozecho.;S1ov,ak Communists, and how Dr. Benes was expected in Moscow in any case - has an entirely different picture rubout the � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 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 39 THE SLOVAKS AND SLAVONIC CIVILIZATION Joseph Kirschbaum, LL.D., Ph.D. There seems to be some confusion even among ,specialists in the fi.eld of Slav,iic studies as far as Slorvalkia's contribution to the civilization of other Slav peoples is concerned. The question, then, as to· what role the SlovaJkis reaHy did 'Play in the civilization of the Slavonic peoples, is not only interesting, but worthy of consideration and study. To answer that question, we must first consider several fundamental questions: First: What role did IS'loviaikiia play in the Great Mora. vian Empire, on the territory o.f which the cultura)l~reHgioll'S mission of Saints Cyril and Methodiius was developed? Second: Into the cultural history of what nation can we place the cuatural and literary work of Cyril and Me. thodius and their immediate puipils? Third: Are the Slovaks of today ethnically and culturally bound with the people of Great Moravia? In a significant 1portion of ,Slavonic histriography, especially in the works of sciientific workers and Slavists whiich were !pUb1ished in English in the past three decades, there is no agreemoot on these fundamental questions. R. A. Kamn in hiis "The Multinational Empire"(l) states, for example, that "the !Slav popuJ.ation, ,p articularly the eastern SlaN populaition of the Great Moravian Ehnpire, is unquestionaJbly the historic ancestor of the Slovaks of today," but he adds that those historic ,p redcessors ·a re "by no means ethnically identical with them (the Slovaks)." John D. lJa Monte in his "World of the Middle Ages" omits the 'Slovaks cOIIIllpletely when naming the ethnic gro'll!ps which .formed the Great iMoiravian Empire. H. S. Thompson, J. S. Roucek, Milan Hodza, Francis Dvornik, and many other •less significant iSlavists ,present the first ,Slavonic !State in Central Europe - which Porfyl'ogenetos named topogrruphically accordmg to the river bearing that name - as if it belonged to the political and cultural history of the Ozechs, or at best of the Ozecho- 40 SLOVAKIA Slovaks. And thus they a:lso present the cultUTal-Ohristiarn work of Saints Cyril and Methodius. Professor Francis Dvornik, one of the most acknowledged authorities of cultural and political history of the IShwonic ,p eoples of the ninth century, regards "Bohemia the heir of .t he Mo11avian Empire"C2). For ,p rofessor Rouceik (ISla;vonic Encyclopedia) Great Moravia and the cultmal wor>k of Cyril-Methodius is exclusively a part of Czech history, while for Dr. Miilan Hodza it is the first "CzechosJovaJk" State(3). This -wew, which the aibove mentioned authors at~ tempt to support with the hypothesis that "Czechs and Slova!ks of Bohemia, Moravia and Northern Hungary (Silova;k,i•a ) fovmed a single group with a common language"( 4) - the iview held ,b y several Ozech histor1ans, phil'()llogists and ethnographers, specially Cha1oupeoky, Niederle, Pra•z ak, and Pastmek - is, of course, at odds with older views of some Czech, Slovak, German and otiher European histovians, philologists and ethnographers. And ,i t certainly cannot find support in histor,ical sources, which though not abundant are nevertheless sufficient to cast dou'bt on the aibove theses . Professor Dvornik himself, who- regards Czechia-Bohemi1a as the heir of the Great Moravian Elmpire, leads rto the logical conclusion that the Czech tribes belonged to the Great Moravian Empire only for a very sho-rt time, when Svatoplulk was extending his power on a1'1 sides, and .that after Svatopluk's death in 895 "the Bohemians appeared again at the Re.ichrsita;g at Regensburg and renewed their allegiance to the FrMllkish Empire. " And Dvornik also states that "Bohemia's submission to the Franks naturally implied severance of all !l'.'cligious ties with the Mora-wan eoclesirus-tical organization" (5) The statement that "the Bohemians appeared again at Regensburg" requiTes supplementation from the Arnnales Fuldenses, which Dvornik himself quotes a;nd depends upon, that is, tha;t in the year 8415 "fourteen chieftains of Czech tribes a:ppeared at the court of Louis and accepted baptism with their escorts"(6), which under the givoo cir<:umstances clearly indicates the political dependence of SLOVAKIA 41 the Czech tribes on Bavaria. According to the Armales Xantenses, the Czechs quarreled and fought with Bai\Tlaria in. 849, but could not rid themselves of Bavarian rule and join the Ozech lands to the Great Moravian Empire, which Dvornik regards as a "federation under the authority of the Mojmir dynasty"(7), until aJbout 880. According to Novotny and the Annales Fuldenses •~svatopl,uk extricated the Czech tribes from Frankish rule b.y force"< 8) . Since the beginnings of Gre,a t MoTavia are placed in the year 822 a:nd 'h istorical sources mention Pribina and the dedication of the Church in Nitrn in 833; furthermore since, even accordmg to, professor Dvornilk, Czech tribes were still defin,itely :sUJbordinated to Bavaria in 8'49, even though that was already the era of Rastis1av, the third ruler of the Great Moravian Empire, and since the Czech trilbes separated from the Great Moravian Empire and sutbmitted to Bavaria and then even waged war together witJh the Germans against the Great Moravian :EJmpire:(9), it ,i s indeed quite difficult to find a historical or logical argument for the thesis that Great Moravia did belong to Czech polirti'cal history and that the cultural work of Cyril and Methodius belonged to Ozech cultm-al history. The question of what tribes formed the Great Moravian Empire and what lands the empire consisted of could not be considered satisfactorily and defi.n,i tely resolved and, therefore, a group of scientific workers began a new search and technica{ researdh of sources. The historians were joined :b y philologists, archeo[og,ists and ex-· ,p erts on medieval history; the era of the Great Moravian Emrpire was studied ~at only ,f rom 'a nnals and chronicles, from legends and liturgical texts of iS lavonic antiquity, but also on the baisis of archeological finds, names of rivers and mountaiins, villages and towns, ·c hurches, Christi'an and fomily names, popular traditions, etc. The list of speo~ali,s ts of the Great Moravian era is surprisingly lange in the rpast years and while some of them are known internationally (1Dvornik, Jam:ohson), significant works of others are tJhus far unknown on the Amerfoan continent only becruuse they were not trans.Jated into ,various world 42 SLOVAKIA languages, nor were they presented to the learned world even in a:bst:mct form. Among the uruknown or little-known ,s pecialists in the Anglo-Saxon world, we find a si,,gnif.icant group of Slovwk university professors and e~perts of whom I might men., tion the following: a) In history: Joseph Skultety, Francis lHruso,v sky, Daniel Rapant, J. Dakan. :b) In philofogy: John Stanislav, Henry Bartek, Louis Novaik, Jizacenko, B. Varsi1k, V . Pogorielov, Anthony !Banik. c) In literary histoiry: Andrew Mraz, Steplhen Krcmery. d) In ar,cheology: John Eisner. Every one of these men made a study of one or the other phase of the em of Great Momvi,a and the work, of Saiints Cyril and Methodiius, ,and some of them - Stanislav, Hrusovsky, Bartek, ,:maicenlko, Pogorielov of several ,p hases and some of their studies were ,published even in foreign languaiges(l0). To what conclusions does the scientific research of these experts lead to, even though the results of their studies thus far ,a re available for the main part only to Slavonic scholars and haive not been made availruble in suita!ble form for the western world? Professo.r Otokar Odlozilik, in the ' ~Harvard Slavic Studies," summwri'zes them 1.Jhiis way: "'1:t can ibe said of them in general that they not only shed fuller light on po1'itical and cultuTal dev~lopments in the Mor.avian State, but invalidated earlier concepts, aiccording to which the work of the Slavic Apostles wais short-lived and doomed to failure"(ll). 'F undamentally, the results of the scienti.f1ic research of Slovaik historians, philofogists., archeologists and cultural wovkers of the past decades are these: 1. In agreement with Dobrovsky, who alreaidy in 1825 wrote that ",S lovakia was really Great MoraJVlia" (12), and in agreement with Safarik (:Slovanske starozitnosti, pp. 794-795), Skultety, Hrusovsky, Stanislav ,a nd Dekan con., sider Slovakia as 1Jhe central and main part of the Great Moravian Elm.pi.re, which in the "Skazani o prelozeni knig" was already called "1Slovensk,a zemlja" (Sloviak country). 2. In agreement with V. Jag-i:c, who in his wcmk a'bout 43 SLOVAKIA the origin of the Church ISlaJV1onic tongue wrote in 1900 that "in Great Moravia ,p eople must have spoken dn the ninth century with a tQ!1lgue which in its fundamental,s was identkal witJh the !Slov•aik language of today"(13), Stamislav, Bartek, Rapant, Varsik and No,vak arrived at the conclu-· si•o n through .scientific study that the inhalbitants of Great Moravia •w ere the direct ancestors of the 1Slovaks of today. 3. On the ,b asis of the abOIVe mentioned premi ses, the above historians and philologists, as ,well ·a s A. Mraz, the literary historian, oo.me to the conclusion that the cultural-Christianiz.ing adiv:ity of 1Sruints Cyril and Methodius related to, iin tJhe first ,place, the ancestors of present-day Slovltks and ISlovwkia and, therefore, their literary work, including the literary activity of some of their ipupil.s, is a ·component ,part of SlOl\"aik 1iternture. It may be interesting to note here that this .thesis is supported even by profes~ so:rs of the Bratislava University today (A. Mira~ and J. Dek1an) , even though in present C'zecho-Slo,vaikia nationalism and everything which might be susipected of nationa:l- . 1sm is prmishable according to the lruw as "deviationism." By what .scientif,i.c arguments are these tJheises supported? On what scientific order do they mainfy depend? What new contributions do they bring to the evaluation of the work of Cy11itl and Methodius? Besides a new search and ev;aluation of known sources, such as the Annales Fuldenses, Annales, regni &ancormn, Libellus de conversione Bagoariorum et Carantanorum, the chronicles of Heriman, Regino, Nestor, legends and biogrruphies, etc., the brusis for the above mentioned conclusions are in the main philological researches(14). The name Mora;via and Miaravian.s, incidental~y also "Scalvi," which we meet with mainly in Latin sources, whHe eastern sources spook of ".Sfoveni" (in the S!K'A'Z ANi, the Mornvian State is, as we have seen, alternatively ca:lled "Monwa" and "Slovenska zemljia" - Morav;ia iand the Sl01vak l,and), is considered a topo,g ra;phical term, which received its ,political character and was used ,in the etatistical meaning to indica,te the inhabitants of the Moravian State, besides the Czechs and the Se11bians wllw belonged only for short time to SvatoplUJk's empire. 1 a 44 SLOVAKIA "The fall of Great Moravia," writes Dr. J. Delkan, "brings a. return to the original topographical signif.icance of the name, and tJhe inhabitants of the eastern .part of Great Morav;ia, i.e., the territory of Slovakia, ,b esides isolated toponomastk remiscences, are called iby their own ancient ethnic name of "Sclavi, Slovieni, namely, the Slovaks" (15). The thesis tha:t the term Moravians had only a specifically topographic •a nd, later, a politicaHy ebatistical meaning was unfolded long before Dekan by several Slo!Vak Slav;ists and hi,s torians, especially by Joseph Skultety(16), Hrusovsky and Stanis:lav. The .philologists John 1Stantisliav, L. Novak, H. Bartek , V. Pogorielov, mcenko, and others, lby philologioa1 inquiry of the Cyrilo-.Methodius texts, the Cividalian Gospel Book , legends and chronicles, as well as by searching names of people, J'livers., mountains, villages, churches and traditions and, furthermOTe, the dia!lects and "loan words", confirm the theses and the hypotheses ,o;f the historians. as regard..c; even the ethnical nature of the inhia,bitants of Great Moravia as well as the mission of Cyril and Methodius in relation to Slovaikia. According to the latest researches, of Slovak Sl-avists, the mission of Saints Cyril and Methodius took pla:ce mainly on the territo-ry o,f the Slova,ks - professor Stanislav states with certainty that Method's residence was in Nitra(l 7) and the great cultural-Christianizing work of Cynil and MetJhodius is consequently placed first of all in the cultural history of the Slovaks. Even Dvornik confiir.ms this indirectly when he states that "Slo,vam.ic liturgy in Slovakia outlived the catastrophe of the Great Morawian Empire," that the territory o.f present-day Slo,vrukia was "in a definite sense the most cultured part of the Magyar empire" (,correctly, the Hungarian empire), and the Slavonic monks, after being ex,pelled from Czech lands (from the Monastery at Sazavia) in 1055, found refuge in !Slovakia. According to Dvornilk, Slovakia and her ancient Slavonic cente11s served as ''half~way transmitting centers" not only between Croatia, but even Kievian Russia08l. As far as tJhe literary work of Cyril-Methodius and their immedi,a te .students is ,c oncerned, we know from the SLOVAKIA 45 ;'SKAZANI" that they translated "i proceJe knigy" (also many other books) and from Latin legends "pluraque aliia documenta sacrae scri,ptuare" (according to the legend of Bodescens), or only ".plura que a'lia," according to the legend of Christian. ,Sbanisla'V reco.rds that "after his arri'Val in Great Mora'Via, Constantine translated almost the entire ecclesiastical rituial." We know definiteJy, Stanislav writes, that Constantine completed the translation of the Gospel texts of all four ev,angelists in Great Mora'Via, and that he also translated the Acts of the Apostles and the Psa1ms(l9l. St . Methodius, according to Stanis1a'V, continued in the work ,b egun by his brother and after the issuance of the glorious Bull "I:ndustriae tuae," by which the Sla'V•Onic liturgy a;gain was confirmed and permitted, "made a compendium of everything that was translated during the twel1Ve years (869-881) oif hris independent '1eadership of the Great Moravian mission. He selected -t wo priest 'rapid writers' a111d with them translated - probably dictated to them - the entire text of the Holy B ible - tJhe Old and New Testaments, besides the books of the 1faccalbees, within eight months." Methodius also t:mnslated, or had translated, the Latin Missal, which is •.p reserved as the so-•called Kiev Missal; written in Gl agolic letters it is preserved in a copy from the 10th century wi,1fu the elements of the Great Mora1Vian tongue. Stanisla'V aJso mentions the translation of the ri-· tual, the fbrev;iary and the credo•, which, according to Methiodius' biog,r,ruphy, Sva.toplUik was Slllpposed to hav,e prayed in the Slovak translation. Of the non..Jiturgica11 books, Sfanislav mentions the translation of the Nomocanon, or the Korm'.caja bodk, i.e., a collection of laiws and regulations o.f the By,zantian rulers and Chwch Fiatlhers, then Cyril's po~emic treatise in Greek against the Jews, which was translated :b y Methodius, ,a nd the original works "A Preface to the Gospels" and "Writings A'bout the True Faith," both written by Cyril. Among the original mementoes belong the so-caUed iPannonianMO'ravian Legends, "The Life of St. Cyril and iMethodius," written, according to, Stanjslav, without a doubt in Great 1 46 SLOVAKIA Moravia, also the "Praiises of Cyril and Metihodius" and "albou;t the end of the ancient Slovak epoch of Slovak culture" - the 'legend aJbout Naum. One of the "MoravianSloviak sons" - Stanislav says - composed also the ancient Slovalk legend about St. Wenceslaius around the year 935. Stan:is1aiv states quite clearJy that this literacy activity developed on rSlovaJk territory and that in the "great work along wiith Cyril and .M ethod.ius undoubtedly other sons of the Slovak nation had a part, especially Gorazd(20) . Traces of thii:s are found especially in many words of these mementoes." And since "tlhese memoirs were written for the religious, i.e., the cultural needs of the Slovak nation and prompted by it, the predecessors of the Slovaks took part in this work passi'Vely and actively and, therefore, this literary wor.k, according to Sta.nislav, belongs also to our (Slovak) nationaJl treasure." "Old Slavonic was the first liter,a ry language of the Slwa;k nation," J. Stanrislav wrote in 1944 at the conolusion of his studies. This the.sis was taken up after him by Dr. A. Mra:z, professor orf Slova,k literature at ,t he Bratisl1a va U-p.iversity today. The Slovaik nation actuaHy regards it as lits langua:ge, states Stanislav. Prnof of this we have, for example, in tihe letter of Pope Hadrian IT to Rastislav, Svatophrk and Kocel, in which is written: "We have decided . . . to send Methodius . . . to teach you as you requested, e~laining the Bible in your language (21) . This clarif,ioation of the re'1ation of the mission of Saints Cyril and Methodius to Slo;vakia appeared to be necessary to find the answer to the question what role the Slova;ks and !Slovakia ,p layed in the ibegiinnings of civilization of the 1Slruvonic rpeoples. -If we accept the thesis, demonstrated by Slovak IS lavists, ,tJhen the matlter is in surbstance simple : the participation oif the Slovaks and Slova-· kia in the civilization of the rest of the Slavonic nations is proved by .the signifioance of Saints Cyril and Methodius and their immediate pupils in the cultural life .of the individua:l Sliwonic nations. As for as the content and extent of the cultural-Christian~ing work of Cyri'l .and Methodius is concerned, SlovaJk Slavists, wiit:h their scientific inquiries, confirm the SLOVAKIA 47 view ,o f professor K. J. Grot(22), who wrote rub-Out Great Moravia and the work of the Slovak Aipostles that in Great Moravia was made not only "the most important at.. temrpt at a politicail unification of the Slovanic peoples the Greater Moravian Union - but also that: 1. there "were l aid the foundations for the national Church and nati.onal Christian education; 2. there origina,ted the draft and the directive of the future of the who>J.e subsequent historic development of Slavdom, its world :riole and re.1ation to Roman-Germaillic Europe, to the West and to the Asiatic question; 3. the foundation of Church-1Slov,a nic literature and education in the .Slovanic South among the BuLgars and the 1Seribs, and in the East among the Russians, and pa:rtly also among other western Slavs, was only a continuation of that work whfoh Cyril and Methodius had begun in Great Moravia." Before concluding, it is iperhaps necessary to recall iha:t bortih histori'Oal and cu1tural conclusions here indicated are nothing new in ,Slovak cultUTal life, but onily a scientific support of the tradition and endu:riing consciousness of the continuity of Great Mora'\ria w1th Slovakia, which already in rthe 17th and 18th centuries found expression in several scientific and literary wo-:r,ks b-Oth from the ci~de of Trnavia University (1635), and also from the circle of Bernol1ruk's school at the end of the 18th century. In the preface to 1:Jhe significant Cantus Catholiic,i (1655), Benedict ,S zolosi (1609-56) tells ·clearly about the consciousness of historical continuity of the Slovaks wiith the history of Great Moravia; the greia.t epic "Cy:rifoimertodiada" _and "IS vatoplulk" from John Holly and the Latin work of Samu~l Timon (16'715-1736), .the distinguished wor:k of Johlil B. Magin from 1712-8 •~Maurices sive Arpologda" aTe irre. futruble proofs of this. Of couTse, :Slavists of other nations are &pected to tell how far the results and conclusions of .the scientific resoo.rdh of ISlov,a;k Slaviists are in agreement with the histo~ical truth aind where the theses and hypoitheses are in cases in disagreement with their scientifdc research. Therefore the aim of this dissertation is not only to call at.ten-• tion to Slovruk -scientific inquiries, to the ·c ontri1bution which 1 1 48 SLOVAKIA Slovaks m'ade to Slavistics from Safarlk and Kollar to present-day scientific woiikers in Slovaiki1a and outside its territory, but this short treatise has for its aim also to evoke moire interest to inquire .into and evaluate a,nd, in cases, even to refute some theses of contemporary Sfova:k scientific woDkers in ,tJhe field of Slavic studies. References 1. Robert A. Kann, The Multinational Empire Nationalism and National Re.form in the Habsburg Monarchy 1848-1918, Ruil:gers U niversity, New Y,ork, Columbia Un iversity Press, 1950, 2 vol. 2. ,F rancis Dvornik, The Making of Central and Eastern Europe, London, 1949, ,p. 241. etc. 3. Dr. Milan Hodza, Federation in Central Europe, Jarold-s , London, 1942, p. 86: "Slovakia was hlle fiTst cultured and, mayb e also the first pol'itical centre .of thait Great Moravi-a of A :D. 8,26-907 which was the early mediev.al precedent of the -modern OzechoJSlovakia. 'l'his original Czecho•Sfovak State mad e 'i tself the first Chrisitian centre of the Western Slavs." 4. Dvornik, ,i bidem, p. 18. 5. Ibidem , p. 21. 6. "Hludovicus quatuordecim ex ducibus Boemanorum cum hominibus -s ui s Christianam religionem desiderantes suscepit et in octavis ,theopihaniae haptizar.i juss,i t," M. G. H . S ., I, p. 364; Dvornik ibidem, p. 20. 7. Lbidem, p. 293. 8. V. Novotny, Ceske dejiny, Praha, 1912, p. 380: Annales Fuldenses. p. 126: "(.:B!oemani ) quos Zwentibaldus dux a consortio et potestate Baio,aricae ,g entis per vim dudum divelendo detr.axerat ... " 9. Ernest Deni-s , La question d' Autriche et les Slovaques, Paris, 1917; Louis Leger, Histoire de I' Autriche-Hongrie, Paris, 1920, p. 89. 10. The principal bo,o k,s dealing with the question of Great Moravia a nd the Mission of Cyri,J and Methodius are as follows: J. Skultety, Sketches from Slovak History, Middletown, P.a ., 1930; F. Hrus ovsky, Gesch ichte der Slowakei, Bratis'lava, 1943, and Slovenskf vladari , Scranton, Pa., 1948; Jan 'Stanislav, Kultura starych Slovakov, Bratislava, 1944, ,and Rfsa Vel'komoravska , Sbo-r nik v,edeckye'h prac, Prague, 1933, and Slovanskf apostoli Cyril a Metod a ich cinnosf vo Vel ' komoravskej rfsi , Bratislava, 1945; Izacenko, Zaciatky vzdelanosti vo Vel'komoravskej rfsi, T. sv. Martin, 1948; V . Pogor,ielov, O narodnosti slovanskych apostolov, Bratislava, No. 2, 1927; Rap.ant, Pribynov nitriansky kostolik, .Bratislava, 1941; A. Banik, Apostol Gorazd ; A . Mraz, Dejiny slovenskej literatury, Bratislav,a , 1948, etc. 11. Harvard Slavic Studies, Vol. I.I, p. 77-78. 12. " . . . die heutige Slorwakey in Oberungern is das eigen,tliche Gross,Mli.hren . .. " wrote •Dobrovsky in a l etter to J. S. Bandtke (Correspondence o,f J . Dobrovsky, II, p. 163) . SLOVAKIA 49 13. See V. J agic, Entstehungsg eschichte der Kirchenslawischen Sprache, Vjenna, 1900. 14. Annales Fuldenses and Annales r egni Francorum mention '·Sclavos Marabenses" . . . "duces Sclavorum circa Danubiu m habitantium .. ." or "legationes Marvanorum . . ." distingui>shin,g them fro m "legaitiones !Beheimorum," i.e., C2Jechs. In the Reg,e nsburg continuation of Annales Fuldenses we find only "Maravi, M·aravaui, Marehenses, Marabi, Marahav.i," etc. 15. ,see !Dr. J an Dekan, Slovenske dejiny, Iii, Bratislava, 1951, p. 42. 16. J . SkuJ.tety already in 1926 writes in this regard: "With the ,d evelopment of science, particularly Slavonic ph ilology, talk of Carpatho,Danubian and Pannonian Slavs w:ill cease, -a nd t!he SloveneSlovaks w'il'l be def,i nitely m entioned . When it is once clear that ihe inhabitants of present-day Moravia were nothing but Slovaks, t h e nation of Rastislav and Svatopluk will not be called Moravlans .a nd Slovaks, but persistently and definitely Slovaks" (Sketches from Slovak History, p. 30). 17. See Kultura starych Slovakov, p. 42 . 18. See Chapter, Kievan Russia and Central Europe, p. 236-261. 19. See Kultura starych Slovakov, p. 10-14. 20. Pogorielov s•a ys em ph a ti cally th at t he Slovakisms in the Slavonic text of th e H oly Scriptures are th e work of Gorazd and calls Gorazd the third h oly apos tl e of Slavdom . 21. Kultura starych Slovakov, p. 14. 22. K. J . Grot, Karpato-dunajs kija zemli v sud'bach slavianstva, 1905, p. 18, and Metodijevskij jubilejnij sbornik, W arsaiw, 1885, p. 5. • • • BENES'S 'JIRiiP TO MOSCOW AND CZECHOSLOVAK PROPAGANDA Dr. Michael Zibrin Benes admits in his Memoirs that Eden made some forJ mal objecUons aigainst his 1943 trip to Moscow, yet he tries to mmimti:ze the opposition of the IDnglish cabinet . Benes pr.opaJgandists of today, h owever, do not admit ev~ this faot and t hey praiise the Benes t rip to Moscow as something by which Benes greatly ,helped the Allies and to which Washington and London consented. Anyone who heard Dr. Ripka's report before the CzechoJSlovak State Council in London, July 26, 19'43 when he talked aib,out the preparaUons for Benes's trip to Moscow, made in a;greement with Ozecho.;S1ov,ak Communists, and how Dr. Benes was expected in Moscow in any case - has an entirely different picture rubout the  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Slovaks and Slavonic Civilization Description An account of the resource Joseph Kirschbaum, LL.D., Ph.D. Slovakia, Vol. 5, No. 4 (17), December 1955 pp. 39-49 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Kirschbaum, Jozef M., 1913-2001 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource December 1955 SNK https://slovakia.wordsofpassage.net/files/original/92ce057f19db82f9536d068c99a5b8da.pdf a434c2df13029e448a36faca66bab2c2 PDF Text Text 66 SLOVA.KIA THE SWVAKS AND THE BENE.š CZECHS JOSEPH ORAVSKÝ On November 14, 1945, Dr. Peter Zenkl, had qulte a speech in the Prague National Assembly. A stenographic record notes that he was accorded a thunderous applause when he said: "Never without the Soviet Union, never against the Soviet Union, alwaya aolidly with lt, side by aide." On December 18, 1943, after the signing ot the agreement ot "eternal friendship and post-was cooperation" between Prague and Moscow, Dr. Hubert Ripka proclaimed: " Having negotiated an allied agreement wlth the Soviet Union, we have accompllahed a good deed which we can rightfully be proud of. Thia treaty undoubtedly is one of the foundation stones of the aecurity, the prosperity and the atrength of the Republic." And later, this same Dr. Hubert Ripka, as Minister of Foreign Trade, in an interview with the editor of the NEW YORK HERALD TRIBUNE in October 1947, openly admitted that the strengtbening of economic contacts between the USSR and the Czechoslovak Republic "is not dictated by the communista," and added: "That la my policy." The well-known politlcian of Hradčany Castle, Ferdinand Peroutka, in bis Czech •book " Tak nebo tak," published in 1945 by F. Borovt in Prague, appraised the significance of the Bolshevik Revolutlon scientlfically and statesmen-like in this manner: "In 1917 there began a new epoch of mankind. We observe at every step that the Russian Revolutlon ia more than a single State, that it is a world outlook for which men are fighting in all places of the earth" (page 37). And a year later, writing in "DNEŠEK," June 11, 1946, the same Peroutka expressed bis feellng in this manner: " The Eaat, there la our liberator, our ally and our protection in the future . . . lf in England there still can be found factora, who show a bigoted hatred for the Soviet Union, then these cannot even be considered as our frienda." These enthusiastic expressions about the Soviet Union, which we have recalled, belong to men who determined and directed the foreign policy of Prague for a long number ot years, band in hand with thelr politlcal master, Dr. Edward Beneš. Their political master, whom they served so faithfully, became a vlctim of his own policy. But they remalned alive. Every judlcious person would suppose and rlgthfully expect that these glorifiers of the Soviet Union would spend the rest of the years, whlch stm separate them from the grave, in humllity and penance. If they flamed with love for everything that the Russian Revolutlon brought, then it would be wise of them not to walk in broad daylight in the free and democratic world with thelr love for the Soviet Union. And it would have .been proper and more like them tt, after living the honeymoon weeks in the embrace of communism, they dld not try to offer themselves as modest virglns for the crusade agalnst their old communistic love. To err ls human. And in politics people err frequently. But in the case ot these persona! and political friends of Beneš, we were and are not concerned with an error ot limited, temporary importance and extent. We were and are not concerned wlth the persona! error of an indlvldual, political factor, but wlth the fundamental error of world �SLOVAKIA 67 outlook of the whole political caste which, being led by Edward Beneii, determined and gave llfe to a whole polltlcal system. And thls system was not invented during the war and post•war years just for the sake of politlcal tactlcs. Long before World War II, this system was systematlc• ally fostered and practiced by Edward Beneš and bis lettlst companlons, and in 1946 it was introduced into the political and state structure only in all its conclusions. The planners and representatlves of this system regarded the incursion of the Soviet Union into Central Europe as their own victory. They could have no reservations for the Soviet Union in 1946, because they had none prior to that Ume. That is why t hey rejolced so spon• taneously with Edward Beneš over the advent of the Soviet system into Eurone; that is why they had no trouble in collaborating wlth the communists; and that is why they adapted themselves with such miraculous speed to everything Soviet. When we quoted the above statements of Zenkl, Peroutka and Ripka, we were not thinking about their persona!, human existence, but about the system which they embraced and promoted so vigorously. Whatever they did, they did not do in their names only, tbut also in the name of the system which reached deeply into practical llfe and whlch, after the victory of communism in Centra! Europe, was identlfled with lt in all fundamental questlons. We Siovaks could never see eye to eye with the policies of Edward Beneš and bis people and we rejected their system as a matter ot principle, because our views of the Soviet Union and communism clashed with theirs. It is a matter of historical record that the Slovaks are fightlng communism and communists for over a 100 years. An abyss separated and stm separates us as far as vlewpointa on t ha Soviet Union and communism are concerned. And we admit that we d!d not expect to see these Czech political heroes of Edward Beneš's system in the pol!tlcal arena again. When they d!d get into !t, we dld not reckon that they would meddle in the questlons that vitally effect the present and future of the Slovak nation. From our hearts we w!sh that the Lord God give the Czech nation good and honorable fighters aga!nst communlsm, that He endow it with discerning political leaders, who will lead it along the right path. But if the Czech natlon ls satisfied wlth the people, who so lm• pressively taught them to love the Soviet Union, well there is noth!ng we can do about it, because we do not want to meddle in fundamental questlons that concern the present and future of the Czech nation. That is, after au, the law ot democracy. But frankly and in the interest of truth, we must again recall to the rlghtlsts and to the leftists that we do not wish the noble, herolc and uncompromissing struggte of t he Slovak natlon against communlsm to be connected wlth them at any tlme or any place. We Slovaks cannot and do not want to degrade our anti·communist stand to the level of these people, no matter what the prtce. The Slovak natlon is s uffer!ng the consequences ot the brutal commun!st reality which the political system, represented by these people, has hung on the'lr necks. • They are the express!on of a certain morality which does not suff!ce for the mora! needs of the present ser!ous period and so much less suita the spiritual and character dlsposition of the Slovak natlon. The!r persona! acqualntances and fr!endsh!ps could open for them �68 SLOVAKIA the doors of politlcal asylum. Out of the magnanlmity of these acquaint• ances and frlendshlps they could be assured mlnisterlal penslons for Jlfe. That ls a questlon of philanthropy and of private r elatlons. But a responsible and serlous comprehension of the anti-communist stand, organlzatlons ot antl-communist propaganda and the psychological pre• paratlon of antl-communlst resistance, exclude any purpose to use them as an exclusive and of!lcial argument against communism. It wou!d be tragic, indeed, if in the historic evaluation of forces between Christianity and democracy, on the one hand, and communism on the other, there would not be avallable other moral and polltlcaUy more valuable personallties. The Slovak natlon wants to wage lts antl-communist fight to Unal victory. And it is convinced that the whole free and demociratic world also wants to finish this fight. 'I'he Slovak nation, therefore, rightfully expects that its uncompromlsing fight against communistlc and every other kind of slavery deserves recognltlon and polltical and moral appreciatlon. The Slovak nation, therefore, is not dependent on the anti-communlst substltute, composed of persona! and politlcal values wblch irretrievably belong to the past and to political asylum. We can get to the soul of every nation only by means of uprlghtness and a genulne recognition of moral and polltical responsibillty. • • • WHAT THEY SAID ABOUT TISO "Dr. Tiso died a hero. The Nuremberg criminals died as crimin• als, regretting thelr crimes. Dr. Tiso had nothing to regret. Even iu the packed court, organized agalnst htm by communlst hatred, witness followed witness testlfying in Tiso's interest. A crlmlnal "as never loved. Dr. Tiso was loved by his people as no other man was ever loved in Slovakia. He was not a criminal. Even the sadistic 'Natlonaľ Court recommended mercy for Tiso. So did the Slovak 'National' Council. Tiso's Ufe depended only on one man ; h!s life was in the hands of Dr. Beneš . . . the 'humanisť and that 'great democrať . . . who 1s reportedly a can.dldate for the Nobel Peace Prize. Beneš can now rest satlsfied; he wanted blood and he got it. When Dr. Beneš refused Tiso's plea for mercy he became Tiso's judge and murderer. The blood of Tiso remains on bis hands." Ján Petrovič, Bratislava, Slovakia, April 1947. • • • • • • "The executlon of Monslgnor Tiso shall go down in hlstory as a great crime against the entire Slovak nation. His traglc death was a pol1tical murder for which the present communist-domlnated re· gime In Czechoslovakia is wholly responsible. But the memory of t he Slovak Republiťs war-time president is forever enshrined in the hearts of bis countrymen for he was truly the Father of b is Country." - Teachers of Slovak and Slovak History at Benedlctlne H!gh School, Cleveland, Ohio. • "Czech and Slovak Commun!sts demanded Dr. Tlso's head, and Dr. Edward Beneš obliged. It was plainly premed!tated murder." Pb,ilip James Anthony. " J edonta" Feature Wrlter. � 66 SLOVA.KIA THE SWVAKS AND THE BENE.š CZECHS JOSEPH ORAVSKÝ On November 14, 1945, Dr. Peter Zenkl, had qulte a speech in the Prague National Assembly. A stenographic record notes that he was accorded a thunderous applause when he said: "Never without the Soviet Union, never against the Soviet Union, alwaya aolidly with lt, side by aide." On December 18, 1943, after the signing ot the agreement ot "eternal friendship and post-was cooperation" between Prague and Moscow, Dr. Hubert Ripka proclaimed: " Having negotiated an allied agreement wlth the Soviet Union, we have accompllahed a good deed which we can rightfully be proud of. Thia treaty undoubtedly is one of the foundation stones of the aecurity, the prosperity and the atrength of the Republic." And later, this same Dr. Hubert Ripka, as Minister of Foreign Trade, in an interview with the editor of the NEW YORK HERALD TRIBUNE in October 1947, openly admitted that the strengtbening of economic contacts between the USSR and the Czechoslovak Republic "is not dictated by the communista," and added: "That la my policy." The well-known politlcian of Hradčany Castle, Ferdinand Peroutka, in bis Czech •book " Tak nebo tak," published in 1945 by F. Borovt in Prague, appraised the significance of the Bolshevik Revolutlon scientlfically and statesmen-like in this manner: "In 1917 there began a new epoch of mankind. We observe at every step that the Russian Revolutlon ia more than a single State, that it is a world outlook for which men are fighting in all places of the earth" (page 37). And a year later, writing in "DNEŠEK," June 11, 1946, the same Peroutka expressed bis feellng in this manner: " The Eaat, there la our liberator, our ally and our protection in the future . . . lf in England there still can be found factora, who show a bigoted hatred for the Soviet Union, then these cannot even be considered as our frienda." These enthusiastic expressions about the Soviet Union, which we have recalled, belong to men who determined and directed the foreign policy of Prague for a long number ot years, band in hand with thelr politlcal master, Dr. Edward Beneš. Their political master, whom they served so faithfully, became a vlctim of his own policy. But they remalned alive. Every judlcious person would suppose and rlgthfully expect that these glorifiers of the Soviet Union would spend the rest of the years, whlch stm separate them from the grave, in humllity and penance. If they flamed with love for everything that the Russian Revolutlon brought, then it would be wise of them not to walk in broad daylight in the free and democratic world with thelr love for the Soviet Union. And it would have .been proper and more like them tt, after living the honeymoon weeks in the embrace of communism, they dld not try to offer themselves as modest virglns for the crusade agalnst their old communistic love. To err ls human. And in politics people err frequently. But in the case ot these persona! and political friends of Beneš, we were and are not concerned with an error ot limited, temporary importance and extent. We were and are not concerned wlth the persona! error of an indlvldual, political factor, but wlth the fundamental error of world �SLOVAKIA 67 outlook of the whole political caste which, being led by Edward Beneii, determined and gave llfe to a whole polltlcal system. And thls system was not invented during the war and post•war years just for the sake of politlcal tactlcs. Long before World War II, this system was systematlc• ally fostered and practiced by Edward Beneš and bis lettlst companlons, and in 1946 it was introduced into the political and state structure only in all its conclusions. The planners and representatlves of this system regarded the incursion of the Soviet Union into Central Europe as their own victory. They could have no reservations for the Soviet Union in 1946, because they had none prior to that Ume. That is why t hey rejolced so spon• taneously with Edward Beneš over the advent of the Soviet system into Eurone; that is why they had no trouble in collaborating wlth the communists; and that is why they adapted themselves with such miraculous speed to everything Soviet. When we quoted the above statements of Zenkl, Peroutka and Ripka, we were not thinking about their persona!, human existence, but about the system which they embraced and promoted so vigorously. Whatever they did, they did not do in their names only, tbut also in the name of the system which reached deeply into practical llfe and whlch, after the victory of communism in Centra! Europe, was identlfled with lt in all fundamental questlons. We Siovaks could never see eye to eye with the policies of Edward Beneš and bis people and we rejected their system as a matter ot principle, because our views of the Soviet Union and communism clashed with theirs. It is a matter of historical record that the Slovaks are fightlng communism and communists for over a 100 years. An abyss separated and stm separates us as far as vlewpointa on t ha Soviet Union and communism are concerned. And we admit that we d!d not expect to see these Czech political heroes of Edward Beneš's system in the pol!tlcal arena again. When they d!d get into !t, we dld not reckon that they would meddle in the questlons that vitally effect the present and future of the Slovak nation. From our hearts we w!sh that the Lord God give the Czech nation good and honorable fighters aga!nst communlsm, that He endow it with discerning political leaders, who will lead it along the right path. But if the Czech natlon ls satisfied wlth the people, who so lm• pressively taught them to love the Soviet Union, well there is noth!ng we can do about it, because we do not want to meddle in fundamental questlons that concern the present and future of the Czech nation. That is, after au, the law ot democracy. But frankly and in the interest of truth, we must again recall to the rlghtlsts and to the leftists that we do not wish the noble, herolc and uncompromissing struggte of t he Slovak natlon against communlsm to be connected wlth them at any tlme or any place. We Slovaks cannot and do not want to degrade our anti·communist stand to the level of these people, no matter what the prtce. The Slovak natlon is s uffer!ng the consequences ot the brutal commun!st reality which the political system, represented by these people, has hung on the'lr necks. • They are the express!on of a certain morality which does not suff!ce for the mora! needs of the present ser!ous period and so much less suita the spiritual and character dlsposition of the Slovak natlon. The!r persona! acqualntances and fr!endsh!ps could open for them �68 SLOVAKIA the doors of politlcal asylum. Out of the magnanlmity of these acquaint• ances and frlendshlps they could be assured mlnisterlal penslons for Jlfe. That ls a questlon of philanthropy and of private r elatlons. But a responsible and serlous comprehension of the anti-communist stand, organlzatlons ot antl-communist propaganda and the psychological pre• paratlon of antl-communlst resistance, exclude any purpose to use them as an exclusive and of!lcial argument against communism. It wou!d be tragic, indeed, if in the historic evaluation of forces between Christianity and democracy, on the one hand, and communism on the other, there would not be avallable other moral and polltlcaUy more valuable personallties. The Slovak natlon wants to wage lts antl-communist fight to Unal victory. And it is convinced that the whole free and demociratic world also wants to finish this fight. 'I'he Slovak nation, therefore, rightfully expects that its uncompromlsing fight against communistlc and every other kind of slavery deserves recognltlon and polltical and moral appreciatlon. The Slovak nation, therefore, is not dependent on the anti-communlst substltute, composed of persona! and politlcal values wblch irretrievably belong to the past and to political asylum. We can get to the soul of every nation only by means of uprlghtness and a genulne recognition of moral and polltical responsibillty. • • • WHAT THEY SAID ABOUT TISO "Dr. Tiso died a hero. The Nuremberg criminals died as crimin• als, regretting thelr crimes. Dr. Tiso had nothing to regret. Even iu the packed court, organized agalnst htm by communlst hatred, witness followed witness testlfying in Tiso's interest. A crlmlnal "as never loved. Dr. Tiso was loved by his people as no other man was ever loved in Slovakia. He was not a criminal. Even the sadistic 'Natlonaľ Court recommended mercy for Tiso. So did the Slovak 'National' Council. Tiso's Ufe depended only on one man ; h!s life was in the hands of Dr. Beneš . . . the 'humanisť and that 'great democrať . . . who 1s reportedly a can.dldate for the Nobel Peace Prize. Beneš can now rest satlsfied; he wanted blood and he got it. When Dr. Beneš refused Tiso's plea for mercy he became Tiso's judge and murderer. The blood of Tiso remains on bis hands." Ján Petrovič, Bratislava, Slovakia, April 1947. • • • • • • "The executlon of Monslgnor Tiso shall go down in hlstory as a great crime against the entire Slovak nation. His traglc death was a pol1tical murder for which the present communist-domlnated re· gime In Czechoslovakia is wholly responsible. But the memory of t he Slovak Republiťs war-time president is forever enshrined in the hearts of bis countrymen for he was truly the Father of b is Country." - Teachers of Slovak and Slovak History at Benedlctlne H!gh School, Cleveland, Ohio. • "Czech and Slovak Commun!sts demanded Dr. Tlso's head, and Dr. Edward Beneš obliged. It was plainly premed!tated murder." Pb,ilip James Anthony. " J edonta" Feature Wrlter. � 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 1952, Vol. 2 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 1952 Description An account of the resource <ul><li>Issue 1 (No. 3), March 1952.</li> <li>Issue 2 (No. 4), August 1952.</li> <li>Issue 3 (No. 5), December 1952.</li> </ul> Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document 66 SLOVA.KIA THE SWVAKS AND THE BENE.š CZECHS JOSEPH ORAVSKÝ On November 14, 1945, Dr. Peter Zenkl, had qulte a speech in the Prague National Assembly. A stenographic record notes that he was accorded a thunderous applause when he said: "Never without the Soviet Union, never against the Soviet Union, alwaya aolidly with lt, side by aide." On December 18, 1943, after the signing ot the agreement ot "eternal friendship and post-was cooperation" between Prague and Moscow, Dr. Hubert Ripka proclaimed: " Having negotiated an allied agreement wlth the Soviet Union, we have accompllahed a good deed which we can rightfully be proud of. Thia treaty undoubtedly is one of the foundation stones of the aecurity, the prosperity and the atrength of the Republic." And later, this same Dr. Hubert Ripka, as Minister of Foreign Trade, in an interview with the editor of the NEW YORK HERALD TRIBUNE in October 1947, openly admitted that the strengtbening of economic contacts between the USSR and the Czechoslovak Republic "is not dictated by the communista," and added: "That la my policy." The well-known politlcian of Hradčany Castle, Ferdinand Peroutka, in bis Czech •book " Tak nebo tak," published in 1945 by F. Borovt in Prague, appraised the significance of the Bolshevik Revolutlon scientlfically and statesmen-like in this manner: "In 1917 there began a new epoch of mankind. We observe at every step that the Russian Revolutlon ia more than a single State, that it is a world outlook for which men are fighting in all places of the earth" (page 37). And a year later, writing in "DNEŠEK," June 11, 1946, the same Peroutka expressed bis feellng in this manner: " The Eaat, there la our liberator, our ally and our protection in the future . . . lf in England there still can be found factora, who show a bigoted hatred for the Soviet Union, then these cannot even be considered as our frienda." These enthusiastic expressions about the Soviet Union, which we have recalled, belong to men who determined and directed the foreign policy of Prague for a long number ot years, band in hand with thelr politlcal master, Dr. Edward Beneš. Their political master, whom they served so faithfully, became a vlctim of his own policy. But they remalned alive. Every judlcious person would suppose and rlgthfully expect that these glorifiers of the Soviet Union would spend the rest of the years, whlch stm separate them from the grave, in humllity and penance. If they flamed with love for everything that the Russian Revolutlon brought, then it would be wise of them not to walk in broad daylight in the free and democratic world with thelr love for the Soviet Union. And it would have .been proper and more like them tt, after living the honeymoon weeks in the embrace of communism, they dld not try to offer themselves as modest virglns for the crusade agalnst their old communistic love. To err ls human. And in politics people err frequently. But in the case ot these persona! and political friends of Beneš, we were and are not concerned with an error ot limited, temporary importance and extent. We were and are not concerned wlth the persona! error of an indlvldual, political factor, but wlth the fundamental error of world SLOVAKIA 67 outlook of the whole political caste which, being led by Edward Beneii, determined and gave llfe to a whole polltlcal system. And thls system was not invented during the war and post•war years just for the sake of politlcal tactlcs. Long before World War II, this system was systematlc• ally fostered and practiced by Edward Beneš and bis lettlst companlons, and in 1946 it was introduced into the political and state structure only in all its conclusions. The planners and representatlves of this system regarded the incursion of the Soviet Union into Central Europe as their own victory. They could have no reservations for the Soviet Union in 1946, because they had none prior to that Ume. That is why t hey rejolced so spon• taneously with Edward Beneš over the advent of the Soviet system into Eurone; that is why they had no trouble in collaborating wlth the communists; and that is why they adapted themselves with such miraculous speed to everything Soviet. When we quoted the above statements of Zenkl, Peroutka and Ripka, we were not thinking about their persona!, human existence, but about the system which they embraced and promoted so vigorously. Whatever they did, they did not do in their names only, tbut also in the name of the system which reached deeply into practical llfe and whlch, after the victory of communism in Centra! Europe, was identlfled with lt in all fundamental questlons. We Siovaks could never see eye to eye with the policies of Edward Beneš and bis people and we rejected their system as a matter ot principle, because our views of the Soviet Union and communism clashed with theirs. It is a matter of historical record that the Slovaks are fightlng communism and communists for over a 100 years. An abyss separated and stm separates us as far as vlewpointa on t ha Soviet Union and communism are concerned. And we admit that we d!d not expect to see these Czech political heroes of Edward Beneš's system in the pol!tlcal arena again. When they d!d get into !t, we dld not reckon that they would meddle in the questlons that vitally effect the present and future of the Slovak nation. From our hearts we w!sh that the Lord God give the Czech nation good and honorable fighters aga!nst communlsm, that He endow it with discerning political leaders, who will lead it along the right path. But if the Czech natlon ls satisfied wlth the people, who so lm• pressively taught them to love the Soviet Union, well there is noth!ng we can do about it, because we do not want to meddle in fundamental questlons that concern the present and future of the Czech nation. That is, after au, the law ot democracy. But frankly and in the interest of truth, we must again recall to the rlghtlsts and to the leftists that we do not wish the noble, herolc and uncompromissing struggte of t he Slovak natlon against communlsm to be connected wlth them at any tlme or any place. We Slovaks cannot and do not want to degrade our anti·communist stand to the level of these people, no matter what the prtce. The Slovak natlon is s uffer!ng the consequences ot the brutal commun!st reality which the political system, represented by these people, has hung on the'lr necks. • They are the express!on of a certain morality which does not suff!ce for the mora! needs of the present ser!ous period and so much less suita the spiritual and character dlsposition of the Slovak natlon. The!r persona! acqualntances and fr!endsh!ps could open for them 68 SLOVAKIA the doors of politlcal asylum. Out of the magnanlmity of these acquaint• ances and frlendshlps they could be assured mlnisterlal penslons for Jlfe. That ls a questlon of philanthropy and of private r elatlons. But a responsible and serlous comprehension of the anti-communist stand, organlzatlons ot antl-communist propaganda and the psychological pre• paratlon of antl-communlst resistance, exclude any purpose to use them as an exclusive and of!lcial argument against communism. It wou!d be tragic, indeed, if in the historic evaluation of forces between Christianity and democracy, on the one hand, and communism on the other, there would not be avallable other moral and polltlcaUy more valuable personallties. The Slovak natlon wants to wage lts antl-communist fight to Unal victory. And it is convinced that the whole free and demociratic world also wants to finish this fight. 'I'he Slovak nation, therefore, rightfully expects that its uncompromlsing fight against communistlc and every other kind of slavery deserves recognltlon and polltical and moral appreciatlon. The Slovak nation, therefore, is not dependent on the anti-communlst substltute, composed of persona! and politlcal values wblch irretrievably belong to the past and to political asylum. We can get to the soul of every nation only by means of uprlghtness and a genulne recognition of moral and polltical responsibillty. • • • WHAT THEY SAID ABOUT TISO "Dr. Tiso died a hero. The Nuremberg criminals died as crimin• als, regretting thelr crimes. Dr. Tiso had nothing to regret. Even iu the packed court, organized agalnst htm by communlst hatred, witness followed witness testlfying in Tiso's interest. A crlmlnal "as never loved. Dr. Tiso was loved by his people as no other man was ever loved in Slovakia. He was not a criminal. Even the sadistic 'Natlonaľ Court recommended mercy for Tiso. So did the Slovak 'National' Council. Tiso's Ufe depended only on one man ; h!s life was in the hands of Dr. Beneš . . . the 'humanisť and that 'great democrať . . . who 1s reportedly a can.dldate for the Nobel Peace Prize. Beneš can now rest satlsfied; he wanted blood and he got it. When Dr. Beneš refused Tiso's plea for mercy he became Tiso's judge and murderer. The blood of Tiso remains on bis hands." Ján Petrovič, Bratislava, Slovakia, April 1947. • • • • • • "The executlon of Monslgnor Tiso shall go down in hlstory as a great crime against the entire Slovak nation. His traglc death was a pol1tical murder for which the present communist-domlnated re· gime In Czechoslovakia is wholly responsible. But the memory of t he Slovak Republiťs war-time president is forever enshrined in the hearts of bis countrymen for he was truly the Father of b is Country." - Teachers of Slovak and Slovak History at Benedlctlne H!gh School, Cleveland, Ohio. • "Czech and Slovak Commun!sts demanded Dr. Tlso's head, and Dr. Edward Beneš obliged. It was plainly premed!tated murder." Pb,ilip James Anthony. " J edonta" Feature Wrlter.  Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Slovaks and the Beneš Czechs Description An account of the resource Joseph Oravský Slovakia, Vol. 2, No. 1 (3), March 1952 pp. 56-58 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Oravský, Joseph Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource March 1952 name